Our first iteration, you'll get two networks: "ServiceNet" is our intra-DC network, which is unmetered (ie, free bandwidth) and "PublicNet" which is the internet and will be billed just like we bill for other cloud server bandwidth. Collectively you get 10Gb/s across these, which you can break down however you want. To you these just show up as VLANs which will be configured on build.
We're working on hooking these boxes up to our "Cloud Networks", which are per-tenant software defined networks. If this sounds like a fun project, hit me up, contact info is in my profile.
The other option is PCIe Flash, that's a solid state "disk" plugged into the motherboard expansion slot, basically. Again since that flat out state PCIe, they are saying it is local.
We're working to hook this up to our existing block storage offering as well, which will offer more flexibility to attach SSD or spinning disk backed block devices to any flavor.
Reliability is similar to an SSD. The underlying storage tech is basically the same: some flash chips, with a controller that handles wear leveling and so on. Just that instead of running operations through a SATA controller it uses the PCIe bus, which offers higher bandwidth and lower latency.
Interestingly, Apple is shipping PCIe flash in all (I think) of their latest laptops.
I hope a Racker will correct me if I'm wrong, but:
- With the exception of the boot device, you're dependent on non-local storage over the network.
- You're not going to get dedicated networking gear
- OnMetal is still dependent on the virtual networking layer (OVS?)
I can appreciate having more bang for the buck, but there are enough shared components here that I would be very hesitant to assume that that MTBF crosses the imaginary line where you can eschew fault-tolerant architecture patterns.