What's in a name? shared, web, self and VPS hosting

On hostgator, you probably are on their shared plans. On Linode you are on a VPS.

The most correct way to say it is probably that you're on a VPS. However, most people don't know what a VPS is, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

As far as the general public is concerned I might as well be doing some hocus pocus? :?

> Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I say I have my own server.

+1 on saying "I have my own server". Self-hosted sometimes implies that you have a server (or 6) in your basement/bedroom closet/garage/behind the couch. But to the general public, it is pretty much hocus pocus

Okay, I didn't have one in the garage, but that's only because I didn't have a garage! :D

In Hostgator, if you want to change something that isn't permitted by the host, like installing the bleeding-edge version of a programming language or running some random background process, you have to ask them to enable it. If they say no, you're screwed.

In Linode, if you want to do anything whatsoever, you just do it. No need to ask anybody for permission, as long as you're not breaking the law or abusing the service (like spamming). If you want to torrent open-source stuff (no copyright violation) 24/7, by all means do it.

If you don't need the extra configurability as well as the extra responsibility that comes with it, there's no difference, it's just a damn website.

Web: The most basic form. There's a lot of overlap with shared, but if I had to put a distinction on this, I'd say that at the basic level this just gets you static file hosting, not dynamic stuff.

Shared hosting: What people typically think of as web hosting. The company will have one (or more servers), and on each server, there will be many different accounts, each one hosting a different site.

Self hosting: Running everything off your own server, either some place you physically control, or colocated.

Dedicated hosting: similar to colocated, except you're renting the server from the company; you have complete control over the entire box.

VPS hosting: Half way between shared and dedicated. Instead of multiple people sharing one operating system on one box, but with different accounts, in this case virtualization software is used to create multiple virtual computers on a single physical host. Each person, with good virtualization, will get their own complete operating system to control. Functionally, this works pretty much identically to dedicated hosting, since you get a complete virtual server to control. The performance isn't as much as a dedicated, but you get cost savings (since multiple people share each box), and the fact that it's virtual grants an enormous amount of additional flexibility (moving a virtual machine to a different machine or even a different datacenter is very easy, but moving a dedicated server to a different datacenter involves a truck).

A number of Linodians use their Linode for something other than serving a website, as well. I know many run asterisk.

There was a thread around on what unusual things people use their 'nodes for.

"I have my own VPS" is probable the most correct phrase, but then I would have to explain what a VPS is to …. like 95% of the people. To make it easy for myself I think I will stick to "I have a server".

The thread about what unusual things people use their 'nodes for, sounds like fun.

I use mine for the boring standard stuff, but I also use mine for "random useful stuff". For example, I've got OpenVPN on it and I use that to watch Netflix USA content, which is distinct from Netflix Canada content. I also use my linode to drive a dynamic DNS service for my home file server after DynDNS deleted all of my hostnames with no possibility of recreating them as part of their "screw over all of the few remaining free customers" campaign.

@Guspaz:

I also use my linode to drive a dynamic DNS service for my home file server after DynDNS deleted all of my hostnames with no possibility of recreating them as part of their "screw over all of the few remaining free customers" campaign.

I do the same, but just using the linode api rather than needing to run anything on my linode

@Guspaz:

I also use my linode to drive a dynamic DNS service for my home file server after DynDNS deleted all of my hostnames with no possibility of recreating them as part of their "screw over all of the few remaining free customers" campaign.
Huh? My free dnsalias.org entry is still working for me…

@sweh:

@Guspaz:

I also use my linode to drive a dynamic DNS service for my home file server after DynDNS deleted all of my hostnames with no possibility of recreating them as part of their "screw over all of the few remaining free customers" campaign.
Huh? My free dnsalias.org entry is still working for me…

I had several ath.cx domains. DynDNS has been pulling tricks to try to get rid of free accounts. Their latest was to send out an e-mail that suspiciously ended up in everybody's spam folder (their mail never has before, and it wasn't just me) that said something like "log into your interface in 5 days or we delete all your hosts". They deleted my hosts, and ath.cx is no longer available to create new domains, so they're all gone permanently.

@glg:

I do the same, but just using the linode api rather than needing to run anything on my linode

That's what I'm doing. The linode is required because I can't use the Linode API without having a linode. Also, I stuck a PHP script on my linode that spits out the IP of the requesting user, which is used by the dyndns client to figure out if its IP has changed. There are public services I could use for this, though (it was faster to write a one-line PHP script than find a good service), so there isn't really anything critical being done on the linode.

@Guspaz:

@glg:

I do the same, but just using the linode api rather than needing to run anything on my linode

That's what I'm doing. The linode is required because I can't use the Linode API without having a linode. Also, I stuck a PHP script on my linode that spits out the IP of the requesting user, which is used by the dyndns client to figure out if its IP has changed. There are public services I could use for this, though (it was faster to write a one-line PHP script than find a good service), so there isn't really anything critical being done on the linode.

Target="[remote_addr]" works with the API, no need for for the php page on your linode.

(yes, obviously one has to have a linode to have access to the API, but what I'm doing with the API isn't touching my linode at all)

I am actually surprised.. You are on Unmanaged VPS and still don't know the meaning of these things!! :wink:

@glg:

Target="[remote_addr]" works with the API, no need for for the php page on your linode.

That's neat, but that means you'll be hammering the Linode API and DNS servers every few minutes even when your IP hasn't changed…

My script runs every 5 minutes, checks if the IP is different from the previous run, and if so, triggers the API update. If you skip all that logic and simply execute the API call every 5 minutes, you're causing unnecessary load on Linode's end.

@Guspaz:

@glg:

Target="[remote_addr]" works with the API, no need for for the php page on your linode.

That's neat, but that means you'll be hammering the Linode API and DNS servers every few minutes even when your IP hasn't changed…

My script runs every 5 minutes, checks if the IP is different from the previous run, and if so, triggers the API update. If you skip all that logic and simply execute the API call every 5 minutes, you're causing unnecessary load on Linode's end.

My IP very rarely changes, so I have it running daily or something like that.