One of the most powerful aspects of Cloud Computing is the ability to scale your infrastructure. But did you know that there are two components to scalability, horizontal and vertical. GoGrid has been offering easy horizontal scaling since we launched.

So what is scaling and how are you able to do this with GoGrid. Let’s break it down with a quick, high-level definition and then show you how you can do it on GoGrid

What is Scaling?

Horizontal scaling simply means the ability to expand your infrastructure out, for example, adding additional servers to your infrastructure. You can currently do this using the GoGrid web portal or API or even using one of the solutions offered by our partners in the GoGrid Exchange. Similarly, if you use our MyGSI feature to create a Golden Master of your server, you can quickly scale out vertically with cloned instances of that MyGSI. Conversely, you can also scale your infrastructure back by removing servers from the mix.

Vertical scaling means that you can add additional resources to your individual infrastructure components, for example, adding addition RAM or cores to a server.

How To Scale Your RAM on GoGrid

So, how do you scale your infrastructure on GoGrid? As I mentioned, you’ve always been able to horizontally scale your infrastructure and now we are pleased to announce the availability that you can vertically scale using our new RAM Scaling feature. GoGrid customers can now scale the RAM up or down on GoGrid Cloud Servers within their existing and new infrastructure in the GoGrid cloud.

At GoGrid, it is our goal to live up to the phrase “Complex Infrastructure Made Easy™“, so we have designed our RAM Scaling feature to be as easy to use as possible.

For starters, the RAM Scaling feature is backwards compatible, meaning that you will have the ability to scale your GoGrid Cloud Server RAM on your existing infrastructure. You can increase as well as decrease the amount of RAM allocated to a particular Cloud Server Instance. An important point to note prior to diving into the details is that there is a “minimum” threshold amount that is set to the original amount of RAM you selected when you first created your Cloud Server. However, you have the ability to scale the RAM up to a larger amount (if available) and then back down to that original level.

Below is an example of how the RAM scaling works. In this case, I started with a server that had 512 MBs of RAM (the original configuration). I then scaled it up to 4 GBs and then back down to 2 GBs of RAM. Note that throughout the process, I always have the ability to scale back to the original RAM allocation.

Once the Cloud Server is available, you can see its original configuration by holding your mouse over the server.

You can also see the server creation history in the Job History tab:

Let’s take a look at the process involved in upgrading the server to have 4 GBs of RAM. First, you click on the Cloud Server you would like to upgrade and you will not a new icon in the task menu:

Simply click on the “Upgrade” icon and you will be presented with your RAM scaling choices. As mentioned above, your minimum RAM options is the amount of RAM the server was originally spun up with. Your maximum  RAM option is the maximum available for your OS. In this case, my server has a 32-bit OS and was originally created with 512 MB of RAM:

Select the new amount of RAM you want allocated to that particular server and click “Submit”. Within 5 minutes or less, your server will have the new allocation in effect. In some cases, the RAM scaling process may take as long as 30 minutes. Below is the updated server:

If your server is powered up with you click “Submit”, it will be gracefully shut down and then restarted, so please be sure that you have already shut down any running processes on your server directly. If the server is powered down, it will remain shut down after upgrading. You can always view the status within the Job History tab:

Conversely, if you want to scale your Cloud Server’s RAM down, you would go through the same process of selecting the server, clicking the “Upgrade” icon and choosing a lesser value of RAM. You can scale it back down to the original creation allocation (in the example above, that would be 512 MB).

You can also perform RAM scaling within the List view by selecting the server you want and clicking the “Upgrade RAM” link at the top of the list:

Hopefully you can see what a powerful feature this is for your GoGrid cloud. It enables you, on demand, to instantly add RAM to your RAM-hungry environments. But it also gives you a way to “upgrade” your existing infrastructure.

Some things to note:

• The Scalability is ONLY for RAM. It does NOT affect your Hard Disk size nor your CPU/Core allotments
• You CANNOT scale below the original amount that your server was configured
• The functionality is FULLY SUPPORTED via the GoGrid API
• Be sure to power your server down or prepare your server for a graceful shutdown by stopping or ending any running applications or processes.

