Using VPS to host cPanel accounts. What's it worth?

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webserveme

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Hi all,

I am thinking of setting up a VPS to host cPanel accounts. So instead of using a full dedicated server, I would like to scale it down by using VPS.

It'll still be a "dedicated box" except that it is a virtual box. Now, the question is:

- How much RAM do I need per box to successfully run the box without it running out of swap files and such? :confused:

I am looking at maybe 50 accounts per box.
 
It really depends on the accounts themselves and their usage. There's no need to act as if using a VPS for shared hosting is a strange idea, in fact that's what many people do as it's much easier to upgrade as your requirements grow, and the isolation is great :)

I voted 1024mb, as that should sufficiently cover 50 accounts with the "standard" usage you mite see, but you may find that 2048 is required as you start filling up those containers. Either way, be careful not to get oversold, and get a guaranteed CPU with your VPS if possible.
 
As far as I know you need at least 256 MB to run WHM/cPanel so if you plan also to resell you will need 512MB at least.
 
siforek said:
It really depends on the accounts themselves and their usage. There's no need to act as if using a VPS for shared hosting is a strange idea, in fact that's what many people do as it's much easier to upgrade as your requirements grow, and the isolation is great :)

I voted 1024mb, as that should sufficiently cover 50 accounts with the "standard" usage you mite see, but you may find that 2048 is required as you start filling up those containers. Either way, be careful not to get oversold, and get a guaranteed CPU with your VPS if possible.
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I tend to agree with siforek. A lot depends on the accounts themselves. I voted 1024.
 
If I were to resell off a VPS, I'd go for 1GB RAM. But, I suppose I could go for 512MB if I knew that the growth rate would be really small, my target market would be having small, simple sites, and my budget would be tight.
 
I voted 768mb.
I have some VPS setups that are running in some cases fairly database intensive sites. They were working reasonably well at 512mb of ram but they are much better at 768mb.
 
At a MINIMUM, 512mb is needed to operate a site with any sort of traffic. 256 is required by cPanel, but if you put a mail program, spam assassin, clamav and all the other usual parts, then you better have more than 256 on there.

Any eCommerce customer we have we suggest minimum 512mb but it depends on usage and traffic. I've never tried putting 50 accounts on a VPS before, but I guess it could be done - just be sure to have an upgrade procedure in place so you can easily scale up.

It will also depend on what programs your customers are running. Static sites are no problem, but if you load a shopping cart such as X-Cart on a site, you better have memory available as it wants it all. And if you put 12 X-Carts on there, you had better have a minimum of 1GB or recommended 2GB available.

On our dedicated Quad Core systems for our X-Cart users, we keep 4GB of memory on the server and limit the machine to 20 shops. It all depends on what it is the users are doing, what resrouces they're using, and how slow you want to allow their sites to operate should the memory be used up by another client.
 
If you are going to host other people I would suggest more ram, minimum 512mb of ram. If you are going all out and have the funds go with 1024mb of ram, with 1024mb you will be able to run a steady server.
 
Well, I voted 512 MB RAM as far they would be enough to host a dozen of websites, that do not receive high traffic. However if you plan to use the VPS for to host customers, you definitely need a very powerful VPS. However, the RAM is only one side of the story. You need to calculate the space and bandwidth and not to oversell.
 
Hi,

I believe 512 is enough specially at the initially stage. When you feel that your VPS is getting over loaded then you can upgrade RAM.
 
Hi!
i think this is a big mistake. Hosting on a vps is a very bad idea. You have no control over how many vps's you'll be competing with for resources...or anything.

My opinion: Bad move.

What I have? Dedis and reseller accounts for production hosting.

Bryon
 
As a few have mentioned, cPanel requires 256Mb, but I highly suggest at least 1024Mb+. In fact, at Fiber Elephant we don't even offer a control panel with our 256mb(512 burst) plan. This is in large part because we've seen quite a few issues from anything lower than 512, and I'd personally rather upgrade an account for free than spend all the extra time dealing with issues the stem from lack of memory.

You can always upgrade as your needs grow, so there's no need to get a 4GB VPS at first :) But also keep in mind that you'd much rather have extra/unused resources and customers raving about your service quality than max out your specs for every penny you can get & constantly get complaints. Or at least that's my opinion :)
 
I voted for 1 GB as well. Most of our clients that run a handful of sites use 512MB of RAM with cPanel and that seems to do the trick while customers with 50 or more sites tend to go for 1 GB or more of RAM.

This also depends on the traffic trends you are seeing, if during your peak times, the sites are experiencing quite a slow down then I would suggest going with more, but if it seems smooth then let it be. This is the great thing about virtualization, you can scale your resources when you need it.
 
How many accounts are you looking to host? I would just get a cheap dedicated server instead. The vaule to hardware is better on a small dedi.
 
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