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Linode (an abbreviation for Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

Node) is a web application

Web application

A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...

hosting and cloud computing

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....

provider based in Galloway Township, New Jersey

Galloway Township, New Jersey

Galloway Township is a township in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 37,349...

. Linode allows system administrators

System administrator

A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...

and software developers

Software developer

A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...

to rent virtual servers on which to run their own computer applications

Application software

Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

. Linode allows scalable deployment of applications by providing a Web service

Web service

A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...

through which a user can boot a virtual machine

Virtual machine

A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...

, that Linode calls an "node" or "Linode", and load/run any software desired.

A user can create, deploy, and terminate server instances as needed - paying by the month, but prorated to the day for active server instances. Linode provides users with control over the geographical location (i.e. London, UK

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Newark, NJ

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

, Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Fremont, CA

Fremont, California

Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...

, and Tokyo, JP

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

), which allows for greater availability and fault tolerance.

History

Christopher Aker developed the Linode platform in late 2002 out of his Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

apartment as its sole employee. After several months of development, Linode opened for business and offered its first server instances to the public on June 16, 2003.

On March 28, 2008, Linode transitioned from User-mode Linux (UML)

User-mode Linux

User-mode Linux enables multiple virtual Linux systems to run as an application within a normal Linux system...

to Xen

Xen

Xen is a virtual-machine monitor providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently....

virtualization. Prior to March of 2008, Linode made substantial contributions to the User-mode Linux community and used the technology to allow multiple guests to run on a single physical server.

Virtual Machines

Linode uses Xen virtualization. Each virtual machine, called a "Linode", functions as a virtual private server

Virtual private server

Virtual private server is a term used by internet hosting services to refer to a virtual machine. The term is used for emphasizing that the virtual machine, although running in software on the same physical computer as other customers' virtual machines, is functionally equivalent to a separate...

. Linode's virtual machines are sized and priced by the amount of resources they include.

Linode Manager

The Linode Manager is a proprietary, browser-based interface that allows users to manage multiple virtual servers as well as other products (e.g. backups and load balancers) that apply to their account. The control panel is also home to the billing and reporting functions and provides access to 24/7 support as well as developer resources and the Linode Library.

StackScripts

StackScripts provide a flexible way to customize Linode distribution templates to make deployment easier for system administrators. They provide a seamless process to get a LAMP

LAMP (software bundle)

LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, referring to the first letters of Linux , Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP , principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as...

stack up and running so it is automatically tuned, tweaked and optimized.

NodeBalancers

Linode offers load balancers

Load balancing (computing)

Load balancing is a computer networking methodology to distribute workload across multiple computers or a computer cluster, network links, central processing units, disk drives, or other resources, to achieve optimal resource utilization, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid...

, known as NodeBalancers, which distribute connections across multiple virtual machines to achieve greater availability and fault tolerance.

API

The Linode API is a programmatic interface

Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

to many of the Linode Manager's features. The Linode API includes functions for working with DNS, StackScripts, NodeBalancers, as well as server instance creation, control, and deletion.

Backup Service

The Linode Backup Service is a storage system in which data is accessible to Linode instances over the network. Linode does not charge for the bandwidth for communications between Linode instances and the Backup Service. There are four backup slots. Three of the slots are executed and rotated automatically: a daily backup, a 2-7 day old backup, and an 8-14 day old backup. The fourth backup slot is a user-initiated snapshot and remains in place until another user-initiated snapshot is taken.

Sponsorships

Linode is a long-standing infrastructure sponsor for Rails Rumble

Rails Rumble

Rails Rumble is a competition which gives teams of developers 48 hours to build the best web app that they can using Ruby on Rails. It is similar in spirit to Rails Day.The first competition was held from September 8–9, 2007.-Sponsors:...

and YCombinator.