PHP Fog - Free 6 months.. what next, and how much?

I was very disappointed when I asked PHP-Fog how much it would cost after 6 months using their free package. They move you to a "Micro Instance" package which turns out to be $29 a month charge.

I can't see any cost benefit here to moving to a so-called 'cloud' environment, if its a MINIMUM 29 dollars a month after 6 months. This means for the vast for the majority of websites and web apps its simply just not worth it. The true cloud environments such as Google's App Engine (which does not have any PHP support unfortunately) charge depending on CPU and data-store usage. A usage based charge basically, not a fixed monthly one, which is what cloud hosting is all about.

PHP Fog seems to have just got on the cloud bandwagon, and what you're basically getting is a 'pretend' cloud hosting environment that is WAY more expensive than your traditional PHP hosting companies.

A big disappointment to the PHP community.

Datastore inremental backup script for App Engine

I'm a developer using App Engine as a back-end for my Android App - Chesspresso. I love App Engine and it has come a long way since it was incubated a few years back and for Chesspresso it has been a lifesaver in terms of scalability. But one critical thing thats missing currently though is datastore backup.

Here is a python script that I use to backup my app datastore in a cron job on remote servers. It creates incremental backups of the GAE datastore zipped up with logs, and it'll mail you if the shit hits the fan. Its worked for me nicely so far. You'll have to go through it with a fine tooth comb as there is a lot of variables to tweak for your own uses.

BTW, You'll have you install the remote_api servlet in your app for this to work...

import os
import shutil
import subprocess
import sys
import time
import zipfile
import glob
from zipfile import ZipFile
import traceback
import string
import smtplib
import StringIO

# Folders
FOLDER_ROOT = "/keep-everything-in-this-folder";
FOLDER_TEMP = FOLDER_ROOT + "/tmp";
FOLDER_BACKUPS = FOLDER_ROOT + "/backup";
FOLDER_GAE = FOLDER_ROOT + "/gaep";
SERVER_SMTP = "localhost";

# Other
GAE_APPNAME = "your-gae-app-name";
GAE_URL_API = "/remote_api";
FOLDER_NAME_TEMP = "gaebak";
FILE_NAME_APPCFG = "appcfg.py";
FILE_NAME_INPUT = "input.txt";
FILE_NAME_ARCHIVE = time.strftime("%y%m%d-%H%M%S") + ".zip";
ERROR_EMAIL = "your-email";

# max number of archives before deletion
MAX_ARCHIVES = 50;

# Arguments
ARG_URL = "--url=http://" + GAE_APPNAME + ".appspot.com" + GAE_URL_API;
ARG_APP = "--application=" + GAE_APPNAME;
ARG_LOG = "--log_file=log-";
ARG_PASSIN = "--passin";

# Full Paths
F_TEMP = os.path.join(FOLDER_TEMP, FOLDER_NAME_TEMP);
F_APPCFG = os.path.join(FOLDER_GAE, FILE_NAME_APPCFG);
F_BACKUP = os.path.join(FOLDER_BACKUPS, GAE_APPNAME);
F_ARCHIVE = os.path.join(F_BACKUP, FILE_NAME_ARCHIVE);
F_INPUT = os.path.join(FOLDER_ROOT, FILE_NAME_INPUT);

def removeTempFolder():
    if os.path.exists(F_TEMP):
        shutil.rmtree(F_TEMP);
    return;

def createTempFolder():
    if os.path.exists(F_TEMP) is False:
        os.mkdir(F_TEMP);
    return;

def createBackupFolder():
    if os.path.exists(F_BACKUP) is False:
        os.mkdir(F_BACKUP);
    return;

def call(type, extra):
    p = subprocess.call([sys.executable, F_APPCFG, ARG_PASSIN, ARG_URL, ARG_APP, extra, type], stdin=file(F_INPUT));
    return;

def init():
    removeTempFolder();
    createTempFolder();
    createBackupFolder();
    os.chdir(F_TEMP);
    return;

def backup():
    call("--filename=db.dump", "download_data");
    return;

def archiveBackup():
    zip = zipfile.ZipFile(F_ARCHIVE, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED);
    
    for name in glob.glob1(F_TEMP, "*"):
        zip.write(os.path.join(F_TEMP, name), name);
        
    zip.close();
    return;

def pruneArchives():
    files = glob.glob1(F_BACKUP, "*.zip");
    files.sort(reverse=True);
    num = len(files);
    
    for i in range(MAX_ARCHIVES, num):
        os.remove(os.path.join(F_BACKUP, files[i]));
    
    return;

def sendMail(trace):
    emailFrom = ERROR_EMAIL;
    emailTo = [ ERROR_EMAIL ];
    emailSubject = "[GAE Backup] ERROR occurred while running backup script: (" + F_ARCHIVE + ")";
    emailBody = trace;

    body = string.join(("From: %s" % emailFrom, "To: %s" % emailTo, "Subject: %s" % emailSubject, "", emailBody), "\r\n");
    server = smtplib.SMTP(SERVER_SMTP);
    server.sendmail(emailFrom, emailTo, body);
    server.quit();
    return;

# Execute
try:
    init();
    backup();
    archiveBackup();
    pruneArchives();
except Exception:
    sendMail(traceback.format_exc());
    traceback.print_exc(file=sys.stdout);

You'll also see 'input.txt' mentioned up at the top there. That is a file which stores your user/pass for authorization. Its simple and it looks like this:

mygmailaddresonthefirstline@gmail.com
mygmailpasswordonthe2ndline

Sorry all, probably not the most elegant of technical blog posts, but hopefully it'll come in handy for someone else. As far as I know this is compatible with Linux, but not tried on any other OS.