Chief Technology Architect - Agile/Devops Evangelist at Sandz Solutions
Real User
Error-free experience that is really well-tested
Pros and Cons
  • "The experience with Amazon AWS is error-free. That was also, of course, something that I really appreciate. That means it's really well-tested and, as published or as declared."
  • "I'm just bugged by the charges that I'm not really able to manage."

What is most valuable?

The experience with Amazon AWS is error-free. That was also, of course, something that I really appreciate. That means it's really well-tested and, as published or as declared. So it works as-is. I think the interfaces are really quite usable and something that I think is user friendly.

What needs improvement?

I'm just bugged by the charges that I'm not really able to manage. If there is so much little stuff, that I enabled from time to time, then I get lost. And then I tend to forget about that. It would be better if there was a corresponding notification as well. I would like to see a notification indicating you have not used this instance. You might want to turn it off so as not to incur the cost or something like that. But because most of my usage is charged to my credit card. It's disappointing and frustrating at times. If they could provide some kind of entry point. Something similar to WordPress where small businesses could have an easy way to come up with a site that could behosted immediately.

For how long have I used the solution?

My access to Amazon AWS is not so deep. I just set up VPCs and clusters or running an instance

How are customer service and support?

I would say I'm quite satisfied. They're very pleasant to talk to and very helpful.

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Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I would say that the Microsoft Azure interface is a lot slicker. But the last time I use it was around 2018. So comparing the interfaces in the dashboard views I think the Azure has the edge.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a little bit challenging because understandably it also tends to protect the user in terms of the security, both the user and the system. So if I understand and appreciate that level of complexity in setting how to access it, setting up the identities, and then once you get through it, I think the interfaces are really quite usable and something that I think is user friendly.

What other advice do I have?

I would certainly recommend Amazon AWS. It's very useful because you can easily try out your compute requirements, whatever storage or whatever other services that you may want. I would rate Amazon AWS at an eight on a scale of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
it_user697047 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Architect / Senior Software Engineer / AWS Cloud Architect / Azure Cloud Architect / DevOps Engineer at a tech services company
Consultant
Stable and fast cloud provider.
Pros and Cons
    • "I generally don't like the user experience of Amazon. It's not the best."

    How has it helped my organization?

    With AWS services, we can focus on our products, and that makes our customers happier! Also we can provide higher SLAs for our customers.

    What is most valuable?

    I have been using almost every service on AWS for years. I'm trying to test every new service as soon as possible.

    The main idea of using AWS is its ability to act so fast! We used to have servers on-prem data-centers. When you needed a new server/device/configuration, it could take hours/days/weeks based on the demand. Now I can have what I need in couple of minutes. That is amazing!

    Of course there are other cloud providers, but AWS is far the best on both technology and stability. You can find cheaper providers, but you shouldn't risk your business just for saving some dollars.

    AWS gives you chance to concentrate on your business and products which I believe is the most important thing, especially for start-ups.

    Here are the services that I'm currently using on AWS:
    EC2, ECS, Elastic Beanstalk, Lambda, S3, EFS, Glacier, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Redshift, CloudWatch, CloudFormation,OpsWorks, VPC, CloudFront, Route53, IAM, Certificate Manager, ElasticSearch Service, WorkDocs, WorkMail, SQS, SES, SNS, and API Gateway.

    What needs improvement?

    These days, technology is changing every day and AWS is one of the leaders of this change. They are at least one step ahead of you, which is great. You can have new technology as soon as possible. I think in general there is no need for improvement. All I can suggest would be a cleaner designed console. I generally don't like the user experience of Amazon. It's not the best. You can see the same at AWS Console. I'd be happier If the design and the user experience would more simple. Sometimes I feel that there are lots of texts on the page which makes harder to find what you are looking for.

