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> Yet, people seem to be convinced that prices are ok, and that going outside will let them reduce their infrastructure footprint. That's where you get it all

by rualca 5y ago

> Yet, people seem to be convinced that prices are ok, and that going outside will let them reduce their infrastructure footprint. That's where you get it all wrong. It is not about the price, at all. It is all about avoiding large upfront capex with a small periodical opex, and in the process have virtually boundless growth potential. Think about it: when you happen to need a bit more computational resources to run an app, is it easier to convince your boss the need to pay, say, 100€/month for extra VMs, or is it easier to convince your boss to shelve $2k to buy an extra rack? And how many times are you willing to have that same conversation with your boss whenever you run out of computational resources?

taneq 5y ago
Aren’t the real figures more like $200 vs. $700? Cloud stuff only really makes sense when your resource requirements as super spiky. 100% agree on shifting capex to opex though, capital works teams are super in favour of that, oddly enough.
- rualca 5y ago
  > Aren’t the real figures more like $200 vs. $700? No, not really. You can hardly find old used servers for less than 1000$, and you need to use beyond a a1.metal instance with 16vCPU and 32GB of RAM to even come close to that cost > Cloud stuff only really makes sense when your resource requirements as super spiky. No, not really. Cloud stuff makes all the sense in the world if all you need is a VM connected to the internet working 24h/day without problems. You can get that for less than 5$ a month, which would require 3 or 4 years to pay back if instead you waste your money on hardware.
  - taneq 5y ago
    Not my experience but ymmv (and clearly has). > You can hardly find old used servers for less than 1000$ I picked up a second hand Dell PowerEdge 610 with 96GB of RAM for $400 AU, it's overkill by a large factor for what I need but damn. Either I was super lucky or servers aren't (weren't?) expensive. > You can get that for less than 5$ a month pocket change and host it Until you actually use it and then it ramps up rapidly to the point where you'd be far better off just buying a server.
    - tatersolid 5y ago
      Good luck getting spares, patched BIOS/firmware, patched DRAC, or anything else resembling support for that old Dell in a timely fashion. And good luck selling to enterprises when the vulnerability scanner lights up like a Christmas tree with critical and un-patchable flaws on your switches/routers/UPS/PDUs/storage arrays/servers/door locks/cooling system/fire suppression/cameras. Double for the DR site. Because you need all that stuff, and you have to maintain it all 24x7 which means lots of salaries.

by rualca 5y ago

taneq 5y ago

Aren’t the real figures more like $200 vs. $700? Cloud stuff only really makes sense when your resource requirements as super spiky. 100% agree on shifting capex to opex though, capital works teams are super in favour of that, oddly enough.

rualca 5y ago
> Aren’t the real figures more like $200 vs. $700? No, not really. You can hardly find old used servers for less than 1000$, and you need to use beyond a a1.metal instance with 16vCPU and 32GB of RAM to even come close to that cost > Cloud stuff only really makes sense when your resource requirements as super spiky. No, not really. Cloud stuff makes all the sense in the world if all you need is a VM connected to the internet working 24h/day without problems. You can get that for less than 5$ a month, which would require 3 or 4 years to pay back if instead you waste your money on hardware.
- taneq 5y ago
  Not my experience but ymmv (and clearly has). > You can hardly find old used servers for less than 1000$ I picked up a second hand Dell PowerEdge 610 with 96GB of RAM for $400 AU, it's overkill by a large factor for what I need but damn. Either I was super lucky or servers aren't (weren't?) expensive. > You can get that for less than 5$ a month pocket change and host it Until you actually use it and then it ramps up rapidly to the point where you'd be far better off just buying a server.
  - tatersolid 5y ago
    Good luck getting spares, patched BIOS/firmware, patched DRAC, or anything else resembling support for that old Dell in a timely fashion. And good luck selling to enterprises when the vulnerability scanner lights up like a Christmas tree with critical and un-patchable flaws on your switches/routers/UPS/PDUs/storage arrays/servers/door locks/cooling system/fire suppression/cameras. Double for the DR site. Because you need all that stuff, and you have to maintain it all 24x7 which means lots of salaries.