Hosting wordpress site on amazon s3 review

Amazon S3 is not a typical Web hosting provider. It provides scalable storage—perfect for app developers who need an affordable platform for app data storage, or for businesses who need cloud space for backups or sharable data. In fact, the “S3” represents “simple storage solution.” It does allow you to host a static website using your own domain name, but has no support for server-side scripts like PHP or ASP.NET.

You can access four levels of assistance from Amazon S3. Basic support is included with all accounts. It features 24/7/365 customer service, access to support forums, access to tech support for health checks, product FAQs (frequently asked questions), and a self-help resource center.

Developer, Business, and Enterprise are the three other classes of support service available. Each tier includes more experienced personnel, up to unlimited* contacts with tech support, as little as 15 minute response time, and architecture support. The top tier, Enterprise, includes extensive support features such as third-party application support. As you may expect, Enterprise comes with a very high price tag compared to the other plans.

*When hosts describe anything as “unlimited,” it is typically boundless except in cases of abuse. A user may be charged a penalty or be required to subscribe to a more robust package if they are overburdening the servers.

Because Amazon S3 is not typical Web hosting, the features are difficult to measure against traditional Web hosts. They do not have standard pricing packages or tiers of service at all. Instead, Amazon S3 requires users to create “buckets” where data is stored. Users are charged per GB and per request for transferring data in/out of the bucket, as well as for storing data in a bucket.

• Write, read, or delete objects of up to 5 TB in size
• Choice of bucket location, optimized for latency
• Per GB fees differ depending on location of bucket
• Authentication to keep data secure
• Options for secure data transfer and data encryption
• HTTP default download protocol; BitTorrent™ protocol interface provided
• Use data with other Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Web-based AWS management console; lets you perform functions without programming
• Pay-per-use
• Use more, pay less bulk storage pricing
• PUT, COPY, POST, and LIST requests priced per thousand
• Glacier archive and restore requests priced per thousand
• Free delete requests
• GET and all other requests priced per 10,000 requests
• Free Glacier data restores
• Data transfer rates differ by location
• Free inbound data transfer
• Free outbound to Amazon EC2 in Northern Virginia region
• First 1 GB outbound transfer per month is free
• AWS calculator; keep track of your usage costs
• Scalable
• Reliable
• AWS Direct Connect; establish a dedicated network between your premises and AWS, lowers bandwidth costs, per use fees apply
• 99.99% availability and 99.999999999% durability

AWS Free Usage Tier

A free plan for new users or those with modest storage needs.

• 5 GB of Amazon S3 storage
• 20,000 GET requests
• 2,000 PUT requests
• 15 GB data transfer outbound, per month, for one year

Redundancy Storage Solution (RSS)

A budget storage solution within Amazon S3 for non-critical data.

• Lower cost
• Less durable; 99.99% durability over one year
• Lower redundancy; withstands loss of data in a single facility
• Highly available
• Use header REDUCED_REDUNDANCY in a PUT request to choose this storage option

Because its hosting is limited to static websites, it’s useful to know the applications for which Amazon S3 is best suited.

• Hosting static sites that include: HTML files, images, videos, or client-side scripts
• Scalable cloud storage of media and Web apps
• Storing files for distribution
• Storing original files for manipulation and analysis in EC2; no data transfer fee
• Scalable, secure space for backups and archiving
• Self-hosting with automatic scaling for traffic increases

• Automatically scalable storage
• Pay per use; low cost
• Excellent support options

• Hosting is only for static websites
• Prices vary by location
• Must estimate and calculate usage as you go

If you are shopping for typical Web hosting, such as for a WordPress blog or an eCommerce website, Amazon S3 is not a service for you. At its core, it is low cost, cloud storage which can be used to manage several types of data for many uses.

If you use Amazon EC2 for Web hosting already, learning how this service can work for you will be worthwhile, as transferring data between the two is free. Paying per use means that you won’t overpay for your needs, but it does make you responsible for tracking costs. Amazon S3 provides a solid solution for app developers, business owners who need to share data with clients, or anyone who needs inexpensive, secure storage for redundant data and backups.

Last updated: 2017-04-22

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