Today Adobe announced the availability of a new hosting service for FMS: Flash Media Server on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Kevins Towes, FMS Product Manager, has full details on his blog.

In a nutshell, FMS on AWS allows you to quickly deploy a fully licensed instance of FMS 4 in the cloud. The charges are a combination of FMS license fees and Amazon AWS charges, plus a mark-up on the hourly AWS fees. For example a lareg FMS instance which is limited to 100 RTMFP P2P connections will cost $0.44 per hour to run. A normal AWS large instance (without FMS) is charged at around $0.38 per hour. To run such an FMs instance for a month will cost just over $300, plus any bandwidth on top plus a $5 recurring monthly fee. But do not forget the benefits this type of deployment brings. Imagine having to run a massive live event - previously you would need to rent your own hardware, buy FMS licenses and set everything up by hand. Combining FMS with AWS essentially gives you FMS on tap - you may use it for a whole month, or just a few hours for your actual event. In such cases the AWS deployment can work out extremely cost effective.

I was able to test the AWS instances with FMS and I must say it was very easy to get up and running, especially when you are already an AWS customer as I was. I simply logged into the AWS portal, chose the FMS AMI bundle, went through the subscription sign-up and within minutes I had a fully working FMS 4 instance up and running, ready to stream.

I suggest you give FMS on AWS a try next time you need to run a large scale event or need to scale up your existing FMs infrastructure.


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Posted on December 15, 2010 at 12:04 PM. 3680 views. Print