I'm searching for a new host. I have a few promising candidates in sight, linode is one.

When you have an issue, a REAL issue, not a "look it up in the knowledgebase" / "search google" / "read the FTP introduction" problem, does support actually pass your problem immediately to a senior tech who can offer support, or do you have to do the email exchange dance with an entry level tech for an hour before they accept it's beyond their skillset and pass it on to someone who can actually help?

Do they commit the time necessary to offer genuine support and help with things, regardless of whether the problem is their fault or yours?

What is the average response time for support emails to be solved (not answered, solved)?

I would like to hear from customers, specific situations and solutions Linode offered would be great. Employees are welcome to comment as well of course.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

Linode is an unmanaged service, meaning we're not obligated to provide support for your server's configuration or installation of software, etc. However, workload permitting, our support staff will try to help or at least point you in the right direction. Just keep in mind that this is not a substitute for you having proper system administration coverage.

"You don't get a sysadmin for $0.65/day."

-Chris

Linode is an unmanaged service. If there's an issue with the network, or the host your node is running on, it's their problem (and they're _very_ good about taking care of their problems, in my experience).

The actual configuration of your server is up to you. The #linode IRC channel can be a great resource if you are trying to troubleshoot something, and I've often seen Linode staff go out of their way to help customers with issues that really don't fall under the support obligation of an unmanaged service.

I do expect that when 1000 people are paying a dollar a day, and each of those thousand people have perhaps 1 problem a year they simply can't solve through google/forums/etc, they ought to be able to get a few minutes of a senior technicians time to respond to an email, no matter what side of the fence the issue falls.

I do my own research and generally I'm quite capable of solving my own issues. However occasionally I've run into something that is just beyond me (such as command line Linux, at which I'm awful).

Case in point, I needed to get 7 years of webstats which were taking up 700MB of space into readable html files so I could back them up to disc and delete the logs. In 2 separate email chains to support in the course of a year, I never once got past entry level tech support to someone who would probably have recommended exactly what my buddy did as I talked to him about it. I got lots of dead-end answers and things I had already tried from entry level though!

In talking to a buddy who happens to be good with Linux, he says "Well hell, write a php script to print all the mainleft frame url's (contained links to each months in-depth stats) you want and I'll just do a wget from my linux server at university and scrape them all for you."

I write a script, 5 minutes later he's got my html files downloading.

I spent $1300 over 7 years doing business with this company. I filed perhaps 3-5 support tickets that required someone above entry level to deal with. They used to be good too. Often the owner himself would respond. Well he sold it a year ago and it's apparently gone to seed since.

So what is the standard response when a support inquiry is outside of the realm of what is included? If I'm to stay long term with a host, I expect the entry level guys to know it's above them and pass it on, not play blocker in getting between me and the guy who knows what the fix is.

Sorry, that got quite longwinded.

Well then, you're in luck - because there is no "entry level guys".

Of course there is no "medium level guys" or "top level guys" or "uber elite level guys" either.

Linode is a UN-MANAGED (google that if you're unfamiliar with the term) VPS SERVICE.


Hard to believe for a whole $15/month they didn't assign a RHCE and CCIE directly to your account.

I don't believe there are any entry level techs with Linode- they all are pretty much top notch geeks.
Caker is (I believe) the owner/boss/founder/head 'node.
I think you would have zero problems with requests like that, and they would be handled quickly (as long as a data center has not just been struck by lightning).

_________________
--
Chris Bryant

That's the whole point - you pay for an unmanaged service and that's exactly how we've priced it. Despite this, because Linode is a great company and we care, our support staff will try to help where we can - often going above and beyond.

Also, there aren't any 'entry level' people and 'senior' support people at Linode - all of us know our stuff as it pertains to Linode and our services -- but that doesn't mean we're going to know how to help you with the intricacies of your Apache rewrite rules, or how to debug your webapp.

Hope that helps,
-Chris

Yes, hard to believe 3-5 questions honest questions over the course of 7 years was not worth keeping a client paying $15/month who otherwise doesn't use up any of their time.

Thanks for the replies, this looks like it's probably not for me. I don't have much experience in Linux. I don't want to be responsible for hardening my own server. Just don't know enough about it and I can't really afford to spend time learning it now.

@vonskippy, I did read through the FAQ, features, Why Linode page, About us, etc. I never read in any of that once mentioned customers were purchasing an "unmanaged" account or what support issues were covered/not covered/or pay per incident. Lot's about great customer and community support, tutorials and so on.

I guess that's just implied what with all the setup information, or it's there somewhere and I just missed it. Came off as quite a mixed message from the replies and marketing material I read.

It does look like a nice system, if only I knew my way around Linux.

It is kind of hard to glean from the linode web site - you have to dig into the Terms of Service page to get the details:

From the "Why Linode?" page:



Emphasis mine.

Hi Harley.

I don't have any affiliation with linode, nor am I specifically recommending them.

I'm predominantly a software developer. At work I have a "pay it now, or pay more later" saying that I try to get across. When someone says to me "we can't afford to pay for that now" they always end up paying even more for it later on. If you really cannot afford to start learning how to manage your server, then you will have to pay for Managed Hosting. If you can't afford that, then you are stuck. Which is the better route for you/your business in the long term?

When I first tried to sign up for linode, I had some issues that stopped me, and stopped me to such a degree of frustration that I vented at Linode. I got a personal reply from Tom Asaro.

I have experience with several virtual hosting and managed services. I would say that the people at Linode are at the top end of the technical scale, but with this this comes quite a geeky attitude that will focus on the facts, never mind the social ramifications (I'm being quite broad here).

If virtual unmanaged hosting is for you, then linode is very good. They do care, and techy help is there. Perhaps take some time to browse the forums and join the irc chat.