Other Changes in this Release

In addition to the important RAM scaling feature, we also released the following enhancements:

• Edit Server Description via API – using a simple API call, you can now fully edit the description of your GoGrid Cloud Server. See the API documentation on how to do this.
• Change Cloud Server Classification via API – you can now change the server classification via the GoGrid API. Options are: Web/App Server or Database Server. This will affect where your Cloud Server appears in both the Grid and List views. See the API documentation on how to do this.
• More Details about Cloud Servers – you can, in addition to RAM, IP address, and OS, now see the number of Cores and Disk Space of your servers. This is true on the Grid view and List views:
  
  
• Minor Redesign to the Tool Bar in the List view

We believe that with this release, GoGrid continues to show leadership within the Cloud Infrastructure Hosting space. If you have suggestions or other features that you would like to see implemented, please leave a comment to this post.

We at GoGrid are excited to introduce you to the latest version of GoGrid! (Perhaps you already saw the “Sneak Peak” article I posted earlier.) After several months of planning, developing, implementing, testing, deploying and wiping the sweat off of our collective brows, we present to you, GoGrid 3.0.

This post will not be about the nitty-gritty details of the release as there will be several other posts that touch on all of the activities going on at GoGrid. To provide some guidance though, here’s what I’m going to briefly cover:

• New GoGrid Product Site
• Webinar for New GoGrid Customers
• High-level Overview of GoGrid 3.0 Features
• Copy of Press Release on GoGrid 3.0

There are many ways to get more information about this release and what it can do for you as someone shopping for Cloud Infrastructure or already using the GoGrid Cloud. One of the best ways is to talk to a GoGrid Sales Representative as they have great ways to choose the right GoGrid infrastructure solution for you. You can call them at: 1.877.946.4743 (US & Canada) or 1.415.869.7444 (Worldwide). Or we typically have 24×5 Live Sales Chat & Contact forms available here.

New GoGrid Site

Before I dive into the items that make up this important feature and service release, I also want to point out that we have completely updated the GoGrid Product site.

We have revamped the look and feel and drastically updated the content and organization. The primary sections of the site are:

• Cloud Hosting – http://www.gogrid.com/cloud-hosting/
• Support – http://www.gogrid.com/support/
• Partners – http://www.gogrid.com/partners/
• About Us – http://www.gogrid.com/about/
• Sign Up - http://www.gogrid.com/signUp/

You will notice that many of the top navigation menus now have content within them.

For example, within the Cloud Hosting section, you will find the following subsections:

• What is GoGrid?
• NEW Case Studies
• Infrastructure Components
• Pricing
• Included Features
• Add-on Features

The Support Section contains Support and other Online Resources to make your GoGrid experience and education thereof even better.

The Partner section discusses the various Partner Programs available as well as shows the numerous GoGrid Exchange solutions that you can use to make your infrastructure within the GoGrid cloud even more robust.

The About section actually pulls in the latest GoGrid Blog posts as well as gives more details about the Company as a whole, upcoming Events/Webinars, Press Coverage and Press Releases and Careers at GoGrid (YES, we are HIRING!).

Lastly, you can Sign Up for GoGrid quickly and easily. All that you need is a Credit Card.

Be sure to take a quick look around the new product site. We are definitely pleased with how it turned out!

Upcoming GoGrid Webinar

Whether you are new to Cloud Computing, the GoGrid Cloud or an existing GoGrid user, we understand that with every release, you have questions. Well we have answers for you! To that end, we have set up a webinar for new GoGrid users.

