Hosting webapp on an AWS EC2 server. Do I need to use the AWS “application services” for search and email?

Question

I want to host my app on an VPS/VPC and am currently leaning towards the AWS EC2 server. I'm looking at the console right now and I see a bunch of services offered like CloudSearch(managed search service) and SES(email sending service).

Considering the fact that I have already written code to do these things (at least for the search) that works locally, do I/should I still utilize these services? If so, why and how?

Answer 1

You do not need to use these services. But there are limits on sending emails from EC2 instances. ( http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/#general , search for Are there any limitations in sending email from EC2 instances? ).

If you intent to send huge amount of emails then you want to use SES.

Answer 2

For creating webhosting in EC2 instance you can use Easyengine, refer the below link for it:

http://docs.rtcamp.com/easyengine/install/aws.html

If you intend to send emails from your website you can either use Amazon SES or also any other mailing service.

For sending e-mail using Amazon SES follow the below steps:

Step 1) Verify the email address from which you need to send emails.

Step 2) Use the credentials which you get from step1 in your web application to send email to your user.