    We have nearly 100% uptime using AWS resources which makes us provide higher SLA's for our customers.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have never faced any issues with the stability. This is one of the reasons why I chose AWS. They are more stable than any other cloud provider.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The best feature for most of the users is scalability. You don't need to reserve lots of servers just for peak times! AWS is doing this perfectly.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    AWS has great support engineers. There are several types of support packages. Based on your package, they support you in their SLAs. Until now, they helped me well with every single ticket that I've issued.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I've never switched to any other cloud provider, but I've tested nearly all of them. Testing all providers gives you a great chance to compare services. To be honest, most of the time AWS was better.

    How was the initial setup?

    Creating an account from AWS web-page is straightforward. Everyone can easily complete the registration process. Some people are thinking twice when they've asked for their credit card, but this is the nature of cloud systems. You'll pay as much as you use. It's one of the aspects of having everything easy and fast.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    If you can plan capacity for one or three years, you can use the upfront payment option which allows you to save up to 50%.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I'm testing every major cloud provider regularly. Other than AWS, I've used Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Digital Ocean.

    What other advice do I have?

    AWS has great how-to documents and videos. You can use these materials. We are here to help them whatever they need on their cloud migration/usage. They can find detailed information from http://calico-technologies.co.... or they can send an email to info@calico-technologies.co.uk or to me.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Calico Technologies supports their clients with their AWS needs. Detailed information can be found on http://calico-technologies.co.uk.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user702306 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user702306Works at a tech company with 51-200 employees
    Vendor

    sds

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    Buyer's Guide
    Amazon AWS
    March 2024
    Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    PeerSpot user
    Independent Analyst and Advisory Consultant at Server StorageIO - www.storageio.com
    Consultant
    Top 20
    Cloud conversations: Gaining cloud confidence from insights into AWS outages

    PART I

    In case you missed it, there were some public cloud outages during the recent Christmas 2012-holiday season. One incident involved Microsoft Xbox (view the Microsoft Azure status dashboard here) users were impacted, and the other was another Amazon Web Services (AWS) incident. Microsoft and AWS are not alone, most if not all cloud services have had some type of incident and have gone on to improve from those outages. Google has had issues with different applications and services including some in December 2012 along with a Gmail incident that received covered back in 2011.

    For those interested, here is a link to the AWS status dashboard and a link to the AWS December 24 2012 incident postmortem. In the case of the recent AWS incident which affected users such as Netflix, the incident (read the AWS postmortem and Netflix postmortem) was tied to a human error. This is not to say AWS has more outages or incidents vs. others including Microsoft, it just seems that we hear more about AWS when things happen compared to others. That could be due to AWS size and arguably market leading status, diversity of services and scale at which some of their clients are using them.

    Btw, if you were not aware, Microsoft Azure is more than just about supporting SQLserver, Exchange, SharePoint or Office, it is also an IaaS layer for running virtual machines such as Hyper-V, as well as a storage target for storing data. You can use Microsoft Azure storage services as a target for backing up or archiving or as general storage, similar to using AWS S3 or Rackspace Cloud files or other services. Some backup and archiving AaaS and SaaS providers including Evault partner with Microsoft Azure as a storage repository target.

    When reading some of the coverage of these recent cloud incidents, I am not sure if I am more amazed by some of the marketing cloud washing, or the cloud bashing and uniformed reporting or lack of research and insight. Then again, if someone repeats a myth often enough for others to hear and repeat, as it gets amplified, the myth may assume status of reality. After all, you may know the expression that if it is on the internet then it must be true?

    Have AWS and public cloud services become a lightning rod for when things go wrong?

    Here is some coverage of various cloud incidents:

    Huffington post coverage of February 2011 Google Gmail incident
    Microsoft Azure coverage by Allthingsd.com
    Neowin.net covering Microsoft Xbox incident
    Google’s Gmail blog coverage of Gmail outage
    Forbes article Amazon AWS Takes Down Netflix on Christmas Eve
    Over at Performance Critical Apps they assert the AWS incident was Netflix fault
    From The Virtualization Practice: Amazon Ruining Public Cloud Computing?
    Here is Netflix architect Adrian Cockcroft discussing the recent incident
    From StorageIOblog Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Netflix Fix?
    From CRN, here are some cloud service availability status via Nasuni

    The above are a small sampling of different stories, articles, columns, blogs, perspectives about cloud services outages or other incidents. Assuming the services are available, you can Google or Bing many others along with reading postmortems to gain insight into what happened, the cause, effect and how to prevent in the future.

