Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Customer insights: Apple app development with Amazon EC2 Mac instances (CMP218)

Summary

Amazon EC2 Mac instances were introduced to address the challenges of managing physical Mac infrastructure for app development.
The journey began in 2018, with the internal Amazon team needing a cloud-like experience for Apple app development.
EC2 Mac instances provide elasticity, macOS environment access, quick SSH access, and integration with AWS services.
Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for macOS simplify the imaging process, and Nitro system integration offers dedicated network and storage bandwidth.
EC2 Mac instances support high availability and resiliency across AWS regions and availability zones.
AWS services like Systems Manager and CloudWatch can be integrated for management and auto-scaling.
EC2 Mac instances support different macOS versions and allow in-place software upgrades.
AWS launched EC2 Mac M1 instances with Apple Silicon, offering significant performance improvements.
AWS quickly adopted new Apple Silicon Macs, such as M2 and M2 Pro, into the EC2 Mac instance family.
EC2 Mac instances are bare metal and unmodified, except for disabling certain hardware features for security.
Dropbox's use case for EC2 Mac instances includes building, signing, testing, and debugging macOS software.
Dropbox transitioned from physical Mac infrastructure to EC2 Mac instances paired with Parallels for virtualization, gaining flexibility and avoiding upfront CapEx.
EC2 Mac instances have enabled Dropbox to navigate hardware transitions seamlessly and cater to evolving workloads.

The development of EC2 Mac instances was driven by the need for a cloud-like experience for Apple app development within Amazon and was later extended to external customers facing similar challenges.
The Nitro system's re-architecture in 2017 played a crucial role in enabling the integration of physical Mac hardware with EC2, allowing for the creation of EC2 Mac instances.
The EC2 Mac instances benefit from AWS's infrastructure, including high availability, security, and integration with other AWS services, which simplifies management and scaling for developers.
AWS's ability to quickly adapt and offer the latest Apple Silicon Macs as EC2 instances demonstrates the company's commitment to staying current with Apple's hardware innovations.
Dropbox's case study illustrates the practical benefits of EC2 Mac instances for enterprise customers, highlighting the importance of virtualization, scalability, and cost-effectiveness in modern app development workflows.
The partnership with Jamf and the development of MDM enrollment automation scripts indicate AWS's focus on providing comprehensive management solutions for macOS environments in the cloud.
The session also emphasizes the importance of community and resource sharing, as evidenced by the mention of GitHub repositories and other sessions at re:Invent for further learning and exploration of EC2 Mac capabilities.