Google Ads

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mumblecrunch
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Re: Google Ads

Post by mumblecrunch » Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:31 pm

Per my previous post I took a few hours a couple weeks ago and installed phpBB to my VPS on CloudAtCost (CentOS 6.5/Nginx/PHP-FPM/Memcached/MySQL). Looks like it works just fine, but obviously I'm not going to be able to get any real performance metrics from a Proof of Concept with no actual users and an empty database.

For the record, CloudAtCost is currently offering 50% off (they've been doing it since around Father's Day). So the Developer 3 (4 x Xeon vCPU/2GB RAM/40GB SSD disk/100MBit Network/1 Public IP/3TB transfer per month) would cost $70 + tax as a one-time purchase. They do allow upgrades between tiers; for example I upgraded from Developer 1 to Developer 2. They charge you the difference between the tier prices (so my original purchase was $35 and I was charged $35 to upgrade to Developer 2 which is normally $70). That said I'd be utterly gobsmacked if the Developer 3 specs couldn't run this forum for a couple of years as-is. It should also host the Brewnoser's website just fine if that's a concern as well.

To Jeff's point, I'm willing to contribute time and effort to do the operating system setup. hardening and configuration, data migration from the existing board, installation and configuration of the required packages, and play part-time sysadmin (preferably shared with someone else). I'm not so interested in the day-to-day board administration (and I definitely want no part whatsoever in moderating).

Obviously we don't want to go skipping around hosting services/VPS providers every few months, so this would need to be a considered decision. VPS gives a lot of freedom, but there are some downsides (namely that someone has to admin the box including stuff like backups, patches, etc.).

I'd be happy to provide access to my testbed phpBB if folks wanted to check it out; PM me for the address.

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Re: Google Ads

Post by RubberToe » Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:14 pm

Do you get shell access?
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Re: Google Ads

Post by mumblecrunch » Mon Aug 11, 2014 7:01 pm

RubberToe wrote:Do you get shell access?
Hells yes. It's a true VPS: you're getting a VMWare instance with a static resource assignment (near as I can tell anyway).

The obvious benefit is you have full run of everything so there aren't any limits on what you can do except insofar as they've got a limited offering of OS images (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS on the Linux side). The images are awesome if, like me, you want an absolutely bare minimum install.

The obvious downside is that having full run of everything you are responsible for everything. Backups. Security. Etc.

Unfortunately the discount code I mentioned has finally been disabled. $140 for that resource set is still a good deal in my book but it's not the same as $70 (though for all I know the $70 Developer 2 offering would be enough for this forum).

There are also folks out there who have had some trouble with the service. There were some network issues early on (they claimed abandoned VPS were being hacked and turned into DoS bots that hurt everyone's service) and some kind of issue through July (disk related; everything went SSD soon afterwards). But other than occasional weird latency on long-running SSH connections (that generally goes away on a reconnect) I have been quite pleased. I'm not the kind of user who paves his VPS four days a week and twice on Sundays though.

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Re: Google Ads

Post by JohnnyMac » Mon Aug 11, 2014 9:18 pm

mr x wrote:What are we looking at for the current grain buy for 5%? I think we bring in enough money to do the $323.40. As far as other options, no help here....
In our Spring NCM order, our 5% tithe should have worked out to $306.44. The current G&P 5% tithe should be right around $184.00, so around $490 bananas so far this year on these two orders.

I'm fucking useless in feedback on what to do or where to go to get the services we need but would guess that we should be able to put around $500 a year in the coffers from grain buys.

From what I remember, the whole reason we put the 5% in place years ago was to principally cover our forum expenses once we found out that Jimmy was paying out of his own pocket.
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Re: Google Ads

Post by RubberToe » Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:17 pm

mumblecrunch wrote:Hells yes. It's a true VPS: you're getting a VMWare instance with a static resource assignment (near as I can tell anyway).

The obvious benefit is you have full run of everything so there aren't any limits on what you can do except insofar as they've got a limited offering of OS images (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS on the Linux side). The images are awesome if, like me, you want an absolutely bare minimum install.

The obvious downside is that having full run of everything you are responsible for everything. Backups. Security. Etc.

Unfortunately the discount code I mentioned has finally been disabled. $140 for that resource set is still a good deal in my book but it's not the same as $70 (though for all I know the $70 Developer 2 offering would be enough for this forum).

There are also folks out there who have had some trouble with the service. There were some network issues early on (they claimed abandoned VPS were being hacked and turned into DoS bots that hurt everyone's service) and some kind of issue through July (disk related; everything went SSD soon afterwards). But other than occasional weird latency on long-running SSH connections (that generally goes away on a reconnect) I have been quite pleased. I'm not the kind of user who paves his VPS four days a week and twice on Sundays though.
I like the price and what you get for it, not so keen on the bad stuff. The 'developer 2' would be fine.

It sounds like an interesting business model, I wonder how long it will last.
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Re: Google Ads

Post by mumblecrunch » Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:41 pm

RubberToe wrote: I like the price and what you get for it, not so keen on the bad stuff. The 'developer 2' would be fine.

It sounds like an interesting business model, I wonder how long it will last.
When I bought in it was the Developer 1 thinking, "if they disappear tomorrow at least I've only lost $35". But it appears they're in it for the long haul: This business model is explained here.

My instinct is that it's going to be tough to make that work long-term, but it apparently did work for phone lines and I wouldn't have believed that possible. That RedFlagDeals thread is also full of people either (a) shitting all over the service or (b) talking about how great their experience has been. Nobody seems to be able to point to any consistencies between those who have troubles and those who don't. That in itself may be reason enough not to take a chance.

I just thought I'd put it out there as an option.

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Re: Google Ads

Post by Jimmy » Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:36 am

Rubbertoe, did you have a chance to look into this at all? The site is set to auto renew on the first week of September.

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Re: Google Ads

Post by RubberToe » Sat Aug 23, 2014 8:10 am

Jimmy, I'm on vacation now until Sept 2, but away until Mon evening. I'll dig into it next week and will have time to move the site if we go that route.

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