mhotek-836094 (5/8/2012)
Um...the big deal is....what? I connect remotely to every production SQL Server instance that I've worked with for over 2 decades. I rarely have to manage the OS on anything that my SQL Servers are running on....
All Amazon has done is say "we'll provide the DBA".
You just admitted you do sometimes. This makes sense for some applications and cases. There one (or 100) less system(s) for your Windows admins to manage. Production quality uptime is handled, backups, networking. There's a lot here, and if it makes financial sense for your situation, use it.
If not, don't.