SetupLinux

“Cloud Computing” is a new buzz word floating around the computer world. The basic idea is you worry only about your OS or your application, not the hardware.

In my case I wanted something similar to a co-located server, but I didn’t want to worry about hardware anymore. There are lots of Cloud services out there, most of them seem to go for the “Cloud Application” approach. Which basically means you host your App on their Cloud and they give you all the distributed Cloud resources you need. But in my case I needed entire Linux and Windows systems, not just a application hosted.

Enter GoGrid. GoGrid from what I understand uses Xen, they have a dozen or so OS Images in certain configuration and through the web interface you basically pick your IP, how much RAM, the OS, and the Image of that OS you want.

So if I wanted to create a new Centos 5.1 Linux LAMP server I’d do the following:

1. Login to GoGrid
2. Click the “Add” button
3. Select “Web / App Server”
4. Pick the name, IP address, RAM, select Centos, and choose the “LAMP” image
5. Wait 5-10 minutes
6. Login

It’s actually simpler than this list illustrates. That whole process is one button and a popup with drop-down menu’s for all the options.

So from there you have your own Linux machine to get into. For good or bad, it’s your machine from there, if you bugger it up it’s on you. I have acciedently created a bad firewall rule and locked myself out of my machine and GoGrid tech support was able to get me back in, but I did have to give them my root password to fix my messup.

So from what I’ve seen GoGrid set’s up a basic image for you and gives you a radom generated password from there it’s your own setup. If you change the password GoGrid can’t get back into it unless you supply it to them.

GoGrid has a nice management screen to take care of all your machines. After you login to you see a list of all of your Machine and can see their status, IP address. You can also choose to reboot, delete, or modify. It’s very simplistic and easy to use. I would like to see a “backup”, or “snapshot” type button on this page, but I’ve been told that’s in the works.

Billing:

Where this system really shines is the scalability and the way you get billed. I can create 5,10,20, or 30 machines and I only get billed based on what I use. So if I have 30 machines then later finish a project or whatever I can downsize that to 5 machines instantly. You basically pay by the hour, your savings are instant as well.

Compare this to the co-located rack I have at a ISP, I pay XXX/month just for the rack and now that I’m ready to get rid of that rack I have to give 60 days notice. I also have another rack that has some older servers that we’re no longer using. So I have to worry about that hardware, can I re-use it, can I sell it, and how much will it cost to move that old hardware?

GoGrid basses everything on the amount of RAM you use. From billing to system resources. For example if you build a 2GB RAM system you have more hard drive space than a 512MB system. I’m not sure the exact disk sizes on the other systems but I get 100GB hard drive space with a 2GB machine.

For billing, they charge you based on the “GB’s” of RAM hours you use. For the “Pay as you go” plan it’s 0.19/RAM hour. So if you have 10 machines at 512MB or 5 at 1GB you pay the same amount.

Right now I normally have between 5 and 10 machines with GoGrid so I got one of there pre-paid plans which gives you a better per RAM hour rate. The “Advanced Cloud” package is $499/mon and gives you 5,000 RAM hours which basically cuts the cost in 1/2 from the “Pay as you go” plan. Any time over that 5000 RAM Hours then gets charged at 0.10/RAM Hour which is still about 1/2 of the “Pay as you go” plan.

To break down the costs a bit:

For servers running 24/7 for 30 days during a month the RAM Hours would be:

512MB RAM = 360 RAM Hours/Month
1GB RAM = 720 RAM Hours/Month
2GB RAM = 1400 RAM Hours/Month

So with my “Advanced Cloud” package that costs $499/mon I get 5,000 RAM hours that could let me run the follow number of servers in the following configurations:

• 3 2GB Machines AND 1 512MB Machine

-OR-

• 7 1GB Machines

-OR-

• 13 512MB Machines

Again this is just a estimate so you can get a idea of what you get for that price. But the big idea behind it is I can just shut off what I’m not using anymore, or add to it just as quickly.

One quick note on a mistake I made. I thought that “RAM hours” ment the Machine had to be on to use RAM hours, so if I powered the virtual machine down I wouldn’t have to pay for the hours unless I turned it back on. But that is wrong, you pay for RAM hours on that machine as long as it exists and you see it through the web interface. To quite paying for a machine you have to delete it, not just turn it off.

Network:

Most admin’s are worried about their network connection. For a test application I setup a Asterisk PBX on a Centos GoGrid machine. VoIP is very sensitive to jitter, latency, and bandwidth. But I was successfull in setting up the latest beta of Asterisk (1.6.x, this one dosen’t depend on Zaptel or ztdummy) and setup a confence system.

I used Teliax as my VoIP provider and consistantly get ping times in the 10ms range. Usually you want it to be under 50 for decent VoIP quality. So I’m happy to report I’ve been using it in production for a couple weeks and consistantly have 5-10 peopole calling in at the same time for conference calls with no quality issues.

Most of my users that use Windows use remote desktop to get into the Windows servers. They say it’s just as good as the connection to the Windows machiens we have in the office. The Windows desktop’s are very fluid with no latency problems. File transfers from offsite seem to do very well too.

What’s Lacking:

• VPN – You can add your own on your Windows or Linux machine but there isn’t a default setup. So I find myself creating a Machine just to do VPN for my GoGrid network of machines.
• Backup or Snapshot – I’d like a way to do backup’s and snapshots through the web interface but that’s not available now. But you still can do backup’s via any other normal means, for me I use rsync and ssh.
• More RAM – 2GB is the max RAM size you can get. They are supposed to be giving us the option for 4 and 8GB of RAM but I don’t know the ETA on that.
• Can’t make your own image – Your stuck with the image choices they give you. So if you wanted Ubuntu, Gentoo, WinXP or something like that your out of luck. This is another one of those things they are supposed to add, but there is no ETA on it yet.
• Network Storage – There is no central NAS/SAN type of storage. They are supposed to add it, but there is no ETA.

Conclusion

Overall I think it’s a great service. I prefer this over getting a co-lo server or rack at some facility. GoGrid seems very active on adding features and fixing bugs and their support has been very good.

The features they are lacking right now aren’t holding me back from using it in production but I am waiting on some key features such as more RAM and network storage. Before I can move the majority of my network over.

In the meantime I’m happy I got rid of a rack of servers and have gained the flexibility to increase or decrease server capacity based on my companies needs in minutes.