A couple of weeks ago we released a new version of GoGrid which included a variety of exciting enhancements and features. Most notable are:

• GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• List View of GoGrid Objects
• Edit F5 Load Balancers via the API
• New Login Page
• Self Service Support Links

More details about these features can be found on the following GoGrid blog post. For a quick overview of the new features in the form of a screencast, please watch the video below. I quickly cover many of the items listed above including:

• Walking through the new login page
• Deploying a GoGrid Dedicated Server
• Overview of the new GoGrid List View
• Dedicated Servers showing in the Jobs Tab
• Showing of Self-Service Links in the portal
• Editing Load Balancers using the GoGrid API

If you have more questions about these new GoGrid features, I recommend that you attend our webinar (on February 24, 2010) where you can get more information about this important release. Be sure to register for the webinar and come prepared with questions!

Today, the team at GoGrid is pleased to announce several new enhancements and features to our Cloud Infrastructure Hosting service. With us, it is all about trying to make our Cloud offering as powerful as possible. To that end, we have released our latest version of GoGrid, available now! Some highlights include (each of which I will go into further details later on in this post):

• GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• List View of GoGrid Objects
• Edit f5 Load Balancers
• New Login Page
• Self-Service Support Links
• Other Items

We hope that you share our excitement about this release! Now, let’s get into the details. Also be sure to see our video that talks about many of the items listed here (Available on GoGrid YouTube channel and the GoGrid Facebook Fan Page as well.)

GoGrid Dedicated Servers

Let’s face it, we have been doing dedicated hosting for over 8 years so we do know a little bit about it. Last year, we introduced a first-to-market service that we internally called “Hybrid Hosting” which allowed users to connect GoGrid cloud infrastructure with a separate dedicated infrastructure, all within a private network. This proved to be incredibly successful, and something that many of our customers had desired. So, we decided to take it to the next level by offering Dedicated Servers within the GoGrid infrastructure.

So why is this so revolutionary and useful to our end-users? Here are some things off the top of my head:

• Now you have the flexibility of the cloud, coupled with the control and performance of dedicated hardware!
• You can deploy GoGrid Dedicated Servers from within the GoGrid portal
• GoGrid Cloud Server and GoGrid Dedicates Servers share the same IP space which means that you can easily set up private network infrastructures
• You receive one bill for your cloud or dedicated servers
• Support for both cloud and dedicated are handled in the same account
• You can restart and even delete dedicated servers on-demand via the GoGrid portal
• GoGrid Cloud & Dedicated servers have free inbound traffic and share the same data plan

Let’s get into the details.

Add Dedicated Server

We have updated the Add menu to include Dedicated Server as an option. Similarly, we have collapsed the previous Database Server and Web/App Server into Cloud Server. To deploy a new GoGrid Dedicated server, simply click on the Dedicated Server icon.

Once you choose the Add Dedicated Server option, you will be presented with a Server Details screen that asks for a server Name, Description and IP address (one of your GoGrid contiguous, static IP addresses). After that, you need to select the server option that makes the most sense to you. Current options are (note: these may change in the future and are current as of the writing of this article):

Note: custom configuration are available but interested users must contact a GoGrid Account Manager to order.

After entering the appropriate information and selecting the configuration option and pricing plan, click the Next button, and you will be asked to choose an image:

As of this writing, the options include:

• CentOS – versions 4.5 & 5.4 (32/64 bit)
• Debian – versions 4.0 & 5.0 (32/64 bit)
• Fedora – version 11 & 12 (32/64 bit)
• RHEL – version 4.8 & 5.4 (32/64 bit)
• Ubuntu – version 8.04, 9.04 & 9.10 (32/64 bit)
• Windows Server 2008/2003 – various options: Enterprise, Web, SQL Server (note: some images may have additional licensing charges)

Once you select the Image you would like on your GoGrid Dedicated Server, you will be prompted with information regarding the Pre-Paid Plan commitment and billing process. If you agree to the terms, simply click Yes, Add it.

In the top bar, you will see a confirmation that of your Dedicated Server job request:

It is important to note that it can take up to 2 business days to deploy a GoGrid Dedicated Server.

