Reliable package management has saved setup time but common tools still need smoother installation
What is our primary use case?
I use Amazon Linux on EC2 machines for different kinds of servers. I typically run automation scripts, deploy fast web servers, and use Docker machines for testing purposes and any other proprietary software that requires a running Linux machine.
A major project I have implemented using Amazon Linux was deploying a GitLab worker node to run GitLab workflows in a CI/CD pipeline.
Amazon Linux is usually deployed in my organization on the private cloud, with the main usage being for automation scripts and some kind of fast usage and small deployments.
What is most valuable?
I have found that the prices of Amazon Linux are competitive and their compatibility with the Red Hat way of usage is advantageous. One other option that came up when I decided to use Amazon Linux was to substitute CentOS Linux.
In my experience, the best feature Amazon Linux offers is the Red Hat package manager way of working because sometimes I receive automations and scripts that are compatible with Red Hat and CentOS Linux. I usually do not have to edit the scripts to run on other Linux flavors, so the great option is to use Amazon Linux. This impacts my work by not wasting time refactoring a script, and this is the main advantage.
Amazon Linux has saved me time when deploying something that uses the Red Hat package management.
The outcomes are not different from other Linux flavors, so the other results remain the same. I would say that there is not a great advantage in using Amazon Linux from my perspective. The only advantage was really the package management.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux made a great change with the last version and made some features incompatible with the old version, so I did not like the new version and still prefer not to use Amazon Linux.
Some options in the basic packages of Amazon Linux could contain open tools that run containers, such as using open-sourcing tools like Podman or some other easy way to deploy the main packages I use, like Docker, and some ways to easily deploy the main and common packages that all other Linux flavors already come with installed, but Amazon Linux does not come with these basic packages.
I chose a six out of ten because compared to other Linux distributions, it is not a great distribution and could be better, and when I have to use Amazon Linux, the only advantage is the package management. However, when I need to fast install Docker or a new Python release, I have to waste a bit more time than using another distribution like Ubuntu.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is stable in all my experience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is scalable like any other EC2 instance machines that AWS provides to all users, and it runs as any other expected Linux behavior server.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Ubuntu Linux as my main choice, and CentOS Linux as the second one, but with the discontinuity of CentOS OS Linux, I had to switch to Amazon Linux.
How was the initial setup?
I purchased Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace.
What about the implementation team?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I usually consult the pricing in the EC2 console and I think it is a cheap machine.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I usually consult the pricing in the EC2 console and I think it is a cheap machine.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated Ubuntu Linux before choosing Amazon Linux.
What other advice do I have?
All Linux distributions have stability and security. The only advantage of Amazon Linux is the package system. I did not see any other great advantage. I prefer to use Ubuntu as my main option when I deploy EC2 machines, but when I have to deploy or work with some kind of yum or Red Hat package manager, my first option is to use Amazon Linux.
I rate Amazon Linux a six out of ten.
My only advice would be to use Ubuntu Linux, not Amazon Linux.
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?
Daily deployments have become faster and have saved time and resources for my workloads
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is that I use it in EC2. A quick, specific example of how I use Amazon Linux in my day-to-day work is that I use Amazon Linux 2023 in EC2, so I can use Linux for my field. I am deploying applications using Amazon Linux.
What is most valuable?
The best features Amazon Linux offers, in my experience, are that everything in Amazon Linux is very nice, and I use it every day.
The features that stand out to me in Amazon Linux are the integration with AWS services, as well as security, stability, and performance, which are all very strong.
Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization by making deployment easier and improving performance. By using Amazon Linux, we saved significant time and resources.
Amazon Linux improved performance and made deployments easier because of blue-green deployment.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux 2023 is very well-designed, and there is nothing to be added to it.
User interface and documentation could be improved in Amazon Linux to make it easier for newcomers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Amazon Linux for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is very stable in my experience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux's scalability is very strong.
How are customer service and support?
I used customer support for Amazon Linux many times, and it was very helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Ubuntu and Red Hat before Amazon Linux.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with Amazon Linux, and I think it has resulted in money saved and time saved as well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is based on my experience with setup cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated Ubuntu before choosing Amazon Linux, and my experience was not very good, which is why I switched to Amazon Linux.
What other advice do I have?
Everything is very strong regarding my use case and how I deploy applications with Amazon Linux. There is nothing to add about the features of Amazon Linux. My advice for others looking into using Amazon Linux is that they should use Amazon Linux, as its performance is very strong and it saves time and money. I have given this review a rating 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?