If you are NEW to GoGrid, I recommend that you register and attend the “Complex Infrastructure Made Easy: Learn How You Can Leverage the GoGrid Cloud“:

• Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
• Time: 11:00 am PDT
• Summary:
  • Learn about the enhanced offerings included in the GoGrid 3.0 release and how they can help your business.
  • Understand how GoGrid’s robust partner ecosystem can help you leverage the GoGrid cloud.
  • Discover how GoGrid customers are expanding their cloud environment with our partners and the GoGrid Exchange.
• Details & Registration: http://go.gogrid.com/event_29_june_2010

We definitely hope that you can attend the webinar. If you miss it, don’t worry as we will be posted it and others later. And we do plan on having more webinars in the future.

High-Level Overview of GoGrid 3.0 Features

As I mentioned in my “Sneak Peak” post there are several important items that make up this release, specifically:

• New East Coast Datacenter
• New GoGrid Node hardware
• New CPU and Hard Drive allocations
• Cloud-like Physical Server deployments
• GoGrid Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• More Actionable & Usable List view of GoGrid virtual & physical appliances and networks
• New Pre-Paid and volume-licensing pricing plans
• Robust Partner Ecosystem with the GoGrid Exchange & Partner Server Images (PGSIs)
• Physical & Virtual Hardware Firewalls
• Updated GoGrid API
• Edit Load Balancer API support
• Custom Server Images (MyGSIs)
• Dynamically Scalable Cloud Storage

Critical components of the GoGrid 3.0 launch include:

• New East Coast Datacenter – GoGrid has partnered with Equinix, Inc (Nasdaq: EQIX) in the expansion to a new datacenter in Ashburn, VA which allows for GoGrid to have multiple points of presence in the continental United States. The initial rollout will allow for the provisioning of cloud servers within the new datacenter and with new appliances being rolled out shortly thereafter.

• New GoGrid Node hardware – the new GoGrid East Coast datacenter has been outfitted with the latest Intel Nehalem chipset architecture which allows for 25-50% more CPU for select virtual servers. Cloud Servers now have equal CPU-to-RAM ratios which means better performance across the board.

• Virtual & Physical Server deployments – GoGrid sets the standard for “hybrid hosting” by allowing customers to deploy Cloud Servers and Dedicated Servers within the same infrastructure. The ability to mix and match virtual and physical appliances within the same environment enables never before seen flexibility that maintain cloud characteristics.

• Growing Partner Ecosystem – GoGrid continues to expand its rich and robust Partner ecosystem called the GoGrid Exchange with new and updated Partner Server Images (PGSIs). PGSIs provide a variety of software solutions deployed as software server images for common business challenges including: Software & Applications, Development & Testing, Disaster Recovery & Backup, Cloud Management, and Security, Monitoring & Reporting.

Press Release on GoGrid 3.0

Lastly, below is the GoGrid Press Release that came out today:

GoGrid Unveils Next Generation of Cloud Infrastructure Hosting Service

Market and Customer Demand Drives GoGrid 3.0

San Francisco, CA – June 29, 2010 – GoGrid, a leading Cloud Infrastructure and Hybrid Hosting Provider, today announced the release of GoGrid Version 3.0. GoGrid 3.0 is designed to extend the company’s leadership position as the most flexible, secure, easy-to-use, and feature-rich Cloud Infrastructure Hosting Solution available. The release includes a number of security and management features designed to enable GoGrid customers to create innovative and compelling infrastructure solutions for their business needs.

GoGrid has been on the leading edge of the cloud market helping company’s like Gomez utilize the  power of cloud computing to transform our infrastructure,” said Colin Mason, Reality Load Product Manager of Gomez, the Web Performance Division of Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR). “GoGrid delivers outstanding performance and flexibility as Cloud Infrastructure provider. With GoGrid 3.0′s features and new datacenter, we can further integrate the cloud into our business processes.”

GoGrid’s suite of features and services provide the Cloud Computing marketplace with a unique blend of compelling infrastructure solutions. The launch of 3.0 is an important step in realizing GoGrid’s vision of making complex infrastructures easier.

