Changes
Continuing the pissing contest!
Linode offers fairly good specs (1 GB memory, 8 cores, 24 GB storage, 2 TB transfer) for $20 a month, but do not have any cheaper plans. They have a robust management interface with load and bandwidth statistics, DNS management, and allow uploading of custom ISOs.
Linode has had a few multiple security -related incidents in the past , one of which was due to a ColdFusion 0zero-dayand resulted in passwords and credit card information being leaked. Another resulted in $71, but responded reasonably000 in BTC being stolen.
=== Digital Ocean ===
DigitalOcean is a startup that offers cheap VPS instances$5/mo (512MB RAM, 1 core, 1TB transfer, 20GB storage), but lacks basic management and security features.
* For some reason, [http://digitalocean.uservoice.com/forums/136585-digital-ocean/suggestions/2814988-give-option-to-use-the-droplet-s-own-bootloader-?page=1&per_page=20 the VPS's bootloader is not used] so users must explicitly prevent the Linux kernel from updating in their package manager. This is particularly concerning because users must wait for DigitalOcean to provide updated kernels after vulnerabilities are discovered. In the case of CVE-2013-2094, a new kernel was not available for over a week.
* Users are limited to the images provided by Digital Ocean and cannot upload their own ISO or use a custom kernel. BSD, Gentoo, and many other Linux distributions are not supported.
* Initially, there was no network isolation and it was possible to ARP spoof users on the same LAN. This problem has now been resolved.
* There is currently no bandwidth measurement (but you are not billed for bandwidth either)
* No IPv6 addresses are provided. * In the past, DigitalOcean reused disk images between customers without securely wiping data. This enabled one to extract sensitive information by running <code>cat /dev/vda1 | strings</code>. This problem has now been resolved.
* DigitalOcean allows users to set rDNS to arbitrary FQDNs without searching for matching A records
* After many abuse complaints, even if you handle them in a timely manner, they may still lock your account and power off your droplets. You will still be billed for this period.