The NCBI provides a BLAST server image at Amazon Web Services (AWS). The BLAST server image includes a web application that provides a simplified BLAST search web page and supports the NCBI-BLAST Common URL API, the BLAST+ applications, and a “FUSE” client that can cache databases from the NCBI (during the first search). The instance runs an HTTP server for the remote BLAST searches. The FUSE client can download a limited set of databases (see the FUSE client). NCBI does not not charge for use of the software, but any instances will incur the cloud provider’s charges.

  • The AWS Amazon Machine Image (AMI) can be run directly via the AWS Marketplace.

The BLAST server image supports three different search methods:

  1. Users can ssh into the instance and run stand-alone BLAST+ at the command-line.
  2. The instance has a simple webpage for search submission.
  3. The instance supports the NCBI-BLAST Common URL API interface.

The latter two methods are remote searches that return a “Request ID” and require authentication.