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reviewer2000469 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Great EC2, simple storage, and good security
Pros and Cons
  • "We deploy our core application and our integration platform on AWS EC2 instances. These applications contain multiple containerized Python Django applications, which need to scale up and down dynamically."
  • "It could be made cheaper. I know we spend a lot of money each month on AWS."

What is our primary use case?

We deploy our core application and our integrations platform on AWS EC2 instances. Both applications contain multiple containerized Python Django applications, which need to scale with how often and how intensely customers use the platform. 

We need a secure cloud environment to support our new self-service API, allowing customers to hit our services from outside an outside service. AWS provides the security, scalability, and flexibility to make this happen.

We also store large customer files on AWS S3 Buckets.

How has it helped my organization?

Without AWS, our organization simply would not exist. Our entire tech stack is served on AWS. Thanks to AWS, we have been able to save money. Thanks to AWS, we have been able to save time and utilize technical resources in other ways. Other ways include building out the front end of our application as well as the back end of our application. Without AWS, we would have to hire network/server engineers, which would take away from our overall speed of growth.

What is most valuable?

We have found the Elastic Cloud Compute service (EC2) as well as the simple storage solution (S3) to be the most valuable aspects of the solution.

We deploy our core application and our integration platform on AWS EC2 instances. These applications contain multiple containerized Python Django applications, which need to scale up and down dynamically. They also need to be secure to prevent unwanted bad actors from using our AWS compute instances for malicious activity.

Finally, we find the S3 buckets to be quite valuable. S3 allows us to securely store large customer files without fear of them being compromised, changed, lost, or corrupted.

What needs improvement?

I am not an expert in AWS, nor do I work in the dev-ops department, so I might not be the best person to ask this question. It could be made cheaper. I know we spend a lot of money each month on AWS.

Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using AWS since the company was founded in 2017 - about five years.

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
MADHAV CHABLANI - PeerSpot reviewer
Consulting Chief Information Officer at Tippingedge
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Good performance, but it can be costly, and the setup could be simplified
Pros and Cons
  • "In general, Amazon's performance is good."
  • "When I try to enter the multi-cloud, they provide very poor support. Support is a concern with Amazon."

What is our primary use case?

We have applications that are running on the PaaS platforms.

In the healthcare environment, we use Amazon AWS to run healthcare and hospitalization applications.

The end-user is largely unaware of how the backend works, so some of the services are provided by Amazon. So, where we are, some of the applications have been running since the beginning, and we have been using them. And some of the services are required by the packages we are running, so they use Amazon PaaS as a service.

What is most valuable?

In general, Amazon's performance is good.

What needs improvement?

When I try to enter the multi-cloud, they provide very poor support. Support is a concern with Amazon.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for a few years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is a stable solution, it is far more stable than some others.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is scalable, depending on the platforms and services that are used.

In our company, we have 50,000 employees who use this solution.

We intend to increase our users based on how the new releases go, and if the economics work out better than Google and Microsoft, we will definitely look to Amazon because Amazon can be extremely competitive at times.

How are customer service and support?

It should be faster. Unlike Google's and Microsoft's support, Amazon's support should be faster.

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

We have used other PaaS clouds previously.

The hospitals were available on Amazon. We have certain hospitals that were part of the group when it first started, but there are a lot of hospitals that are in the process of being acquired. Once the setup is acquired, it is extremely difficult and time-consuming for them to bring it through one enterprise architecture. Now, it is not necessary to have services from only one cloud service provider; instead, we can have services from multiple providers, and we are working to integrate the multi-cloud.

How was the initial setup?

Essentially, you must design and optimize the architecture. It is not the most straightforward process to install. You must first design your architecture and then optimize it in relation to the services.

