This is brilliant. I'm flabbergasted why every single virtual server I've ever tried has had some gotcha that made it agonizing. Why is it so hard to have one-click templates that give you a server that can run 90% of what a user needs, say apache/php/ruby/node/mysql/postgresql/ssh with cpanel (or equivalent), already installed and set up "the right way" so you can easily add domains? I know the reasons why this hasn't happened, but I don't care. I want to know the real reason it hasn't happened, and I think it has a lot to do with every problem looking like a nail. I laugh at hosting providers, for failing so spectacularly at giving customers what they want. Good on this site for finally pointing out the obvious.
The CAPTCHA really cramps your 'instant' style :( It would be great if it had more convenient ways of preventing abuse. Perhaps look at IP/current server load/user agent patterns/etc to give most people the benefit of the doubt, and only fall back to a CAPTCHA in edge cases?<p>Thinking about it more, just using an easier CAPTCHA would go along way to making it more user friendly. ReCaptha is hard. It usually takes me 2-3 squinting tries to get it right :/
This is great, but I'd just prefer to use Vagrant and VirtualBox for vanilla Ubuntu VMs that I intend to destroy. It's so easy to set up and I can use it longer than 30 minutes, for free, if I desire.
First thought, isn't this a tad dangerous for the supplier? There seems to be nothing stopping me from using huge amounts of bandwidth just to screw with them. Or if I really was a bad guy, how much of an effective dos attack could be launched on ec2 hosted sites in the same az from these servers?
Same thing here, but with a lot more flexibility: <a href="https://zrh.cloudsigma.com/ui/#/trynow" rel="nofollow">https://zrh.cloudsigma.com/ui/#/trynow</a>
Interesting. <a href="http://simpleredis.com" rel="nofollow">http://simpleredis.com</a> is a similar service, but for Redis instances (for testing, CI etc), including a nice console. Instances terminates after one hour, but you can run an instance forever if you validate your email.<p>Been thinking about doing the same for VPS, but using LXC instead (actually already using it for internally for running tests, CI etc).
Once you have an account with Linode, spinning up another node is quick and painless, and with way more options.<p>Plus they're up front with their billing - I need to send in a question and wait for a email response on how much it will cost to keep it longer then 30 minutes?<p>I'll pass. His concept is to SAVE TIME, yet with all the missing details, it will end up costing more time (and probably money) then it's worth.
So ok, it copies an AMI and fires it up, thats not real exciting, right?<p>If you are "doing it right" you can actually get a freshly installed server in under 60 seconds if your installer isn't totally busted (IE: stock ubuntu/centos/etc).
<a href="https://bitnodes.io" rel="nofollow">https://bitnodes.io</a> offers small instance for free for 1 hour when you use coupon code "hn" but you win hands down with that built-in terminal!