Anyone tried use AWS/EC3 in Ninjatrader Backtesting

[suroot]

Hi,

Some of my backtests take a loooong time to complete, quite CPU & memory hungry. Does anyone know, if Ninjatrader backtesting can be used with "renting CPU time", like Amazon AWS / EC2?

br,
Christian

[NinjaTrader_AlanP]

Hello Christian,

Yes, you could run your backtests on a server which offered better PC specs.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

[guidoisot]

Hello
I am trying to load NT8 on a first-year-free VPS offered by amazon.
I have opened an account with AWS, now I understand I should launch an EC2 instance, ie a windows virtual machine, where I would like to load the platform. Can you provide some guidance on this? I was also wondering whether I can use my NT8 license both on my home pc and on the vps.
Thank you

[NinjaTrader_Jesse]

Hello guidoisot,

Thank you for the question.

I couldn't provide guidance for the Amazon setup portion of the server myself (potentially another user of their services can chime in) but the overall installation of NinjaTrader should be the same once you are in windows. I was able to locate the following public amazon page for their Windows AWS services: https://aws.amazon.com/windows/

I could suggest to either contact Amazon or review their documentation on windows setup/program installation. There may also be simplified tutorials posted by others on google related to setting up windows and general program installs.

Once windows is configured and you are on the desktop, you can install NinjaTrader from the standard installer and it should work like a normal desktop installation assuming the version of windows is a supported version. There can be other configurations you may need to do to the AWS such as installing .net, these are items you may need to contact Amazon about for further guidance using their VPS platform.

Regarding the license key, you can utilize they key on your other computer but you would need to ensure you only use one PC at a time with the license. You can review the grant of license in the terms of service in the help guide here.

After configuring the aws, if you have further questions related to installation or difficulties, please feel free to post those details and I could assist further.

I look forward to being of further assistance.

[guidoisot]

how to use the platform on a one year free Amazon VPS

Thank you for your reply.
I managed to get the vps runnig and connected to my home pc, thanks to the guidance i found on these 5 videos of this YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfessorEaston/videos

the videos I looked at are the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My-SEec1azE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f287OWj_jRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T89sWEmWJYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UljTwYCY-L4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIyBQjvmR0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3_1sFpTBmA

I will email support to find out whether my vps netframework are ok for installation.

Thanks.

[Silent Warrior]

Success?

Great idea. How did this work out?

[guidoisot]

The basic EC2 does not comply with NT8 requirements.
So I have to find out whether Framework net 4.5 can be installed in such AWS instance.
The idea would be trying to use an instance AWS EC2-large for trading spikes related to high impact new releases, ie trading on AWS only for short periods of time. Given the new OCO functionality of NT8 this should be possible more easily than it was happening with NT7.
Perhaps AWS server are not the fastest ones, but they should be ok, most likely they are much faster than most home PCs.
AWS instances also appear to be inexpensive.
I think that, . ... later on, I shall try the EC2-large, which I understand costs about 12 cents /hour. I am not yet sure about the costs related to storage.
Another point I need to clarify is: how can I use my license for 1 hour on the AWS server (across the time of the news release) and then use the same license on my home machine during the other hours.

I have to find out also how this NT8 OCO features works and whether/how it could be included into an ATM strategy, where one could set entry price triggers, stop losses and targets on both sides vs what the price happens to be right at the time of the news release.

Too bad there are not many, actually not one that I know of, samples of such news releases ATM strategies. ...to be used as a model for building my own ATM.
If anyone has undertaken trading with NT8 on an AWS instance, his/her contribution on how this was achieved and difficulties were overcome, would be very welcome.

[yeshe]

hello guidoisot
thank you for your posts
are you saying that framework net 4.5 cannot be installed on the free ec2?
is it taking up to much space?
how much space will net 4.5 need for installation?
ec2 has a max capacity of 40 gb?
which requirements does it not comply too?

[guidoisot]

hi,
I have not been using ec2 for the last few months and closed it at the end of 12 month free test.
I do not remember whether it was just a space issue, or a RAM issue, or an issue related to the fact that the ec2 windows operating system was not compatible with net 4.5.
If you can find out how to use AWS and NT together, maybe with a different instance than ec2, please post it here ... I will try again.
Also, notice there are free tutorials on aws also on udemy, I haven't listened them yet ...

[RobotSyndicate]

This is an old thread, but in case it is helpful, I have been running my NT8 strategy on an AWS EC2 instance for about 6 months now with no issues at all. It works very well, and now I don't have to worry about power outages, internet going down, etc. I also use RoboTask along side it to automate weekly NT reboots, re connections, etc.

[MrsErica]

This is an old thread, but in case it is helpful, I have been running my NT8 strategy on an AWS EC2 instance for about 6 months now with no issues at all. It works very well, and now I don't have to worry about power outages, the internet going down, etc. I also use RoboTask alongside it to automate weekly NT reboots, reconnections, etc.

Hello, I'm glad to see your reply. I was thinking about whether I could run my NT8 on an AWS EC2 instance during the nighttime trading hours for my strategy that I'm working on. Since I live in Brazil where power outages and internet drops are common, I could only consider doing this on an AWS. At some point down the road, if it's ok, I may contact you for advice.

[RobotSyndicate]

Hello, I'm glad to see your reply. I was thinking about whether I could run my NT8 on an AWS EC2 instance during the nighttime trading hours for my strategy that I'm working on. Since I live in Brazil where power outages and internet drops are common, I could only consider doing this on an AWS. At some point down the road, if it's ok, I may contact you for advice.

Yep, contact me any time. I would be happy to help.

[bpaul]

how to use the platform on a one year free Amazon VPS

Thank you for your reply.
I managed to get the vps runnig and connected to my home pc, thanks to the guidance i found on these 5 videos of this YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfessorEaston/videos

the videos I looked at are the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My-SEec1azE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f287OWj_jRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T89sWEmWJYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UljTwYCY-L4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIyBQjvmR0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3_1sFpTBmA

I will email support to find out whether my vps netframework are ok for installation.

Thanks.

thank you so much for sending those link. i am stuck in between while trying to setting up NT8 to AWS. can i ask few more questions

[bpaul]

This is an old thread, but in case it is helpful, I have been running my NT8 strategy on an AWS EC2 instance for about 6 months now with no issues at all. It works very well, and now I don't have to worry about power outages, internet going down, etc. I also use RoboTask along side it to automate weekly NT reboots, re connections, etc.

can i also message you regarding connecting NT8 to AWS please. some assistance with configuring the VPS/NT installation will be much appreciated

[WalterSkinner]

I decided to set up a VPS today and wanted to include some info that might help.

I just clicked through until I had an instance in the free tier and got everything installed. Ninja could not run. Based on support's comment in here I checked the ram and it was only 1gb. Took that instance down and put up another on the large tier, which has 8gb and everything is going fine.

I'll update if this changes or if there's anything else needed. As for the steps I have no idea I just clicked through it's pretty easy.

Edit:
Update that everything has been working like a dream. If you come across this googling the same questions I did just get the large tier and call it a day.