

Ask HN: How can I outsource DevOps? - sgdesign

I'm wasting too much time dealing with setting up EC2 instances, configuring servers, etc.<p>I'm sure those things are trivial for a lot of people who do them for a living, so it seems like a good thing to outsource.<p>But I'm not sure where to go. oDesk? Elance? Or are there sites that specialize in this?<p>My ideal service would be some kind of crowdsourced technical support marketplace: I post the task I need done and people can then bid on it. Or maybe just a service that I pay $50 a month to take care of whatever problem I encounter.<p>Alternatively, if anybody reading this wants to become my "help, why is this thing not working!?" person feel free to get in touch via my profile.
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quesera
$50 buys you a maximum of 30 minutes of an experienced person's time. And if
that's your upper limit, most experienced folks won't bother.

You might find a decent person in a developing country who will trade a couple
hours for that same amount, but the search will be time consuming (ergo
expensive).

There is the issue of trust -- keys to the kingdom, etc. And availability --
do you need same day response time?

You might be asking for more than you're willing to pay for.

Edit: this service does exist, of course. But nowhere near your stated price
point.

Edit again: you'll find that people are happy to answer your questions about
_how_ to do things, for free. But the tedious process of _doing_ those things,
and taking responsibility for the success of the actions, as defined by you --
who might not have fully specified or understood the implications of your
request -- that won't be free. :)

~~~
sgdesign
You're right, the price of such a service would probably be much higher. If I
took an audit of how much time I spend on this stuff monthly, I'm guessing
paying $200-500 would not seem out of proportion. Anyway it's just speculation
at this point until someone points me to/builds such a marketplace.

~~~
traxtech
You're not far off. One of my customer, a startup, pays me a flat $400/m to
take care of one Debian server (PostgreSQL+ Play + Lighttpd)

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bjinwright
I'm going to make a couple of assumptions and if I'm wrong just ignore the
answer. I'm assuming you are using either PHP, Python, Java, Ruby, or .Net.
I'm assuming these are either web servers, worker servers, caching servers, or
database servers.

With those assumptions made I'm going to suggest some services to use. I don't
work for ANY of these companies. I run a small startup that uses most of these
companies.

For web servers I would recommend using AWS' Elastic Beanstalk. You don't pay
anything extra to use this service in addition to the EC2 servers you are
using now. If you use reserved instances it is also cheaper than pretty much
any other PaaS out there (Google App Engine gives it a good run for the
money). Recently I did a spreadsheet outlining the savings
<http://goo.gl/AL5Cj>. The spreadsheet was done before the most recent AWS
price reductions so the m1.small prices aren't right.

For worker servers I recommend using PiCloud. You can install anything you
want and they only charge you for the time your jobs use. Granted you have to
use Python to interface with jobs but does that really matter in the grand
scheme. I personally use Python anyways so its a bonus. Depending on the job
it might be more appropriate to use AWS' Elastic MapReduce offering.

For database servers I recommend using either RDS or Xeround
(<http://www.xeround.com>) a MySQL provider if you have to use a relational
database. If you have the luxury of using a NoSQL option then use Cloudant
(<http://www.cloudant.com>) a CouchDB DBaaS company or AWS' DynamoDB server.

For caching servers use AWS' Elasticache service or Garantia Data's
(<http://www.garantiadata.com>) Memcached or Redis cloud.

~~~
brugidou
I support this answer. The reality is that outsourcing the devops work is
simply moving from IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service, e.g EC2) to PaaS
(Platform as a Service, like RDS, Heroku). You just won't deal with
infrastructure, servers, network or operating systems anymore.

You will lose the ability to customize or use obscure frameworks.

On the other hand, you will simply have to do operations such as "increase the
number of web workers", or "add more replication for this DB" which are high
level.

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timjahn
This is exactly why I decided to use a PaaS for matchist
(<http://matchist.com/talent>) rather than dealing with our own dedicated or
VPS or cloud.

We use Pagoda Box and love it. For the stage we're in, it's great. I can spend
my time iterating the product based on customer data instead of fiddling with
granular server controls.

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CptCodeMonkey
OpDemand or perhaps putting your time momentarily into Chef might pay off? I
am still skeptical about the first but it might be cheaper to start with while
Chef does a fairly good job of automating provision, configuration, and
integration. Problem seems to be initial setup and if you have an
unconventional platform.

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eb0la
The best part of DevOps is Test-Driven-Development (TDD). This cannot be
outsourced cheaply yet unless you know _exactly_ what you want to do and
you're able to communicate this clearly.

Just my humble opinion.

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byoung2
<http://www.supportresort.com/plans/sysadmin/>

Red Hat or Microsoft Certified syadmins for under $4 per hour, with a monthly
commitment.

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AdamGibbins
I'd be happy to help out dependant on your needs, feel free to ping me with
further details, the sort of stack you're dealing with and your requirements
etc.

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lhnz
I don't think such a place exists.

Maybe it should.

But how would you ensure trust and security? This could be quite dangerous to
your business...

~~~
Terretta
Shameless plug...

Such a place exists: <http://www.advection.net/>

We do offer devops as a service, since 2003. We publish rates, though you'll
find them under web development pricing.

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BraveNewCurency
I know of at least one startup focusing on DevOps for other people.
<http://www.opsline.com/>

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HiHelloBolke
I am willing to work for free if you're not evil. I dont expect much in return
:) other than good experience. SGlIZWxsb0JvbGtlQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ==

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minimize_me
<http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/About+Opscode+Chef>

~~~
jinushaun
It's a steep learning curve, but Chef is totally worth learning if you want to
automate ops. Use the time you're wasting on ops to learn Chef instead. If
your outsourced ops guy is worth his money, he's probably going to use Chef
anyway.

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pdenya
You can't outsource your custom DevOps for that amount of money but switching
to Heroku or another PAAS might be a cost effective option.

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dancryer
Happy to help for little questions and so on... Drop me an email:
dan@block8.co.uk

