

ARMv7 dedicated servers for 3.40 per month - Gedrovits
http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/02/scaleway-now-provides-crazy-cheap-virtual-private-servers-starting-at-3-40-per-month/

======
Sami_Lehtinen
Earlier discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10159989](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10159989)

------
JosephRedfern
I've just signed up for one of these instances - here are some speed
tests/stats/details, if anyone's interested:
[https://gist.github.com/JosephRedfern/57c81ac95bf4f1175e3e](https://gist.github.com/JosephRedfern/57c81ac95bf4f1175e3e)

If you'd like anything in particular running, let me know and I shall oblige
when I can!

~~~
mrmondo
Hi, can you please run the following two fio tests:

    
    
      #Random write
      fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=128 --size=4G --readwrite=randwrite
      
      
      #Random Read
      fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=128 --size=4G --readwrite=randread

~~~
edouardb

      ~# fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=16 --size=4G --readwrite=randread
    
      test: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=17457: Thu Sep  3 12:39:10 2015
       read : io=0B, bw=115612KB/s, iops=28903, runt= 36279msec
       cpu          : usr=17.12%, sys=67.12%, ctx=35506, majf=0, minf=39
       IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=100.0%, 32=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          issued    : total=r=1048576/w=0/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0
    
      Run status group 0 (all jobs):
        READ: io=4096.0MB, aggrb=115612KB/s, minb=115612KB/s, maxb=115612KB/s, mint=36279msec, maxt=36279msec
    
      Disk stats (read/write):
       nbd0: ios=55484/53, merge=0/587, ticks=134950/1020, in_queue=135900, util=24.02%
    
      ~# fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=16  --size=4G --readwrite=randwrite
    
      test: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=17460: Thu Sep  3 12:43:54 2015
       write: io=0B, bw=15741KB/s, iops=3935, runt=266460msec
       cpu          : usr=3.97%, sys=25.75%, ctx=544104, majf=0, minf=23
       IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=100.0%, 32=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          issued    : total=r=0/w=1048576/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0
    
      Run status group 0 (all jobs):
       WRITE: io=4096.0MB, aggrb=15740KB/s, minb=15740KB/s, maxb=15740KB/s, mint=266460msec, maxt=266460msec
    
      Disk stats (read/write):
       nbd0: ios=0/1053524, merge=0/106948, ticks=0/4282740, in_queue=4281210, util=100.00%
    
      ~# fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=128 --size=4G --readwrite=randwrite
    
      test: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=17463: Thu Sep  3 12:48:26 2015
       write: io=0B, bw=16400KB/s, iops=4100, runt=255749msec
       cpu          : usr=4.20%, sys=22.28%, ctx=576266, majf=0, minf=23
       IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.1%, >=64=100.0%
          submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.1%
          issued    : total=r=0/w=1048576/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0
    
      Run status group 0 (all jobs):
       WRITE: io=4096.0MB, aggrb=16400KB/s, minb=16400KB/s, maxb=16400KB/s, mint=255749msec, maxt=255749msec
    
      Disk stats (read/write):
       nbd0: ios=0/1047606, merge=0/56, ticks=0/32543280, in_queue=32545150, util=100.00%
    
      ~# fio --randrepeat=1 --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 --gtod_reduce=1 --name=test --filename=test --bs=4k --iodepth=128 --size=4G --readwrite=randread
    
      test: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=9439: Thu Sep  3 12:48:32 2015
       read : io=0B, bw=28594KB/s, iops=7148, runt=146685msec
       cpu          : usr=8.60%, sys=31.77%, ctx=591701, majf=0, minf=138
       IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.1%, >=64=100.0%
          submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
          complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.1%
          issued    : total=r=1048576/w=0/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0
          latency   : target=0, window=0, percentile=100.00%, depth=128
    
      Run status group 0 (all jobs):
        READ: io=4096.0MB, aggrb=28593KB/s, minb=28593KB/s, maxb=28593KB/s, mint=146685msec, maxt=146685msec
    
