EC2 instance has stopped responding

Question

hI I have been running some simulation using python script on EC2 which was running fine until I increased the number of simulation and now it has completely stopped responding. I am using this for the first time today so have only basic understanding. how do I kill my python script so that I can reduce number of simulations and re-run. I am not closing my EC2 instance as I fear after reconnecting I will have to reinstall all the python packages (matplotlib, pandas etc) am I correct in thinking so? (i.e. once the EC2 instance is closed I will have to reinstall everything again)? thanks very much.

Answer 1

(once the EC2 instance is closed I will have to reinstall everything again)?

This depends on the storage backing the instance. If its instance storage or not. If it's a normal EBS volume, you can REBOOT the instance, it will simply restart it, and you will not lose any changes.

If the machine is truly not responding, there is not much else you can do besides reboot it. Alternatively (if the simulations will stop or not, I am not sure what parameters you provided) you can just wait until the simulation is complete.

To check it, just click on your EC2 instance in the console, under description, scroll down and look for "root device type". If it says "EBS" it's safe to restart. If it says "instance" you will lose the changes on reboot.