I have found Linode disks to have the best performance in all http://pastebin.ca/2049137 http://pastebin.ca/2049137 You are correct, I/O is the challenge in a

I have found Linode disks to have the best performance in all http://pastebin.ca/2049137 http://pastebin.ca/2049137 You are correct, I/O is the challenge in administering systems in a virtual environment. My database which does not fit in memory does fine on a high-load site because I cache it responsibly. For comparison, here are awful results from a new player called ChunkHost, who I signed up for with the purpose of testing http://pastebin.ca/2049142 http://pastebin.ca/2049142 The sequential write throughput there is troubling. This comparison from a couple years back is interesting too http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison/ http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison/ I've linked this URL before but it really does the best of breaking it down. What cloud providers have you tried? In my experience there are vast gaps between certain ones, Amazon no exception. Hard to stereotype cloud with gaps like those. Even if SoftLayer could provision me a new box in ten minutes the improvement to my sleep from not waking up for every disk failure and submitting a remote hands ticket at who knows how much per pop far outweighs anything else.