For Hi-Computing folks try out Azure for free-
Windows Azure Platform
Introductory Special
This promotional offer enables you to try a limited amount of the Windows Azure platform at no charge. The subscription includes a base level of monthly compute hours, storage, data transfers, a SQL Azure database, Access Control transactions and Service Bus connections at no charge. Please note that any usage over this introductory base level will be charged at standard rates.
Included each month at no charge:
Any monthly usage in excess of the above amounts will be charged at the standard rates. This introductory special will end on March 31, 2011 and all usage will then be charged at the standard rates. Standard Rates: Windows Azure
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http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/
Free Tier*
As part of AWS’s Free Usage Tier, new AWS customers can get started with Amazon EC2 for free. Upon sign-up, new AWScustomers receive the following EC2 services each month for one year:
- 750 hours of EC2 running Linux/Unix Micro instance usage
- 750 hours of Elastic Load Balancing plus 15 GB data processing
- 10 GB of Amazon Elastic Block Storage (EBS) plus 1 million IOs, 1 GB snapshot storage, 10,000 snapshot Get Requests and 1,000 snapshot Put Requests
- 15 GB of bandwidth in and 15 GB of bandwidth out aggregated across all AWS services
Paid Instances-
| Standard On-Demand Instances | Linux/UNIX Usage | Windows Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Small (Default) | $0.085 per hour | $0.12 per hour |
| Large | $0.34 per hour | $0.48 per hour |
| Extra Large | $0.68 per hour | $0.96 per hour |
| Micro On-Demand Instances | ||
| Micro | $0.02 per hour | $0.03 per hour |
| High-Memory On-Demand Instances | ||
| Extra Large | $0.50 per hour | $0.62 per hour |
| Double Extra Large | $1.00 per hour | $1.24 per hour |
| Quadruple Extra Large | $2.00 per hour | $2.48 per hour |
| High-CPU On-Demand Instances | ||
| Medium | $0.17 per hour | $0.29 per hour |
| Extra Large | $0.68 per hour | $1.16 per hour |
| Cluster Compute Instances | ||
| Quadruple Extra Large | $1.60 per hour | N/A* |
| Cluster GPU Instances | ||
| Quadruple Extra Large | $2.10 per hour | N/A* |
* Windows is not currently available for Cluster Compute or Cluster GPU Instances. |
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NOTE- Amazon Instance definitions differ slightly from Azure definitions
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/
Available Instance Types
Standard Instances
Instances of this family are well suited for most applications.
Small Instance – default*
1.7 GB memory
1 EC2 Compute Unit (1 virtual core with 1 EC2 Compute Unit)
160 GB instance storage
32-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
API name: m1.small
Large Instance
7.5 GB memory
4 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each)
850 GB instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m1.large
Extra Large Instance
15 GB memory
8 EC2 Compute Units (4 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each)
1,690 GB instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m1.xlarge
Micro Instances
Instances of this family provide a small amount of consistent CPU resources and allow you to burst CPU capacity when additional cycles are available. They are well suited for lower throughput applications and web sites that consume significant compute cycles periodically.
Micro Instance
613 MB memory
Up to 2 EC2 Compute Units (for short periodic bursts)
EBS storage only
32-bit or 64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Low
API name: t1.micro
High-Memory Instances
Instances of this family offer large memory sizes for high throughput applications, including database and memory caching applications.
High-Memory Extra Large Instance
17.1 GB of memory
6.5 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each)
420 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
API name: m2.xlarge
High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance
34.2 GB of memory
13 EC2 Compute Units (4 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each)
850 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m2.2xlarge
High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance
68.4 GB of memory
26 EC2 Compute Units (8 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m2.4xlarge
High-CPU Instances
Instances of this family have proportionally more CPU resources than memory (RAM) and are well suited for compute-intensive applications.
High-CPU Medium Instance
1.7 GB of memory
5 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2.5 EC2 Compute Units each)
350 GB of instance storage
32-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
API name: c1.medium
High-CPU Extra Large Instance
7 GB of memory
20 EC2 Compute Units (8 virtual cores with 2.5 EC2 Compute Units each)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: c1.xlarge
Cluster Compute Instances
Instances of this family provide proportionally high CPU resources with increased network performance and are well suited for High Performance Compute (HPC) applications and other demanding network-bound applications. Learn more about use of this instance type for HPC applications.
Cluster Compute Quadruple Extra Large Instance
23 GB of memory
33.5 EC2 Compute Units (2 x Intel Xeon X5570, quad-core “Nehalem” architecture)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Very High (10 Gigabit Ethernet)
API name: cc1.4xlarge
Cluster GPU Instances
Instances of this family provide general-purpose graphics processing units (GPUs) with proportionally high CPU and increased network performance for applications benefitting from highly parallelized processing, including HPC, rendering and media processing applications. While Cluster Compute Instances provide the ability to create clusters of instances connected by a low latency, high throughput network, Cluster GPU Instances provide an additional option for applications that can benefit from the efficiency gains of the parallel computing power of GPUs over what can be achieved with traditional processors. Learn moreabout use of this instance type for HPC applications.
Cluster GPU Quadruple Extra Large Instance
22 GB of memory
33.5 EC2 Compute Units (2 x Intel Xeon X5570, quad-core “Nehalem” architecture)
2 x NVIDIA Tesla “Fermi” M2050 GPUs
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Very High (10 Gigabit Ethernet)
API name: cg1.4xlarge
versus-
Windows Azure compute instances come in five unique sizes to enable complex applications and workloads.
| Compute Instance Size | CPU | Memory | Instance Storage | I/O Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra Small | 1 GHz | 768 MB | 20 GB* | Low |
| Small | 1.6 GHz | 1.75 GB | 225 GB | Moderate |
| Medium | 2 x 1.6 GHz | 3.5 GB | 490 GB | High |
| Large | 4 x 1.6 GHz | 7 GB | 1,000 GB | High |
| Extra large | 8 x 1.6 GHz | 14 GB | 2,040 GB | High |
*There is a limitation on the Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) size if you are deploying a Virtual Machine role on an extra small instance. The VHD can only be up to 15 GB.
Related Articles
- Blog Post: New Year’s Resolution – Test Drive Windows Azure platform for 30 Days No Credit Card Required (blogs.msdn.com)
- Cloud Throw Down: Part 3 – Relational Databases and Instance Prices (cloudave.com)
- Amazon To Offer Free Cloud Services (informationweek.com)
- Microsoft Is Serious To Take On Amazon Web Services (cloudave.com)
- The Four Dimensions of Cloud Provisioning (itexpertvoice.com)
- “Windows Azure Discovery Events for ISVs in Western US” and related posts (ditii.com)
- Windows Azure Free Training Kit – December (devcurry.com)
- Windows Azure Free Training Kit – December (mt-soft.com.ar)
- Windows Azure updates help with cloud migration (v3.co.uk)
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