[IPython-dev] Easy Installation

[Carl Smith]

No worries.

I've put the guide on the site now, so you just go to it from the home page.

> - I don't see any 'stop serving' button in the screenshots. Can the
> user stop a notebook server from this interface, or do you have to go
> to AWS? Also, are the notebooks stored somewhere that persists when
> you stop the server, or are they only there as long as you keep the
> instance running?

You can only launch an instance at the moment, but adding Stop, Start,
Reboot and Terminate is pretty easy to do.

As for the notebooks, they're persistent for so long as you don't
terminate the instance altogether. You can shut it down and restart it
later, just like a regular machine, but terminating it, will wipe it
out. It uses EBS, which are a bit like virtual discs that are just
made available to your instances. It's all very cloud :)

> - The UI and/or the guide could mention what sort of instance you
> start up, and what the hourly price is. (And an obvious future
> expansion is to let the user choose the instance type).

I'm going to add some more options soon, so you can use other instance
types and so on. At the moment it launches instances that qualify for
the Free Tier, but you're right, users need to know quite a bit more
about what they're launching. And many don't qualify for freebies
anyway, they're only for the first year after you sign up.

> - If you're storing AWS keys, the data needs to be stored securely. I
> imagine Google mostly take care of that for the app engine datastore,
> but it would be good to have a note to reassure the user about it.

Good point, I'll keep that in mind when I go over the docs.

Thanks for your input Thomas, nice one.

All the best

Carl