      Disk stats (read/write):
       nbd0: ios=1047291/4, merge=0/1, ticks=18660030/50, in_queue=18659150, util=100.00%

~~~
mrb
Officially they provide 2000 read/write IOPS for a volume composed of one
chunk (50GB) [1]. You measured 4000 r/w IOPS, so does this mean you ran it on
a 100GB volume? If yes, then that's pretty amazing you get exactly the
expected allocated IOPS performance for a $3.40/mo server.

[1]
[https://www.scaleway.com/faq/server/](https://www.scaleway.com/faq/server/)

~~~
edouardb
I'm on a 50GB volume :)

------
m_eiman
Nitpicking the submission title ("ARM7 dedicated servers for 3.40 per month"):
ARM7 is actually very old ARM cores running ARMv4; these servers are ARMv7.

~~~
Gedrovits
Fixed this up, sorry, don't have a lot of knowledge about ARM architecture.

~~~
moe
Tangential rant: What is wrong with CPU manufacturers in particular?

What do they gain from giving everything the most confusing names possible?

Sockets LGA1155, LGA1150, LGA1151. CPUs only differentiated by a jumble of
digits anymore.

Something is seriously wrong with your product naming strategy when it needs
to be clarified that ARM7 != ARMv7.

~~~
zymhan
Intel uses the letters to indicate the type of connection between the CPU and
motherboard. So LGA = Land Grid Array [1]. The number is the number of
pins/contacts connecting the CPU to the motherboard. So LGA1155 is a Land Grid
Array Socket with 1,155 pins.

It's definitely not random, at least not with Intel. ARM is confusing as hell
though. Part of the issue is that there is the ARM Instruction Set
Architecture (ISA) that has different versions, and then there are different
ARM CPU architectures, but those two don't necessarily need to correspond.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_grid_array](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_grid_array)

~~~
moe
_So LGA1155 is a Land Grid Array Socket with 1,155 pins._

Their scheme may be somewhat internally consistent (until they change it again
next year). The information it conveys remains completely useless.

Nobody cares about the number of pins on a socket or which "generation" a CPU
belongs to.

We want to know which CPU is compatible to which socket, and how CPUs compare
on their key metrics.

So here's a useful naming scheme: Sockets should be called S1, S2, S3 [...]

CPUs should be called: S1-8-40W-PM15000

That would be an 8 core CPU for Socket S1 that draws 40W and scores PassMark
15000.

If Intel & co insist on making us sift through hostile numeric identifiers
then they should at least make them _useful_.

------
4k
But what about bandwidth? That's still shared among all the users, right?

And given that they are even advertising 'Seedboxes' and VPN servers [0]
hosted in the same network, it makes me doubt the quality of network even
more.

[0] [https://blog.scaleway.com/2015/09/02/we-are-slashing-
the-c1-...](https://blog.scaleway.com/2015/09/02/we-are-slashing-the-c1-price-
by-70-percent/)

~~~
asdfaoeu
They have another product mini dedicated for 6 euro/mo[0]. Which I've been
using recently and the network performance has been pretty consistent. They
are however seem marketed more for personal usage though.

[0]: [http://www.online.net/en/dedicated-server/dedibox-
scg2](http://www.online.net/en/dedicated-server/dedibox-scg2)

~~~
aroch
BW on these is shared a rack level, depending on which rack you're put in your
speeds can vary a lot

------
unwind
The submission title really should include a dollar to indicate which currency
is meant.

Also, for non-corporate customers in Europe, VAT should be added.

