Hi,
I'm a linoders since 2009 and I love linode and its team.
I always advertised linode with my collegues as an incredible service I like and that it helps my business.

I say this just to say that I'm not here to bash linode but to share my disappointment like I do when I want to share my congratulations.

Yesterday I received a "ToS Violation - Spam" ticket.
After 20 minutes from the receiving of this ticket I stopped my linode to stop it sending spam and to investigate the problem.

In the complete panic I asked them for an help, they answered with cut and paste, nothing more, cut and paste of small guides
that says to redeploy if your vps is compromised.

After some more question they answered with:


I don't know in US, but in Italy this is a threat and I don't like threat.
Laws says that providers or hosters can ask customers to stop sending spam but they can only ask,
it is my choice if I want to send spam from their service, laws says that they can't do anything so no need to threat.

Once the situation returned normal (I think that SQUID opened a security hole by letting users use the smtp port, missconfigured squid is famous for this and my squid was configured in hurry). Someone suspected about some main.cf restrictions but I don't think that that was the cause.

I restored an old backup just for security, and my backup restore failed :O
I restored an older backup and it failed. :O
I restored the latest snapshot and it failed. :O

I answered linode why of this failure and they answered:


UHM?
Am I paying for this?
The linode booted since the corrupted files hasn't interested the booting partitions but I lost a lot of files.
This is the last year that I pay for this service if they don't fix it but the most terrible things is that they know about this
problems and doesn't warn customers about this.

Since they started the managed service the "linode's guide section" became always more poor, guides are evasive and worth always less.
Linode guide was a great thinks some years ago, now it is nothing interesting.
Before the managed service the customer service makes all the possible to help customers finding the problems with tons of posts and good guides,
now they limit to an unuseful cut and paste.

I love linode and I continue to love linode, it can happen, so I'm not here to bash linode, I will continue to be a linoders
and to recommend it to my collegues but I'm disappointed.

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with feedback. I'm sorry that this experience was as frustrating for you as it was.

Regarding spam, our terms of service prohibits the use of our network for sending spam. Failure to comply with the terms of service can lead to termination of services. I'm sorry if you feel this is overly harsh, but maintaining the integrity of our network is important to us and to other users. If our IP ranges are used for spam or other malicious activity, blacklists on them can affect more than just the Linode originating the activity.

There is an issue where extremely large file counts (many millions) can affect the Backup Service. That's an unfortunate side effect of the file-based nature of the backups. That said, I don't believe this was the issue in your case, and if you'd like, I'd be happy to investigate further and update you via the ticket.

Would you be able to clarify which guides you feel are sub-par? Our Documentation Team has been working non-stop to clean up a lot of outdated information in the Library and write new up-to-date guides, and in my opinion they've been doing a stellar job of it. As always, we welcome any feedback on future topics or ways to make our guides more helpful.

- Les
Backup Service Administrator

It is an issue, I lost very important mails with very important attachments, on of the most important folder of my imap folder was affected by this problem.
And please, don't try to play down the problem, the affected folder had 117496 files including all the files in the subdir.
Don't try to play down the problem, no many millions, only 1 hundred thousand.

He said that he didn't think the lots of files issue was the problem in your case and that if you wish he'll investigate with you.

That said, the backups should be working, you maybe able to request a refund, no harm in trying. I'm just guessing here but it could be the restore process that's broken and your files could be fine, you won't know if you don't ask them.

Also if your stuff is that important you should have multiple tier backups. What happens if there's a major incident at the data centre i.e. a fire and both your server and backups get trashed? You lose your data.

As for the SPAM bit, it's against their Terms of Service. You SPAM (intentionally or not) they have the right to disable your services if they feel the need to.

_________________
Paid support
How to ask for help
1. Give details of your problem
2. Post any errors
3. Post relevant logs.
4. Don't hide details i.e. your domain, it just makes things harder
5. Be polite or you'll be eaten by a grue

I don't need refund, I need what I paied for.
I'm not interested in the money, I'm interested that you saied me that you can offer a backup and this backup doesn't worked when I needed it.

