I found that practically all shared-hosting providers with cPanel had this fundamental limitation that if you purchased one IP then this IP would be shared by all domains that you host on the same account (one IP per cPanel). This meant that if I were trying to host more than one domain on such an account, there is no way to have a dedicated IP for a domain. I guess it may have to do with the kind of cPanel license they purchase for shared hosting accounts. H-Sphere allowed more than 1 IP easily, and I have no idea about Plesk though I believe it should allow that as well.

I am really interested in learning and configuring my own hosting using the resources that we have here. My experience with Linux is quite limited although I occasionally tinker with Ubuntu on my own system.

My questions are:
a) How easy would it be to set up a configuration where I can have one domain on a dedicated IP, and the rest shared on a second (purchased) IP? And how much effort would it take to set up email forwarding for a couple of domains?

b) Although I have some answers to this myself, I would like to know how a Linode account may help me learn these things more effectively than just fiddling with my own Ubuntu installation? The reason for asking this lies in the fact that my interest in Linode is not solely for the purpose of having a powerful hosting. Although that is one big aspect, technically my sites do not really need resources beyond what a good shared hosting provides. However, I am quite keen on having more control, and flexibility as well as pick up decent knowledge about managing these services.

Unless it's for the sake of SSL certificates, there's no reason to run websites on separate IP addresses, and due to the IPv4 address shortage, the Internet gods (and by that I mean ARIN and RIPE) will smack you if you do.

Your own PC running Ubuntu is a fine place to learn Linux. I think Linode does have advantages, though. If you completely trash things, it takes just a few clicks to switch to a backup, or completely nuke your disk images and start over. And if your home connection is behind a NATted dynamic IP, it makes running some services much harder than on a Linode. Still, like I said, your own PC is a fine place to learn.

You should know that Linode does not provide cPanel or Plesk. The disk images are very minimal, providing little more than a package manager, sshd and shell. You are free to acquire a cPanel licence and install it yourself, of course, if you want to.

_________________
Matt Nordhoff (aka Peng on IRC)

Yes, I do understand that Linode doesn't come with stuff like cPanel and Plesk. I also understand the IPv4 crisis, however, I do need to run a setup like the one I explained and I wanted to know how much effort it would be to set it up.

It's not hard, just some lines in your webserver's config file. But there's no reason to do it unless SSL is involved. Anything beyond your second IP at Linode requires justification, and "I want every website on a different IP even though I don't use SSL" is not valid justification.

Why do you presume I do not require SSL? Also, nowhere did I claim that I wanted each site on a different IP! All I said was that I needed one additional IP for what I planned -- so I could host one domain separate from a few others which would share one IP.

I know fairly well about the justifications that ARIN requires before allotting new IP addresses, and also about reclaiming unused IP addresses. And how it should not be used wherever name-based addressing would suffice.

Thanks for confirming that it should not be a hard thing to configure. Although I understand that it should be a routine task, my relatively limited experience with Linux made me feel like asking it anyway!

I do exactly what you are looking for. I have a site that needs SSL and it runs on that IP. All other sites run on a shared IP.

Check this out:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/vhosts/examples.html

If that doesn't help ask more questions. But it's all in the config for that site.

That is precisely what I needed. Thank you!

Without trying to debate the value of multiple IP addresses, it is worth noting that this specific case still only needs one IP address. SSL connections to that address (port 443) can be for your secure site, and non-SSL connections (port 80) can be all the other sites.

It's really only when you have a second SSL site (and, for example, SNI isn't suitable) that you need the second distinct address.

To the OP though, yes, config setup on the Linode side is easy. On the Extras tab for your Linode in the manager, just select to add an address (+$1/mo), then set your Linode's networking configuration to use it. You'll have to reboot for it to become active. There's no automatic provision for more than 1 extra address, so anything beyond that one extra you'd have to take up with Linode directly, and likely need a decent amount of justification.

-- David

I didn't think about that. But that's good info to know as I do plan on setting up a self-signed cert on the other IP.