Looking for a Linux cloud solution? Linode is worth the look
Updated March 11, 2024
Looking for a Linux cloud solution? Linode is worth the look
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Linode
We operate as a team of freelance professionals. Our specialisation is in Open Source and Linux technologies. Our range of projects can vary, from the mundane to the esoteric. These edge case projects leverage heavily on open source. Often they require a lot of flexibility from the underlying infrastructure platform. The nature of its offering allows us to adapt and evolve these solutions cost effectively. Excellent support, with an organisation that understands the nuances of Linux based solutions. This means we have to jump through fewer hoops. Linode is one of the primary hosting platforms for our online presence and infrastructure.
- Excellent support, fast, detailed and service oriented.
- Great flexibility in the platform for Linux based solutions, of whatever kind.
- Ping times are fast, great global presence.
- Regular platform updates and services, have allowed us to experiment with the latest tech.
- Their online terminal shell to access the host via a web interface can act up (based on locale settings). We often use ssh direct instead.
- Resource monitoring options are bare bones. Good for what it does, but need to use external, or self hosted solutions for detailed metrics as the infrastructure grows.
- A trade off for the flexibility on offer, means less "easy" platform based security locks. Example, our clients sometimes ask about port blocks. Here, customized blocks are your responsibility which some cloud users take time adjusting too. It's not really a con though, many actually prefer it, including us.
- Positive tradeoff on added reliability and speed, monthly pricing enabled proof of concepts and demos to be quantified and priced.
- Does require a bit of a higher skill on the operations and admin side. This often means a higher cost, but the medium to long term ROI is positive.
- Vultr Bare Metal and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
There are a lot of very good cloud operations. Linode, for us represents a good offering. It offers a simple way to control infrastructure, without being overly simplified. For us, it was a good median giving us the flexibility to explore, experiment and still build for scale. As an example, we never use the one-click app type solutions, since our needs are different. We put solutions together for our clients. But, we also have a vast bench strength of technical talent to source from. They do not need much re-learning, to simply use another set of Linux instances for whatever project. One aspect of cloud solution type approaches, is that an abstracted API for infrastructure while good, also has inherent disadvantages. It comes down to one-size fits all approach, in which some advantages can be lost and not factored in. I refuse to ask people with decades of experience, if they know "insert your favourite cloud certification here." For them, another cloud is just like driving another car. Take it for a spin, get the feel of it. Linode has a interesting set of levers at a competitive price point. Worth exploring.
TCO is one of the reasons we stuck with Linode. A good balance between performance, flexibility and cost. This trifecta is hard to get right, but they seem to be able to maintain it well.
Another factor of the TCO, is the tooling to work with, are all industry standard. This makes a difference, since no upskills or reskilling needed. If someone can work with Linux, they can work here with little overhead. Hence, finding the appropriate skills are easier, the architecture is standardised... it all adds up and makes them a hard to pass service offering.
Another factor of the TCO, is the tooling to work with, are all industry standard. This makes a difference, since no upskills or reskilling needed. If someone can work with Linux, they can work here with little overhead. Hence, finding the appropriate skills are easier, the architecture is standardised... it all adds up and makes them a hard to pass service offering.
Can't really complain here. It's been excellent, and in all the years have never really had an issue. Uptime performance for us, is no more critical than the average business out there and it's been more than effective for us. There were a few times where emergency reboots were needed, upgrades etc.. but this was handled extremely efficiently, with little or no downtime. More importantly, with little overhead to us.
Do you think Akamai Cloud Computing delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Akamai Cloud Computing's feature set?
Yes
Did Akamai Cloud Computing live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Akamai Cloud Computing go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Akamai Cloud Computing again?
Yes
Evaluating Linode and Competitors
Not Sure
- Cloud Solutions
- Scalability
- Ease of Use
We were looking for a low overhead service that gave us the flexibility to experiment with new techniques and technology pipelines. A key factor was something that did not introduce too much of an unecessary overhead. This gives us ability to adapt and use our available resources to get things done as efficiently as possible while having a lower impact.
Something like this which is more industry standard and lower overhead in its tooling, gives us the ability to start right away, and evaluate its applicability in a real world simulation. The price point is competitive enough that we would perhaps consider using more real world simulation exercises in addition to our usual analysis.
Using Linode
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- firing up new boxes
- getting the infrastructure connected up
- automated backup
- connecting to the boxes via multiple, easy to use but secure ways
- migrating in from other cloud providers, architecture dependent though
- Automation of infrastructure at scale, but dependent on your own level of skills. Most common industry tools can be used - which is the part I personally like.
Yes, but I don't use it