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Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

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Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#101

Post by saidmasoud »

andyfleming wrote: post #68
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #60

My prediction is that by 2020 Netflix will move a significant portion of their IT to Google Cloud. Why? Most of their architecture is microservices / linux containers / serverless, and Google is simply way better positioned there (with Kubernetes as their crown jewel). They will eventually win. Source: no source, just my "expert" opinion (6 years at AWS, 2 at VMware's cloud, currently CEO at a startup).

AWS is catching up as far as Kubernetes support. I might agree that GCP is better positioned for some of that architecture, but they are still comparable. There are also some advantages to AWS. For example, I think that their RDS product is still more mature than Google Cloud SQL. It's all trade-offs.

+1 regarding RDS. A company I spoke to is moving from GCP to AWS, with their biggest pain point being Cloud SQL is WAY less flexible than RDS. While GCP's k8s offering is better/easier to use, they still have some catching up to do.

To drive the second point home, GCP recently released VPC Flow Logs, while AWS has had it for a good while now.

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#102

Post by KirinDave »

cptskippy wrote: post #89
Cshelton wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AWS's ELB/ALB have been rock solid for us. Not sure what you are referring to when you say 'antiquated infrastructure'?

Antiquated doesn't mean unstable or unusable. It means old fashioned. It's not the new hotness.

I see such intense benefits from HTTP/2 end to end, I'm quite happy to be called a shiny-chaser when my 50th and 99th drops so sharply.

Also, prefetch is absolutely incredible for webapps and I'm trying to get my peers at my current employer to embrace it even if it's not well supported in AWS.

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#103

Post by treis »

martimarkov wrote: post #100
treis wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have data centers of their own and distribute all of their own content. AWS powers the UI requests and their back office number crunching stuff. Everything after you push play is done via Netflix's own hardware.

Any links so I can read more on the subject? I’d love to get my hands on some material describing their infrastructure.

https://media.netflix.com/en/company-blog/how-netflix-works-...

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#104

Post by wpietri »

wiremine wrote: post #19
skywhopper wrote: post #7

Netflix has been "testing the waters" at GCP for years. And as their infrastructure grows, relying on a single cloud provider would be a silly limitation to put on themselves. Disaster-recovery/failover is a very natural use case for multi-cloud deployments. Not to mention that for certain workloads and patterns, GCP is cheaper and better. Netflix operates at a scale well beyond what most AWS managed services can rea…

You don't have to be Netflix to get AWS, GCP and MS to play against each on pricing. I've seen a number of my clients build a prototype on each platforms, and then use it to make final decision. Part of that final decision is having the cloud vendors compete on price. I personally haven't seen any massive price breaks, but there definitely is room the margins.

If it's a final decision, then most of the cost is in the future, far beyond the reach of the initial quotes.

I've seen too many companies turn extractive (including, of course, that same Microsoft) to ever use the words "final" next to "platform decision".

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#105

Post by manigandham »

esturk wrote: post #94

If more people start using GCP, then in the near future, GCP's prices will go up. In contrast, AWS prices may come down to compete with GCP. And when they reach close parity, things will begin to commoditize and get even cheaper across the board. I see this being a good thing overall as an industry.

Why would GCP prices go up?

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#107

Post by axaxs »

assblaster wrote: post #6

I think long term, Netflix needs redundancy, especially when the primary supplier is a competitor in the same space.

Honest question - is Amazon really seen as a competitor here? Every time I've attempted to use Prime video, I'd scurried away terrified of their awful ui. I guess it's hard to gauge subscribers since it's 'thrown in', but I'd be curious to know how many people really use the service.

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#108

Post by stingraycharles »

scarface74 wrote: post #56

There are a lot of comments saying that Netflix should run its own datacenter. Adrian Cockcraft helped lead Netflix's effort to move to AWS and now is a VP at AWS https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriancockcroft/ He did an interview with Software Engineering Radio back in 2014 explaining their motivation. http://www.se-radio.net/2014/12/episode-216-adrian-cockcroft...

> Adrian Cockcraft helped lead Netflix's effort to move to AWS and now is a VP at AWS.

I always get a bad taste in my mouth when I read things like that. Was it really an objective choice, or was this AWS’ way of saying “thank you” ?

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#109

Post by johnmc408 »

mrkurt wrote: post #95
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also work for a CDN. Some of our stuff dynamically utilizes other CDNs. A customer might go try and test deploy something and we might use (AWS or whatever) to do it. It's CDNs all the way down.

I work for a company people use to build CDNs. Just another turtle. :D

Adding my turtle as a CDN employee ;-)

Re: Netflix, Long an AWS Customer, Tests Waters on Google Cloud

#110

Post by web007 »

KirinDave wrote: post #102
cptskippy wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Antiquated doesn't mean unstable or unusable. It means old fashioned. It's not the new hotness.

I see such intense benefits from HTTP/2 end to end, I'm quite happy to be called a shiny-chaser when my 50th and 99th drops so sharply. Also, prefetch is absolutely incredible for webapps and I'm trying to get my peers at my current employer to embrace it even if it's not well supported in AWS.

Have you tried termination at ELB with TCP to backend, or just plain TCP passthrough all the way?

Also as mentioned elsewhere, ALB or NLB might do what you want, either working the same way as regular ELB or via the same workarounds.

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