美國大麥克的價錢

Hacker News 上看到「A site that tracks the price of a Big Mac in every US McDonald's (pantryandlarder.com)」這個,追蹤美國麥當勞裡的大麥克價錢:「McCheapest」。

這個明顯跟「大麥克指數」有關,而且因為美國不同州會有不同的稅務結構,所以可以預期不同地區的麥當勞價位不同,不過沒有預期到同一個州裡面也是各家店自行定價的...

目前網站上列出來最便宜的是奧克拉荷馬州的 US$3.49,最貴的在麻薩諸塞州的 US$8.09,價差到一倍以上... 順便提一下,目前在台灣大麥克的價錢是相同的 NT$75,約 US$2.4。

另外一個感到驚訝的是麥當勞東半部的密度比西半部高好多?還是這張資料沒顯示出來而已?

Amazon EC2 推出 m7a 系列的機種

上一篇完全讀錯段落了,重寫...

Amazon EC2 推出了新的 m7a 的機種:「New – Amazon EC2 M7a General Purpose Instances Powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC Processors」。

號稱與 m6a 相比有 50% 效能上的提升:

Today, we’re announcing the general availability of new, general purpose Amazon EC2 M7a instances, powered by the 4th Gen AMD EPYC (Genoa) processors with a maximum frequency of 3.7 GHz, which offer up to 50 percent higher performance compared to M6a instances.

不過查了一下價錢,us-east-1m6a.large 是 $0.0864/hr,m7a.large 則是 $0.11592/hr (都是 2 vCPU + 8GB RAM),漲了 34% 左右,如果計算 price performance 的話大約是 10%~15%?的確是不高所以不提 price performance,不過這次 m7a 提供了更小台的 m7a.medium (1 vCPU + 4GB RAM) 來補這塊 (m6a 最小的是 m6a.large),$0.05796/hr。

這樣看起來新的機種對於需要單核效能的應用應該會不錯?

再來是可以租到的區域,目前看起來只有歐美的傳統大區有,亞洲區還要再等等:

Amazon EC2 M7a instances are now available today in AWS Regions: US East (Ohio), US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), and EU (Ireland).

Linode 宣佈漲價 20%

兩個禮拜前才宣佈改名:「Linode 改名叫 Akamai Connected Cloud」,現在就宣佈漲價了:「Akamai’s Cloud Computing Services: Pricing Update」。

這次最注目的是這個,VPS 的部份漲 20%,只有最低的機種維持 US$5/mo:

The price of Shared and Dedicated compute plans will increase by 20%. Our shared Nanode plan remains unchanged at US$5 per month.

降 bandwidth overage cost 只是擺在一起好看而已。

Hacker News 上翻一下,也有不少討論:「Linode increases price of compute plans and more (linode.com)」。

先不提 AWS 在後面撐著的 AWS Lightsail,這樣看起來 Vultr 愈來愈有競爭性了?

AWS 推出了 Graviton3 的機種

Amazon EC2 推出了 Graviton3 的機種:「New Graviton3-Based General Purpose (m7g) and Memory-Optimized (r7g) Amazon EC2 Instances」。

第一波只有一般的 m7g 與記憶體型的 r7g,而計算型的 c7g 大家在 Twitter 上猜應該晚點會放出消息。在去年五月就推出了:「AWS 推出 c7g 機種」。

目前只在歐美的 us-east-1us-east-2us-west-2eu-west-1 區提供,亞洲目前都還沒有這些機種可以用:

M7g and R7g instances are available today in the US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Ireland) AWS Regions in On-Demand, Spot, Reserved Instance, and Savings Plan form.

官方宣稱比 Graviton2 的 m6g & r6g 多了 25% 的效能,不過我另外查了一下 us-east-1 上的價錢,也貴了 6% 左右,如果依照官方宣稱的數字計算,大約是 18% 左右的 CP 值提昇,對於有實際上跑滿的 CPU 的人是個不錯的效能提昇:

Today I am happy to tell you about the newest Amazon EC2 instance types, the M7g and the R7g. Both types are powered by the latest generation AWS Graviton3 processors, and are designed to deliver up to 25% better performance than the equivalent sixth-generation (M6g and R6g) instances, making them the best performers in EC2.

