Posted by victorkane on

Hi all!

After weeks of reseller shared hosting woes, I've decided to go VPS.

The hosting company where I have two reseller accounts (Site5) seem to be going through some kind of crisis.

As shared hosting accounts, even with all the problems, the support has been as good as it could be, and things haven't been too disastrous. But I think the reseller business model seems to be collapsing (along with a lot of other models, but that is off topic :)

So, I am coming to realize that dedicated hosting of some kind is the road for anyone serious about Drupal consulting. So I decided to keep my live sites going on Site5 for the time being at least, but to move all my development sites (I have an agile software development approach documentation site plus a development snapshot testing site for each ongoing project) to... a VPS! If all goes well, and I can develop efficient means of maintaining it without spending long lines poring over manuals (or googling) every day (I don't mind if that is the case at the beginning), then I will switch over everything to VPS, and eventually dedicated server(s).

Well, I've been around Linux for many years now, more recently Ubuntu, so I decided for various reasons to go with linode ( http://linode.com/ ), where you can actually "roll your own" VPS from a choice of about 15 different linux distros.

For a technically detailed hands on narrative, to see how I got my Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon linode going for Drupal, see my article "VPS! Getting Drupal up and running on a linode" ( http://awebfactory.com.ar/node/275 ).

I am now getting all my Project Flow and Tracker (Drupal based agile software development documentation wiki sites) sites for all my projects configured as a multisite (thanks to some ZoneEdit DNS management tips, see reference in article), and a host of other exciting things. And after realizing that I have done the whole setup in 2 days, I now reluctantly have to leave the excitement and... get back to work on my new virtual box in the sky.

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com.ar

Comments

gmasky’s picture

gmasky commented

For the Linux challenged, Is Linode a Managed VPS. What does one get with a Managed VPS

victorkane’s picture

victorkane commented

As far as I can see (I am new to its service) there is no managed VPS service offered. When you create your linode, you get an installed linux distribution, and it's you and the command line, I'm afraid.

Which is what I wanted, since I was sick of going through people to get what I needed (see my article for pointers on configuring a server from scratch so as to be able to run Drupal, if you feel so inclined. Of course, more configuration would need to be done to bring it up to speed for a production environment: accelerators, security, secure mail servers, etc).

Other companies do offer managed VPS, though, if that is what you are looking for.

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com.ar

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com

dmuth’s picture

dmuth commented

Hi Victor,

I've been considering using Linode for some Drupal hosting of my own, and stumbled across your post. Seeing that your post was from 3 months ago, I was wondering if I could ask how Linode worked out for you? Were there any rough patches or "gotchas" that I should be aware of if I sign up with them?

Thanks for your time,

-- Doug

--
Douglas Muth, Philadelphia, PA
http://www.claws-and-paws.com/

victorkane’s picture

victorkane commented

and handling dns through zoneedit.

It has been working flawlessly for me all this time. Very reliable and consistent service. Highly recommended!

Haven't had time to check out the beta Xen system, though, but I hear it is even better.

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com.ar

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com

mjwest10’s picture

mjwest10 commented

I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd bring it a bit up to date. I use Linode for about 10 Drupal sites and have been very pleased with it. I am set up on the XEN system and it works awesome. I highly recommend it. You can check out a full review and some articles related to setting up Drupal on the Linode at my Linode Review site.

nehalmehta’s picture

nehalmehta commented

I would also recommend linode. It's good to work with. I have production sites on them, and till date do not have any problem. I am using linode since May 07, its long time and they are doing good so far. Plus in one of my website I had to upgrade server from 360 MB to 720 MB (RAM), as my swap memory was getting full mostly because increase in traffic. I was ordered upgrade, they asked me to do in few hours. When they said I can do it. I just migrated things and moved to new server in 5-7 minutes, with no issues at all.

marcus0263’s picture

marcus0263 commented

I've been using them for a few months and simply love them. It's almost as good as having your own hardware and in fact many cases actually better! The price is good, the reliability is great and service/support has been excellent so far. You can go with a a stock OS they have available or roll your own. Since I'm a Gentoo fan I just connected to my Linode with their serial console access and bootstrapped Gentoo with a Stage One install. If you're not familiar with Gentoo it's a source based Linux, I compiled and built my OS specifically for the hardware and function. This means a very lean/mean environment specific to it's task.

No Linode is not "Managed", what you get from them is a Xen VM and you're completely responsible for it, that's what makes it so great. I've got one of my sites on my Linode now and will be migrating my other sites over shortly. Give them a spin, you will be impressed!