Pretty Big variations in Upfront costs for reserved instances

Hi Landis, I'll need to get confirmation of my understanding from Alon, but AFAIK there is no difference between the AWS charges regardless of whether through the Hub or directly with AWS...

I'm sure I recall Alon posting about the differences creeping in when Amazon changes it's pricing and the Hub isn't manually updated to reflect these new charges.

I'm fairly sure that the only difference between using the Hub and using Amazon direct is the Hub plan charges themselves. But like I say I'll get confirmation of that and get back to you. Also assuming that is the case, when the Hub prices get updated we should probably state that somewhere so for next time it will save you the time of doing calculations that aren't really relevant...

But I would say yes there is a benefit! But only if you plan on having the appliance running most of the time. As you've probably noted, the cheaper hourly rates are somewhat offset by an upfront cost. But over time (assuming that your server is running most of the time) you will come out in front.

I'm getting the impression (from this and your other thread) that you are looking at running servers on Amazon but aren't at the moment. Is that right? If so then personally I wouldn't worry about Reserved Instances just yet. Once you commit to a Reserved Instance there is no turning back... You won't get your money back and you can't change the instance size (or region). So if you buy the wrong one you're stuck with it for however long you sign up for...

Personally what I'd do is have a go with Amazon for a bit to get a feel for it and a bit of an idea what the likely charges will be. You can also test a few different instance sizes/types (i.e. bigger and smaller RAM and CPU, HDD and SSD, etc). Then once you are sure of the size instance etc, then you can look at committing to a Reserved Instance.

Also FWIW there is a feature in your AWS account where you can define email alerts for specific spending limits. This way you can be assured that you don't spend too much...

Morevover (from the subject) do the actual charges end up reflecting the current Amazon book charges? 

I pulled together a 5 sheet Workbook to make sense of the system (Amazon ABC - AWS - EBC - ETC) then finally went to pull the trigger and I was seeing different than the matrix...  I suppose I can plug in the new numbers, but will wait for confirmation on what the costs are.

I do see it is rather complicated to stay on top of for sure.

Thanks for your note.

Sorry I forgot to get back to you but I double checked with Alon and the AWS prices via the Hub are exactly the same as prices direct with AWS, however the quoted prices are updated manually so they are currently out of sync (i.e. don't appear to match AWS current prices).

In theory AWS purchased reserved instances should show in the Hub, but in practice they don't always (not sure why...), so if you plan on purchasing reserved instances I suggest doing it through the Hub. As I say you will be charged direct for these by Amazon so prices will be the same as they quote.

And yes, some regions are cheaper than others. AWS state that that is because of different costs of hosting in different places. I'm in Australia (so YMMV) but I get best response from California (us-west-1). If your traffic is US-centric then it probably won't make so much difference.

I can find my hub EBS volumes and Snapshots.  The trick is to navigate the Geography.  A very different interface on purchasing reservations (which I have not done).  May try a small one to see if it links (but commitments are not insignificant)

I am trying to look at this again.  I see that a Medium M3 will cost $24 per month in California with a 3 year reservation, while it only costs $16 per month in either Oregon or Virginia.  Reservation cost on the Hub is the same.

Other locations line up with California or are more.

I need to understand how Amazon accounts are setup.  I seem to have an AWS account which is separate from my Hub EC2 account.  It had been said  somewhere "it doesn't matter whether you use an Amazon or Hub purchased reservation"...but I don't get that part just yet (partially in that I don't have a reservation).

Is there a way to tie a Hub and AWS account together somehow?

I'll pass it on to Alon (he's the Hub 'Daddy'!) or perhaps you could just email it to him (cc me in too if you want) as it might be of value to him.

As for adjusting the prices, AFAIK he has a script that scrapes the AWS pricelist but he likes to manually check over it first as AWS are known to change things and if the structure of the page changes the scraper might not quite work properly (hence why it's not automated).

Since I did the whole "cost of doing business" evaluation I have a pretty good handle on how Amazon/AWS is structuring thier offers.

I would be happy to send you or Alon the data I am seeing.  Might be best to do some CSV loads to make it easier.  Variables are Instance Size, Location, Reservation Term, Reservation Load. The last 2 changes the matrix between money down and cost per hr.    

If you want I would even fill in the blanks on the Turnkey Hub site (just need a set of keys).  

Happy to help if I can be helpful.