Editing Cloud Homelabs (section)

== Vendor Overviews ==
=== Amazon AWS ===
Amazon provide one of the most generous "free tier" options of all vendors. 12 months of free (limited) access to a load of their services, including the ability to run one Linux VM, one Windows VM and one RDS (database) instance 24/7/365! Actually this breaks down for the EC2 instances as 750 hours per month, which you can use however you like. For example you could run 10 instances for 3 days!
[[File:security-keys-meme.jpg|250px|border|right]]This is a truly excellent service from the world's biggest biggest cloud vendor, and can potentially leave you with a bill of pennies to a couple of dollars at the end of the month, even with pretty heavy use! Just make sure you turn off your instances at the end of each session and look after your keys, and you wont pay anything for them except their storage (which is a pittance anyway)!
A couple of key links for setting up your AWS account are below:
* [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/free-tier-alarms.html Creating a Billing Alarm]
* [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html IAM Best Practices]
* [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/root-vs-iam.html Root Account Credentials vs. IAM User Credentials]
For more information and advice on using Amazon AWS as your homelab, see our dedicated page on [[Amazon AWS]] homelabs.
=== Bare Metal Cloud ===
Bare Metal Cloud are a really interesting "physical cloud" solution! As per their own [http://baremetalcloud.com website]:

''We provide bare-metal dedicated servers which are unrestricted and not shared. You have full access down to the to the bare-metal of the hardware. All servers come with an OS of your choice but you have full permissions to reinstall or change anything you wish.''

So here's the cool bit! You can spin up your own hypervisors or whatever you want on their tin, and simply pay by the hour! When you combine Bare Metal Cloud with [[AutoLab]], you can have your lab up and running in a very short time, and be labbing on physical tin in somebody else's data centre!

If you want to see an example of this working, [https://twitter.com/Mike_Laverick Mike Laverick] did a great article on his blog here:
*[http://www.mikelaverick.com/2013/03/not-ready-bare-metal-cloud-for-your-auto-lab/ Bare Metal Cloud for your Auto-Lab]
For more information and advice on using Bare Metal Cloud as your homelab, see our dedicated page on [[Bare Metal Cloud]] homelabs.
=== Google Cloud Platform ===
In comparison to most vendors (except AWS), GCP provide a pretty decent length 60 day free trial, with a set amount of credit.

For more information and advice on using Google Cloud Platform as your homelab, see our dedicated page on [[Google Cloud Platform]] homelabs.
=== Microsoft Azure ===
For more information and advice on using [[Microsoft Azure]] as your homelab, see our dedicated page on [[Microsoft Azure]] homelabs.
=== Ravello ===
Ravello is a really interesting product which impressed so much, [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/23/oracle_acquires_ravello_will_bake_it_into_big_red_cloud/ Oracle acquired them recently for ~$500m]!

Their key concept is that they are effectively a cloud hypervisor which can run on top of any public cloud, allowing you then to nest your chosen hypervisor and VMs inside of it! Yes, indeed this is taking [[vInception]] to a whole new level; [[Cloud vInception]]!!! You use a very easy to use visio-style SaaS interface to design your lab, and once you are ready to deploy it, they then choose whatever is the most cost effective cloud to run it on at that time. You are then simply charged by the hour for resources consumed. Simples!

In a very gracious move, Ravello is free for vExperts! Despite their recent acquisition, they have stated that the free access will continue for now. If you are a vExpert, go here to apply:
* [https://www.ravellosystems.com/go/vexpert Ravello vExpert Free Access]
[https://twitter.com/jaslanger Jason Langer] did an excellent writeup comparing the cost of running a homelab vs using Ravello, and the results were pretty impressive based on the use case of 12 hours per week (pretty heavy use!):
* [http://www.virtuallanger.com/2015/07/09/can-you-replace-your-home-lab-with-ravello-systems/ Can You Replace Your Home Lab with Ravello Systems?]
For more information and advice on using [[Ravello]] as your homelab, see our dedicated page on [[Ravello]] homelabs.
=== VMware vCloud Air ===
For more information and advice on using VMware vCloud Air as your homelab, see our dedicated page on [[VMware vCloud Air]] homelabs.