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Low end / high storage recommendations?
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Low end / high storage recommendations?

teh7077teh7077 Member
edited June 2012 in Providers

I'm looking for a good low end box to host an owncloud setup. It's just supposed to be my very own dropbox / google calendar&contacts replacement, so it won't use much ram or cpu time. A 1 core, 128mb setup should do just fine. What I do need however, is storage - I'm talking 100 gig+.

Can anyone recommend a good, affordable vps provider with specs like that? Maybe even a shared hosting offer that is known to work with owncloud would work.

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Comments

  • nabonabo Member
    edited June 2012

    @teh7077 said: Can anyone recommend a good, affordable vps provider with specs like that?

    Yes and yes.

  • DamianDamian Member

    We can do this too, for 8 cents per gigabyte.

  • teh7077teh7077 Member
    edited June 2012

    @nabo

    Thanks!
    It might be a bit challenging to get owncloud running on 64/96 ram, but the hostigation offer looks good in general.

    Do you think it's okay with their terms of service? Owncloud seems more than mere "backup software". It's not just a cron job sftp-ing my files from another vps after all. It'll have a web-interface running and from what I know will also encrypt files since the latest release.

    @Damian
    8 cents per extra gig added to what basic price / vps specs (so what's the total for say 100 gig)?
    and would I be able to change my available space? e.g. starting off with 50 gig and increase it later?
    I couldn't find corresponding offer on your website.

  • @teh7077 and @nabo sometime ago I contacted Tim from Hostigation with the same idea, and he say that would be braking their TOS on the backup plans.

    Would be nice if he has change the idea, hope to hear from him on this post.

  • miTgiBmiTgiB Member

    @teh7077 said: It'll have a web-interface running and from what I know will also encrypt files since the latest release.

    I have no backup VPS in stock, so this is a non-issue, but your questions is very simple, is it backup or not? If it is not backing up your data, then it does not meet the terms. If you are checking items in and out, it is not backing up your data, it is more a file locker. While my backup VPS might not be the right fit, I offer other ways to get your task done, in both KVM and OpenVZ, and in KVM, since you only need 128mb, I can toss in 100gb of disk for an additional $100 for the year. While the backup VPS are .045 cents per gb, I charge a dime for the raid10 space if the node can spare it.

  • @teh7077 I have a OwnCloud setup with IPXCore. Mine currently only has 20GB HD (using the 8 cents a gig addon) but its good enough for me (until I need more space).

    As for the Calendar and Contacts backup, how did you integrate them to OwnCloud? So far only thing I can do is the files.

    Oh and also be prepared for a pretty buggy OwnCloud. I had to use some virtual ducktape to get mine to work.

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep

    We're a bit more lax on what we consider a backup, but it all comes down to resources. Our Backup VPS nodes are built with lots of storage, but RAM and CPU are minimal compared to our other servers (we only have 2 Dual Core Xeons in our Backup VPS which is plenty for a handful of FTP and rsync processes but if clients start running 24x7 services it will start to add up).

    We do have some clients using SVN for backups for versioning and some clients even run monitoring software, for now it's not an issue but we reserve the right to take action if it violates our TOS. I'm sure we're like other providers though, where if you take a pro-active approach by monitoring your resources and take action before we notice an issue then you should be fine.

  • DamianDamian Member

    @teh7077 said: added to what basic price / vps specs

    We have a $1.25/month plan, with 96mb of ram and, if this is going to be filestorage or backup, then 5x your total data per month. So total for 100gb of disk space would be $9.25/month.

    If you can use less ram, we can do down to 32mb of ram for 50 cents per month, paid at least quarterly.

  • @HalfEatenPie
    I haven't set up owncloud so far. I figured calendar and contacts would be standard Cal/CardDAV and should accept any standard-compliant client software.

    @miTgiB @KuJoe
    I guess that basically means no owncloud on "backup"-type vpservers, as it is a 24/7-service, which will generate some, albeit little, load every few minutes, as my phone and computers sync calendars, contacts and files back and forth. At least I'm not willing to risk it, the whole point of a nice sync solution is setup-and-forget, I don't want to worry whether I might get my account canceled because owncloud used too many resources indexing files.

