As some of you may or may not know, we've been using Linode for our host since we migrated from a shared hosting platform in May of 2010. Our reasons for doing this were fourfold:

1. We didn't want any agreement issues relating to the data on here, and the host we were on
2. We wanted to get away from shared host performance
3. We wanted control over the web server technology, as opposed to just the website itself (our previous host was using insecure and outdated software)
4. Just wanted the joy of running it completely

Obviously, there was a significant difference in the price between these two options, but after weighing up what we had, we decided to pursue a VPS avenue. After testing out multiple different providers (Santrex, VPSLink, MammothVPS, Slicehost, etc.), we came to Linode. We fell instantly in love from the front page, and after reading a few customer reviews, decided to sign up then and there. As we hadn't experienced them personally yet, we decided to go for the monthly hosting package - a little more costly (i.e., no yearly discount is applied to monthly orders), but a safer option to begin with. So, now we've been with them for a full year, and I wanted to take this time to comment on a service we're so completely happy with, so that Linode can get some more customers (as a way of us saying thanks), and so that others can find an awesome VPS host.

First up, performance. We're running this web server on Linode's 768MB plan (which, incidentally, used to be 512MB, but then they upgraded RAM on all plans for free - more on that later). We've configured this web server to handle stuff fairly well, so we've never used more than 30% of the RAM, but having said that, even under immense stress testing, we've never once had the server slow down, or put seemingly any pressure on it at all. Linode gives out 4 Xeon processor cores (L5520's @ 2.27GHz with 8MB cache) to do your processing on, where most other VPS providers we tried gave out one or two, or a percentage of one or two cores. This significantly adds to processing capabilities, obviously. The only downside appears to be hard drive speeds - I assume these disks are on a SAN, however, there are obviously multiple parties reading and writing to these all the time, which would slow them down. An hdparm test showed the following on our primary drive:

x@ghs:/sys# hdparm -tT /dev/xvda

/dev/xvda:
Timing cached reads: 10966 MB in 1.99 seconds = 5504.34 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 304 MB in 3.00 seconds = 101.21 MB/sec
/dev/xvda:
Timing cached reads: 10018 MB in 1.99 seconds = 5034.44 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 262 MB in 3.02 seconds = 86.89 MB/sec
/dev/xvda:
Timing cached reads: 12214 MB in 1.99 seconds = 6133.11 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 466 MB in 3.02 seconds = 154.32 MB/sec


Despite this seeming like a relatively slow read rate (for server grade disks), we've never experienced any symptoms that would indicate slow disks or I/O (plus you have to consider how many people are using these disks at once - all things considered, it's good performance). Stability-wise, however: uncomparable. We have never had a problem with the host machine, or network connectivity in that entire year. The only downtime has been due to our reconfigurations of software - the Linode network itself has been extremely reliable. Just so you can see the sort of uptime obtainable:

x@ghs:/sys# w
05:15:21 up 312 days, 5:49, 6 users, load average: 0.11, 0.11, 0.05
Yep, 312 days and counting...

The next important point I'd like to cover is that of their customer service. One thing that initially struck me is the quick responses received whenever support tickets were opened - the long time it took us to receive a response so far was 15 minutes. Generally, Linode support staff have responded within 5 minutes, and usually have a full resolution within a maximum of 20 minutes. This has "wowed" me, especially when compared to the standard 3-5 days response time from other hosts. They also have an IRC support channel which staff hang out on, as well as forums within which the staff are active participants.

Another aspect which Linode does properly in customer service is that of valuing the customer - so much so that they cause us to freely recommend them wherever we go, with no other benefits to ourselves (such as this post here). Whenever support tickets were opened, staff we very polite, and professional, also using humour where appropriate, but at all times, making us feel valued and respected. Never once was there even a hint of hostility or rush in their responses. Second to that, Linode appears to periodically offer free upgrades to customers (both new and existing). So far, from what I've experienced, in the form of a 25% RAM increase on all plans (for free), and most recently, 25% disk space increase - most other hosts I've heard of and experienced only offer "short-term available" upgrades to new customers, and never anything free for existing (and not just in the VPS hosting industry, but in all other "tech-related" industries, like mobile phones, etc).