The VAT-inclusive price is €3.59 (for 4 ARM cores, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSB disk,
and one IP with 200 Mbps unmetered bandwidth). This is the VAT-inclusive
number from the site, which is using French VAT (20%). Here in Sweden it'd be
25%, it seems. :|

~~~
cypres
For european union based users without a valid EU VAT number, VAT must be
added based on the VAT rate in the users own country, not always french VAT at
20%. Ie we pay 25% here in DK. This is due to the new rules that went into
effect 1 January 2015:
[http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_wo...](http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/telecom/index_en.htm)

~~~
kdeldycke
I concur. Rules and rates are summarized here:
[https://github.com/kdeldycke/vat-rates](https://github.com/kdeldycke/vat-
rates)

------
puzzlingcaptcha
Interestingly even though it's 'bare metal' you are stuck using their kernel:
[https://community.scaleway.com/t/official-linux-kernel-
new-m...](https://community.scaleway.com/t/official-linux-kernel-new-modules-
optimizations-hacks/226)

/proc/cpuinfo hints at Armada XP so I thought mv_cesa crypto would be
available but alas, no:

    
    
      # zcat /proc/config.gz | grep -i cesa
      CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_MV_CESA=y
     
      # grep -i cesa /proc/crypto
      #
    

Shame. Does anyone know what CPU is that exactly? The Soc in the picture at
techcrunch seems to have a Marvell logo.

edit: it's definitely marvell, dmesg references 370_xp clocksource, armada xp
pincontrol and aurora L2 cache controller.

~~~
_delirium
There was some discussion of that in the original announcement. Apparently the
kernel requirement is because the root fs is a network drive, and the system
PXE-boots:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9309661](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9309661)

------
zero_iq
An interesting clause in the terms and conditions:

* Users recognise that piracy harms artistic creation.

~~~
mahouse
I recognise that piracy harms artistic creation, but I don't care. So can I
sign up? ;P

------
CodingGuy
Low cost hoster Hetzner also launched an ARM based dedicated server a few days
ago:
[https://www.hetzner.de/us/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-p...](https://www.hetzner.de/us/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-
produktmatrix-ax)

~~~
Sami_Lehtinen
Kimsufi has been also providing cheapish dedicated servers (non-arm) for a
long time: [http://www.kimsufi.com/uk/](http://www.kimsufi.com/uk/)

------
rbanffy
I wonder if I could buy a couple of those servers for my own. I work on cloud
and data-center automation tools and having real metal to test ideas and
software would be amazing. I've been toying with the idea of hooking up a
couple Edisons or Galileos (x86 makes everything easier on my side) but they
have complete running hardware and that easily beats developing my own.

~~~
rbanffy
BTW, the said software is open source, so there is even some good karma thrown
in.

------
antjanus
This was announced directly from Scaleway and was a pretty popular thread here
on HN, why is an article about it on here again and just as popular?

~~~
lorenzhs
I didn't click on the original article at the time because the title was
utterly meaningless without context: "We are slashing the C1 price by 70
percent". I'm not motivated enough to figure out the context for every
article, so I just skip those unless they have a very high number of points or
comments. I'm probably not alone in this.

------
wilhil
FYI -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFhgSKNJP2s&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFhgSKNJP2s&feature=youtu.be)

For my own projects, I wish I could buy this hardware!

------
kweks
I like the idea of the product a lot - but the question I have is how these
servers stack up in an 'apples to apples' comparison (that is to say, with a
DO small / medium / large instance - or an AWS small / medium / large
instance) - which would allow for me to work out if it's worthwhile
investing..

------
Gurrewe
Is there any way to test out Scaleway without having to give them a credit
card number with a potential infinite bill?

~~~
ajaxaddicted
I did test them out a while ago. My impressions are here:
[https://www.amon.cx/blog/scaleway-vs-digitalocean-and-
deploy...](https://www.amon.cx/blog/scaleway-vs-digitalocean-and-deploying-
webapps-on-arm/)

------
lucb1e
I was going to sign up for this immediately. Then I read the FAQ:

\- No IPv6 -- sucks, but I can live with that

\- No IPv4 -- WTF? NAT on a server?!

\- A credit card is required. I can't pay them. Asked via support, they
confirm credit card is the only way.

\- I still haven't found where the instances are physically located. (Edit:
it's in the "General FAQ", not in the "Server FAQ".)

