Cloud workflows have become faster and builds have saved significant development time
What is our primary use case?
I usually ran GoLang applications on Amazon Linux. These applications are compiled for any Linux flavor or architecture. I have worked with API backends for VoIP APIs in the CPaaS platforms.
Recently I got a use case where I needed to implement a noise cancellation application for Amazon Linux as a backend application. This noise canceller specifically used an Intel procedure which is specific to architecture. I faced some challenges with Amazon Linux in this scenario. I had to switch to Ubuntu for that specific use case.
If you are building something of your own in a language such as GoLang or Python, it is really easy to set it up and just hit the go button. You just need to build your application and you can have a binary which can run on Amazon Linux easily. However, for specific tasks such as the noise reduction case, I have to install a package for a specific instruction which I had never worked with before. That was a new experience. It is really easy to install on Amazon Linux from the package right away, which is a really good thing.
We are scaling up and scaling down in the EKS environments with Amazon Linux only. Amazon Linux really works well for this.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux is really easy to use. Almost all of the packages and all of the third-party applications are available for Amazon Linux. They are just one command away to install them.
For example, if I use any CentOS based system, Ubuntu based system, or Debian based system, I have to keep updating my repository. Sometimes it is really hard to find some Amazon specific packages for those distributions. However, for Amazon Linux, it is really good and really handy that all of the information and all of the packages are available on just a few commands away.
Regarding the update side, I really appreciate the kernel patches for Amazon Linux. They are released straightaway. Whenever something is fixed in the security domain, it gets released pretty soon compared to other distributions for Amazon Linux. In terms of customer compliance with GDPR and similar requirements, it is really good to have that.
I have noticed benefits in my workflow with Amazon Linux. When I used to have a Windows laptop and whenever I needed a Linux instance, I used to spin up one on EC2. This brought me a lot of helpful things without owning a machine. Even if I am in an environment where I have very low network bandwidth and I have to compile huge images or build a big image, perhaps something related to AI or training a model, it is really easy to just spin up an EC2 instance and build that image there. The network connectivity and all those aspects help in that way.
It is really easy to integrate Amazon Linux with the conventional tools available for all Linux systems.
Amazon Linux has performed really well under heavy workloads.
What needs improvement?
I feel there can be a lot of extensibility for Amazon Linux, the same way we have for Ubuntu or Debian. That might be a good use case to look forward to.
I would love to get my hands on Amazon Linux on a laptop, if that is possible. Nowadays the machines are really powerful and if you have an operating system like Ubuntu and you love working with Linux, people will easily switch to Amazon Linux because they are running the same thing on their laptops and even in the cloud. That would be really beneficial in that case.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux since 2020 and it has been five years now. I have been using Amazon Linux to run production applications on EC2 instances and running some POCs, creating test applications around it. I have used Amazon Linux as my secondary computer in the cloud for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is really good and stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale Amazon Linux. If you want scalability and many out of the box features, you can choose Amazon Linux right away.
How are customer service and support?
I have not had any chance to reach out to customer support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used a couple of Linux distributions before Amazon Linux. I have used Linux Mint, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian. I still use them for some software which is recommended for it, but not much.
How was the initial setup?
Amazon Linux was readily available on the AWS cloud, so it was an easy switch and there were no major setup complications.
What about the implementation team?
I did purchase Amazon Linux a couple of times through the AWS Marketplace. However, these things are majorly managed by the DevOps team.
What was our ROI?
I saved around 100 to 200 hours of build time when I used to have a slow laptop before I switched to Mac. That was really helpful. I can do other tasks while the build is going on, so it increased productivity as well.
In general, I have saved many hours in my workflow. We are not in the era of generative AI where you have to research, implement, and test everything. Because I used to have a Windows instance, Amazon Linux was my go-to for any of the tasks.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I mostly found Amazon Linux documentation and community support very easily. Nowadays I majorly use Gemini or ChatGPT for my issues, which is really helpful.
What other advice do I have?
Most of the time Amazon Linux meets the need in the security areas with latest patches for everything.
