Hi. We're just getting a new startup off the ground and are looking at our options. Currently we are running 4 webservers, but are looking at Amazong EC2 and S3. What are your experiences? Financially how does it compare? What other similar services are there? Would be interested in finding out :) Thanks
If you plan to use a small, fixed number of servers and run them 24/7, then EC2 probably will not save you much. It may even be more expensive. The price advantage works best for tasks that need flexibility. Sites that alternate between high demand and low demand, periodic or one-off processing intensive tasks where a 24/7 server is overkill-- that's where you really see the benefits of EC2.
It really depends on what you are planning to do.
1. If you need a server for a longer term - or need to make serve web pages on demand then ec2 doesnt seem like a very good option - not that cheap, server might trip and you might loose state, and respnose times are not that great.
2. It is good for batch processing tasks that you can pile on multiple machines and then let go of the machines. You get work done faster (parallel) and is cheaper than any other option out there.<p>
I don't really think that EC2 should be considered a direct replacement for dedicated servers for your average web app, but if you have a need that can leverage the on-demand nature of EC2, then it's a great solution.<p>We use S3 and love it.
Thanks to everyone who's posted. I've been reading about some negatives - slow response times. Has this been fixed or is it something that still happens still now?