You know about Cloud Computing right? And you know that GoGrid is probably one of the easiest onramps to hosting within the Cloud with our award-winning web-based portal, private server images called MyGSI, point-and-click deployments of Windows & Linux cloud servers, f5 load balancers and Cloud Storage. So, how can we further lower the barrier to entry to the Cloud? How about by providing a service that lets you ship us physical media like hard drives crammed full of data that you want in your GoGrid cloud? Let us load it for you to our Cloud Storage solution!

GoGrid Cloud Storage

First, you might be asking, what is GoGrid’s Cloud Storage anyway? It’s pretty simple actually. It’s an instantly scalable and reliable file-level backup and storage service for Windows and Linux cloud servers running in the GoGrid cloud. You basically mount GoGrid’s Cloud Storage, which uses a secure private network, using common transfer protocols like SCP, FTP, SAMBA/CIFS and RSYNC to move your data in and out of Cloud Storage. Your storage scales dynamically, on-the-fly, and you only pay for what you use.

Another nice thing, we give you an initial 10 GB of space for FREE! Each additional GB is $0.15/GB per month. More info can be found on the GoGrid product page as well as on this (older) blog post.

The New Data Transfer Service

If you have a large data set that you want to get into GoGrid’s Cloud Storage, transfer you data to an external hard drive and snail mail it to GoGrid. When we receive the external hard drive, the data will be manually transferred into GoGrid’s Cloud Storage within your account. There is a one-time fee of $99.99 to execute the transfer. Please note that you are not billed for the data transfer.

Sounds too good to be true! Of course, you could have transferred the data to a server running in your GoGrid cloud (remember that INBOUND transfer is FREE with GoGrid) but that takes a lot of time depending on how big your pipes are on your end (ours are quite large, btw!). This manual process is a bit easier on your bandwidth and leaves the grunt work to us.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m sure you have questions about this service. I know I did, so I asked our Product Management team to provide some answers to the following questions. If you have others, feel free to leave a comment on this post or contact a GoGrid Sales Rep (or your Service Team).

1. Is the $99 fee per hard drive and per occurrence?
   Yes, the $99 fee is per hard drive and per occurrence. There is no charge for the data transfer itself (e.g., based on GBs)
2. Is there a limit to the amount of data I can load?
   There is no limit to the amount of data you can load.
3. Is there a limit to the number of hard drives I can send?
   You can send us as many hard drives as you see fit.
4. Is there a particular type of hard drive that is supported or not supported?
   The hard drive MUST be an external hard drive with a USB connector. Please include the USB interface cables, power supply and return shipping postage and address information.
5. How long does the process take? Hours? Days?
   Typically this depends on the amount of data as well as the number of hard drives, but normally, you can expect the data to be loaded within a day or two.
6. How can I check on the status of my data load?
   GoGrid Support will email you once your data has been fully uploaded to your GoGrid Cloud Storage.
7. Is my hard drive returned to me? If so, do I pay for shipment?
   We can ship back your hard drive provided that you include pre-paid return postage, a mailing address and detailed contact information.
8. Do you go through any type of verification process to ensure that all of the data is loaded properly?
   We will load any and all data that is contained within the hard drive.
9. What format does the data have to be in?
   We accept just about any type of format (raw, uncompressed, graphics, text data, compressed, etc.). There is truly nothing complicated about preparing the data. Simply copy it over from your existing data repository and ship it as is.
10. What filesystem should the drive be formatted in? Does it depend on the Operating System?
    The hard drive should be formatted in a common filesystem format like FAT32 or NTFS. Proprietary filesystems will not be accepted.
11. Do you scan the drives for malware or viruses?
    It is the responsibility of the customer to provide virus and malware-free data, subject to the GoGrid Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.

Hope those Q&As help! If you have any questions not answered here, please leave a comment. So, you can now get your data into the Cloud without breaking a sweat (we will do the sweating for you)!

