4 ms·

Or you can switch to Linode, which provides more resources and a more fully-featured web interface for less money. I switched several months back and I haven't

by nbpoole 15y ago

Or you can switch to Linode, which provides more resources and a more fully-featured web interface for less money. I switched several months back and I haven't run into a single issue. :) Edit: To be fair to Slicehost, they provided me with wonderful service for over a year and I never had a single issue while I was with them. I'm sad to see that they'll be shutting down.

icey 15y ago
I don't know how feasible this is; but it would be killer to be able to have a 1-click migration process. i.e. "Moving from slicehost? Provide your credentials and we'll bring everything over automatically. Just click this button!"
- StavrosK 15y ago
  It's relatively feasible, as the current migration process basically consists of killing all services on your slicehost server, rsyncing everything to linode and running a sed script to change the IPs. I have no idea why they don't do it, they'd have a billion more customers in a few days. I know I wanted to switch off Slicehost for years, their price is DOUBLE linode's and the performance is worse.
  - jonknee 15y ago
    ... Just wait until the Rackspace Cloud transfer--the prices are quadruple Linode's if you use your bandwidth.
    - StavrosK 15y ago
      Oh, I moved off months ago. It was easy, in the end.
- ben1040 15y ago
  A couple months ago someone posted a link on HN to a pretty cool looking tool that automatically would generate a Puppet script based on your server environment (packages installed, etc). I didn't save it, and I can't find it now from googling. Now I've set up a Linode account and want to migrate my config from Slicehost, and it looks like this might be a useful opportunity to test out that tool. But for the life of me I can't remember it's name. Does anyone have a link?
  - plusbryan 15y ago
    http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2344080 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2344080
    - ben1040 15y ago
      Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for. Also laughing hard at the irony of the title.
      - howradical 15y ago
        I'm certain blueprint can make this transition easier for most people, if anyone has any questions, please get in touch - matt@devstructure.com
- Perihelion 15y ago
  This isn't quite a one click operation, but this may be of some use to you: http://library.linode.com/linode-platform/migration/migrate-server-to-linode http://library.linode.com/linode-platform/migration/migrate-...
- jarin 15y ago
  I migrated a few Rails sites over from Slicehost to Linode, and since I was using Moonshine (which is a Rails-specific wrapper over Puppet) it was very easy. I just deployed to the Linode server with "cap deploy:setup; cap deploy", copied the databases over, and cut over the DNS. Moonshine handled installing Ruby, MySQL, Apache, configuring SSH and firewall, creating databases and database users, etc.
joelhooks 15y ago
I have a Linode VPS and I really dig it. My Slicehost VPS has been running without issues for years, so my gut is full of FUD. Maybe it will just work out...
citricsquid 15y ago
Linode are awesome. I've been with them for almost 8 months now, in that time I've had to submit 1 ticket which was to ask for a feature to be enabled for me. I have 5 linodes with them.
uggedal 15y ago
I did some studies of different cloud provider's performance 1.5 years ago and Linode won by a wide margin: http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison/ http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison/ I ran some quick checks on Rackpace a few months ago and with the little data I gathered Linode still seemed quite more performant in synthetic and application benchmarks.
eli 15y ago
Agreed, but I wish Linode let you do hourly billing. It's cool to be able to e.g. test a deployment script by spinning up a copy of your server for a few hours.
- qeorge 15y ago
  They will give you prorated credits if you cancel a VPS early. Not sure if its by the hour or day though.
  - JonnieCache 15y ago
    I have heard that they give prorated credits for cancellations, but I think you have to bother their billing team about it on a case by case basis. If they could automate this, or just go all out on hourly billing, then my current dilemma over which infrastructure to move our slightly tired dedicated app servers onto would be instantly solved. I really want to go completely linode, but I also really want to be able to instantly spin up loads of staging/testing environments without it becoming expensive. Unfortunately I have a feeling that the thing that makes linodes reliable, cheap and fast is the same thing that means you cant spin them up and down on demand. I guess I could just rsync my entire linode environment onto a blank ec2 machine, but its kind of a 'fake' staging environment if its on a different network. Anyone got any ideas?
