[GNC] [MAINT] Unplanned network outage

Derek Atkins derek at ihtfp.com
Thu Apr 29 13:33:58 EDT 2021


HI,

On Thu, April 29, 2021 1:05 pm, David G. Pickett via gnucash-user wrote:
> $5/mo. for not having to worry about disk crash, ups, obsolescent CPUs,
> video cards, dust in my box, hackers, etc. seems nice.  I use GNUCash on a
> Linux, so XWindows either way!  But of course there is loss of control. 
> It'd be nice to back up files on a second cloud vendor, and maybe on your
> own pc of the moment!  I wonder if they rent a virtual machine that can
> host my wife's AOL Gold desktop and libreOffice.  If I could get them to
> do the app updates for me, it's be really nice!  :D
> Best,
> David

Again, it's not all about the cost.  There are security and other concerns
as well.  Keep in mind we also need a stable, public IP address (for
code).  Keeping track of CPUs, Video Cards, etc isn't a big deal.  We
would still need to worry about hackers, even with a VPS.  Main disks are
very over-provisioned (enterprise-level) SSDs, so unlikely to "crash". 
They are also mirrored, so failure of one wont cause data loss.  As for
dust in the box -- sure, that's something that probably needs to be
handled, and there is the risk of power and network outages (NB: if we
have another significant power outage within the next 2-3 years we're
getting a generator -- but according to neighbors, the single power outage
we had recently is the first in over 6, and the second in over 10).

There is also the question of network consumption and costs thereof.  Many
VPSs provide *some* network for free, but it's generally limited. Right
now code is averaging 110GB of HTTP traffic per month.  I don't have an
analysis of email traffic, but I would say it's safe to say a couple GB/mo
easy, although probably not as much traffic as HTTP.  Knowing AWS network
prices, there would definitely be a charge, so it would be more than the
base $5/mo VPS, certainly.  Also, the win32 builder would probably be more
than $5/mo, because it's windows.  Also, the $5/mo might have limited CPU
capability (single core, small CPU).  I know AWS "nano" is very limited. 
Oh, we also need lots of storage space (well more than the "free" 30GB
that AWS provides).

Listen, I hear you.  Your opinion is noted.  I think this is now
completely off-topic for gnucash-user and follow-ups should move off the
list.

Thanks!

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-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant



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