    Do these recent incidents show a trend of increased cloud outages? Alternatively, do they say that the cloud services are being used more and on a larger basis, thus the impacts become more known?

    Perhaps it is a mix of the above, and like when a magnetic storage tape gets lost or stolen, it makes for good news or copy, something to write about. Granted there are fewer tapes actually lost than in the past, and far fewer vs. lost or stolen laptops and other devices with data on them. There are probably other reasons such as the lightning rod effect given how much industry hype around clouds that when something does happen, the cynics or foes come out in force, sometimes with FUD.

    Similar to traditional hardware or software based product vendors, some service providers have even tried to convince me that they have never had an incident, lost or corrupted or compromised any data, yeah, right. Candidly, I put more credibility and confidence in a vendor or solution provider who tells me that they have had incidents and taken steps to prevent them from recurring. Granted those steps might be made public while others might be under NDA, at least they are learning and implementing improvements.

    As part of gaining insights, here are some links to AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure and other service status dashboards where you can view current and past situations.

    AWS service status dashboard
    Bluehost server status dashboard
    Google App status dashboard
    HP cloud service status console (requires login)
    Microsoft Azure service status dashboard
    Microsoft Xbox service status dashboard
    Rackspace service status dashboards

    PART II
    There is good information, insight and lessons to be learned from cloud outages and other incidents.

    Sorry cynics no that does not mean an end to clouds, as they are here to stay. However when and where to use them, along with what best practices, how to be ready and configure for use are part of the discussion. This means that clouds may not be for everybody or all applications, or at least today. For those who are into clouds for the long haul (either all in or partially) including current skeptics, there are many lessons to be learned and leveraged.

    In order to gain confidence in clouds, some questions that I routinely am asked include are clouds more or less reliable than what you are doing? Depends on what you are doing, and how you will be using the cloud services. If you are applying HA and other BC or resiliency best practices, you may be able to configure and isolate from the more common situations. On the other hand, if you are simply using the cloud services as a low-cost alternative selecting the lowest price and service class (SLAs and SLOs), you might get what you paid for. Thus, clouds are a shared responsibility, the service provider has things they need to do, and the user or person designing how the service will be used have some decisions making responsibilities.

    Keep in mind that high availability (HA), resiliency, business continuance (BC) along with disaster recovery (DR) are the sum of several pieces. This includes people, best practices, processes including change management, good design eliminating points of failure and isolating or containing faults, along with how the components or technology used (e.g. hardware, software, networks, services, tools). Good technology used in goods ways can be part of a highly resilient flexible and scalable data infrastructure. Good technology used in the wrong ways may not leverage the solutions to their full potential.

    While it is easy to focus on the physical technologies (servers, storage, networks, software, facilities), many of the cloud services incidents or outages have involved people, process and best practices so those need to be considered.

    These incidents or outages bring awareness, a level set, that this is still early in the cloud evolution lifecycle and to move beyond seeing clouds as just a way to cut cost, and seeing the importance and value HA, resiliency, BC and DR. This means learning from mistakes, taking action to correct or fix errors, find and cut points of failure are part of a technology maturing or the use of it. These all tie into having services with service level agreements (SLAs) with service level objectives (SLOs) for availability, reliability, durability, accessibility, performance and security among others to protect against mayhem or other things that can and do happen.