Earlier I used to work there, and we had a real skill shortage because we needed people who could understand and work in the cloud. When we developed centers of excellence and core competencies, people were required to work across multiple platforms, which is a challenge that we are currently working on. As a result, the real challenge now is for a team to have a multi-cloud. Now, if we can develop this talent organically, that will be fantastic. We'll spread out the support team we require. Another initiative that is being worked on is automation, automating scripts, and new technologies, which are assisting us greatly with serverless and cloud computing.

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

It can get quite pricey at times. Because of the patterns we're attempting to use, it becomes very expensive. Where we can save money by using Google components or Microsoft components, we can go much cheaper.

You must pay a licensing fee, which is based on the usage.

Essentially, it is determined by how we use the services. There are sometimes are a soft service, sometimes we pay yearly, and sometimes we pay as we use it.

What other advice do I have?

Yes, I would recommend this solution. If we compare the three, I would rank Google first, Microsoft second, Amazon third, and the rest would follow.

I would rate Amazon AWS a seven 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
Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1217268 - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO & Product at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
Easy to use with a good performance and decent technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "Technical support has been great."
  • "I'd like the solution to be more plug-and-play."

What is our primary use case?

This is a service solution for architecture. It's a cloud solution basically for anything you need. 

What is most valuable?

I'm happy with the solution.

It's very easy to use. 

The stability and performance are great.

The scalability of the product is great.

Technical support has been great.

What needs improvement?

I'd like the solution to be more plug-and-play.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about ten years at this point. It's been a while.  

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. The performance is great and it's quite reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AWS scales well. It's not a problem to expand it. 

We have 100 users using the solution at this time. They are end-users and clients. 

Our plan right now is to increase usage in the future.

How are customer service and support?

I've used technical support in the past. I don't have any complaints about their services. They are quite good overall.

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

We did use a different solution, however, the company decided to move to AWS.

How was the initial setup?

There's no installation involved. It's a very straightforward product.

As there is no installation process, you don't need a technical team and you don't have to do any maintenance. 

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

There is a license fee that you need to pay. There are flexible payment options. For example, you can pay monthly if you want to.

What other advice do I have?

I do recommendations for the development of cloud solutions. 

I would rate the solution at an eight 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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer922707 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Product Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
MSP
You can scale it up and down as you need, which is much easier than adding and provisioning new servers
Pros and Cons
  • "The environment is a rich playground, and if you tried to do the same things on-premises that you do on AWS, it would be a lot more challenging to execute. You can open up a virtual machine on AWS, run some experiments, and be done with it. It's much easier than buying new servers, provisioning them, etc"
  • "You'll probably experience some sticker shock with AWS. You attempt to understand the cost, but you don't realize what you're paying until you get your first bill. I don't know if Amazon does that on purpose, but costs can get out of control quickly if you don't have someone who specializes in AWS cost management."

How has it helped my organization?

The most valuable feature of AWS is that you can scale it up and down as you need. The environment is a rich playground, and if you tried to do the same things on-premises that you do on AWS, it would be a lot more challenging to execute. You can open up a virtual machine on AWS, run some experiments, and be done with it. It's much easier than buying new servers, provisioning them, etc. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Most of the companies that I've worked for deal with AWS. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't know how many servers they say they have, but AWS is a highly reliable platform. I'm sure they've had outages because it's all over the news when they do, but it's stable overall.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cloud solutions like AWS are supposed to have near-infinite scalable. That's the point. You can just keep going and make them as big or small as you need. 

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

AWS is like all the other cloud providers. They're all like vacuum salesmen, where they come in, and they say, "Do you want to buy this hose or this vacuum?" And you're like, "Yeah, it's not that expensive. It's a hose." And then they say, "How about these extra bags?" And you're like, "Okay. I'll buy the bags. It's not that much." Then, at the end of the day, you've bought an entire vacuum store's worth of stuff. You don't know upfront what it will cost, but they have cost calculators and other things like that.

You'll probably experience some sticker shock with AWS. You attempt to understand the cost, but you don't realize what you're paying until you get your first bill. I don't know if Amazon does that on purpose, but costs can get out of control quickly if you don't have someone who specializes in AWS cost management.

