book

Programming Amazon EC2

by Jurg van Vliet, Flavia Paganelli

February 2011

Intermediate to advanced

186 pages

5h 12m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Read now

Unlock full access

AudienceConventions Used in This BookUsing Code ExamplesSafari® Books OnlineHow to Contact UsAcknowledgments
From 0 to AWSBiggest Problem FirstInfinite StorageComputing Per HourVery Scalable Data StoreOptimizing Even MoreGoing GlobalGrowing into Your ApplicationStart with Realistic ExpectationsSimply SmallGrowing UpMoving Out“You Build It, You Run It”Individuals and Interactions: One TeamWorking Software: Shared ResponsibilityCustomer Collaboration: Evolve Your InfrastructureResponding to Change: Saying Yes with a SmileIn Short
Setting Up Your EnvironmentYour AWS AccountCommand-Line ToolsAWS Management ConsoleOther ToolsChoosing Your Geographic Location, Regions, and Availability ZonesChoosing an ArchitectureCreating the Rails Server on EC2Creating a Key PairFinding a Suitable AMISetting Up the Web/Application ServerLaunching an instance (Request Instances Wizard)Setting up the instanceCreating and using an EBS volumeCreating and associating an EIPInstalling the softwareCreating a custom imageProvisioning the instance at boot/launchUser dataRDS DatabaseCreating an RDS Instance (Launching the DB Instance Wizard)Is This All?S3/CloudFrontSetting Up S3 and CloudFrontStatic Content to S3/CloudFrontCase study: Publitas—CloudFront to the rescueMaking Backups of VolumesInstalling the ToolsRunning the ScriptIn Short
Preparing to ScaleSetting Up the ToolsS3 for File UploadsUser Uploads for Kulitzer (Rails)Elastic Load BalancingCreating an ELBDifficulties with ELBAuto ScalingSetting Up Auto ScalingLaunch configurationAutoscaling groupAutoscaling (alarms and policies)SemiautoscalingAuto Scaling in ProductionPausing Auto ScalingReplacing the launch configurationChanging the alarmsChanging the autoscaling groupDecommissioning an autoscaling groupScaling a Relational DatabaseScaling Up (or Down)DB instance classesScaling OutStorage engineTips and TricksDisk is slowSlow logStorageElastic BeanstalkIn Short
SQSExample 1: Offloading Image Processing for Kulitzer (Ruby)Example 2: Priority PDF Processing for Marvia (PHP)Installing the tools for PHPWriting messagesReading messagesExample 3: Monitoring Queues in Decaf (Java)Getting the queuesReading the queue attributesChecking a specific queue attributeSimpleDBUse Cases for SimpleDBExample 1: Storing Users for Kulitzer (Ruby)Adding a userGetting a userExample 2: Sharing Marvia Accounts and Templates (PHP)Adding an accountGetting an accountIncrementing the counterExample 3: SimpleDB in Decaf (Java)Listing domainsListing items in a domain: selectGetting domain metadataSNSExample 1: Implementing Contest Rules for Kulitzer (Ruby)Preparing tools for SNS in RubyTopics per contestSubscribing to registration updatesPublishing messages to a topicDeleting a topicPublishing to FacebookExample 2: PDF Processing Status (Monitoring) for Marvia (PHP)Creating a topic for an accountSubscription and confirmationPublishing and receiving status updatesExample 3: SNS in Decaf (Java)Listing topicsSubscribing to a topic via emailSending notifications on a topicIn Short
MeasureUp/Down AlertsMonitoring on the InsideMonitoring on the OutsideCloudWatchELBsRegionUnderstandWhy Did I Lose My Instance?Spikes Are InterestingPredicting BottlenecksImprovement StrategiesBenchmarking and TuningThe Merits of Virtual HardwareReplace hardwareScaling upAuto Scaling group of oneIn Short
MeasureEC2DimensionsMetricsELBDimensionsMetricsRDSDimensionsMetricsUsing Dimensions from the Command LineAlertsUnderstandSetting ExpectationsViewing ComponentsImprovement StrategiesPlanning Nonautoscaling ComponentsTuning Auto ScalingIn Short
MeasureS3SQSQueue sizeLatencyThroughputSimpleDBSizeFragmentationSNSBurst factorUnderstandImbalancesBurstsImprovement StrategiesQueues Neutralize BurstsNotifications AccelerateIn Short

Other ApproachesPrivate/Hybrid CloudsThank You

Content preview from Programming Amazon EC2

About the Authors

Jurg van Vliet graduated from the University of Amsterdam in Computer Science. After his internship with Philips Research, he worked for many web startups and media companies. Passionate about technology, he wrote for many years about it and its effects on society. He became interested in the cloud and started using AWS in 2007. After merging his former company, 2Yellows, with a research firm, he decided to start 9Apps, an AWS boutique that is an AWS solution provider and silver partner of Eucalyptus, together with Flavia. Give Jurg a scalability challenge, and he will not sleep until he solves it—and he will love you for it.

Flavia Paganelli has been developing software in different industries and languages for over 14 years, for companies like TomTom and Layar. She moved to The Netherlands with her cat after finishing an MSc in Computer Science at the University of Buenos Aires. A founder of 9Apps, Flavia loves to create easy-to-understand software that makes people’s lives easier, like the Decaf EC2 smartphone app. When she is not building software, she is probably exercising her other passions, like acting or playing capoeira.