xen update

I'd like to know what's going on too. I'm considering moving over to a dedicated host with WAY more space than my linode has, for cheaper. I'm hoping xen starts going soon with a space bump to go with it. I'm having a hard time justifying what I'm paying for such a small amount of very slow disk space. I have a linode 160, so ram hasn't been a large issue.

The cheapest dedicated hosting that I found acceptable - given my CPU requirements - was at serverbeach for over twice as much as my 160 here. Would you please post or email to me any links to where you have considered moving to?

James

zunzun@zunzun.com

What does that have to do with Xen and/or Linode? Please don't hijack threads.

As far as a Xen update – We've got one host running Xen, with roughly 40 Linodes on it. We're no longer taking Xen beta testers.

Stability in the 3.0.2 version comes and goes, I think we're up to 16 days since the last crash. However, I haven't rebuilt Xen and the domain kernels with all the latest updates (read, from the unstable series). I'm planning on doing that soon.

The other big issue, which I knew was obviously going to arise, is how to control thrashing nodes. I solved that with UML with my token-limiter patch, however it's not that easily done under Xen. The Xen folks have mentioned a disk I/O QoS feature, but there's no timetable for it.

Suffice to say, I'm not confident enough in Xen's stability and quality to move everyone over to it, and I won't until I'm 100% confident that it's actually an improvement over UML in the areas that matter.

Regardless, all new hosts that have have gone online recently (host56 and up, and future hosts) are configured in such a way that once Xen is production ready, it will just require a host reboot to go from UML to Xen.

Resource upgrades are coming -- but I won't commit just yet as to when that will happen or how much of an upgrade it will be. :)

-Chris

>What does that have to do with Xen and/or Linode?

That I know of, there literally are no dedicated servers available for the price of a Linode. That someone would say so calls for proof in my opinion, and I asked for same. Certainly any dedicated server solution would not come with the support available here, and having used a Linode for quite a while that is both important and very likely unavailable on a cheap dedicated server. So far as I know Linode simply cannot be beat for what is offered here.

Please don't hijack threads.

If this is directed at myself, sure thing. People can say whatever they want about cheaper solutions elsewhere, and I won't ask for proof you and I both know they cannot provide. No more hijacking here.

James

@caker:

Suffice to say, I'm not confident enough in Xen's stability and quality to move everyone over to it, and I won't until I'm 100% confident that it's actually an improvement over UML in the areas that matter.
Is it not reasonable to fix up UML to work with newer distros? I don't particularly care if I'm using Xen or UML, but with the debian image I'm using I'm so far behind the curve now I'm worried I'll start having trouble running newish stuff.

Mike

@miallen:

Is it not reasonable to fix up UML to work with newer distros? I don't particularly care if I'm using Xen or UML, but with the debian image I'm using I'm so far behind the curve now I'm worried I'll start having trouble running newish stuff.

Mike
Once 2.6.17 is final (which will also contain NPTL support from the get go, as opposed to from a patch), we'll be making a push to get rid of the "shutdown after reboot" bug on our end and providing updated distro templates. Stay tuned.

-Chris