AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting
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Has anyone considered/used AWS for MU hosting?
It seems pretty ideal to me--free hosting, Amazon uptime and platform...
But maybe there are intellectual property concerns?
Is there any sort of consensus about this?Thanks!
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It's possible, but there's likely more cost effective systems out there that provide hosting.
There, theoretically, should be no real licensing issues from running most mush codebases.
TM3, MUX2, and Penn I think follow a modified GNU opensource license.
Rhost uses a modified MIT-like opensource license.I'm sadly unfamilar with MOO, LP, DIKU, MUCK, or Evennia's licensing scheme, but believe they're all a branch of opensource/GNU license somewhere.
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@Ashen-Shugar Hey thanks for the feedback! Great to see you're still in the hobby!
See, what got me into this line of thought is that AWS has a free tier:
- https://aws.amazon.com/s/dm/optimization/server-side-test/free-tier/free_np/
- https://aws.amazon.com/free/faqs/?ft=nf
The TL;DR: 1 Gig of RAM, "32 or 64-bit processor" and 750 hours per month (which is 31.25 days whether you're using Imperial or Metric units). I'm guessing it should be sufficient?
As for Intellectual Property, I'm more concerned with if Amazon gets a screwjob license to your softcode, theme files, etc etc. I thiiink the game I want to revive would be fine with that, and let's face it we're in a dying hobby so it's not an asset they'd use... but it's something that's on my mind.
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@Jim-Nanban said in AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting:
@Ashen-Shugar Hey thanks for the feedback! Great to see you're still in the hobby!
See, what got me into this line of thought is that AWS has a free tier:
- https://aws.amazon.com/s/dm/optimization/server-side-test/free-tier/free_np/
- https://aws.amazon.com/free/faqs/?ft=nf
The TL;DR: 1 Gig of RAM, "32 or 64-bit processor" and 750 hours per month (which is 31.25 days whether you're using Imperial or Metric units). I'm guessing it should be sufficient?
Check it out a little closer. AWS pricing and services are kind of wacky and sometimes you can end up with processing time but have to pay extra for disk space - so it's really not free. Also AFAIK the service you're talking about isn't up continuously like a MU* needs to be. It's designed for websites which only need to be spun up when someone's looking at them. But I could be wrong there.
Digital Ocean is a bit more user-friendly in terms of one-stop service shopping and admin utilities. (Full disclosure - I get a referral bonus if you sign up using that link. It helps to support AresMUSH. But I use their service myself.) There's a tutorial over in the How-To section to get a MU* up and running with a DO droplet.
The dedicated MU* servers are usually the easiest to get up and running with. I used GenesisMUDs for years. I've heard good things about ThirdHost. There are many others.
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@faraday said in AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting:
have to pay extra for disk space
The free tier includes 30 GB of storage. It is pretty cheap even after you leave the free tier - I run a MUSH server, a couple of web sites, and my HTML5 MU client for around $11.50 a month.
Also AFAIK the service you're talking about isn't up continuously like a MU* needs to be. It's designed for websites which only need to be spun up when someone's looking at them. But I could be wrong there.
Yeah, you are wrong. EC2 stays up as long as you want it to.
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@Cheesegrater said in AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting:
@faraday said in AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting:
have to pay extra for disk space
The free tier includes 30 GB of storage. It is pretty cheap even after you leave the free tier - I run a MUSH server, a couple of web sites, and my HTML5 MU client for around $11.50 a month.
OK I stand corrected. I was speaking of the EC2 On Demand service and wasn't sure what the free tier entailed. But still - AWS services are highly flexible and let you mix and match what you need, so you have to be careful you know what you're getting.
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@faraday See? This is why I ask, everyone seems to have a piece of the puzzle.
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@Jim-Nanban said in AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting:
@faraday See? This is why I ask, everyone seems to have a piece of the puzzle.
