singapore

Running EC2 spot instances

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or ‘ Save ultimately more money with AWS’

I use EC2 instances for test, development, demo and also for deployment to production. Amazon offers different types of instances, ranging from a micro instance (613 MB Ram and 2 CPU units) to a full fledge Cluster Compute Quadruple Extra Large Instance (60GB RAM and 33 CPU units). Of course a different price and paid per hour usage, available anytime.

All on demand Linux instances (Singapore):

  • Micro instance: U$ 0.02 per hour
  • Medium instance: U$ 0.34 per hour
  • High Mem/CPU instance: U$ 2.024 per hour

On top of this there are 3 different categories of instances (in contractual terms)

Some price comparison for a m1.Large instance we use for testing (7,5GB RAM and 4 CPU units)

  • On Demand (any time without any contractual obligations, we are using them currently)
    $0.340 per Hour > 1 month U$ 244.80 (fulltime 24h)
  • Reserved Instance (1 year term, one time payment U$ 276.00)
    U$ 0.196 per Hour > 1 month U$ 141.12 (3 months: U$ 699.36 vs on-demand U$ 734.40, 12 months: U$ 1969.44 vs. on-demand U$ 2937.60 = ~30% savings )
  • Spot Instance (depends on availability, you bid on a price range, if price exceeds your limit your instance shuts down)
    U$ 0.04 per Hour (as of December 5th 2012) > 1 month U$ 28.80

The spot instance, almost at 10% of the on-demand price, is extremely attractive and I am using it as test server.
Not suitable for production or demo purpose though.

The reserved instance starts to break even after 3 months full-time usage !

In order not to pay for instances running idle (at night, weekend) they auto-shutdown and the user can start them in a self provision fashion (for test, demo or training).

Interesting enough, the price fluctuation is very different in the AWS regions. Lets look at a m1.large instance type in the Ireleand  versus Singapore datacentre.

AWS Ireland

AWS Ireland

 

AWS Singapore

AWS Singapore

Obviously Singapore customers are not into this bidding concept, it remains permanently at 4cts while for Ireland the price jumps up to several Dollars !

More information at:

First Android 3.0 powered tablets showing up ! Galaxy Tab 2 ?

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As expected, at the Mobile World Congress 2011 hardware manufacturers launched their soon to be available Android 3.0 powered tablets. Samsung presents the Galaxy Tab Sucessor, not “2” but Galaxy Tab 10.1. Certainly it will hit Singapore before end of April as the usual lock-in package of the local telcos.

I am still puzzled by a couple of things:

  • Size goes up (even weight remains small)
    While 7″ is just nice to carry and use, it fits in a side pocket, but is still bigger than the usual small size mobile phone and allows more or less serious usage. But 10.1″ is competing with a netbook, or you just try to be a little BIGGER than the iPad ? It does not fit in a side pocket.
  • No HDMI connector ?
    Why was it removed ? The device is capable too run FullHD movies and you lat me look at it in 1280×800 ? Whats the point ?
  • No (mini) SD Card slot ?
    Are you going the same way as Apple ? I cant extent the available memory and there is no way to just slot in a memory card to read files from a camera  or a notebook ? I must use the USB port or wireless ? You want to play FullHD and how do I copy a DVD content to the device ?
  • Dual camera ?
    What do you need that for ? Hold the tablet in front of you to make pictures ? How wired is that ? Can you run both at the same time ?
  • No standard USB port ?
    Of course slim is nice, but at a time when more companies try t follow standards you also come up with your new private connector ? More wire junk per device in my pocket !
  • Competitive price ?
    Sorry, around 1000.- SGD and beyond is not competitive.

I think it the presence of an upcoming Android 3.0 made Samsung jumped on the bandwagon and quickly push out a new device, just 6 months after the previous Galaxy Tab.

You can read the about the new tablet at engadget.com and the competition.

I see another problem for Android 3.0 and any devices, besides the split-up between 2.3/2.4 and 3.0, more apps will be available will soon that are hungry for CPU horsepower and resources leaving the regular mobile phone behind or even create unhappy app users know being aware of the lack of their devices power. A minimum hardware requirements like for PC games will soon be there, the app market will split up too.

