SporeStack: Launch servers with Bitcoin

[sega01]

No accounts needed. Server lives for 1-28 days depending on what you set. Servers can usually be topped up, acting like a traditional VPS host. Although SporeStack is geared towards ephemeral use.

Try it in your browser: https://sporestack.com

Or the console:

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pip3 install sporestack; sporestackv2 launch YourHostname --operating_system debian-9 --ssh_key_file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub --days 1 --currency bch

[sega01]

Now supports Vultr's European and Asian datacenters! Also added a bunch of images.

nodemeup's help tells about most of the changes I've been working on:

usage: nodemeup [-h] [--osid OSID] [--dcid DCID] [--flavor FLAVOR]
[--days DAYS] [--uuid UUID]

optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--osid OSID Default: 230 (FreeBSD 11)
216: Ubuntu 16.04 i386
147: CentOS 6 i386
152: Debian 7 i386 (wheezy)
140: FreeBSD 10 x64
194: Debian 8 i386 (jessie)
225: Fedora 24 x64
193: Debian 8 x64 (jessie)
128: Ubuntu 12.04 x64
215: Ubuntu 16.04 x64
148: Ubuntu 12.04 i386
179: CoreOS Stable
127: CentOS 6 x64
234: OpenBSD 6 x64
139: Debian 7 x64 (wheezy)
167: CentOS 7 x64
230: FreeBSD 11 x64
231: Ubuntu 16.10 x64
232: Ubuntu 16.10 i386
233: Fedora 25 x64
160: Ubuntu 14.04 x64
161: Ubuntu 14.04 i386
162: CentOS 5 x64
163: CentOS 5 i386
--dcid DCID Default: (probably) 3 (Dallas)
24: Paris
25: Tokyo
39: Miami
12: Silicon Valley
19: Sydney
40: Singapore
1: New Jersey
3: Dallas
2: Chicago
5: Los Angeles
4: Seattle
7: Amsterdam
6: Atlanta
9: Frankfurt
8: London
--flavor FLAVOR Default: 9 (768MiB)
95: RAM: 4096, VCPUs: 4, DISK: 90
29: RAM: 768, VCPUs: 1, DISK: 15
--days DAYS Days to live: 1-28. Defaults to 1.
--uuid UUID Force a specific UUID.

[sega01]

I have added launch profiles to SporeStack.

VPN server for a day: https://sporestack.com/launch/vpn
Tor relay, if you want to help support the Tor network: https://sporestack.com/launch/tor_relay

Set --days 1 through 28 depending on how long you want it to live. I generally would recommend a day for a VPN server that's going to be used rarely, or 28 days for a Tor relay.

[Rmcdermott927]

Very cool. Is there a way to keep servers alive for more than 28 days if you wish to keep the instance alive?

[Decoded]

What I don't understand is the pricing. It's basically the exact same plans as Vultr, but cost more.

Vultr accepts bitcoin, and their servers don't have a 28 day limit, so you can't use these as a selling point.

[mjglqw]

What I don't understand is the pricing. It's basically the exact same plans as Vultr, but cost more.

Vultr accepts bitcoin, and their servers don't have a 28 day limit, so you can't use these as a selling point.

sega01 can you give us a comparison between SporeStack and other common server providers? Besides price ofcourse.

[sega01]

Very cool. Is there a way to keep servers alive for more than 28 days if you wish to keep the instance alive?

Thank you! There is not, I haven't added a way to top up a server. These are designed to be ephemeral, so you would replace them frequently. It's something that's good to automate anyways, in case of failure. In the future I may add services that handle application hosting and where the server creation/deletion is handled on the backend for you.

What I don't understand is the pricing. It's basically the exact same plans as Vultr, but cost more.

Vultr accepts bitcoin, and their servers don't have a 28 day limit, so you can't use these as a selling point.

sega01 can you give us a comparison between SporeStack and other common server providers? Besides price ofcourse.

Vultr requires a credit card to open the account and your information. With SporeStack, you launch it without any account. It's mainly convenience from an API standpoint. An end user can spin up a sever without signing up or doing much work, slowing down the process. For people building on top of SporeStack, payment is handled in the API so they have less to manage. They could be clever and use a split payment to pay SporeStack for their server and take a cut, while having no overhead.

As strange as it sounds, ephemeral servers are the way of the future. It's all tooled around making them simpler to deploy and manage. I don't know of any other hosts that emphasize on that.

The cost is higher than Vultr but close to Digital Ocean, I believe. The servers themselves are no better. The main advantage is that payment is handled in the API call which is something I've never seen done before, especially for hosting.

All in all, it's your pretty standard VPS. You have IPv6, which you may or may not care about, there's no goofy IPv4 NAT like with AWS, and a decent base image selection.

What I plan to build on top of the node functionality in SporeStack may be more interesting.

[Decoded]

Very cool. Is there a way to keep servers alive for more than 28 days if you wish to keep the instance alive?

Thank you! There is not, I haven't added a way to top up a server. These are designed to be ephemeral, so you would replace them frequently. It's something that's good to automate anyways, in case of failure. In the future I may add services that handle application hosting and where the server creation/deletion is handled on the backend for you.

