Please help formulate MetalVPS BF Offers! Thanks!
Hello!
Sorry, I don't know what to offer for MetalVPS on BF.
Right now I have an available E3 at Hetzner FSN and also Redacted said it is going to set me up with an E3 in the US. Both E3s could be used for the MetalVPS BF offer, assuming that the US server is ready in time.
Both servers have only one IPv4 each. Both servers have an IPv6/64.
Do you have ideas for MetalVPS? Hopefully ideas that do not require working with less than 100% open source software.
Thanks!
Tom
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Free NAT LXC VPS with 20 ports offered if posting 20 hot and happy gif images, to keep up the hype on the Black Friday thread, but not more than 1 gif every 5 minutes (to avoid spam).
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Idea I received off list: 50% off for one month on a bare metal server to some lucky guy who has a good use for the server on a one month project.
a free dedicated for me
but seriously maybe like a lifetime 25% off
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
Sure but deleting in 3 days.
We accept Karma donations for the last flan. ๐ฎ affbrr
Wow, Chianman need free chick!
Ontario Dildo Inspector
MetalVPS used to give free shell accounts before the abuse earlier this year.
What about giving free IPv6-only VPS? For access to NAT IPv4, a fee must be paid to metal VPS.
VPS could be made using Proxmox or following the virtlib tutorial? Both are 100% open source.
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Get a /56 or /48 first, so you can do a /64 per VPS, makes everything easier.
Do LXC with a /64 included, easy to handle abuses.
I think @yoursunny already talked about this a while ago.
Do NAT only for people you trust or you need some kind of system that keeps track or monitors which connections the VPS does, so in case you get an abuse, easy to handle otherwise is going to suck.
Forwarded ports should not be a problem for abuse, since they can easy be tracked down too.
HAProxy the same.
Free NAT KVM | Free NAT LXC
welkambek btw ๐
if there's byoip i can provide a lot of ips (i got a /40)
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
Please assume that MetalVPS has a US server:
How could a BF offer be structured so as to sell out and reimburse the cost of the server? Even without profit, it seems impossible to match existing offers.
For example, suppose we offer backup disk space in 1 TB units. That's 8 x 1 TB storage units per server.
$45/8 = $8.63.
It's easy to find Providers selling cheaper storage. For example, awesome [Redacted] offers awesome 1 TB Storage Boxes for โฌ3.20 per month, which is approximately $3.42. I seem to recall other Low End Providers selling backup space for about $2 per TB or a little more. $8.63 is a lot more than $2.00!
I don't see any way a reseller could compete on price, except to stop reselling, buy a data center, and scale way up,
Therefore, the only possibility for MetalVPS, as a reseller, is not to offer a fungible, "standard product" and not to compete on price.
@FAT32 Please prove me wrong! I love to be wrong!
Maybe you can slice it further. Not everyone would need 1TB per VPS.
Many sells less disk space for more per month.
What is the location of the machine? Maybe it has a better ping to certain places that would attract people who has the needs.
DM us for private tracker invite.
Hi @terrorgen! Could you please suggest specific numbers which you think would work? Thanks so much!
Another approach: hosting. You got just one IP after all.
You decide how to scale this, but because this is low-end, I would say 10GB metal hosting with just 10 metal cents ($0.1) could be easier for advertising.
Bad side: support and abusers with spam. Having 800 customers on a server like that, when many could be MJJ impersonating other MJJ... oh boy!
Good side: it could be fun.
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Have to decide what you want to do and how you'd like to target certain 'niches' or activities. Given that you have E3's often (Hetzner and at that extremely premium and cool US-based provider) I'd be looking at how you can work that angle. E3's are lower core counts, much higher core clocks. 4x2TB SSD just depends how you set it up (4 naked disks, raid-5, 6, 10... 0 like a madman?). I still think there are certain markets that are completely overlooked/available to be serviced that would benefit from a much more hands-on or active management approach (cough @sh97 ).
Taking your E3 listed here and your approach to sell backup space isn't a great approach. You only have 8TB if every disk is run naked (extremely high risk of partial data loss or node loss). Realistically you'd be looking at 4TB to 6TB * 0.9 usable/sellable (RAID-10 / 5). It's just not the right system combination for that:
I think @terrorgen is on the right path, as I've stated before about similar use-cases. Another alternative use-case since you like to learn:
Consider asking your host to swap in a E3-1245 v5 or 1275 v5 (I bet they have those on hand) to give you the Intel iGPU (and Quick Sync capabilities). Because it's an old enough generation of iGPU, I bet gvt-g works really well for slicing up that iGPU and passing it through to your KVM VM's. Now sell 1c/2t VDS with iGPU passthrough and ~7-8GB RAM, ~1TB of RAID-10 pure SSD disk
. I bet you can find people who have a use for something like that.. linux ISO compressing or something I think? Even if you were just to compare it with a normal VDS offering with those specs you're looking at a price range of $10-20/m (competitively) but the big kicker is the iGPU, high frequency on the E3 versus standard E5/scalable, and stout amount of storage space at that price point.
