I see a few people^W^Weveryone here talking about security. If you didn't read the whole blog post, you might not have noticed the new Linode manager that we're working on being mentioned. Check it out, it's open source: https://github.com/Linode/manager
If you haven't been present in other discussions about Linode security, one of the major factors (in my opinion) is the current manager. It's a large and old ColdFusion codebase, and it's hard to maintain. The new manager is backed by the new Python API and the whole system is significantly easier to reason about with respect to security. I think that the new manager should help ease some concerns, and it's going to be pretty great in other respects too. Hit me up with any questions you have, I'll do my best.
In other news, I run a bunch of Linodes myself and I'm stoked to see these upgrades, even though I get my Linodes for free ;)
I think most people are concerned about the response to security incidents around as much as they're concerned about the security incidents themselves.
Improving the manager is certainly a good step but there's a lot of work to be done to regain users' confidence.
> I see a few people^W^Weveryone here talking about security. If you didn't read the whole blog post, you might not have noticed the new Linode manager that we're working on being mentioned. Check it out, it's open source: https://github.com/Linode/manager
Open sourcing the UI while keeping the actual portion that manipulates the data + handles authentication ( the API ) doesn't have substantial security benefits since its largely available to the end user already.
While I am sure you are correct that the rewrite in Python is easier to reason about and more secure, I feel the way you've presented it might imply it is secure because the source is available which is not the case.
I am looking forward to the updated interface and happy to see you are moving away from ColdFusion.
I have been with Linode for many years and have always been happy with the service. Thank you and thanks to the Linode staff for everything they do.
If there was one thing I would like to see come back, it would be the 1024 or 1536 nodes (1 or 1.5GB ram). I understand the overhead or scaling issues might not make it worth while for Linode, but I would be interested.
:) I probably wouldn't know what to do with more then one or two hosts, but I am envious to know you can have as many as you want (within reason, I am sure)
Congrats Linode. I have been a customer for many years.
Why could there not be a $5 1 GB plan? I have quite a few instances for which I don't need even 1 GB, let alone 2.
Doubling the RAM is great but what about storage? Why is RAM and storage still coupled? It's a pay for what you don't use system, having to upgrade to a 24 GB, 8 core box just to get some decent drive space. Ridiculous.
I have been with Linode for many years now but it's lack for even some basic modularity will see me leave to AWS soon.
Once Digital Ocean launches their block storage feature, it will probably put some pressure on them. Honestly, it's something I've been looking forward as well.
Linode has been a monumental disappointment. I signed up with them in 2005, when they were 2 years old and AWS didn't even exist. They were reliable and the support was phenomenal. The Linode Manager was powerful and yet simple to use. I used them for all my personal and professional hosting needs.
In 2013, the support started going downhill. Then there were a series of security breaches, with absolutely abysmal responses from Linode. I now expect to be off of Linode by the end of 2016 (mostly to AWS, with some DigitalOcean), even though in many aspects I still prefer Linode.
I've been a Linode customer since January 2009 (so over 7 years now) and would recommend them to anyone. I have been concerned about some of the security issues, but at the same time impressed with other work from the team (the KVM switchover, large scale server upgrades, support experience has always been great for me).
I'm gun-shy of Linode's many security issues, but hopefully this further drives down RAM prices of competitors. I'd love a $10 2G DigitalOcean instance.
> I'm gun-shy of Linode's many security issues, but hopefully this further drives down RAM prices of competitors. I'd love a $10 2G DigitalOcean instance.
To be fair, unless you are running critical infrastructure and/or processing things involving money...Linode's quality of security is adequate. (i.e. For hobbyists and small businesses that don't touch take payments but rely on ad revenue )
Security is pretty terrible everywhere in the hosting business unless you colocate your own stuff in a locked cage or pay the tier-1 vendors who cost 100% more than Linode.
I'm in a rather good situation to answer this. I have a Vultr VPS and a Linode VPS. Both are on $10/month plans.
Linode I use as an rsync server, fossil server, and for IRC. It's running Arch Linux. I would like to run FreeBSD on it, but I didn't know you could when I got it. The Vultr one is a Postgres server running on DragonFlyBSD that I use as a database for various hobby projects. I experiment with various distributed computing projects with the two of them.
