Ides of March -- Free VPS

Not_Oles

My old friend Julius appeared yet again in my dreams last night.

"Remember, Tom," Julius said, "the Ides of March is the traditional Roman date by which debts must be repaid."

"Haha!" I replied, "I told you not to cross that river!"

Since I owe a debt of gratitude to the Low End Spirit for the fabulous dedicated server deal ($29/month) I found on "the predecessor site," I am again[1] offering to share a server with other folks here:

Ides of March Free VPS
Processor : Xeon D-1521
CPU cores : 2
RAM : 4 GB DDR4 ECC
Disk : 50 GB SATA RAID 1
IP: 1 IPv4; no IPv6
Bandwidth: 1 Gbps symmetrical, unmetered
Total user slots: 8
User slots presently available: 4
Setup:
You get root via ssh into your LXC container VPS.
LXC is fast! No hardware emulation overhead![2]
Distributions:
Alpine
Arch
CentOS
Debian
Fedora
Gentoo
OpenSUSE
Ubuntu
Location: Montreal (OVH/SoYouStart BHS Datacenter)
Looking Glass: https://lg.ovh.net/traceroute/bhs/ipv4?q=x.x.x.x [3]
Speed and latency tests: http://www.ovh.net/
Bench: Posted in comment below.
Uptime: Posted in comment below.
Backups: Please make your own backups!
Monthly price: Free
Duration: As long as we're all having fun.
Support: Via private message here, email, or Signal App.
Administrators: @david, @Not_Oles
Rules: Be awesome!

To request your free VPS, please send @Not_Oles a Private Message here on LES containing your ssh public key. If you do not understand what an ssh public key is, please ask. Please also include your name, email address, and phone number if you do not mind sharing this information.

[1] Previous thread: https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/513/free-soyoustart-dedicated-bare-metal-server-share-with-other-les-folks
[2] https://linuxcontainers.org/
[3] Please substitute your IPv4 address for x.x.x.x .

Not_Oles

root@tom:~# curl -sL yabs.sh | bash
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #
#              Yet-Another-Bench-Script              #
#                     v2020-02-10                    #
# https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script #
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #

Sun Mar 15 02:30:21 UTC 2020

Basic System Information:
---------------------------------
Processor  : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU D-1521 @ 2.40GHz
CPU cores  : 2 @ 1040.136 MHz
AES-NI     : ✔ Enabled
VM-x/AMD-V : ✔ Enabled
RAM        : 2.0Gi
Swap       : 2.0Gi
Disk       : 49G

fio Disk Speed Tests (Mixed R/W 50/50):
---------------------------------
Block Size | 4kb           (IOPS) | 64kb          (IOPS)
  ------   | ---            ----  | ----           ---- 
Read       | 637.75 MB/s (159.4k) | 46.00 KB/s       (0)
Write      | 639.43 MB/s (159.8k) | 58.00 KB/s       (0)
Total      | 1.27 GB/s   (319.2k) | 104.00 KB/s      (0)
           |                      |                     
Block Size | 512kb         (IOPS) | 1mb           (IOPS)
  ------   | -----          ----  | ---            ---- 
Read       | 1.52 GB/s     (2.9k) | 1.60 GB/s     (1.5k)
Write      | 1.60 GB/s     (3.1k) | 1.71 GB/s     (1.6k)
Total      | 3.13 GB/s     (6.1k) | 3.31 GB/s     (3.2k)

iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv4):
---------------------------------
Provider                  | Location (Link)           | Send Speed      | Recv Speed     
                          |                           |                 |                
Bouygues Telecom          | Paris, FR (10G)           | 871 Mbits/sec   | 881 Mbits/sec  
Online.net                | Paris, FR (10G)           | 865 Mbits/sec   | 844 Mbits/sec  
WorldStream               | The Netherlands (10G)     | 872 Mbits/sec   | 834 Mbits/sec  
wilhelm.tel               | Hamburg, DE (10G)         | 863 Mbits/sec   | 796 Mbits/sec  
Biznet                    | Bogor, Indonesia (1G)     | 466 Mbits/sec   | 153 Mbits/sec  
Hostkey                   | Moscow, RU (1G)           | 866 Mbits/sec   | 867 Mbits/sec  
Velocity Online           | Tallahassee, FL, US (10G) | 903 Mbits/sec   | 909 Mbits/sec  
Airstream Communications  | Eau Claire, WI, US (10G)  | 921 Mbits/sec   | 912 Mbits/sec  
Hurricane Electric        | Fremont, CA, US (10G)     | 905 Mbits/sec   | 876 Mbits/sec  

