AWS [AWS] - Difference between EBS and Load Balancing in AWS

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides various services to help you build and manage your applications and infrastructure. Two of these services are Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) and Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), each serving a different purpose within your architecture. Let's explore the differences between them:

1. Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS): Amazon EBS is a block storage service that provides durable and resizable block-level storage volumes that can be attached to Amazon EC2 instances (virtual servers). Here are some key characteristics of EBS:

   • Persistent Storage: EBS volumes are persistent, which means the data stored on them remains intact even when the associated EC2 instance is stopped or terminated.

   • Block-Level Storage: EBS operates at the block level, which allows you to format it with a file system of your choice (such as ext4, NTFS, etc.). It's suitable for storing data that requires low-latency access and may be used for operating system files, databases, and application data.

   • Snapshot Backups: EBS volumes can be backed up using snapshots, which are incremental backups that capture the state of the volume at a particular point in time. These snapshots can be used to create new EBS volumes or restore existing ones.

   • Data Replication: EBS offers different volume types with varying levels of performance and data replication. Some volume types provide redundancy and data protection mechanisms, making them suitable for critical workloads.

2. Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): Elastic Load Balancing is a service that automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as Amazon EC2 instances, containers, and IP addresses, in one or more Availability Zones. There are three types of ELB:

   • Application Load Balancer (ALB): Operates at the application layer (Layer 7) and is best suited for routing HTTP/HTTPS traffic. It can route requests based on content, URL, or other application-specific factors.

   • Network Load Balancer (NLB): Operates at the transport layer (Layer 4) and is designed to handle TCP, UDP, and TLS traffic. It's ideal for high-throughput, low-latency requirements.

   • Classic Load Balancer (CLB): The older version of ELB, which can route traffic at both Layer 4 and Layer 7. New deployments typically use ALB or NLB due to their enhanced capabilities.

   • Auto Scaling Integration: ELB works well with Auto Scaling groups. It can automatically distribute incoming traffic to healthy instances and help manage the availability and scalability of your application.

In summary, EBS provides durable and resizable block storage that you can attach to EC2 instances, while ELB is a service that distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets for improved availability and scalability. They serve different purposes within your AWS architecture, with EBS focusing on storage and ELB focusing on load distribution.