Virtual private servers. Cost effective?

[Jeff Waugh]

<quote who="Eric Dunbar">

> Have any of the sounder-denizens had experience with VPSes? Are they worth
> it or should I stick with my own "bricks and mortar" setup which also
> hosts a network file server?

I've been extraordinarily pleased with the reliability, support, management
and general clue of Linode <www.linode.com>. I host my personal domains (me,
Pia and a few family things) and two businesses on my Linode UML. Though it
took a bit of work to set things up to run nicely in a somewhat RAM-limited
environment (though I have 150MB now, thanks to Linode's generous upgrade
gifts to loyal customers), I've found it quite capable of troublesome loads.

That said, it's really only worth going with a dedicated machine or VPS if
you have the time and skill available to properly administer it. Otherwise
it just ends up being a costly pain in the butt. Less costly if it's a VPS
though. ;-)

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2007: Sydney, Australia           http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
 
           What do you get when you cross a web server and a hen?
                                  Apoache.