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  • I already have to do it every now and then, because I insisted on buying bare metal servers (at scale way) rather than VMs. These things die very abruptly, and I learnt the hard way how important are backups and config management systems.

    If I had to redo EVERYTHING, I would use terraform to provision servers, and go with a "backup, automate and deploy" approach. Documentation would be a plus, but with the config management I feel like I don't need it anymore.

    Also I'd encrypt all disks.

    • Also I’d encrypt all disks.

      What's the point on a rented VPS? The provider can just dump the decryption key from RAM.

      bare metal servers (at scale way) rather than VMs. These things die very abruptly

      Had this happen to me with two Dedibox (scaleway) servers over a few months (I had backups, no big deal but annoying). wtf do they do with their machines to burn through them at this rate??

      • I don't know if they can "just" dump the key from RAM on a bare metal server. Nevertheless, it covers my ass when they retire the server after I used it.

        And yeah I've had quite a few servers die on me (usually the hard drive). At this point I'm wondering if it isn't scheduled obsolescence to force you into buying their new hardware every now and then. Regardless, I'm slowly moving off scaleway as their support is now mediocre in these cases, and their cheapest servers don't support console access anymore, which means you're bound to using their distro.

        • I’d encrypt all disks. Nevertheless, it covers my ass when they retire the server after I used it.

          Good point. How do you unlock the disk at boot time? dropbear-initramfs and enter the passphrase manually every time it boots? Unencrypted /boot/ and store the decryption key in plaintext there?

          • I run openbsd on all my servers so I would be entering the passphrase manually at boot time. Saving the key on unencrypted /boot is basically locking your door and leaving the key on it :)

    • I would use terraform to provision servers, and go with a “backup, automate and deploy” approach. Documentation would be a plus

      Yea. This is what I do. Other than my Synology, I use Terraform to provision everything locally. And all my pi holes are controlled by ansible.

      Also everything is documented in trillium.

      Whole server regularly gets backed up multiple times, one is encrypted and the other via syncthing to my local desktop.

      • Terraform is the only missing brick in my case, but that's also because I still rent real hardware :) I'm not fond of my backup system tho, it works, but it's not included in the automated configuration of each service, which is not ideal IMO.

102 comments