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Ask HN: Going the cloud way - Linode or DigitalOcean?

9 points by webvet ↗ HN
Having struggled a lot with our current VPS, finally decided to go the cloud way.

[Those interested to know more about what we've been facing can refer to my two recent threads:

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6348903

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6367198 ]

We're now trying to decide between linode and DigitalOcean.

One major difference between the two that we think we've found is that while DO offers SSD storage, linode (we think, again), has regular hard drives.

What do you all suggest? Linode or DO? Or something else?

18 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 50.5 ms ] thread
trebor
Linode may have "regular" hard drives, but they're fast. I ran a legacy PHP commerce package for a client and it would log gigabytes of data due to deprecation warnings, I wasn't as knowledgeable about downgrading and freezing packages as I am now, but Linode handled it fine. I think they're 10k RPM SAS drives, so they're quite fast.

On the other hand, Linode gives you access to 8x Xen CPUs from the base package. While to get the same out of DigitalOcean you need to pay $160/mo. The pros/cons I see are:

DigitalOcean: SSD, RAM (2x), and therefore price (for low CPU apps) Linode: CPU, HD space, transfer (2-4x)

Gnewt
Linode is straightup incredible. I've been with them for about 5 years now. Almost every year they've given some sort of free upgrade -- I still pay the same amount I did 5 years ago and I now have something like 10x the bandwidth, a bit over 2x the storage, 2.8x the RAM, etc. AND faster processors. They're a company who seriously know their shit, and they're FAST.

The $20/mo base can be a bit much for some usages -- I still have a few $2-7/mo boxes from LowEndBox for various side projects, but for anything I really care about, I wouldn't put it anywhere but my Linode.

bliti
My experience with Linode left a very sour taste in my mouth. Their security leaves a lot to be desired. It cost me, and clients, a fair amount of money and grief. Their hardware might be good, but their policies are lacking. I do not recommend anyone to use Linode.
taway2012
You've written the same thing twice in this thread, without giving specifics.

Which Linode specific security policies caused you what specific "grief"? And what provider do you use now?

I know (1) they were late to the two-factor-auth party, (2) had a break-in where credit cards numbers were stolen, (3) a targeted attack that was used to compromise some bitcoin hosts.

I am aware of these incidents and still give full marks to Linode. The hardware is incredible. The hard disks are speedy. The network connection is very fast. My $20/mo is working much harder at Linode than it would at Amazon. :)

I've been hosting a lightly-used disk- and network- heavy app for a few months now. Never had a problem so far.

bliti
The credit card break in caused me a lot of grief. It just blew my mind how something so important would not be treated as such. If you do not take care of the basics, I cannot trust you with my code.

For most of my smaller needs, I use webfaction (web hosting and vps). Which has been very good. Costs more, but their support is very good. Bigger things go to Amazon.

I did not have hardware issues with Linode. Wish you the best of luck. Hopefully they have learned and taken security seriously since the last breach.

taway2012
OK. FWIW, I do not consider credit card number theft to be a big deal (I just lost my wallet a couple of weeks ago). I know I am probably in the minority on this.

That said, they should have an option to pay by paypal to outsource this risk to somebody else. I always pick paypal when I have the option to do so.

There's a saying that guarding diamonds and coal to the same extent is unwise. :)

Good luck and thanks for your reply!

ig1
It wasn't the fact that they were hacked, it happens, it was the way they handled it. Their official statement read "We have found no evidence that any Linode data of any other customer was accessed. In addition, we have found no evidence that payment information of any customer was accessed."

It was only after the hacker publicly posted detail of the hack that linode admitted that the hacker did have access to their customer database including encrypted credit card details.

Even then they failed to make it clear that the hacker claimed to have a copy of their encryption key (they made no attempt to deny this either).

All of Linode's press releases were written in a fashion designed to make Linode look as good as possible rather than attempting to protect their customers.

I used to be a fan of Linode but I cancelled all of my contracts with them as a result of their terrible handling of the situation.

bliti
I have used both, would choose neither. Linode has awful security, and security policies. Digital Ocean's offerings were not consistent and rather unstable/buggy. Some of their OS images did not work. Their support was a bit on the slow side for me.

I've had really good luck with Webfaction. Do look into them.

ablerman
Can you give some specifics about the security issues you saw at Linode?
danpalmer
Based on the pricing, the security leaks, and the technology, Linode strike me as one of the 'old' breed of hosting providers, who are trying, but struggling to keep up with newer companies.

I've got an account with Digital Ocean, and while they can be a little slow releasing kernel updates, they've been great so far. Good performance, great price, good support.

AznHisoka
Neither. Forget VPS. Upgrade to a dedicated server (which beats a VPS in every category) for just $40/month with OVH.
webvet
@AznHisoka: Thanks for the reminder. Are you associated with/use them?

After you told me about them in my previous thread, we checked them out and actually ordered a server there. Turns out the only payment option they have is PayPal. We tried to make cc payment via paypal but they would make just a test transaction (successfully) and then say, can't process. We tried four times, with the same results. OVH support wasn't much help, except saying PayPal is the only available option now.

In the meanwhile, we found this:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=672553

and this:

http://www.majidkhosravi.com/ovh-review/

I wonder what this is all about.

AznHisoka
I currently have 4 servers with them. Are you using their French/European servers or their US-based ones (or Montreal)?

They don't offer much tech support, but they do fix basic issues like failed Hard Drives, RAID, etc pretty quickly. You pretty much have to do everything yourselves, but that's the point of a dedicated server.

In the end, you can't beat the price, and that's why I went with them. With the Paypal, I could use my CC with them.

uzegonemad
I can't comment on DigitalOcean, but I've been using Linode for a couple of years and have been happy.

They've offered several free hardware upgrades (CPU cores, transfer, storage) and one optional upgrade (Doubling RAM) that set me back an extra five cents a month.

I haven't had any issues, but from what I have seen Linode is very responsive.

hcho
Toss a coin. VPS offerings are more or less a commodity nowadays. The price difference is ignorable for a person at first world income levels? Linode is a full cup of coffee price more expensive than Ocean over a month. The specs will be exactly equivalent shortly, if not already. Unless you happen to end up on the same machine with an abusive neighbour, you'll be fine.
webvet
Thanks to all who have responded.

We've decided to try each one-

DigitalOcean - already ordered, up and running (very well too)

Linode - will order soon

OVH - already ordered (per my comment below), now trying to figure out a way to pay them