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Senior Oracle Database Administrator at Refinitiv
Real User
A reasonably-priced and stable platform for transitioning our customers from on-premises to the cloud
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that it is simple."
  • "They can launch the Oracle service in Azure, and we expect that this should be possible in Amazon AWS as well."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is to migrate our customers into the cloud, integrating all of their applications.

In my previous organization, we moved some customers from on-premises to the cloud, and they are happy with the change.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that it is simple. We don't use complex services for our small business customers.

What needs improvement?

When it was only Amazon AWS in the market, no one was concerned about the pricing. However, now that there are so many competitors, there is more comparison for cloud service providers. They should look into reducing the price of this solution to stay competitive. It would be a benefit.

The current trend is multi-cloud. They can launch the Oracle service in Azure, and we expect that this should be possible in Amazon AWS as well. 

I would like to see better integration between Oracle and AWS.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for two years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is stable and we have not faced any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

We have not used technical support. We provide that to our customers.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. 

Deployment is not a problem for us because we have experience. For new people, they are a bit worried about new features, until they develop a routine.

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

The Oracle licensing is higher than it is with Amazon AWS.

What other advice do I have?

The deployment varies, as some of our customers would like the hybrid cloud while others want a public cloud.

I have recommended this product to our customers and will continue to do so.

I would rate this solution 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
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IT Solution Architect at HCS
MSP
Top 20Leaderboard
Provides storage solutions and infrastructure for deploying Java and PHP based applications.
Pros and Cons
  • "It has helped reduce the cost by rationing the computing power and paying only on a per usage basis, instead of provisioning unneeded, idle, or unutilized computing power that is used only at 20% of its capacity or time."
  • "Many of our clients prefer in-house cloud rather than the application data sitting in the infrastructure owned and managed by Amazon."

How has it helped my organization?

For one of the clients I worked with, it has provided excellent storage solutions and infrastructure for deploying Java and PHP based applications.

It has helped reduce the cost by rationing the computing power and paying only on a per usage basis, instead of provisioning unneeded, idle, or unutilized computing power that is used only at 20% of its capacity or time.

Additional funds saved can be used to develop applications that add value to the business. Also, its features, such as auto-scaling help to manage capacity automatically.

Another feature that we are fond of is the Cloud Formation tool. It helps to test and develop a working technical environment and replicate and modify it as necessary across various regions, clients, and business units.

What is most valuable?

Features such as EC2, S3, EBS, Auto Scaling, Elastic Load Balancing, VPC (Virtual Private Cloud), RDS (Relational Data Service), Cloud Front, Cloud Formation, Elastic Bean Stack, etc., have been useful for the following reasons:

  • EC2: Supports various operating systems, CPU configurations, helps to produce flexible computing power at affordable, customizable rates. You pay for only what you use. No need to pay for unused extra capacity. Build only what you need and pay for only what you use. It can help save tons of dollars in infrastructure cost.
  • S3: Low cost, affordable, yet modern storage solution from Amazon.
  • EBS: Low cost, yet fast storage solution. It helps to store the needed data in the quickly accessible storage. Also, it helps defending against DDOS attacks.
  • Auto Scaling: Helps to quickly scale up, or scale down the capacity as needed. This would help in adding and/or removing computing capacity as per the need and helps reduce cost, yet provide a quick response as needed.
  • Elastic Load Balancing: Helps to build redundant, waiting systems for which the demand can be routed as needed.
  • VPC: Helps to define our own private cloud with marked input and output ports. Also helps in reducing the electronic footprint and defend against DDOS attacks. Helps to define the private cloud which will provide the needed security and privacy.
  • RDS: Helps to dynamically manage the database services. Helps to independently select and/or switch among various database providers such as Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, etc. RDS helps to free up administrators' time by automating tasks such as backup, maintenance, applying patches, scaling, and replication.
  • CloudFront: Helps to define cache of data across various locations and helps to improve the latency of applications.
  • Cloud Formation: This is the much needed tool for technical architects. Here one can define the technical architecture they need and play around with it until they get a working architecture. Then the working architecture can be copied, reutilized among different regions, business units, clients, etc. This saves cost and time, reduces errors, and improves efficiency. A much needed tool for administrators and architects.
  • Elastic BeanStalk: Helps to rapidly deploy applications across various platforms such as Java, .NET, PHP, Ruby, Python, Docker, etc. It also handles load balancing, auto-scaling, and application health monitoring.

