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The UpCloud infrastructure-as-a-service is designed around redundancy and high availability, and a core part of it is the separation of computation and storage. The redundancy-enabled storage backends are hosted independently from the compute nodes which allows instant operation failover in case of a fault in any part of the system as well as operational load transfer for maintenance purposes.
The compute nodes and storage backends are connected using InfiniBand networking for maximum throughput and minimum latency. It has been the most commonly used interconnection standard in supercomputer environments and serves an integral function in our cloud infrastructure.
Cloud servers on UpCloud are deployed on high-performance redundancy-enabled block storage, a standard storage technology in cloud servers, analogous to hard drives in physical computers.
All block storage is served from a storage area network where block storage devices are stored in clusters of two separate storage backends to ensure high performance and availability. Additionally, data on the storage backends are stored on multiple disks in a RAID array to further improve redundancy.
Users have a choice between MaxIOPS and HDD storage tiers with user-selectable capacity.
Each storage device can be scaled from 10 GB up to a maximum of 4 TB per volume in 1 GB increments.
Cloud servers can attach up to 8 concurrent storage devices per server to a total of 32 TB of storage.
| MaxIOPS | HDD | |
|---|---|---|
| Use case | High-performance databases, web servers and applications. | High-capacity data storage |
| Capacity | 10 GB – 4 TB | 10 GB – 4 TB |
| Performance (4K block size) | Read 100k IOPS Write 30k IOPS | Read 3200 IOPS Write 3200 IOPS |
| Availability zones | All zones | All zones |
MaxIOPS is our in-house developed storage technology that enables read performance of over 100k IOPS at 4k block size. It’s offered as the default storage tier for all Cloud Servers. MaxIOPS provides the same performance level regardless of storage device size or plan pricing.
HDD storage is the alternative to MaxIOPS when capacity and cost-effectiveness are more important than performance. It uses the same redundancy-ensured technology as our proprietary MaxIOPS storage but with high-capacity HDD devices for low-cost storage.
General Purpose, High CPU and High Memory plans include MaxIOPS storage up to the allocated quota by default. If the server has multiple storage devices, the largest storage that fits within the plan quota is counted as part of the plan. Any additional storage devices are priced per GB per month.
| Predefined plans* | Additional storage | |
|---|---|---|
| MaxIOPS | €0 within quota | €0.22 per GB |
| HDD | €0.056 per GB | €0.056 per GB |
Object storage allows users to create data containers called buckets to store files as data objects.
Users can deploy and manage Object Storage instances at their UpCloud Control Panel and API. It’s possible to create as many Object Storage instances as users may need for their storage capacity requirements.
Object Storage instances can be accessed anonymously via HTTPS, the UpCloud control panel and the S3-compliant API, accessed from a Cloud Server over the secure Utility Network.
Plans for Object storage include a set amount of storage and a transfer quota per month:
| Storage | Transfer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 250 GB | 500 GB | €5 |
| 500 GB | 1000 GB | €10 |
| 1000 GB | 2000 GB | €20 |
Additional public network transfer is priced at €0.01 per GB.
Backups on UpCloud create instant one-to-one snapshots of an entire storage device without interruption or slowing down the Cloud Server operations.
UpCloud users have two options for scheduling backups of their Cloud Servers – easy-to-use Simple Backups, and custom-scheduled Flexible Backups. In addition, users have the option to take manual instant on-demand backups.
Backup plans are configured on a per-server basis at the UpCloud Control Panel or via our API. On-demand backups are taken manually off a specific storage device.
All backups are stored in the same data centre as the origin Cloud Server to enable fast restoration. Users can arrange offsite backups, for example, using backup cloning for disaster recovery.
Simple Backups offer packaged backup plans with a number of concurrent snapshots at a rotating schedule. The plans for Simple Backup include backups of the main system storage for a predefined plan Cloud Server with a week, month, or year retention period.
When a Simple Backup plan is enabled, the number of concurrent backups of a cloud server increases as new backups are made until the maximum number of backups afforded by the plan is reached and the oldest backup is deleted.
Users can select from the following options:
| Price | Daily backups | Weekly backups | Monthly backups | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week Plan | +20% | 7 days | ||
| Month Plan | +40% | 7 day | 4 weeks | |
| Year Plan | +60% | 7 day | 4 weeks | 12 months |
Additionally, users can choose the time of the day each backup is taken.