I don't even know how many microservices they have now. It seems like hundreds, so what do you do. What would you tell them to do with Aurora compared to their other stuff? There's just so much there that it's tough to get a comprehensive understanding of what you're getting into with AWS. And that's just the nature of AWS. It's a giant ecosystem. Azure is the same. I'm not familiar with GCP, but I'm sure it's the same. They do their best to make it as clean as possible from a sales perspective, but the AWS sticker shock is real.

I'm not sure about the exact costs. When I used to do stuff with Commvault and stuff, I knew the ingress and egress fees and the data cost for storage on AWS, but that was a long time ago.

What other advice do I have?

I guess I would rate Amazon AWS eight out of 10. AWS works as advertised, but they're expensive if you don't know what you're doing. I'm not sure if I can knock them for not being transparent about pricing. Cloud costs are challenging. There's an entire industry popping up for managing cloud costs with consultants who can tell you how to get the most out of your AWS allocation. 

I don't have a lot of advice. If you're planning to implement a cloud solution, just pick one. I mean, if you're a Microsoft shop, it probably makes more sense to go Azure. If you're not, then I would recommend AWS. It depends on what you're looking to get out of it. 

There are references, architectures, case studies, and a million other things that would off better advice on whether to go with AWS or not. But if you're looking to go to the cloud, AWS is as good as everybody else. AWS is probably better than Azure and GCP, but that's a tricky thing to pin down. It depends on what your goals and requirements are. My best advice is to evaluate your goals before making a decision.

I hope that people take what I say about AWS with a massive grain of salt because it's like asking an ant about an elephant. What's an ant going to know about an elephant? It's just too big for any one person to know.

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
reviewer930093 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director - Technology Operations at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helpful service for a variety of applications
Pros and Cons
  • "Amazon AWS contains a lot of helpful services."
  • "Amazon AWS would be improved if it were more stable and if customer support's responses were faster."

What is our primary use case?

We use Amazon AWS for many applications as well as Amazon's native services. We have a mix of content-based workloads and traditional legacy type of applications. 

What is most valuable?

Amazon AWS contains a lot of helpful services. 

What needs improvement?

Amazon AWS would be improved if it were more stable and if customer support's responses were faster. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for many years, somewhere between seven and ten. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution has been relatively stable. We had one issue sometime back, so the infrastructure could be more resilient. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted customer support and their response time could be faster. 

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

We migrated to Amazon AWS from the Data Centers. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation was straightforward. The installation time varies depending on workloads. 

What about the implementation team?

I implemented through an in-house team. We have multiple teams for deployment and maintenance. 

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

There is no licensing cost. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Amazon AWS an eight out of ten. I recommend this solution to anyone who wants to start using it. 

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
Amarjit Rathee - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
Real User
Top 5
Secure, highly scalable, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "Amazon AWS has improved a lot on security and is very good. Additionally, You can integrate your own security into their AWS platform."

    What is our primary use case?

    Amazon AWS can be used for storage, networking, and for many of the services they have available, such as databases, new site launches, and quick deployments.

    What is most valuable?

    Amazon AWS has improved a lot on security and is very good. Additionally, You can integrate your own security into their AWS platform.

    The reporting and analytics monitoring are very good features and we are using them extensively.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately seven years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have found Amazon AWS to be stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Amazon AWS is highly scalable.

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

    We have previously used older servers solutions from Dell, HP, and IBM.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation of this solution is straightforward.

    What about the implementation team?

    The amount of people we need for the deployment depends on the use case and what type of business operations you are running. You can start with one resource based on the requirements and you can add the people as you need them. The majority of the people you will need will be for DevOps and you can scale your team as per your requirements. You can start with one at the beginning stage but you could end up needing a hundred thousand people but this depends on the business growth and many factors.

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

    The pricing model of Amazon AWS is very good because there is an option to pay for what you use only, you do not have to give any money upfront to use it. However, we have some instances where we are on a monthly plan.

