off-site research setup?

S

sle

I am going to be traveling a fair bit and would like to set up a server that would allow me to do some R&D remotely. Here are my wants for this setup, maybe people could point me in right direction:
(1) *UX-based system, with access to shell, python/R/C++. Need to be able to write and test stuff in regular terminal environment.
(2) Need to be able to run iPython notebook (Jupiter), Rstudio Server and MongoDB - all are simple to set up but might require some admin permissions.
(3) Fair bit of storage space (100GB or more) and ability to schedule regular back-ups to another off-site machine (different company, of course).
(4) Ideally, it would be a fully hosted solution so I don't have to deal with hardware and basic system administration.

This is such an obvious thing to want that I am sure someone has researched it before me. What are we talking about in terms of cost per month? What are my choices? Any ideas or advice are welcome too!
 
Tim Smith said:
Erm..... ever heard of the cloud ? Sounds like exactly what you're asking for ?
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I have vaugly heard of it, it's that white thing that sometimes blocks the sun, right? :)

Seriously, though, I was asking for concrete ideas - which companies offer the features I need ? what sort of costs am I looking at? what are the trade-offs in terms of services? I figured someone which very similar requirements would have done the research and I can learn from other peoples mistakes.

PS. simple example - most cloud solutions are geared toward smaller web services, so they offer good traffic but poor computational resources, while I need exactly the opposite.
 
I think both AWS (Amazon) and Azure (MSFT) have what you are looking for. Not dirt cheap, but not expensive either. Mainly depends how much RAM/CPU you need. They have many different configurations, so its worth checking their websites to see what suits you.
 
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Why cannot you setup your own server/machine at your home and access it from remotely wherever you are? That way, your data/logic is secure you have access to it all the time.
 
The plus for the @kent setup is that you may be using a huge database that would be a pain to upload and setup on the vps.

Even for just application programming with minimal databases, I would like a vps that can accept a Virtual machine image that they can facilitate hosting. That way, I can shop amongst the vps providers. Setting up your application environment just right (Rstudio, Python Libraries, IDE's with updates) each time you move can be a time sink as well.

Is virtual machine image hosting and transferability possible?

@sle can you give us the size of the database portion?
 
Sle -- I have used this before:

https://get.gotomypc.com/

It's the old Citrix version of remote access, but for consumers / retail customers.

No static IP address needed.

- Setup a reasonable server in your basement.
- Connect it to your home wifi.
- Use your laptop as a dumb terminal anywhere in the world.

Windows - yes.
Unix / linux - unsure.
 
xandman said:
Setting up your application environment just right (Rstudio, Python Libraries, IDE's with updates) each time you move can be a time sink as well.
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You automate this. Are there VPS hosting that don't accept this? All the web app companies do this for development, using either vagrant or docker as far as I know. You can find pre-built containers or vagrant images for data science and customize to your needs.
 
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