Item: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
Rating: 9
Author: Apurv Doshi

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Amazon EC2 across the whole organization. We solve different business problems using EC2 as mentioned below:
1. We host multiple backend and cloud solutions on EC2.
2. When we want to train Machine Learning Models that need heavy computation and GPU power, we go with EC2.
3. Some solutions are not mandatory to keep up all the time. We use cloud formation script which spins up EC2 - host the solution and thrash it down when not needed.

Pros and Cons

EC2 has wide variety of machine configurations. If the intended solutions are memory heavy, CPU heavy, GPU heavy or IO heavy, EC2 will provide proper machine configurations as per the requirements.
EC2 has lot of Machine Images to setup OS and required softwares. It also allows you to create the image of your own disk. This facilitates user to stop the EC2 instance without loosing the work. It helps to reduce the bill. The image can be attached again to EC2 to start from the same place from where it was left.
Amazon allows different way to obtain instances like on-demand, spot and reserved. Depending upon the need, one can take wise decision to save cost and address the situation in the best possible way.

This service is a bit difficult to consume. New users need a big learning curve to use this service effectively.
UI for EC2 service is a little complex and at many places, it misses detailed explanation.
Sometimes it takes too long to create images of EC2 instances. This keeps your EC2 up for that extra time. When instances are heavy, it penalizes a lot of money.

Return on Investment

It reduced the need for heavy on-premises instances. Also, it completely eliminates maintenance of the machine. Their SLA criteria are also matching business needs. Overall IAAS is the best option when information is not so crucial to post on the cloud.
It makes both horizontal and vertical scaling really easy. This keeps your infrastructure up and running even while you are increasing the capacity or facing more traffic. This leads to having better customer satisfaction.
If you do not choose your instance type suitable for your business, it may incur lots of extra costs.

Support Rating

They have very strict SLA. We are a partner with Amazon and have always received great support for the issues we faced.

Key Insights

Do you think Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

EC2 is extremely suited when you want to do prototyping before purchasing heavy instance on-premises. This provides a clear indication that what kind of configuration is best suited for the need and demand. It is also flexible in terms of acquiring computational capabilities by spot instance, on-demand instance and reserved instances. We are using it a lot to train Machine Learning models. We made sure the script runs well on a small instance and once the script is finalized, we switch to bigger instances for faster computation.
Since EC2 is a complex service, it requires proper monitoring of usage. While users are a novice, it requires a bit more examination for proper usage.

Other Software Used

Microsoft Office 365, Zoom, Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Alternatives Considered

Google Compute Engine

EC2 has better modes, a variety of instances and UI support as compare to GCE. GCE is completely command driven. As compared to it EC2 provides a better user interface.

EC2 - Excellent Cloud Computing Service

Overall Satisfaction with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)