Hi Caker.

Can we get an update on how Xen migration is going? It's just been pointed out that unixshell offer pretty much twice the resources (RAM and disk space) for the same price as my Linode 120. I believe Xen performance is incredibly more efficient compared to UML.

Of course, I'm sure their service isn't as reliable nor their support so damn friendly and helpful. I'd hate to ditch you guys over price point, but double the disk space would really rock my world (photo hosting).

So really, all I'm after is an update on how things are going and when you think we might have Xen goodness.

I had a look, the numbers are nice, but the admins there seem like rather dodgy bastards. Seem to be a lot of coverups to maintain thier aparrent "100% uptime"

Indeed. A friend of mine says he had great uptime before the move to Xen and since he hasn't had >15 days uptime, often much lower.

One thing that I really do like about linode is that people can and do post negative things on the forums. Seeing other people's complaints does make me think linode are not covering things up.

Unixshell delete any negative posts, not a good practise.

Yeah, that's one nice thing about linode. Everything's open and honest here, which fosters a strong community.

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Ed/Bones.

Just as I would defend Linode in the Unixshell forums I feel I should do the same here.

They haven't ever covered up downtimes and I have been very impressed with their honesty. The problem is that it was a one man show for awhile kind of like some of the growing pains that Linode went through early on.

The problem that Unixshell has had is the move to Xen 3.0 (they were previously 2.0). They thought things were stable enough to move to 3.0 but only later found problems. Not to mention the DC (GNAX) has had power problems (not unlike HE while I was at Linode) making things that much more painful.

They haven't deleted negative posts (maybe locked them) except I think for one abusive customer that really wasn't acting too rational and cluttered the forum with multiple duplicate posts.

I originally left Linode (for RedwoodVirtual) because I could get double the resources for the same price. I didn't need the Linode hand-holding anymore but was disappointed in the level of service. Unixshell offered close to the same resource/price ratio (with Xen and console access) to warrant a trial. They also had forums that had warts and all that made me feel comfortable with their openness.

I check back often with Linode to see how competitive they are with prices and if Xen is being offered. Linode is the cream of the crop and would put a secondary VPS here if they dropped their prices.

I was on unixshell for about 8 months last year. This was before Xen 3.0, so I can only comment on their "more stable" environment. Their price/performance/storage ratio was absolutely phenomenal, but the support was definitely lacking. I agree with the previous poster that it was likely due to Matt being stretched too thin.

In most cases a support ticket was not responded too for a day or two and then the problem disappeared. No response, no form post, ticket just disappeared along with the problem. Any urging to be more forthcoming with their customers resulted in a barrage of "IT'S NOT MANAGED!!!" and "uR n0t 1eet nuff" messages in the forums.

To their credit, I think they offer a much needed service and are trying to provide it very professionally. I know they work with the Xen developers very closely.

But in the end it was worth the extra money, lower resources and slower performance to move to Linode. Here I am 100% positive that I can get ahold of someone for support and that they will be totally responsive and open about the situation.

</2cents>

- Brian