Nope. These are embedded into AWS Infrastructure and cannot be obtained in discrete objects. Ref here. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/pdfs/whitepapers/latest/security-design-of-aws-nitro-system/security-design-of-aws-nitro-system.pdf Answer from Giovanni Lauria on repost.aws
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AWS
aws.amazon.com › compute › amazon ec2 › aws nitro system
Lightweight Hypervisor - AWS Nitro System - AWS
1 day ago - The AWS Nitro System provides modern ... instance families they were built on. ... The Nitro Cards are a family of cards that offloads and accelerates IO for functions, ultimately increasing overall system performance....
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AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › aws whitepapers › aws whitepaper › the components of the nitro system
The components of the Nitro System - The Security Design of the AWS Nitro System
The main components of the Nitro Cards are AWS-designed System on a Chip (SoC) package that run purpose-built firmware. AWS has carefully driven the design and implementation process of the hardware and firmware of these cards. The hardware is designed from the ground up by Annapurna Labs, ...
Discussions

Nitro cards, Nitro security chip, and Nitro Hypervisor
Are Nitro cards, Nitro security chip, and Nitro Hypervisor available as discrete units. More on repost.aws
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July 30, 2024
Reinventing virtualization with the AWS Nitro System
Speaking of which, if anybody who works on EC2 is reading this it would be great if you could continue exposing more MSRs and bare metal features. rr in particular would like MSR_INTEL_MISC_FEATURES_ENABLES to be available[1], which would enable trace portability for traces recorded on EC2 ... More on news.ycombinator.com
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35
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July 22, 2020
Trying to understand AWS Nitro
If you're talking about Nitro VPC card, then yes all network traffic is encrypted by the Nitro VPC controller. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/security-design-of-aws-nitro-system/the-components-of-the-nitro-system.html More on reddit.com
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March 5, 2024
What software does Amazon use for creating EC2 instances on the fly?
As others have said, not only is their software fully custom, so is their hardware. 🤯 More on reddit.com
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November 26, 2022
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DEV Community
dev.to › choonho › nitro-card-why-aws-is-best-46ph
Nitro Card, Why AWS is best! - DEV Community
June 28, 2024 - From the image and form factor, this nitro card is nitro v3. But these two nitro cards have a little different from size and color. Front panel cabling: most of commodity server has back panel cabling. But AWS has front panel cabling.
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Virtana
virtana.com › home › glossary › what is aws nitro
What is AWS Nitro?
March 20, 2025 - The AWS Nitro system is composed of the following: Nitro cards: Provide controllers for data plane, EBS, and instance storage as well as overall host coordination so the host processor does not need to implement these functions.
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AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon ec2 › instance types › instances built on the aws nitro system
Instances built on the AWS Nitro System - Amazon EC2
Up to 100 Gbps* per network card. Encryption in transit. Traffic Mirroring is supported. Enhanced networking with Elastic Network Adapter (ENA). Traffic Mirroring is supported. * Your instance type might support a lower maximum bandwidth. For more information, refer to the network specifications for your instance type in the instance family pages. The following virtualized instances are built on the Nitro System:
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All Things Distributed
allthingsdistributed.com › 2020 › 09 › reinventing-virtualization-with-nitro.html
Reinventing virtualization with the AWS Nitro System | All Things Distributed
September 14, 2020 - The Nitro Cards are a family of cards that offloads and accelerates IO for functions, including Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Elastic Block Store (EBS), and Instance Storage, thereby increasing overall system performance.
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Amazon Web Services
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon ec2 › user guide › networking in amazon ec2 › enhanced networking on amazon ec2 instances › nitro system considerations for performance tuning
Nitro system considerations for performance tuning - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
The Nitro System provides bare metal-like capabilities that eliminate virtualization overhead and support workloads that require full access to host hardware. For more detailed information, see AWS Nitro System ... All current generation EC2 instance types perform network packet processing on EC2 Nitro Cards.
Find elsewhere
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Kaumnen
kaumnen.com › p › aws-nitro-virtualization-system
AWS Nitro System: Secure And Efficient Virtualization Technology
June 15, 2024 - Nitro Controller is the primary Nitro Card in the AWS Nitro System and with that - the hardware root of trust for the entire system.