It is mostly for public cloud, specifically public AWS. We use Amazon Linux across all the environments.
It is really good. As I work in an enterprise environment, most of the pricing and other details are handled by other teams, not the backend engineering team. I have never faced any such issues.
I would rate this product an 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)
Deploys high-performance analytical clusters and has provided secure, cost-efficient data control
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is deploying our ClickHouse cluster. ClickHouse is an OLAP database where we are spanning data across multiple terabytes, and we're using EC2 instances on AWS, which are based on the Linux operating system. We have a cluster of 16 EC2 instances based on Amazon Linux, and using those instances, we are deploying our ClickHouse cluster.
In addition to deploying our ClickHouse cluster, we are also using Amazon Linux for our ClickHouse Keeper, which is for the coordination, and we are using it for our CHProxy, which is the ClickHouse Proxy for user authentication, query limiting, and other functionality.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux provides us a great capability of deploying ClickHouse, as ClickHouse is much more compatible with Linux instances if you're deploying it on-premises, as the support team has advised us. We have specifically utilized Amazon Linux in our use case to deploy ClickHouse, and since we have configs that we need to manually deploy there, we have to work with Linux commands to change our configs. That sort of capability and ease of doing things is being provided by Linux, so we are very happy with Amazon Linux.
Stability is a great point since we rarely face any downtime with Amazon Linux in terms of Linux instances going down. Regarding security, since we have deployed this in the VPC, we need to ensure we have the right protocols opened, and Linux within itself provides us great capability to ensure we have high-level security as well. Amazon Linux integrates well with services like S3 for storing our data, and we are also using Route 53 for our routing services and DNS services for the ClickHouse cluster. It integrates well with AWS services, and we are also using CloudWatch for the metrics.
Amazon Linux has positively impacted our organization in a couple of ways. There were two ways to deploy a ClickHouse cluster: the first was to go with a cloud solution, and the other one was to go with Amazon Linux. We looked at the cost in both ways, and the cloud version was expensive for us, so we looked at Amazon Linux on-premises and tried to deploy our cluster by doing a certain POC. We found out there was a significant cost difference. It gave us much more control over how we store our data and what we can do with it, so we went with the approach of deploying a cluster on Amazon Linux. That was a positive impact for us in terms of having control over data, keeping it in a secure network of ours only, and it also saved us costs, giving us a full circle moment to save our expenses.
What needs improvement?
I believe Amazon Linux provides a wide variety of instances in terms of the RAM and storage that you want with the EBS volumes, so nothing can be improved in that regard. It's just that with the start time, when you're initially starting an instance, it takes a certain amount of time to reboot itself and set up the environment, and if that can be improved to instant speed, I think that will be much more helpful.
I gave it an eight because of the instant speed consideration. Since we are working in a real-time manner and need to scale things immediately, the time it takes to boot an instance and then deploy things is preventing me from giving it a perfect rating. That aspect is crucial, as it affects the time required to start up an instance and instantly deploy it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for 4.5 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is stable in my experience, and we did not face any downtime or reliability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, we find it easy to scale our workloads up or down, with the only drawback being the time it takes to restart or boot an instance. Otherwise, everything else is good.
How are customer service and support?
We have been satisfied with all of this. We had good support from AWS if we faced any issues, and the documentation is really great. We faced no compatibility issues, so I think we are in good standing on that part.
We didn't reach out to customer support because we didn't face any issues, so I would rate the customer support a 10 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Since our whole cloud network is deployed in AWS, we didn't look into other instances. We initially considered using Windows for the instances, but then we switched to Linux since the ClickHouse team informed us that Linux instances would be hugely compatible with the ClickHouse environment.
What was our ROI?
As a developer, I'm not directly impacted with the cost, but during the meetings I attended, there were discussions of saving up to 30% of cost savings by going with Amazon Linux.
