zfs.rent

general availability:

Email support@zfs.rent with any questions.

Subscribe to our mailing list.

purpose:

Simple cloud service to store ZFS snapshots, ala:

$ zfs send -v -R -I pool/snapshot_034 pool/snapshot_042 |\
    ssh marvin@marvin.zfs.rent zfs recv -v -Fu pool/snapshots

(Or, BTFS, etc... Create an ext4 partition and rsync your data. The VPS is included!)

how:

We rent out KVM virtual machines with dedicated hard drives. There is no sharing/over-committing.

You will receive an email with the following:

• root password
• dedicated IPv4 address -- mapped to a subdomain of your choosing
  • e.g. marvin.zfs.rent
• pre-formatted + mounted ZFS Storage Pool (zpool)
  • Although! Feel free to wipe the device and configure it from scratch.

The drives are attached as passthrough SCSI or SATA devices. They show up as /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc.

Users have a choice of:

• OpenZFS + CentOS 8.2   (maintence support until 2029 2021)
• OpenZFS + Ubuntu 20.04 (maintence support until 2025)
• OpenZFS + Debian 10.7  (maintence support until 2024)
• No Pre-installed OS
  • i.e. attach a Linux .iso and install the OS via an HTTPS-tunneled VNC client.

encryption:

ZFS supports native encryption and snapshotting. Once you have access to your instance, you can configure your keys. Basically, once per boot, you need to run zfs load-key -a and punch in your passphrase. Given our datacenter's history, we believe that re-entering your keys will be a rarity. But if system power-loss occurs, user data will be encrypted-at-rest. At any time, users can issue sudo reboot to ensure their encrypted datasets are safe from physical seisure.

datacenter:

DataNOC in Rancho Cordova, CA.

pricing:

setup time:

After a successful first payment, your KVM instance will be created and your credentials will be emailed to you within 24 hours. Physical drives are loaded on the 1st of each month and attached to their VMs.

terms of service + SLA:

See terms-of-service.txt