AWS 讓你可以禁止 RI 跨帳號計算了...

現在 AWS 讓你可以設定,是否允許 Reserved Instance (RI) 跨帳號使用:「Customize your organization’s AWS credit and Reserved Instance (RI) discount sharing using new billing preferences」。

以往是優先用在自己帳號,但如果有剩的話可以挪去其他帳號用。這樣雖然比較省錢,但有時候會造成帳務的「困擾」:

Historically, AWS has maximized customer savings by applying credits and RI discounts first to the account that owned the credit or RI lease and then distributing the remainder, if any, to qualifying usage incurred by accounts in the same organization. While this approach had the potential of lowering the overall bill, customers were unable to control if, and how, discounts were applied across organizational lines.

現在則是可以關掉:

To provide greater flexibility, customers can now disable AWS credit sharing across all accounts in their organization. This ensures that only the account that owns a credit, or has previously redeemed a credit, receives the associated benefit.

也可以分開設定:

You can also designate a set of accounts for which RI discount sharing is disabled, while continuing to share RI discounts among the rest of the accounts in your organization.

這樣雖然會比較貴,但這其實反應到某些組織文化上的問題啦...

Amazon EC2 的 CRI 支援一年版本了...

Amazon EC2 的 CRI (Convertible Reserved Instance) 支援一年的合約了:「EC2 Convertible Reserved Instance Update – New 1-Year CRI, Merges & Splits」,這樣彈性再多了一些:

Today we are introducing Convertible RIs with a 1-year term, complementing the existing 3-year term.

不過 CRI 主要是用在需要換 family type 的情境下,如果是已知 family type (像是一般性的 worker 會選 C4 或是剛推出的 C5) 那麼就直接選擇 Regional RI 就好...

基本上就是讓財務操作上多個選擇 :o

Amazon EC2 的 C5 家族...

Amazon EC2 推出新的 instance:「Now Available – Compute-Intensive C5 Instances for Amazon EC2」,官方宣稱這次單位價錢的效能與 C4 相比大約提升了 25%,而極端的情況可以到 50%:

The new instances offer a 25% price/performance improvement over the C4 instances, with over 50% for some workloads.

這次比較特別的是切分方式,是 large、xlarge、2xlarge、4xlarge、9xlarge (咦?) 以及 18xlarge (...)。

然後亞洲區都還沒上 XD

You can launch C5 instances today in the US East (Northern Virginia), US West (Oregon), and EU (Ireland) Regions in On-Demand and Spot form (Reserved Instances are also available), with additional Regions in the works.

Amazon RDS 的 RI 也支援彈性計價了

AWS 宣佈 RDS 的 RI 也支援彈性計價了:「Amazon RDS Reserved Instances Offer Instance Size Flexibility」。

也就是說跟 EC2 的 RI 方式切齊,買 db.m4.2xlarge 的 RI 後,可以用在兩台 db.m4.xlarge 上:

For example, let’s say you purchased a db.m4.2xlarge MySQL RI in US East (N. Virginia). The discounted rate of this RI can automatically apply to 2 db.m4.xlarge MySQL instances without you needing to do anything.

包括了相當多種類的 RDS,主要是沒有 license fee 的類型都包括在內了:

Amazon RDS Reserved Instance size flexibility is offered in all regions for the MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and Amazon Aurora database engines, as well as the “bring your own license” (BYOL) edition of the Oracle database engine. To learn more about flexible RIs, please visit the Amazon RDS Reserved Instances Page.

但不包括要另外收 license fee 的 SQL Server 與 Oracle LI edition:

Size flexibility does not apply to Microsoft SQL Server and the License Included (LI) edition of Oracle.

