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Amazon EC2 vs Azure Virtual Machines: What are the differences?
Introduction
Amazon EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines are two of the leading cloud computing services that offer virtualized instances to run applications or services within the cloud infrastructure. While they both provide similar functionalities, there are key differences between them that distinguish their features and capabilities.
Pricing Models: One of the main differences between Amazon EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines is their pricing models. EC2 follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users are billed based on the amount of resources used. On the other hand, Azure Virtual Machines offer various pricing options, including pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, and spot instances, providing more flexibility for cost optimization.
Supported Operating Systems: Another differentiating factor between EC2 and Azure is the range of supported operating systems. EC2 supports a wide variety of operating systems, including various Linux distributions, Windows Server, and even macOS. Azure Virtual Machines also support multiple operating systems, but the range is slightly more limited compared to EC2.
Regional Availability: Both EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines have a global presence, but the specific regional availability can vary. Amazon EC2 has a wider range of availability zones across the globe, allowing users to deploy instances in more locations. Azure Virtual Machines, although expanding their presence continually, may have certain regions where their availability is limited or excludes specific instance types.
Integration with Other Services: Integration with other cloud services is an essential aspect for many users, and there are differences in the level of integration provided by EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines. Amazon EC2 offers seamless integration with other AWS services, such as Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, and Elastic Load Balancer, enabling users to build comprehensive solutions within the AWS ecosystem. Similarly, Azure Virtual Machines provide integration with various Azure services, including Azure Storage, Azure SQL Database, and Azure Load Balancer, allowing users to leverage the full potential of the Azure platform.
Virtual Machine Scalability: Scaling virtual machine instances is crucial for handling changing workloads or high traffic demands. EC2 allows users to vertically and horizontally scale their instances, allowing flexibility in adjusting CPU, memory, and storage resources. Azure Virtual Machines also provide scaling capabilities, but they focus more on horizontal scaling by leveraging features like Azure Autoscale and Virtual Machine Scale Sets to dynamically adjust the number of instances based on monitored metrics.
Management Tools and Portal: The management tools and portal offered by EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines differ in terms of features and user experience. Amazon EC2 provides a comprehensive web-based console, command-line interface (CLI), and robust API support. Azure Virtual Machines also offer a web-based portal, PowerShell scripting, and Azure CLI for managing instances. The choice between the two may depend on user preference and the level of familiarity with each platform's management tools.
In Summary, Amazon EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines differ in pricing models, supported operating systems, regional availability, integration with other services, virtual machine scalability, and management tools and portal. These differences contribute to the unique features and capabilities of each cloud computing service.
DigitalOcean was where I began; its USD5/month is extremely competitive and the overall experience as highly user-friendly.
However, their offerings were lacking and integrating with other resources I had on AWS was getting more costly (due to transfer costs on AWS). Eventually I moved the entire project off DO's Droplets and onto AWS's EC2.
One may initially find the cost (w/o free tier) and interface of AWS daunting however with good planning you can achieve highly cost-efficient systems with savings plans, spot instances, etcetera.
Do not dive into AWS head-first! Seriously, don't. Stand back and read pricing documentation thoroughly. You can, not to the fault of AWS, easily go way overbudget. Your first action upon getting your AWS account should be to set up billing alarms for estimated and current bill totals.
We first selected Google Cloud Platform about five years ago, because HIPAA compliance was significantly cheaper and easier on Google compared to AWS. We have stayed with Google Cloud because it provides an excellent command line tool for managing resources, and every resource has a well-designed, well-documented API. SDKs for most of these APIs are available for many popular languages. I have never worked with a cloud platform that's so amenable to automation. Google is also ahead of its competitors in Kubernetes support.
GCE is much more user friendly than EC2, though Amazon has come a very long way since the early days (pre-2010's). This can be seen in how easy it is to edit the storage attached to an instance in GCE: it's under the instance details and is edited inline. In AWS you have to click the instance > click the storage block device (new screen) > click the edit option (new modal) > resize the volume > confirm (new model) then wait a very long time. Google's is nearly instant.
- In both cases, the instance much be shut down.
There also the preference between "user burden-of-security" and automatic security: AWS goes for the former, GCE the latter.
Most bioinformatics shops nowadays are hosting on AWS or Azure, since they have HIPAA tiers and offer enterprise SLA contracts. Meanwhile Heroku hasn't historically supported HIPAA. Rackspace and Google Cloud would be other hosting providers we would consider, but we just don't get requests for them. So, we mostly focus on AWS and Azure support.
Pros of Amazon EC2
- Quick and reliable cloud servers647
- Scalability515
- Easy management393
- Low cost277
- Auto-scaling271
- Market leader89
- Backed by amazon80
- Reliable79
- Free tier67
- Easy management, scalability58
- Flexible13
- Easy to Start10
- Widely used9
- Web-scale9
- Elastic9
- Node.js API7
- Industry Standard5
- Lots of configuration options4
- GPU instances2
- Simpler to understand and learn1
- Extremely simple to use1
- Amazing for individuals1
- All the Open Source CLI tools you could want.1
Pros of Azure Virtual Machines
- Free Tier1
- Flexible1
- Reliable1
- Backed by Azure1
- Auto Scale1
- Scalability1
- Low Cost1
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Cons of Amazon EC2
- Ui could use a lot of work14
- High learning curve when compared to PaaS6
- Extremely poor CPU performance3
Cons of Azure Virtual Machines
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