Linode Review
Linode is another VPS hosting provider. Unlike Slicehost (also reviewed at this site), they do not use Xen. Linode uses UML, or User Mode Linux. This is where the Linux kernel is modified to run in userspace under a running instance of Linux. This solution can be slower than Xen, and doesn't offer dedicated resources (Linode could over subscribe their servers, if they wished). However, since everything is running in userland, management can be easier.
The people at Linode have certainly spent their time writing up their control panel software. They offer MRTG graphs, various operating system operations (including using a recovery instance), and block device creation. You can split up your disk space allocation into multiple files that are presented to your UML instance as block devices. This makes it very simple to do encrypted partitions.
I've been with Linode for just a couple of months. The community interaction seems pretty decent, and the support interaction has been good as well. I'm generally happy with their service, and would suggest it to others.
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