裡面有提到在 Graviton3 的一個架構上的大改變是記憶體從 DDR4 變到 DDR5,這使得記憶體的傳輸頻寬提昇了 50%:

Both types of instances are equipped with DDR5 memory, which provides up to 50% higher memory bandwidth than the DDR4 memory used in previous generations.

接下來是看有沒有下放到 t 系列的計畫,像是 t5g 之類的,有的話再用看看好了,不過 blog 這台已經買了三年 RI,等到期間滿了之後說不定都有 Graviton4 或是 Graviton5 了...

Amazon EC2 推出 c6a 的機器

Amazon EC2 以新的 AMD 架構 (雖然也推出一陣子了) 的機器推出 c 系列的機種,代號為 c6a:「New – Amazon EC2 C6a Instances Powered By 3rd Gen AMD EPYC Processors for Compute-Intensive Workloads」。

價位上與 c5a 相比便宜一點點,是真的一點點:在 us-east-1c5a.24xlarge 是 US$3.696/hr,而 c6a.24xlarge 是 US$3.672,差 0.65% 左右... (千分之六點五 XD)

所以宣稱的 15% 基本上都是從 CPU 效能提昇貢獻的:

Up to 15 percent improvement in compute price performance.

然後機器可以提供的範圍比較大台,c5a 最大到 c5a.24xlarge,而 c6a 支援了 c6a.32xlargec6a.48xlarge

目前亞洲區都還沒上,要再等等了:

C6a instances are available today in three AWS Regions: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), and EU (Ireland). As usual with EC2, you pay for what you use. For more information, see the EC2 pricing page.

另外這次推出後,EC2 的機種超過 500 種了,主要是靠排列組合弄出來的:

PS – With the launch of C6a instances there are now officially more than 500 Amazon EC2 instances for customers to choose from!

Raspberry Pi 4 2GB 版本「暫時」漲價,另外 1GB 版本回歸

Raspberry Pi 宣佈 Raspberry Pi 4 的 2GB 版本將從 US$35 漲到 US$45,另外本來淘汰掉的 1GB 版本回歸,賣 US$35:「Supply chain, shortages, and our first-ever price increase」。

In February last year, we announced that we were discontinuing the 1GB variant of Raspberry Pi 4, and moving the 2GB product to our signature price of $35. We’re still glad we did this, as countless young people made use of this device as they studied from home during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, cost increases caused by the current shortage mean that this product is not currently economically viable at this reduced price point. We are therefore moving it back to $45 on a temporary basis.

To support the many industrial customers who have designed the 2GB variant of Raspberry Pi 4 into their products, we are reintroducing the 1GB variant at the $35 price point. This provides a degree of choice: less memory at the same price; or the same memory at a higher price.

然後共用 40nm 製程的 3B+ 會暫時先被降低優先權,產能會優先提供給 CM3CM3+3B

In allocating our limited stocks of 40nm silicon, we will prioritise Compute Module 3, Compute Module 3+, and Raspberry Pi 3B, and deprioritise Raspberry Pi 3B+.

整個供應鏈的情況被炸的亂七八糟...

Amazon EC2 推出 m6i 的機器

AWS 給了公告,在 Amazon EC2 上面推出了 m6iIntel-based 新機種:「New – Amazon EC2 M6i Instances Powered by the Latest-Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors」。

這好像是第一次看到 Intel-based 機種加上了 i 的 suffix...

這次比較大的兩個差異,與 m5 相比,多出了 m6i.32xlarge

A larger instance size (m6i.32xlarge) with 128 vCPUs and 512 GiB of memory that makes it easier and more cost-efficient to consolidate workloads and scale up applications.

另外看了一下 us-east-1 上的單價,看起來與 m5 系列的機器價錢一樣,但是效能提昇了 15% (然後很假掰的寫了 price/performance?):

Up to 15% improvement in compute price/performance.

單以數字看起來的話還是 m6g 系列會比較香?當然如果只有 x86-64 binary 的話看起來還是可以考慮換到 m6i 上跑...

