Cloud Services in Practice: compute, storage and cost

01

Launching a virtual machine

In simple words

Renting a virtual machine is like renting a computer from a computer shop. You pick the size, pick what is installed on it, and turn it on. While it is on, the meter runs. When you are done you must give it back, or the shop keeps charging you.

Key facts

Before this course: Cloud Basics (course 7.9). You should know IaaS, regions, the shared responsibility model and the free-tier warning. This course goes hands-on.
A virtual machine has different names: Amazon EC2 instance (AWS), Virtual Machine (Azure) and Compute Engine VM (Google Cloud).
On AWS, you choose two main things when you launch an instance:
an AMI (Amazon Machine Image): the template with the operating system, like Amazon Linux or Windows;
an instance type: the hardware, which sets the CPU, memory, storage and network capacity.
Instance types are grouped in families. AWS lists general purpose, compute optimized, memory optimized, storage optimized, accelerated computing and high-performance computing. Each type has several sizes, so you can scale up or down. AWS names are built from the family, generation, processor family, capabilities and size.
You can change the instance type later. AWS suggests testing with your own app, because you pay by the second and testing several types is inexpensive.
AWS EC2 instance states and billing (from the EC2 documentation):

State	Meaning	Is instance usage billed?
pending	Starting up	No
running	Ready to use	Yes, per second, with a one-minute minimum, even if idle
stopping / stopped	Shut down, can be started again	No for instance usage, but you still pay for attached EBS storage
shutting-down / terminated	Permanently deleted	No

Stop keeps the machine so you can start it again. Terminate deletes it for good. You cannot recover a terminated instance.
By default AWS deletes the root volume when you terminate, and keeps any other EBS volumes. Data on instance store volumes is erased when you stop or terminate.
A stopped instance gets a new public IPv4 address when it starts again (unless you use an Elastic IP address). A reboot keeps it.

Step by step

Sign in to your own cloud account with MFA on. Open the compute service (on AWS, EC2; names can differ by version).
Check the Region at the top of the console. Pick a region near you or where your data must stay (for example a Canadian region for Canadian data; see course 7.9).
Click Launch instance. Give it a name, for example practice-vm.
Pick an operating system image (AMI). Choose one marked free-tier eligible if your account shows that label.
Pick the smallest instance type your account offers for your plan.
Create a key pair or use the browser-based connect option your console offers. Never share the private key file.
Keep the default storage size, and do not open the network to everyone (the next lesson explains why). Click Launch.
Wait until the state shows running. Then Stop the instance, see the state change to stopped, and finally Terminate it.
Check: the console shows terminated, and under Volumes there is no volume left over.

Watch on YouTube

Launching, configuring, connecting and using an EC2 instanceAcademind · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01Launching a virtual machine

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:15

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "In the cloud you can rent a computer in two minutes. The skill is knowing what it costs while it is on."
[Screen: Launch instance form with name, AMI and instance type] "Pick an image, the operating system. Pick a size, the hardware. Name it. Launch."
[Text on screen: running = billed. stopped = not billed, but storage is. terminated = gone.] "Running means the meter is on. Stopped means no instance charge, but the disk still costs. Terminated means gone for good."
[Host] "When you finish practising, terminate it. Then check that nothing is left."

Try it now

Launch a tiny practice virtual machine on a free-tier account, stop it, start it, and terminate it. Write down the state names you saw and what is billed in each state. Then check the Volumes list and confirm it is empty.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Cloud Services in Practice: compute, storage and cost" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Launching a virtual machine".

What the lesson teaches:
- Before this course: Cloud Basics (course 7.9). You should know IaaS, regions, the shared responsibility model and the free-tier warning. This course goes hands-on.
- A virtual machine has different names: Amazon EC2 instance (AWS), Virtual Machine (Azure) and Compute Engine VM (Google Cloud).
- On AWS, you choose two main things when you launch an instance:
- an AMI (Amazon Machine Image): the template with the operating system, like Amazon Linux or Windows;
- an instance type: the hardware, which sets the CPU, memory, storage and network capacity.
- Instance types are grouped in families. AWS lists general purpose, compute optimized, memory optimized, storage optimized, accelerated computing and high-performance computing. Each type has several sizes, so you can scale up or down. AWS names are built from the family, generation, processor family, capabilities and size.
- You can change the instance type later. AWS suggests testing with your own app, because you pay by the second and testing several types is inexpensive.

The exercise I'm working on:
Launch a tiny practice virtual machine on a free-tier account, stop it, start it, and terminate it. Write down the state names you saw and what is billed in each state. Then check the Volumes list and confirm it is empty.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Launching a virtual machine" from the course "Cloud Services in Practice: compute, storage and cost".

Here's what the lesson says:
Renting a virtual machine is like renting a computer from a computer shop. You pick the size, pick what is installed on it, and turn it on. While it is on, the meter runs. When you are done you must give it back, or the shop keeps charging you.

The activity:
Launch a tiny practice virtual machine on a free-tier account, stop it, start it, and terminate it. Write down the state names you saw and what is billed in each state. Then check the Volumes list and confirm it is empty.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

Sources

AWS, EC2 instance state changes and billing: docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-instance-lifecycle.htm
AWS, EC2 instance types: docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-types.html

My notes

I learned this

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