What I don't understand is the pricing. It's basically the exact same plans as Vultr, but cost more.

Vultr accepts bitcoin, and their servers don't have a 28 day limit, so you can't use these as a selling point.

sega01 can you give us a comparison between SporeStack and other common server providers? Besides price ofcourse.

Vultr requires a credit card to open the account and your information. With SporeStack, you launch it without any account. It's mainly convenience from an API standpoint. An end user can spin up a sever without signing up or doing much work, slowing down the process. For people building on top of SporeStack, payment is handled in the API so they have less to manage. They could be clever and use a split payment to pay SporeStack for their server and take a cut, while having no overhead.

As strange as it sounds, ephemeral servers are the way of the future. It's all tooled around making them simpler to deploy and manage. I don't know of any other hosts that emphasize on that.

The cost is higher than Vultr but close to Digital Ocean, I believe. The servers themselves are no better. The main advantage is that payment is handled in the API call which is something I've never seen done before, especially for hosting.

All in all, it's your pretty standard VPS. You have IPv6, which you may or may not care about, there's no goofy IPv4 NAT like with AWS, and a decent base image selection.

What I plan to build on top of the node functionality in SporeStack may be more interesting.

Agreed. This is the first I've seen of a method to deploy a VPS through an API call alone.

May I ask, what users are you gearing towards? Because although I see that it could be useful, I'm not sure right now who would want to buy temporary Cloud Computing.

[sega01]

Very cool. Is there a way to keep servers alive for more than 28 days if you wish to keep the instance alive?

Thank you! There is not, I haven't added a way to top up a server. These are designed to be ephemeral, so you would replace them frequently. It's something that's good to automate anyways, in case of failure. In the future I may add services that handle application hosting and where the server creation/deletion is handled on the backend for you.

sega01 can you give us a comparison between SporeStack and other common server providers? Besides price ofcourse.

Vultr requires a credit card to open the account and your information. With SporeStack, you launch it without any account. It's mainly convenience from an API standpoint. An end user can spin up a sever without signing up or doing much work, slowing down the process. For people building on top of SporeStack, payment is handled in the API so they have less to manage. They could be clever and use a split payment to pay SporeStack for their server and take a cut, while having no overhead.

As strange as it sounds, ephemeral servers are the way of the future. It's all tooled around making them simpler to deploy and manage. I don't know of any other hosts that emphasize on that.

The cost is higher than Vultr but close to Digital Ocean, I believe. The servers themselves are no better. The main advantage is that payment is handled in the API call which is something I've never seen done before, especially for hosting.

All in all, it's your pretty standard VPS. You have IPv6, which you may or may not care about, there's no goofy IPv4 NAT like with AWS, and a decent base image selection.

What I plan to build on top of the node functionality in SporeStack may be more interesting.

Agreed. This is the first I've seen of a method to deploy a VPS through an API call alone.

May I ask, what users are you gearing towards? Because although I see that it could be useful, I'm not sure right now who would want to buy temporary Cloud Computing.

I'm aiming towards a mix of on-demand short term applications to end users, and developers who want to create applications on ephemeral platforms from the start. Down the road I may have app hosting services (like Heroku) which would be easier to use. For now, it's clunky if you're used to servers lasting for years. It depends on your development model.

For me, I've been dog fooding with it and it's been pretty interesting. I think as I work out the kinks it will be more and more useful.

I just finished up a browser launch interface.

You can try it here with the VPN profile: https://launch.sporestack.com/#vpn

Or see it in action on Android: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktTwmujUtI

Thanks for your reply!

[sega01]

I added a Hidden Service for SporeStack: http://spore64zke3ofvbp.onion/

With the latest sporestack pip installable, you can launch servers using the Hidden Service.

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sporestack --endpoint http://spore64zke3ofvbp.onion spawn

[sega01]

I've added iPXE support to SporeStack.

Example:

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$ cat coreos #!ipxe set base-url http://stable.release.core-os.net/amd64-usr/current kernel ${base-url}/coreos_production_pxe.vmlinuz sshkey="ssh-rsa yourkeyhere" initrd ${base-url}/coreos_production_pxe_image.cpio.gz boot $ sporestack spawn --days 2 --ipxe --startupscript coreos

Couple minutes later:

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ssh core@(uuid returned).node.sporestack.com

You'll need to upgrade to the latest sporestack pip: pip install sporestack --upgrade

You can also do:

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sporestack spawn --ipxe_chain_url http://boot.netboot.xyz

, grab the kvm_url from

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sporestack list

, point your browser at it, then boot any number of images from there.

Still kind of in progress, but it works from my testing.

[sega01]

I've added top up support to SporeStack, making it more useful for traditional VPS users.

https://sporestack.com/news#2017-03-13

It's pretty straight forward. Every server created has a UUID. You can see that UUID with

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sporestack list

. Then run

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sporestack topup --days 28 --uuid (UUID)

to extend the server's end of life.

[sega01]

News post: SporeStack increases identity requirements

[sega01]

I've made some tweaks so it's easier to have servers buy other servers.