Cloud automation has boosted my lab projects and provides a secure, reliable training platform
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is a reliable and cost-effective operating system for hosting web applications on EC2 instances. A specific example is deploying a standard LAMP stack—Linux, Apache, MariaDB, and PHP—to run a dynamic database-driven web application for a training lab.
As a user data scripting target, I find it a predictable environment for running user data scripts to automate the installation of web services like Apache HTTPd and database services. Amazon Linux's seamless integration with EC2 and inclusion in the free tier make it the default choice for hands-on labs and proof of concept projects within the AWS ecosystem. It serves as the operating system layer where network configurations like security groups and rules for HTTP and SSH are ultimately applied to enable application access.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux offers the best features as it is built to work perfectly with AWS services and tools like EC2, Systems Manager, and IAM roles right out of the box. The operating system is tuned specifically for the EC2 environment, offering stable performance with no extra licensing costs. Both Amazon Linux 2 and 2023 offer years of security updates and maintenance, making for a reliable choice for production workloads. It comes with a lockdown default configuration and receives timely security patches directly from AWS, simplifying maintenance.
My experience with Amazon Linux's security features highlights that security is practical and deployed integrated with the AWS environment, which is the main strength compared to other operating systems I have used. The newer Amazon Linux 2023 is very lean; the fact that core packages like a database service were not even in the default repository is a security feature in itself as it reduces the attack surface by not installing unnecessary software. This represents a more aggressive security posture than a standard Ubuntu and CentOS installation, which often comes with more packages. The most critical security layer I interacted with was the EC2 security group. Amazon Linux is designed to rely on the external firewall for primary network defense, and my troubleshooting proved this. The server was completely unreachable via SSH until I explicitly allowed port 22. This is a more robust and manageable approach than relying solely on an internal OS firewall like iptables or firewalld, which is the primary method on on-premises servers. Additionally, the instance defaults to requiring IMDSv2, the secure metadata service, which is a significant security enhancement over older systems and shows that AWS is pushing best practices by default, whereas on other operating systems, you might have to manually harden similar services.
My experience with Amazon Linux's performance and reliability are excellent and they are arguably its strong selling points. On performance, even on a small T2 micro or T3 micro instance, the operating system is incredibly responsive. Boot times are fast and package management with both YUM on Amazon Linux 2 or DNF on Amazon Linux 2023 is snappy. When running the web server, Apache started instantly and PHP applications served pages with no noticeable lag. The performance is clearly optimized for EC2 hardware it runs on, feeling lightweight and efficient. Reliability has been flawless throughout the entire troubleshooting process, which involved installing and removing packages, starting and stopping services, and running a live web application; the operating system itself never once crashed, hung, or produced unexpected kernel-level errors. It remained stable and practically predictable. Even when my own scripts and commands failed, the operating system handled those failures gracefully, providing clear error messages such as unit not found or no such file or directory that were crucial for debugging. It proved to be a rock-solid foundation even when the software running on top of it was being misconfigured. In short, Amazon Linux performed exactly as would be expected from a purpose-built cloud operating system. It is fast, stable, and gets out of your way so you can focus on your application.
What needs improvement?
I think Amazon Linux can be improved, particularly in that the package names for core services like MariaDB should be consistent between major versions. For example, the MariaDB server is available in Amazon Linux 2 but is absent from Amazon Linux 2023 default repositories. This lack of consistency complicates migration and breaks existing automation scripts.
In discussing the needed improvements, I note that Amazon Linux 2023 is very minimal, but it is not immediately obvious that essential packages like a database server are missing from the default repositories. Better documentation or a web server package group would be helpful. While newer tools like DNF and systemctl are standard, providing more robust legacy links or clear migration guides for YUM and service check config would ease the transition for users accustomed to Amazon Linux 2.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for over twenty years, and I previously worked in telecommunications.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is exceptionally stable. Throughout the entire troubleshooting process, which involved incorrect scripts, failed package installations, starting and stopping services, and finally running a live web application, the operating system itself never once faltered. It handled every error gracefully, providing clear feedback without crashing or becoming unresponsive. The stability of the underlying operating system was the one constant that allowed me to diagnose and fix the problems at the application and configuration layer. It proved to be a rock-solid and reliable foundation.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux's scalability is excellent because it is designed to be a core component of AWS's automated and scalable architecture. It is a lightweight minimal operating system that boots quickly, making it perfect for auto-scaling groups where new instances need to be launched rapidly in response to traffic. Its real scalability comes from its seamless integration with AWS tools like CloudFormation, Auto Scaling, and user data scripts, which allow me to deploy and configure hundreds of identical ready-to-use instances automatically.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used a different solution, often opting for Ubuntu server. I chose Ubuntu initially because of its massive community support, excellent documentation, and user-friendliness of its APT package manager. It is a fantastic general-purpose operating system that is easy to learn and widely used, making it a great starting point. The switch to Amazon Linux for this lab was driven by the context of the Amazon ecosystem, and the primary reason for switching was to use the solution that is natively built, optimized, and supported by the cloud provider itself.