You can also check the status of your deployment request in the Jobs tab (where Dedicated Server deployments now appear in-line with Cloud Servers, Load Balancers and Cloud Storage):

The picture above shows the Dedicated Server in a “Processing” state. Once it is approved, deployed and active, the log will change to reflect that state:

Once your server is live, you have a variety of ways to manage it. For starters, should you need to, you can actively restart it from within the new List View within the GoGrid portal (see the List View section below for details).

Similarly, you can delete the Dedicated Server from the portal. Do note that since you are on a monthly plan, you will have until the end of the active month to access that server before all connectivity and data is removed from it.

Also, as with your GoGrid Cloud Servers, you can retrieve, edit and update the passwords for your GoGrid Dedicated Servers from within the Passwords tab within the Support section.

We have also integrated all of the GoGrid Objects (Dedicated & Cloud Servers, Load Balancers and Cloud Storage) into the Add a Case menu within the Support section. This way, you can request support on any GoGrid infrastructure item in one place:

Some important things to note about GoGrid Dedicated Servers:

• Dedicated Servers do not (currently) display on the Grid View but do within the List View (see section below)
• There is currently no API support for controlling GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• Under the current Service Level Agreement, provisioning time is up to 2 business days (as noted within the ordering process)
• You are billed monthly (or yearly) for GoGrid Dedicated Servers, not hourly
• Outbound bandwidth charges for Cloud and Dedicated servers are combined (inbound is free for both)
• If you accidentally delete a Dedicated Server, please open a support case immediately and we will be happy to cancel your delete request.
• If you delete a server, the IP address assigned to that server is still “held” (not available for other servers) until the server is fully removed from your account
• Restarting a Dedicated Server does not show immediate feedback the way it does with Cloud Servers. Please “ping” the server to know its actual state.
• Windows Dedicated Servers are priced per processor so please ensure that you have chosen the proper image

List View of GoGrid Objects

So, where do you find your GoGrid Dedicated Server? Easy! Within the new List View. Many GoGrid users have asked for an easier way to view all of their GoGrid objects within a list. We now have a new tab called List which displays: Load Balancers, Cloud Servers, Dedicated Servers and Cloud Storage. There are definitely some GREAT things about the new List view like being able to see a large number of servers in one view, being able to copy and paste various fields like IP address, Object name, OS info, description, etc. Read on for some more details.

Selecting that tab presents you with all of your GoGrid structure within a list format where you can sort, group and rearrange various fields within each object set. To rearrange fields, simply drag them to the column you want them in. Clicking on a column will give you the ability to group and sort on those fields. Below is the Cloud Servers list:

Load Balancers appear as well:

As does Cloud Storage:

And, of course, Dedicated Servers!

Some important things to note about the new List View:

• If you have 30 or more Cloud Servers deployed within GoGrid, the new List View will quickly become your best friend.
• Just like within the Grid View, you can Restart, Delete and Retrieve passwords via menu actions at the top of the list panel.
• If you have a MyGSI deployed within your Cloud Server environment, it will show as “true” within the Sandbox field
• You can select values within the list and copy them to your clipboard. This is useful for copying IP addresses, for example.
• The Grid View will remain the default for the time being.

Edit F5 Load Balancers

You can now edit F5 Load Balancer details using the GoGrid API. We realized that many of our users wanted this functionality a long time ago. With this release, we have taken the first steps to make this fully functional. However, while you can edit via the API, as of this writing, you cannot edit via the portal (something we will change in the future). You can actively change the Load Balancer pool information without taking the Load Balancer offline. This is helpful if you want to add or remove servers from your Load Balancer.

We have added “grid.loadbalancer.edit” to the supported methods within the GoGrid API. There is Role Based access to use this method (Super User & System User are the role types that can invoke this method).

More information on this new API method can be found on the GoGrid Wiki. Do note that this feature is currently listed as a “beta.”

However, below is a way to edit your load balancers by simply using an call using a pre-defined URL. First, you will need to have an API key and Share Secret. You can create an API key under the My Account section and API Keys tab. Then you will need to create an MD5 Signature (documentation is on the Wiki on how to do this).

