On Wednesday, February 26, 2014 09:12:09 Justin Herman wrote: > We have more options now than we did when the system was designed. I think > we need to be talking about IF this is the best option for us. > > IDEAS: > *Instead of spending more $ on AWS we could host it ourselves and use the > AWS $ for an ISP with an SLA.
You trust the physical security of a server around a group of hackers, many of which you've never met before? > *Contact other hosting & VPS providers for discounts for 501c3. I'd be pretty impressed if you could find an organization that will give us a 501c3 discount for the services that we use. > *Co-Lo at another location. I'm not in favor of paying anything for the upkeep of physical hardware that will eventually die in a glorious fire of "ahhh shit we need more money to buy replacements" in addition to the resources and time it would take to physically drive to the facility. > *Use alternative services like groupspaces --- > http://groupspaces.com/SynHakThey offer a service that can handle our > Email, Membership listing, > Wiki/Website, Membership Private area, File Hosting, Event Announcement, > and Payment scheduling. (this would not help with spiff but would allow us > to offload many critical pieces) I do not trust non-FOSS software to run our organization, as it limits the openness for contributions to running a hackerspace. I will fiercely fight against any non-FOSS alternative. > > I am not suggesting throwing out Spiff with the bath water but simply > stating maybe its time we reevaluate the design INSTEAD of throwing $ at a > project without evaluating other options. I'm always looking for feedback on Spiff's design. Actually, I've asked for help many times on discuss@ but nobody seems to want to give input. Are you implying that this money would go towards Spiff in some way? That is not at all what I'm trying to communicate. > > I would like to setup a Working Group to discuss the needs and evaluate the > options. Would anyone else be interested in doing this also and if so when? I pretty much explained our needs in my email. > > On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 1:10 AM, Andrew Buczko <[email protected]>wrote: > > What is AWS ? (Akron Waffle Supply) > > > > * here is our current infrastructure: > > > > ** Two t1.micro servers as web servers > > ** One t1.micro server as mail host > > ** One t1.micro MySQL RDS instance > > > > *** current AWS bill: $81,88 /mo > > > > > > *Here is the new infrastucture: > > > > ** 3 year heavy reservations for two t1.micro EC2 instances @ $200 > > ** 1 year heavy reservation for one m1.small EC2 instance @ $169 > > ** 3 year heavy reservation for one m1.small EC2 instance @ $257 > > ** 3 year heavy reservation for one m1.small MySQL RDS instance @ $257.00 > > > > *** Total upfront cost: $883.00 > > *** Estimated monthly cost to run synhak.org: $83.52 > > > > This sounds great. > > > > 1> Um, according to your figures, the new infrastructure will cost $1.64 > > more per month than the old one, Where do you get a savings of $123.10? > > > > 2> Is it what we need? What do the logs show as far as load's on the > > current servers? > > > > 3> Can we get smaller servers and save even more money? > > > > This is an operating expense and does not fall under the grant that we > > just got. > > > > Andy > > > > On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 5:05 PM, Torrie Fischer <[email protected]>wrote: > >> On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 12:38:58 Justin Herman wrote: > >> > I think an evaluation of several hosting options and establishing the > >> > infrastructure needs be done, before we earmark funds and make any plan > >> > changes. > >> > >> I didn't say any funds were being earmarked. I'm not evaluating other > >> hosting > >> options because I'm the one doing the work and would very much rather not > >> migrate synhak.org to another provider when I've already poured a > >> significant > >> quantity of effort and time into the current setup. > >> > >> > I am concerned with how much horse power & cost has been amassed even > >> > >> after > >> > >> > we have achieved a 501c3 status. > >> > >> Please elaborate. > >> > >> > On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:13 PM, Torrie Fischer > >> > > >> > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> > > Hi, all. > >> > > > >> > > Something I've wanted to do for quite some time is invest in some > >> > >> reserved > >> > >> > > AWS > >> > > instances for synhak.org to reduce our monthly bill. The problem with > >> > > that is > >> > > paying the high up-front cost. Since we now have this $15k grant, I'd > >> > >> like > >> > >> > > to > >> > > use a small portion of it to build what I consider an ideal > >> > >> synhak.org > >> > >> > > infrastructure: > >> > > > >> > > * 3 year heavy reservations for two t1.micro EC2 instances @ $200 > >> > > * 1 year heavy reservation for one m1.small EC2 instance @ $169 > >> > > * 3 year heavy reservation for one m1.small EC2 instance @ $257 > >> > > * 3 year heavy reservation for one m1.small MySQL RDS instance @ > >> > >> $257.00 > >> > >> > > Total upfront cost: $883.00 > >> > > Estimated monthly cost to run synhak.org: $83.52 > >> > > Estimated cost without reservations: $206.62 > >> > > > >> > > Monthly savings: $123.10 > >> > > Yearly savings: $1447.20 > >> > > > >> > > One year commitment: $1002.24, approximately 14% of our 2013 > >> > >> membership > >> > >> > > dues > >> > > income. > >> > > Three year commitment: $3006.72, approximately 8% of projected three > >> > >> year > >> > >> > > income of $36,000. > >> > > > >> > > Our member dues already handily cover all our other bills. > >> > >> > > Here's my sources on the AWS calculator: > >> http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html#r=IAD&key=calc-E7EBCA4F-D17 > >> 1 > >> > >> > > -416F-AB21-D1CFE82DE07B > >> > > > >> > > The two micros will be used as edge webservers to host the wiki and > >> > >> spiff. > >> > >> > > The one year small will be a general purpose shell, phong, logging, > >> > >> and > >> > >> > > event > >> > > processing server > >> > > The three year small will be a dedicated mailing list server > >> > > > >> > > I'm suggesting a one year reservation to avoid getting ourselves > >> > >> locked > >> > >> > > into a > >> > > situation of needing more horsepower for administrivia but not able > >> > > to > >> > > spend > >> > > more than $85/mo. I don't envision our mailing list server > >> > >> requirements > >> > >> > > growing beyond an m1.small instance within the next three years, > >> > >> provided > >> > >> > > it > >> > > remains dedicated to just mail. > >> > > > >> > > Our current AWS bill is $81.88/mo due to free tier expiring a few > >> > >> months > >> > >> > > ago. > >> > > This investment will keep our monthly infrastructure bill roughly the > >> > >> same > >> > >> > > while at the same time giving us a *lot* more room to grow for that > >> > >> same > >> > >> > > price. For comparison, here is our current infrastructure: > >> > > > >> > > * Two t1.micro servers as web servers > >> > > * One t1.micro server as mail host > >> > > * One t1.micro MySQL RDS instance > >> > > > >> > > The following benefits will be realized with this $883 investment: > >> > > > >> > > * Faster performance on mediawiki, spiff, and other applications > >> > > * Less resource contention when mailman, postfix, phong, and document > >> > > rebuilding aren't all competing for the same pittance of CPU and > >> > >> memory > >> > >> > > * Tighter security by establishing a bastion host setup resulting in > >> > > exactly > >> > > two public endpoints for synhak.org > >> > > * Room for growth in website activity and services offered > >> > > * Significant cost reduction in critical infrastructure will be > >> > >> secured > >> > >> > > for > >> > > three years > >> > > * We would have a really cool playground for devops hackers > >> > > * Current $80/mo AWS budget could be reallocated towards the > >> > >> maintenance > >> > >> > > budget or funneled into a monthly Hacker Grant program. > >> > > > >> > > I would appreciate any feedback on this idea. > >> > > _______________________________________________ > >> > > Discuss mailing list > >> > > [email protected] > >> > > https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Discuss mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
