Are CPU and Memory limits hard set? My concern is being burdened with a huge bill if there's a scripting error that pegs cpu usage or memory usage.

Are specific ports blocked? If so, what are they?

What use case restrictions are placed on a linode? Can it be used as an email server / spam filter? Can it be used as a file server? Custom linux repository? Web server? Streaming media server?

The reason I ask is because I've worked with other VPS hosts that have very restrictive use cases (e.g. all files hosted on server need to have direct links on a public-facing web page).

I did read the TOS. It sounds like the short version is: you can do what you want, as long as the activity doesn't contradict our Terms of Service, it's legal within the USA, and as long as it doesn't adversely affect other customers or our network as a whole.

-M

Yes, the limits are hard. It's not possible to go over them.

Remember, CPU is a shared resource. Any node can spike up to 400% (or 800% on the largest plans, probably), but obviously they can't all do it at once. If everyone is competing for CPU, it'll be divided evenly, which isn't fun for anyone. So, be mindful of horrible CPU abuse (e.g. Folding@home), but in general you don't have to worry.

Edit: Of course, bandwidth is another matter. You're limited to 50 Mbps of outbound traffic as an emergency brake (which you can get raised if you need it), but even at that speed you can burn through hundreds of GB in a day, and that isn't counting inbound traffic. Minor overages are not a big deal; see the FAQ. For severe overages, you and Linode will work something out, but I don't know what that means. I've heard it involves kidneys.



The Atlanta data center blocks inbound traffic to some ports; here's a list. The most notable ones are 6667 and 6669 (as used by IRC). The other data centers do not block any ports.

That doesn't stop you from running services on non-standard ports, of course.



Right. Unlike those other hosts, Linode is awesome.