Yosi Mor's picture

Might it be the case that the prices shown for Amazon EC2 instances in the TKL Hub's "Launch to Amazon EC2" page are (once again?) out of sync with those advertised by AWS on the following pages?:

From several posts dating back to early/mid 2013 (here and here, for example), it seems that this has been an issue in the past as well.

Forum: 
Jeremy Davis's picture

Unfortunately due to the way that Amazon provide their prices there is not a reliable way to automate the process of updating prices (a pricing API would be ideal). We do have a script to scrape the AWS website prices but due to the moving target (the web page can change too) we are not comfortable allowing that process to be fully automatic and always double check manually.

Currently Alon (the Hub 'Daddy) is deep in a dev cycle on the Hub so this (and another couple of tweaks) will have to wait until he has finished there. None of the EBS backed AWS servers have a TKL premium added to their price so whatever the AWS price is, is what the Hub price is. Please make sure that you are comparing apples to apples though (AWS pricing can be quite complex...)

I'm not sure whether it ever happened or not (I assume not) but I did suggest to Alon that it be noted in the Hub that the prices given there were "only a guide" and that full pricing details should be double checked on the AWS pricing page. I guess at least the prices are going down... Better to get a pleasant surprise than a nasty one! :)

Yosi Mor's picture

So, I now understand from you that the actual pricing is per the current, official, AWS pricing -- as published in the two pages that I mentioned above.

However, I also suspect that not only the quantitative pricing info is out of sync, but also the qualitative choices of the instance-types themselves.

First of all, in the cases of "Micro" and "Small" instances, it is not at all clear: are these referring to the "Previous Generation" 't1.micro' and 'm1.small' (which I assume is the case)?  Or perhaps the "Current Generation" 't2.micro' and 't2.small'?

And in general, it seems that some of the newer instance-types, particularly of the T2 class (as well as the more expensive G2, R3, I2 classes), are not available from the Hub.

(FYI, I am currently enrolled in the Pay-per-use plan, which is currently advertised as supporting "All Instance sizes".)

Jeremy Davis's picture

Yes current official AWS pricing applies (although S3 instances on the Pay-per-use plan still have an additional 10% premium).

As you highlight, the server choices are somewhat out of sync too (i.e. the newer servers are not yet available via the Hub). I just double checked and you are right - whilst the larger servers are explicit about what specific size they are the Micro and Small are not. As you guessed, they are the older t1.micro and m1.small (as opposed to the newer t2.micro and t2.small).

Pricing and instance sizes will be updated as soon as Alon has finished his current development on the Hub (or he may bundle them in - who knows). Regardless hopefully it will be updated soon. And that will be a 'soon' in the sense of a shortish piece of string!

So whilst you will still be at a slight price disadvantage (the older instance sizes are dearer) you can still get going on the Hub now and migrate to a new instance size when they become available (using TKLBAM to migrate your data).

Jeremy Davis's picture

Until the current round of dev is done, we are stuck with the Previous generation servers - not the new ones.

The price you quote is the newer t2.small whereas you need to look at the m1.small (on the link I posted just above). Currently, an m1.small in Ireland is $0.047 per Hour. That is what you will be charged (plus any other relevant AWS charges e.g. data trasfer etc...); Not the $0.072/hr quoted on the Hub.

Jeremy Davis's picture

Unfortunately the Pay-per-use plan doesn't yet support the new instance sizes but Bronze and higher plans do. AWS server pricing is still out of whack, but at least the new sizes are available...

Jeremy Davis's picture

If so please log into the Hub and click the support link (2nd from the left, on the top row). Alternatively, you can send an email to support@turnkeylinux.org.

I've just checked the email that you used to post here and it seems that that's not the right one. :( So Ideally send the email to me, from the email address which is linked to your Hub account. If that's not possible, please make sure that you note the email address of your Hub account.

Eduardo Gutierrez Aldana's picture

Hello I have a service in AWS, Codeigniter-Web apllication framework powered by Turnkey Linux.  I received my January billing and the rate doubled in this month. I would like to know if this increnent of price is your and the reason or is because AWS is applying a bad charge.   Thanks.
Jeremy Davis's picture

Hi Eduardo,

Yes, the price has increased. FWIW, it's our only price increase since we first introduced charges about 10 years ago and with the current global inflation, it's just unsustainable for us to continue to absorb our increased costs.

I am sorry that we weren't able to alert you to the price increase sooner. We did ask Amazon to share contact details of our AWSMP users so we could reach out to you, but they were unwilling to (on the grounds of privacy, which is probably fair enough - we'd do the same if someone asked us for user emails). We then asked them to include a message from us when they sent out the notification of price increase (which should have been sent out 90+ days prior to the price increase). They stated that the notification emails were automated, so couldn't include a message from us. So that left us without a clear way to alert users. :(

It sounds like you may have missed the automated email from AWS about the price rise. Sorry that you had to discover it in your bill like that. I'm sure that would have been unpleasant.

Add new comment