As for the SPAM ok they can disable my account but I don't like the rude way the customer service approach the problem neither the complete absence of interest in trying to help.
Ok you have a managed server now, but don't forget that if you have it is thanks to the unmanaged customers and to the caker talent.
Another complaints I have as a customer is that caker is a talent but calls TROLL everyone who complaints about his service

it seems that they fixed the backup problem.
the lost files are lost but as they say:

I don't see any threat or rudeness in the response you received (the one that you're saying is a threat), and I don't see how it could be considered a threat or rude. I think that it's a language barrier thing.

I'm glad about this, thanks for sharing your hopinion.
In any case, there is two facts:
1) I lost files in the backup restore
2) The customer support when you ask something that is unrelated to linode says that they are not versed on the argument. Never seen a reply like this before the managed.
The customer service is now 90% worse than before. Now they give no help if not extremely related to the linode services. No additional support like before so I'm disappointed from this.
Linode added some services like more storage, more ram at the same price but they dropped the wonderful support they offered before. If you do plus/minus they don't offer too much than before.

I feel that this statement is baseless. The majority of support our customers request is to our self-managed team. While yes we have released a Managed product, I can say with confidence that the product launch itself has in no way changed the level of service and support our self-managed customers are getting. Still the same response times, still the same team working on the requests.

I started at Linode on the support team (almost three years ago) before moving elsewhere internally. Even then it was best-effort support when it came to specific customer configurations. We had to admit when we weren't versed on a specific subject or when the questions you were asking fell outside of what we were able to support as a self-managed provider. To this day it's still best-effort support, and if we have knowledge on the subject we will gladly go above and beyond to send you down the right path. However, if we aren't able to provide any insight it's better that we make it known we aren't able to answer your question.

I'm sorry if you feel like we handled the spam situation inappropriately, but please note we need to keep the reputation of our network healthy as it has the chance to affect other customers. We need to keep our network clean to the best of our ability, and this includes making sure compromised systems do not remain on the network where possible. This is especially true when it comes to spam, as it's not uncommon for mail servers to blacklist entire /24 ranges.

-Tim

_________________
'If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.' //Edsger Dijkstra
'Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.' | 'Do things that have never been done.' //Russell Kirsch

The fact that you lost files is frustrating. I have seen people lose files from failed backups on other VPS providers too. The key to successful backups - honestly - is to have several different means of backing up, in different locations, and test them frequently. I know you'll say "I pay for it and it should work" and I agree with you, but the simple fact is these things sometimes fail. You simply must have multiple backups if you can't afford to lose your data. Just as an example, on one server I have Linode backup running, and I also have local backups of all my files and critical configuration information plus a nightly backup of my critical databases and tables that gets pushed to an offsite server by FTP or emailed to me if the FTP session fails. It's a bit crude, but it works.

With respect to Linode's support, I think that any managed-style support (e.g. support for installed applications like Postfix or your own apps) that you received before Linode offered managed service would be way over the top of what you should have expected. I came to Linode after being in shared/managed for nearly a decade - when I felt I was ready to handle unmanaged service. Please don't take this personally or negatively, but by some of your posts and actions (i.e., not checking your junk mail folder and assuming your Gmail was "disappearing") I don't think you are 100% ready for an unmanaged environment. If you received managed-type service from Linode before, you are not getting it now if you are not paying for it, because for their techs to spend time giving you managed service for free would take away from those who are actually paying for that help.

Have you considering upgrading to the managed service? The Linode techs could then help you, and the things you learn from them will help you on your way to switching to self-managed at some point, if you wish.

Same people working with different approach.
Definitely they don't help if not related to linode. No more system help. No more help in configuring servers like postfix, apache etc, no help if not for linode services.



I agree with you but I received no help from your customer service, no one felt the needs to give me a suggestion apart the fact that if you would have received another message you would have stopped my account.
I'm not a security expert neither a postfix expert but my name is present in the vanilla linux kernel, my app has been reviwed in the new york times and in java.com.
I work in the IT as a consultant for a major company.
I say this just to say that I'm not a goat that you need to answer that you don't know how to answer.
If you say that you don't know how to answer to me means that your service worth a 5% than before.
I am sure that people in linode can't know everything but I don't want to belive that a person who is working on the linode customer support doesn't know how to help in a situation like this or neither know how to configure postfix to close a relay.

