Lots of users are now promoting AWS as a perfect choice for the huge load-balanced infrastructure and you can join it for free just to test everything up. The company orients on lots of businesses including startups. The offer is exclusive because you are getting ideal cloud computing, reliability and you are paying only for the used resources. That’s why, lots of users select Amazon Web Services rather than overpaying for stable Dedicated servers Canada or other location.
Usually, AWS works fine, but there might be some unpredictability that all the users especially startups should be aware of. We will share two case scenarios when the AWS startup program can become a real trap so you can avoid such problems.
What is Glacier?
If you decide to use AWS, then more often than not users select Glacier cloud storage. The standard price for the storage is simple to calculate, it is $0,004 per GB for one month. Depending on the users’ geography, the price might be a little bit higher for Asian and European users.
More often than not, users decide to back up all the crucial information to Glacier, because the price is reasonable for infrequently accessed data. To put the important files in the Glacier, you should use S3. Start with putting your information in S3 and make a rule for moving the files to Glacier. All such processes are done via S3. To get the file, you should make restore of the data so that in a couple of hours it will be accessed in S3.
Where is a trap?
The long-term archiving of the information on Glacier is considered to be really low-priced and that’s why so many new clients love the service. However, the price for the retrieval is way higher and that fact is usually hidden from the new clients. You will find out about this issue only when you need to deal with such a task.
For instance, in case you will need to restore 5TB of files, the cost for such a service might be huge and really unexpected. The average price for such a space might be in the range of $10,000 +. Such retrieval takes approximately 4 hours, and the total cost includes the transfer price and retrieval ones.
Of course, there are some tech experts and developers that with the help of the script can make the process way cheaper. The restoring with scripting might take several days depending on the files’ volumes so it is really time-consuming, but you may save finances.
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Another challenge with AWS for new projects
Except for the retrieval prices, users might notice one more issue that is way less frequent, but still, it might occur with some clients.
Lots of startups are tracking their traffic volumes regularly and the used resources as well. So, in some scenarios, there might be a regular spike in the usage of RAM/CPU and other resources. Once this strange activity is noticed, clients assume that the traffic is growing and there is a necessity to select the higher AWS plan so that huge traffic activity won’t lead to a poorer performance.
If such changes are noticed with your project, you should test whether everything is working properly with the databases or other things within the system. Here are some steps you need to follow prior to wasting your money and immediately scaling the current plan:
– Test the nature of RAM and CPU usage. If there are sudden increases in the usage of CPU/RAM and even if that is noticed regularly, it might be the signal that there are some troubles with the databases or coding. Start by checking these facts.
– Check the CPU/RAM usage graph. If there are random spikes while other activity is stable and almost low during other time frames then it is not because of an increase in the users. This is definitely a coding issue.
– Check everything within the system and clearly understand what is going on prior to scaling the resources.
– Once you have excluded any troubles, and you have a natural increase in traffic activity, you can decide to upgrade your current plan without any financial risks.
Summing up
To conclude, AWS can be a good choice but not for the startups, it is for sure. There are some issues and hidden prices that you can find out only after the registration and launching of your initial project.
Of course, it might be tempting to register for free, have some immediate bonuses, and then use services for the minimal possible price, but reliable companies don’t offer hosting for minimal sums.
There might be scenarios with minimal initial investments, but in the long run, you will definitely pay the full sum for all the used resources and benefits.
