using aws ec2 as application server… so poor performance

Question

I am planning to host a server in several countries(us, south east asia..)

I'm testing ec2 (ebs backed, large size) and getting horrible results. The server just isn't fast enough. cpu/hard-drive/rount trip time

I am comparing the speed with my home linux box(dual i5 cpu,2gig memory,sata)
I feel my home server is faster about 10 times.
(compared compile time of heavy libraries, performing the same db updates.. and so on)

The server application is similar to web servers in what it does(little cpu usage, many db access(mysql in the ec2 root partition).

Am I missing something obvious? like ebs backed ec2 takes time to get stabilized after booting up or something.
Maybe, connecting to cross-continent(eg, from asia to US based ec2) is no-no in aws world?

Hope there are some explanations why I'm getting so poor performance with large size ec2.
I'd like to ask if my planned usage of aws is going to work at all, or should I look for other services other than aws.

Answer 1

if you want to monitor your EC2 instance, consider using Amazon's cloudwatch service. This service can monitor all your instance's resources, such as CPU utilization, memory usage, network latency, and request counts. It's also free in the amazon free tier.

I know some users report that after switching from amazon aws to rackspace cloud , their applications run faster without adding extra expenses. you might consider giving rackspace a test.