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I mean yes, you are sacrificing some RAM. But a typical Linux OS to run VMs/containers could fit in a couple gigs. For the amount of RAM these servers have, thi

I mean yes, you are sacrificing some RAM. But a typical Linux OS to run VMs/containers could fit in a couple gigs. For the amount of RAM these servers have, this is peanuts and would save a lot of headaches dealing with statefulness.

Imustaskforhelp 2y ago
Hmm seems really interesting and even simple! How does this really work , can you please tell me the workflow , seems really simple and effective and i am just interested
Imustaskforhelp 2y ago
Could this be an issue that ram can cause issues where a server can shut down and it would lose it causing data backup issues
- bananapub 2y ago
  no
  - Imustaskforhelp 2y ago
    then I don't understand the issue ! this seems really great imo.
ca508 2y ago
Author here; RAM is so much more expensive than disk though. Two 500G M.2 NVMes for a RootFS in RAID1 are basically max ~$150 which is I think much cheaper than a single 64G DDR5 ECC RAM module [I don't have exact numbers on me, but ECC RAM is pricey]. It's also a lot harder to debug when things go wrong because you lose the machines state if everything was ephemeral. We run a thin base OS on the boxes and then VMs on top which we consider more ephemeral. The frequency of needing to update that base OS is v. low. I think there's a case for building a custom PXE booted RAMdisk image to replace the install though; something like what Equinix Metal (formerly Packet) do with Tinkerbell (https://github.com/tinkerbell https://github.com/tinkerbell); they call it an OS Install Environment, but the idea is a small lightweight linux install agent that can DD a golden image onto the disk (vs. an install each time).
- Nextgrid 2y ago
  Are you guys still hiring? Would be keen to have a chat about this and see if anything comes out. Sent one of you guys a LinkedIn invite but no response yet.
  - ca508 2y ago
    Yep! We have two roles open https://railway.com/careers#open-positions https://railway.com/careers#open-positions - Datacenters and Infra that might be of interest to you. Idk if many of us use LinkedIn so not the best way to get in touch. Can I share the email on your HN profile link with our in-house recruiter?
    - Nextgrid 2y ago
      Yes please. The reason I wanted to informally reach out by LinkedIn is that I'm more interested in a chat to see if my skills align and if there's potential, even for short-term work - what you guys are doing sounds cool and I've played around with some of it in the past (thus the Buildroot suggestion - that was my approach to a similar requirement).

Imustaskforhelp 2y ago

Hmm seems really interesting and even simple! How does this really work , can you please tell me the workflow , seems really simple and effective and i am just interested

Imustaskforhelp 2y ago

Could this be an issue that ram can cause issues where a server can shut down and it would lose it causing data backup issues

bananapub 2y ago
no
- Imustaskforhelp 2y ago
  then I don't understand the issue ! this seems really great imo.

ca508 2y ago

Author here; RAM is so much more expensive than disk though. Two 500G M.2 NVMes for a RootFS in RAID1 are basically max ~$150 which is I think much cheaper than a single 64G DDR5 ECC RAM module [I don't have exact numbers on me, but ECC RAM is pricey]. It's also a lot harder to debug when things go wrong because you lose the machines state if everything was ephemeral. We run a thin base OS on the boxes and then VMs on top which we consider more ephemeral. The frequency of needing to update that base OS is v. low. I think there's a case for building a custom PXE booted RAMdisk image to replace the install though; something like what Equinix Metal (formerly Packet) do with Tinkerbell (https://github.com/tinkerbell https://github.com/tinkerbell); they call it an OS Install Environment, but the idea is a small lightweight linux install agent that can DD a golden image onto the disk (vs. an install each time).

Nextgrid 2y ago
Are you guys still hiring? Would be keen to have a chat about this and see if anything comes out. Sent one of you guys a LinkedIn invite but no response yet.
- ca508 2y ago
  Yep! We have two roles open https://railway.com/careers#open-positions https://railway.com/careers#open-positions - Datacenters and Infra that might be of interest to you. Idk if many of us use LinkedIn so not the best way to get in touch. Can I share the email on your HN profile link with our in-house recruiter?
  - Nextgrid 2y ago
    Yes please. The reason I wanted to informally reach out by LinkedIn is that I'm more interested in a chat to see if my skills align and if there's potential, even for short-term work - what you guys are doing sounds cool and I've played around with some of it in the past (thus the Buildroot suggestion - that was my approach to a similar requirement).