Sort of going along with this category, we see the vast amount of effort Linode has put into features that are helpful to the customer. I wish to talk about a few of the ones that have stood out to us:

-Backup manager: Linodes backup manager is based, from what I can ascertain, on an LVM snapshotting mechanism (due to them using Xen, and therefore not being able to do live machine-instance based snapshots; a limitation of Xen itself). This is available at an extra cost (about $7 per month from memory), however, the convenience and power of it is well worth it. You have automatic daily, weekly, and monthly snapshots, as well as a snapshot you can manually issue whenever you wish. This snapshot can be restored over the top of an existing Linode (the name for their VPS's), or to a new Linode, so you can migrate/modify data as needed. Also, once you've finished any work, if you've fired up a new Linode then cancel it, the remaining day in the month for that Linode are refunded to your account as a prorata credit which can be used against the next invoice - so almost no loss!

-Failover and load balancing: Linode is currently working on an auto Node-Balancer, so this will certainly be a handy feature to have implemented for customers with such a need. Currently, Linode offers failover IP's and interfaces, which can be set up relatively easily, and, from memory, a load-balancing IP address which balances automatically between two or more nodes.

-Community Library: Linode has a library with many articles in it, which cover all manner of projects and setups for things from clustering, to web servers, etc. This enables those who have not yet set up such projects to have a guide which is written aimed towards the Linode customer, making their experience pleasant, and easy. The list of articles in this library is quite exhaustive.

-Custom kernels: Although Linode provides their own kernel by default, they allow you to run any custom kernel you wish via the use of the PV_Grub Xen option, which will load the kernel via the standard bootloader. A definite winning point for the true Linux-geek.

-Fast distro releases: Usually within a day or two of a distro being released, LInode has made an updated distributable/installable version available to all customers. This is an extremely good response time, and every other VPS provider I looked at was still missing distros from 6 months to a year ago.

-Stack scripts: Stack scripts is a feature that Linode has implemented which allows pre-configured "virtual appliances" to be distributed to new Linodes. Simply put, if you run the LAMP stack script, it installs and appropriately configures LAMP on a Linode for you. This can save much time if you're in a hurry, or, help you out if you're a newbie who doesn't know a lot about Linux.

-Lassie watchdog: A simple feature, but it automatically boots up your VPS again if it somehow halts. May not be necessary for you, but it's free and optional, and can be handy if you're away elsewhere and need your machine to automatically power-up in the event of it turning off.

-Recovery options: Linode provides two default recovery options for a box that's not behaving. The first is the "Lish" console, which is basically a terminal into your machine via one of the hosts. This is useful if you've got no remote connectivity to the box due to a dead process, etc. However, I believe this option is only available if you're using one of Linode's kernels. The second recovery option is the bootable "Finnix Recovery ISO", which fires up a live bootable recovery distro on your LInode so you can edit files on the disk, and perform any other necessary recovery operations without reinstalling your OS.

-API: This may not be a feature that is useful to many of you, but for the keen enthusiast or programmger, having an interfaceable API which performs all the necessary management functions is a real blessing. You can theoretically manage your Linode from any OS by writing up your own scripted control using the API keys.

-Modularity: The ability to upgrade individual components to your Linode is also wonderful. I.e., instead of having to upgrade my entire plan to the next level, I can just buy more RAM, or more bandwidth, etc., and add these to my monthly bill - or, I can just buy more bandwidth for one month, because I'm going to need it for that month, and not need to have it for the next month.

-Community: Nothing beats having a supportive community. This is quite evident in both the IRC and the forums, where helpful members and staff abound. No complaints here.

Finally, I have a quick word on pricing. The pricing in Linode may be slightly more than other VPS providers, however, you get what you pay for. I'm willing to pay more considering the service I receive from Linode, and I'd say it's well worth it. If you do want a reliable VPS, then Linode is for you.