Guide To IaaS Cloud Provider Performance
Choosing an Infrastructure-as-a-service cloud provider? Use these benchmarks to compare AWS, Google, Azure, Rackspace, and more.
July 23, 2014
![Network Computing logo Network Computing logo](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/bltde8121fc52c5c8f3/blt3f3d0318f746b1c2/65a530e4187606040a1d8b8c/placeholder.png?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale)
I've been frustrated by a lack of comprehensive comparison benchmarks between Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers and within providers themselves. Most performance data shows only a small number of available "instance types" in a limited region, with no way to compare pricing or application performance.
As an Amazon Web Services customer, I know from my own experience that the c1.xlarge performs really well for many applications, but no one appears to have ever compared that to other cloud services.
So, I decided to run my own IaaS performance project and benchmarked every instance type across the major public IaaS provider regions on a consistent setup. My primary focus was to provide a broad, comprehensive view of most serious compute options available to IaaS customers.
Part 1: Test Methodology
First, I explained my goals for the benchmarks and how I used the tools UnixBench and SysBench’s MySQL to test different instance types in different data centers across different providers.
Part 2: Amazon Web Services
I launched more than 175 AWS VMs across instance types and compared performance by region and availability zone. Here you can read the detailed results.
Part 3: Amazon Web Services C3
After Amazon rolled out the C3 family of instances, I ran the benchmarking tests using C3 and updated my AWS charts accordingly.
Part 4: Google Compute Engine
I compared instance types across Google Compute Engine and against AWS, finding it a solid competitor to Amazon's offerings.
Part 5: Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines
I tested Windows Azure Virtual Machines and compared Azure to AWS and Google Compute Engine. Here you'll find the results.
Part 6: Rackspace Cloud Servers
I evaluated Rackspace Cloud Servers' compute resources and how they compare to AWS, Google Compute Engine, and Azure. See how they measure up.
Part 7: SoftLayer
In this part, I looked at SoftLayer, an IBM company, which offers bare-metal (not virtualized) pay-by-the-hour services.
Part 8: HP Public Cloud
I tested HP Public Cloud across regions and compared it to the other IaaS providers I've benchmarked. HP has recently focused on providing an OpenStack-based public cloud.
Do you have experience with these IaaS providers? Let us know how they fared in the comments.
About the Author
You May Also Like
Maximizing cloud potential: Building and operating an effective Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE)
September 10, 2024Radical Automation of ITSM
September 19, 2024Unleash the power of the browser to secure any device in minutes
September 24, 2024