I’ve been hosting a virtual private server with Linode for roughly 7 months and I must say, I’ve been incredibly happy. My happiness was magnified recently, when they added a Newark, NJ facility to their list of locations. Previously, I had been hosted in their Fremont, CA datacenter. While it was perfectly adequate, the difference in ping times and throughput that came from being on the same coast made for a compelling case, and I migrated this server.

This is where Linode really shines. I logged into my admin console, and submitted a support ticket asking to migrate. Next, I hopped over to their DNS manager (DNS hosting is provided free with a linode account) and cranked the TTL of all my DNS records down to 1 hour. While I was still doing that (at roughly 12:30AM EST), one of the staff had configured my migration and responded with my new IP.

After waiting a day or two for the ne TTL to propogate, it was time to move. I updated a few IP specific config files, made sure everything was in order and shut down. I followed the “you have a migration pending” link in the linode admin console, and initiated the transfer. The wonderful AJAX admin console kept me updated about the transfer of my disk images. I added a boot job to the end of the queue and went to bed.

Unfortunately, here’s where I screwed up. Linodes bit went perfectly, the images moved over and the server booted. Unfortunately, I hadn’t cleaned up /etc/udev/rules.d/ and my virtual Xen nic got assigned to eth1 because of the new MAC address. This meant that dhclient failed to get me my shiny new IP.

Fast forward to the morning, I discover the server isn’t up. I immediately ssh to the LISH console… which is an account on the Xen host which allows attaching to the server console, scheduling boot jobs and troubleshooting a server with network issues. After a bit of fumbling around, I hopped onto #linode and asked for help:

08:58 -!- cdmoyer [~cdmoyer@cpe-76-180-99-185.buffalo.res.rr.com] has joined #linode
08:59 < cdmoyer> Hmm, eth0 disappeared after migration?  doh.
08:59 < caker> cdmoyer: blame udev
09:00 < caker> cdmoyer: remove /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules and/or /etc/iftab, restart networking
09:03 < cdmoyer> ah, awesome, thanks caker.
09:04 -!- CDMoyer_ [~cmoyer@207.192.69.20] has joined #linode
09:04 -!- cdmoyer [~cdmoyer@cpe-76-180-99-185.buffalo.res.rr.com] has quit [Quit: cdmoyer]
09:05 -!- CDMoyer_ is now known as CDMoyer
09:05 < caker> CDMoyer: woot
09:05 < CDMoyer> Being on the same coast as my linode is very nice.
09:05 < CDMoyer> 1/3 the ping and 80% faster transfer. ;)
09:06 < tasaro> that's because I put red pinstripes on your IPz
09:06 < scott> racing stripes
09:06 < StevenK> Because red VPSes go faster
09:06 < scott> 1/3 the bling though
09:06 < CDMoyer> awesome.  i'm ordering the next linode with a spoiler, too.

(caker and tasaro are linode staff, and in that chat log, perfectly demonstrate the knowledge, responsiveness, helpfulness and sense of humor of the company)

For the record, I’ve got a Linode 540. $30/month, 15G storage, 540M ram and 300G transfer. Their base plan is $20/month and provides 360M ram, 10G storage and 200G transfer. Also, for the record, they don’t have a referral plan. ;)

In case you missed it, it’s linode.com

On Monday or Tuesday, the Kindle started showing up as in-stock and shipping at Amazon. Having read numerous blog posts about it, I took the plunge and ordered it with free 2-day shipping. It arrived Friday, and I’ve been playing with it quite a bit.

1. The terms of use for the wireless make it very clear that Amazon reserves the right to modify or shut off the service at any point.
2. While the bland white design didn’t appeal to me online, in real life it’s nice. It just seems to get out of the way, letting you focus on the content.
3. I wasn’t sure at the time I purchased, but it does come with a nicely designed protective jacket.
4. I’m sure this is the norm with modern e-book readers, but the screen is incredibly comfortable for reading. The claims of “electronic paper” are pretty accurate.
5. Before it even arrives, Amazon adds “send to my kindle” and “send preview to my kindle” links for all books with kindle editions. I sent several previews on Thursday, it arrived Friday… I turned it on, registered it, and had content on the device a few minutes later.
6. While not full-featured, the browser is more than adequate for mobile gmail, mobile google reader (they aren’t getting me to pay for blogs) and some light surfing. Reading the web in black-and-white is an interesting experience.
7. I’m torn about the magazines. I subscribed to Fortune and compared to the hard-copy I read through at my dad’s house it’s a bit lacking. This is primarily because the kindle edition is missing all the photos. But it’s convenient, decent content, and I think I’ll probably keep the subscription.
8. Two “next page” buttons, large and well placed, make it comfortable to read in a variety of positions. It’s a tad heavier than a paperback, but certainly lighter and more conventient than a hardcover.
9. The convenience of sending documents for conversion seems worth the 10 cent charge to me, when I weighed the annoyance of getting out the cable and hooking it up and futzing around. (Perhaps I’ll break down later and do some bulk conversion)
10. Amazon makes it very, very (dangerously) easy to buy content. The free previews (which seem to be in the 2-4 chapters) are enough to get you hooked… and then that “buy now” link appears at the end, making the full book a click away.

(Check out the kindle or see what’s on my kindle at my Amazon store.)