This is related to a common question I get, so I thought I'd post about it.
Say, you want to run a bot. You've figured out how to install it on a test environment or your local workstation. But you've realized that you want the bot to run all the time, not just when your computer is on. Or, your ISP isn't reliable enough.
If you're willing to spend $5 USD per month, you can use Digital Ocean to provide a tiny hosted server with SSH access. If the smallest configuration turns out not to be enough, you can always upgrade it later.
In fact, that's what I tend to do, I start with the minimum configuration and ramp it up as needed.
Typically, I'll use the latest Ubuntu distribution (17.10 at the moment, but be aware that using the absolute latest version is sometimes a problem.
The great thing is, if you screw up, you can just delete the "droplet" and start over any time. Just remember to delete the ones you don't use or else you'll get billed, even if they're off.
This is my referrer link for Digial Ocean:
A bot that will run when your computer is off? I mean surely it would be magnificent with digital ocean, but my question is wont you be spending rather more money to keep it running and not break down?
Right, that's the tradeoff. A bot that earns you 2%/year of your account balance would imply an account value of $2,000 USD to break even on a $5 droplet.
Right that's true, the statistics is quite more than worth a shot, wont break a sweat at all.
I thought it will be different, this is really worth it.
You read my mind @josediccus. Was about asking same question.
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@skorek/best-bitcoin-idea-5-first-satoshi-school-is-born
You can do everything that you can do with a normal VM, VPS or dedicated.
The servers at DigitalOcean are over KVM, and can be installed with Linux, Windows OS.
Yea this is a perfect decision because if I were the one, that's what I would do too.
Wow, you know I always thought using the latest version would helo speed up things. Whag kid of problems could I possibly encounter ????
Owk thanks for this...will keep that in mind.
Great tip @intertia! Much better than an AWS instance. Bookmarked for my next project.
Please, I don't understand what you meant by saying using an absolutely latest version can be a problem.. Would love to know
I'm just suggesting a possible troubleshooting step. I have occasionally encountered issues running on the latest Ubuntu version, only to see it fixed a week later. So, trying an older version might address these situations.
On the other hand, sometimes the problem is temporary. For example, sometimes someone forgets to update an SSL certificate for one of the libraries. That happened last night at 1 AM to me. I could have switched distributions, but instead, I just went to bed and tried it in the morning and it all worked out.
Thanks for the digital ocean info @inertia
I might not need it now but I'm definitely saving this page for later. Got plans
This is a vital information, thanks for sharing this piece @inertia
Great.... I like it. Thanks for your information.
So it's pretty cheap for 5$. But scalling it most likely makes it quite expensive in the end :D
This is great advice. Generally, the bot should be able to pay for itself assuming you are providing a good enough service and regular updates.
I use vultr. They basically are a clone. I've had good luck with them too.
@drotto, @inertia
I mistakenly sent 141.581SBD, I had correctly typed correct amount 0.001SBD but something wrong happened at time of transaction and when transaction was completed it was showing 0SBD left in my account, plz refund my amount for this bid
https://steemit.com/homosexuality/@singhrajat/homosexuality-a-mental-disorder-indonesia-dc13a77c400bf
lucky people who are running bots because they are having handsome amount of saving and steempower, what is good for us?
Thanks for letting me know about this! May use this rather than AWS in the future!
Hello sir, if you don't mind, can you please help me to set up my bot.
I have created a droplet on digitalocean.com and compeleted almost all steps, now last step is remaining. How can I deploy postpromoter software on that droplet after setting node.js environment on Ubunto 17?
@inertia
Personally, I don't recommend using remote desktop. I only use the terminal, so I don't know if I can offer any advice. Doing a quick google search, it looks like you have to use the terminal to get VNC running, at least on a Linux droplet:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-configure-vnc-on-ubuntu-16-04