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For setting up an AWS account for demo and evaluation purposes, you don't need a specific type of account or licensing. You can create a standard AWS account, which will allow you to access all the services you've mentioned (EC2, AWS Glue, Amazon S3, and Amazon Redshift).
When you create a new AWS account, you automatically get access to the AWS Free Tier. This offers certain benefits for the first 12 months, as well as some always-free services. However, it's important to note that not everything is free, and usage beyond the Free Tier limits will incur charges.
For your specific use case:
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EC2: The Free Tier includes 750 hours per month of t2.micro (or t3.micro where t2.micro is unavailable) Linux and Windows instances for the first 12 months.
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AWS Glue: There's no specific Free Tier offer for AWS Glue, so you'll be charged for usage from the start.
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Amazon S3: The Free Tier includes 5GB of standard storage, 20,000 Get Requests, and 2,000 Put Requests per month for 12 months.
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Amazon Redshift: There's no long-term Free Tier offer for Redshift, but AWS occasionally offers short-term free trials.
While there isn't a specific "demo" or "trial" account type, the standard account with Free Tier benefits is suitable for temporary technical evaluation. However, be aware that you'll need to provide a valid payment method during account creation, and you'll be charged for any usage beyond the Free Tier limits.
Regarding service limits and quotas, each AWS service has its own set of default limits. These are in place to prevent accidental over-provisioning and can usually be increased upon request. For your evaluation, the default limits should be sufficient, but you can check the specific quotas for each service in the AWS documentation or the Service Quotas console.
To manage costs during your evaluation:
- Set up budget alerts to notify you when you're approaching or exceeding specified spending thresholds.
- Regularly review your usage and costs in the AWS Billing Dashboard.
- Remember to terminate or delete resources you're not using, as some services (like EC2 instances) continue to incur charges even when stopped.
Lastly, for security, make sure to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your root account and create separate IAM users with appropriate permissions for day-to-day operations.
Sources
Community | AWS Cloud Account Fundamentals: Five Essential Best Practices for Managing Cloud Cost
Conclusion - AWS Prescriptive Guidance
Create an AWS account - AWS Account Management
For your use case involving a temporary environment for demo i would recommend looking into the Sandbox Accounts for Events solution developed by AWS Labs.
This framework allows you to:
- Automatically provision temporary AWS accounts for sandbox usage
- Set a defined lifespan for each environment
- Automatically clean up or delete the account after the TTL
- Manage everything through a web interface, ideal for training, demos, or technical evaluations
This is especially helpful for avoiding manual provisioning and ensuring environments are properly isolated and governed.
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