I'm very happy with both of them. I'd like to unify on one for ease of payment and maintenance, but I can't decide which. :(
Linode pros:
- Recently the $10/mo plan went from 1GB RAM to 2GB! EDIT: So apparently I should've read the link… that was what this is about. Thanks for the extra RAM!
- 4GB extra disk space (20GB vs 24GB).
- I like their management panel better.
- liXXX-YY.members.linode.com is an alias for your instance. It's much easier to remember than my Vultr IP.
Linode cons:
- I'm worried about security.
- Installing OSes other than the available images is hard.
Vultr pros:
- Custom ISOs are nice for those of us who vastly prefer BSD servers.
- So far no security breaches?
- May be slightly faster, but it's hard to say given the OS difference. I suspect it's just DragonFlyBSD being DragonFlyBSD.
Vultr cons:
- Web management is mediocre; Linode's is better designed and shows me more information.
- Young, who knows what their security is actually like.
- A little more expensive for what you get. I don't mind much though.
If any Linode people are reading this, I think I would settle on Linode _IF_ I can get some assurance about security practices. It's a nice service. I like you. It would be extra nice if you roll out some custom ISO thing eventually.
EDIT: Obligatory "not affiliated with either company". Just a dude that wants to host some place for his fossil repos, rsync, and Postgres server. One of these days I'll just maintain my own server on a Free platform (not Intel, not x86_64) and not use any VPS provider.
I loved Linode and used them till about 2014 or so, but switched to Ramnode and then to Vultr. I needed storage more often than performance, I use them to tar mirrored package repositories mainly, and a Linode or Ramnode with double the space of one of those costs a fortune.
I hated everything about Ramnode, but I can't remember specifics. I stuck with Vultr after just setting up some storage instances because it was nice having everything in one spot. I've been able to host some wargames/CTFs as well because of the custom ISO support.
Seems like there's a lot of tinfoil around eye-level here; FYI not a shill and definitely accepting suggestions for other VPS with root, big storage, and custom os/iso options.
I love Vultr. Pretty consistently performs better than competition (like DigitalOcean) for the same price, cheap, haven't had any issues with reliability.
I'd say RamNode is also decent (they do very well in benchmarks) but their support, management and infrastructure is terrible. They were pretty heavily compromised (personal information, passwords etc. leaked) due to a SolusVM vulnerability and refused to remove personal information to prevent it being compromised in the future.
I've had a few instances up on Vultr for nearly a year now and have nothing but good things to say about them. The OS images they use for their instances are, in my experience, almost completely plain-vanilla (which leads to fewer surprises) and the custom ISO functionality is great if you need to launch an instance on an otherwise unsupported OS.
Their instance performance is better than DO in my experience, though I don't know how they compare to Linode.
I've been running one of their dedicated instance plans (2 CPU / 8GB RAM) for nearly a year now as my play environment.
Overall I've been happy with it, the instance performs up to spec and has had only one downtime event over the year (was down for just over an hour).
Though I don't spend a ton of time using their interface or APIs, it does seem that they are continuously improving them and delivering helpful features.
It is not officially supported, but you can run FreeBSD on Linode. I have been able to get FreeBSD (with ZFS), OpenBSD, and NetBSD running on my Linodes. I tried getting SmartOS working but I haven't gotten the configuration right yet.
I have not checked lately, but there have been two major features lacking in Linode that have compelled me to move away to AWS:
1. Managed firewall service, such as AWS Security Groups. I really do not want to have to manage hundreds of iptables scripts.
2. Easy point and click, yet advanced private network management such as AWS VPC. Last I checked, I had to run OpenVPN on top of my Linode setup, which really was not ideal.
I really Hope Linode could improves its image on security.
On other front, Why is it the bigger the instance the small the "upgrade" discount. On lower level you essentially get double the Memory. On Higher end you get 30 - 50% only.
And any plan to upgrade to Xeon-E5 v4?
I would love to see Compute and Memory Instances.
If you have concerns about astroturfing in HN threads, the thing to do is email us (hn@ycombinator.com) so we can look into it. Casually accusing others in the threads, like you've done repeatedly here, is definitely not allowed, so please don't do that again.
