Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> It is??

Yep.

> I'm still trying to figure out the price structure for EC2. I mean, do 
> they bill you for how many hours an instance runs for?

Yes.

> Or just how many hours of CPU time it uses? 

No. Altho that would be pretty cool. :-)

> If you get a 4-CPU instance, do they bill you 4x that?

They have different per-hour prices for different capability machines. Along 
with different CPUs, they have different amounts of disk and memory 
available. But the price list is right there.  It's per wall-clock hour, 
rounded up, and counting the time it takes to boot.

> On top of that, how much CPU time does each call to Apache actually use? 

Irrelevant, since it's not billed by CPU time. You'd have to guestimate your 
I/O bandwidth, tho, yes.

> I also need to know how many hits I get in a year to compute how much a 
> year will cost me. Only them will I be in a position to figure out if 
> it's actually any cheaper.

I was assuming you had a handle on this. :-)

> Currently I'm wondering if EC2 would be any cheaper/faster for running 
> POV-Ray. But I suspect the answer is going to be "no"...

Cheaper / Faster than what?  Do a trial trace and see how long it takes on 
your current setup and on one of Amazon's.  I've noticed it can fluctuate a 
bit over time, maybe 10% up and down, presumedly as other users on the 
machine use some capacity, but it's pretty minor.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Why is there a chainsaw in DOOM?
   There aren't any trees on Mars.

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