[erlang-questions] Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (was Attracting Functional Programmers)

[G Bulmer]

> Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 10:23:53 +0100 (BST)
> From: "Gordon Guthrie"
> Subject: Re: [erlang-questions] Attracting Functional Programmers
> To: erlang-questions@REDACTED
>
>
>> A nice solution would be to have a "pre-configured, templated image"
>> of an Erlang environment and Erlang/OTP at Amazon Elastic Compute
>> Cloud (Amazon EC2) http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html? 
>> node=201590011
>
> Dale and I are working on a single-click install Erlang developers
> platform based on the Ubuntu liveCD that comes preloaded with  
> development
> tools...
>
> This uses the Ubuntu Customization Kit to layer a small slice o'Erlang
> over Dapper Drake.
>
> There are a couple of problems with Erlang/Mnesia under the ECC -  
> the most
> noticable one is how you get your data backed off. We are also  
> working on
> an  Mnesia cluster management console that would allow you to set  
> up 2 or
> three ECC instances and distribute the data - and then do a table  
> dump off
> the Amazon storage cloud on a daily basis...
>
> *Eventually* this stuff will be open sourced...

Kudos to you both, this sounds brilliant!
I realise there are a few things to resolve, but Amazon Electric  
Compute Cloud (EC2) should be a great way to exploit some of Erlang/ 
OTP's unique features.

For those unfamiliar with Amazon EC2, it provides a way to get  
compute capacity on demand, and you only pay for the amount of  
compute capacity that you use (about $0.10/hour, I think). The nice  
thing about EC2 is the granularity of capacity change is down to the  
hour (I know there are lots of other companies, but I never noticed  
anyone with such a simple charging model). So if you have a peak  
during the day, or at a full moon, or whatever, you can get more  
capacity, (they claim up to 1000's of servers), then close some down  
when demand has reduced:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=201590011
They also have a storage system, S3, which looks like a pretty good  
way to buy storage for your compute cloud. (I keep meaning to use it  
as my system backup).

Sorry to sound like an ad, but EC2 is a lovely idea, and I've never  
felt like burning the energy to make use of it until now.

Erlang/OTP naturally complements Amazon EC2 capacity on demand. The  
cute added value of Erlang/OTP is, of course, you could even choose  
to adjust reliability by starting up on more resources. Amazon should  
love you guys. Ericsson should love you too, as this should be an  
amazing demo for Erlang/OTP, and a useful service for companies  
planning to use Erlang, and who are worried about managing their growth.

Are you planning to offer a hosting service on top of Amazon EC2?

GB