[Hidden-tech] seeking AWS linux EC2 consult

[Chris Duncan, GISmatters]

I've been using AWS EC2 on and off for many years, generally without any 
issues although my needs/goals have been quite modest for most of that time.

For the past 1.5 years I've been running a linux instance to receive, 
process, store, and relay data from a network of devices with a modest 
but not trivial data rate of ~2000 UDP messages/sec, or ~100kbytes/sec. 
Until recently it has been problem-free, but in the last month or two 
I've lost control of instances twice -- first a dev/test instance, but 
over the past weekend the production server. These instances have 
suddenly stopped relaying data, become unreachable via SSH (standalone 
and browser-based EC2 instance connect), stopped responding to web 
requests, and ignored reboot commands from the EC2 console.

While I have managed to get things back on track, with some 
not-very-timely assistance from AWS support (I pay the $30/mo for the 
basic level of service), I feel the need to:
* understand better what has gone wrong and what, if anything, I can do 
to prevent future occurrences
* learn and adopt best practices for managing instances, images, 
volumes, snapshots -- and probably other things I don't yet know about 
-- to maximize reliability, to simplify monitoring and management, and 
to ensure trouble-free restoration of service when things do go south
In short, I'm looking to up my game from daily offsite db backups, 
monthly instance snapshots, crossed fingers, and an ongoing sense of 
unease to a more purposeful, organized, and stress-free approach.

As I have to date, I could eventually accomplish this on my own by 
reading EC2 documentation, doing web/forum searches, etc. But in this 
moment I want to speed up the process, and I think having the ability to 
talk through issues and ask questions (and get clear, succinct, and 
reliable answers!) will be more effective for me than ploughing through 
lots of web resources.

So... looking to hire someone to work with me for what I expect to be a 
relatively brief overall time commitment (2? 5? 10? hours) to meet the 
two bulleted objectives above. Although much of what I need may be the 
same for all operating systems, I want to work with someone having 
specific expertise with linux EC2 instances. Please contact me with your 
availability, rates, and level of experience/expertise.

If I have failed to provide important information to assess my general 
needs at this stage, please let me know so I can post again with those 
details.

Thanks,

Chris

-- 

Chris Duncan, Ph.D.
President, GISmatters
duncan at gismatters.com

http://www.gismatters.com/

Tel: +1 413.549.2052
Fax: +1 413.658.0346

1 Tuckerman Ln
Amherst, MA 01002