All-in-all I will always repeat that competing on price alone is never smart. If that is all you have, highly recommend re-thinking your approach. @Calin will kick your teeth in. Should you be price-competitive? Absolutely. There are many different types of customers, or better: many customers with different tiers of needs. A customer might only be willing to pay us 10% of what they'd pay AWS--and I can absolutely see why. It's better to identify a need and then shape a product to be competitive within that niche: locale, price, management, resources, even just general friendliness and availability.
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Hi @crunchbits!
Thanks for your awesome suggestions!
My E3s from that awesome non-US provider who must not be named have E3-1275 v5 and 64 GB. Since my awesome US Provider probably will see this comment, may I hereby please ask him, if he has these available, to substitute an E3-1275 v5 and an additional 32 GB of DDR4 ECC RAM? (It's not necessary to make an appointment before doing the swap. It's okay to just go ahead whenever. Not expecting data loss, but there is nothing on the server yet. So, even if there is total data loss, it doesn't matter. I think my Provider's ssh key might have wormed its way into the server's /root/.ssh/authorized_keys if that somehow helps. No rush at all, ever. Thank you!)
I never yet directly tried working with gvt-g and KVM. So that's definitely something I would love to try.
Thanks again for your awesome suggestions!
There is a dedi provider here selling a high core count dedi for an okay price.
However disk space is not their forte.
DM us for private tracker invite.
Here are a few notes I took awhile back on getting Intel internal graphics enabled. The next step might be to get the graphics into the VPSes.
Update! Mysteriously, the server now seems to have E-1245 v5 and 64 GB RAM. So now I get to try RAID 0 (just for fun) and then RAID 10 across four disks. I never previously used more than two disks. Plus also I get to try gvt-g with KVM. If anyone is interested in messing with the server, please get in touch.
Updates November 17, 2023!
My first time using HE TunnelBroker, but the tunnel seems to work out of the box. I wonder what are the disadvantages of the HE tunnel? Also, the server is expecting an IPv6/64 from the extremely premium and cool US-based provider. Anybody got a good idea how to get an IPv4/29?
What should the BF offer be? Still looking for more ideas! Thanks!
Connect it through some VPN like NordVPN (no advertising intended) to not break DMCA as the server has just one IPv4, then sell small VPS with lots of storage and template for seedbox preconfigured (just like @PulsedMedia does but through VPN).
For some reason people still like torrenting, so specialised offers should sell. After all @PulsedMedia is a success for going on this market.
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WOAH NICE! i use HE tunnels on my IPv4 only vps's and i find that latency is a little higher but that should be expected. just make sure to pick a location near the location of the server
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@Not_Oles Where is the server at? I would like to route you a /48 just for the hell of it. The tunnel will be at Kansas City, MO.
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
Not too bad, I guess.
It's at Liberty Lake, WA.
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Welp, if I say exactly where the server is, then I might give away the still secret identity of the extremely premium and cool US provider who beat [Redacted] a/k/a The Provider Who Must Not Be Named. ๐ธ
So, with the above constraints on mind, maybe I can hint that the server is nestled in the premier datacenter of a US State well known for being the Microsoft HQ location.
I'm not ready to disclose the IP address just yet. Thanks so much, though, for your nice IPv6 offer, which I do appreciate! ๐Maybe we can try your routing a little bit more down the road. Best wishes! ๐
@suh Haha! You posted while I was writing my reply. ๐
If its connected to Cogent/Arelion, the BGP Path would be small enough. I am guessing about 10ms ping.
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
Oops! Sorry about that.
Also if you want I can also give you a /48 to play with, you can ask the premium operator to announce it on their network.
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Impossible to match.
Existing offers are priced down because provider has large scale and lower amortized cost.
Plot twist: it's your machine.
We all know Liberty Lake is possessed by crunchy.
Incog has colo but an instantaneous CPU swap won't happen.
If the above guess is correct, crunchy has native BGP for dedicated servers.
We accept Karma donations for the last flan. ๐ฎ affbrr
Google found:
https://github.com/intel/gvt-linux/wiki/GVTg_Setup_Guide
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/driver-core.git/tree/Documentation/driver-api/vfio-mediated-device.rst?h=driver-core-next&id=7de3697e9cbd4bd3d62bafa249d57990e1b8f294
Specs Update and Three Questions!
Let's see how this might look if expressed in an offer format.