As I mentioned for the cost savings, we saved 30% in terms of the cloud infrastructure. Time saved is significant since we are working with a real-time database, which saves us time compared to going with OLTP. With Amazon Linux coming in, we have also saved time in terms of query execution time, and those are the numbers that I can share.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others looking into using Amazon Linux is that it's a great piece of technology you can use to deploy your application environment. It works within a great environment of a private network, integrates well with other AWS services, keeps you in a close-knit ecosystem, is highly scalable, and ensures that you have high performance for your application while rarely facing any downtime. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.
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)
Migration project has improved package management and supports smooth cloud operations
What is our primary use case?
I am working with Infosys, and the client is Denmark's Bank, Danske Bank, one of the largest banks in Denmark. I am part of a migration project with the bank servers moving from on-premises to AWS cloud. Amazon Linux was purchased from the Amazon Marketplace, and we have OpenShift, the Red Hat OpenShift container platform. As a migration engineer, I am not entirely certain how partnerships work with Amazon. My organization is large and its structure regarding how they manage their relation with AWS cloud is complex. We are using the service, with the OCP cluster purchased from the marketplace running on AWS and managed by Red Hat.
What is most valuable?
Regarding Amazon Linux, I observe that there is not much difference between Amazon Linux and Red Hat Linux. When I install packages, I notice that Red Hat Linux takes a little more time, and I am uncertain if it is based on the hardware or the security system. The RPM-based package makes it very difficult to install some specific packages in Red Hat Linux, but with Amazon Linux, it is easy to install RPM or DNF packages.
I have been using Amazon Linux for the last one and a half years.
What needs improvement?
Future features for Amazon Linux, like cost-effectiveness, should be improved because any organization, whether small, a startup company, or a large organization, primarily considers cost. Comparing to Ubuntu, an open-source alternative, I think Amazon Linux could benefit from some cost optimization because it costs a little more than Ubuntu in Indian Rupees.
Regarding maintenance for Amazon Linux, sometimes it requires maintenance similar to how Red Hat provides end-to-end support for Red Hat Linux.
Regarding Amazon Linux support, we used to raise tickets for any issues related to it. We connect on chat or interact with AWS engineers for critical issues. With the support system for Amazon Linux, I feel there is a lack compared to Red Hat, which provides a stronger support system.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have overall experience of 6+ years, with six years, nine or ten months as of this January.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Regarding the stability of Amazon Linux, we are migrating thousands of servers from on-premises to AWS cloud for Danske Bank. I observed that while patching and updates from Red Hat systems are handled easily, with Amazon Linux we need to take extra care, particularly with legacy systems, since the latest versions work fine without issues.
How are customer service and support?
In my experience with Amazon's technical support, all issues are resolved whenever I connect with their engineers, but the communication levels can be somewhat different, such as a priority system. I would give a score of 8.5 to 9 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
From an installation point of view for Amazon Linux, there is nothing difficult as we are using Terraform for deployment purposes. We use the Amazon provided AMI directly and deploy it, just as we do with other Linux flavors such as Ubuntu or Red Hat.
What other advice do I have?
From my personal and system perspective, I have experienced over the last one year that any packages run easily in Amazon Linux, which I would recommend because I am a cloud engineer for AWS cloud for the last six plus years and I am aware of how these things are involved. For Amazon Linux overall, I give it nine out of ten because it executes commands very smoothly, and that is what I appreciate about it. I would rate this review nine out of ten.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Built secure, self-hosted web and data platforms and now manage production operations confidently
What is our primary use case?
Amazon Linux serves as my primary platform for hosting Nginx web servers and self-hosted Postgres databases. I have also set up HashiCorp Nomad, Consul, Prometheus, and Grafana on Amazon Linux, utilizing a maximum of self-hosted services including all services and APIs as part of DevOps-managed, self-hosted applications.
In a specific project, I used Amazon Linux for these self-hosted services with a tool called Nomad, which is equivalent to Kubernetes. I created a Nomad Consul setup with worker and master-slave nodes specifically on Amazon Linux, where I set up three Nomad servers, three Nomad workers, and Consul as a service mesh. I built an end-to-end use case on Amazon Linux, utilizing Postgres for self-hosting the database connection, which also runs on Amazon Linux.