    When you compare Amazon AWS to Microsoft Azure, the pricing of both is almost the same. There are some instances when one is cheaper than the other in one area but it is difficult to pinpoint which one is cheaper because it depends upon a lot of factors, such as the use case. However, the overall price of both solutions could be reduced.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I have evaluated Microsoft Azure.

    What other advice do I have?

    A lot of organizations are moving from on-premise solutions to the cloud. There are a lot of case studies already in the marketplace which you can go there and find case study solutions to your business requirements.

    I would recommend this solution to others.

    I rate Amazon AWS 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
    CTO at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
    Real User
    Plenty of connectors, high performance, and reliable
    Pros and Cons
    • "Amazon is a really good solution with high performance. They offer more connectors than some of their competitors, such as Microsoft Azure."
    • "Amazon AWS could improve by being more secure and adding more features."

    What is our primary use case?

    I was using Amazon AWS in the medical market in my previous employment.

    What is most valuable?

    Amazon is a really good solution with high performance. They offer more connectors than some of their competitors, such as Microsoft Azure.

    What needs improvement?

    Amazon AWS could improve by being more secure and adding more features.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately six years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Amazon AWS in my experience has been more stable than Microsoft Azure.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable.

    We have approximately 50 customers that are using the solution.

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

    We have moved from Amazon AWS to Microsoft Azure. I have found that both solutions perform very well. The main reason we switched was to allow us to manage where the data was to be stored. We wanted a data storage solution in France which most of our customers were requesting. Two years ago, Amazon did not have any solution to provide any storage in France. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The level of difficulty for the installation of Amazon AWS is similar to Microsoft Azure. They are very difficult.

    What about the implementation team?

    We have a five-person team of DevOps and architects that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

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

    If I was going to compare the cost of Amazon AWS to Microsoft Azure, they are approximately the same.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others.

    I rate Amazon AWS an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Lead solution architect at a recreational facilities/services company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Feature-rich, integrates well, stable, scalable, and has good support that responds immediately
    Pros and Cons
    • "It integrates well."
    • "I would like to see CloudFormation made more in the programming way of thinking."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use several features of this solution for many purposes. For example, we use CloudFormation for infrastructure as a service, Kinesis for the message queue, Lambda for integration services, and ATC for hosting. 

    We also use S3 for storing the data, clustering, Multizone security, AVS to attach hard disk, and assistant.

    What is most valuable?

    It is easy to use.

    It has many features that we use.

    It integrates well.

    They upgrade a lot of applications.

    What needs improvement?

    If you are familiar with other cloud infrastructures, you can see that it is in need of some enhancements.

    It is easy to enhance it to make the clustering easier.

    At times, when you use CloudFormation to create five machines with a sequence name, it is difficult but can be done with Terraform easily. 

    I would like to see CloudFormation made more in the programming way of thinking. You have some variables, LOB, IF statements, and inheritance, where it's not just the functionality that we have, but gives you the output. They could make it close to the programming language, even if it's a scripting language. They need more control over it such as an If-Then-Else statement and a sub-loop if possible. It will make it easier to create the infrastructure.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been working with Amazon AWS for more than seven or eight years.

    We are using the latest version.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is a stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Amazon AWS is a scalable solution.

    I work as a consultant and have a couple of customers. Each customer is of a different size company but they are all over 1,000.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    AWS has very good technical support. They react immediately when you need help.

    How was the initial setup?

    When you speak of installation, you refer to applications already built or software in ATC to be installed. AWS doesn't sell applications, they give you an infrastructure as a service, application as a service, and a platform as a service but they don't give you applications to be installed.

    There is no installation required in AWS.

    The maintenance required depends on the size of the company. Some larger companies require a larger IT department while others don't require it at all.

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

    A license is required. Some customers will provide their own license and others will purchase it directly from AWS.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in it.

    I would rate Amazon AWS a nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: November 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.