Hi. I'm thinking of moving from a Media Temple GS shared server to Linode. I've been building websites for about 15 years and I consider myself pretty computer literate and I pick things up pretty quickly. However, I'm a designer rather than a developer and I have had very little experience with either Linux or the command line. I've looked at the how-to guides on the Linode website, and I'm pretty sure I could get things up and running by carefully following the instructions. But my question is, after I've done this, how much of an effort is it to keep things running nicely (especially from a security point of view)? On the shared server this was obviously taken care of my MT -- is it something that one constantly needs to keep an eye on? Also, does anyone have any recommended resources for a complete beginner to learn enough Linux command line stuff to cope with what's needed to run a basic site on Linode?

Thanks,

eboon

Actually, ignore the second part of the question -- just found the Linode guide to using the terminal which is very helpful: https://www.linode.com/docs/networking/ ... -terminal/

It's all doable - but you have to ask yourself why you would dilute your billable design hours doing something you would have to go thru a huge learning curve just to get basic knowledge.

Are you comfortable billing clients for sysadmin tasks when you're a raw beginner? What excuse will you give them when their sites are hacked or brought down?

Most small businesses fail because they lose focus on what makes them money - will sysadmining make you money, or just cost you lots of time and grief?

If you've outgrown shared hosting (and who hasn't) perhaps you need to partner up with a developer/sysadmin and combine your talents.

Always remember, security is a ongoing (never ending) process, not a one shot procedure.

_________________
Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

Thanks vonskippy. The move from shared hosting to Linode would only have been for our sites -- we certainly wouldn't want to be looking after client sites in this way -- but the points you make are good ones. I wouldn't want to be spending an inordinate amount of time just keeping the server working properly and secure. Probably have to look at some sort of managed VPS.

Thanks for your help.

eboon