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GitHub Actions is completely free, and you can always use free S3-compatible storage like Cloudflare R2, making the entire setup cost nothing. VPS has two main

by earayu 2y ago

GitHub Actions is completely free, and you can always use free S3-compatible storage like Cloudflare R2, making the entire setup cost nothing. VPS has two main drawbacks: Many don't guarantee persistent disk storage It's not ideal for CI/CD scenarios where you need ephemeral databases for testing But you're right - if you need a simple, always-on database, a $5 VPS might be a good choice.

GrygrFlzr 2y ago
Wait, this is news to me - which VPS providers do not have persistent data storage? Are you thinking of Heroku-like deployments? I feel like every VPS provider I've encountered always listed storage as a feature?
- earayu 2y ago
  I was thinking about EC2's default instance storage - it's ephemeral and gets wiped when you restart or stop the instance. Without paying for EBS volumes, EC2's storage is non-persistent by design.
  - hhh 2y ago
    The d variant machines you mean?
- thrw42A8N 2y ago
  You can't rely on VPS disk - backups, data retention and recovery is all up to you in case of node failure. There are other much more expensive and much slower products (external networked volumes) that do offer guarantees, but that's additional charge.
  - jeltz 2y ago
    Most VPS providers offer a backup solution.
    - sigio 2y ago
      Yes, and you never use those, because if the VPS company fails, your backups are gone. So use the backup services of a second (and third) company if you value your data.
    - thrw42A8N 2y ago
      As I said, that's an additional charge.
  - justinclift 2y ago
    > backups Just to point out, if the data is important you'll want backups anyway. Even with S3. Just in case. :D
    - vbezhenar 2y ago
      Why would you want backups for S3? Were there data loss incidents?
      - indigo945 2y ago
        Well, Amazon might fail as a company at some point and then all your data will be gone. Theoretically. Much more likely, though, is that you, or some sysadmin at your company, or even some user will accidentally hit the "delete" button on something important, and then without a backup, you can't get it back. Which is honestly the thing that people usually need their backups for, anyway. This is what most "data loss incidents" are: people just messing up and deleting things they shouldn't have. Wetware is much more prone to failure than hardware, after all.
        vbezhenar 2y ago
        There are ways to protect against delete or overwrite, for example by using versions.
        justinclift 2y ago
        Does that work when the sysadmin fat fingers the deletion of a bucket or account?
      - justinclift 2y ago
        > Why would you want backups for S3? In case something goes wrong. ie your account has a problem unexpectedly, or if they do indeed have a data loss/corruption problem, etc.
delusional 2y ago
> GitHub Actions is completely free I mean kinda? It's free for public repositories, but free doesn't mean free for anything. The use of GitHub actions, like most thing in life, has terms of service[1]. This use-case arguably breaks the term "for example, don't use Actions [...] as part of a serverless application". If you start using this for demos, you'd probably also be breaking "You may only access and use GitHub Actions to develop and test your application(s)". It's up to GitHub if they choose to enforce any of these terms. I just want to point out that there are limits to "free". [1]: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-for-additional-products-and-features#actions https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-t...
- earayu 2y ago
  yeah, you are right. > for example, don't use Actions as a content delivery network or as part of a serverless application, but a low benefit Action could be ok if it’s also low burden Just as the wesql article states, Use Cases is Not Recommended For: - Long-term database hosting or production workloads. - Maintaining an always-on public database endpoint. - Circumventing GitHub Actions usage policies.
csomar 2y ago
Github actions are not free, you get a bunch of free minutes. For the public repositories, you are usually queued too far if you are sending lots of actions.

by earayu 2y ago

GrygrFlzr 2y ago

Wait, this is news to me - which VPS providers do not have persistent data storage? Are you thinking of Heroku-like deployments? I feel like every VPS provider I've encountered always listed storage as a feature?

earayu 2y ago
I was thinking about EC2's default instance storage - it's ephemeral and gets wiped when you restart or stop the instance. Without paying for EBS volumes, EC2's storage is non-persistent by design.
- hhh 2y ago
  The d variant machines you mean?
thrw42A8N 2y ago
You can't rely on VPS disk - backups, data retention and recovery is all up to you in case of node failure. There are other much more expensive and much slower products (external networked volumes) that do offer guarantees, but that's additional charge.
- jeltz 2y ago
  Most VPS providers offer a backup solution.
  - sigio 2y ago
    Yes, and you never use those, because if the VPS company fails, your backups are gone. So use the backup services of a second (and third) company if you value your data.
  - thrw42A8N 2y ago
    As I said, that's an additional charge.
- justinclift 2y ago
  > backups Just to point out, if the data is important you'll want backups anyway. Even with S3. Just in case. :D
  - vbezhenar 2y ago
    Why would you want backups for S3? Were there data loss incidents?
    - indigo945 2y ago
      Well, Amazon might fail as a company at some point and then all your data will be gone. Theoretically. Much more likely, though, is that you, or some sysadmin at your company, or even some user will accidentally hit the "delete" button on something important, and then without a backup, you can't get it back. Which is honestly the thing that people usually need their backups for, anyway. This is what most "data loss incidents" are: people just messing up and deleting things they shouldn't have. Wetware is much more prone to failure than hardware, after all.
      - vbezhenar 2y ago
        There are ways to protect against delete or overwrite, for example by using versions.
        justinclift 2y ago
        Does that work when the sysadmin fat fingers the deletion of a bucket or account?
    - justinclift 2y ago
      > Why would you want backups for S3? In case something goes wrong. ie your account has a problem unexpectedly, or if they do indeed have a data loss/corruption problem, etc.

delusional 2y ago

> GitHub Actions is completely free I mean kinda? It's free for public repositories, but free doesn't mean free for anything. The use of GitHub actions, like most thing in life, has terms of service[1]. This use-case arguably breaks the term "for example, don't use Actions [...] as part of a serverless application". If you start using this for demos, you'd probably also be breaking "You may only access and use GitHub Actions to develop and test your application(s)". It's up to GitHub if they choose to enforce any of these terms. I just want to point out that there are limits to "free". [1]: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-for-additional-products-and-features#actions https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-t...

earayu 2y ago
yeah, you are right. > for example, don't use Actions as a content delivery network or as part of a serverless application, but a low benefit Action could be ok if it’s also low burden Just as the wesql article states, Use Cases is Not Recommended For: - Long-term database hosting or production workloads. - Maintaining an always-on public database endpoint. - Circumventing GitHub Actions usage policies.

csomar 2y ago

Github actions are not free, you get a bunch of free minutes. For the public repositories, you are usually queued too far if you are sending lots of actions.