Windows services on EC2?

Question

Can you install and run your own windows services on ec2? Does it have MSMQ?

Answer 1

Yes, you can. You can also install MSMQ, and I can confirm that it works perfectly.

First you need to create an EBS volume, using a snapshot of the appropriate Windows installation media:

Install windows services on EC2 http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/9644/aws.png

Then simply attach the EBS volume to your Windows instance. At this stage, you would be able to install any Windows service, such as MSMQ and IIS, that did not come pre-installed with the original AMI.

Answer 2

You could also take advantage of Amazon Simple Queue Service. It's exposed as a webservice so you could easily communicate with it from your Windows Service or virtually any other platform/technology.