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Cloud Wars: from sign-up to VM (1/6) | Alibaba Cloud
February 17, 2021
Table of Contents
Chapter 3, Part 1: Alibaba Cloud
Introduction
Welcome to the third installment of Paul’s Tutorial Series! For this third chapter, I decided to compare Cloud Providers.
More specifically, I wanted to look at first user experience across them, so I decided to sign-up to 6 cloud providers, and capture my experience spinning up a free-tier VM right after sign up.
The (6) cloud providers I tested are, in alphabetical order:
- Alibaba Cloud
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Azure (Azure)
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- IBM Cloud
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
This means that this third chapter of my tutorial series will have 6 parts, one for each cloud provider.
While I walk you through every part of this chapter, I will measure the following:
- Configuration of the default VM offered in free tier
- Approximate number of clicks needed from post-signup page to having a VM up and running
- Number of screens needed in a replay to publish this tutorial
- Spin-up time
- Usability score (from my perspective, in a scale of 1 to 5)
Today’s Tutorial: Alicloud
So without further ado, here is the Alicloud tutorial:
Conclusion
Alibaba interface was super confusing to use for me. Maybe because I wasn’t redirected to the cloud console first? At any rate, here is the score card:
| Config of default free tier VM | 1 vCPU / 1GB RAM |
| Approximate number of clicks from signup to VM | 20-25 |
| Number of replay screens | 19 |
| Spin-up time | Not Sure |
| Paul’s usability score (1-5) | 1 |
Hope that first part of the tutorial was somehow useful. Looking forward to seeing you next week for AWS!
Do you want to learn more about Alibaba Cloud? Check out this link.
Do you have suggestions? Comments? Tech you want me to have a look out? Reach out to me on LinkedIn / Twitter
About Paul’s Tutorial Series
What is it? Every week, I chose a piece of tech that picked my interest, and create an easy to consume tutorial showcasing this tech.
Why do I do it? I’m a huge nerd passionate about tech.
Who is this for? Anyone really. The goal is tech evangelization, without ulterior motive, just love.
What’s the topic for this week? How to create a VM in Alibaba Cloud and how does it compare to other cloud providers.
* Photo by Jake Givens