decryption
anyone potentially into this? I’ll store your HDD in my server for $1/day so you can store your backups offsite cheap, a third or fourth copy of your files - more you store the cheaper it is
Feb 9 at 12:47amWeb
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9

looks like there's a few of ya interested in this - some questions other have asked:

* you can pick any OS you like
* zfs snapshhot uploads are a perfect use case
* multiple HDDs are cool but they're $1/day each
* IPV6 yes once I re-familiarise myself with it
* you get SSH & full shell access - it's a $1/day VPS but you BYO HDD
* can send me a HDD pre-loaded with data so you don't have to do a big initial backup
* disk SMART info available on a private dashboard & email alerts (working on this now as I think it's vital)

i'm like 85% sure I'll do this, but the more people that express an interest the more confidence I'll have that I'll at least break even on costs!

Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
also still deciding to get a rack in a datacenter or DIY it in a cheap warehouse (getting some quotes for full rack co-location), I prefer the DC as that's where servers belong, but the warehouse will be useful for storing a bunch of shit I have here and I can sublet the space to some friends to offset the costs
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
now that I’ve got some idea of the costs - I’d need roughly 100-130 HDDs/customers to break even unless there’s another activity to offset the fixed costs, hmmm. $1/day might be too cheap unless there’s lots of people that are into it. I don’t know if there’s enough word of mouth to make it viable. Could get 20 easily but after that it’ll be a challenge to break out of my circle of nerds.
Show threadfukawi2Feb 9
@decryption How would you physically connect 100+ hard drives? There's going to be a bit of capital expense in whatever solution you use there 🙁
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9

@phs it’s not all in the one machine! spread em across multiple cheap servers, my plan is to scrounge up old DL380 G9’s and install the lowest power CPU, then run them in low power/efficiency mode. 12x HDDs works out to around 200-240W all up.

Capital costs I’m not too concerned with as they’d be an instant asset write off and I have other income to offset it against (very much so for FY25-26)

Show threadfukawi2Feb 9

@decryption So you need 10-12 of those boxes. Might get away with passive/minimal cooling with the right rack and room!

2x24 Port switches running active/backup, or yolo it with a single 48 port switch.

Maybe a separate 24p switch for an OOB management network?

The physical space is still a killer for costs though - DC or Warehouse.

Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@phs yep, that high fixed cost. Warehouse I can easily offset (sublet storage) but a DC I can’t.
Show threadI love this, so IFeb 9
@phs @decryption this has me thinking too. This kind of scale would need some kind of dedicated multi-drive USB thingo. I have some ideas…
Show threadraspberryFeb 9
@jpm @phs @decryption i liked this design https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVI7atoAeoo
I Built a 1 Petabyte Server From Scratch

YouTube
Show threadDaveFeb 9
@theraspb @jpm @phs @decryption backblaze open sourced a few of their designs that look a lot like this too
Show threadCraig AskingsFeb 9
@decryption is your plan to use some kind of Sun Thumper / 45 drives server to cram as many HDDs into 4 ru?
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@haakon I’ve been doing the sums on cost, power consumption and disk capacity - DL380 G9 is best bang for buck, they’re super cheap and can get the job done with 65W CPU. Can get more modern servers/CPUs but they cost more and don’t use that much less power over a 5yr period
Show threadBenFeb 9
@decryption between you and me, I've heard rumours that renting out GPUs is slightly popular at the moment...
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@cthulhu hard part is affording the GPUs lol
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@decryption I've seen those micro shop fronts and had a similar idea to that. Of course you don't have access to all transit providers etc, but at least you aren't paying $120-$150 ex per cross connect each month.
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@Tubsta yeah there's lots of nice small warehouses (150-200sqm) out west for around $20k-$30k/yr - it's tough finding out what internet access is available besides NBN though (NBN capped at 500mbit upload, which might be okay but if it scales I'd like the option to at least get to 1gbit up, the more the better)
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@decryption You can do 10GbE symmetrical with EE product (minimum is 250/250 these days).
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@Tubsta is NBN EE generally available anywhere FTTP is?
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@decryption Doesn't use the GPON infra but generally EE will be available anywhere. Zone3 pricing typically for those areas.
Show threadraspberryFeb 9
@decryption I JUST setup an offsite backup location with my own hardware, otherwise I would have been interested. maybe ill have to find another use case to use it!
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@theraspb that's how I came up with the idea! set up my own and I'm like "yeah this would be easier if I could just punt someone a HDD and I dump my crap there"
Show threadraspberryFeb 9
@decryption yeah awesome, super cool idea.
Show threadSteveFeb 9
@decryption I’d happily contribute to the cost of doing it in a rack if I could shove a whole spare 2U dell in that I have sitting here 😂
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@lilstevie might offer cheap co-location, could help offset the fixed costs
Show threadSteveFeb 9
@decryption yeah, one thing I found was that a cage per RU is significantly cheaper than any colo available in this country, but I don’t want a whole 42U 😂
Show threaddanwwilson Feb 10
@lilstevie @decryption Nah, I’m looking for someone to share a rack with too. Preferably Brisbane. I may need to bite the bullet and be forking out $300-$400/m 😳
Show threaddecryptionFeb 10
@danwwilson @lilstevie if you’re okay with Melbourne lemme know - I can DM ya some quotes I’ve received
Show threaddanwwilson Feb 10
@decryption @lilstevie I’d have to get a 2RU from BNE to MEL for that to work 😔
Show threaddecryptionFeb 10
@danwwilson @lilstevie yeah that’s about $100 unless you know someone doing a road trip
Show threadMatt HFeb 9
@decryption Quite possibly yes.
Show threadStephen TierneyFeb 9
@decryption is there a maximum number of drives per VPS?
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@sjtrny nup, but it’s $1 a day per drive
Show threadJames CridlandFeb 9

