Laravel Forge was recently upgraded with several new features. You can now edit your .env file directly from within Forge. It’s easier and faster than adding each environmental variable. In addition, you can also create and manage Nginx load balancing servers to balance your application load. With Forge, you can now deploy a new server in just minutes from any of the three cloud hosting service providers: Linode, Digital Ocean and now Amazon Web Services.
linode
Linode Linux Package Mirrors
One way to speed up the Linux package updates is to use a package mirror made available by Linode. They are hosted in all six of their data centers. Just pick a data center where your data is Linode server is located by doing the following.
Edit your sources list
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list |
Search and replace
# Replace this address http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ # with the new address http://fremont.mirrors.linode.com/ubuntu/ # you can also use this - returns round robin of all locations http://mirrors.linode.com/ubuntu/ |
The next time you run a Linux update, it will be significantly faster.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade |
Linode Manager On Android
Linode Manager is the official Android mobile application for Linode. With this application, you’ll be able to manage and administer your Linodes from anywhere in the world. Here’s a list of things that you can do with this smart phone application:
- Create, remove, boot, and reboot Linodes
- Access Linodes via SSH and Lish
- Resize Linodes on the fly
- Keep tabs on your Linodes performance with CPU, network, and IO utilization graphs
- Create and manage NodeBalancers and domain zones
- Access the complete Linode Library
- Manage your Linode account and make payments
Linode Shell or Lish for short, works primarily with a web browser console in this app. I prefer Chrome with Lish. SSH seems to look for an app called Connectbot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get SSH to work because it defaults to port 22. I use a different port for SSH, an added security to my Linode.
Having access to the shell terminal from a smartphone is a nice feature to have. Perhaps, you can do perform a couple of updates or simple maintenance functions. However, I prefer to use my desktop if I were to do anything drastic to my Linode.
Linode Doubled Its Disk Storage
A week ago, Linode doubled the storage for all its VPS plans. It now boasts 48GB of disk storage. This came at the heels of a RAM upgrade back in May. A month before that, Linode doubled its CPU from 4 to 8 cores. All of these upgrade are for the same monthly price of just $20 per month. Not bad at all. So overall, here are the details.
Linode 1 GB
- 8 cores
- 1 GB RAM
- 48 GB disk
- 2 TB transfer
- $20 per month
I’m loving all these upgrades. I’m glad I switched to Linode more than a year ago. It’s the best thing I ever did.
In addition, you also get full ssh and root access. That means you can install any software or application that you want on your Linode. You also get a dedicated IP address and a choice of where to host your server from any of the 6 data centers around the world. The only complaint I have is the backup. I wished it was included with the plan instead of the extra $5 per month. Otherwise, I’m one happy Linode customer.