Should I be using CloudLinux?

CloudLinux is an extremely powerful operating system built on top of the open source operating system, CentOS. We’re proud to offer it – and it works tremendously well on the VPS.NET infrastructure. Just recently our sister company Midphase switched their shared hosting servers over to CloudLinux, and have seen loads drop dramatically on their servers. Does that mean that CloudLinux is right for you?
Do I have to run CloudLinux with VPS.NET? Does CloudLinux make me a cloud provider?
Despite its name, CloudLinux is not required to be used on cloud hosting infrastructure, nor is it required to be used on VPS.NET. We offer multiple operating systems, including CentOS, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, Windows and many more. CloudLinux can also be used on dedicated servers, and traditional VPS servers without problem. As well, using CloudLinux does not make someone a cloud hosting provider. Cloud hosting is single-handedly derived from the underlying infrastructure; typically cloud hosting requires that there multiple servers working together to provide resources on demand, however a formal definition has not exactly been defined.
Is CloudLinux right for me?
Depending on how you’re using your cloud VPS from VPS.NET determines whether you really need CloudLinux. While it’s an extremely stable operating system, with numerous security enhancements it may not be something that is necessary for you to run. CloudLinux really shows its value when you’re hosting multiple websites on the same server. It does this by placing each user inside what it calls a LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment). This LVE limits the amount of available resources to each user, which makes it so one single user cannot bring down the entire server. The actual resources limited include the CPU, RAM, and the total number of processes running by the user, like PHP scripts. The amount of resources that the user is limited to is completely definable by you, so CloudLinux actually makes it possible to offered structured shared hosting plans based of CPU/RAM usage, instead of the usual disk space and bandwidth. When a user reaches the defined resource limits, a 503 error is displayed to the website’s visitor, preventing the user from using up additional resources.
So why doesn’t it work well for single sites?
If you’re only hosting a single site it simply doesn’t make sense to a limit the amount of resources available to it. Usually if you just have one site on the server, you want the site to be able to use the whole server, which CloudLinux prohibits. If you’re looking for the security and stability of CloudLinux, CentOS is actually a free alternative, and offers an environment just as stable and secure.
How do I get CloudLinux for my VPS.NET Cloud VPS?
If you’re ready to build your first Cloud VPS with VPS.NET, simply choose the CloudLinux operating system from the “Build my VPS” screen and everything will be handled for you. If you already have the server built and are using CentOS then go to the CloudLinux templates page, and purchase a CloudLinux license for $7.50 a month. Once there, you’ll be able to choose the server to license it to and install the necessary addons that let CloudLinux works its magic!
Coming up next we’ll show you how to tweak CloudLinux to your exact specifications, using both command line and the cPanel/WHM plugin.