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What VPC configuration/specification do you use for TS?


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What VPC configuration/specification do you use for TS?

 
Prophet85
Gothenburg Sweden
 
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jokertrader View Post
Quick update: simple ping test to trade.tt from across the Globe was 200 ms several times (some were comparable to the US) - so justifies VPC, automation etc even on hosted platforms


Sent using the NexusFi mobile app

May I ask how many milliseconds in ping you consider as being good/acceptable?


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 SMCJB 
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vmodus View Post
Here is what I do:

Sunday night
...

So the VM is never down during the trading week. I can monitor the VM from my Azure dashboard. I usually keep the RDP session running in the background on my PC, but sometimes I just disconnect and let it run. I actually power down my regular PC almost every night now.

I did the same. Powered up Sunday, Powered down Friday. When I say logged on, I should elaborated that I meant reconnect to the VM, it was already running. It was on the re-connection that at times it was like it woke up and executed trades that should have been done hours ago.

 
 
vmodus's Avatar
 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
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SMCJB View Post
I did the same. Powered up Sunday, Powered down Friday. When I say logged on, I should elaborated that I meant reconnect to the VM, it was already running. It was on the re-connection that at times it was like it woke up and executed trades that should have been done hours ago.

Weird. Yeah, I don't know about that. I'll let you know if I see problems with order execution.

~vmodus

~vmodus

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 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
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planetkill View Post
I'd be interested in hearing an update from you again after you're done with the security on which security route you chose.

Okay, here is my (shaky) solution:
  1. Get my IP address for my office (it is dynamic, unfortunately)
  2. Login to Azure
  3. Go to my VM
  4. Click Networking
  5. Go to the Inbound Port Rules
  6. Click the RDP
  7. Add source (see screenshot): IP Addresses
  8. Add IP address (I can add more than one)
  9. Configure the rest as shown below
  10. Click Save
  11. Test connecting from another IP address to verify connections are being rejected from the 'foreign' IP

Azure VM -Secure Remote Desktop by IP Address


I call this solution shaky because as soon as our IP address changes, we will need to update the RDP rule in Azure. Our IP does not change too often, but it is a concern at most and a nuisance at least. I consider this above a temporary solution. However, it is free and easy to setup and change.

Permanent solutions, from cheapest and easiest, to most and expensive difficult:
1) Get a static IP from my internet provider (not an option for residential, so cost is unknown)
For me this would require upgrading to business class internet at home. This may make sense, as I trade professionally and can classify the internet as a business expense. I run a VPN server from my office, so even as we travel, we can get to the VM through our network.

2) Use a third party VPN and get a dedicated IP address (~ US$6 per month using NordVPN, our current VPN provider)
I would connect to VPN using my dedicated IP, the add the IP to the rule shown above. This will probably be our failsafe and solution while we travel.

3) Setup a Virtual Network and add VPN service in Azure; then connect to RDP via that VPN server (~US$20 month).
We are billed on usage of the VPN, but we can have 10 active connections going at the same price. I won't go into details because I am just starting to understand it.

Right now, as a trading organization, we are in growth mode, so cost is a concern and we want to keep our monies focused on operations, not back office. As we continue to mature, those costs will be easier to absorb into the business. I am balancing cost and complexity, with security being paramount.

The current solution works for now. If anyone have a better or more elegant solution, I would love to hear it.


~vmodus

~vmodus

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 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
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Okay, I have a cool thing to share about Azure. I can monitor and start/stop the VM from my phone. This is a pretty important feature. I can see CPU utilization and a few other stats. Pretty cool stuff.

~vmodus

~vmodus

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 planetkill 
New York City + NY/United States
 
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Have you considered the azure JIT rdp service?
vmodus View Post
Okay, here is my (shaky) solution:
  1. Get my IP address for my office (it is dynamic, unfortunately)
  2. Login to Azure
  3. Go to my VM
  4. Click Networking
  5. Go to the Inbound Port Rules
  6. Click the RDP
  7. Add source (see screenshot): IP Addresses
  8. Add IP address (I can add more than one)
  9. Configure the rest as shown below
  10. Click Save
  11. Test connecting from another IP address to verify connections are being rejected from the 'foreign' IP

Azure VM -Secure Remote Desktop by IP Address


I call this solution shaky because as soon as our IP address changes, we will need to update the RDP rule in Azure. Our IP does not change too often, but it is a concern at most and a nuisance at least. I consider this above a temporary solution. However, it is free and easy to setup and change.

Permanent solutions, from cheapest and easiest, to most and expensive difficult:
1) Get a static IP from my internet provider (not an option for residential, so cost is unknown)
For me this would require upgrading to business class internet at home. This may make sense, as I trade professionally and can classify the internet as a business expense. I run a VPN server from my office, so even as we travel, we can get to the VM through our network.