What was our ROI?
While my experience was in a training lab context and not a large-scale commercial deployment, I can say there is a clear return on investment in terms of time saved and operational efficiency, which directly translates to cost savings. I do not have hard financial metrics, but I can share this key observation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is straightforward as the pricing is simple; it is free. Amazon Linux is provided by AWS at no additional cost. I only pay for the EC2 instance and any other AWS resources I use, but the operating system itself has no licensing fees, which is a significant advantage over commercial operating systems like Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Windows servers, which incur extra hourly charges. There is zero setup cost associated with the operating system as it is available as a standard Amazon Machine Image, an AMI, directly in the EC2 launch console.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I briefly evaluated other options available with the AWS EC2 launch console, primarily Ubuntu server. My thought process was that Ubuntu server was a strong contender. I have prior experience with it and it is known for its extensive documentation and massive community support. For a general-purpose web server, it is a very reliable and popular choice. Amazon Linux 2023 was the other main option. The key factor that made me choose it over Ubuntu for this specific task was that it is the native solution that is provided and maintained by AWS itself. My goal was to learn the AWS ecosystem, so using the native, purpose-built operating system seemed like the most logical and correct path for a lab environment.
What other advice do I have?
Based on my hands-on experience, automating tasks on Amazon Linux is incredibly powerful, though it is easy depending heavily on which version you are using.
Amazon Linux's compatibility with third-party applications and tools is excellent as it is an RPM-based distribution, closely related to CentOS and RHEL. This means it has excellent compatibility with the vast ecosystem of software packages for that world. As I observed, standard applications like Apache HTTPD, PHP, and their various modules are readily available in the official repositories. The installation process is straightforward using the native package manager, YUM or DNF. On Amazon Linux 2, MariaDB was a first-class citizen, making it perfectly compatible. The issue faced on Amazon Linux 2023 was not an incompatibility with MariaDB itself, but a packaging and distribution choice by AWS to not include it in the default repositories. If I were to compile it from source or find a third-party repository, it would likely run without issue.
My advice to others looking into using Amazon Linux is to verify your version, master the AWS ecosystem, not just the operating system, and adopt a minimalist mindset. For the first option, verifying your version is the most critical piece of advice. The differences between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023 are significant. Before running any script or following any tutorial, it is important to confirm which version you are using.
My journey with Amazon Linux has been a perfect real-world lesson in cloud computing. It is an ecosystem where every layer is interconnected. The operating system is not just an operating system; it is a piece of a larger puzzle that includes networking, security, automation, and package management. While the initial incompatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023 was a source of frustration, it ultimately forced me to learn and appreciate that puzzle. It taught me that being a cloud professional is not just about knowing how to run common commands; it is about understanding why they might fail and how to diagnose issues from the firewall all the way down to the file permissions. My final thought is that Amazon Linux is an excellent operating system, but its true value is as a learning tool. It perfectly embodies the power and complexity of the AWS environment. It can be challenging, but mastering its quirks provides a much deeper and more practical understanding of how to build resilient and automated solutions in the cloud. I would rate this product 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)
Trusted platform has streamlined web deployments and empowered students to build projects
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is to deploy websites or applications directly using NGINX, and I also use a containerized platform like Docker on Amazon Linux as well as using Amazon Linux as an NFS server or client for my projects.
Recently, I deployed an event management platform for the institute using NGINX on Amazon Linux, which helped me take inputs from all the students of the institute and give it to the faculty in the form of CSV sheets and notifications, along with feedback forms. We even integrated an automatic certificate generation AI tool, and I found it much easier and better to deploy on Amazon Linux instead of Ubuntu or other operating systems, making it a nice experience as I have been using it for a very long time.
