Truly scalable cloud

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Posted by Xandrios, 01-22-2011, 12:25 PM
Hi, For a project I am in the need of a very flexible cloud setup. The cloud instance will be used to host a website with a very distinctive pattern: low CPU and ram load 99% of the time, and then for a day or so a peak of up to 500% increased traffic. To handle this i will need a cloud instance with a static amount of disk space (about 100GB will do) and a very flexible API that will allow to increase or decrease the CPU and RAM allotment programatically. Preferably billed per minute of usage, alternatively per hour. I have found many places that offer huge specs cloud instances - but they are all pretty static in terms of CPU, HDR and ram ratios. To me it does not make sense to increase or decrease the he'd allotment, the site content does not become bigger or smaller when more people use it. Does anybody know of a cloud provider that allows to configure HDD, CPU and RAM separately? And preferably offers an API so that the instance can be increased by the application itself when it detects more resources are required? Thanks!
Posted by logart, 01-22-2011, 01:09 PM
I am in the process of evaluating many cloud providers. One that comes to mind is Elastichosts. They have dynamic resizing of each resource as well as an API. They offer a 5 day trial account.
Posted by boskone, 01-27-2011, 04:00 PM
The problem with what you are asking for a cloud provider is that CPU and RAM are 'stuck' together in a physical server. If you need one cpu, but 20GB of ram, you will eat most of the resources of the underlying physical node, despite a lot of cpu going to waste, etc, same is true for a heavy CPU user who needs a little ram, etc.