Geekbench 5 Benchmark Test:
---------------------------------
Test            | Value                         
                |                               
Single Core     | 661                           
Multi Core      | 1275                          
Full Test       | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/1459820

root@tom:~# 

Not_Oles

## On host, about 10 minutes after completing YABS in a container:
root@sys00:~# uptime 
 02:49:51 up 24 days,  4:31,  2 users,  load average: 0.13, 0.85, 1.08
root@sys00:~#

cybertech

300K IOPS?!?! SIGN ME UP!

vyas

Bump :-) cheers

mobile

time to join this ride

ehab

in queue.
Thank you.

Iroshan464

You already gifted me.
Thanks.

Not_Oles

I think I have responded to everyone who sent me a Private Message. If I missed your message, please message again.

In my original post, above, I forgot to ask people to mention in their PMs their choice of distribution and release! I also forgot to give credit to @david for suggesting Proxmox VE6, which is what is running on the server to create the LXC containers. Apologies!

We now may have enough new users to fill the available slots. However, one or two user slots still might be free. Also, more IP addresses and an additional server are provisioned, but waiting to be added as time and circumstances allow. So, if you are really, really interested, it still might be worthwhile to PM me.

Thanks again to the Low End Spirit, @AnthonySmith, @david, our container users, and, of course, OVH SoYouStart Kimsufi @ninzo59 @OVHcloud_APAC!

Not_Oles

Maybe my original post should have explained the reason why I asked for phone numbers and the reason why I mentioned Signal App:

Signal App and a phone number allow container users to get in touch with me very quickly whenever they need help -- even if I am not at my computer. Also, Signal App has a pretty good reputation for privacy.

WSS

Thanks for providing a service to the community!

AlSwearengen

@Not_Oles what is your raid1 setup that gets such high disk numbers for sata drives?

Thanks

Not_Oles

@AlSwearengen said: @Not_Oles what is your raid1 setup that gets such high disk numbers for sata drives?

@AlSwearengen My impression, which could be wrong, is that the high disk numbers might be not because of the ext4 and raid1 on the rust but instead might be because the Proxmox LXC containers "think" they are running zfs.

All slots on the first server presently are allocated. We have somebody working on using his VPS as a secondary DNS server, somebody else setting up Seafile, and somebody else running Minecraft. Another guy is trying to set up Docker. Haha! My VPS and my co-admin's VPS have been busy sleeping. :-)

We are experiencing a problem with CentOS 8 containers on the first server. Unlike Debian and Ubuntu, which work fine, CentOS containers have no network connectivity on the first server. On a second server, which is provisioned and which we are testing, CentOS works just fine as do both Debian and Ubuntu.

Lots of fun all around!

Not_Oles

I am super delighted that the CentOS network problem reported yesterday has been mitigated. I just delivered a CentOS 8 VPS with all it's software upgraded with dnf. CentOS 7 also has been tested, and it also works. If you and I talked about CentOS, I will be messaging you again soon. Meanwhile, please don't hesitate to message me again here or via Signal App.

Not_Oles

There are many here who know a lot more than me. Could some of you guys please help out by giving advice on the following question, which somebody asked me in a Private Message earlier today:

1 question: how do you limit cpu in proxmox for each vm? for example use 10% of 1 core for a particular vm?

Here is what I said:

There is a dialog in the Proxmox Create Container control panel where, if you check Advanced, you can see a limitation setting. Please see screenshot attached.

I am not using this cpu limit setting. There are four cores on the Ides of March VPS host server. Each core has two threads. Each VPS gets two cores, which means four threads. That seems to mean that each VPS gets half the total processor capacity at a maximum.

