

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

Having struggled a lot with our current VPS, finally decided to go the cloud way.<p>[Those interested to know more about what we&#x27;ve been facing can refer to my two recent threads:<p>1. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=6348903<p>2. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=6367198 ]<p>We&#x27;re now trying to decide between linode and DigitalOcean.<p>One major difference between the two that we think we&#x27;ve found is that while DO offers SSD storage, linode (we think, again), has regular hard drives.<p>What do you all suggest? Linode or DO? Or something else?
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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!

------
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)

~~~
knightzero
Linode is working to upgrade to ssd.
[https://forum.linode.com/viewtopic.php?t=10406&f=26](https://forum.linode.com/viewtopic.php?t=10406&f=26)

------
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.

------
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.

------
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.

------
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?

------
webvet
Clickable previous thread links:

1\.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6348903](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6348903)

2\.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6367198](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6367198)

------
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

------
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](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=672553)

and this:

[http://www.majidkhosravi.com/ovh-review/](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.