If you are a GoGrid customer, you recently received the April GoGrid newsletter that talks about one of the exciting new features coming from GoGrid, specifically “Personal Server Images” which we call “MyGSIs.”

Definitions

First, it probably would be helpful to understand some of the new & current terms we are using:

• Base GoGrid Server Image is a standard GoGrid server images (e.g., Windows or Linux) that is created by GoGrid and currently available within the GoGrid system for deploying servers
  
• Image Sandbox is a development environment where you can create a “MyGSI.” Server Images created within the Sandbox are unique in that they have a predefined RAM allocation and hard drive sizes and are only used temporarily to create a Server Image. Images created within the Sandbox contain any and all custom code or applications that you choose to put on them.
  
• MyGSIs are based on either a Base GoGrid Server Image or other MyGSIs but where you have the ability to personally configure, customize and save it to your liking from the Image Sandbox environment. They are used to spawn or instantiate new custom servers within GoGrid, with all your customizations, code and applications present.
  

Think of MyGSIs as originals that can be used to make copies, much the way you would have a Golden Master CD and you would make copies or clones based off of that Golden Master.

Usage

From a high level, creating a Sandbox Image can be done in 3 easy steps:

1. Add an Image Sandbox;
2. Install, Configure & Prepare (bundling scripts) your Image Sandbox for imaging;
3. Save your Server Image from your Image Sandbox to your personal Images repository on Cloud Storage.

With a bit more granularity, it is a way for you to build and save a custom and personal server image. MyGSIs are created like this:

1. Add an Image Sandbox (an Image Sandbox has a server “development environment” of 2 GB of RAM and 20 GB of storage);
2. Remotely log in to the Server you are creating within the Image Sandbox via SSH or RDC (just as you would with a normal Cloud Server on GoGrid) and upload your applications or code. Configure the server to your exact specifications and lastly run “bundling scripts” which we provide to prepare the Image Sandbox for imaging;
3. Save new, MyGSIs from your Image Sandbox to GoGrid Cloud Storage. Note: you can store unlimited server images in Cloud Storage;
4. Deploy new server instances using the saved MyGSI which are great for rapid horizontal scaling, changing RAM allocations, or re-imaging a server (see “High-level Use Cases” below)

The monthly price to store a MyGSI relates to the amount of data in the contained within that Image. For example, if your Image contains 5 GB of data (your code and Operating System), you pay roughly $0.45/month. We compress the Image before it goes to Cloud Storage, so your 5 GB Server Image becomes roughly 3 GB, saving you some money in the process. GoGrid Cloud Storage costs $0.15/GB and the first 10 GB are free.

A Personal Server Image can be deployed as a new Server Instance by simply selecting the appropriate image from your repository, configuring the amount of RAM and the IP address of the new server instance, naming it and deploying. It really is that simple.

However, there are some IMPORTANT changes to workflow that you should start considering now.

Current Workflow (Pre-MyGSIs)

Right now, with GoGrid, a common workflow might consist of the following:

1. Create Web/App Servers individually based on Base GoGrid Server Images
2. Create DB Servers individually based on Base Server GoGrid Images
3. Configure Web/App Servers individually
4. Configure DB Server individually
5. Create Load Balancer
6. Tie it all together via a private network

While this is very straight forward and easy to do currently on GoGrid, if you are deploying and configuring large infrastructures, this process can become a bit time consuming and increases the chance of mis-configuration or human errors. We understand this and thus MyGSIs were born.

Future Workflow (MyGSIs)

It is VERY IMPORTANT to review this new workflow model. Following it will save you time and money as well as reduce the possibility for error.

In the current workflow (pre-MyGSIs), you focus on creating an infrastructure “live”, that is to say, configuring servers real-time that will be used in production. It’s a one-to-one setup, one server at a time. Once MyGSIs are rolled out, you can prototype and develop your server configurations within a specialized environment and create “masters” of which copies are spawned to production. This is more of a one-to-many setup where one “Golden Image” or “Golden Master” can be used to deploy multiple copies, all based on the original. This allows for better and faster scalability and much easier management of your infrastructure.

