Item: Amazon Web Services
Rating: 9
Author: Tyler Cook

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Amazon Web Services as our primary compute platform. We run our primary applications and run our business from the Amazon cloud. As an IT professional, AWS cuts out the busy work of IT. AWS lets me focus on the needs to the business and not the needs of datacenter hardware. We're able to deploy new systems within minutes without needing to worry about having enough server capacity.

Pros and Cons

The platform is extremely agile, we will typically get a new server request fulfilled within minutes
AWS hardware is reliable, we don't worry about the on premise data center environment.
They have tools and services that allow you to create anything you need.

AWS can be overwhelming with the vast amount of services they provide. It can be tough to pick the right option to fit the goal you're trying to accomplish
There is some reliance on your own skills to create tools\functionally that isn't native. Like scheduling backups.
There is a steep learning curve to the platform.

Return on Investment

We're able to adjust our compute spend by suspending\powering off systems during off hours
Our server up time is higher than it was on premise. Our users are able to work without intteruptions
Compared to an on premise datacenter the cost is roughly the same if not slightly higher.

Alternatives Considered

VMware vCenter Server

I came from a VMware environment and had used VMware for the past 10 years. The work required to purchase hardware, sign contracts with VMware, install the hypervisor, buy a storage array, configure your network layer, create a VM template, clone the template to VM and configure the OS... It's just too much wasted time and effort to support.

I can create an AWS account and within 10 minutes I can start spinning up new servers and start working.

The time savings alone is what draws us to use AWS.

Support Rating

I've been using AWS as our primary compute platform for almost 2 years. During that time I've opened no more than 4 support cases. Typically those were for questions to get answered and not hard down scenarios. Their support is quick, very processional, and work with you to help solve your problem.

Key Insights

Do you think Amazon Web Services delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Amazon Web Services's feature set?

Yes

Did Amazon Web Services live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Amazon Web Services go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Amazon Web Services again?

Yes

Other Software Used

VMware vCenter Server, Druva CloudRanger, Okta Workforce Identity

Likelihood to Recommend

If you need to expand your compute footprint quickly without having to go through the hardware acquisition process. Amazon Web Services can help quickly augment your on prem compute power to run the one off yearly processes without leaving you with unused hardware for 10 months of the year.

If you're looking to get out of hosting your own datacenter, AWS is a perfect replacement.

If you're looking to scale your website, or even host your own small business Amazon is the ideal solution.

Once you no longer need to worry about the underlying hardware to run your servers you can truly focus your time on adding value to your company.

Welcome to Cloud City

Overall Satisfaction with Amazon Web Services