I have also set up a Key Vault on Amazon Linux, which is a Kubernetes native solution released by the Linux Foundation. It functions as an RBAC authentication layer for application DevOps-level operations. I set up the Key Vault for our application two days ago, and we are using Postgres for it, both running on Amazon Linux, which is performing excellently.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux offers many excellent features. Compared to other operating systems, Amazon Linux is quicker and faster than CentOS, Ubuntu, or similar alternatives. Amazon Linux natively supports many AWS features, offers long-term support, and regularly updates security.
Setting up monitoring in AWS through CloudWatch monitoring, log monitoring, or alert monitoring is beneficial due to the clear documentation provided by Amazon. I have set up many things throughout my career using Amazon Linux, and it supports many dependency software and open-source software with free licensing, so there is no need for license purchase or dependencies. It supports all technologies including Nomad, Docker, and Kubernetes, along with many programming languages such as Java and Python with numerous agents available for installation, making it an excellent operating system complemented by strong documentation.
The documentation from Amazon has helped me significantly. When I want to set up something in Key Vault for application-level monitoring, I refer to the clear and well-released documentation from Amazon, which is superior compared to other operating systems. This clarity allows me to set things up quickly and upgrade from staging to production easily.
Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization through excellent support. The good support provided helps upgrade effortlessly, and security vulnerabilities are professionally fixed quickly while releasing multiple AMIs. I notice this whenever I see an AMI being upgraded within two weeks, which is beneficial for us. Many open-source supported features are available, and the operational efficiency of upgrading to Amazon Linux compared to other operating systems has been significant. We utilize it extensively.
What needs improvement?
Amazon is bringing more upgrades through Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023, and I appreciate that the boot time is fast and upgrades are easy, which represents a positive aspect.
Everything is currently good with Amazon Linux for my needs, and I think Amazon is performing excellently. I have not faced any issues, but if there is any concern regarding the security side, I would appreciate proactive addressing, as we use this in production-level operations. It would be good to have prior knowledge of any potential issues. I am also performing OS hardening while expecting proactive addressing of any third-party vulnerabilities linked to bad software in the repository.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Amazon Linux from the start of my career, providing six years of experience with Amazon Linux.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is stable, and I find it performing consistently well overall.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon Linux is good. If I want to run any launch template or configuration with more scripts, the booting is very fast, allowing quick scalability without any confusion.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support from Amazon is excellent. They provide extensive support for any obstacles we face and for everything we want to accomplish. When I raise a case with AWS, they assist effectively.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been using Amazon Linux from the start.
Before choosing Amazon Linux, we evaluated other options such as Ubuntu because they also provide support and have a competitive market presence compared to other Linux distributions.
How was the initial setup?
We have not purchased Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace since it is offered in the AWS Launchpad itself, and we are using that OS.
What was our ROI?
In terms of money saved, many operating systems impose charges. We save considerable amounts since we do not have to pay for an OS such as Kali Linux. The free license and support mean we save considerable time launching. With Amazon Linux, selecting and launching instances on a public cloud provider means the machine spins up in fewer than ten seconds, making it efficient.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is quite positive. The pricing is free compared to many other operating systems that charge. I appreciate that there is no license renewal required, and it is a free tier for us, which makes it very convenient. Amazon's straightforward approach on these matters means no additional costs involved, making everything quite comfortable for us.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We use AWS, or Amazon Web Services, as our cloud provider.
What other advice do I have?
Regarding specific outcomes or metrics with Amazon Linux, I can first say that production upgrades enhance security. Amazon Linux runs faster compared to other operating systems such as CentOS, Kali Linux, and Ubuntu, making the startup and boot-up script run fast during launch time.
I rate Amazon Linux a nine out of ten. I choose this rating because I am concerned about the repository possibly containing vulnerability packages, though this could happen with any system.