Significantly, at any given time only a few of the eight total users are using their VPSes. My policy seems to give each user a fair shot at enough cpu resources to be effective. Mostly the host's load averages seem quite acceptable. I have been checking frequently at random times. A really wonderful article about load averages is: http://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2017-08-08/linux-load-averages.html

My personal opinion is it is unfair to use a limit like 0.25 or 0.10 unless the limitation is made explicit in the offer. Just using "vcores" is not enough. :-)

Please see attached Proxmox screenshot. Hope this helps! Have a fun day!

Not_Oles

Ganonk

any slots for me?

Not_Oles

Hi @Ganonk! We seem to have two more slots because I added four more IP addresses and allocated two. There now are 12 slots all together. Could you please send me a private message about what you want to do with the VPS plus also the information requested in the first post: ssh public key, name, email address, and phone number? Thanks! Have fun!

Ganonk

@Not_Oles said:
Hi @Ganonk! We seem to have two more slots because I added four more IP addresses and allocated two. There now are 12 slots all together. Could you please send me a private message about what you want to do with the VPS plus also the information requested in the first post: ssh public key, name, email address, and phone number? Thanks! Have fun!

Sent.

i hope you will be deployed for me. thanks you very much

mukshai

Hello sir, do you have one more slot? I have messaged you. Thank you.

Not_Oles

@mukshai Right now we are out of IPs.

I expect to add another server, and maybe we can add a few more IPs to the existing server. I will be watching the load averages to see whether additional IPs would seem okay.

I can't say much about the exact time schedule for more slots. At best a few days. Maybe longer.

Anybody interested should please send me a private message about what you want to do with the VPS and what Linux distribution/release you want plus also the information requested in the first post: ssh public key, name, email address, and phone number.

Thanks! Have fun!

juhuaxin

I need a VPS to back up my website. Is there any vacancy?

Ganonk

thanks you very much Sir

Ganonk

Oh My GOD, thats an Amazing FREE vps i've ever gotten

quangthang

Have a good day, everyone!
It's about two weeks since I got VPS from Tom. I have nothing to complain about it.
He has helped me so much even though it's free. Thank you for your great service.
Here is a benchmark result:

# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #
#              Yet-Another-Bench-Script              #
#                     v2020-02-10                    #
# https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script #
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #

Fri Apr  3 02:34:40 UTC 2020

Basic System Information:
---------------------------------
Processor  : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU D-1521 @ 2.40GHz
CPU cores  : 2 @ 2700.215 MHz
AES-NI     : ✔ Enabled
VM-x/AMD-V : ✔ Enabled
RAM        : 2.0G
Swap       : 2.0G
Disk       : 49G

fio Disk Speed Tests (Mixed R/W 50/50):
---------------------------------
Block Size | 4kb           (IOPS) | 64kb          (IOPS)
  ------   | ---            ----  | ----           ---- 
Read       | 8.08 MB/s     (2.0k) | 12.90 MB/s     (201)
Write      | 8.08 MB/s     (2.0k) | 13.52 MB/s     (211)
Total      | 16.16 MB/s    (4.0k) | 26.42 MB/s     (412)
           |                      |                     
Block Size | 512kb         (IOPS) | 1mb           (IOPS)
  ------   | -----          ----  | ---            ---- 
Read       | 1.38 GB/s     (2.7k) | 1.42 GB/s     (1.3k)
Write      | 1.46 GB/s     (2.8k) | 1.52 GB/s     (1.4k)
Total      | 2.85 GB/s     (5.5k) | 2.94 GB/s     (2.8k)

iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv4):
---------------------------------
Provider                  | Location (Link)           | Send Speed      | Recv Speed     
                          |                           |                 |                
Bouygues Telecom          | Paris, FR (10G)           | 865 Mbits/sec   | 831 Mbits/sec  
Online.net                | Paris, FR (10G)           | 888 Mbits/sec   | 838 Mbits/sec  
WorldStream               | The Netherlands (10G)     | 875 Mbits/sec   | 706 Mbits/sec  
wilhelm.tel               | Hamburg, DE (10G)         | 856 Mbits/sec   | 795 Mbits/sec  
Biznet                    | Bogor, Indonesia (1G)     | 56.0 Mbits/sec  | 79.9 Mbits/sec 
Hostkey                   | Moscow, RU (1G)           | 852 Mbits/sec   | 862 Mbits/sec  
Velocity Online           | Tallahassee, FL, US (10G) | 905 Mbits/sec   | 237 Mbits/sec  
Airstream Communications  | Eau Claire, WI, US (10G)  | 920 Mbits/sec   | 913 Mbits/sec  
Hurricane Electric        | Fremont, CA, US (10G)     | 905 Mbits/sec   | 870 Mbits/sec  

