what is AWS EC2 and how do you launch

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows you to rent virtual computing resources on the cloud. It provides you with the flexibility to create and manage virtual machines (instances) in the cloud, giving you complete control over the computing environment.

To launch an EC2 instance, you can follow these general steps:

1. Log in to your AWS Management Console and navigate to the EC2 service.
2. Choose the appropriate region for your instance.
3. Click on the "Launch Instance" button.
4. Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) that contains the operating system and software you want to use.
5. Select the instance type, which specifies the computing resources you want to allocate to the instance.
6. Configure the instance details, including network settings, storage, and security settings.
7. Review and launch the instance.
8. Select or create a key pair for secure access to the instance.

After launching the instance, you can access it via SSH or Remote Desktop, depending on the operating system you chose. You can also modify the instance settings, such as changing the instance type, adding storage, or modifying network settings.