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AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › pdfs › whitepapers › latest › security-design-of-aws-nitro-system › security-design-of-aws-nitro-system.pdf pdf
AWS Whitepaper The Security Design of the AWS Nitro System
November 18, 2022 - A Nitro Controller is · colocated with a Mac Mini in a common metal enclosure, and the two are connected · together with Thunderbolt. Refer to Amazon EC2 Mac Instances. ... Annapurna Labs, the team responsible for the AWS in-house silicon designs. The firmware for these · cards is developed and maintained by dedicated AWS engineering teams.
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Mvdirona
perspectives.mvdirona.com › 2019 › 02 › aws-nitro-system
AWS Nitro System – Perspectives
In the case of AWS NICs, the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) is the device driver support for our NICs. This driver is now included in all major operating systems and distributions. The Nitro Card for VPC supports network packet encapsulation/decapsulation, implements EC2 security groups, enforces ...
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AWS
reinvent.awsevents.com › content › dam › reinvent › 2024 › slides › fsi › FSI307_Securing-sensitive-data-processing-with-AWS-Nitro-Enclaves.pdf pdf
Securing sensitive data processing with AWS Nitro Enclaves
AWS Nitro System · Use case and example · Q&A · © 2024, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. What is confidential computing? P R O T E C T I N G C U S T O M E R C O D E A N D S E N S I T I V E D A T A I N U S E · © 2024, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
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Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com › item
Reinventing virtualization with the AWS Nitro System | Hacker News
July 22, 2020 - Speaking of which, if anybody who works on EC2 is reading this it would be great if you could continue exposing more MSRs and bare metal features. rr in particular would like MSR_INTEL_MISC_FEATURES_ENABLES to be available[1], which would enable trace portability for traces recorded on EC2 ...
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UCSD
cseweb.ucsd.edu › ~yiying › cse291-fall22 › reading › Nitro.pdf pdf
AWS Nitro Presented by Lavanya Karthikeyan
AWS Nitro System · Nitro Cards · Network Card · • Network accelerator is connected to a · standard NIC · • CPU directly talks to a network · accelerator ·
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ServeTheHome
servethehome.com › networking › aws nitro the big cloud dpu deployment detailed
AWS Nitro the Big Cloud DPU Deployment Detailed
December 3, 2021 - Nitro cards effectively are designed to take the VPC networking, EBS storage, local SSD storage, and the management controller functions from the hypervisor. Amazon AWS Nitro Next To Before Nitro Xen Hypervisor
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AWSstatic
d1.awsstatic.com › events › Summits › awsreinforce2023 › DAP401_Security-design-of-the-AWS-Nitro-System.pdf pdf
© 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
AWS Nitro System · Nitro Cards · Nitro Security Chip · Nitro Hypervisor · • Local NVMe storage · • Elastic Block Storage · • Instance storage · • System controller · • Hardware root of trust · • Integrated into · motherboard · • Protects hardware resources ·
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Medium
vik-y.medium.com › most-developers-dont-know-about-aws-nitro-system-find-out-why-20e2d0d32898
Most Developers Dont Know about AWS Nitro System: Find Out Why | by Vikas Yadav | Medium
May 27, 2024 - Function: The primary Nitro Card that manages all components and firmware, stored securely on an encrypted SSD. It uses a TPM and secure boot for encryption key protection. Benefit: Ensures system integrity and security, acting as a trusted intermediary. Imagine you need to launch an EC2 instance. Here’s how the AWS Nitro System facilitates this process:
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MeviTech
blog.mevi.tech › aws-nitro-system
AWS Nitro System
July 3, 2023 - These cards are designed to offload specific tasks related to virtualization, networking, and storage, thereby improving the performance, security, and efficiency of AWS EC2 instances.
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Medium
medium.com › @boutnaru › the-aws-concept-journey-aws-nitro-card-220a751c8684
The AWS Concept Journey — AWS Nitro Card | by Shlomi Boutnaru, Ph.D. | Medium
May 23, 2024 - Thus, we can say that there are different types of “Nitro Cards”: “Nitro Card for VPC” (PCIe attached Network Interface Card ), “Nitro Card for EBS” (implemented as NVMe which supports different capabilities such as transparent encryption), “Nitro Card for Instance Storage” (NVMe for local EC2 instance storage) and “Nitro Card Controller” which coordinates all other Nitro cards/server hypervisor/”Nitro Security Chip” (https://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2019/02/aws-nitro-system/) — more on each of those in future writeups.