Dropbox should have used a Jumpbox | Hacker News Reader

Dropbox should have used a Jumpbox

thenextweb.org

10 pointsagentbleu9 comments

During our YC demo, we just used VMWare, dumped our server into it, changed the host file to point draftmix.com to the proper IP, and boom. So while investors were seeing our actual code in action (not some prerecorded, ideal situation version) it wasn't dependent on the internet.

Also amazing for us was the ability to snapshot. We started up a league, snapshotted, then ran from there, so that when the demo started, we could show a league in action.

I can appreciate the advantage of having my server environment on a USB drive, particularly if I don't want to lug my laptop to a demo, or my laptop is AWOL, or the situation calls for using someone else's computer. That seems very useful, and I can see the value of Jumpbox for those reasons alone. I know that it's also a breeze to fire up for ad-hoc development environments.

But when the only technical challenge is internet connectivity, such as in this case, what is the advantage of Jumpbox over VMWare or Parallels?

I agree with your premise that too many demos are done over the wire. Using a virtual domain on a virtual server IMO shows respect for your audience. Even if connectivity is strong at the beginning of a demo, one rogue audience member on bittorrent can make the presenter look foolish. API and cross domain calls will still draw bandwidth, but at least the parts you can control will be fast.

" .... what is the advantage of Jumpbox over VMWare or Parallels?"

Jumpbox runs on VMWare and Parallels. (And Xen and some other VM environments.)

Oh ok. I see it now. And the advantage then is that you begin with a full stack. Cool.

Yes. Plus, as someone else here pointed out, you can have a self-contained virtual "internet" to demo apps without needing an external connection.

the other advantages not listed here: -the JumpBox is portable across virtualization systems -the JumpBox can be brought up on EC2 if need be -you can use the backup/restore feature to create an archive of the delta of what changes you've made to the LAMP stack and just keep that. if you need a new copy, get a blank jumpbox and inject the backup into it and you're back where you were -we have a Rails stack as well as a LAMP stack which is even more of a time saver-> http://www.jumpbox.com/app/rubyonrails -the backup system integrates with your S3 acct so you have an offsite emergency copy while you're on the road

sean

They would then have had to clone s3 as well, is there a Jumpbox for that?

I think the best solution in this case would have been a hardwired connection with a EVDO card as backup.

You only need a mock, not a clone.

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