We are using Amazon AWS for security and for backups.
Partner at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
AWS: What are the key Amazon Web Services components?
Over the last couple of years, the popularity of the “cloud computing” has grown dramatically and along with it so has the dominance of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the market. Unfortunately, AWS doesn’t do a great job of explaining exactly what AWS is, how its pieces work together, or what typical use cases for its components may be. This post is an effort to address this by providing a whip around overview of the key AWS components and how they can be effectively used.
Great, so what is AWS? Generally speaking, Amazon Web Services is a loosely coupled collection of “cloud” infrastructure services that allows customers to “rent” computing resources. What this means is that using AWS, you as the client are able to flexibly provision various computing resources on a “pay as you go” pricing model. Expecting a huge traffic spike? AWS has you covered. Need to flexibly store between 1 GB or 100 GB of photos? AWS has you covered. Additionally, each of the components that makes up AWS is generally loosely coupled meaning that they can work independently or in concert with other AWS resources.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Deputy Manager at S2 Consulting Services
Stable, easy installation, and accessible from anywhere
Pros and Cons
- "The most useful feature of Amazon AWS is it can be accessed from anywhere."
- "Amazon AWS could improve on security."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most useful feature of Amazon AWS is it can be accessed from anywhere.
What needs improvement?
Amazon AWS could improve on security.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon AWS is reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not tried to expand Amazon AWS at this time.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was not complex. However, it could improve.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for Amazon AWS annually.
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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Technical Content Writer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Regularly updated, plenty of features, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "AWS has many integrations and plenty of tools available for anyone to take advantage of. There are new features being added all the time."
- "The solution could have better security and more integration with other platforms."
What is our primary use case?
This solution can be used to set up a cloud infrastructure and DevOps practices, such as Agile. It can be on-premises or in the cloud.
What is most valuable?
AWS has many integrations and plenty of tools available for anyone to take advantage of. There are new features being added all the time.
What needs improvement?
The solution could have better security and more integration with other platforms.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have found the stability very good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used Microsoft Azure DevOps and we prefer Amazon AWS.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are currently paying for the solution on an annual basis.
What other advice do I have?
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?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Regional Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Easy to set up with good stability and the capability to scale
Pros and Cons
- "The stability of the solution is very good."
- "The pricing of AWS is very unclear. They make it quite confusing."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution to deploy our systems in the Cloud. It could be virtual machines, containers, and servers as well.
What is most valuable?
We've been using EasyTune for elastic computing and it has been very helpful. It's the feature we're using the most right now.
In general, the solution works quite well.
The product is very easy to set up.
The stability of the solution is very good.
The solution scales well.
Overall, the solution is quite complete. There aren't any missing features.
What needs improvement?
The cost management is too complex right now.
The pricing of AWS is very unclear. They make it quite confusing. They need to make the cost structure easier to understand.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for two years or so at this point. It's been a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is quite scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so relatively easily.
We have around 50 or so users on the solution currently.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not overly complex or difficult. It's very easy. The setup is straightforward.
Being on the cloud, the deployment is very fast. It only takes a few minutes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is confusing. Sometimes there are hidden charges.
What other advice do I have?
We are AWS partners.
We're always using the latest version of the solution. As a cloud-based solution, it constantly updates itself to the latest version.
I'd advise users considering the solution that they really need to understand the costs and how they work with AWS. At some point, it can get confusing and it can lead to companies dealing with hidden charges.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. If it wasn't for cost management, I would rate it higher.
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
Enterprise Solutions Executive (AWS Certified Solutions Architect) at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Scalable, easy to set up and very easy to use
Pros and Cons
- "The product is highly scalable."
- "The feedback we are getting from our customers, especially here in Turkey where the exchange rate fluctuates regularly, is that the solution is quite expensive."
What is most valuable?
The ease of use is the solution's most valuable aspect for us at this point.
You can manage everything from the console, which is very convenient.
The high level of technology of the database services being served to the customers is impressive.
The security is excellent. We feel very protected by the solution.
The solution is very easy to set up.
The product is highly scalable.
There is very good documentation available to users for troubleshooting, et cetera.
What needs improvement?