What needs improvement?

Many of our clients prefer in-house cloud rather than the application data sitting in the infrastructure owned and managed by Amazon. They prefer in-house/hybrid cloud environments.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not used the technical support much. For the initial solution designing and PoC preparation, we contacted the sales and marketing team from Amazon. They were available and provided the necessary support.

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

We have used Azure and some other applications. We will continue to use them. We like keeping 2-3 vendors to have a healthy competition and see improvements in the products.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex, as we needed to build the infrastructure from scratch. It would also require expertise in networking and security.

It is very important to safely manage the keys, as otherwise this would lead to costly security breaches. Some amount of playing around with the setup and replicating it via cloud formation will be needed until your architect becomes perfect with the tool.

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

It is decently priced. The competition is also bringing its own cloud offerings, such as from Oracle.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Azure, Apprenda, and Pivotal Cloud Foundry.

Some of our established clients are going with Azure, especially the ones who had established .NET VB environments. Those who need private in-house cloud are going with Apprenda or Pivotal Cloud Foundry. For small to medium customers, AWS offers a good choice and savings.

What other advice do I have?

It depends upon the requirements and the regulatory compliance issues of the customer. For small to medium customers, AWS is a good choice. For Java, PHP based applications, AWS is a good choice. If you need to have your own private, in-house cloud, there are other options.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Amazon AWS
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
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Security Architect at XVE Security
Real User
Top 5
Cost-effective compared to GCP and has AWS Security Hub and AWS GuardDuty
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool's most valuable features are AWS Security Hub and AWS GuardDuty."
  • "There are plenty of areas for improvement. For example, the ease of tagging could be improved. The tool could integrate AI tools to identify better and manage costs. Calculating the cost of some services could be more straightforward."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for cloud service and analytics. 

What is most valuable?

The tool's most valuable features are AWS Security Hub and AWS GuardDuty.

What needs improvement?

There are plenty of areas for improvement. For example, the ease of tagging could be improved. The tool could integrate AI tools to identify better and manage costs. Calculating the cost of some services could be more straightforward.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for six to seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Amazon AWS' scalability a ten out of ten. My company has 200-300 users.                   

How are customer service and support?

The quality of technical support depends on how much you pay. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

We used GCP before and switched to Amazon AWS because it was cost-effective. 

How was the initial setup?

I rate Amazon AWS' deployment ease as five out of ten. It can take a few weeks to complete. 

What about the implementation team?

The deployment process was completed in-house.

What was our ROI?

The solution's ROI is good. 

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

I rate the tool's pricing a six to seven out of ten. 

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to others because of our smooth experience. I rate it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Amarjit Rathee - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
Real User
Top 5
Has good scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability is a valuable feature."
  • "The pricing is expensive"

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for certain business applications.

What is most valuable?

The scalability is a valuable feature. 

What needs improvement?

The improvement should be done as per business needs. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for five years. 

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?

It is a scalable solution. Presently, 3,000 users are using the solution. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

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

The pricing is expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution 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.
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Richard Halter - PeerSpot reviewer
President at Global Retail Technology Advisors, LLC
Real User
Top 10
Very fast with good stability and great for microservice architecture
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution has good speed. It's very fast."
  • "While AWS often is at the top of my list to recommend to people, I always have to tell them, "Hey, you got to be careful because if they don't like you, they can shut you down in a heartbeat. And they can kill an entire company by doing that.""

What is our primary use case?

The solution is a critical part of modern retail architecture. There are as many as 3,000 different use cases, and each client uses it differently.

How has it helped my organization?

This video explains the whole microservice architecture of which AWS is a key player: (3) Microservice POS Design - YouTube Enjoy

What is most valuable?