Currently, I am also using Amazon Linux as the server for several projects where I store databases, backends, and the frontend. Since I started using Amazon Linux, I always tell everyone to choose Amazon Linux as it is very much better than other operating systems and provides a proper guide for manual deployment.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux offers several features such as easy access, a proper command-line interface, and simple development and deployment capabilities, including all the features present in other operating systems but with better functionality.
The proper command-line interface in Amazon Linux helps me configure settings easily, and after comparing it to the command-line interface in RHEL and other operating systems, I find Amazon Linux to be absolutely better, making me very satisfied with its features.
When my students ask about which operating system to use, I always recommend Amazon Linux due to its easy access and additional features, positively impacting my institution and enabling my students to work efficiently.
After my institute's faculty and students started using Amazon Linux, their efficiency increased significantly, leading to improvements in their work.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux can be improved by adding more built-in features, allowing easy access to services directly when the operating system is obtained instead of requiring a manual installation.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working on Amazon Linux for the last one year, deploying many websites using Amazon Linux, and I like the file system, similar to RHEL. In fact, they are much better than other operating systems, which is why I prefer Amazon Linux above all others.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is much more stable than all the other operating systems, particularly compared to Ubuntu, and is easy to access for my needs.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon Linux is very significant compared to other operating systems. Since I continually use it, I recognize its advantages, such as the absence of imposed scalability limits by Amazon, and the compatibility of container scalability with Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS, along with performance optimizations and low latency for workloads.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for Amazon Linux is very much improved. When I try to contact them, I always receive a fast and satisfying reply that resolves my issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before switching to Amazon Linux, I was continuously using Ubuntu as my operating system, but after being introduced to Amazon Linux, I became inspired and made the switch due to my agreement with its capabilities.
How was the initial setup?
I purchased Amazon Linux from the AWS Marketplace.
What was our ROI?
Recently, by deploying the event management platform, we saved money due to improved efficiency and required fewer employees for the project, highlighting the advantages of using Amazon Linux.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Amazon Linux are valid for the services provided. I find it fair because it is much better than other operating systems and offers more features, which makes me satisfied with what Amazon Linux provides.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated other options such as RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), Ubuntu, and Fedora before choosing, but Amazon Linux proves to be far better than all of these.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others considering Amazon Linux is to trust it, as it is a modern, cloud-optimized operating system that provides strong security, predictable updates, seamless cloud platform integrations, and is lightweight and tuned for high-performance applications, making it highly reliable.
Amazon Linux introduces significant improvements in security, update management, and AWS integration, making it a cloud-optimized operating system with features such as SELinux enforced by default, kernel live patching, deterministic upgrades, and flexible version locking, all enhancing its efficiency, scalability, and reliability.
If I were to express my thoughts about Amazon Linux, I would say: In the cloud it rises, light yet strong. A home for workloads all day long. Secure by default, updates in stride. Scaling with EC2 at AWS' side. From kernel patches without a pause to SELinux enforcing every clause. Amazon Linux, tuned and free, the cloud-native heart of efficiency. I rate my experience with Amazon Linux a 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Switching has delivered secure, up-to-date servers and has reduced hosting costs
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is hosting servers and applications.
What is most valuable?
The best features Amazon Linux offers include regular updates, regular patches, up-to-date software and tools, and security features.
The security features of Amazon Linux stand out for me because it provides vulnerability patches and tools and software patches. Because of that, our servers get the latest updates, which keeps them secure and provides access to the latest tools.
Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization because we are able to host our applications, mainly Kubernetes applications, our servers, and testing environments, while also being able to get lower cost servers.
Since switching to Amazon Linux, I have noticed that we were previously using Windows Server, which was expensive. After switching to Linux, we are able to get a 30 to 40% savings.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux can be improved because currently it does not provide much longer session durations and sometimes it does not provide some of the tools I want to be included.
I chose 8 out of 10 because sometimes Amazon Linux does not provide a longer session and when we restart or refresh, all of the command history gets lost. Additionally, some of the tools I need are not present.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for six to seven months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux's scalability is good.
How are customer service and support?
