Which Amazon service provides virtual servers in the cloud?

The correct answer is AWS EC2, which stands for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. This service provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud, allowing users to launch virtual servers, known as instances, to run applications. With EC2, users have the flexibility to scale resources up or down based on their specific needs, pay for only what they use, and choose from a variety of instance types based on performance and configuration requirements. Its scalable and flexible nature makes it a fundamental part of cloud infrastructure, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and manage applications without the hassle of physical hardware.

In contrast, AWS S3 (Simple Storage Service) is designed for object storage, primarily used to store and retrieve data, rather than providing compute resources. AWS RDS (Relational Database Service) is a managed database service that allows you to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud; it doesn't provide virtual servers. AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management) is related to managing user access and permissions within AWS services but does not pertain to offering virtual servers. Thus, EC2 is specifically tailored to deliver the virtual server capability within the AWS ecosystem.