2) Use a third party VPN and get a dedicated IP address (~ US$6 per month using NordVPN, our current VPN provider)
I would connect to VPN using my dedicated IP, the add the IP to the rule shown above. This will probably be our failsafe and solution while we travel.

3) Setup a Virtual Network and add VPN service in Azure; then connect to RDP via that VPN server (~US$20 month).
We are billed on usage of the VPN, but we can have 10 active connections going at the same price. I won't go into details because I am just starting to understand it.

Right now, as a trading organization, we are in growth mode, so cost is a concern and we want to keep our monies focused on operations, not back office. As we continue to mature, those costs will be easier to absorb into the business. I am balancing cost and complexity, with security being paramount.

The current solution works for now. If anyone have a better or more elegant solution, I would love to hear it.


~vmodus


 
 
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 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
Experience: Intermediate
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Broker: Barchart.com
Trading: Everything, it all tastes like chicken
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planetkill View Post
Have you considered the azure JIT rdp service?

I looked at JIT with Azure, but our connection may be open at least 120 hours per week. That is over 70% of the time.... I would much rather restrict by IP or Azure VPN. If cost were no issue, I would deploy Azure VPN and be done with it. Maybe later this year.

~vmodus

~vmodus

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vmodus's Avatar
 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
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Okay, I said I was done, but I did discover a useful tool for our Azure VM (and other services, presumably): the Azure app. I can check my VM's when I am out and about, and do some basic things like stop, restart, and monitor system resource utilization.

As far as trading is concerned, we are live (as in live trading) as of last night and everything is executing perfectly. I'm a very happy customer to this point.

~vmodus

~vmodus

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AlgOz's Avatar
 AlgOz 
Sydney, Australia
 
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vmodus View Post
Here is one VM that I spec'd last week, Windows 10:


  • B4MS Instance (whatever that means....instance means something else to me)
  • Choose your location (US East, Midwest, etc.)
  • 4 cores
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 32 GB Temporary Storage
  • ~ US$168/month pay as you go; $66.57 for 3 year prepay
  • 99.95% uptime (per SLA, or Service Level Agreement), that is less than 46 minutes of downtime per month
It is cheaper if you bring your own license, in the long term ($11.68 per month to lease the license, no long term discount). This system might be overkill or just right, as I would only use for running strategies (TradeStation 10) and no optimizations and minimal indicators.

This will probably by my starting point. I will set one up next week (it is a very fast process, 5 minutes or so) and test those specs.

~vmodus

Hi,

Are you still running your Azure Standard D2s v3 (2 vcpus, 8 GiB memory) VM configuration? Have you had any problems/ issues running your TS account(s) on that VM?

I am leaning towards the MS Azure Standard D4s v3 as it offers 4 vcpus and 16Gib. Any tips/recommendations?

Cheers,

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 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
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acosta1709 View Post
Hi,

Are you still running your Azure Standard D2s v3 (2 vcpus, 8 GiB memory) VM configuration? Have you had any problems/ issues running your TS account(s) on that VM?

I am leaning towards the MS Azure Standard D4s v3 as it offers 4 vcpus and 16Gib. Any tips/recommendations?

Cheers,

Sorry for the late response. Yes I am:


I have been running for I don't know how long now, almost a year maybe? Anyhow, I would say that my config is probably the minimum I would run on, but execution has not been a problem at all. I don't do anything on the VM but trade:
  • TradeStation 10
  • 2 accounts
  • 11 systems/strategies, full auto; mostly daily systems with few intraday systems
  • CPU utilization runs between 10-15%
I power down/deallocate the VM at close of market Friday; Sunday I power up about 1 hour before market open, apply system updates, etc. Powering down saves some money. You need to not allow automatic updates in Windows.

One issue I have, which I believe is with TradeStation, is that sometimes it just shuts down.... not crash, just disappears for no reason as if it was never running. I always save my desktop and workspace. So I have had to be careful with that; I minimize TradeStation and wait few seconds before closing RDP. Or I just leave RDP open and there is no issue. I don't think TS plays well with Remote Desktop (RDP), as I have had issues with the two on my internal network here in my office.

Running on a VM has been great, especially with some recent internet issues outside my house, which was causing disconnections for a few weeks until they fixed it.

You config may be a little overkill, especially the memory. TS can only address just over 2GB in memory before it craps out (it is 32-bit), so more memory does not add anything beneficial. I do not do anything but trade on the VM, all other work (development, optimization, etc.) are all on my physical workstation.

I hope this helps!

~vmodus

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Last Updated on July 23, 2021


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