Skimping on AWS EC2 bills

Skimping on AWS EC2 bills

Amos Shapira amos.shapira at gmail.com
Thu Jan 15 12:43:37 IST 2015


Thanks both of you for your input.
Yes I'm aware of the caveats (luckily I get to play with AWS, and AWS
automation, all day in my current job :) ).

Cheers,

--Amos

On 15 January 2015 at 21:17, Etzion Bar-Noy <ezaton at tournament.org.il>
wrote:

> I believe that the time required for system start depends on the list of
> services. It could be shorted than two minutes, or longer. Depends.
>
> I used a condition - 'if' he can trim the image to startup in about 15
> seconds, it becomes feasible.
>
> Etzion
>
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 8:11 AM, Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda <ladypine at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Hi Amos, Etzion,
>>
>> You are talking about 15 seconds for bringing up the machine, and about
>> shutting down the machine according to idleness detection. Last time I
>> checked (and maybe I am not up-to-date),
>> 1. It took about two minutes to bring up the machine.
>> 2. Amazon charged per full hour. That is, if you use the instance for 20
>> minutes, shut it down and then bring it up for 20 minutes, you pay for two
>> hours. So it might be beneficial to wait a bit, at least until the end of a
>> full hour.
>>
>> Orna
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 2:33 AM, Amos Shapira <amos.shapira at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Etzion.
>>>
>>> Yes you are on the same track as me.
>>>
>>> An unmapped Elastic IP will cost $3.65/month, which is a significant
>>> amount in comparison to the numbers I'm looking at skimming, so you are
>>> probably right about using a no-ip address.
>>>
>>> Finding the instance IP is a matter of a trivial "curl" call to the
>>> right URL, and no-ip can just use the current update requests source
>>> address automatically anyway.
>>>
>>> The next step would be to automatically identify idleness of the
>>> application for automatic shut down.
>>>
>>> Would people in the audience here see themselves using such a service
>>> (to fire up your server) if it was offered?
>>>
>>> --Amos
>>>
>>>
>>> On 15 January 2015 at 09:38, Etzion Bar-Noy <ezaton at tournament.org.il>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Amos.
>>>> It means you make use of an instance which is very quick to load.
>>>> Removing non-esential services, or postponing them to after Jira starts,
>>>> using a lightweight system, etc. If you can remove boot-time hogs, you can
>>>> reach a fast-booting system. A script using Amazon API will prepare it for
>>>> you.
>>>> I wouldn't use the elastic IP because of its price (I get the feeling
>>>> you seek something cheap). no-ip.com or other no-dns services could do
>>>> the trick, except that the VM in Amazon network is unaware of its external
>>>> IP (you might be able to query that using the API, BTW), and that it might
>>>> take a few minutes (one, maybe more) before you could connect to the
>>>> machine, because their update might no be immediate.
>>>> Other than that - seems fine.
>>>>
>>>> Etzion
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 12:28 PM, Amos Shapira <amos.shapira at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Etzion, just a question: "Amos 0 if you can customise your instance
>>>>> to be very very light," - what do you mean by that?
>>>>>
>>>>> Your description is close to what I have in mind.
>>>>>
>>>>> As for the changing IP address - this can be easily overcome using
>>>>> Elastic IP and/or no-ip.com and friends.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> --Amos
>>>>>
>>>>> On 13 January 2015 at 08:11, Etzion Bar-Noy <ezaton at tournament.org.il>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Except that NUC costs about 700+ ILS (I have three. I know. This is
>>>>>> the Celeron version).
>>>>>> Amos 0 if you can customise your instance to be very very light, and
>>>>>> it can startup in about 15 seconds or so, it is acceptable to have it
>>>>>> on-demand. You can wrap it in a script (using AWS API and tools) to just
>>>>>> start it up. Since it will be about 15 seconds boot/startup time, you will
>>>>>> find that very economical, and very simple to achieve. In any case,
>>>>>> considering your requirements, this does seem to be the most simple and
>>>>>> easy solution. Note that your IP *will* change each time you start
>>>>>> your instance, so your API interface should also tell you what's the IP
>>>>>> address of the machine (or you could use some no-dns service, but it will
>>>>>> probably be slower).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Etzion
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 8:57 PM, E.S. Rosenberg <
>>>>>> esr+linux-il at g.jct.ac.il> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't know what type of load JIRA presents but for low load
>>>>>>> private stuff a raspberrypi or something similar (for heavier but still
>>>>>>> fairly 'light' stuff maybe an Intel NUC system or a mini-itx system) at
>>>>>>> home + noip/dyndns or some other form of locating it by yourself can be
>>>>>>> more then enough....
