Linode Free Trial

[SneakyDave]

You can try out Linode's smallest 512M "node" before you buy, sounds like a good opportunity for people that want to get their feet wet. Although I'm not sure "a couple of hours" is quite long enough, but maybe for some people.

http://blog.linode.com/2013/02/28/create-a-free-account-and-trial-linodes/

Some of you may have noticed that we recently released a new way to sign up for a Linode account. This new method also includes the ability to try a Linode for a few hours without needing to enter any payment information. We’re excited about this because now you can give Linode a go without needing to spend a single penny.


Creating a free account is as simple as visiting http://linode.com/ and submitting your email address, username, and password. You’ll then receive an email welcoming you to Linode and asking you to confirm your email address.


Once confirmed you will be taken to a welcome page (the Account tab), where you will be given the option to spin up a Linode 512 cloud server to play around with for a couple of hours. You will also always have the option of completing your signup and becoming a normal paid account. The cool part is that completing your signup while you have a trial Linode will save it, along with any work you’ve invested in it, from being deleted when the trial ends.


So, that’s it. There is no credit card required and you can choose to keep your Linode at any time during the trial. You can even keep your account after your trial has expired. Hmm, maybe we needed this because we’ve got something cooking that doesn’t require having an active Linode. Just maybe!

 

[rollthebones]

http://vps.me offers free VPSes. Needless to say they're complete crap but for testing stuff out they're worth looking at.

 

[Lucas]

I just got done installing and optimizing a cPanel installation on a Linode VPS with 512MB, runs pretty nice I have to say. Optimized some apache configs and mysql as well as added nginx. Couldn't be better!

 

[rollthebones]

I just got done installing and optimizing a cPanel installation on a Linode VPS with 512MB, runs pretty nice I have to say. Optimized some apache configs and mysql as well as added nginx. Couldn't be better!

What's the point of having nginx and apache?

 

[Jesepi]

Some people run apache for mod_php while delivering their static content through nginx.

I personally prefer using nginx for static content and php-fpm for php requests.

 

[rollthebones]

Some people run apache for mod_php while delivering their static content through nginx.

I personally prefer using nginx for static content and php-fpm for php requests.

Exactly. If you're going to use Apache for PHP when nginx does it better with FPM, installing nginx in the first place just seems pointless.

 

[merino88]

 

[SneakyDave]

Some people run Apache + nginx just so that they don't have to mess wife/re-learn nginx rewrites, and they can continue to use Apache htaccess rewrites.

 

[merino88]

 

[rollthebones]

Some people run Apache + nginx just so that they don't have to mess wife/re-learn nginx rewrites, and they can continue to use Apache htaccess rewrites.

Someone who knows what they're doing can probably convert them in 2 minutes, lame reason.

 

[Jason]

What's the point of having nginx and apache?

Well, for one output buffering. In PHP, you'd do this by using ob_flush() and flush(); however, nginx waits for an entire response from the php-fpm instance before sending anything to the browser, since it allows the CGI instance to hurry up and finish.

You can't disable this FastCGI buffering, IIRC, but people have posted workarounds; however, must of them work with 1k chunks and don't allow for gzip. This sucks for chat-like applications (though, imo, you shouldn't be using Apache in such a configuration anyway) and slow apps.

Anyway, I don't run such a configuration, but that's at least one reason I can think of off the top of my head for proxying dynamic requests to mod_php.

Edit: But back on topic, I've been a Linode customer for a few years now. I probably spend ~$300/m with them (tempted to move over my AWS instances too, but not feasible at this point). I could get 10 servers for 1/5th the price elsewhere, or even cheaper VPS', but their support is second to none. There's DigitalOcean for those who may want something more inexpensive.
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[SneakyDave]

Linode just announced a big network upgrade, and bandwidth increases by 10x.

http://blog.linode.com/2013/03/07/linode-nextgen-the-network/

We’ve also upgraded the default outbound Linode network limit from 50 Mbits to 250 Mbits/sec. All you need to do is to reboot to receive this five-fold increase. Remember that this is a limit on outbound traffic only. Inbound is not limited.
To top things off we’ve increased the amount of outbound transfer included with all plans by 1,000%. That’s right, 10 times the included transfer!

• Linode 512 upgraded from 200GB to 2000GB (2TB)
• Linode 1G upgraded from 400GB to 4000GB (4TB)
• Linode 2G upgraded from 800GB to 8000GB (8TB)
• Linode 4G upgraded from 1600GB to 16000GB (16TB)
• Linode 8G upgraded from 2000GB to 20000GB (20TB)

As before, all inbound transfer is free.

 

[Adam Howard]

Linode is overpriced for VPS.