I don't like to brag, but my name is listed in my home town public library for the kid with the most books checked out during a single summer (with no late fees), plus I had my Raspberry Strudel reviewed in the local newspaper - so I think I have the experience and expertise to comment on this matter.

What part of UN-managed service isn't clear? If you need hand holding, buy a MANAGED service, if not, Linode is not there to help you figure out why you can't configure Postfix. Linode is there to keep the physical machine your VM runs on running, and to keep the network your VM is attached to networking - AND THATS IT.

Feel free to list all the other UN-managed hosting service that solves user OS or APP problems - Anyone? Beuller? Anyone?

_________________
Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

I think there seems to be some confusion here. We often will look at different application/system configuration files when handling requests from our customers. We try to point you in the right direction, and give you configuration points, all because we care. Based on the terms of the self-managed service, we don't *have* to offer these suggestions but we like to. And if it's something we don't know about, or aren't familiar with, we aren't going to lie to you or give you incorrect information.

In addition to that, we aren't familiar with your entire software stack. As such, sometimes we aren't able to give concrete suggestion as we don't know how your system is configured and how all things tie together.

Not everyone is well-versed on the intricacies of configuring postfix. I'll be the first to admit that I'm lazy and use Google Apps for my personal email, so my Postfix knowledge is *very* rusty. I'm not saying no one here uses Postfix, I'm just saying it's not something we commonly configure or play around with. Sitting down and reading the vast manuals of Postfix to be able to provide you with the single configuration line that fits your needs is something that falls outside of the scope of support for self-managed Linodes. We would end up doing the same thing you would have done to research the issue. This includes internet searches, reading forum posts, as well as diving in to the manpages.

I'm not really sure what the intent was with listing your accomplishments. I was giving a bit of history to show that our policies and the way we do things, for the most part, have remained the same. I was trying to have a civil discussion about how our team works, and how we do what we can to help our customers.

-Tim

_________________
'If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.' //Edsger Dijkstra
'Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.' | 'Do things that have never been done.' //Russell Kirsch

Perhaps this will help:

https://www.linode.com/managed/

Scroll down to the table "Who's responsible". The orange boxes under "Self-Managed", and specifically the components called "Tuning", "Services", and "Operating System", indicate that you are responsible for those items. Postfix and Apache are both considered "Services".

If you got support from Linode staff on an unmanaged VPS before, they were being over-the-top nice and helpful (which is great, but don't come here and bash them when they have to scale back this free help because you're taking up too much of their time and you're not willing to pay for the managed service). Linode has NEVER promised OS, tuning, service, or custom-application support on unmanaged VPS'. All their marketing materials point those without sysadmin experience to the forums and online library of guides.

You can state your qualifications all you want, but I believe you lack the system administration knowledge to safely and securely run an umanaged Linode in an production environment (example: you should know what SPF/DKIM are as of September 2013, particularly if you are operating a mail server). You may be a great programmer but system administration is a very different set of skills. If you want to concentrate on being a great programmer, get someone to help you manage your server. But don't expect Linode to do it for you for free.

Sincerely, since you opened the managed service I haven't received any suggestions from your team, at least nothing more than a cut and paste.



I have listed my accomplishment because I have read:


but you wrote:


I'm sorry for the missunderstood, I replied in hurry, I'm always in hurry

The discussion can continue to the infinite.
When I subscribed to linode 4 years ago, people from the customer care helped me configuring my services like apache, postfix, iptables, ecc ecc.
I know that you "don't have to" since I bought a self-managed linode, I'm not saying that you don't do what you have to, I'm saying that 4 years ago you done what you have to plus more. Now you do what you have to plus a cut and paste.

You have to do a correct backup and you don't, I'm not saying that linode is a shit for this, as I saied I love linode, it can happen and I'm here to say what it happened and why I'm disappointed.

I'm also disappointed from the Akerl anwer:


As I saied I had 117496 files in that folder, not millions, trying to underestimate the problem is never "professional". This let me think that all your backups can be affected by this problem and you are not advertising this to your customer, this is another things that make me disappointed.


Just my personal hopinion, not a sentence, nothing more.
I love you as before but you can improve.