I really, really like the idea, but they have a long way to go.

~~~
tankenmate
The IPv4 address is independent of any one server. Think of it kind of like L2
/ L3, when a packet gets to its final network the L3 address is translated to
a L2 address (ARP typically with ethernet / IP) with the L3 frame wrapped by a
L2 frame. So think of this more like L2 is now a combination of classic L2 and
the lower end of L3. It's sort of halfway between home router style NAT and
switching; and yes, I'm sure it runs as close to full speed as switching does.
This kind of set up is very common in cloud based services that support live
migration (not that this service does; it's bare metal).

------
Tepix
They have made a couple of customizations to the regular Linux bootup that
have severe security implications (i.e. download kernel modules from them
among other things). Contrary to a "classic" dedicated server, with this
configuration you are very much trusting them unless you make changes.

Read [https://www.scaleway.com/docs/create-an-image-from-
scratch/](https://www.scaleway.com/docs/create-an-image-from-scratch/) and
ideally set up a server and look at what exactly is going on.

Unfortunately the script on that page has some errors (it references missing
files and it's missing some files that are required), they should really go
over it and fix them.

------
IgorPartola
Is the storage attached directly to the box or is it a SAN? I'd like to use
one of these for a personal email server, but don't want to bother if a fried
disk or disk controller would result in significant downtime for my email.

~~~
JosephRedfern
It's a SAN, mounted as a NBD.

------
elnappo
No IPv6? This is a no-go for servers... Add it and i'm all in. ;)

------
altcognito
A huge part of the monthly cost of any infrastructure is less about power and
the hardware and more about the quality of the internet connection. If I can't
get data in and out quickly it isn't going to be much good to me.

~~~
kdeldycke
Scaleway is part of the Iliad group, the third French ISP:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad_SA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad_SA)

No need to worry about our infrastructure. Our datacenters are well connected:
[http://www.iliad-datacenter.fr/infrastructure/connectivite](http://www.iliad-
datacenter.fr/infrastructure/connectivite)

------
hackerboos
Benchmark for those interested

[http://serverbear.com/benchmark/2015/09/03/zCU7qHQu5fCH2q2d](http://serverbear.com/benchmark/2015/09/03/zCU7qHQu5fCH2q2d)

------
miyuru
their imagelab is pretty cool. finally a place to host my ghost blog cheaply.

[https://www.scaleway.com/imagehub/](https://www.scaleway.com/imagehub/)

------
Fiahil
Kudos to the folks at Scaleway, and mostly their engineering teams :)

~~~
kdeldycke
Thanks ! :)

------
cyberpanther
US data center please and i'm all in.

------
HappyTypist
RAM, SSD storage, bandwidth, IO are still shared.

It's pretty much a VPS, not dedicated.

~~~
JosephRedfern
How does the RAM sharing work? Are there any public details on this?

~~~
edouardb
There is no RAM sharing, it's a metal server

~~~
JosephRedfern
I thought that might be the case :-)

------
phantom_oracle
Comments on HN normally provide both sides to the story, so I am hoping
someone with deep/vast server knowledge and the VPS market will provide a
critique of why this is "not so good".

Also, France? Same country that is trying to push privacy-unfriendly laws?
Probably not a good idea to use this service for VPN then.

It would probably suffice as a test-box or cheap-static hosting I guess.

~~~
onli
> _Also, France? Same country that is trying to push privacy-unfriendly laws?
> Probably not a good idea to use this service for VPN then._

They are explicitly advertising VPNs, but even though I live in France I'm not
sure whether the situation there is secure enough. France is collecting
internet logs, and a server has its own IP, is a VPN then even useful?

> _It would probably suffice as a test-box or cheap-static hosting I guess._

More than static. I installed serendipity (a blogging engine, think wordpress)
there and it worked good enough for me to assume that it would work fine with
medium traffic as well.

Got a pretty good impression otherwise. The thing that bothered me most was
that the free test month was not a full month, but till the next accounting
period – 14 days for me. Cut my time short to test it. But you can imagine
that if that is my sole complain, it was fine otherwise for me. A solid site
and their scripts to build images worked fine.

