Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Customizable AMI, good on-prem connectivity, and good load balancing
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the AMI-related features. A very good feature of this solution is the customizable AMI. It is a very good feature provided by Amazon. The encryption technologies are also very good. We are using KMS, etc."
  • "They can build automatic features for ENSS or network drive. They have the Control-M feature. Similarly, they should have a feature for the network drive that can be mapped. I have not seen such a feature. They have a lot of products but those are quite costly. There is no cheaper option available for the EC2 instance for syncing two drives. If these features are available, it would be good."

What is our primary use case?

We are using EC2 for a couple of things. We have integration with Control-M. We have on-prem integration with the on-prem Control-M systems, and we are using EC2 for that. We are also using EC2 for ECS as a worker node.

What is most valuable?

I like the AMI-related features. A very good feature of this solution is the customizable AMI. It is a very good feature provided by Amazon. The encryption technologies are also very good. We are using KMS, etc.

Load balancing of EC2 is another good feature. If we have a group of EC2s, automated load balancing or auto-scaling is there. Auto Scaling features are very good features.

The connectivity with on-prem is also very much supported. We didn't face any problems there. We had a requirement to integrate with the Control-M system, which transfers the files from one system to another system. For some reason, we were not able to use the ready-made or out-of-box feature provided by Amazon. We had to basically simulate the whole thing with EC2, and we didn't face any problems with this integration.

Another good feature is that we can go and create EC2 over the cloud service. It has also been very useful for data science purposes.

What needs improvement?

They can build automatic features for ENSS or network drive. They have the Control-M feature. Similarly, they should have a feature for the network drive that can be mapped. I have not seen such a feature. They have a lot of products but those are quite costly. There is no cheaper option available for the EC2 instance for syncing two drives. If these features are available, it would be good.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable. So far, there have been no issues. I didn't get any complaints regarding EC2.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There might be more than 200 people working on EC2.

How are customer service and support?

I didn't contact them for this solution.

How was the initial setup?

It is straightforward. When I first brought up the EC2 instance, I was still learning, and it hardly took 5 to 10 minutes.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others. I would rate it 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
VinayKumar2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Data Engineer at Seven Lakes Enterprises, Inc.
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Low-maintenance solution that provides scalability options and simple generation upgrades
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the scalability options, low maintenance, and options to upgrade. AWS support is also pretty good. The generation upgrade is pretty simple and standardized."
  • "Support doesn't share or give insights on OS-based issues. That needs to improve because if someone is buying an EC2 instance with the Windows server and SQL license, the client expects that there will be a minimum level of support."

What is our primary use case?

I'm using this solution for my company. We use multiple versions according to our needs and different types of instances and OS, like Windows, Linux, or auto-based.

The solution is deployed on a private cloud.

We have collaborated with AWS on different new service launches and POC, but we are not partners officially. We are a third party.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the scalability options, low maintenance, and options to upgrade. AWS support is also pretty good. The generation upgrade is pretty simple and standardized. Earlier when I gave a review, we were struggling with it, but now the process is straightforward and standardized. We would love it to be automated, but the way it is right now is okay.

What needs improvement?

We buy EC2 instances, we buy OS, and we also pay for OS licenses. Support doesn't share or give insights on OS-based issues. That needs to improve because if someone is buying an EC2 instance with the Windows server and SQL license, the client expects that there will be a minimum level of support. We are not looking for Dell support or troubleshooting, but we definitely look for issues that are complex at the OS level, generally.

We would also like to see a better logging mechanism, which can be helpful for the product or generation. An additional feature should be better OS-level support for loggings, which are visible only to AWS support. There should be a way to at least have admin-level access to those so that we can analyze better, or if they come up with the automated generation upgrade. Once you deploy those solutions, you end up using them for years, and in that generation change for those EC2 instances happen. So, automating those will be key.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for almost five months.

How are customer service and support?

Support is pretty good.

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

I have had a little bit of experience with Microsoft Azure. We evaluated it directly in the cloud.

If we compare different cloud providers, Microsoft has its own advantages, but EC2 is catching up quickly.

The advantage Microsoft has just depends on the typical use case. If you are a Microsoft customer and have been a customer for a few years, then you will probably find it easier to handle Azure than AWS. AWS has its certified AMIs available. But native support of Azure is better in terms of those technologies. Similarly, people generally find that AWS is a bit cheaper, but there are personal preferences or design concepts, which will be handled better depending upon the use case or tech stack in different cloud providers.