It's been a while since I've looked at the AWS model, however, just at a high level, of course, being able to build a microservice architecture, that's the heart of modern retail. That's where they have to go. COVID has driven everybody to realize that's what you got to do. That's one of the key components of AWS. The cloud piece is a nice supporting concept and it's necessary to make the microservices features work and make the whole architecture really agile. That's a critical component of it as well.

Of course, being able to figure out how you want to coordinate services - that whole service management piece - is critical. You could have thousands of services and I'm pretty sure you'd just be overwhelmed due to the fact that you've lost track of everything and you're back to the way things were when you had the big monolithic models.

The stability is excellent.

The solution has good speed. It's very fast.

The execution is fantastic.

What needs improvement?

I haven't delved down deep enough into the solution in order to come up with an answer for what may be lacking.

The only real downside to AWS is they can easily shut you down if they want to.

Clients ask us "Well, what happens if I go and put this on AWS and they don't like me for some screwy reason and all of a sudden they shut me down, they've killed my entire company?"

While AWS often is at the top of my list to recommend to people, I always have to tell them, "Hey, you got to be careful because if they don't like you, they can shut you down in a heartbeat. And they can kill an entire company by doing that."

For how long have I used the solution?

I've had a good understanding of how AWS works for a while. It's likely been about three or four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is excellent. It doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't bugs or glitches. It's reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is extremely scalable. You can be a small company or a multi-billion dollar company and it will work for you. It's number one on my list of recommendations due to its scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I've never reached out to technical support in the past. I can't speak to how knowledgeable or responsive they are.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't actually set up an operating AWS model on my computer. Therefore, it would be difficult to discuss the initial setup.

I tell clients to use it, however, I don't go into building one on my own. I don't have a need for it here, and I don't have applications to run on it. In my case, it's more an architectural world rather than a physical world.

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

I work on the technology side, I don't work on the financial side. Therefore, I really don't have any clue how much it costs.

What other advice do I have?

I'm just a consultant. I don't have a partnership with AWS or any other company.

AWS is a key part of the whole microservice cloud computing.

I would recommend the solution to other organizations.

However, if I'm a multi-billion dollar retailer and I need to depend on something, how do I trust a company that can shut me down on a whim? That's a real problem. That moves AWS down and it moves Azure up just on my recommendation list.

From a technology perspective, it's well-proven, it's extensive, it covers just about everything you want to do. That's what I talk about with clients mostly, is the technology side.

While I used to rate the solution ten out of ten, the fact that Amazon can just kill a company on a whim makes me lower my rating. Currently, I'd rate it at an eight out of ten. It's great in almost every way. However, a company needs to understand that AWS can kill your company in a moment if it feels like it.

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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reviewer1525914 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Solution Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Priced competitively, reliable, but difficult figuring out usage cost
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution is stable and reliable."
  • "We have had some difficulty figuring out how to monitor how many EC2 instances have been networked into our entire enterprise. We usually try to create a diagram outside of AWS. The types of information we are trying to determine are, for example, what hardware devices are interconnected, and when was the interconnection made."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution predominately to reduce the amount of effort we need to migrate to the cloud. 

What is most valuable?


What needs improvement?

We have had some difficulty figuring out how to monitor how many EC2 instances have been networked into our entire enterprise. We usually try to create a diagram outside of AWS. The types of information we are trying to determine are, for example, what hardware devices are interconnected, and when was the interconnection made.

It is difficult to extrapolate budgeting costs and schedules from the information gathered from the usage of the solution in our systems. We are given a large lump sum of money at the beginning of the year for our budget but it is hard to summarize costs to put down on paper for justification or projections.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable and reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are planning on moving more of our systems to the cloud. Currently, we have approximately 60% of our applications on the cloud.

How was the initial setup?

Our developers found the installation a moderate level of difficulty, there was not anything that was complex. It is helpful to have some tutorials to follow.