I have multiple posts in my history praising Vultr, but I'm not a shill and I don't even currently use them. I just had a really good experience with them and their support team early last year.
I assure you, I'm no shill. Like I said, RamNode does very well in benchmarks.
My problem with them is that after being hacked, exposing my personal information, they refused to remove it, citing nebulous "legal reasons" compelling them to retain it (which similar hosts had no issues with).
Frankly I haven't had another exchange with their support, so I can't comment on their service beyond good benchmarks, terrible privacy/security (they're still on SolusVM as far as I know).
Sir_Cmpwn|9 years ago
I see a few people^W^Weveryone here talking about security. If you didn't read the whole blog post, you might not have noticed the new Linode manager that we're working on being mentioned. Check it out, it's open source: https://github.com/Linode/manager
If you haven't been present in other discussions about Linode security, one of the major factors (in my opinion) is the current manager. It's a large and old ColdFusion codebase, and it's hard to maintain. The new manager is backed by the new Python API and the whole system is significantly easier to reason about with respect to security. I think that the new manager should help ease some concerns, and it's going to be pretty great in other respects too. Hit me up with any questions you have, I'll do my best.
In other news, I run a bunch of Linodes myself and I'm stoked to see these upgrades, even though I get my Linodes for free ;)
Veratyr|9 years ago
Improving the manager is certainly a good step but there's a lot of work to be done to regain users' confidence.
fweespeech|9 years ago
Open sourcing the UI while keeping the actual portion that manipulates the data + handles authentication ( the API ) doesn't have substantial security benefits since its largely available to the end user already.
While I am sure you are correct that the rewrite in Python is easier to reason about and more secure, I feel the way you've presented it might imply it is secure because the source is available which is not the case.
LinuxBender|9 years ago
I have been with Linode for many years and have always been happy with the service. Thank you and thanks to the Linode staff for everything they do.
If there was one thing I would like to see come back, it would be the 1024 or 1536 nodes (1 or 1.5GB ram). I understand the overhead or scaling issues might not make it worth while for Linode, but I would be interested.
desireco42|9 years ago
Also... ColdFusion! Awesome.
pan69|9 years ago
Why could there not be a $5 1 GB plan? I have quite a few instances for which I don't need even 1 GB, let alone 2.
Doubling the RAM is great but what about storage? Why is RAM and storage still coupled? It's a pay for what you don't use system, having to upgrade to a 24 GB, 8 core box just to get some decent drive space. Ridiculous.
I have been with Linode for many years now but it's lack for even some basic modularity will see me leave to AWS soon.
juliand|9 years ago
azinman2|9 years ago
agwa|9 years ago
In 2013, the support started going downhill. Then there were a series of security breaches, with absolutely abysmal responses from Linode. I now expect to be off of Linode by the end of 2016 (mostly to AWS, with some DigitalOcean), even though in many aspects I still prefer Linode.
asb|9 years ago
msbarnett|9 years ago
fweespeech|9 years ago
To be fair, unless you are running critical infrastructure and/or processing things involving money...Linode's quality of security is adequate. (i.e. For hobbyists and small businesses that don't touch take payments but rely on ad revenue )
Security is pretty terrible everywhere in the hosting business unless you colocate your own stuff in a locked cage or pay the tier-1 vendors who cost 100% more than Linode.
Scarbutt|9 years ago
ghurtado|9 years ago
tiffanyh|9 years ago
Does any [Linode users] have any experience with them?
For a company so new they have a surprisingly amount of more features than Linode (eg BSD support, more data centers, dedicated instances, etc)
Note: I'm no way affiliated with either company.
Edit: adding clarity and intent. My edit is in brackets. I'm no shill :)
PeCaN|9 years ago
Linode I use as an rsync server, fossil server, and for IRC. It's running Arch Linux. I would like to run FreeBSD on it, but I didn't know you could when I got it. The Vultr one is a Postgres server running on DragonFlyBSD that I use as a database for various hobby projects. I experiment with various distributed computing projects with the two of them.
I'm very happy with both of them. I'd like to unify on one for ease of payment and maintenance, but I can't decide which. :(
Linode pros:
- Recently the $10/mo plan went from 1GB RAM to 2GB! EDIT: So apparently I should've read the link… that was what this is about. Thanks for the extra RAM!
