Japan Market Insights: SoftBank’s SSD Servers In Japan – An Analysis Of New Models And Package Changes

1.

Overview: Key features of new models and packages

- First, check on the official product page whether the new model is an NVMe/PCIe SSD, paying attention to the IOPS and bandwidth specifications.
- Record the CPU, memory, SSD capacity, public network bandwidth, and backup strategy for each package to facilitate comparison.

2.

Step 1: Registration and Real-name Verification

- Visit the SoftBank Cloud or hosting page and click “Register/New User”.
- Fill in company or personal information, upload identification (passport or residence card) and address proof, then submit it for review (usually 24-72 hours).

3.

Step 2: Methods for Comparing Models and Packages

- List comparison: CPU cores, memory, SSD type (SATA/NVMe), IOPS, bandwidth, snapshot/backup costs.
- Estimate using actual load: Small websites: 1-2 cores/2-4GB; for databases or high concurrency, NVMe+4 cores or more is recommended.

4.

Step 3: Ordering and Network/Bandwidth Settings

- Log in to the console, select the region (the Tokyo metropolitan area usually has the lowest latency), and choose the image (Ubuntu/CentOS/Windows).
- Enter the SSH public key or set an initial password, and choose whether to enable a public IP, reverse DNS, and firewall rules.

5.

Step 4: Initial system deployment (using Ubuntu as an example)

- Connect: ssh ubuntu@public IP (or access via the console).
- Update system: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y.
- Create users and configure sudo: sudo adduser deploy && usermod -aG sudo deploy.

6.

Step 5: SSD Partition and File System Optimization

- View disk: lsblk. Identify new SSDs such as /dev/nvme0n1 or /dev/sdb.
- Partition (Interactive Example): sudo fdisk /dev/nvme0n1 -> n -> w.
- Format: sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p1. Mounting and Persistence: Edit /etc/fstab and add UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/nvme0n1p1) /data ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2.
- Enable TRIM: sudo fstrim -v /data or set up a scheduled task (/etc/cron.weekly/fstrim).

7.

Step 6: Performance and IO Tuning

- Adjust I/O scheduler: echo noop | sudo tee /sys/block/nvme0n1/queue/scheduler (use noop or none for NVMe).
- File system parameters: For XFS or ext4, consider using noatime and nodiratime, and adjust swappiness: sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10 and write it to /etc/sysctl.conf.
- Monitoring: Install iotop and iostat (sudo apt install sysstat iotop) to observe bottlenecks.

8.

Step Seven: Backup, Snapshot, and Scaling Processes

- It is recommended to enable official snapshots or third-party backups, and manually create snapshots before each major change.
- Scaling process: After adding a disk to the console or adjusting the package to expand the SSD, online expand the partition (growpart) and enlarge the file system: sudo growpart /dev/nvme0n1 1 && sudo resize2fs /dev/nvme0n1p1.

9.

Step Eight: Actual steps to migrate from the old plan to the new plan

- Prepare: Take a full backup or snapshot of the existing instance, and export the database backup (mysqldump or pg_dump).
- Place an order for a new model in the console, deploy the system, and configure the network security group.
- Restore data: Use scp/rsync to transfer data to the new host, restore the database, and switch DNS or load balancing to the new IP. After verification, delete the old instance.

10.

Question: How much can new SSD models improve website performance?

- Answer: The improvement amount depends on the type of bottleneck. If previously limited by disk I/O, switching to NVMe can typically increase IOPS by several times to ten times, with significant reductions in page response and database query latency ； But if the bottleneck is in the CPU or network, the improvement will be limited. It is recommended to first use monitoring to confirm the bottleneck before making a decision.

11.

Question: Will a package change cause a service outage? How to minimize the impact?

- Answer: Console upgrades are typically hot-swappable (without restart) or require a brief shutdown. Minimization strategy: Create new instances in advance and synchronize data; use DNS with low TTL or load balancing for switching, and select a maintenance window ； If a restart is necessary, notify users in advance and perform it during off-peak hours.

12.

Question: How to verify that the SSD provided by SoftBank is a genuine NVMe and delivers native performance?

- Answer: After it’s online, run the fio benchmark test (example commands: sudo apt install fio; fio --name=seqread --filename=/dev/nvme0n1 --rw=read --bs=1m --size=1G --numjobs=1 --runtime=60), and compare the bandwidth and IOPS values ； At the same time, use lsblk -d -o name,rota to check that rota=0 indicates a non-rotating medium.