[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Linux VPS

[Ben Shum]

Hi Bruce,

Theoretically, I think that ought to be enough resources in general
for a reasonable starting system.  But I honestly do not have exact
metrics for system specifications to draw from.  Other folks might
suggest more appropriate specs based on their experience.  I'm going
to do some thinking aloud next...

For a moment or so, I wondered on average how large the PostgreSQL
metabib indexes would look like for a library with 30k titles.  Using
a totally, terribly rough example on this, I have access to an
Evergreen library's database that I know which has roughly 10k live
bibs equaling around 1.3 GB of metabib data content (using Galen
Charlton's method for analyzing Evergreen database size:
https://galencharlton.com/blog/2010/05/database-server-disk-space-usage-in-evergreen/).
So if you're three times that, that could mean you might use up 3.9 GB
(or more if your bibs are well defined).  Not to mention all the other
parts of the database.  *Note: these numbers are very rough and quite
possibly wrong in either direction.*

Having a large database of contents could affect overall system
performance, because if you do not have enough memory to keep your
Evergreen database happy in memory, it will have to hit the disk to
retrieve necessary data more frequently.  That said, because Linode
uses SSDs for disk storage, I wonder if PostgreSQL performance issues
would be mitigated anyways with the generally faster I/O with that
technology.  Unfortunately, that is not something I have easy
experience measuring... though hey, I once ran a copy of our
production Evergreen database (with 1.2 million bibs) on a Thinkpad
laptop with 2 core i7 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and 500 GB SSD and it felt
like I was searching faster than our old production environment (made
up of lots of clustered servers and regular disk storage).  So you
never know what magic SSDs can deliver... :)

I know from my own personal experience using Linode, that there are
also plans like the one you describe where you can add on extra RAM
with additional cost.  Not sure if that's worth looking into long-term
either.  In any case, it would seem that you may have some options to
alter the system specifications later if necessary to expand the
environment.

Hope some of this proves useful and spurs thought and suggestions by others.

Cheers,

-- Ben

On Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 9:45 PM, Bruce Willms <bwillms at frontiernet.net> wrote:
> Hi Ben, et al.,
>
> Thanks for the information.  I thought I had sent a reply a long time ago, but I just discovered that it somehow got hung up in my outbox, and I can't dislodge it.  So I'm sending another.
>
> Would a set-up like the one below be sufficient for a smallish instance of Evergreen, or do you think we would need something more robust?  Our collection is small, probably less than 30,000 titles, and we don't expect to do much circulation, being essentially a research library.
>
>     4    GB RAM
>     4    CPU Cores
>     96  GB SSD Storage
>     4    TB Transfer
>     40   Gbps Network In
>     500  Mbps Network Out
>
> This bundle would cost $40 a month, which is quite reasonable in my book.  I don't know yet what sort of backup or other support is provided for this price.
>
> Any advice is greatly appreciated.
>
> Best regards,
> Bruce
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Open-ils-general [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Ben Shum
> Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 8:25 PM
> To: Evergreen Discussion Group <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Linux VPS
>
> Hi Bruce,
>
> I've used Linode for personal applications like IRC and testing web services, but have not applied it towards any live Evergreen systems.
> I have created test droplets with DigitalOcean too, back when they were one of the leaders in use of SSD disk storage, and that was certainly a nice hosted environment.  The SSDs make things speedier when you don't necessarily have all the memory you'd like to run things fast.
>
> These are some areas I would be check before using any third-party host environment:
>
> 1)  Making sure to spec out a powerful enough system (or more than one instance if needed).  Getting the right amount of resources for CPU, RAM, disk space can be very important when putting together a proper Evergreen system.  Even a test server could malfunction on less than 2 GB of RAM (with memory killers wrecking your installed instance).  So having an appropriate sized instance is important.
>
> 2)  Knowing what your data protection services are like.  In the past, with groups like DigitalOcean, they had issues where the data in the instances could be leaked due to not properly deleting content between node rebuilds (which has since been fixed, as far as I last read).
> But how safe is your data "in the cloud"?  What rules govern how your instances are accessed?  With library data, I try to be cautious on this front.
>
> I'll let others chime in when they can, but hopefully this gets some conversation going for you.
>
> Good luck in your investigations, and feel free to ask further questions as applicable.
>
> -- Ben
>
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2015 at 10:12 PM, Bruce Willms <bwillms at frontiernet.net> wrote:
>> We are just gearing up to set up an instance of Evergreen and are
>> wondering if anyone is running the system on a hosted VPS service like
>> Linode.  It seems like a reasonable solution in our case since we
>> don’t have IT staff to support a server, etc.  I’m curious to know if
>> others have done this and what their experience has been – good, bad,
>> or otherwise.  Or if this is a recipe for disaster.
>>
>>
>>
>> I’m new to this list and to Evergreen, and looking for some pointers
>> from experienced hands.
>>
>>
>>
>> Bruce Willms
>>
>> East Side Freedom Library
>>
>> St. Paul, MN
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Benjamin Shum
> Evergreen Systems Manager
> Bibliomation, Inc.
> 24 Wooster Ave.
> Waterbury, CT 06708
> 203-577-4070, ext. 113
>



-- 
Benjamin Shum
Evergreen Systems Manager
Bibliomation, Inc.
24 Wooster Ave.
Waterbury, CT 06708
203-577-4070, ext. 113