    The reason I mentioned earlier that AWS had another incident is that like their peers or competitors who have incidents in the past, AWS appears to be going through some growing, maturing, evolution related activities. During summer 2012 there was an AWS incident that affected Netflix (read more here: AWS and the Netflix Fix?). It should also be noted that there were earlier AWS outages where Netflix (read about Netflix architecture here) leveraged resiliency designs to try and prevent mayhem when others were impacted.

    Is AWS a lightning rod for things to happen, a point of attraction for Mayhem and others?

    Granted given their size, scope of services and how being used on a global basis AWS is blazing new territory and experiences, similar to what other information services delivery platforms did in the past. What I mean is that while taken for granted today, open systems Unix, Linux, Windows-based along with client-server, midrange or distributed systems, not to mention mainframe hardware, software, networks, processes, procedures, best practices all went through growing pains.

    There are a couple of interesting threads going on over in various LinkedIn Groups based on some reporters stories including on speculation of what happened, followed with some good discussions of what actually happened and how to prevent recurrence of them in the future.

    Over in the Cloud Computing, SaaS & Virtualization group forum, this thread is based on a Forbes article (Amazon AWS Takes Down Netflix on Christmas Eve) and involves conversations about SLAs, best practices, HA and related themes. Have a look at the story the thread is based on and some of the assertions being made, and ensuing discussions.

    Also over at LinkedIn, in the Cloud Hosting & Service Providers group forum, this thread is based on a story titled Why Netflix’ Christmas Eve Crash Was Its Own Fault with a good discussion on clouds, HA, BC, DR, resiliency and related themes.

    Over at the Virtualization Practice, there is a piece titled Is Amazon Ruining Public Cloud Computing? with comments from me and Adrian Cockcroft (@Adrianco) a Netflix Architect (you can read his blog here). You can also view some presentations about the Netflix architecture here.

    What this all means

    Saying you get what you pay for would be too easy and perhaps not applicable.

    There are good services free, or low-cost, just like good free content and other things, however vice versa, just because something costs more, does not make it better.

    Otoh, there are services that charge a premium however may have no better if not worse reliability, same with content for fee or perceived value that is no better than what you get free.

    Additional related material

    Cloud conversations: confidence, certainty and confidentiality
    Only you can prevent cloud data loss (shared responsibility)
    The blame game: Does cloud storage result in data loss?
    Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Netflix Fix?
    Cloud conversations: AWS Government Cloud (GovCloud)
    Everything Is Not Equal in the Data center
    Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) – Intel Recommended Reading List

    Some closing thoughts:

    Clouds are real and can be used safely; however, they are a shared responsibility.
    Only you can prevent cloud data loss, which means do your homework, be ready.
    If something can go wrong, it probably will, particularly if humans are involved.
    Prepare for the unexpected and clarify assumptions vs. realities of service capabilities.
    Leverage fault isolation and containment to prevent rolling or spreading disasters.
    Look at cloud services beyond lowest cost or for cost avoidance.
    What is your organizations culture for learning from mistakes vs. fixing blame?
    Ask yourself if you, your applications and organization are ready for clouds.
    Ask your cloud providers if they are ready for you and your applications.
    Identify what your cloud concerns are to decide what can be done about them.
    Do a proof of concept to decide what types of clouds and services are best for you.

    Do not be scared of clouds, however be ready, do your homework, learn from the mistakes, misfortune and errors of others. Establish and leverage known best practices while creating new ones. Look at the past for guidance to the future, however avoid clinging to, and bringing the baggage of the past to the future. Use new technologies, tools and techniques in new ways vs. using them in old ways.

    Disclosure: I am a customer of AWS for EC2, EBS, S3 and Glacier as well as a customer of Bluehost for hosting and Rackspace for backups. Other than Amazon being a seller of my books (and my blog via Kindle) along with running ads on my sites and being an Amazon Associates member (Google also has ads), none of those mentioned are or have been StorageIO clients.