    - 46Bit 15y ago
      Having rented an 'emergency' VPS to demo something, I can confirm they credit you automatically, at least as of last month. Not sure if it's by hour or day though.
    - JshWright 15y ago
      Your account will be credited automatically. The only time you have to talk to support is if you want to actually get a refund (minus a $5 processing fee).
    - ydant 15y ago
      I did this today - started and cancelled a VPS about 10 minutes after I started it. I was credited all but about $0.50 (on a $20/month VPS). Everything was automatic, and I got the "refund" email seconds after clicking the delete button. http://img6.imagebanana.com/img/5b2bywab/20110503_204326_Selection_001.png http://img6.imagebanana.com/img/5b2bywab/20110503_204326_Sel... So I don't know if that quite meets your needs (since it's just a credit and not a full refund), although the other post suggests a refund is possible if you ask for one.
paraschopra 15y ago
Until they get bought too :(
- keidian 15y ago
  It's my understanding that various groups have tried to buy them and caker refuses
46Bit 15y ago
Exact same story here. Linode seem to have Slicehost/Rackspace-like uptime, for less money, and with a much more fully featured control panel.
ch0wn 15y ago
I'm having a few nodes running at VPS.net, but in direct comparison linode seems to offer more for the money. Does someone have experience with both and could compare them?
- thaumaturgy 15y ago
  I can't provide the answer you're looking for because I've never used VPS.net, but I do want to gush about Linode for a minute: I have to deal with tech companies all the time. I hate most of them. A lot. They always seem to blow it on customer service, core technology, or pricing. But not Linode. The prices are really good, their technology is really really good (and they're constantly working on improving it), and their support...? Well, I've submitted a few support tickets (once was even along the lines of, "My backup server is acting strange, the disk isn't full and it can write to existing files but it can't create any new ones. I've been staring at it for about an hour now and I have no clue what's going on.") I've never had a response take more than 7 minutes. They've always been fast, friendly, and knowledgeable. I really can't say enough good things about them. They've occasionally had outages, including a couple of ugly ones in Fremont (not directly their fault). How many companies can you think of that are so awesome that, when that happened, it still doesn't tarnish their reputation in your mind? One of my servers went from using only a little bandwidth to using 25Mb/s almost overnight (customer's website got featured on a radio show). The server never stumbled; I never got a notice along the lines of "hey, you're using a lot of bandwidth there, buddy", I never got throttled, it just worked. If another VPS provider showed up tomorrow and offered almost everything Linode's offering, feature-wise, but for half the price, I'd stick with Linode. I could bore you to death with crap like this for probably an hour. All it comes down to is, Linode is one of the few Really Great Companies out there right now, doing business with them is a joy, and I'd love to see them just completely own the VPS market. edit: oh, and I've been with them since October 2009, which has given them plenty of time to annoy me. They haven't, not even once.
  - hboon 15y ago
    I have been with Slicehost for a few years. Last year, while I was on my honeymoon, away from good connectivity, without my primary machine with me (I only had my iPad and iPhone), I got an email to tell me that my slices are making excessive DNS resolutions on their DNS servers. They were blocked from their DNS servers. I asked if they could give me access for a few days. No. In the end I stayed with them because the inertia was big enough that I was lazy to migrate from them. They certainly did no wrong to reject my request. But I shall remember having to spend the last few hours of the day before evening frowning on the train and working immediately after checking in at the hotel. I could have been made a more loyal customer. This event is enough to push me over the edge. I shall look into migrating to Linode this weekend. (I have already given them a go several times the past year).
entelarust 15y ago
One thing that I have loved about slicehost is the chat.slicehost.com which is manned 24/7. Anyone know if linode's irc channel is equally staffed by admins/support?
- Perihelion 15y ago
  While there is usually someone active on IRC, the best way to receive a quick response 24/7 is to put in a support ticket.
  - hitonagashi 15y ago
    Agreed on this. I've filed 2-3, and each has had a reply in minutes.

by nbpoole 15y ago

icey 15y ago

I don't know how feasible this is; but it would be killer to be able to have a 1-click migration process. i.e. "Moving from slicehost? Provide your credentials and we'll bring everything over automatically. Just click this button!"

