Hi,
in some months CentOS 6.0 should be available.

I'm sure that the linode's guys will support this distro as soon as it will be available but in the meantime I would like to know the best way to switch with zero downtime for my services.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I must buy a second linode for only one month,
I deploy the CentOS 6.0 on it,
I configure it, once I finished configuring it what I need to do?

Should I clone new linode on the old one or what?

Thanks.

You will be charged for one month, but you pay for the Linode only as long as you use it - once you delete the instance, any unused time is credited to your account and can be set against future invoices.


If both Linodes are in the same datacenter, you can just swap the IP addresses over.

_________________
/ Peter

Ok, thanks.

Correct me if I understood well.

Current situation:
VPS #1 is running a fine configuration of CentOS 5.5 and it has 8 months remaining.

When CentOS 6.0 will be available I will buy a second VPS #2 where I will install CentOS 6.0 paying only one month.

Once the configuration on VPS #2 is finished,
I swap the IP address from Linode manager than I deactivate VPS #1 and the 8 months unused from VPS #1 will be added to VPS #2?

Right?

As a quick note, swapping the IP address requires both linodes to be shutdown.

I believe the process will look something like this:

Create VPS #2 as monthly and have your CC get billed the prorated monthly fee (i.e. if it's the middle of the month and it's a 512 linode, you'd get billed 15/30 * $20 = $10)
Configure VPS #2 and make sure it's using DHCP for its IP address.
Shutdown VPS #2.
Shutdown VPS #1.
Swap IP addresses between #1 and #2.
Boot VPS #2.
Destroy VPS #1 and your Linode account (not your CC) will be credited with the prorated cost of the remaining 8 months worth of service (for a 512 linode, that should be around 8 * ($20 * 90%) = $144).
Submit a support ticket to Linode to switch VPS #2 over to yearly billing (which should eat up most of the credit on your account).

The (relatively minor) issues with this process:
- You'll be left with an extra credit on your account roughly equal to what you paid for the prorated month of VPS #2. It will, of course, get used up 8 months down the road when your next yearly fee is due. Unless you've got an expensive linode and a tight budget, I wouldn't worry about it. If you do worry, you can always make the switch toward the end of the month to minimize the amount.
- You will have a few minutes of downtime. The biggest factor will be the boot time of VPS #2 after you do the IP switch. I'd expect the downtime to easily be under 5 minutes (barring a problem). However, if you absolutely, positively need ZERO downtime, you'll need to use another method.

From your explanations this will be a painless switch for me,
thanks for the kind answer.