    @Damian
    Okay, I'll have to set up an owncloud VM to see how much ram it actually requires. Could I flexibly upgrade or downgrade my storage per payment period, depending on how much I need at any given moment (assuming, there's space on the node)? I couldn't find the 96 or 32 meg offers on your website. Do you have direct links?

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    I've been looking for something like owncloud. Had no idea it existed. Could be a good way to streamline some things I'm already doing.

  • @teh7077: 99.11 MB of 160 MB Used / 60.89 MB Free.

    That's for just having OwnCloud running without any addons. I don't know how you'll get contacts and calendar syncing working (I have yet to actually activate any addons so that could be it).

    As for a box, I'd recommend you get a 128mb box. Also, like I stated before, OwnCloud does have a decent amount of bugs which are a pain sometimes to deal with (I had a problem with date and time issue due to internal clocks on both machines not matching up to the nearest ten seconds. For some reason this prevent syncing of any kind.). I'd suggest you test-install it on one of your own servers/lowendboxes before you actually commit money into the project.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    BuyVM has "storage" VPSes which are not limited to backup-only.

    They are, of course, out of stock :-)

    Thanked by 2djvdorp tux
  • DamianDamian Member

    @teh7077 said: Could I flexibly upgrade or downgrade my storage per payment period, depending on how much I need at any given moment (assuming, there's space on the node)?

    Yes. I'm actually working on actual-usage billing, for the purpose of backup/storage accounts, but WHMCS has been kicking my butt about it. The node you'd be placed on has about 2.1 terabytes free at the moment, so we're good there.

    @teh7077 said: I couldn't find the 96 or 32 meg offers on your website. Do you have direct links?

    There aren't direct links for them. Either you can sign up in the client area and we can send you an invoice for a custom plan, or I can have Adam create actual products. Both would be functionally similar.

  • Looking at the offer from @Damian for example (8 cents/GB), what would be some reasons I would rather get that and pay $80 for let's say 1TB of storage rather than simply get a dedicated for around $25 with the same storage capacity?

    I'm not trying to bash at the offer, just wondering if there's a factor here that I haven't considered.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    You can only get one dedicated at that capacity that I'm aware of. No one else seems to be able to match that price point for 1TB of storage. It just doesn't seem to be a viable business plan for anyone else.

  • @Chronic said: Looking at the offer from @Damian for example (8 cents/GB), what would be some reasons I would rather get that and pay $80 for let's say 1TB of storage rather than simply get a dedicated for around $25 with the same storage capacity?

    At the very least, I'd imagine the quality of the hardware/drives would be higher.

  • FranciscoFrancisco Top Host, Host Rep, Veteran

    @raindog308 said: BuyVM has "storage" VPSes which are not limited to backup-only.

    They are, of course, out of stock :-)

    Alloc PE / Size 4556800 / 17.38 TiB
    Free PE / Size 442873 / 1.69 TiB

    Who'll be the lucky people to snag one today

    Francisco

  • DamianDamian Member

    @Chronic: I already got kicked around about it here, so you can just read the recap: http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/2012/storagebackup-vps-plans

  • @HalfEatenPie Thanks for the metrics. So my initial guess with 128meg wasn't too far off. Just to check for potential optimizations: Which OS? 32 or 64-bit? Are you running apache or a more lightweight webserver like nginx? Which version of owncloud are you running? The most current 4.0x?
    I'm trying a local test VM now to check my actual reqs.

    @Chronic The price per gig on a dedicated may be better. Yet, I don't actually need a TB, and would like to stay well below the 10 $ mark. Other advantages of a dedicated, such as lots of ram and raw cpu power, are not relevant for what I'm planning to do.
    Plus, I figure that downtimes in the case of hardware failure will be less severe on a vps because a) as @ihatetonyy said, the real server hardware on the nodes is less likely to get hardware failures compared to the recycled desktop hardware found on cheap dedicated servers and b) in case a harddrive fails, i expect the service provider to give a whole node of vps customers a higher priority than the single low-end dedicated back there in the corner ;)

    @raindog308 @Francisco
    I already noticed BuyVMs 7.50$ for 250 gig offer. But yeah, they are and remain out of stock.

  • ChronicChronic Member
    edited June 2012

    I suppose there's always the argument of quality against quantity. Personally I'd be happy with any* sizable old drive hooked up to electricity, as long as it doesn't crash on me.