The new workflow would consist of:

1. Create & Configure a Web/App within the Image Sandbox and save as a MyGSI
2. Create & Configure a DB within the Image Sandbox and save as a MyGSI
3. Deploy multiple instances of new GoGrid Web/App Servers based on the MyGSI
4. Deploy multiple instances of new GoGrid DB Servers based on the MyGSI
5. Create Load Balancer
6. Tie it all together via a private network

Note: once you save your MyGSI, your Image Sandbox is “destroyed” and the Image is copied to Cloud Storage as a server image.

While this is the same amount of steps, if you are creating a redundant & high availability environment (see “How to Set Up High Availability Web Applications in the Cloud using GoGrid“), you actually eliminate some steps because you only have to configure your servers (the MyGSIs) once and then deploy multiple server instances based on that MyGSI with a couple of clicks. In the pre-MyGSI workflow, you would need additional steps for each server you configure and deploy.

So, the important thing to consider as you plan for this exciting release is that you will start your workflow within the Image Sandbox and then move from there. Unfortunately, there will not be a way with this first release to turn actively deployed GoGrid servers into Personal Server Image.

High-level Use Cases

There are several use cases that come to mind that will be simplified with the MyGSI release. While I will not go into the details, here are a few that people should consider:

• True Horizontal Scaling
• Changing & Optimizing RAM Allocations
• Re-imaging Servers
• Disaster Recovery & Failover Environments

I will explore some of these use cases in subsequent posts.

Lastly, for those of you ready to try out GoGrid, I encourage you to set up a GoGrid account NOW. You will be able to familiarize yourself with its workings, test out the different images and templates currently available and then design your strategy for when MyGSIs roll out.

Be sure to check the GoGrid blog for updates on this release which is expected to roll out at the end of July. I hope you are as excited as I am about this upcoming feature release!

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!

I don’t typically write about vaporware, but in this case, I will make an exception not only to finally get to use the phrase “cloud computing is truly vaporware” but also to seriously introduce this new GoGrid feature. Contrary to the definition of “vaporware,” Cloud Storage on GoGrid will be coming soon, so I wanted highlight many of the items in this upcoming release.

First, a picture is worth a thousand words. Below are a few screenshots of what is our vision of GoGrid’s Cloud Storage. Please note that these screenshots represent current ideas and may not actually represent the first implementation or subsequent updates.

Now for the juicy details:

• Technical
  • You will have to request that GoGrid Cloud Storage be added to your GoGrid account. (Details to come)
  • Can be mounted as a drive (e.g., a “D:” drive, “slash mount” or shared mount) on all servers within a GoGrid Account
  • It is shared across all servers
  • You DO have to configure it in order to have it available on your GoGrid servers by using a Private IP. Instructions will be on the GoGrid Wiki.
  • Initial size is 10 GB for FREE (that’s right, the first 10 GB’s are free)
  • Your Cloud Storage will automatically scale as you add more data to it through “thin provisioning”
  • You cannot partition the Cloud Storage
  • With the first release, the GoGrid API will not be able to control Cloud Storage, however, you will be able to control your Cloud Storage via the GoGrid API in subsequent releases
• Billing
  • Each additional GB of storage is $0.15 per GB per month over your free 10 GB
  • Billing for Cloud Storage is done monthly (not hourly)
  • Billing occurs for peak usage during a month. For example, if you start with 10 GB, scale up to 20 GB at some point during that same month and then scale back down to 10 GB, you are charged for that peak. (In this example, that would be $1.50 for the 10 GB over your free 10 GBs)
  • If you are about to go over your 10 GB free allocation, you will be visually notified within the GoGrid portal (e.g., your meter will turn red). You can then simply click ADD > Cloud Storage to initiate billing per GB over your initial 10 GB.
  • In the left-hand column of the GoGrid portal, a new widget will inform you of your total storage utilization and total cost for any overages
• Security
  • Any data stored within the Cloud Storage will be automatically replicated to a Disaster Recovery (DR) infrastructure. Should a failure of the primary storage occur, a backup to within 24 hours of the incident will become automatically available. It is your responsibility, however, to back up any data added to your Cloud Storage within 24 hours or less by some other means.
  • The Cloud Storage tied to your GoGrid Account will not be accessible to other GoGrid users

