What is a golden AMI?
Golden AMI is your infrastructure master template. It is standardized, pre configured , hardend, tested machine image that serves as foundation for all your EC2 instances. Think of it as a photograph of your perfect server configuration that is secure, patched and compliant.
What is an EBS snapshot?
EBS snapshot is a point in time and incremental backups of an EBS volume stored in amazon S3. It captures the state of volume, allowing for disaster recovery , volume duplication, or migration across availability zones and regions.
Where are snapshots stored?
Snapshots are stored to provide durable, cost effective and point in time backups for EBS volumes and database s
Can snapshots be encrypted?
Yes. Snapshots can be encrypted , ensuring the data at rest is protected using KMS key management service. You can create encrypted snapshots from unencrypted volumes, copy unencrypted snapshots into encrypted ones or enable regional default encryption ones to ensure all the snapshots are automatically encrypted by KMS.
Do snapshots affect running instances?
Yes. Taking snapshots can affect running instances, primarily through minimal performance impact rather than downtime.