I've rolled this out on go-beyond.org: http://go-beyond.org/post/skynet-0.0.1/

I now have SporeStack servers buying the next set of SporeStack servers before expiry.

[mjglqw]

I've made some tweaks so it's easier to have servers buy other servers.

I've rolled this out on go-beyond.org: http://go-beyond.org/post/skynet-0.0.1/

I now have SporeStack servers buying the next set of SporeStack servers before expiry.

I might try this soon when I get the time. I'll message you when I need help. You giving trials?

[sega01]

I've made some tweaks so it's easier to have servers buy other servers.

I've rolled this out on go-beyond.org: http://go-beyond.org/post/skynet-0.0.1/

I now have SporeStack servers buying the next set of SporeStack servers before expiry.

I might try this soon when I get the time. I'll message you when I need help. You giving trials?

Great! Nothing in the way of trials, that's not really how SporeStack works (the servers are fixed-lifetime anyway). But if you can get the client going you can PM me your Bitcoin address and I can send you some coin to pay for your first server.

If you want to use it like a more traditional VPS you can spin up a server and then top it up as needed. Max life and renewal is 28 days.

[mjglqw]

I've made some tweaks so it's easier to have servers buy other servers.

I've rolled this out on go-beyond.org: http://go-beyond.org/post/skynet-0.0.1/

I now have SporeStack servers buying the next set of SporeStack servers before expiry.

I might try this soon when I get the time. I'll message you when I need help. You giving trials?

Great! Nothing in the way of trials, that's not really how SporeStack works (the servers are fixed-lifetime anyway). But if you can get the client going you can PM me your Bitcoin address and I can send you some coin to pay for your first server.

If you want to use it like a more traditional VPS you can spin up a server and then top it up as needed. Max life and renewal is 28 days.

Alright. I'll make sure to read the info on your site so to know every difference sporestack has compared to other VPSs. I'll get back ar you probably nextweek

[sega01]

We've dropped Satoshi prices for SporeStack by 25%: https://sporestack.com/news#2017-05-03

[btcmminer]

what's benefit this server ?? like a bitcoin block??

[sega01]

what's benefit this server ?? like a bitcoin block??

I don't understand your question. Could you please explain?

[sega01]

SporeStack is now being used to enable autonomous computing. You can launch a tor relay, it will publish a Bitcoin address, and funds to the address will cause it to renew itself or even buy another, if funds are high enough.

http://go-beyond.org/post/autonomous-cr ... or-relays/

[Dynamix]

Well this is a lot of technical stuff in order to launch some servers. Are there any videos or such on youtube?

[sega01]

Well this is a lot of technical stuff in order to launch some servers. Are there any videos or such on youtube?

Indeed, there are a few. May be a little outdated but the concepts should hold true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7aiBqa7gg4

(It uses `nodemeup` but `sporestack spawn` is the new command.)

You can also spin up some "appliance" style servers here: https://launch.sporestack.com/

VPN, Minecraft server, or a Tor relay.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions. SporeStack is generally geared to a more technical audience but I'm also trying to make it more straight forward at the same time.

[sega01]

Another price drop to bring prices back in line with the current USD<->BTC prices. Hopefully I can automate this in the future.

https://sporestack.com/news#2017-07-28

[Neoclassical]

Interesting, but yeah, side by side comparison with other similar services is in order.

[sega01]

I've added a AUTO region feature so you can specify "AUTO", "AUTO-NA", or "AUTO-EU" as the region (--dcid in the sporestack client). A datacenter with capacity will be randomly selected and used. Can be a better option than just using one datacenter and hoping it never fills up, especially in the case of automation.

https://sporestack.com/news#2017-08-21

[sega01]

Just a bump.

[sega01]

Finally, prices are now automatically pinned to the dollar: https://sporestack.com/news#2017-11-03

This means the cost should be a lot more reasonable even when Bitcoin goes up some incredible amount in a single month. Unfortunately, sending transactions under 10,000 Satoshis can be tricky so there is a "price floor" there. You'll see much better rates at 7-28 days than 1-2 days. Not to mention TX fees as well.

-Teran

[sega01]

SporeStack now accepts and prefers Bitcoin Cash. You can learn more here: https://sporestack.com/news#2017-12-12

[sega01]

Hi everyone,

I am announcing the public beta of SporeStack V2. SporeStack V2 is provider agnostic and hosts between three different companies. In some ways it is a step backwards in terms of ease of use, launch profiles, lack of Tor discount, etc. But there is a lot new and good about it, and a lot more potential to grow. The overhaul is long overdue. V1 is still live but will encourage migration to V2 and any comments on what you might require for such a migration.

The sporestack-python library has been updated and the pip installable ships with a "sporestackv2" runnable. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

https://sporestack.com/news#2018-08-23

https://api.sporestack.com/v2/404 (API documentation)

https://github.com/sporestack/sporestac ... orestackv2

Thanks for following along. It's been a great ride with SporeStack.

-Teran

PS: We have a few unannounced features, including settlement tokens (like reloadable tokens, instead of doing crypto transactions every time), and organization listing if you'd like a degree of support.