<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I’ve been looking at VPS providers, and most of them offer SSD-based VPSs, so they seem to be increasingly popular. I suspect that most VPSs do not get consistently hammered, though.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Peter<br class=""><div class="">
<meta charset="UTF-8" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">—</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><a href="mailto:pbw@ehealth.id.au" class="">pbw@ehealth.id.au</a></div><div class="">“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 8 Mar 2021, at 11:30 am, Todd Doucet <<a href="mailto:ttd@lambentresearch.com" class="">ttd@lambentresearch.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta charset="UTF-8" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class="">I think one can only get so far with purely qualitative analysis of the characteristics of SSDs and HDs and then the end of that analysis will be one-size-fits all advice, for example "recommended" or "not recommended" for servers.<br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class="">Surely the answer might vary depending on the particular server usage pattern, the need for performance, the cost of routine maintenance (swapping out aging drives or SSDs), the cost of the devices themselves, etc.<br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class="">It seems to me that a given server operator can tell how long a particular SSD is likely to last. They do not fail randomly, at least not very much. The fail when they are "used up" and you can figure out well in advance, usually, when you will need to swap the old ones out of service.<br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class="">HDs fail also, obviously, but tend not to be so predictable about it. Whether it makes sense for a given server to use an SSD really does depend on the numbers. All drives will fail. All drives will need to be rotated out of service. It is a matter of cost, convenience, and performance.<br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class="">The only caveat I can think of is that there might be an issue of malicious use--a server with SSDs might be vulnerable to a wear attack, depending on the server services offered, I suppose.<br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><blockquote type="cite" id="qt" style="font-family: Optima-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><div class="">To emphasize again, the reason SSDs aren’t recommended for servers is because servers—by definition—see much heavier service, and these read/write cycles are used up more quickly.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For personal use in a PC, or such, SSDs are proving to be the dream they were promised to be.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">As mentioned, given time, the technology will overcome this limitation for use in servers and these comments will be just so much past history.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Dave C.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">- - - <br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">> The “on/off” switches in SSD’s are fragile and essentially break after too many read/write cycles. As pointed out, it’s a get what you pay for world and cheap SSD’s are just that… cheap. The expensive ones are more reliable because they actually make available only a portion of their total capacity, reserving the rest as replacements for such failures. Intelligent software within the firmware manages this so that the end user experiences a much longer device lifespan.<br class=""></div><div class="">> <br class=""></div><div class="">> There’s lots of technical documentation for such. Google knows.<br class=""></div><div class="">> <br class=""></div><div class="">> Regards,<br class=""></div><div class="">> <br class=""></div><div class="">> <br class=""></div><div class="">>>> On Mar 7, 2021, at 18:15, Michael A. Leonetti via macports-users <<a href="mailto:macports-users@lists.macports.org" class="">macports-users@lists.macports.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><div class="">>> I’d really love to know more about what you’re saying here. Up until I just read what you wrote, I thought SSDs were the savior of HDDs.<br class=""></div><div class="">>> Michael A. Leonetti<br class=""></div><div class="">>> As warm as green tea<br class=""></div><div class="">>>> 3/7/21 午後5:26、Dave Horsfall <<a href="mailto:dave@horsfall.org" class="">dave@horsfall.org</a>>のメール:<br class=""></div><div class="">>>> On Sat, 6 Mar 2021, Dave C via macports-users wrote:<br class=""></div><div class="">>>>> Isn’t SSD a bad choice for server duty? No server farms use them, apparently due to short lifespan.<br class=""></div><div class="">>>> If you knew how SSDs worked then you wouldn't use them at all without many backups. Give me spinning rust any day...<br class=""></div><div class="">>>> -- Dave</div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>