I spent some time learning the Azure and the other cloud tech last year. And realized that the cloud is meant for the people who have the money in the pocket. And they want to get the results lot quickly. So that is one of the reasons there is still the market of the VPS, Dedicated server and the small hosts.
So as I got into the blockchain like Hive and others like flow. I wanted to explore how much would it cost for anyone to develop the smart contracts and run on the node. And I wanted to know how much would be the investment as a developer it would get you.
So let's break down some of the set of the investments that you are supposed to do while hosting your blockchain project. I will give you a general idea about where the funds are likely to go. You can choose where to spend be it cloud, VPS or your own dedicated server.
RAM and HDD
A lot of people make use of the RAM around 8GB or higher. Min 8GB is required for most of the blockchain docker images that run. You would only have to enter the configurations settings and the address where you would be getting the node rewards. In hive case it could be something like hive username. I have not set hive node myself so a bit clueless on the process but I have recently setup few other blockchains node so I know their process.
HDD or SSD are the choice that people make at the time of the setting up the node server. I guess the HDD is still cheaper but long term you would be moving to the SSD any way. It all depends on what you choose to invest into. And the type of investment you do makes the difference in most of the cases.
Intel or AMD or NVIDIA
Cloud and the VPS providers give you choice of the Intel and the AMD. You can choose that depending on your own preference. Most of the time there does not make any strong difference unless your software demands it. NVIDIA GPU addition can make a difference if there are too many ledger load and also computation based or proof of work based chains you are dealing with it. That's what I have noticed so far.
Region and Pricing
Now this is where you would choose the VPS or the Cloud option. Like you would choose cloud if you want more control over the region and also the load balancers that are cheaper with the cloud cost. In case of the pricing, it can be cheaper with the VPS and you would need the choice here to make if you wish to host the node.
I have just started learning this but if I want to make some rewards or money as a node operator for any blockchain, I have to think of my investment into the Cloud and VPS with some focus and I have to plan my approach for the investment such that I can afford the node and also get the rewards enough to make it profitable.
So the journey continues into blockchain development and node operator lessons. So in near future you can expect me being node operator of some blockchains if god willing and funds in a pocket allow me to.