Here is the info:

• Craft the base URL with the following format:

  http://api.gogrid.com/api/grid/loadbalancer/edit?v=1.4

• Then you need to chain on (append) the following items:
  • &sig=your sig
  • &api_key=your key
  • &format=“xml” or “json” or “csv”
  • &name=name of LB to edit
  • &realiplist.0.ip=real IP 0 – first real IP to add to the LB
  • &realiplist.0.port=port for real IP 0
  • &realiplist.1.ip=real IP 1 – second real IP to add to the LB
  • &realiplist.1.port=port for real IP 1
• Then, take that full URL and paste into a browser and hit Enter. That should edit the Load Balancer based on the variables you entered.

Below is a sample (with dummy data) of what the URL should look like.

http://api.gogrid.com/api/grid/loadbalancer/edit?v=1.4&sig=md5hashsignature&api_key=abcd1234apikeyhere1234&format=xml&name=My+Load+Balancer&realiplist.0.ip=192.168.10.5&realiplist.0.port=80&realiplist.1.ip=192.168.10.6&realiplist.1.port=80

(Note: the line above is a single text string, it only has been broken into separate lines for readability.) The URL above has the following variables:

• Sig = md5hashsignature (see the documentation here)
• API Key = abcd1234apikeyhere1234
• Format = XML
• Name = My Load Balancer (Note: if your load balancer has spaces in the name, you should URL-escape them with either a “+” or “%20″) so that would look like “My+Load+Balancer” or “My%20Load%20Balancer”
• IP address of 1st server = 192.168.10.5
• Port of the 1st server = 80
• IP address of the 2nd server = 192.168.10.6
• Port of the 2nd server = 80

New Login Page

The GoGrid Web Portal login page also now has a new look & feel. We wanted to provide relevant information and links within that page so that you don’t have to go searching around for information. In the new login page, you can now find:

• New to GoGrid section – Getting Started Guide and GoGrid Wiki/Forum/Blog links
• Featured Content – important content related to GoGrid’s Features or Services will be displayed here
• GoGrid Exchange – looking for a particular partner image? This link takes you to the GoGrid Exchange.
• Featured Exchange Partner – look for highlighted Partners here

Self-Service Support Links

Making our user experience better on GoGrid is paramount. To that end, we have added a variety of links to make things a bit easier on the end user. For example, you can now quickly visit the GoGrid Wiki page that describes how to request that SMTP be unblocked for your GoGrid infrastructure:

Similarly, we have added some other helpful links within the portal to the GoGrid Wiki and User Forums:

And, as mentioned previously, we will provide full support within the GoGrid portal for all objects within GoGrid’s infrastructure. You can also use the Live Support Chat link to instantly chat with a GoGrid Support Specialist.

Other Items

As mentioned in this blog post, we are also end-of-life-ing a few older Red Hat Enterprise and CentOS servers.

Also, we have added a link to the GoGrid CDN within the portal. From this link, you can access the login page for the GoGrid CDN.

There was some pretty exciting stuff in this release and we would love to get your feedback. Drop us a note or leave a comment on this post if you have suggestions, comments or questions.

As you probably know by now, GoGrid released a series of new enhancements to our Cloud Computing Infrastructure Hosting service. You can read more about what was included in this latest release in this blog post. Some of the highlighted new features and improvements include:

• GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• List View of GoGrid Objects
• Edit f5 Load Balancers
• New Login Page
• Self-Service Support Links

We also sent out a newsletter highlighting some of the changes in the January/February 2010 timeframe.

As with previous releases, I wanted to spend some time with our VP of Products, Mario Olivarez, and discuss some of these items and what they mean to GoGrid customers. (YouTube direct link.)

This video is also available on the GoGrid Facebook page as well as our GoGrid YouTube Channel.

As always, if you have any questions about any of the items you heard in this video or about GoGrid in general, please leave a comment on this post or ask us on Twitter (@GoGrid). Stay tuned for more updates and videos.

Yesterday an update to GoGrid was released with the following enhancements:

• Edit, Delete & Restore MyGSI Images
• Updated Billing Widget
• Updated GoGrid API

On August 11, 2009, we announced the availability of GoGrid 2.0 which included the new personal server images (MyGSI) functionality. Details on that important release are found here. Using MyGSI to manage your server repository or inventory is a great way to not only speed up your workflow in terms of deploying copies of servers quickly and easily, but also save money in the process (by storing your personal server images in GoGrid Cloud Storage for just a few dollars a month).

