1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda engine
More of my thoughts on moving to the cloud.
I have my new ecommerce store software running on its own instance of a web server in the Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud system. My website is but a mere speck of fly poop compared to the power users on the service. I am pleased that there is consideration for the little guys like me.
There are many ways to go and grow in the AWS environment. That is not my goal at the moment. I am impressed at the very high performance of the website when I share no services with other users. For me it is a great step up in performance but honestly, the old shared server site did the job just fine. My cloud is total overkill, a 426 Hemi in a Volkswagen bug.
My problem was the Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. The bad hackers know there is not much value in disrupting a single website unless there is some sort of vendetta against it. DOS on a shared server and all the sites go down.
AWS requires the site owner to personally have all the skills to completely manage their own servers from the bare metal up. Most everything is plug and play and there is very good documentation on line. AWS is designed for the systems administrator types and dedicated systems engineer (good) hackers. Those who are faint of system building skills need not apply.
In my opinion, AWS cloud is not a good DIY site for the “lone wolf” user/editor of say a WordPress blog, ecommerce or other high level end software use. Unless that person is also a somewhat capable hardware and OS (operating system) hacker like I am. What I am saying is, I am my own ISP (Internet Service Provider). AWS is not an ISP. It’s more of an Internet Hardware Provider (IHP) if there is such a thing. They also provide links to plug-in type OS and software packages, but that is a totally separate operation.
My recommendation for most site managers is to seek out a real Cloud ISP and let them manage most of the dirty work of hardware setup and management. When working correctly, the cloud is very good. There are probably tens of thousands of computer system people with the skills to run everything like I have done, and who enjoy the challenge of a bare bones start.
However, if you just need a powerful website to blog or market to your customers, start with a good ISP and/or hire a good agent. (One of the tens of thousands mentioned above.) My old ISP has this service to offer. It is about five to ten times more expensive than their very low cost shared service. It’s probably the right solution and price for a lot of medium to large very active sites. A low cost shared service ISP is not the correct place for critical needs.