StavrosK 15y ago
It's relatively feasible, as the current migration process basically consists of killing all services on your slicehost server, rsyncing everything to linode and running a sed script to change the IPs. I have no idea why they don't do it, they'd have a billion more customers in a few days. I know I wanted to switch off Slicehost for years, their price is DOUBLE linode's and the performance is worse.
- jonknee 15y ago
  ... Just wait until the Rackspace Cloud transfer--the prices are quadruple Linode's if you use your bandwidth.
  - StavrosK 15y ago
    Oh, I moved off months ago. It was easy, in the end.
ben1040 15y ago
A couple months ago someone posted a link on HN to a pretty cool looking tool that automatically would generate a Puppet script based on your server environment (packages installed, etc). I didn't save it, and I can't find it now from googling. Now I've set up a Linode account and want to migrate my config from Slicehost, and it looks like this might be a useful opportunity to test out that tool. But for the life of me I can't remember it's name. Does anyone have a link?
- plusbryan 15y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2344080 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2344080
  - ben1040 15y ago
    Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for. Also laughing hard at the irony of the title.
    - howradical 15y ago
      I'm certain blueprint can make this transition easier for most people, if anyone has any questions, please get in touch - matt@devstructure.com
Perihelion 15y ago
This isn't quite a one click operation, but this may be of some use to you: http://library.linode.com/linode-platform/migration/migrate-server-to-linode http://library.linode.com/linode-platform/migration/migrate-...
jarin 15y ago
I migrated a few Rails sites over from Slicehost to Linode, and since I was using Moonshine (which is a Rails-specific wrapper over Puppet) it was very easy. I just deployed to the Linode server with "cap deploy:setup; cap deploy", copied the databases over, and cut over the DNS. Moonshine handled installing Ruby, MySQL, Apache, configuring SSH and firewall, creating databases and database users, etc.

joelhooks 15y ago

I have a Linode VPS and I really dig it. My Slicehost VPS has been running without issues for years, so my gut is full of FUD. Maybe it will just work out...

citricsquid 15y ago

Linode are awesome. I've been with them for almost 8 months now, in that time I've had to submit 1 ticket which was to ask for a feature to be enabled for me. I have 5 linodes with them.

uggedal 15y ago

I did some studies of different cloud provider's performance 1.5 years ago and Linode won by a wide margin: http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison/ http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison/ I ran some quick checks on Rackpace a few months ago and with the little data I gathered Linode still seemed quite more performant in synthetic and application benchmarks.

eli 15y ago

Agreed, but I wish Linode let you do hourly billing. It's cool to be able to e.g. test a deployment script by spinning up a copy of your server for a few hours.