Amazon EMR 也以秒計費了,回朔切齊 10/2 生效

Amazon EMR 從改成以秒計費了:「Amazon EMR now supports per-second billing」。

Amazon EMR is now billed in one-second increments in all AWS Regions. There is a 1 minute minimum charge per instance in your Amazon EMR cluster, and per-second billing is applicable to clusters that are newly launched or already running. The Amazon EC2 instances in your cluster, including On-Demand, Spot, and Reserved instances, and Amazon EBS volumes attached to these instances are billed in per-second increments effective October 2. Pricing is still listed on a per-hour basis, but bills are now calculated down to the second and show times in decimal form. Please visit the Amazon EMR pricing page for more information on per-second billing.

來看看 RDS 什麼時候要生效... (不過實際的意義不大)

Netflix 在美國漲價

Okay,所以 Netflix 在美國的價錢漲了:「Netflix Is Increasing Its Monthly Subscription Cost」。

基本版不變:

The basic streaming plan, which only allows for streaming on only one screen at a time, will remain at $7.99 a month.

雙螢幕版漲 $1 變成 $10.99:

The company’s most popular plan — which allows customers to stream titles on two devices with a single account — will increase by $1 to $10.99 a month.

四螢幕版漲 $2 變成 $13.99:

The premium plan — which allows customers to use the same account for four screens at once — will increase by $2 to $13.99 a month.

紐約時報的說明是因為自製成本增加,如果是這樣的話,其他地區也應該有可能會找機會漲?

The price hike arrives as Netflix continues to increase production of original TV and movie content. The company said that by the end of the year it will have spent around $6 billion for original content in 2017. In August, Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, told Variety that the company planned to spend about $7 billion for original programming next year.

AWS CodeBuild 可以管 Secret 了...

AWS CodeBuild 可以管理 secret 了:「AWS CodeBuild Now Provides Ability To Manage Secrets」。

AWS CodeBuild now further enhances securing your build environment. CodeBuild can now store sensitive information as secrets, which can now get directly passed to your build jobs. This can be achieved by modifying the parameter store directly in your buildspec.yml, or via the CodeBuild console.

在文件裡提到:

We strongly discourage using environment variables to store sensitive values, especially AWS access key IDs and secret access keys. Environment variables can be displayed in plain text using tools such as the AWS CodeBuild console and the AWS CLI. For sensitive values, we recommend you use the parameter-store mapping instead, as described later in this section.

這次算是補上其他家已經有蠻久的功能...

不過在找資料的時候,發現 AWS CodeBuild 提供了每個月一百分鐘的 free quota,不論是新帳號還是現有帳號都一直有?(這點是之前沒注意到的...)

The AWS CodeBuild free tier includes 100 build minutes of build.general1.small per month. The CodeBuild free tier does not expire automatically at the end of your 12-month AWS Free Tier term. It is available to new and existing AWS customers.

EC2 與 EBS 十月開始以秒計費

雖然只是 Amazon EC2Amazon EBS 計價模式的改變,但這次 AWS 的改變對於許多開發流程有很大的影響 (重點在 EC2 的部份):「New – Per-Second Billing for EC2 Instances and EBS Volumes」。

10/2 開始改變 (而不是 10/1),低消一分鐘,Windows 機種以及需要額外收費的 Linux 機種不在範圍內:

This change is effective in all AWS Regions and will be effective October 2, for all Linux instances that are newly launched or already running. Per-second billing is not currently applicable to instances running Microsoft Windows or Linux distributions that have a separate hourly charge. There is a 1 minute minimum charge per-instance.

然後 Spot 與買 RI 後也是一樣以秒計價:

List prices and Spot Market prices are still listed on a per-hour basis, but bills are calculated down to the second, as is Reserved Instance usage (you can launch, use, and terminate multiple instances within an hour and get the Reserved Instance Benefit for all of the instances).

這次改變的影響很巨大。馬上可以想到幾個情境...

第一個是對於實踐 Release early, release often 的團隊來說,如果設計成每 deploy 一次就建一個新的 AMI (最乾淨的作法),再開新機器換掉的話,成本就會增加不少。所以對於這樣的團隊,就會偏好朝著替換現有目錄內的東西後重啟...

