This feature allows users to create their own deployable Template Images, it can also be used to duplicate a current VPS, here is how the process looks

On Your VPS overview, make sure you have backups enabled, and select the backups tab:

On the backup tab, select to create a “new backup”, after then option to “convert to template” will appear:

The Image creation process will start, until it’s done you wont be able to generate new VM’s using the new image, it can take around 15 minutes for the process to complete for a 1GB image (actual storage size in use):

Meanwhile, you can edit the template (under managed VPSs -> Manage Custom Templates) and Edit it with your own description and Extra info:

Once the template has been successfully created, you are then able to deploy it over and over again, or use it to replicate your current VM:
  

In the near future we will introduce the ability for users to download/upload these templates (for local testing and modifications), and migrate/copy them to another Cloud, also at the moment all accounts are limited to 1 FREE custom template slot, the ability to purchase additional slots will also be added soon.

What exactly is a template ?

A template means your image can be deployed by the VPS.NET provisioning system, a new IP, Hostname and root password will be assigned during the provisioning system, just like our standard images do.

Also, please notice the template is not linked to the original VPS, deleting or modifying the original VPS source will not affect the template.

Enjoy

                          

With this new feature, you are now able to schedule a burst of nodes to your VPS for when you need it, and only pay for those nodes on a daily rate of $1 (£1 in UK) per node.

So how does it work ?, simple on your VPS view you now have this new Tab:

Inside it you are able to schedule a “Burst” of nodes for that VPS, there are 2 kinds of bursts, “temporary” and “permanent”

On temporary you can select to add a number of nodes to your VPS at a certain date and time and keep it there for a determined period of days, with this choice, you are charged $1 USD / £1 GBP per day per node you are using extra, at the end of the period those nodes will simply go away.

On permanent, you can schedule your VPS to be upgraded to a certain number of nodes, the nodes will be permanently added to your account and assigned to the VPS, you can at a later date remove them if you wish, those nodes are charged at the standard monthly rates.

Once assigned you are able to quickly view upcoming scheduled upgrades, you can also remove any scheduled upgrades before they occur and not be charged for it, charing only happens when the upgrade runs.

Why this feature one might ask ?, there are many instances when your VPS might need that extra resource boost, a good example for a temporary boost is used on these screenshots, say you have a mailing-list to send to your customers, notifying of something new or a special on your website, it can be a good idea to boost your VPS resources to coincide with the mailing-list so you can ensure your site wont be overloaded when that sudden influx of visitors comes to your website.

As for permanent, if you know you will need more resources from a certain date onwards, you can now schedule your upgrades so your not paying for the period before when you dont yet need it, it’s just piece of mind and another way VPS.NET shows how flexible our system is.

In the near future we will be adding “Recurring Scheduled Bursts”, so you can set temporary boosts on a recurring fashion.

Keep looking for many more great features, we keep working to amaze you.

                          

The new main CP page

The Overview Page

And everybody’s favorite, the new KVM-Like Shell page.

                          

Not bad when you consider we have not yet ran any advertising on VPS.NET, nor our US Cloud is setup yet (it will be next week)… The VPS.NET team is overjoyed with the response we have got from the current Beta members (150+), everybody seem to love the incredibly easy and fast deployment method, using our “Node Slider”, plus the piece of mind that comes from hosting in the cloud.

And still we have much more to come, so stay tuned and visit often

                          

The results speak wonders for the local network

root@storm:/tmp# wget http://83.170.64.15/speedtest.256mb
–10:46:33– http://83.170.64.15/speedtest.256mb
=> `speedtest.256mb’
Connecting to 83.170.64.15:80… connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
Length: 268,435,456 (256M) [text/plain]

100%[====================================>] 268,435,456 91.03M/s

10:46:35 (90.94 MB/s) – `speedtest.256mb’ saved [268435456/268435456]

Yeah, thats as close to 1Gbs as you can get

                          

Almost there .. one more day and we will be sending the signup info and unique beta codes, but from those of us internally that have already setup some VPS Nodes … trust me, the wait is worthed it, you will love it !!

                          

root@my:~# wget http://mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net/centos/5.2/isos/x86_64/CentOS-5.2-x86_64-bin-1of7.iso

–15:35:17– http://mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net/centos/5.2/isos/x86_64/CentOS-5.2-x86_64-bin-1of7.iso

   => `CentOS-5.2-x86_64-bin-1of7.iso’

Resolving mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net… 93.89.90.2

Connecting to mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net|93.89.90.2|:80… connected.

HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK

Length: 652,449,792 (622M) [application/x-iso9660-image]

100%[======================================================================================================>] 652,449,792 18.87M/s ETA 00:00

15:35:47 (21.26 MB/s) – `CentOS-5.2-x86_64-bin-1of7.iso’ saved [652449792/652449792]

Thats 210Mps … sweeet

                          

Having said that, I’m just writting a small post to show you the Ram available for the Beta period from the UK cloud .. 320GB

Thats way biggest than most people’s Hard Drives, and keep in mind, this is just the beginning, after the beta that number will be in the Terabytes … Yay !!

                          

As I look to my calendar for the 50th time today, I am rushed with a feeling of overjoy with the fact in 10 days we put forward the best Virtual Private Server Cloud ever released, to be poked, tested and abused by it’s Beta Testers, but I am also left with lots of anxiety when I look at all the network graphs, over 10K lines of new code for the back-end (so far, plus another 500k lines of licensed code), hundreds .. no, thousands of man-hours, a truckload of servers and countless spools of fiber cable .. and a whole lot of fun putting it all together.

Since we closed the Beta, we had a few more people “liaison” their way into the Beta program by calling a friend of a friend who knows a friend who can get them in, so by the time we said “No More !!!“, locked the office doors and refused to answer the phone to internal calls, the total Beta Pool stood at close to 100 people!!

… We cant wait

                          

A few interesting fact of the participants:

Location:

As expected, the majority where from the UK & US, but 1/3 are from a wide variety of geo locations.

VPS Experience:

Seeing that VPS.NET is an advanced cloud system, it’s no surprise to see so many Advanced users interested on it, but it’s worth noticing the interest of people who never had a VPS before, a VPS.NET Virtual Private Server ensures those people startup with the best possible system

We are on target to initiate the beta by the end of this month (January), everybody who signed up will receive more information on how to proceed by then.

cheers.