Edit, Delete & Restore MyGSI Images

As our customers were demanding this feature (MyGSIs), we got it out to market as quickly as possible. This new release now provides you with the ability to Edit, Delete and Restore MyGSIs that are located within the Server Images tab.

DELETE

Hopefully many of you are already enjoying the MyGSI feature. Here are a few things you should know about the newly pushed functionality. Within the Server Images tab, you should now see a new icon to the far right hand side of the server images that looks like a trash can:

Should you ever need to delete a stored MyGSI, simply click on the trash icon. While you are only paying a few dollars a month to store your personal server images, you might want to “clean shop” to further reduce your charges. The three size allotments shown in the image above that are around 800 MB are for a CentOS DB server and Web server respectively, and the third for a Windows Server 2003. At $0.15 per GB per month (note, we do round up to the next full 1 GB increment), the total costs would be…FREE since it is under the 10GB free allotment you get with Cloud Storage (if you were over your 10 GB free allotment, it would be about $0.60/month!).

But if you simply want to clean shop and want to remove older images or ones that you don’t need anymore, click the trash icon. You will get the following Delete Confirmation Warning:

When you click Yes, Delete, your server image will be flagged for deletion. You can check the status of it in two places. First, under the State column in the Server Images tab, the state will change from “Available” to “Trash”. Also, if you look in the Jobs tab, you will see details on the deletion request:

RESTORE

BUT WAIT! I didn’t want to delete that image! Have no fear, we give you UP TO 24 HOURS to restore an image from the Trash. Simply click on the new icon that is next to your deleted server image to remove it from the trash:

When you click the restore icon, you will get a Restore Confirmation Warning:

Simply click Yes, Restore to remove the image from trash. As with the delete process, all restoration actions are logged within the Jobs tab:

If you don’t restore your image, GoGrid will automatically purge the image from your GoGrid account. Once the image is purged, it will no longer appear within the Server Images tab. You can always see if the system has purged any of your images automatically by looking for an entry within the Jobs section similar to the one shown below:

Remember, you will still be charged for Cloud Storage while your image or images are in the Trash.

EDIT

Let’s say you want to change the Name or Description of your stored MyGSI to something a bit more meaningful or to add a version number, we now provide you with a quick and easy way to do this^[1]. To edit the Name or Description, simply click on the image within the Server Images tab. A dialog box similar to the one below will automatically launch:

In this example, I will change the title to “CentOS DB Server” and add a version number to the description:

Clicking Save will change the Name and/or Description of the MyGSI. The edits are available immediately.

Updated Billing Widget

While a bit minor in the grand scheme of things, we also have refreshed the look of the Billing Widget which appears in the left hand column. The previous version looked like this:

The new version looks like this:

Obviously, these screenshots are from different GoGrid accounts (I have added a second “after” screenshot that shows how the billing from the first screenshot displays in the new version). If you have a GoGrid Promotional Code (hint: if you are new to GoGrid, just ask a GoGrid Sales Rep for one!), the code and remaining balance will be shown. The new widget is then broken out into two distinct billing areas: Memory (RAM usage) and Transfer (outbound bandwidth usage/inbound is always free) (note: Cloud Storage charges are not currently shown). Within both sections, your Plan that you signed up for is displayed, including the allotments for each service according to each plan (the Trial Grid is a pay as you go service so no allotment is displayed).

Within the Memory section you see:

• GB in Use – this is the amount of RAM that you have currently deployed within your GoGrid account (includes servers in on AND off states)
• GB Hours to Date – a running total of consumed RAM hours
• Monthly Projection of GB Hrs – based on your current usage, how much RAM you will use for the entire month
• Monthly Projection of RAM Overage – based on your current usage and Memory Plan, the overage you might expect to hit
• Monthly Projection of RAM Total – based on current usage and possible overage, what you might expect for your final charge at the end of the month

In the Transfer section you have:

• GB Transfer to date – this is the amount of outbound bandwidth you have consumed to date
• Monthly Projection of GB Transfer – based on your current usage, how much bandwidth you will use for the entire month
• Monthly Projection of Transfer Overage – based on your current usage and Transfer Plan, the overage you might expect to hit
• Monthly Projection of Transfer Total – based on your current usage and possible overage, what you might expect for your final charge at the end of the month

We hope that those changes provide this information in a more useful manner.