Geekbench 5 Benchmark Test:
---------------------------------
Test            | Value                         
                |                               
Single Core     | 642                           
Multi Core      | 808                           
Full Test       | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/1666240

Not_Oles

Right now there are two available spaces, maybe three if I give away mine.

To request your free VPS, please send @Not_Oles a Private Message here on LES containing your ssh public key. Please also include (1) your name, (2) email address, and (3) phone number if you do not mind sharing this information. Don't forget to tell me (4) which Linux distribution and release you want. It's really helpful, too, if you (5) tell me what you want to do with your free VPS.

Have fun!!!

WSS

@Not_Oles Not to derail from your great offer- but which was your favorite UNIX build/derivative? I'd be happy to take it into the Cest Pit, but wanted to make sure you saw this.

Not_Oles

@WSS said: @Not_Oles Not to derail from your great offer- but which was your favorite UNIX build/derivative? I'd be happy to take it into the Cest Pit, but wanted to make sure you saw this.

Replied in the Cest Pit. Thanks!

Not_Oles

Hey!

A few slots are available, so I am looking forward to meeting you!

To request your free VPS, please send @Not_Oles a Private Message here on LES containing your ssh public key. Please also include (1) your name, (2) email address, and (3) phone number if you do not mind sharing this information. Please remember to tell me (4) which Linux distribution and release you want. It's really helpful, too, if you please take a moment to (5) share with me about what you want to accomplish with your free VPS, (6) about your procedural plan, and (7) about anything I could do to help you.

Any questions, please post them here, and I will do my best to answer.

Best wishes, and kindest regards,

Tom

gwndilshan1989

Great offer, hope people put it to good use.

Not_Oles

I would like to thank everyone who has participated in or helped with the Ides of March free VPS program.

Just this morning, I received a message from a user who said, in part, "I'm very happy with this VPS. It's fast and runs stable so far. I had and have servers that do not perform as good as this one does."

Yesterday I received a link to a blog post another user has written about what he has accomplished. I'm not linking the post here only because the translation into English is not quite finished.

A few days ago, I received a long and detailed report from another user about his team's experiments with ipfs. I have requested permission to post that report, but maybe the team will prefer to keep it confidential.

Yet another user successfully has been running Jitsi with meetings of 5 to 10 people. He is now increasing the group size to 30.

As of just a moment ago, the server says:

root@IdesofMarch:~# uptime
 01:39:43 up 48 days,  3:20, 11 users,  load average: 0.87, 0.74, 0.65
root@IdesofMarch:~# 

However, there are obvious problems with the free VPS program as currently arranged. For example, no out-of-the-box GUI support, even for really good GUIs. Also, there is no IPv6. And, at this time, I am doing all the installs and all the reinstalls by hand, myself, because I don't know an easy way, under the server's current Proxmox + OVH failover IP setup, for users to do their own installs and reinstalls.

I want to reinstall the server itself in a way which will permit users to do their own installs and reinstalls. And if there is no out-of-the-box GUI support, I should warn potential users before they come aboard and experience issues setting up the GUI environment they want.

Thus, now is the afternoon or maybe even the evening of the Ides of March free VPS program as presently arranged. Since the server will be taking a well earned nap before too long, it might at this time be best for LESbians to proceed with another of the several generous, free offers here on LES rather than with the present arrangement.

Of course, I do hope to refresh the free VPS program as soon as I understand how better to serve the users. Meanwhile, have fun! And, thank you! Thank you @AnthonySmith, @david, thank you all, very, very much!