GoGrid Launches Cloud Storage v0.7 & On-Hovers
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Many of you have been asking about when the next release of GoGrid will be and what new features it will have. Trust me, we have been just dying to get this exciting release out, so much so that I tried to extract some details from the development team back in September. Well that day has arrived and you can now unwrap your holiday gift early!
Some highlights of what is included in this release:
Cloud Storage v0.7
GoGrid Cloud Storage is an instantly scalable and reliable file-level storage service for Windows and Linux servers running in the GoGrid Cloud. If you want to place it within the Cloud Pyramid, it would be considered a Cloud Extender which means that it works in conjunction with another Cloud Service (specifically, GoGrid Server Clouds):
GoGrid Windows & Linux cloud servers are able to mount GoGrid Cloud Storage using a secure private network and common transfer protocols such as SCP, FTP, SAMBA/CIFS and RSYNC to move data back and forth from Cloud Storage. The Cloud Storage service is dynamically scalable and charged on a pay-as-you-use basis.
Pricing is as follows:
- Initial 10 GB Cloud Storage is FREE
- Additional storage is $0.15/GB per month. For example, if you use an additional 100 GB’s of storage, the cost would be $15/month, giving you 110 GB of storage.
- Zero set-up fee
- Zero long-term commitment
- You are billed for your peak usage during any particular month. For example if you spike to 110 GB during a month and then scale back to 60 GB, you are charged for the peak of 100GB (or $15)
- Since Cloud Storage is attached to your private network, there is no charge for data transfer back and forth between is and your GoGrid Cloud Servers
Features include:
- 10 GB FREE Cloud Storage
- FREE data transfer to and from your GoGrid Cloud servers and GoGrid Cloud Storage
- Can be used as a “file level backup” (note: there are no tools to automate this backup; you must provide your own solution)
- Servers access Cloud Storage using transfer protocols like SCP, FTP, SAMBA/CIFS and RSYNC
- GoGrid Windows and Linux Cloud servers can share the same storage quota
- On-the-fly provisioning which means instant scalability
- Storage utilization graphs available within the GoGrid UI (see screenshots in the section below)
Some Important Things To Know:
- Cloud Storage cannot be deleted via the user interface (the way you can with other GoGrid objects). In order to not incur Cloud Storage charges, you must bring your storage usage below the 10 GB threshold.
- Setting up GoGrid Cloud Storage is a 3-step process: 1) Create within the GoGrid web portal, 2) Connect each of your servers to your Private Network and 3) Mount the storage on each of your Cloud Servers
- With the 0.7 release, you cannot use the API to upload/download using web services (PUTS, GETS, LIST, Deletes). You will be able to do this in the 1.0 release coming soon.
- You can only create one GoGrid Cloud Storage device per GoGrid Account
- Username and Password are automatically created for accessing your Cloud Storage allotment and is presented in the Passwords section of the GoGrid portal. Note: username and password cannot be changed or deleted
- You cannot RDC or SSH directly into Cloud Storage
- Your GoGrid Storage Quota will automatically adjust in 100 GB blocks. When you hit an 80% utilization on your current quota, your account will automatically increase by 100 GB. You are, however, only billed for what you actively use within your Storage.
- Cloud Storage is in addition to the persistent storage already available on each GoGrid Cloud Server
How-To documentation is available on the GoGrid Wiki. Specifically:
- Cloud Storage Overview and Instructions
- Configuring CentOS Servers to Access Cloud Storage
- Configuring RHEL Servers to Access Cloud Storage
- Configuring Windows 2003 Servers to Access Cloud Storage
- Configuring Windows 2008 Servers to Access Cloud Storage
- Cloud Storage Quick Start Guide (9 page Adobe PDF)
New On-hover Implementation
In order to increase the usability of GoGrid’s Award Winning web portal, we have added some “eye candy” that actually provides some useful information. What is an “on-hover?” Essentially, if you hold your mouse over any of the GoGrid objects within the GoGrid web portal, you will see additional details display automatically.
Pictures are worth 1,000 words so:
Cloud Storage shows the hostname of your storage as well as your Quota. As you use more, the status will graphically change and reflect the percentage used.
Cloud Server on-hovers show the name you gave it, the description, how much RAM is allocated, the base image used, the contents of the server image template and the IP address assigned to it.
The Load Balancer on-hover shows the name and description of your load balancer, as well as the type of load balancing and persistence that was configured. Also, the load balancer’s Virtual IP and port and the Real IPs and ports (the IPs of the servers where the balancer is directing traffic) are displayed. This makes for easy and quick information gathering of your load balanced infrastructure.
Those are two pretty great features! Also, look to the next coming days for a NEW Customer Wiki, UPDATED GoGrid Wiki and NEW User Forums! (I will post details on this once it is live and ready to use.)
What do you think? Pretty great release, no? Drop me a note!
