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AWS charges money based on two different factors: space and time. We’ll see how these two factors relate to each other, and how to they compare to the price of buying and running your own computer.
New Terms:
- Space — Used in computer science to refer to the capacity or capability of a computer. A large hard drive has a lot of space. A computer that has a fast processor or fast network also has a lot of space.
- Time — Used in computer science to refer to the total time required to accomplish a task. Time can be split among many workers that accomplish the task simultaneously, but the total time required won’t be reduced.
AWS can be very cheap or very
expensive depending on how you use it.
0:00
To understand pricing on AWS,
0:05
we need to talk about two related
concepts, space and time.
0:07
Space is a measure of capacity or
capability.
0:11
For example, a computer with a large hard
drive is capable of holding a lot of
0:14
information, so
we say it has a lot of space.
0:18
But storage capacity isn't the only
kind of capacity there is.
0:21
What about processor capacity?
0:24
A computer with a fast processor
is capable of processing a lot of
0:27
information.
0:30
So we also say it has a lot of space,
even if it has a small hard drive.
0:31
There's also network capacity,
0:36
which is how fast the computer is
able to talk to other computers.
0:37
We could say that a computer with
a very fast network has a lot of space.
0:41
Basically, you can think of space as
a measure of how powerful a computer is.
0:45
More powerful computers are capable of
holding more stuff and doing more stuff.
0:50
Then there's time.
0:55
Time is a pretty straightforward concept.
0:56
It's a measure of how long it takes
to do something, but things get a bit
0:58
more complicated when you have multiple
actors working simultaneously.
1:02
Let's say you need to
stuff 60 envelopes and
1:06
it takes a minute to stuff one envelope.
1:09
Its going to take 60 minutes of work,
right.
1:12
Well, what if we have four people
stuffing envelop simultaneously?
1:14
Each person only has to stuff 15 envelops,
so it takes 15 minutes.
1:18
But the task hasn't gotten any smaller.
1:23
It's still 60 minutes of work even if it
only took 15 minutes of time on the clock.
1:26
When we talk about time with computers,
we're usually talking about the total work
1:31
time added up across all the computers
that are working on the task together.
1:35
So how does all this relate to AWS?
1:40
Anything that you do on AWS will
require some amount of space,
1:42
some amount of time, or both.
1:46
The price you pay is based
on space multiplied by time.
1:49
In addition, you can usually trade space
for time, at least to some degree.
1:52
Let's take a look at an example
to understand what this means.
1:56
You and
your friends are going on vacation and
2:00
you'll all be staying at the Amazon Hotel.
2:02
You need to decide how
many rooms to book and
2:04
how many nights you'll
be staying at the hotel.
2:06
At the Amazon hotel,
you can book a regular room or a suite.
2:08
A suite has more space, but
it costs more money than a regular room.
2:12
How do you make sure that you can
stay at the hotel as long as possible
2:16
while not paying too much money?
2:19
You could all try to
squeeze into one room.
2:21
This means that you'll be able
to stay at the Amazon hotel for
2:23
a long time,
because one room isn't very expensive.
2:25
However, you're sacrificing space
to get that extra time, and
2:28
no one will sleep very well
in that cramped space.
2:32
Alternatively, everyone
could get their own room, or
2:34
even their own separate suite.
2:37
Now, everyone has a lot of space,
but that gets expensive quickly and
2:39
you might only be able to
afford one night at the hotel.
2:43
Effectively, you're sacrificing
time to get that extra space.
2:46
The best approach is
somewhere in the middle.
2:50
A small number of rooms and suites, shared
so that everyone has just enough space
2:52
will make sure that you pay the minimum
amount for the maximum benefit.
2:56
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