My advice for others looking into using Amazon Linux is to explore the many features available. Several aspects such as Session Manager for public cloud connection and startup scripts are useful. Security-wise, it is also robust, and various software packages are available in the registry. If something is not found, it is easy to install open-source software. Monitoring applications at a custom CloudWatch level is also supported, so I recommend exploring Amazon Linux first since it is free. Overall, I would rate this product a nine 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)
Django and Next.js projects have been deployed faster and run reliably for complex web platforms
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is deploying Django websites, apps, and APIs with Next.js. I handle deployment using Nginx and manage the complete setup for deploying full projects.
A specific example is the Django API backend with a Next.js frontend for the web dashboard at 71lbs.com, where users must log in. The entire project is deployed on Amazon Linux. I manage the integration of new deployments and created a setup using Nginx and the supervisor provided by Amazon Linux.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux and Ubuntu are similar but differ in implementation and setup. Both have similar functions and run very well, making Amazon Linux a good option alongside Ubuntu.
These features work well for me, though I am more accustomed to working with Ubuntu. My company uses Amazon Linux because of the initial setup they established. It is working very well and operates very fast with queries and everything on that server, so there are no current problems.
Since using Amazon Linux, I have performed long queries and updated information for the web system. I find that it works very fast and handles large queries for substantial amounts of information effectively.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux could be improved by including libraries for supervisor. On Ubuntu, supervisor runs Django services in the background, while Amazon Linux does not have this built-in and requires a different supervisor approach. Documentation or PDF files about well-known solutions for this would be beneficial.
Since Amazon Linux is based on Ubuntu, documentation explaining the differences between Ubuntu and Amazon Linux would be valuable. When I am accustomed to working with Ubuntu and want to use the same functions on Amazon Linux, I would prefer to understand the differences and how to implement features that exist on Ubuntu so I do not become lost in the process or have to search extensively for information.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for two 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. I remember when we upgraded one server to a different tier, the service upgrade was quick and very effective.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for Amazon Linux is very good. We experienced an upgrade that took only a few minutes to complete.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used a different solution with a VPS running Ubuntu before, primarily because I had that available and possessed more knowledge about using it, as well as due to cost considerations, since I was not aware of AWS at that time.
How was the initial setup?
I am not certain whether my company purchased Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace, as the server is managed by the company, but I believe they are using it from the AWS Marketplace.
I have heard about pricing and consider it good. The setup was somewhat difficult because of a lack of knowledge. I am not certain about the cost and licensing because I was not involved in that part of the process.
What was our ROI?
I do not have information on whether I have seen a return on investment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Amazon Linux, I evaluated Google Cloud Platform. My company selected Amazon Linux because they have all their services already working on AWS.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others looking into using Amazon Linux would be to be conscious about the differences between Amazon Linux and Ubuntu, as they look similar and have similar properties, but they need to have more knowledge for the initial setup, especially for downloading packages and dependencies. I would recommend obtaining more information on that topic.
Before concluding, I would suggest that your platform could provide examples of pricing and examples of which companies work with AWS and which languages they use. Perhaps you could create a list of websites using Django and Next.js as well as those using JavaScript. When I have a new project, I could check if my project will fit on AWS and how the pricing will be structured, because whether I run microservices or a VPS or EC2 server, it would be helpful to know the pricing, features, and everything before purchasing and discovering everything after the project is developed and deployed, with no way to roll back. I give this product a rating of eight out of ten.
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)
“Amazon Linux delivers automated security updates— including live kernel patching in AL2023—ensuring protected workloads with minimal manual effort and zero-downtime patching.”
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case for Amazon Linux is hosting production-grade applications and microservices running on EC2, EKS, and container-based architectures such as Docker and Kubernetes. Amazon Linux provides continuous security and maintenance updates, including rapid vulnerability patches, which helps keep workloads secure with minimal manual effort. Its security hardening features and minimal footprint reduce the attack surface, offering better protection against common threats.
In my previous organization, almost all our servers ran on Amazon Linux, and I worked with it extensively for about five years. In my current role, we continue to use Amazon Linux primarily for cloud migration projects and for running microservices that require a lightweight, AWS-optimized Linux environment.