From a technology standpoint, the solution is almost perfect. We don't feel that anything is lacking in that sense.
The feedback we are getting from our customers, especially here in Turkey where the exchange rate fluctuates regularly, is that the solution is quite expensive. Other cloud competitors are less costly. From our country's point of view, I would say that it needs to be cheaper.
When the solution faces downtime, it can be for hours or half a day. This is far too long.
For how long have I used the solution?
I would say that I started using AWS around 2017.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. That said, there are some instances that some of the services in some of the regions might go down. The downtime sometimes will last longer than you expected. We expect that occasionally the downtime maybe a few minutes or half an hour. That's not always the case. Sometimes it can be hours. Sometimes it can even be half a day. For us, the downtime is a problem.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is highly scalable. You can create thousands of servers in minutes or something like that, so it's very scalable. If a company needs to expand, it can do so with ease using this solution.
The types of businesses we typically deal with are rather small.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't used technical support. I haven't yet had a need to. Therefore, I can't discuss anything in regards to their helpfulness or knowledgeability. That speaks to how good their product has been overall.
That said, if you run into problems, most of the issues that you are having in terms of technical difficulties can be solved within the documentation.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is very easy to install. If you start short-term with the database services, and if you then get the Web Services, it's very easy. A company shouldn't have any trouble setting everything up. It's not complex.
I tend to manage the solution for my clients once it is installed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Due to currency fluctuations in Turkey, we find the product to be on the more expensive side. There are other, cheaper options on the market.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a consultant. If the customer wants an AWS solution or AWS consultancy, I give these services to them. If they want some local provider, I also work with them.
We are using the latest version of the solution.
Most of my clients don't know the technology and don't want to get into deep technical knowledge in terms of the solution itself. They don't want to manage AWS. They just want to let someone manage their infrastructure and AWS services for them. There aren't too many large companies dealing with AWS on a massive scale in Turkey. I don't really deal with larger entities anyway.
So long as an organization's focus is not on pricing, I would recommend the solution.
In general, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Cloud Architect, Oracle ACE, Oracle DBA at Pythian
For many of Pythian's clients, this solution is an amalgmation of on-premis and the cloud.
What is most valuable?
The RDS renders deployment agility and there is an on-demand database-as-a-service for MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server.
How has it helped my organization?
Among other benefits, one salient benefit for many Pythian customers is the option of spinning up a new instance whenever needed. This can be done with a few clicks.
What needs improvement?
RDS doesn't have shell access, which could be especially beneficial for Oracle databases.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for the past 2 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not really encountered any issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not really encountered any issues with scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
The tech support is good and prompt.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For many of Pythian's clients, this solution is an amalgmation of on-premis and the cloud. Pythian enables its customers to reap the benefits of both worlds.
How was the initial setup?
Due to Pythian's expertise and experience, the initial setup was a breeze.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Read the fine print carefully and always engage experts to carry out migration.
What other advice do I have?
Having your database on RDS doesn't mean that you don't need DBA anymore. Mission critical and important databases must be handled by a DBA, even if the database resides on the cloud like RDS.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Chief Technology Officer at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
A stable cloud computing solution with a valuable load balancing feature
Pros and Cons
- "I like S3, load balancers, and Route 53."
- "The price could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use Amazon AWS for storage, networking, and remote computing.
What is most valuable?
I like S3, load balancers, and Route 53.
What needs improvement?
The price could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon AWS for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon AWS is quite stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
There are so many references that I can refer to, and their technical support is great.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price, in general, could be better.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to potential users.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Amazon AWS an eight.
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.
Sr Lead Data & Information Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Is stable and scalable, and has a pay-as-you-go license
Pros and Cons
- "It's quite stable and scalable. The price is good as well."
- "They have a low code platform, but it is for intervention."
What is most valuable?
It's quite stable and scalable. The price is good as well.
What needs improvement?
It would be good to see integration with a low code platform. They have one, but it is for intervention. It would be interesting to see it more developed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Amazon AWS for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution. It is used by our entire organization.
How are customer service and technical support?
Our experience with technical support was as expected; they responded fast.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is quite good; it is a pay-as-you-go option.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Amazon AWS at 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.
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Updated: November 2024
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