[SSL Observatory] Using the SSL Observatory in the cloud

[Chris Palmer]

Has anybody tried this yet?

I'd like to get some feedback on it and then for us (EFF) to publish this HOWTO on our site, soon.


On Mar 2, 2011, at 2:53 PM, Peter Eckersley wrote:

> This is a draft HOWTO for accessing and analysing SSL Observatory data using
> Amazon EC2.  Feedback or corrections are appreciated.
> 
> 1. Make an EC2 account:
> 
>   http://aws.amazon.com/ec2
> 
> 2. Make a copy of the EBS snapshot that contains our data
> 
>   https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home#s=Snapshots
> 
>   select Viewing: "Public Snapshots"
> 
>   search for:  snap-9010a2fc
> 
>   select the snapshot and click "Create Volume".
> 
>   You'll need to choose which data center to work in.  Virginia is a bit
>   cheaper than other parts of the world.
> 
> 3. Create a virtual machine instance for yourself.  The available list of
>   systems and hourly prices is here:
> 
>   http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
>   http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/
> 
>   EC2 images come in odd sizes.  For queries over the valid_certs table
>   you'll probably get good performance with ~8GB of RAM.  For queries over
>   all_certs 17GB *might* suffice; but 34GB is safer.
> 
>   We've mostly been using "spot instances" which are noticeably cheaper but
>   have the possibility of disappearing if the price spikes above your bid.
>   Or you can pay more to avoid that possibility.
> 
>   We've been using the following "Community AMI" virtual machine image for our work:
> 
>   alestic-64/debian-6.0-squeeze-base-64-20090804.manifest.xml
>   ami-2946a740
> 
>   Conceivably you could use any of the linux images provided it can mount JFS
>   filesystems.
> 
>   Make sure you put your volume in the same data center that you selected in
>   step 2.
> 
>   Along the way you'll make an SSH key that you can use to log in to this
>   system.  With the debian image you log in as root.  The IP address is
>   visible under Amazon's "Instances" menu.
> 
> 4. Attach your volume to your virtual machine:
> 
>   https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home#s=Volumes
> 
>   I'm going to assume you attach it as /dev/sdf
> 
> 5. Log in to your virtual machine.
> 
>   mkdir /space
>   mount /dev/sdf1 /space
>   cd /space
>   ./setup-script
> 
>   You will be asked a question about language settings. en_US-UTF8  works.
> 
>   You will be asked to set the msyql root user password.  Set it to "root"
>   (or change dbconnect.py and obsdb to match your alternative password).
> 
>   Now you can run "obsdb" 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Peter Eckersley                            pde at eff.org
> Senior Staff Technologist         Tel  +1 415 436 9333 x131
> Electronic Frontier Foundation    Fax  +1 415 436 9993
> 

-- 
Chris Palmer
Technology Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/code