現在改成以秒計費後,直接透過 Blue-Green Deployment 就可以了 (AWS CodeDeploy 年初也支援了:「AWS CodeDeploy 支援 BlueGreenDeployment」):(如果不熟悉 Blue-Green Deployment 的話,更白話的說法就是「先建後拆」...)

同樣的理由,對於 Auto Scaling 的 policy 也有些改變。之前機器開起來都會想讓他跑一個小時,所以 scale down 的部份都會寫的比較鬆一點。現在就可以重新規劃了...

另外一個影響是對使用 container 的誘因少了不少。很多人用 container 的用法是開大台機器再裡面拆給不同服務用,讓資源利用率變高,現在變成用多少算多少後就不太需要這樣了...

當然也還是有缺點。以前 Spot Instance 如果被 AWS 收回時,最後的那個小時是不計費的。現在因為以秒計費,變成要收費了...

最後是 10/2 生效這件事情頗怪,該不會是財務部門不願意配合 10/1 星期天加班生效,所以只好變成 10/2 生效這種理由吧... XDDD

Google Cloud Platform 的網路推出 Standard Tier 了

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) 的網路總算是推出 Standard Tier 了:「Introducing Network Service Tiers: Your cloud network, your way」。

之前 GCP 上的網路只有 Premium Tier,也就是封包從 GCP 的平台出來後一定要透過 Google 自己的網路,到離使用者最近的點後再送到使用者的電腦上... 這樣的好處是 Google 保證他們有很多備援線路,而且也確保 latency 夠低,但缺點就是服務提供者得付這些費用...

這次推出的 Standard Tier 就像其他雲端平台的作法,在 GCP 機房當地就跟網路業者交換,之後透過 Internet 傳到使用者的電腦上,這樣就會比較便宜:

With the new Network Tiers pricing (effective at GA), outbound traffic (GCP to internet) is priced 24-33% lower in Standard Tier than in Premium Tier for North America and Europe.

像是「其實我根本不在意美國以外的使用者」時,機房建在美國,但不會想要付 Premium Tier 的網路費用...

AWS CloudHSM 支援 FIPS 140-2 Level 3 了

AWS CloudHSM 推出了一些新功能:「AWS CloudHSM Update – Cost Effective Hardware Key Management at Cloud Scale for Sensitive & Regulated Workloads」。

其中比較特別的是從以前只支援 Level 2 變成支援 Level 3 了:

More Secure – CloudHSM Classic (the original model) supports the generation and use of keys that comply with FIPS 140-2 Level 2. We’re stepping that up a notch today with support for FIPS 140-2 Level 3, with security mechanisms that are designed to detect and respond to physical attempts to access or modify the HSM.

在維基百科裡面有提到 Level 2 與 Level 3 的要求:

Security Level 2 improves upon the physical security mechanisms of a Security Level 1 cryptographic module by requiring features that show evidence of tampering, including tamper-evident coatings or seals that must be broken to attain physical access to the plaintext cryptographic keys and critical security parameters (CSPs) within the module, or pick-resistant locks on covers or doors to protect against unauthorized physical access.

In addition to the tamper-evident physical security mechanisms required at Security Level 2, Security Level 3 attempts to prevent the intruder from gaining access to CSPs held within the cryptographic module. Physical security mechanisms required at Security Level 3 are intended to have a high probability of detecting and responding to attempts at physical access, use or modification of the cryptographic module. The physical security mechanisms may include the use of strong enclosures and tamper-detection/response circuitry that zeroes all plaintext CSPs when the removable covers/doors of the cryptographic module are opened.

主動式偵測以及銷毀算是 Level 3 比 Level 2 安全的地方。

另外就是計價方式的修正,先前有一筆固定的費用,現在變成完全照小時計費了:

Pay As You Go – CloudHSM is now offered under a pay-as-you-go model that is simpler and more cost-effective, with no up-front fees.