I use AWS at work and it's a very powerful, solid, flexible and cost-effective platform. But the array of tiers and options and services can be bewildering at times if you're not very familiar with it.
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I can't speak to ever using AWS, we use it at work to... satisfactory results, but it takes some work.
That said, I host my game(s) on Linode. Its a hefty one as it does a variety of other things, but the $5/mo linode tier is very cheap and more then a mush needs, plus Linode is just excellent in support and reliability.
EDIT:
Also, Lish is the best thing since sliced bread. I know lots of services offer a way to get console access to your VM, but I've had no end of problems from them from every host I've ever been on. Especially the web based ones (Rackspace's was the worst)
Lish, though? You SSH into a special address, log in with your Linode account credentials, and ssh connects to the console -- not a ssh server on your machine, instead you get access to the console itself. So if you screw something up (say, you install a firewall and oops and forget to add ssh access?), you just use lish to get direct access.
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@ixokai Ugh, Rackspace... Thanks, I may well end up using that Linode: Being a NetAdmin now, I understand how critical console access is.
I should try AWS, just for professional reasons, but I'm lazy at heart. Linux hosting for five bucks and remote console access sounds pretty rad and lazy-friendly!
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@Jim-Nanban Oh, they also offer a backup service: the cost varies by the linode size, for the small one its $2/mo. For $5/mo, that sounds like a lot, but its actually quite a lot of utility. They automatically take a daily and weekly backup of your instance, and store the last 2 weeklies, plus you can take a manual backup at any time and store it as long as you like. Restoring is easy as just clicking a link (you can restore it to your current VM (overwriting it), or restore to a new linode-- and since they prorate costs, if you have that new linode for only two hours you are only really paying a few cents while its up and you're digging data out of it before closing it down and deleting the new VM.
I don't rely on their backup service, I use Rhost's excellent backup_flat script to mail myself a backup daily, but its always a good thing to have redundant backups.
They're an all SSD service these days, they don't overload machines like some supercheap VM providers do. I've been running my hobby projects off of a $20/mo 4GB linode for years now and could not be happier. Only reason we don't use it at work is because we have to use AWS for some stuff (windows hosting, bleah) and my bosses like having everything in one place.
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Well I did it: I fired it up on AWS. TinyMUSH 3.2. Took 4, 5 hours just from being so out of practice in LINUX (and multitasking), but now I'm logged into a beloved game's database and realizing I'm incredibly rusty at MU*s.
But it's awesome. The game is up, on the interwebs. And it was pretty easy!!
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Congrats, Jim.
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@ixokai HEH. It's what the DB runs on, and the differences aren't enough for me to care about 7 years out from my last time doing any real coding. I'd really want to try RHOST, but... the softcode in the DB I've got is way too tightly coded to change platforms.
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OK, so the upside is it's free for a year.
The down side is it's free for a year, and you provide credit card info (to Amazon, it's safe as any) so after that year they will bill you.
Given the state of MU*s last time I was gaming, a year should be overkill for 90% of them. A year of free development and pilot time. Sounds awesome to me. After that you figure out if it's worth the five, ten bucks at Linode (thanks @ixokai !).
@EUBanana is right, I should write a how-to. AWS's options are a bit intimidating and arcane. Like a bugbear shaman.
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@Jim-Nanban I'd love to see how you managed that. Write it up, please.
Pay no attention to me. I'm old, jaded and generally unfriendly. I am prone to fits of stupidity, but I am still unique, just like everyone else. ~~ Current President of the Anti-Faraday fan club.
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@Seamus That's sufficient interest for me! I'll probably write it up next week.
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@Jim-Nanban said in AWS (Amazon Web Service) as MU Hosting:
@ixokai HEH. It's what the DB runs on, and the differences aren't enough for me to care about 7 years out from my last time doing any real coding. I'd really want to try RHOST, but... the softcode in the DB I've got is way too tightly coded to change platforms.
You'd be surprised how much compatibility there may be