VDS Specs
E3-1245 v5
1c/2t dedicated
iGPU passthrough
~7-8GB RAM,
~1TB of RAID-10 pure SSD disk
Discussion: CPU and RAM
The E3-1245 v5 has 4 hardware cores and 8 threads. There is only one CPU. If we do 1 core, 2 threads dedicated, there can only be 4 Neighbors.
The server has 64 GB DDR4 ECC RAM. If we do 8 GB each for 4 Neighbors, we have 32 GB RAM left over.
One solution would be to do dedicated, single vcore = 1 hardware thread VPSes. There could be 8 dedicated, single vcore VPSes. This could work if the workloads are single threaded.
Question 1: Workload Threading
Are the anticipated workloads single threaded?
More CPU and RAM Discussion
If the workloads are not single threaded, maybe sharing the cores among the VMs might be best. Not everybody is going to be running 100% 24/7/365. So, with 8 Neighbors, vCPU sharing might be limited to 50% of one of the 4 hardware cores = 50% of 2 hardware threads, with 8 GB RAM for each of the 8 Neighbors.
Question 2: CPU and RAM Distribution
Should there be 4 VMs or 8 VMs or some other number? Should the VM CPU cores / threads be dedicated or shared? How much RAM should each VM receive?
Further Discussion: Disk Space, Revised Specs and Pricing
The server's 4 x 2 TB SSD drives have been set up in RAID 10. Dividing RAID 10's available 3.7 TB by 8 gives each VM 0.4625 TB = 462 GB of pure SSD RAID 10 disk.
Now we perhaps could do:
VPS Specs (assuming 8 VMs per Node)
E3-1245 v5,
1c/2t shared (or 1 vcore (= 1 hardware thread) dedicated)
Maximum 8 Neighbors per Node,
iGPU passthrough,
8 GB RAM,
462 GB RAID-10 pure SSD disk.
NAT IPv4, IPv6/64, and
1 Gbps unmetered, fair use.
Location: Liberty Lake, WA, USA
About costs and pricing
Our extremely premium and cool US Provider utterly demolished @Not_Oles' beloved [Redacted] by offering the E3-1245 v5, 64 GB ECC DDR4 RAM, 4 x 2 TB SSD, 1 Gbps unlimited server free for the first year!!! This E3-1245 is listed in the extremely premium and cool US Provider's control panel at $513.00 annually. The renewal date is November 8, 2024. Based on $513.00 annually, and for 8 VMs, the cost per VM would be $64.13 annually or $5.34 per month.
Question 3: Pricing
But, since the server is free for the first year, should the VMs also be free for the first year? And then maybe free for the second year if the extremely premium and cool US Provider chooses to renew its sponsorship?
The server may be free, but your time is not free.
$7 per VDS-month is the minimum I would charge, if I were you.
As for the disk space, remember you will need some reserved space for the hypervisor.
DM us for private tracker invite.
That would be good. Profit for me and Tom.
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
What about this possible draft offer, guys? Would anyone want to sign up?
Thanks for your feedback, suggestions, additional help! 
Free One Year Shell Accounts From MetalVPS! -- Make Your Own VPS From The Command Line!
Friendly greetings! ๐๐
Everyone's best friend and favorite Low End Provider, crunchbits, has granted MetalVPS a wonderful US ๐บ๐ธ server free for a whole year! To celebrate Thanksgiving 2023 ๐ฆ, the generosity of crunchbits, the gorgeousness of LES, and . . . Black Friday, . . . MetalVPS is offering free, one year shell accounts!
From your free, one year shell account, sometimes with
sudoor other privileged group memberships, you can launch a VPS, a container, a proot, a chroot, or do almost anything else that's free and open source. Compilers and many more development tools are available for your convenience. Also, at every moment, you easily can see how our crunchy Node is performing.crunchy Node Specs
[ . . . ]
It would be the MetalVPS usual post-in-the-thread. I have permission from @FrankZ to put the offer in the BF thread and to use an additional thread for sign up and ongoing discussion.
There would be the usual MetalVPS warnings, TOS, etc.
Happy Thanksgiving! ๐ฆ
Good offer. For me and abusers alike.
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
Exactly. This is an abuser magnet.
DM us for private tracker invite.
I guess there could be some sort of verification, no idea what it would be tho.
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU
E.g. Charging $/โฌ/ยฃ 1.
DM us for private tracker invite.
Sumsub can be used, but it would charge $1.35 per verification.
I would like to try a 2 month free (pay for 10 months) pricing plan.
Or a Hetzner-like reloadable credits ecosystem.
then people like me are out because fuck payment gateways not recognizing my card
idk why it does that, stripe sometimes works and sometimes doesnt, same goes for paypal, idk
its a visa classic with international transactions on but it still fails
i have successfully paid internationally in a lot of cases, like for namecheap it goes straight away, they still do transactions in USD but it still works, even stripe works a lot of the times when i am paying someone personally
youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU