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$250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#41

Post by rdtsc »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #39
rdtsc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many people want to run an updated kernel without known security vulnerabilities? How many people call that "a custom kernel"? Haven't heard anybody call an upstream distro kernel update a "custom kernel". Is this a typical conversation people have? "Hey Jim, did you update the servers to get the latest OpenSSL security fixes? - Yap, I compiled and installed a custom kernel". Maybe they need to run a better dis…

It's specific to VM images. "Custom" here means "not baked into Xen," since your filesystem is not considered when spawning a domU kernel except in limited circumstances. In the Xen world, your kernel is provided by your hosting provider. You can apt-get all day and nothing will happen. That is what custom means in this context. "Not yours." Read accordingly; you've made the same flawed point at several spots in this…

Ah, I understand now, thanks for explaining.

I thought they used KVM for some reason... But I guess if they use Xen they yeah, they are stuck with whatever kernel they get.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#42

Post by timdorr »

tschellenbach wrote: post #37
tshtf wrote: post #2

Enjoy your free service, but I would avoid paying for Digital Ocean for any serious project. No custom kernel support 1. Digital Ocean does not allow you to run your own kernel natively. 2. Digital Ocean droplet kernels are infrequently updated. 3. These kernels often contain relevant security vulnerabilities. 4. This has been a known issue since 2013. 5. You can kexec a kernel, but this is an annoying workaround. ht…

Ok, no serious project would run their own kernel. What are you hosting that you want to run your own kernel?

If you want to maintain your server well and keep the kernel updated against security vulnerabilities, that's a pretty big deal. It would suck to be the victim of a root escalation and have no way of preventing it.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#43

Post by timdorr »

jorgecurio wrote: post #13
tshtf wrote: post #2

Enjoy your free service, but I would avoid paying for Digital Ocean for any serious project. No custom kernel support 1. Digital Ocean does not allow you to run your own kernel natively. 2. Digital Ocean droplet kernels are infrequently updated. 3. These kernels often contain relevant security vulnerabilities. 4. This has been a known issue since 2013. 5. You can kexec a kernel, but this is an annoying workaround. ht…

Most people don't consider custom kernel as a requirement for serious projects. I don't see why this is a joke.

If you want to maintain your server well and keep the kernel updated against security vulnerabilities, that's a pretty big deal. It would suck to be the victim of a root escalation and have no way of preventing it.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#44

Post by smallegan »

curun1r wrote: post #24
andrewstuart wrote: post #3

Aren't there a bunch of offers of free cloud hosting for Startups? We should list them here. And you don't need to be a YC company...... Microsoft Azure gives hosting to startups under their Bizspark program - get over your prejudice - it's a great way to run Linux machines. Softlayer and Rackspace I think also have programs for startups. Any other companies offer free hosting to startups?

Unfortunately, all of these require that you be part of some accelerator or receive VC funding before you can take advantage of the discounts. Founders trying to bootstrap a company without external funding are SOL. It strikes me that these cloud hosting companies are really interested in businesses that value growth above profits and are willing to ignore startups who try to manage costs to get to profitability more…

Bizspark does not require you to be part of an accelerator. I've used it with two separate startups without any external funding.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#45

Post by iolothebard »

curun1r wrote: post #24
andrewstuart wrote: post #3

Aren't there a bunch of offers of free cloud hosting for Startups? We should list them here. And you don't need to be a YC company...... Microsoft Azure gives hosting to startups under their Bizspark program - get over your prejudice - it's a great way to run Linux machines. Softlayer and Rackspace I think also have programs for startups. Any other companies offer free hosting to startups?

Unfortunately, all of these require that you be part of some accelerator or receive VC funding before you can take advantage of the discounts. Founders trying to bootstrap a company without external funding are SOL. It strikes me that these cloud hosting companies are really interested in businesses that value growth above profits and are willing to ignore startups who try to manage costs to get to profitability more…

BizSpark requires a 5 minute write up. It's comically easy to get accepted as an individual if you can string together a few sentences.

Azure is so inexpensive even without BizSpark it's kind of amazing to me. Having done startups in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, what people have available now is incredible IMO.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#46

Post by jsmthrowaway »

rdtsc wrote: post #41
jsmthrowaway wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's specific to VM images. "Custom" here means "not baked into Xen," since your filesystem is not considered when spawning a domU kernel except in limited circumstances. In the Xen world, your kernel is provided by your hosting provider. You can apt-get all day and nothing will happen. That is what custom means in this context. "Not yours." Read accordingly; you've made the same flawed point at several spots in this…

Ah, I understand now, thanks for explaining. I thought they used KVM for some reason... But I guess if they use Xen they yeah, they are stuck with whatever kernel they get.

It's a slightly similar story under KVM in these scenarios. Customer kernels are trickier.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#47

Post by cdcarter »

curun1r wrote: post #24
andrewstuart wrote: post #3

Aren't there a bunch of offers of free cloud hosting for Startups? We should list them here. And you don't need to be a YC company...... Microsoft Azure gives hosting to startups under their Bizspark program - get over your prejudice - it's a great way to run Linux machines. Softlayer and Rackspace I think also have programs for startups. Any other companies offer free hosting to startups?

Unfortunately, all of these require that you be part of some accelerator or receive VC funding before you can take advantage of the discounts. Founders trying to bootstrap a company without external funding are SOL. It strikes me that these cloud hosting companies are really interested in businesses that value growth above profits and are willing to ignore startups who try to manage costs to get to profitability more…

Actually, Bizspark requires neither. It's a great way to get resources while you're still figuring out what your idea really is.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#49

Post by makomk »

rdtsc wrote: post #26
makomk wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few people run actual custom kernels, but most people want to run the distro-supplied kernel for their distro of choice (including security updates to it) and most decent providers configure their VMs to allow custom kernels so that their users can do this.

> people want to run the distro-supplied kernel I read "custom kernel" as in "replace distro-supplied kernel and compile your own with some custom flags and patches".

Well, you can do that too, but the point is that you have control over what kernel your VMs are running and not the hosting provider. From a technical perspective it makes little difference where that kernel comes from; either you control what kernel you're running or you don't.

Re: $250k of DigitalOcean credits for YC startups

#50

Post by beachstartup »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #31
JoshTriplett wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but at the same time, you shouldn't be using IP addresses as a security mechanism. Assume the connection between your hosts is compromised, and code accordingly, with encrypted/authenticated connections between hosts.

A VPC is analogous to a physical network, not a subnet. Nobody uses them that way because it's not easy to grok, but you can treat a VPC as a physical network complete with your own numbering and ACL policies. If you're doing that defense in depth on a physical network, I'm impressed by your dedication but would avoid your work for wasting resources.

it's analogous to a vlan, and it's not that much work to maintain ACLs if the vlans aren't supposed to talk to each other, which they're not, that's the whole point.
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