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I got pwned by my cloud costs

troyhunt.com

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Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#81

Post by tlamponi »

tester756 wrote: post #66
lpcvoid wrote: post #56

Can somebody explain to me why I wouldn't just rent a 40 EUR dedicated server from Hetzner with unlimited traffic and gigabit uplink? His 600GB/day is way less than what you get over a gigabit link within a day. Sure, sudden bursts would perhaps "throttle" at a gigabit, but according to his article that was only the cloudflare proxy anyhow, so no pain in having that take a few seconds longer. As far as I am concerned…

I'm fan of cheap VPSes too, but I'd like to have things like metrics out of the box

€40 gives you a dedicated server, not just a VPS.

Getting metrics on that is not a hard problem, there are various projects that are relatively simple to set up.

If you want to make it easier manage resources, metrics out of the box, and avoid (hoster) lock-in then I'd use a hyper visor distro like Proxmox VE (disclaimer, am a dev there) or the like, and you can migrate (or backup/restore) VMs or Containers easily to other providers. That gives you a (relatively) simple web-interface to manage most things and also opens the possibility to just add a second or third dedicated host down the line to scale out, if those new hosts are in the same DC or have a good interconnect (latency wise) you could even cluster the nodes.

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#82

Post by vitro »

closeparen wrote: post #71
lpcvoid wrote: post #56

Can somebody explain to me why I wouldn't just rent a 40 EUR dedicated server from Hetzner with unlimited traffic and gigabit uplink? His 600GB/day is way less than what you get over a gigabit link within a day. Sure, sudden bursts would perhaps "throttle" at a gigabit, but according to his article that was only the cloudflare proxy anyhow, so no pain in having that take a few seconds longer. As far as I am concerned…

Perhaps for the same reason that the vast majority of the readers of this site don’t use Hetzner: they are not European and neither are their users.

OVH then? They have similar offerings, unlimited traffic, multiple datacenters to pick from.

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#83

Post by rcarmo »

lpcvoid wrote: post #56

Can somebody explain to me why I wouldn't just rent a 40 EUR dedicated server from Hetzner with unlimited traffic and gigabit uplink? His 600GB/day is way less than what you get over a gigabit link within a day. Sure, sudden bursts would perhaps "throttle" at a gigabit, but according to his article that was only the cloudflare proxy anyhow, so no pain in having that take a few seconds longer. As far as I am concerned…

Because they provide managed services that VPS hosters don't have or which would require the overhead of maintaining and patching servers, and many people just want to get on with their lives instead of worrying about OS exploits...

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#84

Post by fuzzy2 »

lpcvoid wrote: post #56

Can somebody explain to me why I wouldn't just rent a 40 EUR dedicated server from Hetzner with unlimited traffic and gigabit uplink? His 600GB/day is way less than what you get over a gigabit link within a day. Sure, sudden bursts would perhaps "throttle" at a gigabit, but according to his article that was only the cloudflare proxy anyhow, so no pain in having that take a few seconds longer. As far as I am concerned…

That dedicated server you have to manage (ensure security, install the software you need, keep it updated and secure etc). It’s not for everyone.

Also, as you can see in a screenshot on TFA: Some services are simply dirt cheap. The storage account and its various “sub-services” is such a thing. It’s hard to compete with dedicated hardware here.

Depending on your dedicated hosting provider, the traffic cost trap exists, too. Hetzner is a bit of a special case.

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#85

Post by hkt »

iso1631 wrote: post #14
tpetry wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every cloud makes this mistake easy! You have to manually activate billing alerts for everyone because they want you to spend more snd more each month. I am still waiting for a cloud without these dark patterns. But that will never happen because it‘s leaving a big amount of money on the table by not being hostile.

Get a VPS from linode for $5 a month and it costs $5 a month.

Personally I like Mythic Beasts and use their raspberry pi servers and VPSes. Much less terrifying pricing and the support is good too.

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#86

Post by Dave3of5 »

tpetry wrote: post #6
cyberCleve wrote: post #3

Ouch. If Troy Hunt of all people can make this mistake, it can happen to anybody. HIBP is an awesome service funded totally by donations, so it's too bad this happened. Of course Microsoft is happy to hide behind their confusing pricing model and let customers overpay for Azure without alerting them.

Every cloud makes this mistake easy! You have to manually activate billing alerts for everyone because they want you to spend more snd more each month. I am still waiting for a cloud without these dark patterns. But that will never happen because it‘s leaving a big amount of money on the table by not being hostile.

Also the billing alerts is just that an alert. They should have something in place to put a hard cap on monthly spend. That way his free website would go offline when he's spent > $X.

As you say they make it hard deliberately.

Edit: Turn out Azure have this:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billi...

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#88

Post by rcarmo »

fs111 wrote: post #69
technion wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is a Microsoft MVP. A title that is given for being a "community evangelist" of Microsoft. You wouldn't get that throwing it on a Heztner machine. Edit: Consider this article, and Geoff's statement about Azure credits. https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/microsoft_revokes_mvp...

Sounds like a pretty expensive privilege. How is using cloudflare okay in this then? Cloudflare is also not Azure

There are plenty of people using both, it's a good combination.

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#89

Post by LeonB »

fastball wrote: post #22
scrollaway wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re trying to be snarky to GP, why exactly? Yes there are bad faith actors that might try to get some free cash out of cloud refunds. And other customers can also be good faith actors and included in the assertion. The post applies to everyone and I’d second it. Ask nicely for a refund in these situations, the worst that can happen is they say no. Where did they say that “only Troy Hunt shall receive a refund, for…

The point is that if they give refunds to all the good actors they won't make any money.

Only if their regular services run at a loss and their business model relies on people making mistakes.

But Azure’s regular prices are definitely high enough that they’re not a loss leader.

Re: I got pwned by my cloud costs

#90

Post by vegai_ »

technion wrote: post #64
lpcvoid wrote: post #56

Can somebody explain to me why I wouldn't just rent a 40 EUR dedicated server from Hetzner with unlimited traffic and gigabit uplink? His 600GB/day is way less than what you get over a gigabit link within a day. Sure, sudden bursts would perhaps "throttle" at a gigabit, but according to his article that was only the cloudflare proxy anyhow, so no pain in having that take a few seconds longer. As far as I am concerned…

He is a Microsoft MVP. A title that is given for being a "community evangelist" of Microsoft. You wouldn't get that throwing it on a Heztner machine. Edit: Consider this article, and Geoff's statement about Azure credits. https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/microsoft_revokes_mvp...

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