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

The solution is on a pay-as-use pricing model. The price of the solution could always be better but it is priced competitively.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated Lambda, and in some cases, it might be a better option than EC2. However, we have decided to go with EC2 because it is closer to a drop-in displacement which works better with our applications, for example, Spring Boot and other similar variations.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others is EC2 has its specific use case needs like other solutions, such as Lamda. If you have the need for a specific use case this solution could be the right choice. For example, it is possible to have your monolithic application on the cloud and decompose it into your microservice architecture or use it with Lambda capabilities. You can do this and have a high percentage of your application on the cloud. However, you need to be sure it is the right choice, it is something you need to be careful of.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Amazon AWS a seven 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.
PeerSpot user
Steven Odera - PeerSpot reviewer
Independent Contractor at Legacy Lighthouse Ltd
Real User
Reliable, and scalable, but artificial intelligence tools could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Amazon AWS are the EC2 instance for web applications with CDN Networks."
  • "There is a feature called Kinesis, which has to do with image processing. There are a few artificial intelligence tools that Amazon AWS should improve on."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Amazon AWS are the EC2 instance for web applications with CDN Networks.

AWS Cloudfront is the official reference for the Global content delivery network (CDN) which significantly reduces latency or slow loading times.

What needs improvement?

There is a feature called Kinesis, which has to do with image processing. There are a few artificial intelligence tools that Amazon AWS should improve on.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately five 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 scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support has been challenging. I have found more tickets are being placed and the availability of the agents has been limited for some of the team members.

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

We selected Amazon AWS because it was the most mature at the time. It was the initial cloud provider. Then Google and Microsoft also came up with Azure and TensorFlow. TensorFlow is catching up with a few code web programming tools, and that is a point of interest as well as image processing.

In a future release, the solution could improve on the IoT integrations and API access.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Amazon AWS is complex due to how infrastructure is set up in different organizations.

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

For the initial 12 months, the solution is reasonably priced. On enterprise license contracts where you negotiate, have been reasonable too.

What other advice do I have?

I would encourage the student package for someone who is starting out, they can get acquainted with the interface and the tools available.

I 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
Sohail Iqbal - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Systems Architect at Orison Tech
Consultant
Good community support, but the pricing could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "AWS has large community support."
  • "The billing should be more competitive."

What is our primary use case?

We are both a user and a provider of services to some of our clients. We are not official partners, but we provide regular services to set up our clients' infrastructure on AWS. We deploy their projects there with their own account so that we can hand over technical ownership whenever they need it. As a result, they can continue to provide their services to other consultants. we offer these services to set up their systems and their services.

We use Amazon AWS mostly for typical hosting for applications, some emails, queuing services, and databases most of the time.

What is most valuable?

I am not sure what features they'd like.

AWS has large community support. You are never stuck with anything if something doesn't work in time.

What needs improvement?

We don't have any issues for the time being, because I intend to use this in a limited, not exhaustive, manner. For the time being, we're fine with whatever we're doing.

The billing should be more competitive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for more than two years.

As AWS is online we are always using the most current version. We have some virtual machines that you create based on the version when you initialize them, but the services that you use on a daily basis are always the most recent version.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have a limited number of users and use standard services.

How are customer service and support?

There have been no issues. The support is good.

There are no issues at the moment.

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

We were hosting on bare metal servers. Then we moved on to VPS servers, which were managed by our technical staff. And now we're utilizing cloud services.

That technical management part for the multiple VPS, as well as for ourselves and our client, is taking a long time to maintain and everything. As a result, we went to manage services.

These are some additional options. I've seen that Azure has the best cloud dashboard, but the billing and other features are very difficult to use. The same as any other cloud service. The documentation is far superior.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward.

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

Cloudflare and other services are developing more affordable solutions. They provide a much cheaper alternative to Amazon's S3 storage buckets. That's something that could be improved.

This should be comparable to the other options on the market.

Billing for cloud services can be difficult at times. In the VPS, you only have quota-based billing management, but in the cloud, it's as if every bit and byte and every I/O operation is metered, and your bills can be surprisingly high when you've published something that can attract a lot of traffic, which is one catch.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We researched Microsure and Google Firebase, but we are not using these solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I'm not an expert. I don't have any advice at the moment, but whenever they're looking to host some applications, when there's a lot of traffic or bandwidth, they should think about it carefully. 

I would rate Amazon AWS a seven 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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.