Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwidth but big disk.

Posted by mmaunder on Sunday June 23, 2013 @02:19PM
from the ask-hn dept.

I'm looking for something as awesome as Linode but that does something like a small 1G instance with huge disks e.g. 1 to 5 terabyte of disk space and really cheap bandwidth.

I want to use it as a backup server that has a shell so I can schedule jobs, run scripts to trigger and fetch backups etc.

Cost is a big concern of mine. So for example if I was billed using 95th percentile instead of for transfer, that would be awesome.

Any input appreciated!!

( 8 comments | 4 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by wanghq on Sunday June 23, 2013 @03:17PM (#5928965)

Do you really need a server? You can launch a more powerful EC2 instance (EBS backed), upload your data, and stop the instance (alternatively you can create a snapshot and terminate the instance). Next time when you need the backup or back up more data, just start the instance. You pay the full price of storage and data transfer, but not the CPU. If your other servers are within AWS, you even don't need to pay for the data transfer.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by eip on Sunday June 23, 2013 @04:41PM (#5929360)

5TB of storage on AWS would cost >$500/month.

You could buy a server and colocate it for less than that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by wanghq on Monday June 24, 2013 @01:39AM (#5931226)

You're right. That's a lot if OP really needs 5TB of storage. It's still an option if OP begins with less storage.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by dorfsmay on Sunday June 23, 2013 @02:46PM (#5928832)

I have not found any virtual with storage cheaper than Amanzon/Google (0.10 $/month/GB).

you can find "backup" VMs for cheap but:

  - these are typically OpenVZ (can't pick your kernel options)

  - very busy and slow (they meant to be for backup only.

http://ovh.com has physicals at around 40$/month with 2 x 1 GB disks.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by eip on Sunday June 23, 2013 @04:42PM (#5929365)

http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/xs13

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Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by tdec on Sunday June 23, 2013 @02:40PM (#5928798)

Have a look at the servers that hetzner.de is offering, maybe there's something there for you, also have a look at their auction.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by iloveshw on Sunday June 23, 2013 @03:56PM (#5929149)

I don't know if it fits your needs but dreamhost has some hosting where you pay once and host "forever"

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Rent servers with slow CPU, low mem, cheap bandwi... by JoachimSchipper on Wednesday June 26, 2013 @05:48PM (#5949346)

Some Kimsufi servers have quite a bit of disk for their price. You'd need to run a RAIS, though.

[ Parent | on HN ]