New Server for GitGud.io and Sapphire.moe - 2021
Donation protected
UPDATE March 2nd, 2021: WE HIT OUR INITIAL SERVER FUNDING GOAL. WE'RE NOW AIMING FOR THE DUAL 64-CORE EPYC UPGRADE STRETCH GOAL
For more detailed information, we recommend reading our Blog Post on the situation and details of this new server fundraiser: Read the Sapphire Blog Post on this
Amount Received from Alternative Donation Sources: $1484
We adjust/reduce the GoFundMe goal amount by the amount received by other sources
Funding this server infrastructure upgrade
Sapphire is small company with no real revenue source currently, other than our BlueGem.net computer building subsidiary, of which only makes enough to slightly sustain itself.
We currently do not sell any services or products yet, as those types of projects are underdevelopment still. Since we're entirely bootstrapped and user funded, and actively avoid external investor funding and loans, we're starting this GoFundMe campaign to raise the funds needed to take this new step forward.
GitGud's Hosting Needs Currently
These numbers are based on GitLab's recommended system resources for the amount of users GitGud has (19,800 registered users as of this blog post, around 1000 active users during day peak and shared runners).-12 CPU cores-32GB of memory-2TB of SSD storage (in raid)As of now, GitGud is running behind on it's resource needs. The is working well still, but when the site is most busy, GitGud can slow down quite a bit.
Moving on to the Future
We recently finished upgrading our private datacenter network infrastructure in December (which resulted in some intermittent extended downtimes as a result, which some users experienced). Unlike bigger commercial datacenters, we have a strict power budget to stay to. Having a bunch of low performance (but still power hungry) servers is costly and does not work well for our needs. Density is important in our use case for expansion. A newer, denser, and frankly more power efficient server, would allow us to expand and retire our older less efficient servers.
We want to purchase a new server that is dense, powerful, expandable, but is still affordable, to house GitGud and future services on. We are looking to acquire an AMD EPYC server that can fit our current needs now, and allows us to expand it in the future as needed. We want to purchase a 2nd-hand HP DL385 G10 3U server
Desired Base New Server Specifications
-8 CPU Cores / 16 CPU [email redacted]z - 2.9GHz (AMD EPYC 7251)
-Dual Socket SP3 motherboard (Allows us to upgrade this server later, up to 2x 64-Core EPYC processors, for a total of 128-Cores, and 256 threads)
-64GB DDR4 ECC Memory (upgradable up to terabytes of memory)
-2x 2TB NVMe SSDs (in RAID, upgradable up to 8x 8TB NVMe SSDs)
-4x 480GB SATA SSDs (in RAID, upgradable up to 8x 8TB SATA SSDs)
Costs for this server upgrade
We did a cost analysis on 8 different options for various specifications and deciding between a pre-built server or building our own server. The most ideal cost/performance setup ended buying a refurbished pre-built HP EPYC server and upgrading some of the parts in the server at a later date (or immediately if we get enough funds).
Funding Base Goal
-Base server- $2400
-2x 2TB NVMe drives + PCI-E NVMe M.2 Adapters - ~$700
Funding Base Goal Total: $3100
Funding Stretch Goal - 2x ^4-Core Epycs
-Upgrade Processor to 2x 64c/128t @ 2.0-3.35ghz - Epyc Rome 7702 processors - ~$7,400
Funding Stretch Goal Total: $9,800
For more detailed information, we recommend reading our Blog Post on the situation and details of this new server fundraiser: Read the Sapphire Blog Post on this
Amount Received from Alternative Donation Sources: $1484
We adjust/reduce the GoFundMe goal amount by the amount received by other sources
Funding this server infrastructure upgrade
Sapphire is small company with no real revenue source currently, other than our BlueGem.net computer building subsidiary, of which only makes enough to slightly sustain itself.
We currently do not sell any services or products yet, as those types of projects are underdevelopment still. Since we're entirely bootstrapped and user funded, and actively avoid external investor funding and loans, we're starting this GoFundMe campaign to raise the funds needed to take this new step forward.
GitGud's Hosting Needs Currently
These numbers are based on GitLab's recommended system resources for the amount of users GitGud has (19,800 registered users as of this blog post, around 1000 active users during day peak and shared runners).-12 CPU cores-32GB of memory-2TB of SSD storage (in raid)As of now, GitGud is running behind on it's resource needs. The is working well still, but when the site is most busy, GitGud can slow down quite a bit.
Moving on to the Future
We recently finished upgrading our private datacenter network infrastructure in December (which resulted in some intermittent extended downtimes as a result, which some users experienced). Unlike bigger commercial datacenters, we have a strict power budget to stay to. Having a bunch of low performance (but still power hungry) servers is costly and does not work well for our needs. Density is important in our use case for expansion. A newer, denser, and frankly more power efficient server, would allow us to expand and retire our older less efficient servers.
We want to purchase a new server that is dense, powerful, expandable, but is still affordable, to house GitGud and future services on. We are looking to acquire an AMD EPYC server that can fit our current needs now, and allows us to expand it in the future as needed. We want to purchase a 2nd-hand HP DL385 G10 3U server
Desired Base New Server Specifications
-8 CPU Cores / 16 CPU [email redacted]z - 2.9GHz (AMD EPYC 7251)
-Dual Socket SP3 motherboard (Allows us to upgrade this server later, up to 2x 64-Core EPYC processors, for a total of 128-Cores, and 256 threads)
-64GB DDR4 ECC Memory (upgradable up to terabytes of memory)
-2x 2TB NVMe SSDs (in RAID, upgradable up to 8x 8TB NVMe SSDs)
-4x 480GB SATA SSDs (in RAID, upgradable up to 8x 8TB SATA SSDs)
Costs for this server upgrade
We did a cost analysis on 8 different options for various specifications and deciding between a pre-built server or building our own server. The most ideal cost/performance setup ended buying a refurbished pre-built HP EPYC server and upgrading some of the parts in the server at a later date (or immediately if we get enough funds).
Funding Base Goal
-Base server- $2400
-2x 2TB NVMe drives + PCI-E NVMe M.2 Adapters - ~$700
Funding Base Goal Total: $3100
Funding Stretch Goal - 2x ^4-Core Epycs
-Upgrade Processor to 2x 64c/128t @ 2.0-3.35ghz - Epyc Rome 7702 processors - ~$7,400
Funding Stretch Goal Total: $9,800
Organizer
Michael Sulsenti
Organizer
Tampa, FL