Google Nexus One arrives in Singapore

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Since a few weeks the new Android 2.1 (!) running phone is available in some countries (US, Germany,HKG, Singapore) solely by mailorder from US . I saw some shops in selling it in Sim Lim (not according to Google’s “law” though). I can dive straight into Eclaire hacking now.
Hint: The docking station comes optional. If you order it, you wont need the additional power adapter, it comes with one. Also the USB/power plug is different to the previous htc developer phone (aka G1) !

Some pictures from the box opening ceremony:

Google Nexus One

Google Nexus One - Whats in the box ?

Google Nexus One - Whats in the box ?

Google Nexus One

Singapore JUG Update

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Last monday we met for the third time. 15 people showed up following in a relaxed 2 hours on these topics:

  • Servlet 3.0 (part of EE6) by Chuk
  • JVM based languages Clojure, Scala bu Chuk (guess more to come soon once the he add the other languages)
  • Pomodoro Time Management by me
  • Netbeans, Cobertura, Hudson hands-on by me

You want to join ? Next meetup not yet scheduled. Drop by ww.meetup.com/JUG-Singapore

OSSPAC 2009 – Open Source in Singapore

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osspac_banner_250

OSSPAC 2009 – The first (of its kind in Singapore?) conference attracts developers, adopters and companies from Singapore and the neighboring countries to follow a diverse string of sessions, talks and labs for 3 days this week.
From some very general talks and keynotes to very specific technical sessions and labs everyone should have found his cup of tea. I was surprised by the small number of participants, despite Singapore being a technology hub (not in terms of OS..) and attending the SUN TechDays (blog entry) some 2..3 weeks back with a overwhelming number of people (a commercial roadshow at the fraction of the price, I know).
The conference reflects the OSS landscape in Singapore: Small and not very vivid (yet) as in other countries and cities around the world. Still a way to go ! It lives by participation ! I try to add to it.

I like to compare OS communities a bit with the arts scene, it starts very small, usually by individuals or small groups without any professional or commercial backing, eventually it would pick up pace and more people join in and ultimately companies to sponsor or finance it. It (the initial spark) cannot be engaged, enforced or bought.
Joining last years OS conference in Sydney Australia (blog entry), I found a very vivid and colorful event, some of that spirit could be injected here.

I really welcome the organizers effort to get this conference started, hoping this will be a regular event in the OSS community of Singapore. So far it was worth attending, some very good speakers and  I get to know some new people, companies and products.

Feedback:

  • A simpler conference location could bring down the price and allow more individuals to join.
  • Try to inject more interaction. (QA for keynotes)
  • Maybe you need a moderator for the individual tracks.
  • Where are the lightning talks ?
  • OSS conferences are not a place to wear ties.
  • The light (and sometimes the sound) setup was crap. But thats a general conference problem.

Conclusion (for me):

  • I will join again. OS is based on community and particpation.
  • Gonna hava mor detailed look at Jaspersoft BI and Ingres DB.
  • Signed up for Suse studio !

Course: Requirements Analysis

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Will join this 2 days course run by Processworks (Phil Robinson) to round up the use of UML. The possibilities you have with UML is tremendous but you easily can get lost in the attempt to make usa of all diagrams !

Check the course content here: Link – Requirements Analysis (A UML Use Case Approach)
17. and 18. November 2008, Singapore

On real IT conferences

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Despite the need to keep yourself up-to-date on a pure technical level by reading books and websites, and even more important, by DOING it (IT), means try tools, IDE’s, solutions, basically getting your hands dirty, it is always worth looking out for ongoing conferences in your neighborhood. Just 2 weekas ago I joined 2 sessions at a conference in Singapore about Software Process Engineering (by Processworks Group, link). One about distributed development teams (Evan Leybourn from Looking Glass Solutions (LGS), Australia) and the other one about Advanced Testcase Design Techniques (Phil Robinson from Lonsdale Systems, Australia). Both pretty good presenter and sharing lots of experience.

So look out for conferences nearby. And dont forget to cover topics that are not of pure technical nature only.