Serverspace any good?

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by bur

Ok, thanks. I still don't really understand the whole spot-instance scenario. While it's running, can I just access it via SSH same as a normal VPS? So it would just be like a VPS that gets shut down every now and then and after a while automatically reboots?

Close to correct... But it's a little complicated...

Think of an AWS Spot instance is simply a VPS that is based on some sort of an auction. You signal to AWS how much you're willing to pay for it, and they'll provide the VPS for as long as your "bid" makes economic sense to them.

While that AWS Spot is running, it is just like any other AWS Instance (as in, you can SSH into it, etc). Except, it's much less expensive. And, by definition, it /may/ be shut down at any time. Dead Instance Computing...

Importantly... Once a Spot terminates, it's done. It does not automatically reboot (by default).

Originally Posted by bur

So everytime a termination notice is sent I need a script to run that tidies everything up?

More advanced users of AWS work with that notification option.

But most working with inexpensively interrupted work simply have the code write check-point files regularly, and let the VPS fall out from beneath them without notice. The last state is captured (with a few minutes of work lost) in the persistent storage which is not deleted at termination.

Originally Posted by bur

And integrating S3 storage seems not too easy...

PLEASE don't get distracted by other AWS offerings like S3. AWS has many offerings that glitter...

For anyone starting out in the "Cloud", my best advice is to simply get mprime running, and then scale up from there.

Again... Please reach out if you have any questions on this. It is a very interesting subject domain to me.

[chalsall]

I really do encourage people to experiment with Cloud computing. It's a bit of a learning curve, but the slope is far from vertical.

It's also a great deal of fun! And the GIMPS et al projects can benefit from the learning (and the empirical testing).

Also, don't assume that AWS is the only option. I have found that Google Cloud is also very good, for example. And their introductory free trial is an excellent way to get familiar with their platform -- you actually get access to a large amount of the available services (GPUs out).

You /do/ have to give your credit card and phone number details to GCE to get access to this. But I have done this personally, and have had no issues with incorrect billing.

As mentioned elsewhere here, I did *not* have a good experience with Oracle. While their VPS' were great, their billing systems and customer-facing interfaces were not even wrong.

[bur]

Sorry for never getting back previously, but now I'm back. :)

For now I just went with a dedicated server because there are some inexpensive offers: a 12-core i9-10920X for 78€/month or a 16-core Ryzen 5950X for 99€. Would a spot-instance even be cheaper on a "per performance" basis? I find it hard to compare Xeons to consumer CPUs, but it seems you get more computing power with that dedicated server.

I was a bit sceptical whether those cheaper hosters would like the high demand. I contacted Hetzner's and Active Server's support before ordering and they said it's fine, I just might experience that the CPUs decrease clock speed when overheating. Didn't happen so far.

Comparing the two, Hetzner seems more professional, but Active Servers was also very fast with reacting and offers 24/7 KVM access. With Hetzner you have to book KVM and get assigned a time-slot. They have 30 days cancelling period, so you're not as flexible as with spot instances.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by bur

Sorry for never getting back previously, but now I'm back. :)

Thanks for that. It means a lot.

I'm still currently arguing with Oracle.

Oracle keeps telling me I owe them money. I keep telling them to fsck off.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Oracle keeps telling me I owe them money. I keep telling them to fsck off.

Sorry, everyone. But this statement is true.

I don't bring lawyers to bear lightly. But I know how to use them.

[pinhodecarlos]

Hi Bur, I'm considering hetzner (AMD 5950X) for one month trial to run NFS@Home. Any recommendations, issues?

[bur]

I was quite happy with them. I asked them in advance if it was ok to utilize the CPU 100% 24/7 and they said they wouldn't throttle, however, the CPU might throttle on its own if it overheats. I doubt they invest in very good cooling and I easily hit 95 °C and more.

What I did was using either rapl (Intel) or PPT (AMD, zenstates is the tool to use) to slightly throttle the CPU on my own. For a 3900X I found PPT=130 W to result in 82 °C and a loss of maybe 2% performace for LLR2 which I was fine with.

I'm not using Hetzner anymore though as I found Active Servers has better prices and so far I didn't have any issue with them. They seem smaller and react very quickly to emails. Often the company's manager himself answers. They also have unrestricted access via a KVM switch which can be very helpful if you have trouble with the server. Hetzner has that as well, but not unrestrited, you get access via their support which might take a while.

Active Servers also have an i9 13900k for 125 € a month which is a great offer, I think. I recently could test-run one at work and compared to an i9-10920x it was about 50% faster for LLR on a per core basis. Take that times 24 physical cores and you have a lot of inexpensive computation power. :)