Lower Prices for EC2 Windows Instances using Authentication Services

We’ve removed the distinction between Amazon EC2 running Windows and Amazon EC2 running Windows with Authentication Services, allowing all of our Windows instances to make use of Authentication Services such as LDAP, RADIUS, and Kerberos. With this change, any Windows instance can host a Domain Controller or join an existing domain. File sharing services such as SMB between instances will now automatically default to SMB-over-TCP in all cases, and will also be able to negotiate more secure authentication.

Existing Windows with Authentication Services instances will now be charged the same price as Windows instances, a savings of 50% on the hourly rate. All newly launched instances will be charged the new, lower price (starting at 12.5 cents per hour for a 32-bit instance in the US). Applications requiring logins can now be run on the Amazon EC2 running Windows AMIs.

As a result of these changes, our Windows AMI lineup now looks like this:

• US:
  • Amazon EC2 running Windows (32 bit) – English.
  • Amazon EC2 running Windows (64 bit) – English.
  • Amazon EC2 running Windows With SQL Server (64 bit) – English.
• Europe:
  • Amazon EC2 running Windows (32 bit) – English, German, French, Spanish, Italian.
  • Amazon EC2 running Windows (64 bit) – English, German, French, Spanish, Italian.
  • Amazon EC2 running Windows With SQL Server (64 bit) – English, German, French, Spanish, Italian.

If you are using Amazon DevPay in conjunction with Amazon EC2 running Windows with Authentication Services you will need to create new AMIs and adjust your pricing plan before November 1, 2009.

We continue to strive for simplicity and cost effectiveness; this is a good example of both!

— Jeff;

PS – I know that a lot of you have been asking us to support Windows Server 2008.  I don’t have a release date for you yet, but I can assure you that we’ve prioritized the work needed to properly support it.