AWS 同一區的 VPC Peering 流量不收費了

AWS 在同一個 AZ 裡面的流量是不收費的,但如果是跨帳號的話,還是要當作 inter-AZ 流量 (收 USD$0.01/GB 的費用),現在則是宣佈不用了:「Amazon VPC Announces Pricing Change for VPC Peering」。

要注意的是不同帳號的 a 不一定相同 (像是 us-east-1a 在不同帳號對應到的實際 AZ 不同),得透過 AWS 提供的資料確認底層實際的 AZ 是哪個。

回朔到這個月月初生效:

Starting May 1st 2021, all data transfer over a VPC Peering connection that stays within an Availability Zone (AZ) is now free. All data transfer over a VPC Peering connection that crosses Availability Zones will continue to be charged at the standard in-region data transfer rates. You can use the Availability Zone-ID to uniquely and consistently identify an Availability Zone across different AWS accounts.

RDS 推出 ARM 版本

Amazon RDS 推出了 ARM 的版本:「New – Amazon RDS on Graviton2 Processors」,包含了 MySQLMariaDBPostgreSQL 的版本都有支援,不過看起來需要比較新版的才能用:

You can choose between M6g and R6g instance families and three database engines (MySQL 8.0.17 and higher, MariaDB 10.4.13 and higher, and PostgreSQL 12.3 and higher).

官方宣稱可以提供 35% 的效能提昇,考慮費用的部份會有 52% 的 c/p 值提昇:

Graviton2 instances provide up to 35% performance improvement and up to 52% price-performance improvement for RDS open source databases, based on internal testing of workloads with varying characteristics of compute and memory requirements.

對於 RDS 這種純粹就是個服務的應用來說,感覺應該不會有什麼轉移成本,只要測過沒問題,換過去等於就是現賺的。看起來等 RI 約滿了就可以切...

Google Cloud Platform 在台灣的機房可以開 Standard Network 的機器了

Google Cloud Platform 一開始是提供 Premium Network,會透過 Google 自家的網路骨幹連到最近的點,然後再透過當地的機房交換出去,這樣可以確保頻寬的穩定性,但成本當然也就比較高...

後來提供了 Standard Network 則是從機房出去後就直接交換,成本會比較低 (參考「Network Service Tiers - Custom Cloud Network」這篇),但在台灣的機房一直都沒有提供 Standard Network (好像是需要另外申請?),所以我每個月月底的時候都會測一下看看開放了沒... 然後剛剛發現可以開起來了,不確定是已經全開了還是分批開。

測了一下發現網路相當... 爛?是還在調整嗎...

像是 1.1.1.1 的 latency 很高 (自家的 8.8.8.8 當然就沒這個問題):

PING 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=48.9 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=48.5 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=48.5 ms

--- 1.1.1.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 48.554/48.691/48.964/0.193 ms

然後 168.95.1.1139.175.1.1 也都很差 (61.31.1.1 不給 ping):

PING 168.95.1.1 (168.95.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 168.95.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=239 time=21.2 ms
64 bytes from 168.95.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=239 time=21.3 ms
64 bytes from 168.95.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=239 time=21.4 ms

--- 168.95.1.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 21.276/21.367/21.454/0.072 ms
PING 139.175.1.1 (139.175.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 139.175.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=63.4 ms
64 bytes from 139.175.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=62.9 ms
64 bytes from 139.175.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=62.9 ms

--- 139.175.1.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 62.967/63.139/63.455/0.303 ms

不過學術網路倒是還不錯:

PING 140.112.2.2 (140.112.2.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 140.112.2.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=5.13 ms
64 bytes from 140.112.2.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=4.40 ms
64 bytes from 140.112.2.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=4.52 ms

--- 140.112.2.2 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 4.405/4.690/5.138/0.325 ms
PING 140.113.250.135 (140.113.250.135) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 140.113.250.135: icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=5.87 ms
64 bytes from 140.113.250.135: icmp_seq=2 ttl=55 time=5.97 ms
64 bytes from 140.113.250.135: icmp_seq=3 ttl=55 time=6.11 ms

--- 140.113.250.135 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2002ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 5.872/5.987/6.119/0.135 ms
PING 140.117.11.1 (140.117.11.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 140.117.11.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=242 time=9.52 ms
64 bytes from 140.117.11.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=242 time=9.17 ms
64 bytes from 140.117.11.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=242 time=9.20 ms

--- 140.117.11.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 9.172/9.298/9.521/0.176 ms

有需要的人可以測試看看了...