Updated GoGrid API

Full details of what has been changed or added to the GoGrid API can be found on the GoGrid Wiki API page. At a high level, here are the API Server Image Methods that have been added:

• grid/image/get – function call to get a server image object
• grid/image/edit – function call to edit the name and description of a server image
• grid/image/delete – function call to delete a server image and send it to the trash
• grid/image/restore – function call to restore a server image from the trash

The following API Objects have been updated:

• Billing Summary (Object)
  • gbHours – Projected RAM GB Hrs that will be used in current billing period.
  • ramOverage – Projected total of dollars spent on RAM overages in current billing period in $.
  • ramTotal – Projected total of dollars spent on RAM in current billing period in $.
  • gbTransfer – Projected Transfer in GB that will be used in current billing period.
  • transferOverage – Projected total of dollars spent on Transfer overages in current billing period in $.
  • transferTotal – Projected total of dollars spent on Transfer in current billing period in $.

Summary

We hope you enjoy these changes. They round out the MyGSI features quite well. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment on this post, send me a tweet (@hightechdad), send GoGrid a tweet (@GoGrid), or email me: Michael AT GoGrid DOT com.

Also, please be sure to check out our GoGrid Facebook Fan page and become a fan!

1. Note: some browsers are not supported for this functionality. Please use Internet Explorer 7 or higher or FireFox 3 [↩]

It’s important to us to clarify GoGrid’s position with regard to cloud computing standards and the Open Cloud Manifesto (OCM). There has been a fair bit of controversy in the ‘blogosphere’ recently over the OCM, which is to be released on Monday.

In particular, myself and Steve Gillmor (of TechCrunch IT fame among others), had a somewhat heated, but friendly exchange over his scathing assessment of the situation. Steve invited me to a “News Gang” podcast of the Gillmor Gang on Friday, which was posted here. During that live podcast he asked us to clarify GoGrid’s position.

This post is really about making sure everyone is on the same page and understands how GoGrid views the OCM and cloud computing standards in general.

Background
It’s unnecessary to recap everything in detail. I think James Urquhart handled this fairly succinctly. Geva Perry also has a nice summary including a link to the draft document. In a nut:

1. Some folks tried to lay down some guiding principles for “open” cloud computing in the Open Cloud Manifesto
2. Some folks reacted badly feeling that the process wasn’t actually “open”
3. Bruhaha ensued

Who cares?

Well, we all should really. From our perspective this is a healthy, yet contentious debate. We think there were good points and missteps on all sides. In particular, we think it’s important to realize that given how interconnected we’re all becoming it’s actually very hard for any given group to monopolize the Internet, the “cloud”, or similar.

We believe the following to be true about what happened:

• The folks involved in the early Open Cloud Manifesto did not intend to “shut out” anyone
• The process around building the Open Cloud Manifesto could have been more ‘open’
• The manifesto is not about setting a standard, but starting a conversation
• This “conversation” is meant to be about principles that already apply to the Internet

Position on Open Cloud Manifesto
We continue to be an enthusiastic supporter of the Open Cloud Manifesto (OCM) and open cloud standards in general. That’s why we licensed our own API under an open license in January. The OCM is an important move forward in the emerging debate about what “Cloud” and “Cloud Computing” mean. We do not support any kind of exclusion in the OCM or of folks who want to be it’s supporters. We believe everyone needs to have a say in these guiding principles. In fact the OCM itself is largely about saying how much “The Cloud” needs to be open, unfettered, and democratized.

That means everyone needs to be involved.

Summary
Simply put: contentious conversations, vibrant arguments, and great people will all eventually yield the right results. We don’t think it’s possible for anyone to cordon off and monopolize this conversation, foist standards on others, and won’t support such efforts. And, we don’t think the Open Cloud Manifesto is anything but a well-intentioned attempt to move the conversation forward. One that was never meant to be ‘closed’ and come Monday when it’s officially released we’ll see that it’s a positive move and all of the folks who worked together on the OCM (including Reuven Cohen, IBM, and many others) should be commended for their attempts to get everyone on the same page even in the face of extreme controversy.

–Randy