I recently had a request as to whether you can use Linode to host an IRC server. I have not personally done so, so I decided to check into it. What I discovered was that there is absolutely no problem hosting an IRC server from your Linode. In fact according to the Linode forums many have done so. However, you do need to be aware that if you are hosting a large server that is getting repeated DDOS attacks they may ask you to leave - this goes for any VPS host out there as no one wants there networks being taken down.

Also a very big thing to make sure of is that you do not signup for a Linode in their Atlanta data center. This is because that data center automatically blocks many ports that you might want to use for your IRC service. Below I have listed the ports. Note this is from the Linode Admins themselves.

1/tcp     filtered tcpmux
9/tcp     filtered discard
11/tcp    filtered systat
13/tcp    filtered daytime
15/tcp    filtered netstat
19/tcp    filtered chargen
93/tcp    filtered dcp
111/tcp   filtered rpcbind
135/tcp   filtered msrpc
136/tcp   filtered profile
137/tcp   filtered netbios-ns
512/tcp   filtered exec
514/tcp   filtered shell
515/tcp   filtered printer
540/tcp   filtered uucp
593/tcp   filtered http-rpc-epmap
707/tcp   filtered
1075/tcp  filtered
1080/tcp  filtered socks
1180/tcp  filtered
1182/tcp  filtered
1434/tcp  filtered ms-sql-m
1900/tcp  filtered UPnP
2282/tcp  filtered
3128/tcp  filtered squid-http
3332/tcp  filtered
3802/tcp  filtered
4444/tcp  filtered krb524
5000/tcp  filtered UPnP
5490/tcp  filtered connect-proxy
6001/tcp  filtered X11:1
6002/tcp  filtered X11:2
6003/tcp  filtered X11:3
6004/tcp  filtered X11:4
6005/tcp  filtered X11:5
6006/tcp  filtered X11:6
6007/tcp  filtered X11:7
6008/tcp  filtered X11:8
6009/tcp  filtered X11:9
6010/tcp  filtered
6011/tcp  filtered
6012/tcp  filtered
6013/tcp  filtered
6014/tcp  filtered
6015/tcp  filtered
6016/tcp  filtered
6017/tcp  filtered xmail-ctrl
6018/tcp  filtered
6019/tcp  filtered
6020/tcp  filtered
6021/tcp  filtered
6022/tcp  filtered
6023/tcp  filtered
6024/tcp  filtered
6025/tcp  filtered
6026/tcp  filtered
6027/tcp  filtered
6028/tcp  filtered
6029/tcp  filtered
6030/tcp  filtered
6031/tcp  filtered
6032/tcp  filtered
6033/tcp  filtered
6034/tcp  filtered
6035/tcp  filtered
6036/tcp  filtered
6037/tcp  filtered
6038/tcp  filtered
6039/tcp  filtered
6040/tcp  filtered
6041/tcp  filtered
6042/tcp  filtered
6043/tcp  filtered
6044/tcp  filtered
6045/tcp  filtered
6046/tcp  filtered
6047/tcp  filtered
6048/tcp  filtered
6049/tcp  filtered
6050/tcp  filtered arcserve
6051/tcp  filtered
6052/tcp  filtered
6053/tcp  filtered
6054/tcp  filtered
6055/tcp  filtered
6056/tcp  filtered
6057/tcp  filtered
6058/tcp  filtered
6059/tcp  filtered
6060/tcp  filtered
6061/tcp  filtered
6062/tcp  filtered
6063/tcp  filtered
6588/tcp  filtered analogx
6667/tcp  filtered irc
6669/tcp  filtered
6711/tcp  filtered
6712/tcp  filtered
6776/tcp  filtered
7000/tcp  filtered afs3-fileserver
7441/tcp  filtered
12345/tcp filtered NetBus
12346/tcp filtered NetBus
16660/tcp filtered
22788/tcp filtered
27665/tcp filtered Trinoo_Master
31337/tcp filtered Elite
33270/tcp filtered
39168/tcp filtered
53201/tcp filtered
65000/tcp filtered

If you would like to sign up for the Linode Service to host your IRC server I recommend it! Just make sure you are on the up and up.