Category: Compute

Way back in 2008 I announced that you could run Microsoft Windows on Amazon EC2. Since that time, we have made many additions to the initial offering. You now have your choice of several different versions of Windows Server including 2003 R2, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and 2012 R2.  You can build AWS-powered applications using […]

We launched the AWS Systems Manager for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) last fall. This add-in allows you to monitor and manage your on-premises VMs (Virtual Machines), as well as your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances (running either Windows or Linux) from within Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager. As a […]

An important rule when building a highly available and highly reliable system is to design for failure. In other words, your design model should assume that, as Amazon CTO Werner Vogels has said, “everything fails all the time.” Fortunately, modern data centers, networks, and servers are highly reliable, and failures are the exception rather than […]

Late last year ago I told you about the New Compute-Optimized EC2 Instances and asked you to stay tuned for additional pricing and technical information. I am happy to announce that we are launching these instances today in seven AWS Regions! The New C4 Instance Type The new C4 instances are based on the Intel […]

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) lets you create and run a logically isolated section of the Cloud. Running within a VPC combines the benefits of the cloud with the flexibility of a network topology designed to fit the unique needs of your in-house IT department. For example: Isolation – You can create a network […]

When potential users of AWS ask me about ways that it differs from their existing on-premises systems, I like to tell them about EC2 Spot Instances and the EC2 Spot Market. When they learn that they can submit bids for spare EC2 instances at the price of their choice, their eyes widen and they start […]

I am pleased to be able to announce a set of updates and additions to AWS GovCloud (US). We are making a number of new services available including Amazon Glacier, AWS CloudTrail, and VM Import. We are also enhancing the AWS Management Console with support for Auto Scaling and the Service Limits Report. As you […]

Earlier this month an AWS user named Andy emailed the following question to me: We’re interested in using the number of items in our sqs queue as criteria for autoscaling our ec2 workers. The 5 minute delay is really way too long for this application, it would have to keep track of the queue in […]