I have not reached out to customer support yet, but I believe it will be good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Amazon Linux, we were using Windows, which was expensive for us due to its licensing fees. After switching to Linux, we are saving money.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with Amazon Linux because I save both time and money.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing with Amazon Linux is that pricing is based on what we use and setup is easy. We do not need a license.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others looking into using Amazon Linux that they can use it if they want to save money, want a low-cost solution, and want up-to-date patches. I gave this review a rating of 8 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)
Using a flexible cloud OS has reduced licensing costs and has supported large-scale load testing
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is as load test injectors VMs. I use Amazon Linux as a load test injector VM by spinning up a number of instances in AWS using this or using auto-scaling. For our requirement, we required RHEL-based systems and servers, which is why we are using Amazon Linux.
For a load injector, we are using a number of servers, mainly 10 to 20 servers. If we were going for RHEL, it would require a 10-server subscription. However, we are using Amazon Linux, which is freeware and does not require any subscription. Additionally, it belongs to the RHEL family and is easily integrated with all the AWS services.
What is most valuable?
The best feature of Amazon Linux is that it can easily integrate with all the services in AWS. The easy integration with AWS services helps me in my day-to-day work because if we are choosing any RHEL or Ubuntu-based server in AWS, we are required to install a service manager on that server. However, if we are using Amazon Linux, it is not required to install that type of package on it.
Amazon Linux has impacted my organization positively because, as I mentioned, we are using it as a load injector, and for this, our client required an RHEL-based OS. If we are using RHEL machines or servers, it requires an RHEL subscription. However, for Amazon Linux, no subscription is required. It is freeware, so it is cost-effective for our organization.
What needs improvement?
I have not felt any lag or any performance issues on Amazon Linux, so it does not require any improvement from my perspective. I do not have anything I wish Amazon Linux would do differently or features I would like to see added in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for around five plus years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux's scalability is good. I have used it in an auto-scaling group for some time, and it is more scalable and more flexible and reliable.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is awesome because it belongs to AWS, and AWS customer support is excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not yet used a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
I did not purchase Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment because it saves money. As I mentioned, if we required RHEL servers, it needs some subscriptions. However, for using Amazon Linux, it is freeware, and it saves us a lot of money.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Amazon Linux, I did not evaluate any other options.
What other advice do I have?
I would add that it is freeware for RHEL machines and belongs to the RHEL family. I chose 8 out of 10 for my review rating because for the RHEL family, I am using Amazon Linux, but sometimes, if we are using OpenShift or something that requires an RHEL subscription, then we are required to have an RHEL subscription or RHEL OS. Apart from that, we can easily use Amazon Linux.
I would advise that if your company and if your client is required to have an RHEL-based OS on AWS, you must go for Amazon Linux because it easily integrates with all the services and belongs to AWS, and it is freeware for RHEL.
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)
Performance monitoring has improved reliability and cuts costs in my daily cloud workload
What is our primary use case?
I use Amazon Linux in my day-to-day work as a performance test engineer to monitor performance-related issues. For my cloud environment, which is AWS, most of my servers are EC2 instances, so I identify CPU utilization, memory usage on EC2 instances, and services. I am using Performance Insight, AWS CloudWatch, and RDS.
What is most valuable?
The best features Amazon Linux offers in my experience are the security of all updates and its ease of use, particularly in terms of performance.
Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization by reducing costs, improving reliability, and saving time by scanning all AWS services and basically integrating all the services.
What needs improvement?
I think Amazon Linux can be improved, but I have no specific suggestions.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon Linux is flexible, and I basically use it for multiple load balancers.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for Amazon Linux is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the setup cost is freeware, which results in no cost setup, thereby saving money.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Amazon Linux, I did not evaluate other options, as I am comfortable with my choice.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others looking into using Amazon Linux is that if you require a RHEL-based OS, you must use it. I gave this product a rating of 9.
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)
Cloud migration has boosted performance and now supports faster, flexible deployments
What is our primary use case?
I have been using Amazon Linux from my company for the last five years. We deploy Amazon Linux to most of our cloud servers, such as Apache, Nginx, and sometimes Kubernetes boxes. In a recent project, we used Terraform to deploy Amazon Linux and then used it to deploy one MySQL server. We explicitly deployed the MySQL database using Amazon Linux and then used Terraform to configure the deployment along with user data to perform post-implementation tasks, including installing packages, updating packages, and configuring user accounts. These are the general use cases we implemented.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux has impacted my organization very positively. Initially, we used to host on-premises servers, but now we have moved to Amazon Cloud and instead of using other distributions, we use Amazon Linux. It is very lightweight and provides all the packages needed, making it easy to customize and deploy.
