Amazon today announced its new web-based AWS Management Console, which makes it very easy for users of Amazon EC2 cloud computing service to set up and manage their servers. As cloud computing companies are starting to offer a relatively standard set of features and uptime guarantees, user-friendly interfaces are clearly a way for service providers like Amazon to differentiate themselves from the competition. ]]>
At the same time, however, it should also be noted that Cloud Ave points out that Amazon's reliance on relatively weak passwords could be a potential security issue.
Currently, you can only manage your EC2 instances through the new console, but over time, Amazon will give users the ability to mange other AWS services like its S3 storage service.
Ease of Use
The new console makes it especially easy for first-time users to set up their instances on EC2. While you can choose from a bewildering array of community-created instances (think custom Ubuntu mail servers), Amazon will present you with a sane amount of 'quick start' instances and relatively conservative security settings.
Amazon also created a great screencast that walks you through creating your first EC2 instance. While using Amazon's web services was already pretty manageable thanks to tools like Elasticfox, this new console gives users an easy way to control their instances, while also allowing new users to start using EC2 without too much hassle. If you always wanted to experiment with EC2, but were intimidated by the set-up process, now would be a good time to give it a try.
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