How was the initial setup?

Gradually, it has improved. Initially, it was complex but it's pretty standard now. It will depend upon who is installing it, their experience, and their familiarity with that cloud provider. Given that we have two rounds of experience, we found it to be pretty straightforward. If someone is new to AWS, it will probably take more time.

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

The price is reasonable, but there is definitely an opportunity to lower it in instances which are of a higher configuration, because they have been typically used for the long term. There should be custom plans that cater to certain customers who have their uses. The reserved instances prices for SQL server are not that great. We definitely look for such things. 

We are exploring different managed database services, like RDS and Serverless Aurora. There is a scope of implementation on those services, which are pretty new, and most capabilities which are available in instance-based services are not available in Aurora Serverless.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 7 out of 10. 

I will say AWS EC2 is a great place to start. Microsoft Azure is also good. The solution will be dependent upon the exact use case, but AWS EC2 is a good place to start.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Amazon EC2
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Amazon EC2. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
VinayKumar2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Data Engineer at Seven Lakes Enterprises, Inc.
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Offers compute services with a stable and maintenance-free structure, but the upgrade process needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is the ability to have standard operating systems along with the Windows, Linux operating systems, and their maintenance-free structure, which we prefer."
  • "One of the challenges is the AMI upgrades."

What is our primary use case?

We are using this solution for relational DB servers, application servers, and IaaS. We are also using it for SMTP and HTTP services, for compute services.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is the ability to have standard operating systems along with the Windows, Linux operating systems, and their maintenance-free structure, which we prefer.

What needs improvement?

One of the challenges is the AMI upgrades. For example, EC2 is running on a different AMI, and when we are trying to upgrade, it has mandatory manual processes involved. This is a problem for us. This is an area that we are looking forward to being taken care of or augmented.

Also, when we start doing upgrades, we start losing network connectivity.

We have some issues with the cost, as it's expensive.

They don't have much in the way of optimized support or OS-level support. Also, there is not much visibility in terms of the upgrade. This is an issue that we are facing at the moment.

We would like to see it have something quicker. When we reboot the EC2 instance, the time it takes to come up is a little on the higher side. We are not sure if it is better on the reserved instance, but with the on-demand instances, it's not great. There is no easy way that a preliminary support guy can quickly check why the system is down, or whether there is a network issue or not. These are things that are still convoluted and could be simplified.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is fine, we don't have any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is easy to scale, but it is not easy to change the generation or the instance title. If you are in the same generation it's fine, but upgrading older generations to new generations is painful.

We have more than 80 users in our company. Most of the users are using it daily. The Dev tech team uses it daily.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have a premium support license and they are efficient, but we have a few instances where the technical support was not very good. A few cases for support were not good but for the most part, they are efficient.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple with a few moderate complexities, but it's ok.

What about the implementation team?

We did not use an integrator or reseller, we managed ourselves.

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

The costs are quite high. For our usage, the cost is approximately $20,000 to $23,000 per month.

What other advice do I have?

Know your use cases. You have to analyze your load and use case before you select a particular EC2 machine. You also need to look into the availability and the stability of that particular version of EC2 that you are going for.

Mainly Windows is secure, but Linus and others are difficult to secure.

I would rate this solution a seven out ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

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
Senior Database Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Highly scalable, good performance, and secure
Pros and Cons
  • "The best features of Amazon EC2 are its high performance and security."
  • "Amazon EC2 could improve its dashboards and UI, they need to be more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

Amazon EC2 is used if you are looking for a process serving cloud service.

What is most valuable?

The best features of Amazon EC2 are its high performance and security.

What needs improvement?

Amazon EC2 could improve its dashboards and UI, they need to be more user-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon EC2 for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon EC2 is a stable and reliable

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon EC2 is a highly scalable solution.

We have over 100 users using this solution and we have plans to increase the usage.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Amazon EC2 is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Amazon EC2 is straightforward. It only took us a few minutes to complete.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation ourselves.

We do not need a special team to implement this solution. 

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

Amazon EC2 has a pay-as-you-use cost model.

What other advice do I have?

Amazon EC2 is the right choice for cloud services processing.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Amazon EC2 a nine 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
Naresh Reddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Naresh ReddyEnterprise Solutions Architect at OORWIN LABS INC
Top 5Real User

You may simply scale your EC2 instances up or down based on traffic or workload demands with AWS EC2 Auto Scaling. This makes it a very valuable feature because it helps to guarantee top performance and financial effectiveness.

