M5 Cloud is a highly available (HA) cloud computing platform built for speed and flexibility. M5 Cloud allows you to create virtual machines within minutes, using a convenient web interface or a programmable API. With independently adjustable CPU, memory, and disk space, M5 Cloud allows you to resize each virtual machine to have exactly the combination of resources you need, often without the need to reboot! Virtual machines and disks can be hot-migrated, allowing you to move between hypervisors, and allowing us to conduct hardware maintenance, all with zero downtime. And M5 Cloud’s “Standard” storage is already twice as fast as Amazon EBS and SoftLayer.
M5 Cloud also offers custom template creation, load-balanced clustering, ssh key management, and the use of private networking between nodes.
Fast, Highly Available Storage
Having “HA” storage means that M5 has provided redundancy at every point from the power and storage hardware all the way through the network to the hypervisor. The M5 Cloud storage runs on a fully redundant cluster. Each storage node has its own redundant disk arrays, RAID controller (with battery backup), dual power supplies, and UPS power backup. The storage nodes are replicated in real-time over Infiniband for minimal latency.
Why is this better than local storage (VPSes)? Local storage can be faster, but it is also volatile. If the physical hardware housing your VM fails, then your data is simply gone. M5 Cloud has pulled out all the stops to make your storage both fast and reliable.
Wicked-fast Networking
The M5 Cloud network is fast, low-latency, and redundant. It uses a converged network fabric with redundant switches and dual bonded 10 gigabit ethernet to every storage node, backup server, and hypervisor. The channel bonding hash algorithm uses layers 3 and 4 to get maximum total throughput, and hardware flow control prevents dropped packets during TCP “microbursts”. All maintenance can be performed with zero downtime and no perceivable effect on performance. If any port or cable fails, there is ample capacity on the remaining link.
And M5 Cloud sits behind M5 Hosting’s world-class network, with multiple upstream providers, a direct connection to the Any2 Exchange, and leveraging the power of the InterNAP Flow Control Platform to optimize outbound routes.
Guaranteed Compute Resources
M5 Cloud computing resources are not oversold. You are paying for a CPU guarantee and a certain amount of RAM, and those resources are never allocated to anyone else until you relinquish them. You can of course burst your CPU usage above your guarantee, taking advantage of any unused capacity on those cores, which will be shared by other VMs on that hypervisor. But your base CPU allocation is guaranteed. This is not the case with all cloud hosting providers.
Compare Our Cloud
| Capability | M5 Cloud | Amazon AWS | Rackspace | SoftLayer |
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| Largest RAM instance | 80GB | 68GB | 30GB | 16GB |
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| Local Block Storage | None | ephemeral | persistent | persistent |
| Burstable CPU | |
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| Adjustable CPU | |
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| Autoscaling | |
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| Persistent Instances | |
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| Hybrid Hosting Available | |
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| Resize CPU/RAM w/o reboot | |
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| Automatic migration on hardware failure | |
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| Out-of-band console | |
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| Integrated Anycast DNS | |
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| Integrated CDN | |
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| Get Started! |