    *within reasonable limits ;)

    Edit: @teh7077 There can never be enough storage ^.^

  • @teh7077 I'm running Debian 6 32-bit (because I think of 64-bit as a waste on a 128mb box but I could be wrong). I'm just running the standard apache and the most current version of OwnCloud (the version of OwnCloud I was using at the time was released a few hours before I downloaded it).

    If you'd like I'd be willing to make you an account on mine (I haven't put anything on it yet) and let you play around with that but it seems you're gonna set up your own.

    I just followed their step-by-step directions.

  • @Chronic said: I suppose there's always the argument of quality against quantity.

    Only time speed concerns me is for gaming or database stuff, other than that i'd choose storage over speed any day of the week :D

  • @HalfEatenPie That sounds about like what I'd have tried OS-wise. 64 bit does indeed have a larger memory footprint, since it has to store lots of stuff that could've fit just as well into 32-bit in 64-bit format, therefore increasing the total amount of ram used (roughly speaking). So, for a small limited amount of memory, 32-bit is the way to go.
    So, there might be some potential for optimiziation by replacing apache. Will have to toy around with that, already found a tutorial for owncloud on nginx for Archlinux, i'm trying to transfer that info to Debian.
    Thanks for the offer with the account, but I assume you meant for the actual owncloud? I've already seen what it looks like and what it can do, you can get free 5 gig accounts from some third party providers. Some also sell additional space at really competitive prices. Those offers are not for me though, since one of my main reasons for owncloud is not to trust a third party with my data, unless I myself can make sure that everything's nicely encrypted.

    Which also brings me to something I discovered about owncloud:
    crypto.junod.info/2012/05/24/owncloud-4-0-and-encryption/
    Appearently, the encryption scheme is still pretty weak at the moment. Owncloud responded to the blogger's twitter msg, saying that they will be working on it.

    Owncloud 5 is scheduled to be released in August. If they fix the encryption by then, I might take one of the service provider people here up on their offer :)

  • @teh7077 yeah that makes sense go for it! I also got my own OwnCloud box because I'd prefer having it for myself (and not having the space limit Dropbox makes me have).

    I don't have anything that's mission critical on the OwnCloud (or anything at all right now except music), but yeah there's a ton of bugs and glitches on it that kinda makes me want to look for an alternative provider. But, because I can't seem to find an alternative that also generates public links for files, this is what I have.

    Anyways, good luck on your journey for this and tell me how well it works on nginx! I might switch over to that when I reinstall it!

  • gbshousegbshouse Member, Host Rep

    You can use RackSpace CloudFiles (0.1USD per GB) or iDrive something around 5USD for 150GB beside that they have free apps for Windows (including servers), MacOS and Android/iPhone. You can also get 15GB free with them

    Thanked by 1djvdorp
  • jhjh Member

    www.opensourcehostingsolutions.co.uk

  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran
    edited June 2012

    One solution to the problem I havent seen put up here is using the space only, like mount the storage VPS on a local machine and do the sync locally while storing externally.
    You can also use another vps as a frontend and mount the storage externally. I never run a NFS only VPS so far, but I would expect not to use more than 64 MB RAM.
    M

  • tehdantehdan Member

    get a raspberry pi, stick in a couple of 64GB USB sticks and have EDIS colo it for free?

  • @HalfEatenPie Thanks, I'll try not to forget to report my successes or failures with nginx+owncloud here.

    @gbshouse solutions such as these might serve to add space to an owncloud server, there is a feature like that, but it's still considered experimental. What these providers by themselves lack is the redundant local copy (comparable to dropbox, if you're offline, the files are still there) as well as contacts / calendar-sync support.

    @Maounique sure, I could just mount remote space via sshfs and then have rsync run locally every 10 seconds. But that's more like a backup solution than something comparable to the comfort of dropbox which I intend to replace. Also, there's neither a web interface to play music on my netbook (1st gen. small-ssd-oldie, with not enough space to sync locally) nor calendar/contacts this way.

    @tehdan would if I could. I'm on the raspi waiting list, obviously :D And the current prices on ebay are just short of outrageous.
    But what's that about free colocation for the pi? I just googled it, and it sounds pretty awesome. Now I need two raspis, one for EDIS, one for home tinkering.

  • gbshousegbshouse Member, Host Rep

    @teh7077 - we are using iDrive in continous mode to backup all our hosting spaces. In my opinion it works better than DropBox

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