What is Amazon EBS?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) is the standard block storage service for Amazon EC2 instances. EBS volumes behave like physical hard drives or SSDs but offer the flexibility and reliability of the cloud. Each EBS volume automatically replicates within an Availability Zone.
Unlike ephemeral Instance Store, EBS volumes persist even after EC2 instance stops or terminations. Volumes can be grown live, adjusted in terms of IOPS and throughput, and moved between EC2 instances without downtime.
Core Features
- Multiple Volume Types: gp3 for balance, io2 Block Express for extreme performance, st1 for sequential throughput
- Up to 256,000 IOPS: io2 Block Express on Nitro-based instances for latency-critical databases
- Automatic Snapshots: Incremental backups to S3, manageable via Data Lifecycle Manager
- Encryption: Encryption with AWS KMS with minimal performance impact
- Elastic Volumes: Live adjustment of size, IOPS, and throughput without downtime
Typical Use Cases
Database Volumes: EBS is the standard storage solution for relational databases on EC2. For production databases, organizations combine gp3 (smaller to medium workloads) or io2 Block Express (enterprise databases with high IOPS requirements) with automated snapshots.
Boot Volumes: Every EC2 instance requires a root volume. gp3 is usually the optimal choice here: low cost, sufficient performance, fast boot times.
Container Storage: Kubernetes StatefulSets and ECS tasks with persistent data use EBS via the EBS CSI Driver. EKS clusters typically provision gp3 volumes via a StorageClass.
Benefits
- Persistent data independent of the EC2 lifecycle
- Flexible volume types for different workloads and budgets
- Snapshots enable easy backups and disaster recovery
- Live scaling of size, IOPS, and throughput without downtime
Integration with innFactory
As an AWS Reseller, innFactory supports you with Amazon EBS: storage architecture design, performance optimization, backup strategies, and cost optimization through the right volume type choice.
Available Tiers & Options
gp3 (General Purpose SSD)
- Baseline 3,000 IOPS and 125 MiB/s included
- IOPS and throughput provisionable independently of volume size
- Good price-performance ratio for most workloads
- Max 80,000 IOPS and 2,000 MiB/s (instance-dependent)
io2 Block Express (Provisioned IOPS SSD)
- Up to 256,000 IOPS on Nitro-based instances
- Up to 4,000 MiB/s throughput
- 99.999% durability
- Multi-Attach across multiple EC2 instances
- Higher cost due to separate IOPS billing
- Full performance only with Nitro instances
st1 (Throughput Optimized HDD)
- Low cost for large, sequential workloads
- Up to 500 MiB/s throughput per volume
- HDD-based, higher latency
- Not usable as a boot volume
Typical Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Amazon EBS?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) is the block storage service for Amazon EC2 instances. EBS volumes behave like physical hard drives but offer cloud benefits such as snapshots, encryption, and flexible scaling without downtime.
Which EBS volume type should I choose?
gp3 is the right choice for most workloads: a balanced price-performance ratio with a 3,000 IOPS baseline that can optionally be extended. For databases with very high IOPS or latency requirements, io2 Block Express is a better fit. For big data with high sequential throughput, st1 is the more cost-effective choice.
How do EBS snapshots work?
EBS snapshots are incremental backups stored in Amazon S3. The first snapshot copies all data, subsequent snapshots only copy changed blocks. Snapshots can be copied across regions and shared with other accounts.
Can I attach an EBS volume to multiple EC2 instances?
Yes, with EBS Multi-Attach, available for io2 Block Express (io1/io2). A volume can be attached to multiple EC2 instances in the same Availability Zone, which is suitable for cluster applications with a cluster-aware file system.
What does Amazon EBS cost?
EBS is billed by provisioned storage per GB per month. For gp3, a baseline level of IOPS and throughput is included in the price; additional IOPS/throughput and Provisioned IOPS volumes (io1/io2) are billed separately. Current exact prices are listed on the official AWS pricing page.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of AWS (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by AWS.