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Preview
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.
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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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