Note that if the Simple Backups plan is disabled or the Cloud Server is deleted, all existing backups are converted to on-demand backups and kept until deleted by the user.
Flexible Backups allow users to configure their own backup schedules and retention periods as required. Users have the option to set snapshot schedules daily or weekly on a specific day of the week.
Each scheduled backup is kept for a set duration according to the selected retention period of either 1-6 days, 1-4 weeks or 1-12 months.
On-demand backups offer instant snapshots of the selected storage devices and can be taken manually at any time.
On-demand backups are not automatically deleted and will be kept until the user manually deletes the backup.
Simple Backups are priced with a fixed monthly rate according to the selected plan at either +20%, +40% or +60% of the monthly Cloud Server plan it is applied. For example, the Week plan together with the €13 General Purpose plan would cost [€13 + (20% * €13) ] = €15.60 per month. With Simple Backup, the price is always the same, irrespective of how many backups are currently stored.
All storage devices that are not part of a plan are priced at the excess storage price (€0.05/€0.10/€0.15 per GB per month). This is analogous to how excess storage is priced for Cloud Servers.
Additional backups and backups of storage devices outside the General Purpose, High CPU and High Memory plans are priced at €0.056 per GB per month.
Flexible Backups can create a number of backup snapshots which are each priced at €0.056 per GB per month.
The total monthly cost depends on the number of backups taken, their retention period and the size of the storage devices being backed up. This means that the monthly cost accumulates over time as the schedule creates new backups until the retention period is reached and the oldest backup is deleted.
On-demand backups are individually priced at €0.056 per GB per month.
Backups are full snapshots of a storage device that can be used to revert changes on the origin storage. Any backup can be restored directly onto its origin storage devices which reverts the storage in its entirety to an earlier saved state.
The backup restoration process can take some time depending on the backup size and how recently the backup was taken. The most recent backups are kept on an active storage backend allowing quick restoration while older snapshots are archived on dedicated backup servers.
The cloud server must be shut down during the backup restoration process.
Alternatively to restoring to the origin storage, backups can be cloned to a new storage device which can then be mounted onto any Cloud Server allowing system-level access to the backup files. The new storage can also be used as a primary storage device to run an earlier state of the Cloud Server independently of the origin server.
Cloning a backup also allows users to transfer their backups off-site by selecting a different data centre where the backup is stored. Cloning to a different location will take time depending on the size of the backup. However, the process is performed independently of the Cloud Server the backup was taken from and does not require downtime of the server.
We offer users ready-to-go templates of the most popular Linux distributions and the latest Windows Server versions. Using the templates is the fastest way to deploy new fresh Cloud Server instances.
Users have the choice of the following system templates:
We strive to keep the templates up-to-date by periodically updating the templates with patches and the latest security updates. Users are advised to always update their operating system after deployment and to make sure the operating system is always kept up-to-date.
Additionally, we have made the templated operating systems as well as a wide range of alternative distribution available in the form of CD installation media. These can be used to manually install any of the following operating systems:
Users can also import their own installation media by uploading an operating system installation image using the Storage Import feature.
Any system storage device can be used to create a new custom image to deploy new Cloud Servers. Custom images are user-configured templates that can be used to deploy new Cloud Servers on demand. Using our custom images, users can create their own Cloud Server templates to cut down on the configuration time from deployment to production.
Custom images are made available only in the data centre the origin storage is located and can only be deployed within the same data centre. To make the custom image available in other locations, the user is required to create a custom image in each data centre they wish to use the image.
Custom images are priced at €0.22 per GB per month per image.
The Storage Import service allows users to easily import installation media or entire virtual machine images to their UpCloud account. This enables users to quickly migrate servers from on-premise or any other cloud by creating new storage out of their server image and deploying it to a Cloud Server.
Storage Import works by creating a new installation media or server storage out of any system or server image available online by fetching the requested file and importing it onto a new storage device.
The import service supports the following file types:
The target storage needs to be free and not in operation by being either:
The system image or installation media being imported needs to be made available for download for the Storage Import service to be able to retrieve it. The process supports the use of HTTPS and Basic Auth for secure upload.
We follow the highest standard of data privacy and UpCloud has no visibility or access to users’ cloud server storage. As such, we are unable to provide operating system-level support on users’ behalf even if requested by the user.
We do not share personal data with third parties outside of UpCloud’s organization unless necessary to provide you with our services or for legal reasons. The full details can be found in our Privacy policy.