from Hacker News

Run Database in GitHub Actions, Persisting Data to S3, and Access It Publicly

by earayu on 12/12/24, 7:53 AM with 45 comments

by mg on 12/12/24, 8:53 AM
Is that really cheaper than to just use a VPS for $5/month which offers compute and storage and everything?
The article says this about VPSs:
```
    You often end up paying for
    resources even when you're
    not using them.
```
But how is that different with S3? They also do not store the data for free.
And you can delete a VPS via API just like you can delete an S3 container.
by that_guy_iain on 12/12/24, 9:10 AM
I get why these posts are popular but I always hate them. It's this sort of activity that results in free tiers being limited and removed.
by san1t1 on 12/12/24, 12:34 PM
I use an approach with Github Actions where if I need small amounts of persistent data between runs, I use a filesystem based off a fresh branch in the same repository.
That branch is rebased down to $tip so it shares no commits, and the 'database' doesn't affect development in trunk.
Obviously this doesn't work for significant data analysis, but if it's just a question of 'what was the state at the last run' it's cheap and easy.
by sshine on 12/12/24, 10:36 AM
```
  > Here's how to abuse GitHub Actions to run a database

  > DISCLAIMER: DO NOT ABUSE GITHUB ACTIONS DO RUN A DATABASE!
```
Meanwhile, a cloud VPS is down to €3.60/mo.
Provisioning a VPS takes ~30-60 seconds, and bootstrapping them with cloudinit is an option most places, so you could even spin them up and down as you need. But honestly, the effort isn't worth saving €3.60/mo. over.
by lijingcheng87 on 12/12/24, 2:18 PM
The benefits include not having to pay for the cost of owning the machine and disk, the computing nodes are only spun up when needed, and when your task is completed, the computing resources are not billed, and your data is stored on the cheaper S3.
These are the benefits brought by Wesql, a new database based on S3 that is compatible with MySQL.
by testemailfordg2 on 12/12/24, 9:06 AM
You can persist data on Wasabi which is similar to S3 and pay even less...
by fire_lake on 12/12/24, 8:46 AM
Or just use Docker Compose?
by vivzkestrel on 12/12/24, 12:08 PM
next stop: run database inside notepad powered by blockchain