Amazon Linux is a very lightweight operating system compared to others. We do not need a separate subscription to use Amazon Linux, and we have access to a good repository that provides many packages we can use in our day-to-day operations. Almost everything I need can be obtained from the packages when it comes to the lightweight nature of Amazon Linux. It uses very few resources from the operating system standpoint, and the remaining resources can technically be used for my applications.
These images are managed by Amazon, which helps us reduce the maintenance of the operating systems. Amazon Linux has good scalability. If we use different services from Amazon to provide scalable solutions, we can have multi-AZ setups or multi-region setups as well, which provides good scalability.
Customer support for Amazon Linux is really good. Whenever I need anything, I raise a support case and receive support on priority. I would rate the customer support for Amazon Linux on a scale of one to ten as nine.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux has almost everything, but there are some tools and libraries missing when we receive this operating system. If those tools and libraries could be installed with it, that would be much better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for more than seven to eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux has good scalability. If we use different services from Amazon to provide scalable solutions, we can have multi-AZ setups or multi-region setups as well, which provides good scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for Amazon Linux is really good. Whenever I need anything, I raise a support case and receive support on priority.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I initially used different distributions like Ubuntu and CentOS. However, these AMIs are well maintained and well supported, which is why I am using Amazon Linux now.
How was the initial setup?
I purchased Amazon Linux from the Marketplace and had quite a good experience regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
What about the implementation team?
I directly went and tried Amazon Linux without evaluating other options.
What was our ROI?
I am not sure about the exact number because I am from the operations side, not from the financial side. However, when it comes to performance, Amazon Linux really helped my team and my organization to deploy instances much faster compared to other operating systems. I would say it helped me save on maintenance and some cost as well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I purchased Amazon Linux from the Marketplace and had quite a good experience regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I directly went and tried Amazon Linux without evaluating other options.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the customer support for Amazon Linux on a scale of one to ten as nine. Because there are some improvements needed which I already mentioned, I think eight would be the right rating.
Amazon Linux has almost everything. The only part is that there are some tools and libraries missing when we receive this operating system. If those tools and libraries could be installed with it, that would be much better.
I use AWS and Azure as my cloud providers. This is a good operating system to use when it comes to public cloud because it is mainly used for the Amazon platform. It provides good scalability and good performance and also helps with cost-saving aspects. My overall rating for this review is 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?
Flexible cloud workloads have unified development, testing, and database workflows
What is our primary use case?
My use case for Amazon Linux includes web and application hosting, microservices, container, database management, and virtual desktop services.
I use Amazon Linux as a lightweight base image for Docker containers and power nodes for Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services and Amazon Elastic Container Services. For database management, I use PostgreSQL, MariaDB, and MySQL for Jupyter Notebook and R services.
I use Amazon Linux for LQs with our IT data center. I deploy different flavors of Amazon Linux so that all applications can be deployed on that particular Amazon Linux environment. My team members use it for services use cases during the development and testing process.
I use MySQL and MariaDB services with Amazon Linux, which makes the workflow smoother for my testing and developer team.
I use Amazon Linux for testing, development, and staging environments. Different teams work in those particular fields. For the Java environment, the database environment, and the staging environment, my team is organized in a positive way.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux is freeware. The key benefits include integration, pre-installed tools for the AWS System Manager, EC2 instance connection directly via PuTTY, and it is lightweight and scalable. There is no additional licensing cost for Amazon Linux, so my organization sees 20% to 40% better performance when migrating from a paid distribution such as RHEL. This enhances performance and contributes to cost-cutting.
It is very reliable for me and my organization, and the licensing is beneficial for us.
Amazon Linux provides both money and time savings.
It provides native AWS integration, optimized performance, enhanced security, and is cost-effective. My advice to others is that Amazon Linux is the best way to develop business and solutions.
What needs improvement?
I believe there is no need to improve Amazon Linux. It is definitely working in a very progressive and highly scalable way.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Amazon Linux for the last three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability as eight out of ten and ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux has long-time support provided. For security, Amazon Linux is most scalable.
What other advice do I have?
I will provide a rating of eight for Amazon Linux.
I am using a long-term support version of Amazon Linux, so there is no need for any other features.
Amazon Linux provides different types of services that can be installed for DevOps automation, high-performance computing, virtual desktops, database management, microservices, containerization, and web services hosting. For all of these capabilities, I have provided a rating of eight out of ten. My overall review rating for Amazon Linux is 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)