In my current role at Quantum Integrators, I am involved in migrating SAP workloads and other applications from a private cloud to AWS, and Amazon Linux has been a core part of this process due to its consistent performance, seamless integration with AWS services, and minimal configuration effort during migration.
How has it helped my organization?
Amazon Linux has positively impacted our organization by improving security, reducing operational overhead, and providing a stable, AWS-optimized platform for running production workloads. Its continuous security and maintenance updates, along with features like automated patching and a minimal footprint, help us keep our systems protected without requiring heavy manual effort. This has significantly reduced downtime and strengthened our overall security posture.
Because Amazon Linux is designed specifically for EC2, we’ve seen noticeable performance improvements—faster boot times, better networking throughput, and strong compatibility with AWS services like CloudWatch, SSM, and ECR. This has made application deployments smoother and more reliable.
For teams running microservices and containerized applications, Amazon Linux has provided a lightweight, consistent, and high-performance environment for EKS, ECS, Docker, and Kubernetes workloads. Its predictable update cycle and long-term support have also helped reduce version drift and operational complexity across multiple environments.
Overall, Amazon Linux has simplified server management, improved security compliance, lowered maintenance effort, and delivered reliable performance for cloud-native and production workloads.
What is most valuable?
One of the best features of Amazon Linux is that it is built and optimized specifically for AWS. Since it is an AWS-native operating system, it receives continuous security and maintenance updates directly from Amazon, including rapid vulnerability patches. In Amazon Linux 2023, kernel live patching is also available, which allows critical security updates to be applied without rebooting — a major advantage for production and low-latency applications.
Because Amazon Linux is tuned for EC2 and AWS hardware, we see better performance in terms of networking throughput, boot speed, and I/O, thanks to optimizations for Nitro, ENA networking, and NVMe-backed storage. It is lightweight, secure by default, and has a minimal attack surface, which reduces overall risk and operational overhead.
Another strong feature is its long-term support model. Amazon Linux provides a stable and predictable release cycle, with Amazon Linux 2 offering long-term support and Amazon Linux 2023 offering a 5-year lifecycle per release. This stability is valuable in production environments where consistency and predictable updates matter.
The OS also comes with essential AWS tools preinstalled — such as the AWS CLI, SSM Agent, EC2 Instance Connect, CloudInit, and ENA drivers — which eliminates additional setup and ensures seamless integration with AWS services. It fully supports container and microservices workloads, including Docker, Kubernetes tooling, ECS, and EKS, making it suitable for cloud-native applications.
Although Amazon Linux is primarily CLI-based (as it’s designed as a lightweight server OS), it is extremely efficient for automation-driven environments. The kernel and system parameters can be further optimized for high-performance compute workloads, databases, and web applications by tuning networking settings, file limits, enhanced networking, and memory configurations.
Overall, Amazon Linux delivers a secure, high-performance, and cost-effective environment for AWS workloads. Its native integration, automatic patching, predictable lifecycle, and optimized kernel are the main reasons we prefer it for production servers and large-scale cloud deployments.
AWS provides meaningful cost savings for Amazon Linux workloads through long-term commitment options like Savings Plans and Reserved Instances. Compute Savings Plans offer the most flexibility across EC2, Fargate, and Lambda, while EC2 Instance Savings Plans deliver the best pricing for specific instance families. Standard and Convertible Reserved Instances also help reduce costs based on 1–3 year commitments. These options have helped us optimize our overall compute expenses effectively when running Amazon Linux on EC2.
What needs improvement?
One improvement for Amazon Linux would be stronger support for running it outside AWS. Although Amazon provides local VM images for VirtualBox and VMware, they are intended mainly for development and testing. Unlike Ubuntu, Debian, or Red Hat, Amazon Linux is not designed or fully supported as a production OS in on-prem or hybrid environments. Expanding official support outside AWS would offer more flexibility for teams that maintain mixed infrastructure.
Another area for improvement is the community ecosystem. Compared to Ubuntu or Red Hat, Amazon Linux has a smaller community and fewer third-party resources or tutorials. A larger ecosystem would make troubleshooting and adoption easier.
