Reccommendations?

to put it into perspective for you, i started out on a 64mb plan which has been upgraded a few times and im no longer sure what i have now :( BUT..

When i was on the 64 this is what i was running.

Apache

Mysql

Postfix (Mail Server)

Courier (Imap and Pop support)

Php

Proftpd

and i never had a hicup with tokens or resources. I was even reselling and making some money from it..

I upgraded to a 96mb plan when i wanted to run Tomcat as well, just to aleviate the ram a bit, but still havnt had an issue

I now host about 7 sites, all low traffic but none the less.. i provide the above services for all of them, and i havnt had a problem from it.

aside from tomcat, you could easily run everything else on a 256 plan… that's my server's setup. i have never taken the time (at least as I recall) to optimize the http or mysql config files (maybe i am using mysql_small though.. honestly i can't remember). I ran all of that back when it was a linode 80 and things were just peachy, so it's great on the 256 of today.

the only time i did run tomcat was when it was a linode 96 (?? i forget if that's what it went to) and it honestly was very sluggish even when i killed most of the other services (a lot of io_wait as you'd expect). i'm not sure how well it would be on a 256 plan. otherwise.. i guess 2x 256 plans do give you redundency (espec if you have them located in different datacenters) but I think you'd have better sucuess running tomcat on a linode 512. Actually, I just read the tomcat faq page: "In a nutshell - if your computer has less than 128MB of ram - you will probably have trouble."

unless someone else here has a similar setup and replies, i'd suggest grabbing a linode 256 get things going, and see how she handles with tomcat up and running… if it's not too hot, kill apache/mysql/mail and see how it goes. if it's ok, then grab a second linode 256 and run tomcat on that. otherwise, upgrade to a linode 512 (easy to do with a support ticket).

Hope that helps ya.

Tomcat on a Linode 96 was most likely sluggish because lack of RAM caused it to swap. Excessive swapping is also the most likely cause of i/o token problems - I have never has token problems unless I was doing something that caused me to start swapping really heavily.

knehcsa's suggestion is your best bet. A Linode 256 ought to be able to run your proposed setup at low traffic levels without breaking a sweat. You always have the option of upgrading if it proves necessary. Just keep an eye on your swap usage for the first few days.

Well, I'm quite happy to hear that. I was a little worried about how much I was going to have to spend before, but it seems it was not really warranted.

Thank you very much for your input. Once I get my tax return in I'll most likely be setting up a linode 256.