Kyung got me hooked on Linode a while ago. The company offers a virtual private server (aka virtual dedicated server) service that’s actually pretty amazing. It basically takes a server, divide it up into multiple mini-servers and provides root access to its customers within the perimeter of the VPS. Unfortunately I only know of services that provide Linux-based VPS for public use. Linode stood out for me because it offers a good variety of Linux flavors to choose from. For Windows, I believe VMWare or Microsoft’s newly acquired VirtualPC do similar tricks for enterprise level operations.
Linode is probably the best way for to really have a stab at Linux. Its installation process takes literally minutes. So that means, if I ever screw up the server, I can simply reinstall everything within minutes instead of hours usually associated with home-built machines.
Another unique thing about Linode is that it’s based on User Mode Linux (open source) as opposed to Virtuozzo, which is a more popular (but not free) platform.
There are several companies that offer VPS. However, a few were getting a lot of buzz when I was researching for a good VPS service:
Dinix
JVDS
Rimuhosting
I believe the above services are Virtuozzo based and do not have as many variety of Linux installs to choose from. I am sure there are at least a dozen more companies out there. But based on what I’ve read at the time, the above companies came highly recommended via several forums.
I eventually had to stop using Linode because of resource issues. The plan I was able to afford didn’t come with enough resources for me to sustain a fairly high load. But otherwise, Linode was great. If anyone ever wants to build a home-grown “Linode”, tutorials can be found here and here.
I wish there was a company that offered VPS for Mac OSX though. This is one of those times when being a Mac user sucks.