    [To view all of the links mentioned in this post, go to:
    http://storageioblog.com/cloud-conversations-gaining-cloud-confidence-from-insights-into-aws-outages/ ]

    Some updates:

    http://storageioblog.com/november-2013-server-storageio-update-newsletter/

    http://storageioblog.com/fall-2013-aws-cloud-storage-compute-enhancements/

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user6186 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user6186Independent Analyst and Advisory Consultant at Server StorageIO - www.storageio.com
    Top 20Consultant

    AWS EFS (Elastic File Service) is now available with AWS clouds.

    PeerSpot user
    Founder Director at hobbycue.com
    Real User
    Good performance, reasonably priced, and supports helpful Lambda functions
    Pros and Cons
    • "We write a lot of Lambda functions for various services, as well as serverless functions."
    • "We would like to see if AWS includes any inbuilt automation. Also, we are very interested in AWS's AI/ML features, as well as IoT, AR, and VR."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are doing our own custom development, which is run on AWS.

    We have done a lot of work using Amazon AWS.

    All of our deployments are hosted on the Amazon AWS Cloud. Because many of our client requirements are on AWS, we have our own AWS development environment, and then we use GitLab to migrate it to the client environment.

    What is most valuable?

    We write a lot of Lambda functions for various services, as well as serverless functions.

    We use Amazon S3 to store a large amount of data and images.

    We also use Amazon DynamoDB Database for many of our developments.

    Many of these features are already available on AWS. We're just getting started, and we're still learning a lot.

    The performance is good.

    What needs improvement?

    We would like to see if AWS includes any inbuilt automation. Also, we are very interested in AWS's AI/ML features, as well as IoT, AR, and VR.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using Amazon AWS for the last couple of years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability of Amazon AWS is good. We have not had any issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is easy to scale.

    In our company, we have approximately 20 people who are using Amazon AWS, on a daily basis.

    How are customer service and support?

    We have a few issues in the beginning during the setup, but we were able to resolve them ourselves.

    We are satisfied with the technical support.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    The development is primarily on Python, Node.JS, and Java technologies.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was quite complex at first, but once we got the hang of it, it was simple.

    It took a week to complete the installation from scratch.

    Because it is a cloud product, it does not require a lot of maintenance. We have CloudWatch and some alerts set up, which is how we manage everything, including utilization.

    What about the implementation team?

    We completed the installation internally.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing is fair. We don't have any issues with the pricing.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I was evaluating different ways to incorporate RPA.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others who are considering using it. 

    It's very scalable and serverless. We are only charged for the functions that we use. This includes Lambda, which is a nice feature, in my opinion.

    I would rate Amazon AWS an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Technical Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
    MSP
    It covers a lot of services, including computing, networking, storage, IoT, and management
    Pros and Cons
    • "We use AWS for multiple purposes, such as developing APIs and API integration using API Gateway. We use API Gateway, Python Combinator, Lambda Glue, and ETL Process. We have used EMR for big data processing. If we need a tool for computing, we go with the Lamda DMS. There are many services available in AWS that meet our needs."
    • "AWS has room for improvement on the Kubernetes side. I would like to go a little deeper into the Kubernetes target, Elastic, inner system, and all that. The EKS, target, and all these areas need to be improved, but that is not my key area because I am mostly working on the application side."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use AWS for multiple purposes, such as developing APIs and API integration using API Gateway. We use API Gateway, Python Combinator, Lambda Glue, and ETL Process. We have used EMR for big data processing. If we need a tool for computing, we go with the Lamda DMS. There are many services available in AWS that meet our needs.

    What is most valuable?

    The feature that's most valuable depends on your use case. Elasticsearch is good for testing and DynamoDb for database applications. There are so many things I could name, but you have to go with the service that is right for the use case you are looking for.

    What needs improvement?

    AWS has room for improvement on the Kubernetes side. I would like to go a little deeper into the Kubernetes target, Elastic, inner system, and all that. The EKS, target, and all these areas need to be improved, but that is not my key area because I am mostly working on the application side. However, I sometimes still need to work with Kubernetes container management.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using AWS for the last seven years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    AWS has "11 9s" service availability, which means the service is available 99.99999999999 percent of the time. 