Owner at matr.co
Real User
Top 20
Beneficial VMs, highly scalable, and straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Amazon EC2 is the virtual machines that are available."
  • "We have had some downtime using the solution."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Amazon EC2 for automation testing.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Amazon EC2 is the virtual machines that are available.

What needs improvement?

If the cost of the solution was lower it would be a benefit.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon EC2 for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had some downtime using the solution.

I rate the stability of Amazon EC2 a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 25 people using the solution. We do not plan to increase our usage.

I rate the scalability of Amazon EC2 a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The support in my limited usage was satisfactory.

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

I did not use other solutions similar to Amazon EC2.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Amazon EC2 was straightforward and did not take long approximately 20 minutes. We deployed the solution manually.

What about the implementation team?

The solution was deployed in-house with two to three people.

What was our ROI?

We have received a return on investment using Amazon EC2.

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

Reducing the price of the solution could lead to an improvement.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Amazon EC2 a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Software developer at TAIGLE LLC
Real User
Top 20
Easy to deploy, scalable, and stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is autoscaling."
  • "Currently in the autoscaling process if we have multiple issues we are not able to connect some of the VPC through the SMS."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to host our backend servers.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is autoscaling.

What needs improvement?

I would like the ability to connect SMS to EC2 using the VPC endpoint. Currently in the autoscaling process if we have multiple issues we are not able to connect some of the VPC through the SMS.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution has an autoscaling feature making it very scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. We follow an internal document for deployment and it takes around 15 minutes to implement.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

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

We are using a pay-as-you-go model.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

We require two people for deployment and maintenance.

I recommend the solution to others.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Systems Engineer at Dimension Data
MSP
Top 5Leaderboard
It's easy to provision and set up
Pros and Cons
  • "EC2 has the typical advantages of using the cloud. It's easy to provision and set up."
  • "I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2. There should be more versions and releases. Sometimes, you want to test an update from an old release to a higher version, but you can’t do that with the new images available. You have to use your own."

What is our primary use case?

We use EC2 for test and dev environments.

What is most valuable?

EC2 has the typical advantages of using the cloud. It's easy to provision and set up.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2. There should be more versions and releases. Sometimes, you want to test an update from an old release to a higher version, but you can’t do that with the new images available. You have to use your own.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used EC2 for three or four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon EC2 is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

EC2 is scalable. There is an auto-scale setting in the configuration.

How are customer service and support?

I've never had to use tech support. I think most of the documentation is adequate.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up EC2 is straightforward. It takes a few minutes, and you can do it by yourself.

What was our ROI?

Pricing is based on consumption, so when we don't want to use it, we just turn it off. The expense is negligible.

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

We pay for a monthly license. The price is fair.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Amazon EC2 nine out of 10.

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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Craig Kona - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Officer at SYNOVA CONSULTANCT
Real User
Acts as a test environment and is accessible remotely
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool's performance, reliability, security and flexibility are good. We can use it remotely. The autoscaling functionality of EC2 is quite good. I appreciate the DevOps suite for tracking development tasks. This functionality is important for pure software development."
  • "Amazon EC2's pricing could be better."

What is our primary use case?

One common application is as a test environment for various types of software. It serves as a cloud-based platform where team members can test different software pieces remotely regardless of location, eliminating the need for on-premise servers. 

What is most valuable?

The tool's performance, reliability, security and flexibility are good. We can use it remotely. The autoscaling functionality of EC2 is quite good. I appreciate the DevOps suite for tracking development tasks. This functionality is important for pure software development.

The value and benefits of using Amazon EC2 include the ability to quickly set up, scalability, reliability, and security. Being able to scale resources up or down as needed is also important.

What needs improvement?

Amazon EC2's pricing could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon EC2 is scalable. My company has seven users. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't used the tool's technical support yet. 

How was the initial setup?

The tool's deployment is easy. 

What about the implementation team?

My team members deployed the solution. 

What was our ROI?

The return on investment for Amazon EC2 depends on how you measure it. While it's not cheap, it's cheaper than traditional server environments when considering installation costs, software licensing, operating systems, and ongoing maintenance and support. The product helps to avoid many of these costs and can simply install what you need for development purposes. 

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

The tool's pricing is not cheap. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. The advice I would give to people who want to start using Amazon EC2 depends on their use case. However, we've found it to be a good cloud development environment with strong security measures. Security is crucial, especially with the increasing use of various devices to access systems.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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