tags:

views:

100

answers:

1
+2  Q: 

EC2 - possible to run Windows on an EC2 Linux instance?

If you are handling all your own licensing(working under a BizSpark license), is it possible run Windows on an EC2 instance marked for Linux/Unix?

I am considering migrating a dedicated server I have to EC2 but was not able to find guidance on this. I have been told that you get complete control over the instance to install whatever you like, but wanted to know if anyone else has tried this. Thanks for the info!

Update: Replacing a dedicated virtual with 512MB memory and 10GB storage. Hosting mostly one-off sites and blog or three.

+1  A: 

I remember that this was possible before Amazon supported Windows instances natively. You may want to check the links below to follow the discussions on the topic from the 2006-2008 era.

However you have to take into consideration that you will lose performance and you will complicate your setup significantly. The small Windows instance costs only about $18-$22 more per month compared to a small Linux instance, so I believe you have to evaluate if this gain will be of more value than the performance loss and setup complexity.

Related Links:

Daniel Vassallo  2010-02-06 17:44:25
By losing performance, you mean having a server not specifically configured for Windows? The price difference is significant and I'm trying to balance that.
Chris Ballance  2010-02-06 17:47:25
You will be running a virtualization setup on top of your linux instance in order to launch Windows from inside it. That Windows virtual instance on top of the EC2 instance will be less performant than a native EC2 windows instance. So, if you take a small EC2 instance, you will not be comparing like-with-like in terms of performance, if you have to compare a native EC2 Windows instance with a linux instance running Windows virtualized inside it.
Daniel Vassallo  2010-02-06 17:50:23

related questions

Verifying files for testing
How do you create your own moniker (URL Protocol) on Windows systems?
Windows Equivalent of 'nice'
Is this a good way to determine OS Architecture?
Dual vs. Quadcore on a Webserver
Is there a WMI Redistributable Package?
PHP Error - Uploading a file
Ruby On Rails with Windows Vista - Best Setup?
OpenVPN Config file to prevent timeout
How can I create Debian install packages in Windows for a Visual Studio project?
How do I configure and communicate with a serial port?
What's the best setup for Mono development on Windows?
Appropriate pagefile size for SQL Server
XML Editing/Viewing Software
Linux shell equivalent on IIS
What is a better file copy alternative than the Windows default?
Windows Help files - what are the options?
Heap corruption under Win32; how to locate?
Best way to access Exchange using PHP?
Get a preview jpeg of a pdf on windows?
WinForms ComboBox data binding gotcha
How do you schedule tasks in Windows?
Register Windows program with the mailto protocol programmatically
Embedding Windows Media Player for all Browsers
Best Subversion clients for Windows Vista (64bit)