@decryption Looks interesting. The Amazon S3 Glacier maths doesn't look right (outbound data is bigger than total price); but in any case, the "outbound data" only kicks in if you restore every piece of data on the drive, which isn't too likely.

You got me wondering what I'm paying. My S3 bill is US$10.60 a month; looks like I'm only storing 187GB though. 181GB of that is not Glacier stored, either - live-to-the-web cached image resizes. (Not bad storage after about 18 years using it. I rsync most of my filestores to it every week - non-destructive rsync which never deletes anything. Mind you, it's really very hard to find out exactly how much I have, and where.)

The "gotcha" with Glacier is the wait time for the files to be restored; otherwise, your 28TB is cheaper than $1day.

Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@james I just used the calculator here https://calculator.aws/
AWS Pricing Calculator

AWS Pricing Calculator lets you explore AWS services, and create an estimate for the cost of your use cases on AWS.

Show threadJames CridlandFeb 9

@decryption I enjoyed the rabbithole looking into my S3 bill though! It turns out that because my webserver is in Dublin, but my S3 bucket is in east-1, I am paying for much more bandwidth than I need, since traffic between different regions is paid-for. Not simple to move it, but I think it might be worth it.

(Your pricing probably therefore includes the free-tier discount).

Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@james AWS pricing is so confusing and complicated :(
Show threadI love this, so IFeb 9

@decryption mmm yes this very interesting.

How do you think initial setup would work when there’s no inbound SSH? And how do you access the console in case network fucks up? CPanel or something?

Show threaddecryptionFeb 9

@jpm you get SSH! (just won’t be on port 22) but you can also send the HDD preloaded with data so you don’t have to do a huge initial backup

console access TBA - it can be done just not sure how exactly is most practical

Show threadLakeswimmerFeb 9
@decryption Will you monitor the disks for SMART errors?
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@lakeswimmer yep, plan is to expose the SMART data to the customer via a dashboard and some email alerts (currently experimenting with some stuff)
Show threadLakeswimmerFeb 9
@decryption Cool. I've been thinking about something similar but where I host someone's disk and they host mine and we get all commie about it and it's free.
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@decryption Any chance of a #IPv6 /64 GUA instead of IPv4 NAT/cludge?? Is it user choice for OS? I assume disk is passed through for native access?
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@Tubsta I’m an ipv6 noob but I don’t see why not! Any OS is fine (I’d ask during the signup form) and yep entire disk is attached to your VM as a block device
Show threadfukawi2Feb 9
@decryption @Tubsta mmmm, an IPv6-only disk is mighty tempting...
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@phs @decryption #FreeBSD #ZFS dump device!
Show threadfukawi2Feb 9
@Tubsta @decryption Precisely. Might have to brush up on my zfs send from unencrypted to encrypted datasets...
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@phs @decryption RAW send is your friend. Also, as your boot is 40GB on SSD, you could use geli FDE and have a zpool behind that.
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@Tubsta @phs is a bigger SSD useful? Could bump it up to 80GB easily if there’s a use for it
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@decryption @phs With FreeBSD, 20GB is more than sufficient.
Show threaddecryptionFeb 9
@Tubsta @phs yep, perfect for that!
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Feb 9
@decryption This a mighty appealing proposal for those of us that need off-site backups.
Show threadMiles GoodhewFeb 9
@decryption Seriously considering this.