Amazon EC2 is a great platform for your new organizational Drupal server. Deploy servers on the fly, backup them, restore them. Easily scalable upon need.
Based on my setup, here are the steps needed:
- Create a new Amazon instance. I used the Amazon Linux 64 bit Linux, because of the instructions in step 2. I've modifed the following defaults: A) Instance Name B) Security profile - modifying this setup is essential otherwise no web traffic will be allowed, only SSH. C) Larger initial disk size, e.g. 100G.
- Follow the instructions on this article to setup your new Amazon server to use Drupal. The instructions are based on Amazon Linux.
- Update MySQL configuration (needed for the next step):
Update the defaults in /etc/my.cnf - set max_allowed_packet=100M
sudo /etc/init.d/mysqld stop
sudo /etc/init.d/mysqld start - Install Panopoly on /var/www/html. Panopoly is the best drupal distribution there is - unless you have special needs. It allows you create site mockups within hours. I've installed it without the apps.
Amnon