The Future of Amazon Web Services EC2 Development as a Build and Development Environment
It is invariably found that many users are not given root access in their machines which creates a huge problem for getting additional software installed in it. The systems are then made to access using a slow VPN connection which is ridiculous to say the least. Also, there are many obstacles to actually create real progress in there. For getting out of the rubble here, one looks forward to Amazon EC2 for getting the right set of services.
When starting out to use Amazon EC2, it is important for IT professionals to size up their needs. One needs to be sure and have the ability to get a machine image which can be used. One needs to get complete control over the operating system along with the software one might need for coding as a Amazon EC2 Developer. He manages to fulfill the needs promptly.
For starters, it might take a while to understand the steps and create the perfect image of the capacity and performance of a machine that one needs but after due attention, one will surely get the hang of it and determine the necessary details. Evidently, the documentation provided by Amazon Web Services does not help you out with the details and hence one must be sure enough of the image when you create it. The default image size is that of 1GB and it can be stretched only upto 10GB. Also, one should remember that shutting down an image will damage everything that you might have installed or kept in that image. One might make the mistake a couple of times by installing the software and then shutting it down.
Additionally, as most developers have noted down that there are specific limitations with Amazon EC2 related to the storage. Other than that, it is a little problematic that no static IP is assigned to any of the images. Also, one will not be able to hack the kernel in any way. The storage can be worked upon since some companies opt for buying the complete Amazon S3 bucket to be used as a file system and store all types of stuff. Since Amazon EC2 is just used as a build and development environment, the other stuff can be kept somewhere else. Hosting real apps on an image might be a problem but at the moment, an average developer gets total control and will need SSH for accessibility.
There is a cost attached to the whole setup involved but it is quite cheap compared to hosting a live machine in a facility. A machine in the cloud on which you have total control is a rarity. To top it all, the low upfront cost and no expenditure on most infrastructure is a blessing. Since the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin, developers and companies have increasingly encouraged one another to opt for Amazon EC2 hosting and using it as a build and development environment. Also, the companies can now rely on the cloud as there is a backup of information here and one can access the cloud from anywhere one might wish.
