[HCoop-Discuss] Thoughts on Amazon EC2

[Adam Chlipala]

Intrigued by suggestions that some folks have made here, I've been 
reading through some of the EC2 documentation.  Like Rob suggested, with 
virtualization, it's easy to believe that there would be random 
incompatibilities with software that has mostly been run on real 
hardware.  However, there is one serious drawback of EC2 that is right 
there in their policies: You can only have one IP address per virtual 
machine, which means every new SSL vhost with its own certificate needs 
a new instance.  Instances cost at least $30/mo., and Amazon requires 
you to file a special request to be granted permission to create more 
than 20 instances.  Who knows what their policies are for deciding when 
to grant requests; we'd really be at their mercy on this one.