Frequently Asked Questions

Virtual Private Servers are our specialty. VPS is a truly isolated and private environment. You get root access, your own software and you can depend on guaranteed resources. We offer unlimited domains on every VPS plan we sell.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a VPS?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It basically takes one big server with a lot of processing power and splits that up into multiple, virtual environments. In this way a VPS is much like a dedicated server, except you don't get the full resources of a dedicated server, but it costs much less than a dedicated server. By providing a virtual system, administrators of the big server (called a host node) are able to rapidly deploy new virtual environments and isolate these virtual environments from one another. Basically you can think of a VPS as a dedicated-like server at a fraction of the cost.

. What is included in your management system?
In addition to cPanel, our management system includes various server hardening tasks, operating system specific package and security updates, service monitoring, and our top-rated support. While we don't provide in-depth specific support for scripts and content-management systems, such as Wordpress or Joomla!, with a management plan we will work with you regarding these issues.

What services are provided with cPanel?
cPanel is a feature rich control panel and backend software for your server. It includes Apache for handling and displaying your website, Exim for handling email, Dovecot for IMAP and POP3 services (retrieving your email), and Pure-FTP for FTP services so you can upload your website.

What services are provided with an unmanaged VPS
As the name states, an unmanaged VPS is just that, unmanaged. This means we do not play a role in the securing and supporting of the VPS. So an unmanaged VPS comes with just the VPS.

Do you provide root access for your VPSs?
If you have an unmanaged VPS, then yes you will receive root level access to your VPS. If you have your VPS managed with us, then we do not provide root access to the end-user.

There are a couple of reasons for this policy with our managed plans. First, we can't insure the overall quality of the service if multiple people or multiple entities have root-level access. If an end-user installs something on the server as root that opens a particular port, that we don't know about, then this could potentially be exploited despite all of the security measures we put in place. If you need something specific set up on your server, talk to us, we may be able to set this up for you on your server.

The second reason is that we have found that most people are just interested in having their website and email working. And for that, root-level access is not needed. Having root access to a server is very powerful and it lacks a lot of safeguards that would prevent you from doing something that is ill-advised. But as always, just talk to us if you need something we can likely accommodate your request.

How do I manage accounts with a cPanel VPS?
When you sign up, you will be given access to a WHM interface where you can create, delete, and modify web hosting accounts.

Why is cPanel not available with VPS Plan 1?
cPanel requires at least 512MB of memory to install. See the cPanel System Requirements for more information on this. While cPanel will install on a 512MB VPS, we highly recommend that purchase a VPS Plan 3, VPS Plan 4, or VPS Plan 5 if you are going to be using cPanel. Running cPanel on a 512MB system will be highly restrictive.

Do I get SSH access?
Yes, with both the unmanaged and managed VPS plans you will have SSH access.

Are there any mail limit restrictions?
Our managed VPS plans will come with a default 100 mail limit per hour per account, but this limit can be increased or disabled entirely. For unmanaged VPSs, no restriction is put in place.

What operating systems do you support?
For unmanaged VPSs without cPanel, you can choose from a list of 10 different operating systems. The list of available operating systems is on our VPS Plans page. If you are going to use cPanel on the VPS, then you have to use a CentOS operating system. Also, please note that we do not provide any support for non-CentOS operating systems.

What is Guaranteed RAM and VSwap?
The CentOS 6 kernel for OpenVZ includes a new memory management system, which simplifies the memory management. Guaranteed RAM refers to the amount of RAM your virtual private server has available. Vswap is a virtual swap space that you have available on your virtual private server. With a physical, dedicated server you have RAM memory and then you have swap space, a slower form of memory that borrows disk space for memory functions. This is what VSwap simulates, it simulates that slower swap memory for your VPS.

What is a host node?
The host node refers to the parent hardware that a VPS exists on. Each VPS exists as a virtual environment on a host node. All of our host nodes use CentOS 6 for the parent operating system, and thus we are able to provide the VSwap memory management system.

What is a host name? Why do I have to specify a host name on the order form?
The hostname is what is used to identify your virtual private server in our system. We need to have a name associated with your VPS. Typically this is a 3-level Fully Qualified Domain Name, so that DNS can resolve this hostname to your VPS (server.yourdomain.com is an example of a 3-level FQDN). But it does not have to be, it can be just a simple name such "terra" but this will not be resolvable on the Internet, meaning you would have to remember your IP address to access your VPS.

Will the OS space count against my disk space?
Yes. Unfortunately different operating systems require different amounts of disk space and certain addons will require more disk space and there's no easy way to account for this. So for example with a 60GB disk space VPS, you might have 50GB of usable disk space. There is no way to really know for sure. Understand that this is no different from ordering a dedicated server. If you order a dedicated server with a 250GB disk drive, you will lose some of that disk space because of formatting and then you will lose even more space with the operating system install. So with a 250GB dedicated server you may get 150GB to 200GB of usable disk space.

Can I customize my VPS?
With an unmanaged VPS you can do whatever you want with the server, so long as it follows our policies and terms of service. You will be restricted by the resources that were allotted to your VPS based on the VPS plan that you ordered. We do offer a choice of 10 different operating systems for unmanaged VPSs and you can have a VPS rebuilt with any of those operating systems.

Do I need a VPS? What is the market for VPS plans?
A VPS is typically a step up from shared web hosting. This depends a lot on the VPS plan that you order. If you find your website being bogged down by other accounts on a shared hosting web server, then a move to a VPS may be best for you. If your website is the one that is bogging down a shared hosting web server, then moving to a VPS can isolate your account so that it does not affect other accounts. The market for VPS also fits for other users who are looking for dedicated server capabilities, but without the budget for a dedicated server.