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Amazon EC2 vs Amazon WorkSpaces: What are the differences?
Amazon EC2 and Amazon WorkSpaces are both cloud-based services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for computing and desktop virtualization, respectively. While Amazon EC2 offers virtual servers in the cloud, Amazon WorkSpaces provides virtual desktops. Let's explore the key differences between them:
Purpose: Amazon EC2 is designed for running applications and workloads in a virtual server environment. It allows users to provision and manage virtual servers, known as instances, to run their applications and services. On the other hand, Amazon WorkSpaces focuses on providing virtual desktops, allowing users to access their desktop environment, applications, and data from various devices.
Use Case: Amazon EC2 is commonly used for a wide range of workloads, including web applications, batch processing, data processing, and enterprise applications. It offers flexibility in terms of instance types, operating systems, and networking configurations, making it suitable for different use cases. Amazon WorkSpaces, on the other hand, is particularly useful in scenarios where users require access to their personal desktop environment and applications from different devices, including laptops, tablets, and thin clients.
Resource Management: Amazon EC2 grants users precise control over virtual server instances, allowing them to select instance types, configure networking, storage, and security settings. Users can scale the number of instances to suit their needs and maintain complete control over the software stack on these instances. On the other hand, Amazon WorkSpaces provides managed virtual desktops, abstracting the underlying infrastructure. Users can specify the desired hardware bundle for their virtual desktops, while AWS handles infrastructure and resource management.
Desktop Experience: Amazon EC2 provides a headless server environment, meaning there is no graphical user interface (GUI) by default. Users typically access their EC2 instances remotely using secure shell (SSH) or remote desktop protocol (RDP) to perform server administration and application management. Amazon WorkSpaces, on the other hand, provides a full desktop experience with a GUI. Users can access their virtual desktops through client applications on their devices and have a familiar desktop environment with applications and files.
Data Persistence: In Amazon EC2, data persistence is typically achieved through storage options like Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes or Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). Users can attach persistent storage volumes to their EC2 instances or use object storage for data storage and backup. In Amazon WorkSpaces, user data and profiles are automatically saved and preserved in a managed storage service. When users access their virtual desktops in different sessions, their data and settings persist, providing a consistent experience.
In summary, Amazon EC2 is suitable for running applications and workloads in a virtual server environment, offering granular control over the server instances. Amazon WorkSpaces focuses on providing virtual desktops, allowing users to access their desktop environment and applications from multiple devices.
DigitalOcean was where I began; its USD5/month is extremely competitive and the overall experience as highly user-friendly.
However, their offerings were lacking and integrating with other resources I had on AWS was getting more costly (due to transfer costs on AWS). Eventually I moved the entire project off DO's Droplets and onto AWS's EC2.
One may initially find the cost (w/o free tier) and interface of AWS daunting however with good planning you can achieve highly cost-efficient systems with savings plans, spot instances, etcetera.
Do not dive into AWS head-first! Seriously, don't. Stand back and read pricing documentation thoroughly. You can, not to the fault of AWS, easily go way overbudget. Your first action upon getting your AWS account should be to set up billing alarms for estimated and current bill totals.
We first selected Google Cloud Platform about five years ago, because HIPAA compliance was significantly cheaper and easier on Google compared to AWS. We have stayed with Google Cloud because it provides an excellent command line tool for managing resources, and every resource has a well-designed, well-documented API. SDKs for most of these APIs are available for many popular languages. I have never worked with a cloud platform that's so amenable to automation. Google is also ahead of its competitors in Kubernetes support.
GCE is much more user friendly than EC2, though Amazon has come a very long way since the early days (pre-2010's). This can be seen in how easy it is to edit the storage attached to an instance in GCE: it's under the instance details and is edited inline. In AWS you have to click the instance > click the storage block device (new screen) > click the edit option (new modal) > resize the volume > confirm (new model) then wait a very long time. Google's is nearly instant.
- In both cases, the instance much be shut down.
There also the preference between "user burden-of-security" and automatic security: AWS goes for the former, GCE the latter.
Most bioinformatics shops nowadays are hosting on AWS or Azure, since they have HIPAA tiers and offer enterprise SLA contracts. Meanwhile Heroku hasn't historically supported HIPAA. Rackspace and Google Cloud would be other hosting providers we would consider, but we just don't get requests for them. So, we mostly focus on AWS and Azure support.
Pros of Amazon EC2
- Quick and reliable cloud servers647
- Scalability515
- Easy management393
- Low cost277
- Auto-scaling271
- Market leader89
- Backed by amazon80
- Reliable79
- Free tier67
- Easy management, scalability58
- Flexible13
- Easy to Start10
- Widely used9
- Web-scale9
- Elastic9
- Node.js API7
- Industry Standard5
- Lots of configuration options4
- GPU instances2
- Simpler to understand and learn1
- Extremely simple to use1
- Amazing for individuals1
- All the Open Source CLI tools you could want.1
Pros of Amazon WorkSpaces
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Cons of Amazon EC2
- Ui could use a lot of work13
- High learning curve when compared to PaaS6
- Extremely poor CPU performance3
Cons of Amazon WorkSpaces
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