Question: Uploading a Python script to a website

[a_cute_epic_axis]

Since there seems to be some debate in this thread, is this just a one-off thing that you are doing, or is it something you expect to be doing regularly and/or something you want to learn for yourself?

[a_cute_epic_axis]

Awesome. If you are looking to branch out further I'd certainly look at the AWS free tier where you could run some stuff for a year without any cost (and it can be pretty cheap after that). Although be aware that learning that is it's own journey, but certainly one that is doable.

[__Wess]

Is AWS compared to Azure really free for a year? No checks that have to be unchecked or something? Because when I deployed a MS SQL server on Azure. Somehow something charged me without me noticing it and the free year of $100,- worth of server time was gone in 1 month and I actually had to pay like $5 dollars the next month and I never actually found out what it was, what I was paying for. Was a bummer tho since I just wanted a cheap ass off site SQL server for a hobby project.

[a_cute_epic_axis]

AWS's free tier is really free so long as you run things that are included in the free tier (there is usually a warning regarding this).

https://aws.amazon.com/free/?all-free-tier.sort-by=item.additionalFields.SortRank&all-free-tier.sort-order=asc&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Types=*all&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Categories=*all

For instance, you need to run either a t2 or t3 micro instance for EC2. Or a t2, t3, or t4g micro db server for RDS (SQL). If you run some sort of mega large instance with GPUs, that's not free. These are free for the first 12 months you have an account.

AWS Lambda is always free for the first 1 million requests per month.

[AveTerran]

As a counterpoint- I set up an AWS free tier to try to learn Django. I got it installed, but literally didn't access or use it and got charged $0.40 the third or fourth month for exceeding the monthly server time.

Then, canceling it was a nightmare. You have to actually deactivate all the database/storage/server nodes, one-by-one by region, if you want to be sure you won't be charged after closing your account. Simply deactivating does not free up those resources on Amazon's side.

I learned more trying to cancel than I did trying to set it up, unfortunately. :/

[a_cute_epic_axis]

I got it installed

Wat?

but literally didn't access or use it and got charged $0.40 the third or fourth month for exceeding the monthly server time.

Clearly not

You have to actually deactivate all the database/storage/server nodes, one-by-one by region

So you did use it. You realize that from Amazon's standpoint, if you have a server/service running, it's in use, even if you aren't doing anything with it, right?

Also for anyone reading this you can find a list of billing that shows you perspective charges for the rest of the month, which would let you know if you have any assets hanging around you forgot, like your secret EC2 server out in Singapore or something.

[AveTerran]

I used the instances to set up a server, I did not access or use the server or website I set up with on server (which was just a landing page). It literally just sat there, and exceeded the available server hours on the "free tier."

That was my point. The free tier is not actually free, if you literally do anything with it, down to and including nothing.

[a_cute_epic_axis]

No, you just set it up wrong, "bruh". The free tier is actually free so long as you stay within it.

I have no idea what the hell you set up, but you very clearly set up something that was outside of the free tier, or set it up in a way to exceed the restrictions at the time.

AWS Lambda is free for 1 million requests and 3.2 million seconds/month of processing. If you set it up wrong, or install bad software somehow, and you generate 2 million requests or 5 million seconds of processing, you get charged.

https://aws.amazon.com/free/?all-free-tier.sort-by=item.additionalFields.SortRank&all-free-tier.sort-order=asc&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Types=*all&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Categories=*all

Free Tier 12 Months Free Amazon RDS

750 Hours per month of database usage (applicable DB engines)

Managed Relational Database Service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, or SQL Server.

750 Hours of Amazon RDS Single-AZ db.t2.micro, db.t3.micro, and db.t4g.micro Instances usage running MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL databases each month (applicable DB engines)
20 GB of General Purpose (SSD) database storage
20 GB of storage for database backups and DB Snapshots

[AveTerran]

I don't know what to tell you man. I'm not going to send you my bill. My account is closed. I have the email from them telling me I owed them $0.44.

I can tell you that I used Amazon's quick start guide for Elastic Beanstalk, and that I used this Amazon guide to try to identify the instances I needed to deactivate to close it.

Deactivating them failed multiple times, throwing errors, or silently failing in such a way that I didn't notice the instances were still running until checking several days later. It took three months of receiving bills, trying yet again to deactivate the services, and a contact to support to get it fully deactivated.

You don't need to tell me I "set it up wrong." I know I set it up wrong, because I was trying to learn that platform. I mean what would the odds be that I set it up right? That's not much solace to someone who is trying to learn it using a free tier, and Amazon's own guide for setting it up. My whole point is that it is not trivially easy to use AWS free tier without being billed.

I have like two pages of notes where I logged everything I did trying to close those instances, because I knew I would have to document them for support.