Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, no SDK for node.js?
Of course there's an SDK! It's here: https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/gcloud-node
Well yes, just not an App Engine SDK :(
Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
11–20 of 114 posts
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#12All I know about GAE is that when my python app started being used by HN users I upgraded my account to a paid one to increase performance. In the transition , without any warning, google took the app down, for a day. Thus killing all chance of acquiring a userbase now that I had hit the frontpage. When I went onto the IRC GAE channel to ask someone for help to unlock or keep the app running during this important mom…
I have heard many more stories close to this one than I ever have about a successful product launch utilizing GAE. I've never used GAE and have mostly been scared off by my experience with Google support throughout other applications and services being close to non-existent. I know by this point Google is large enough that this may not seem like a concern, but I am somewhat surprised that there isn't a larger user outcry against Google's support structure.
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's awful, I'm sorry you experienced that. It's no use to you now, but if you had gotten that message to me, I would have walked over to SRE / Support and we could have reset your quotas (I assume that's what you mean by "Took the app down for a day"). Disclaimer: I work on Compute Engine not on App Engine.
I appreciate that you'd be willing to do that, but the fact that it's necessary to get a human (even a technical and helpful one such as yourself) involved to deal with this is a big red flag.
To be clear, the person he reached should have reset / gotten the quota reset (if that's the root cause). There's often a human needed when something goes sideways, which is why we have paid support for Cloud - cloud.google.com/support. The issue is that he reached a human, and it didn't fix his problem. So like I said, sorry! (but I think it's okay to rely on humans fixing things like this)
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#14This seems to be for Managed VM [1] only, so it's a case of better documentation & tooling, but no new functionality. You can already run arbitrary code of any language on Managed VM instances. [1] Managed VM is a sort of meet-half-way service from Google that is quite freeform like Compute Engine, but also offers access to a good chunk of App Engine's services. Still, it's very much not the standard App Engine.
Oh, are you kidding me? Man I got so excited when I saw the title, I already spammed the link to a couple buddies. I should have read it first.
I want real GAE. Not managed VMs. I want to be able to spin up a quick GAE version on a deploy, and if it doesn't get the traffic to scale up, then it just sits there and doesn't cost me anything.
Managed VM has 2+ instances running all month and is an incredible PITA to spin down if I need to temporarily. (The current workaround is to deploy a non-VM app and set that as default, which is just insane.)
GAE apps based on Managed VMs need a free quota as well. I have many apps but some of them don't do much most of the time. A couple will spike hard randomly. I don't mind paying when it does. I like the security that if/when something really takes off, GAE has my back.
In the meantime, I'll stick to Go on GAE. I'd love to be able to use Node, but things add up quickly if I have a couple hobby apps.
I'm glad that they are pushing Node and I'm a HUGE fan of the Google Cloud. I just really want Node as a native GAE thing.
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#15Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#16Quirkiness of Javascript + extreme weirdness of App Engine (especially datastore) = best of both worlds.
Aww, I like Datastore.
But, there's no requirement that you use Datastore. The point of App Engine is that it's "you just give us code, we run it for you". With Managed VMs (built on top of Compute Engine) we're able to offer that programming model with a more flexible environment.
As someone mentioned elsewhere, there's even "just hand us a random docker container". We've had people run ffmpeg because you can just hook up App Engine's request/response and autoscaling to an arbitrary thing, and you've got an autoscaling web service.
tl;dr: Don't get hung up on the old "extreme weirdness of App Engine", this is different.
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#17All I know about GAE is that when my python app started being used by HN users I upgraded my account to a paid one to increase performance. In the transition , without any warning, google took the app down, for a day. Thus killing all chance of acquiring a userbase now that I had hit the frontpage. When I went onto the IRC GAE channel to ask someone for help to unlock or keep the app running during this important mom…
Do you remember the day when this IRC event took place or what nick you used? I have the logs, and would like to look into this. Also, when you say "staff member", do you mean Google's staff?
The reason I'm asking is that I've been active in the GAE IRC channel for 6 years and I don't remember anything like this ever happening. I do remember a few cases where people have come with similar problems complaining that their free quota ran out and then regular people telling them that they need to start paying to use the service further.
There really hasn't been an active Googler in the GAE IRC channel for many years, so that fact makes all of this particularly fishy.
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#18Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I appreciate that you'd be willing to do that, but the fact that it's necessary to get a human (even a technical and helpful one such as yourself) involved to deal with this is a big red flag.
To be clear, the person he reached should have reset / gotten the quota reset (if that's the root cause). There's often a human needed when something goes sideways, which is why we have paid support for Cloud - cloud.google.com/support. The issue is that he reached a human, and it didn't fix his problem. So like I said, sorry! (but I think it's okay to rely on humans fixing things like this)
I had to log in with my other account ( as I have the 'get back to work blocker' appearing on my other one).
I just want to say, this happened a year ago, and things may have changed.
I just had to make the statement as it hit close to home and Ive never mentioned it previously.
Hopefully there is a system/warning in place so apps arent taken down, without warning like this, when transitioning from a free to a paid account ( I think it was to do with the quotas like you said).
All the best and thanks for the reply.
Re: Node.js on Google App Engine Goes Beta
#20This seems to be for Managed VM [1] only, so it's a case of better documentation & tooling, but no new functionality. You can already run arbitrary code of any language on Managed VM instances. [1] Managed VM is a sort of meet-half-way service from Google that is quite freeform like Compute Engine, but also offers access to a good chunk of App Engine's services. Still, it's very much not the standard App Engine.
Oh, are you kidding me? Man I got so excited when I saw the title, I already spammed the link to a couple buddies. I should have read it first. I want real GAE. Not managed VMs. I want to be able to spin up a quick GAE version on a deploy, and if it doesn't get the traffic to scale up, then it just sits there and doesn't cost me anything. Managed VM has 2+ instances running all month and is an incredible PITA to spin…
There is a easier way to spin them down now:
gcloud preview app versions stop main