Finally, improving backward compatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023—especially around package management (DNF vs yum) and updated toolchains—would simplify upgrades for teams managing large fleets.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for approximately 6.5 plus years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Yes, Amazon Linux is stable. In my experience, the operating system itself has been reliable and consistent across production environments. Even during situations where an AWS Availability Zone faced issues—such as the recent DNS-related outage in one of the US-East-2 Availability Zones—Amazon Linux continued to function normally. The temporary impact was related to the AWS infrastructure, not the OS.
Because my applications run in a high-availability (HA) architecture across multiple Availability Zones, traffic automatically failed over to the healthy zone without downtime. Amazon Linux handled the transition smoothly, which reinforced my confidence in its stability for production workloads. Overall, it has remained secure, stable, and dependable in day-to-day operations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is highly scalable because it runs on AWS infrastructure, which allows instances to scale up or down quickly based on workload demand. The OS itself is lightweight and optimized for EC2, so it starts faster and performs consistently during scaling events. When paired with AWS Auto Scaling groups or container platforms like EKS and ECS, Amazon Linux can be launched in large numbers within minutes to handle traffic spikes.
A major benefit is the elasticity provided by AWS—resources can be increased when needed and released when demand decreases, which helps control cost. This avoids the limitations of traditional on-premise systems where scaling requires purchasing new hardware. In daily operations, Amazon Linux has been reliable and efficient for applications that require quick scaling and consistent performance across large fleets of EC2 instances.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate AWS customer service 10 out of 10. I have used the AWS Support Center multiple times, and in most cases a support engineer has responded within a few minutes. This has been consistent not only for Amazon Linux–related issues but also for other AWS services such as EC2, S3, and databases.
AWS support has been available 24/7 in my experience, and the engineers are knowledgeable, quick to troubleshoot, and clear in their guidance. They provide step-by-step solutions, help identify the root cause, and ensure the issue is resolved efficiently. Overall, AWS customer service has been reliable, responsive, and extremely helpful whenever we needed assistance.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
What about the implementation team?
What was our ROI?
Yes, I’ve seen ROI with Amazon Linux. It integrates smoothly with other AWS services and tools we use, including Jenkins pipelines, which reduces setup time and simplifies CI/CD operations. Since Amazon Linux is free and doesn’t require any additional licensing, it provides immediate cost savings compared to paid Linux distributions.
The long-term support (LTS) model, consistent security patching, and predictable release cycles also reduce the operational effort required to maintain servers. These factors help lower maintenance costs and improve stability, which contributes to overall ROI in our production environment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Amazon Linux, we also worked with other Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Red Hat. While these flavors are reliable and widely used, our workloads were already heavily dependent on AWS services such as EC2, S3, CloudWatch, IAM, and VPC. Because of this, Amazon Linux became the natural fit for us. It integrates seamlessly with the AWS ecosystem and provides an optimized experience for EC2-based applications.
Compared to other Linux distributions, the main differences we noticed were in the level of integration and performance tuning. Amazon Linux comes with AWS-tuned kernel parameters, ENA networking optimizations, and built-in tools like the AWS CLI, SSM Agent, and CloudInit. This allowed our workloads to run more efficiently with lower CPU overhead and faster boot times.
Ubuntu and Red Hat offer larger communities, more package availability, and broader on-premise support, which are advantages in hybrid environments. However, Amazon Linux is lightweight, stable, secure by default, and specifically optimized for AWS hardware. Since our entire infrastructure relies on AWS services, choosing Amazon Linux simplified management, improved performance, and aligned better with our cloud-native architecture.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Amazon Linux a 9 out of 10. In my experience using it for production workloads over the past several years, Amazon Linux has been stable, lightweight, and well-optimized for AWS environments. The built-in integration with AWS services and continuous security updates makes it easy to manage, especially when working across EC2, EKS, and containerized applications. Overall, it has been reliable and efficient for the type of workloads I handle on a daily basis.
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)