You can get full dedicated servers for less.

 

[Ghan_04]

Linode is overpriced for VPS.

You can get full dedicated servers for less.

This is certainly true for anything around the 2 GB plan and up (though with the new upgrades they are releasing, it may improve considerably) but for lower plans they are definitely worth the price. I have yet to see an unmanaged VPS provider come even close to matching Linode's combination of top-notch support and unparalleled feature set.

 

[iBotPeaches]

Linode is overpriced for VPS.

You can get full dedicated servers for less.

This is strictly opinion. The quality of support, servers, IO, bandwidth and feature set is eons above even some dedicated for that price.

 

[Adam Howard]

Anything below 2GB is not generally recommended for any growing (active) community.... XenForo had a thread about this once and the average was 2GB or larger (even for small / mid size communities). At least that was the general consensus (the opinion of many).

While I'm sure it's possible to do less than 2GB .... Anything is possible (without a control panel) .... I would not call it practical or generally idea for the majority of people who seriously seek to produce an active community (while planning for the future).

Above is a screen cap of the offered plans and prices (at this moment).... I would call this overpriced and would suggest people compare at webhostingtalk.com or other such forums which talk about web hosting.

 

[Ghan_04]

Anything below 2GB is not generally recommended for any growing (active) community.... XenForo had a thread about this once and the average was 2GB or larger (even for small / mid size communities). At least that was the general consensus (the opinion of many).

While I'm sure it's possible to do less than 2GB .... Anything is possible (without a control panel) .... I would not call it practical or generally idea for the majority of people who seriously seek to produce an active community (while planning for the future).

Above is a screen cap of the offered plans and prices (at this moment).... I would call this overpriced and would suggest people compare at webhostingtalk.com or other such forums which talk about web hosting.

I could not disagree more. Speaking from personal experience, I can say that it's quite easy to run active communities on 512 MB of RAM. And there are so many helpful tutorials, resources, and live communities out there these days that it's almost trivial to configure your own VPS without a control panel to make it really fast and memory efficient. Just look at Linode's library where they have a plethora of tutorials on how to setup various aspects of your VPS: http://library.linode.com/
Using a control panel for one site on a VPS is a total waste of resources and money anyway. I think anyone who has outgrown shared hosting and is willing to try learning can setup their own server from scratch.

I DO agree that the prices you highlighted are too high, and if a site needs more resources than the 512/1GB plans, I would recommend finding another host. That being said, Linode is in the process of coming out with some big changes which just included a 10x increase in bandwidth. I'm interested to see if they will provide some better RAM pricing as well.

 

[Adam Howard]

I could not disagree more. Speaking from personal experience, I can say that it's quite easy to run active communities on 512 MB of RAM. And there are so many helpful tutorials, resources, and live communities out there these days that it's almost trivial to configure your own VPS without a control panel to make it really fast and memory efficient. Just look at Linode's library where they have a plethora of tutorials on how to setup various aspects of your VPS: http://library.linode.com/
Using a control panel for one site on a VPS is a total waste of resources and money anyway. I think anyone who has outgrown shared hosting and is willing to try learning can setup their own server from scratch.

I DO agree that the prices you highlighted are too high, and if a site needs more resources than the 512/1GB plans, I would recommend finding another host. That being said, Linode is in the process of coming out with some big changes which just included a 10x increase in bandwidth. I'm interested to see if they will provide some better RAM pricing as well.

I can't neither agree or disagree in regards to going without a control panel.

I believe that if most people took the time and effort, they could indeed manage a VPS without a control panel. It's really not that hard. And if they took a little more time, they could "tweak" (optimize) their VPS to use less resources (outside of the default LAMP setup).

The key point is that I do believe the majority of people fail to do one or the other. And it takes only 1 of the named above (time, effort, optimization) to be lacking and for a 2GB+ system to be required.

But even with the proper time, effort, and correct optimization.... You should always give yourself some "room" for the unexpected.

More bandwidth is like adding "fluff" these days.... Typically the majority of people will never use 2 TB (2,000,000 MB) worth of bandwidth in a single month. This is where "overselling" becomes a factory. You can promise people X because they're most likely never going to get close to it ..... That is not to say some will not, but the majority will not.

And so the value for that price, overall is "fluff". You can keep quoting how they have a useful guide, but anyone can access that guide and thousands like it (as you said) without paying a dime.

There are many other alternative providers who offer the same level (or better) in support and services, but at a more completive price

 

[rdn]

I signup

 

[dieketzer]

my linode 512's have more than enough grunt to power an active xf community of 250 concurrents.
linode all the way. i have never been happier with a host in my 15 years in this biz. the bandwidth boost only makes me happier.