Looks like you can get a Discourse-compatible “cloud” server for € 2.49 / $ 3 from Hetzner now.
The price point to host Discourse keeps going down.
That looks good, really thanks for sharing it! Thought of making a mini Discourse instance on DigitalOcean, I’ll take a look into Hetzner instead though. Best regards!
Thanks, @falco. Have you (or anyone?) tried Hetzner? I’m preparing a list of “recommended” (or “approved” or “it should work and be easy enough for a novice to figure out”) VPS provides. Should this be on the list?
I haven’t used a Hetzner VPS, but I have physical machines at Hetzner, and they’re a reasonable provider with an acceptable level of service and support.
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I tried to test it, but they want me to send my passport over to activate my account and I’m not that interested now 
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The open source project I managed for years used Hetzner for cheap dedicated hosting. No complaints!
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We are using their VPS for Discourse and it’s really good. I didn’t know for this cloud option, thanks for sharing, we will check out. Currently we are on their CX40 package (19.90€/mo) and we never had any problems.
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Hetzer has offered VPS for years, but this new product line is cheaper. I wonder how these differ from the classic product line that is still available.
https://www.hetzner.com/virtual-server
Hetzner is a solid operator. Support is only available during office hours, and servers never break during office hours.
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Looks like you have some battle scars 
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Building the web since 1996, online since 1985.
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I tested the € 2.49 server (CX11). I could install Discourse & restore a local backup successfully. CPU: Intel Xeon Processor (Skylake, IBRS) 2100Mhz.
They sent me an email asking for a copy of ID. I sent an email by masking all private information. The account got approved. I never got an email notification of approval though. We need to login to check the approval. I asked them if I can pay in advance via paypal. But, advance payment is only possible with wire transfer. Best regards.
Quick note for European users: those are the prices without VAT. If you’re in Germany, for example, the price will be 2.96 €, in Sweden 3.11 € etc, depending on your local tax rate.
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I’m based in Spain, and activated and tested the service without sharing my passport (maybe because I used a credit card from EU and that’s why it was not needed more ID details).
The console seems great, very responsive.
I really liked it. 
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Got the account setup fine.
To the project you then add a server.
Does the data centre performance differ from UK?
Choice of Nurenberg - Falkenstein - Helsinki
Which OS is preferred?
Ubuntu 18.04 - Fedora 29 -
Debian 9 - Centos 7
I am using Ubuntu 18.04 with server in Nuremberg serving mostly users in Slovenia. Very happy with the service.
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Ubuntu would have been my default choice but I thought I would check in with you guys!
Thanks for the input Luka 
Is MailGun a good fit for Ubunta / Hetzner / Discourse?
How do you handle backups on their platform?
I also use MailGun - if you are in Europe, take care that you create EU region setup, to ensure that servers for mail are in EU.
I have backups done by Discourse and then from my home NAS a script daily copies backups and log files via rsync. This works for me for now, as my forum is still small.
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If your domain comes from Gandi.net, you can use their free email service, that gives you 2 mail accounts, but only need one:
- Setup one email account for Discourse (keep the password at hand)
- I use one of the 1000 permitted aliases for the contact email and another (
replies-*) for email replies.
- I use one of the 1000 permitted aliases for the contact email and another (
- Setup one of the infinite redirections for each group and category emails to point to that account.
- Setup Discourse to use this email with POP3 and SMTP.
You’re set.
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Hi Guys
Do you know any other service that you can create account using passport data and pay at end of the month?
I found this option very interesting in hetzner and looking for any other alternative which provide this
Last I checked you could create a Digital Ocean account with just a credit card and get billed at the end of the month.
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