There are many features of GoGrid version 3.0 that will put more flexibility, control, and customizable computing power in the hands of customers. Some of these include:
•    a new East Coast datacenter
•    new CPU and hard drive allocations
•    industry-leading  pre-paid and volume licensing pricing plans and,
•    physical and virtual hardware firewalls for enhanced security.

For a full list of new features please visit http://www.gogrid.com/software-update

GoGrid has continually brought to market pioneering services that help businesses of all sizes seize the tremendous opportunity of cloud hosting.” said GoGrid CEO & Co-Founder, John Keagy. “Our latest release is a significant step forward in our efforts to make complex infrastructure extremely easy in the GoGrid Cloud. From the new East Coast Datacenter to our unique hybrid hosting solution, GoGrid 3.0 epitomizes GoGrid’s mission to handle the infrastructure for clients, so they can focus on their business.”

GoGrid will be hosting a webinar for new comers to Cloud Computing and the GoGrid Cloud on June 29th at 11:00am PDT. To sign up for the webinar, please visit: http://go.gogrid.com/event_29_june_2010.

About GoGrid
GoGrid makes complex infrastructure easy. GoGrid’s Cloud and Hybrid infrastructure hosting enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control free f5 load balanced cloud infrastructures and complex hosted virtual server networks with full root access/administrative server control. GoGrid physical and virtual server instances maintain industry standard specifications with no requirement to learn proprietary standards. Deploying GoGrid infrastructure using a Standard or Partner Server Image takes minutes via a web control panel or GoGrid’s API. GoGrid gives users the control of a familiar datacenter environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud.

For more information:
Product site: http://www.GoGrid.com

Pretty exciting stuff! If you have any questions about this new GoGrid release, please be sure to leave a comment on this post or contact one of our Sales Representatives.

And lastly, we want to introduce you to our new Unique Value Proposition: “Complex Infrastructure Made Easy™”.

On Wednesday February 24, 2010, GoGrid hosted a webinar for new and existing GoGrid users designed to discuss the recent February 2010 Feature updates to GoGrid. There is a blog post that details all of the new features included in the release as well as a screencast which walks through these features and important changes. The webinar covered the following information:

• What is our view of Cloud Computing
• What is GoGrid
• New feature: GoGrid Dedicated Servers
• What is Hybrid Infrastructure
• A GoGrid Portal Demo
• Deploying a GoGrid Dedicated Server
• The new GoGrid List View
• Walk-through of other Interface Enhancements & Links
• Question & Answer Session

The entire Webinar is below and is broken into two parts:

• Part One – Overview presentation, discussion of Cloud & GoGrid, demonstration of the GoGrid Portal & GoGrid Dedicated Server Deployments (30 minutes in length)
• Part Two – Question & Answer session from the audience and Additional Information (19 minutes in length)

Also included later on in this post is the stand-alone presentation (without audio, demo walk-through or question and answers).

GoGrid Feature Webinar – Part 1

GoGrid Webinar – February 2010 Product Update (PART 1) from GoGrid on Vimeo.

This is a webinar produced by GoGrid which walks through recent updates to GoGrid. The release was in February 2010 and the webinar covers:
- What is cloud computing
- What is GoGrid Hybrid Infrastructure Hosting
- New GoGrid Dedicated Servers
- New GoGrid List View
- Other changes
***This is Part 1 of a two part webinar***

GoGrid Feature Webinar – Part 2

GoGrid Webinar – February 2010 Product Update (PART 2) from GoGrid on Vimeo.

This is a webinar produced by GoGrid which walks through recent updates to GoGrid. The release was in February 2010 and the webinar covers:
- What is cloud computing
- What is GoGrid Hybrid Infrastructure Hosting
- New GoGrid Dedicated Servers
- New GoGrid List View
- Other changes
***This is Part 2 of a two part webinar***

Stand-Alone Presentation from Webinar

The following is the presentation that was used in the Webinar above.

If you have further questions about the GoGrid February 2010 Feature Update or about GoGrid in general, I recommend that you contact a GoGrid Sales Representative who can help you get started with GoGrid.

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.

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!

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