    How are customer service and support?

    I would rate AWS support four out of five. They're good. I can activate cases on the technical calendar through AWS development support. I've gotten a lot of support through AWS Blue. 

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    The deployment complexity depends on which template you're using: AWS Terraform or CloudFormation. It's easiest to deploy services via Terraform, so you can go with that. That is the most straightforward way, and you can do all automation within Terraform.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate AWS nine out of 10. Everything is moving to the cloud now, and AWS covers a lot of services, including computing, networking, storage, IoT, and management, and they are good in every way.

    They face competition from GCP and Azure, but Azure is entirely a Microsoft stack, so people will go with that when they're working with Microsoft solutions. It is a little cheaper than AWS. In the end, the cloud you choose depends on the use case. It's up to the customer.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
    PeerSpot user
    Mitul Rajput - PeerSpot reviewer
    GM COE at Anuntatech Management Services Ltd
    Real User
    Top 5Leaderboard
    Easy to implement, with good technical support and great performance
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution can scale well."
    • "There's a huge cost for support."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily use it for our clients, for infrastructure purposes. 

    What is most valuable?

    The solution has been stable. 

    The solution can scale well.

    Implementing the solution is very simple. 

    What needs improvement?

    There are a lot of scripts and data forms are available. For us, it's not required as much now. I don't know what should do that could be extra.

    They should offer fixed costs instead of basing it on consumption. There's a huge cost for support.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We've used the solution for two years. It's been a while. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable and reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have four customers as of now in AWS.

    Right now, they are developing in India. more regions are coming online as they grow. 

    Scalability is quite good.

    How are customer service and support?

    Technical support has been very good. We don't have any complaints. We are satisfied with the level of support on offer.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation of AWS is straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. They make it pretty simple. 

    If you have past experience with deploying AWS, then it shouldn't take more than a week. 

    We have 15-20 team members that work across different technologies and they can handle deployment. We have a team of just over 20 that can handle maintenance. They are admins.

    What about the implementation team?

    We can deploy the solution for our clients. We have a team that can manage the process. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing and licensing are good. It's a bit better than, for example, Azure. They have a different model for charging clients. 

    Technical support costs extra. It could be cheaper.

    What other advice do I have?

    We have customers who use the solution.

    I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    PKI Policies Manager at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
    Real User
    Stable, scalable and flexible
    Pros and Cons
    • "I especially like the flexibility and scalability of the solution."
    • "While feasible, custom configuration will be more time consuming than standard."

    What is our primary use case?

    While I cannot say for certain, I believe that we are using the latest version. 

    We primarily use the solution to rent servers for storing certain commercial applications.

    What is most valuable?

    I especially like the flexibility and scalability of the solution. It is totally scalable. 

    What needs improvement?

    While feasible, custom configuration will be more time consuming than standard, although we have not encountered many instances which required us to seek support or advice.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I believe we have been using Amazon AWS for more than 10 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is absolutely stable. This is one of its best features. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is absolutely scalable. 

    Amazon allows us to scale up and then down, something important to one of our customers who was in need of temporary increases in the throughput provided to the servers. This allowed us to meet the client's needs for the days or weeks that they required more dynamically located servers, after which we were able to scale down. This we were able to do through Amazon. This was difficult to accomplish beforehand, as the client had private servers for which he was forced to buy machines which he would subsequently keep. 

    How are customer service and support?

    I cannot comment on Amazon's technical support, as we have not made use of it. 

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We did use other solutions prior to Amazon AWS. We made use of local service and dealt with projects involving Google and Microsoft. We also used Microsoft Azure. 

    Not long ago  we used Microsoft Azure, though this is necessary with some of our projects. We have different projects which vary with the customer's specifications. Some utilize Azure, although most require the use of Amazon. 