- 4GB extra disk space (20GB vs 24GB).
- I like their management panel better.
- liXXX-YY.members.linode.com is an alias for your instance. It's much easier to remember than my Vultr IP.
Linode cons:
- I'm worried about security.
- Installing OSes other than the available images is hard.
Vultr pros:
- Custom ISOs are nice for those of us who vastly prefer BSD servers.
- So far no security breaches?
- May be slightly faster, but it's hard to say given the OS difference. I suspect it's just DragonFlyBSD being DragonFlyBSD.
Vultr cons:
- Web management is mediocre; Linode's is better designed and shows me more information.
- Young, who knows what their security is actually like.
- A little more expensive for what you get. I don't mind much though.
If any Linode people are reading this, I think I would settle on Linode _IF_ I can get some assurance about security practices. It's a nice service. I like you. It would be extra nice if you roll out some custom ISO thing eventually.
EDIT: Obligatory "not affiliated with either company". Just a dude that wants to host some place for his fossil repos, rsync, and Postgres server. One of these days I'll just maintain my own server on a Free platform (not Intel, not x86_64) and not use any VPS provider.
defective|9 years ago
I hated everything about Ramnode, but I can't remember specifics. I stuck with Vultr after just setting up some storage instances because it was nice having everything in one spot. I've been able to host some wargames/CTFs as well because of the custom ISO support.
Seems like there's a lot of tinfoil around eye-level here; FYI not a shill and definitely accepting suggestions for other VPS with root, big storage, and custom os/iso options.
Veratyr|9 years ago
I'd say RamNode is also decent (they do very well in benchmarks) but their support, management and infrastructure is terrible. They were pretty heavily compromised (personal information, passwords etc. leaked) due to a SolusVM vulnerability and refused to remove personal information to prevent it being compromised in the future.
red_phone|9 years ago
Their instance performance is better than DO in my experience, though I don't know how they compare to Linode.
cs2818|9 years ago
Overall I've been happy with it, the instance performs up to spec and has had only one downtime event over the year (was down for just over an hour).
Though I don't spend a ton of time using their interface or APIs, it does seem that they are continuously improving them and delivering helpful features.
row1an|9 years ago
andyana|9 years ago
eatonphil|9 years ago
radimm|9 years ago
- decent performance (both IO/CPU)
- custom ISOs (yay BSD!)
- elastic IPs
- plenty of locations (so far tried only NY and EU)
- good support
arrty88|9 years ago
Grue3|9 years ago
The migration took 2 minutes and 10 seconds, by the way.
brendoncrawford|9 years ago
1. Managed firewall service, such as AWS Security Groups. I really do not want to have to manage hundreds of iptables scripts.
2. Easy point and click, yet advanced private network management such as AWS VPC. Last I checked, I had to run OpenVPN on top of my Linode setup, which really was not ideal.
Have these things been improved lately on Linode?
mwpmaybe|9 years ago
ksec|9 years ago
On other front, Why is it the bigger the instance the small the "upgrade" discount. On lower level you essentially get double the Memory. On Higher end you get 30 - 50% only.
And any plan to upgrade to Xeon-E5 v4? I would love to see Compute and Memory Instances.
pbowyer|9 years ago
znpy|9 years ago
sandij|9 years ago
dugmartin|9 years ago
anand-kumar|9 years ago
Now I will wait for DigitalOcean wishes to Linode! :p
diegorbaquero|9 years ago
wilsonfiifi|9 years ago
hiven|9 years ago
cpqq|9 years ago
[deleted]
dang|9 years ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11917498 and marked it off-topic.
brobinson|9 years ago
cpqq|9 years ago
[deleted]
dang|9 years ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11917707 and marked it off-topic.
Veratyr|9 years ago
My problem with them is that after being hacked, exposing my personal information, they refused to remove it, citing nebulous "legal reasons" compelling them to retain it (which similar hosts had no issues with).
Frankly I haven't had another exchange with their support, so I can't comment on their service beyond good benchmarks, terrible privacy/security (they're still on SolusVM as far as I know).