Other enhancements planned for this exciting release are:

• “On-Hovers” for all objects within the GoGrid Portal UI
  • Cloud Storage will show a meter for storage space used (prior to going over 10 GB) and Total Storage Utilization (after going over the 10 GB threshold)
  • Web/App/DB Servers will show Public IP addresses, Operating System, and RAM allocation
  • Load Balancers will show the real IP addresses and real IP ports, Virtual IPs (VIPs) and Virtual IP ports as well as the load balancing configuration type and persistence type

When this upgrade is released, GoGrid users will have to request to have have Cloud Storage enabled for use, however, the other features mentioned above will auotmatically appear. Do note that the features mentioned above are subject to change. We hope you enjoy this exciting release! Oh, and this should all be available in November 2008!

If you were watching closely, the GoGrid API was released at the end of last week. Today however, we are making it official! With the release of the API, GoGrid users can now programmatically control their cloud infrastructure on GoGrid. What is truly unique about this offering is that we are the first Cloud Computing provider to provide both a web-based control panel/GUI (Graphical User Interface) and an API (Application Programming Interface), coupled with Windows and Linux cloud servers, free load balancing and support, free static IPs and more.

API’s are critical to many Developers and System Administrators who are looking to have even more rigorous control over their environments. The GoGrid API provides the ability to:

• create interactive GoGrid management applications
• allow Resellers to skin their own GoGrid portals
• script and link various GoGrid commands for automation
• connect GoGrid functions to other management tools or environments
• query and retrieve real-time information on billing, usage and GoGrid devices and objects

When we created the API, we wanted to be sure that it not only lived up to our phrase “Control in the Cloud” but also that it was easy to use, well documented and feature-rich. Others in the Cloud Computing space (like Amazon’s EC2) elected to release an API first and then hope that others would build more friendly interfaces around that API. We decided to produce the web GUI first (so that everyone from novices to tech-savvy users could use GoGrid immediately) and then round off our offering with the API (more skewed towards Programmers and Developers).

For those technically inclined, here are some details on what you can expect from the GoGrid API:

• REST-like Query interface that allows the sending of HTTP GET or POST requests to the GoGrid API REST server
• API Keys are easily generated within the GoGrid web GUI
• Unlimited number of API Keys can be generated per account
• API Keys can be individually enabled or disabled at any time through the web GUI
• API Keys can be assigned the same role-based access controls (RBACs) as GoGrid GUI users
• Changes made via the GoGrid API are reflected in GoGrid’s GUI in real-time
• API output formats: JSON (Java Script Object Notation), XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and CSV (Comma Separated Value)
• Supports API calls from Java, PHP, Python, and Ruby as well as shell scripting language like bash

There are several methods available:

• General commands
  • List – lists all requested objects
  • Get – retrieves all information on selected single object
  • Add – add a device or object
  • Delete – delete a device or object
  • Power – start/stop/restart servers
• Items supported and available methods:
  • Load balancer (list, get, add, delete) – commands related to Load Balancers
  • Server (list, get, add, delete, power) – commands related to Servers
  • Image (list) – lists available server images available
  • IP (list) – lists all assigned, unassigned, public and/or private IPs
  • Password (list, get) – lists all passwords for system/server
  • Billing (get) – display billing summary data for account
  • Utility (list) – lists all valid options for a particular lookup

Role Based Access Controls (RBAC) are available. The matrix below illustrates the support:

I could probably go on and on about the plethora of features contained within the API. Best bet though is to sign-up for a GoGrid account and try it yourself. More information on the API can be found on the GoGrid website.