    When comparing Microsoft Azure with Amazon AWS, I do not see much disparity. It really comes down to a business choice. If the customer is familiar with Microsoft, then the testing team maintaining the product will need to be acquainted with it as well and its ongoing use is required. Similarly, Amazon will continue to be employed if this is already the case. As such, the difference betwen the solutions does not come down to considerations of a technical nature as they are largely similar. The primary consideration is one of business, the use of one solution and provider over another. 

    How was the initial setup?

    When it comes to standard configuration, the installation is quick, usually taking one or two days to complete. Custom configuration, while feasible, takes somewhat longer. So far, we have not had many instances in which we required support or advice concerning custom configurations. 

    The technical team would be in a better position than I to address any technical issues involved in the setup. From my perspective as a project manager, I feel what we have to be sufficiently good. There is much advertising, information on the advantages of the product and guides available. 

    What about the implementation team?

    Installation was carried out by our own internal integration team, not externally outsourced. I did not handle it myself. It was done by a team specialist. 

    The technical team responsible for the deployment consists primarily of engineers. 

    What was our ROI?

    I cannot comment on whether we have seen an ROI, return on investment, as I do not possess this information.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The licensing cost varies with the project involved. Certain projects run around $6,000 per month, some less and others more. We handled many projects, each with its own complexities and specifications. The price ranges of the licenses varies with the complexity of the project. 

    What other advice do I have?

    Broadly speaking, there is a need to rely on specialists for properly setting up one's accounts and addressing his needs. This is not specific to Amazon, however, but is something prevalent with all providers.

    I have assumed the role of both customer and integrator. In the past, I worked as a project manager with different projects employing Amazon products, services and software. 

    For the most part, the solutions I used have been public, not private, such as AWS cloud. 

    The number of users of the solution varies with the individual project. This can range from 20 to 200 to 500 users. 

    Our teams have undertaken every role, be them architecture, development, design or testing. They are all internally integrated. 

    I am a fan of Amazon products and generally recommend them to others. Of course, we employ Azure and Google products when the customer specifically requests these. 

    Since all products have room for improvement, even when this is not apparent to me, I rate Amazon AWS as a nine out of ten.

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    CEO at Fit Ideas
    Real User
    Provides stable, on-demand cloud computing platforms
    Pros and Cons
    • "It's easy to manage. We can use a wide range of technologies with AWS."
    • "I would like to receive some alerts when my consumption is getting out of the normal range."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution to deploy our products.

    Within our company, there are at least five people using this solution. Usually, they are technical people — some software developers and a couple of infrastructure managers.

    Whether we decide to increase our usage with this solution depends on our business development.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It allows us to deploy a production environment using Oracle Database, an API integrator, or by using our development tools. 

    What is most valuable?

    It's easy to manage. We can use a wide range of technologies with AWS.

    What needs improvement?

    It's very easy to configure and to use the platform, but we would like to be notified about our consumption. The consumption is a critical point for us because we are not always using the platform, but sometimes we receive high charges — high amounts of money for services that we didn't even use during that month, for instance.

    I would like to receive some alerts when my consumption is getting out of the normal range.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Amazon AWS for roughly two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's pretty stable. We haven't had any problems with the platform. Overall, I think it's quite optimized.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability-wise, haven't had any issues. We work with small to medium-sized solutions so we haven't really needed to test the limits.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We haven't really had to contact technical support. The documentation is very complete and easy to understand. 

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We tried using a Google cloud platform, but we had some configuration problems with some programs like WordPress. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is very straightforward. I wasn't involved in the deployment, but I believe it took less than four hours.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The price could be lower. Currently, we spend between $300 to $1,000 dollars a month to use this solution. We try to avoid using a license if we can.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend AWS to other interested companies. It's a very stable platform. It's easy to use and you don't have to be an expert to deploy your first project. Obviously, you'll need to make use of some advanced features, but in that case, support is always available. 

    On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: March 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.