This year we are gradually catching up with a lot of rest. The long-awaited WMS service is already being intensively tested by dozens of beta testers, we have also launched a closed beta test of WEDOS Cloud, DC2 is already completed and we are gradually starting to prepare for the first infrastructure tests. However, one big thing is still missing and that is to prepare a new repository.
Plenty of space for additional VPS ON, WMS and WEDOS Cloud disks
When we launched VPS ON, we said we planned to add additional disks as an additional service. Among them will be a classic spinning hard drive designed for continuous server operation. It won’t be able to match the speed of an SSD, but it will provide a lot of space at very affordable prices. We’d like to bring the price per TB down below $10, i.e. under 250 CZK.
Our developers have had the whole system ready for a long time, so everything was tied to the selection of suitable hardware that we will be able to use for the next few years.
We finally have a suitable candidate
More or less by chance, we managed to find HPE Cloudline CL5800 Gen9 Server storage that is outside the normal catalogs.
We test a variant equipped with two Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPUs E5-2680 v4 with a frequency of 2.4 GHz. These are 14-core processors with 2 threads per core. In total, the entire storage has 56 processors and a modest 512 GB of RAM.
A total of 100 HDDs can be placed in this storage. In our case, it will be 10 TB drives from Intel, which we have had very good experiences with. The capacity of one such repository would then be 1 PB, which is a good base 🙂
Colleagues are running benchmarks and other tests to see if this solution is sufficient for us.
So far, everything is on track.
New storage facilities are one of the reasons we’re going to DC3
Of course, for redundant operation we will need several of these repositories, which is not a problem for us. We assume that some customers will want them for separate backups, and this is where geographically more remote areas, i.e. a different datacenter, come in handy. We do have a completed DC2, but that is completely built for oil cooling. And as we have tested, oil is not exactly good for spinning discs 🙂
Fortunately, we have already started preparations for the construction of DC3. We already have the land. The project documentation is now being finalised so that the construction procedure can begin. We are not planning any special features for DC3, it will be a standard modern datacentre.
Will there be an improved WEDOS Disk?
Unfortunately, we will not upgrade the WEDOS disk. The way it works suits many of our customers. It’s a simple service that thousands of people use and most people don’t want to change anything about it.
Instead, we’re preparing a new service that comes closer to the current requirements of what is now commonly called cloud storage. A place where you can conveniently store, share, open and work with files online. Software for Windows, Linux, macOS and mobile phone apps will also be available. It will take a while, but it’s already in development 😉