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2015-01-08 11:37 GMT+02:00 Amos Shapira <amos.shapira at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I was thinking about running it on my own laptop, and perhaps I
>>>>>>>> will.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But that would mean leaving it on around the clock which I don't
>>>>>>>> want to (I'm very conscious of power consumption, both economically and
>>>>>>>> environmentally), and I don't carry it with me most of the time but would
>>>>>>>> like to have access to my server from both my mobile and workplace.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 8 January 2015 at 19:59, Vitaly <linux at karasik.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Amos,
>>>>>>>>> IMHO, it's not technical, but more  "human" issue. For example, as
>>>>>>>>> far as you decide that you need Jira every last day of month, you can
>>>>>>>>> launch instance automatically.
>>>>>>>>> But typically Jira usage is more random, so I don't think  there
>>>>>>>>> is technical solution exist.
>>>>>>>>> If you're the only Jira user, why don't run it from your own
>>>>>>>>> computer for free?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> And, BTW, AWS reserved instances allow you to modify everything;
>>>>>>>>> plus up-front pay isn't must anymore.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> regards,
>>>>>>>>> Vitaly
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 4:40 AM, Amos Shapira <
>>>>>>>>> amos.shapira at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Yes I'm well aware of the RI option. It can save up to %70 for
>>>>>>>>>> high-load (i.e. machines which are up 24/7), but much less saving compared
>>>>>>>>>> to something that you can keep bringing up and down on demand.
>>>>>>>>>> Also the up-front cost is not cheap, and commits you to that type
>>>>>>>>>> of instance (as far as I remember, you can't buy switch or upgrade an RI
>>>>>>>>>> slot, what's paid is paid).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On 8 January 2015 at 12:47, Aviram Jenik <aviram at jenik.com>
>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not an AWS expert and would love to hear from those who are.
>>>>>>>>>>> But we do have a few (dozen) instances on AWS.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> We have them running 24/7. I get that you could start and stop
>>>>>>>>>>> on demand, but don't get how you would do that without changing the way you
>>>>>>>>>>> work in a drastic way (compared to a physical machine). To save costs, buy
>>>>>>>>>>> a 'reserved instance'. You are paying up front for 1-3 years (I recommend 3
>>>>>>>>>>> years) and then paying a very very low cost per hour. If your load is low,
>>>>>>>>>>> buy the 'low load' machine to save even more costs (but then you pay hire
>>>>>>>>>>> fees if you cross the threshold). I don't know how this works well enough -
>>>>>>>>>>> we always buy the 'high load' instance and buy them for 3 years; the total
>>>>>>>>>>> average cost is equivalent to what we would have paid for the hosting and
>>>>>>>>>>> so the hardware is "free".
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> - Aviram
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 7:33 PM, Amos Shapira <
>>>>>>>>>>> amos.shapira at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Do people here keep EC2 instances running?
>>>>>>>>>>>> Do you leave it running 24/7 or do you fire them up when you
>>>>>>>>>>>> need them?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> I'd like to run my own EC2 instance running $10 Jira + $10
>>>>>>>>>>>> Confluence (+$10 some extra useful add-ons) (to clarify - these are one-off
>>>>>>>>>>>> $10 for each product), but can't justify running a $30/month small EC2 (and
>>>>>>>>>>>> perhaps more, Jira alone requires 1.5-2GB of RAM) just to be used at most a
>>>>>>>>>>>> few hours a month if not less.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> But logging in to the console to fire it up (or through aws
>>>>>>>>>>>> cli, or using an Android based app) every time I want to access it also
>>>>>>>>>>>> would be inconvenient.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> So is there another way?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> --Amos
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>>>> Linux-il mailing list
>>>>>>>>>>>> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
>>>>>>>>>>>> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>>> <http://au.linkedin.com/in/gliderflyer>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>>> Linux-il mailing list
>>>>>>>>>> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
>>>>>>>>>> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> <http://au.linkedin.com/in/gliderflyer>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>> Linux-il mailing list
>>>>>>>> Linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
>>>>>>>> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>> Linux-il mailing list
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> <http://au.linkedin.com/in/gliderflyer>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> <http://au.linkedin.com/in/gliderflyer>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda.
>> http://ladypine.org
>>
>
>


-- 
<http://au.linkedin.com/in/gliderflyer>
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