file server in the cloud

[MrDudeMan]

I'm contemplating moving my business's server to AWS (S3 + EC2 + RDS). The cost per year is less than buying and maintaining a server and the associated backup, IT, power, and upgrades. It's a win from that angle, but I'm equally concerned about speed and accessibility.

I have approximately 10 employees who use the server right now, but the load is always pretty light. I would LOVE to start writing tools that customers can use, which would all rely on an externally available database. For that reason, I'm considering moving my new project dashboard database to RDS and then allowing mobile apps and web based tools to access it concurrently with my employees. That got me thinking... why not move the whole server to the cloud?

I understand the reasons why this type of thing would be bad, but I'm having trouble convincing myself that the risk isn't worth it. I can get symmetric fiber at 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1000 Mbps. Which one do you think would be most appropriate for my application? A typical file is between 0.25 and 10 MB (AutoCAD files, PDFs, docx/xlsx, etc.). I'm leaning toward 50 or 100 for cost reasons.

If I use S3 as a virtual drive, the functionality would be completely transparent to my employees. However, all of the IT issues with my in house server would be gone and presumably replaced by other IT issues that are simpler, right? (this is the main thing I want you to poke holes in).

I know if my internet connection goes down that I'm toast. I could fix that by purchasing a second internet connection, e.g. cable or dsl, for minimal connectivity requirements. I could also setup offline synchronization of some folders on each workstation's local disk. Note: I would use S3's Multi-AZ option, which duplicates the data in a geographically distant data center. The weak link is the internet connection to AWS as far as I can tell; everything else has either redundancy or an incredibly low risk of failure.

In a nutshell, I want to use AWS for my database and file server needs as well as rely on it to inherently backup and protect my data.

Do your worst.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I also have Office 365 Small Business Premium, which comes with Sharepoint Online that I believe can be used as a file server. I would still need to host my database somewhere else, but this is another option that would certainly cost less. The main drawback would be the lack of access to and from the database from the file server, which may or may not be a big deal. I don't know because I haven't finished developing the tool suite.

 

[Enigma102083]

O365/Sharepoint Online I've found that when you have very large numbers of files (more than 5000) that you start running into constant sync problems.

 

[imagoon]

I generally don't find the AWS saves a ton unless the office is diverse, unless you know your normal loads and contract out at that rate. Then pray you never go over it.

You as the admin need to determine your monthly usage and then put that in the pricing calculator. "A typical file is between 0.25 and 10 MB (AutoCAD files, PDFs, docx/xlsx, etc.) doesn't mean anything. You need the total "in/out" and the amount of sitting data.

A t1.micro instance with 512mb of ram and 500GB of data in/out no backups and no snapshots would sit around $100-105 a month. This also puts you in the unprivileged class so there is no reserve IO / CPU. You also need to patch and maintain that instance (which costs you some downloading etc. That puts you at $3600 for 3 years. I know you can pick up a dell T110 or T310 with a Windows licence for $1000. Then you need power. I don't know your area but here that is less than $120 a year.

So without posting your actual requirements, your risk is that you are shooting in the dark, from the hip while drinking and could cost the company a significant amount in cash. Granted some companies like the OPEX vs CAPX.

 

[Railgun]

I work for a $4 billion/year company as a senior IT leader and I can tell you that we are planning to move many of our critical systems to the cloud (likely Amazon).

I worked for a $3B/year company with $32B in assets and I can say that there's no way we'd move into any cloud other than some simple web hosting.

It's all about your business and what works for you. A large valuation of a company doesn't mean a thing.