Having a terrible time with my shared hosting and stumbled onto Linode.

Probably time to upgrade to a VPS, but I don't have a clue about LAMP distros or web servers. How is a newbie to decide?

I will be hosting ModX CMS and WordPress for several sites.

Also, I am command line illiterate, so I plan on following the guides in http://library.linode.com/ very closely.

Thanks in advance for any direction.

Well, if you're hosting these sites for yourself (or friends and family), put on your crash protection gear (i.e. helment, gloves, knee pads, etc) and head on over to the bottom of the learning curve.

If you're charging clients money to host these sites - run don't walk to the classifieds and get yourself a sysadmin that knows what he's doing.

VPS is UN-managed, meaning anything and everything is done by you - including security.

None of it's rocket science, but it is complex, and reading about it, and successfully doing it is two different things.

Good luck.

OK. I am definitely not in the right place. I do charge and can't afford to make mistakes.

Anyone recommend a Fully Managed VPS for a designer, not a server admin?

Thanks.

You might ask that question over on the Webhosting Talk forum.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/

Since people here, most likely came here, because IT IS a un-managed VPS hosting service with an excellent reputation.

What kind of problems you have? Perhaps you don't need a pricey managed VPS but a solid, non-overselling shared host?

http://www.pair.com/

Just what you're looking for high quality managed VPS. They also have high quality shared hosting and high quality dedicated hosting. You may want to look at them for shared hosting if you can't swing their managed VPS prices.

They are not the cheapest game in town, but they are one of the few hosting companies out there who are dedicated and serious about what they do and they know wtf they are doing. Linode is the only other company I've run across that has equal customer support and service.