Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0 • Hacker News Board

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#11

Post by venomsnake » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:37 PM UTC

rgoodwintx wrote: post #8

therobot24 wrote: post #5

love the rundowns, sad that their service is just so disappointing

Details? I don't work for BB, but have worked in the backup industry for some time in my past, and always curious.

Not the OP, have used BB for 5 years (and still using, the service is totally fine):

Initial sync is a nighmare. The upload is on the slow side. Biggest gripe so far is that I just cannot tell the client that some files are more important than the others. I would love my pdf invoices and changed KDBX files to be synced before uploading the uncompressed blu ray of Guardians of the galaxy. On the other hand there are people that produce a lot of critically important raw video which will probably have the opposite preferences.

I can understand why they have not implemented priority interface. It is hard to get it right.

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#12

Post by mortehu » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:37 PM UTC

jakeva wrote: post #10

therobot24 wrote: post #5

love the rundowns, sad that their service is just so disappointing

I've used BB for years on multiple machines and have been more than satisfied, in fact I recommend it to everyone. I'm not affiliated with them at all, just a happy customer. Confused as to why someone would find their service disappointing but to each their own.

Would you recommend it to someone running Linux? As far as I can tell, you have to use their proprietary backup software, which only runs on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#13

Post by Qiasfah » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:37 PM UTC

I notice that they're using a 500GB 5400RPM boot drive.

Is there a need for that large of a boot drive? I would have expected that an SSD boot drive would be preferable.

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#14

Post by atYevP » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:37 PM UTC

masonhipp wrote: post #4

I find these breakdowns fascinating. As an enthusiast PC builder I occasionally consider running my own data-systems or servers... In the end though I'm glad I have guys like you putting these together: clearly an enormous amount of thought going into it. Thanks for the write-up.

Yev from Backblaze here -> You're welcome! We're always pretty stoked to do these, even though it does indeed take a lot of man-power to put together. The nice thing is, it's actually helpful! A lot of organizations, companies, and research labs use them, and that makes us feel warm and fuzzy.

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#15

Post by atYevP » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:40 PM UTC

Qiasfah wrote: post #13

I notice that they're using a 500GB 5400RPM boot drive. Is there a need for that large of a boot drive? I would have expected that an SSD boot drive would be preferable.

Yev from Backblaze -> We don't need the boot drive to be that "large", but it's more of a pricing thing. An SSD, even at 256GB would be more expensive than those 5400RPM drives, so we just go with what's cheap :)

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#16

Post by mdamore » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:41 PM UTC

Great to see a smaller, very open company remaining competitive against the giants in the space like Amazon.

I'm particularly excited to see how their B2 service will stack up to Glacier for half the cost.

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#17

Post by derekp7 » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:41 PM UTC

atYevP wrote: post #15

Qiasfah wrote: post #13

I notice that they're using a 500GB 5400RPM boot drive. Is there a need for that large of a boot drive? I would have expected that an SSD boot drive would be preferable.

Yev from Backblaze -> We don't need the boot drive to be that "large", but it's more of a pricing thing. An SSD, even at 256GB would be more expensive than those 5400RPM drives, so we just go with what's cheap :)

What about network boot? Or do you find that to be too unreliable?

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#18

Post by atYevP » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:43 PM UTC

mortehu wrote: post #12

jakeva wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used BB for years on multiple machines and have been more than satisfied, in fact I recommend it to everyone. I'm not affiliated with them at all, just a happy customer. Confused as to why someone would find their service disappointing but to each their own.

Would you recommend it to someone running Linux? As far as I can tell, you have to use their proprietary backup software, which only runs on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Yev from Backblaze -> Currently we don't have a Linux interface, but when we launch Backblaze B2 you'll be able to use APIs/CLIs to push your Linux data to us.

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#19

Post by gnufied » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:45 PM UTC

atYevP wrote: post #3

budmang wrote: post #2

I'm particularly excited about this version because it is the underpinning of B2 (which required higher performance), but we were still able to keep the costs low.

^ -> Gleb is Backblaze's CEO. (I too, work for Backblaze).

Please make a Linux version of your client. Even a CLI based tool that works in background will do.

From afar it looks very compelling, but unfortunately I can't use it, because no Linux :(

Re: Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0

#20

Post by hahainternet » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 5:45 PM UTC

atYevP wrote: post #14

masonhipp wrote: post #4

I find these breakdowns fascinating. As an enthusiast PC builder I occasionally consider running my own data-systems or servers... In the end though I'm glad I have guys like you putting these together: clearly an enormous amount of thought going into it. Thanks for the write-up.

Yev from Backblaze here -> You're welcome! We're always pretty stoked to do these, even though it does indeed take a lot of man-power to put together. The nice thing is, it's actually helpful! A lot of organizations, companies, and research labs use them, and that makes us feel warm and fuzzy.

It looks quite an enjoyable process too. Design iteration is a fantastic time to really question assumptions, and reducing the number of fans for example does just that.

The best I have is 9 addressable disks plus a ludicrous CPU and GPU in a Silverstone desktop case, not very exciting but still going against the grain.