Managing Amazon Web Services From An iPhone

The day has arrived when Average Joe can manage data center resources from a soccer field or the beach using the world's most popular gadget. Ylastic, an Atlanta-based startup founded last year, has introduced an iPhone version of its management interface for Amazon Web Services.Ylastic has developed an interface to manage AWS, including EC2, S3, SQS, SimpleDB, and, most recently, CloudFront. Ylastic's browser-based dashboard can be used to check the status of Amazon services, create S3 buckets, move files between buckets, launch EC2 instances, attach block storage volumes, and more. You can view the complete list of Ylastic features here. (Tip: Ylastic's site doesn't support Internet Explorer, so use a different browser.)

On Dec. 28, Ylastic released a version of its apps for the iPhone and the iPod Touch that comes with most of the features of its browser version. You can see screen shots of the iPhone interface here. (This page actually opens in IE.)

Ylastic is among a new breed of AWS middlemen that a) are built on AWS and b) offer AWS tools and services to other companies. Other startups with cloud management platforms include Hyperic, Kaavo, and RightScale.

Ylastic costs $50 per month per AWS account. The company plans to support EC2 monitoring, auto scaling, and load balancing via the AWS APIs as those capabilities become available from Amazon. (They're due this quarter.) On Ylastic's development road map are plans for Windows Mobile and Android-based phones, preconfigured server instances, and support for EC2 in Europe.