qeorge 15y ago
They will give you prorated credits if you cancel a VPS early. Not sure if its by the hour or day though.
- JonnieCache 15y ago
  I have heard that they give prorated credits for cancellations, but I think you have to bother their billing team about it on a case by case basis. If they could automate this, or just go all out on hourly billing, then my current dilemma over which infrastructure to move our slightly tired dedicated app servers onto would be instantly solved. I really want to go completely linode, but I also really want to be able to instantly spin up loads of staging/testing environments without it becoming expensive. Unfortunately I have a feeling that the thing that makes linodes reliable, cheap and fast is the same thing that means you cant spin them up and down on demand. I guess I could just rsync my entire linode environment onto a blank ec2 machine, but its kind of a 'fake' staging environment if its on a different network. Anyone got any ideas?
  - 46Bit 15y ago
    Having rented an 'emergency' VPS to demo something, I can confirm they credit you automatically, at least as of last month. Not sure if it's by hour or day though.
  - JshWright 15y ago
    Your account will be credited automatically. The only time you have to talk to support is if you want to actually get a refund (minus a $5 processing fee).
  - ydant 15y ago
    I did this today - started and cancelled a VPS about 10 minutes after I started it. I was credited all but about $0.50 (on a $20/month VPS). Everything was automatic, and I got the "refund" email seconds after clicking the delete button. http://img6.imagebanana.com/img/5b2bywab/20110503_204326_Selection_001.png http://img6.imagebanana.com/img/5b2bywab/20110503_204326_Sel... So I don't know if that quite meets your needs (since it's just a credit and not a full refund), although the other post suggests a refund is possible if you ask for one.

paraschopra 15y ago

Until they get bought too :(

keidian 15y ago
It's my understanding that various groups have tried to buy them and caker refuses

46Bit 15y ago

Exact same story here. Linode seem to have Slicehost/Rackspace-like uptime, for less money, and with a much more fully featured control panel.

ch0wn 15y ago

I'm having a few nodes running at VPS.net, but in direct comparison linode seems to offer more for the money. Does someone have experience with both and could compare them?

thaumaturgy 15y ago
I can't provide the answer you're looking for because I've never used VPS.net, but I do want to gush about Linode for a minute: I have to deal with tech companies all the time. I hate most of them. A lot. They always seem to blow it on customer service, core technology, or pricing. But not Linode. The prices are really good, their technology is really really good (and they're constantly working on improving it), and their support...? Well, I've submitted a few support tickets (once was even along the lines of, "My backup server is acting strange, the disk isn't full and it can write to existing files but it can't create any new ones. I've been staring at it for about an hour now and I have no clue what's going on.") I've never had a response take more than 7 minutes. They've always been fast, friendly, and knowledgeable. I really can't say enough good things about them. They've occasionally had outages, including a couple of ugly ones in Fremont (not directly their fault). How many companies can you think of that are so awesome that, when that happened, it still doesn't tarnish their reputation in your mind? One of my servers went from using only a little bandwidth to using 25Mb/s almost overnight (customer's website got featured on a radio show). The server never stumbled; I never got a notice along the lines of "hey, you're using a lot of bandwidth there, buddy", I never got throttled, it just worked. If another VPS provider showed up tomorrow and offered almost everything Linode's offering, feature-wise, but for half the price, I'd stick with Linode. I could bore you to death with crap like this for probably an hour. All it comes down to is, Linode is one of the few Really Great Companies out there right now, doing business with them is a joy, and I'd love to see them just completely own the VPS market. edit: oh, and I've been with them since October 2009, which has given them plenty of time to annoy me. They haven't, not even once.
- hboon 15y ago
  I have been with Slicehost for a few years. Last year, while I was on my honeymoon, away from good connectivity, without my primary machine with me (I only had my iPad and iPhone), I got an email to tell me that my slices are making excessive DNS resolutions on their DNS servers. They were blocked from their DNS servers. I asked if they could give me access for a few days. No. In the end I stayed with them because the inertia was big enough that I was lazy to migrate from them. They certainly did no wrong to reject my request. But I shall remember having to spend the last few hours of the day before evening frowning on the train and working immediately after checking in at the hotel. I could have been made a more loyal customer. This event is enough to push me over the edge. I shall look into migrating to Linode this weekend. (I have already given them a go several times the past year).

entelarust 15y ago

One thing that I have loved about slicehost is the chat.slicehost.com which is manned 24/7. Anyone know if linode's irc channel is equally staffed by admins/support?

Perihelion 15y ago
While there is usually someone active on IRC, the best way to receive a quick response 24/7 is to put in a support ticket.
- hitonagashi 15y ago
  Agreed on this. I've filed 2-3, and each has had a reply in minutes.