Guys, if I want a cloud CI (github actions), but t...

# random

[ursus]

Guys, if I want a cloud CI (github actions), but their hw (or any cloud CI provider I tried, travis, circle..) is too weak (around 2core, etc), tests take too long, and there no way to add more power, however there is a way to have the runner on a local machine

[jimn]

yeah rent an amazon node for what you can afford for the luxury of quick iterations. or build a barebones ryzen pc at a pricepoint like 1 grand.

[ursus]

yea I cant be bothered to take care about the machine, amazon feels as a better choice

[ursus]

which product did you chose? im lost in the sea of their offerings

[ursus]

also, can you install kvm on that for emulators?

[Himanshu Sharma]

there are options in CircleCI to upgrade your machine. we use 16 core 32 GB ram on CircleCI docker. but you need to pay more for it

[jimn]

i currently use a beefy media transcoder instance with 8/8 to host a jenkins on alibaba for my present project

[ursus]

I dm'ed you abou the details .. so its ec2 t3 what im looking for?

[jimn]

my transcoder box is already in the $60 bracket and was built to host specific dockers and has many hand built c projects like ffmpeg and couchdb. jenkins was just added for the handoff to help make deployments a little easier for the team. we already use gitlab but i really had no patience to figure out a new devops system -- jenkins is designed for maven projects. jenkins is a maven project.

[ursus]

im confused, transcoder box is their product or you just call it that?

[jimn]

it is just a higher class cpu instance on alibaba that i have applied some custom builds for production seperately from a custom docker instance/dockerfile hosting jenkins and some customized builds for node/npm/llvm stuff for what is being built

[ursus]

so no amazon? 😄

[jimn]

I was describing my own configuration. overall i would rate amazon as a more predictable provider since alibaba is based in china, and does not explain surprise billing situations and will be unlikeoly to negotiate refunds like amazon would. google is also heavy handed, google serves only google, not customers.

[ursus]

k thanks, do you have any idea which amazon awa product I want? line up is confusing. is it ec2 t3?

[jimn]

i would try one of the micro instances and get a feel for the freedom that a dedicated instance gives you at that tier, you can change the instance spec and reboot if its not adequate

[bjonnh]

I like using amazon spot instances for that

[bjonnh]

90% discount, sometimes it kicks you out

[bjonnh]

but you can clearly overprovision

[jimn]

i get a few days on spot instances. sometimes more. lately most of my work has been ina country with non-local cloud providers, alibaba is the first in indonesia. my aws-fu is waning. google is unafraid to spike its customers mercilessly with vaguely documented performance costs. at least amazon is freindly about refunding when you click the 20x cost IO checkbox

[bjonnh]

I have been cut only once. Never on the 1TB ram machines.

[bjonnh]

I had my terraform and a script that would just pop me right up into an instance once it was ready