Does destination linode need to be shutdown to get clone?

Is the new one setup exactly like what you want including data? If so, don't bother cloning, instead swap your production IP over to the new one and voila, it's your new production linode. Then shut the old one down.

It is pretty much the same. The database/website is current with content although technically it's forked because I did some updating.

The only legitimate things that are different are a little on the non-technical side. They are:

1. I have not set up backups on the new linode

2. There is an mx record for google that I will have to set up again.

3. I will lose my 10% discount.

I verified losing my discount with a support ticket. This is my biggest motivation for cloning. I was really hoping that this would transfer. But that deal is tied to the linode itself. It's a shame. In all the years that I have used linode, that policy is the first time that I have ran into that's un-linode like. They always have really great support and their services are really reliable. I have even had good experiences with billing. The discount issue feels like a technicality with the way billing automation works.

I may still switch the ips but a 10% discount isn't insignificant.

Thanks for the reply.

@mikeb:

Do I need to shut down the current running linode to receive the clone? Will the I/O kill my website's performance?
No, assuming you have enough free disk space on the target Linode. If you don't, you'll have to shut down long enough to free up the disk space, but don't have to stay down during the clone.

In terms of I/O, the clone operation will use some of the overall host I/O bandwidth, so at a theoretical level it could impact your Linode's I/O performance, but no more so than if any of the other Linodes on the same host were doing I/O. In short, don't worry about it.

– David

I transferred the new installation profile via the clone feature and it appeared to work flawlessly. I did not notice any issue with i/o in regard to the web services . Thanks so much for the reply.

– Mike