hi

I am currently with Bluehost and I "have to" renew my account in 2weeks or so but it seems to me that I cannot get to run on Bluehost everything I need ....

It is not easy to run RoR applications there and you cannot run multi-user svn repository at all. So I am looking for something else... either to have it in paralel with Bluehost or something that would completely replace Bluehost.

- can I have unlimited domain and subdomain hosting on linode.com?
- is it easy to set up new domain, subdomian, emails for new domain?
- can I choose linux distro with preinstalled RoR, svn?
- is there one click installation for Wordpress, redmine etc?

- what would happen if I signed up for 1 year plan but I find out that linode is not the best choice for me?
- is there anything like trial account on linode?

I want to develop (not by myself) 1 or 2 RoR application and run few Wordpress sites + svn and redmine to support the project management. Would it be ok to start with Linode 512?

Thank you

Radek

This is an easy one: yes.



These questions sound like you're not familiar with unmanaged VPS hosting. The linux images are all bare-bones: they're enough to boot the vps and login to it. If you want an email solution you'll have to install it yourself (perhaps with iRedMail in your case). Same with RoR, svn, wordpress, and redmine.

It's not terribly difficult to install these but if you're not familiar with them then expect some reading. I would highly suggest making use of the Linode Library to get your vps up and running.



I believe your account will be pro-rated the difference. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.



No.

Fairly easy - if you have experience with apache it's as simple as creating new virtual hosts and using the Linode DNS manager for the domain names.

E-mails can be done using postfix. Slightly less straight-forward but not too difficult.


No. You have to install it yourself.




A Linode account is not a "contract"; you are free to cancel at any time and get the difference refunded.



It depends on the traffic these websites get. If you set things up sensibly (e.g. a cache for wordpress), I don't see why not. You can always upgrade later if you have to. Even if you're in a 12-month billing cycle, I think you can upgrade by paying the difference.

Disclaimer: This is all AFAIK, I can't say for 100% certain.

A "trial account" is called "buy a 512, play with it, and decide whether to keep it or not". You pay for a month up-front, sure, but if you cancel, you get the days you didn't use back. And simple calculation says it's about $0.67 per day... so if you cancel after three days, you get ~ $18 back.

If you cancel within the first week, you get all your cash back, otherwise
when you delete your linode, you get a prorated amount back into your linode account, but I believe there's a $5 fee to get your cash back into your bank account.

yes, that's correct.

I believe that I am able to install,compile stuff but reading the forum I can see that tuning is very very important. I have not so much experience with that. Any suggestion how to deal with that? Especially from security point of view? I already read the Library article about security.So is it good enough to do to what is in there?

how can I know that I need to upgrade my linode? If I am not so familiar with tuning?

If you start swapping (when you type free -m in your terminal it'll say how much swap you're using) then you either need to "tune" better or upgrade.

A warning though RoR is a memory hog especially with redmine, a 512 maybe able to handle a small number of users but with WP installed as well I'd consider something bigger. a 768 or 1024.

Try a 512 and upgrade if you need to it's only a quick button push and reboot.

Regarding trial periods, from the front page linode.com

"No set up fees, pay month-to-month, 7 day money back guarantee"

I am going to start with 2 redmine users that would use it now and then. WP won't be heavily used either from the beginning. So it looks it is a good idea to start with 512 and upgrade when needed.

I used to "play" little bit with slackware years years ago. I am definitely not an experienced linux admin guy.

I can install, compile, edit conf files and read

What distro would you recommend for me to use? In terms of

- programs are easy to install and upgrade
- the distro is easy to keep updated and safe
- something I forgot


Thank you

Radek

Ubunty/Debian/CentOS are probably your best bet? Why well they don't require compiling (gentoo does) and are the top 3 used distros on linode so you're going to get more support from the forums (remember linode only support the hardware and network, software is yours to support).