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Linux VPS 3.0 FAQ
Following are frequently–asked questions (FAQ) regarding Linux VPS 3.0:
What is Linux VPS?
First, Linux (sometimes referred to as GNU/Linux or a Linux–based GNU system) is a UNIX–like operating system. Linux is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Your private server account utilizes Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), a widely implemented corporate Linux standard. RHEL is based on open standards and is derived from the community–supported open source project called Fedora. The project is sponsored by Red Hat.
Then, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a hosting environment that gives you your own Linux virtual machine.
Each private server provides a protected area that operates as an independent server. It enables you (and
multiple customers) to share the expense of hardware and network connections and to eliminate the difficulty
of maintaining them. Keep in mind that although multiple VPS customers share hardware, they do not share
software. It has its own, complete directory structure, and set of dedicated application software. You can
restart it without affecting any other private server accounts which share the same hardware.
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What can I do with Linux VPS?
Following are examples of how to use your private server:
- Host a Web site, including an e–commerce site
- Support a corporate intranet
- Build a custom development environment
- Run Web–based calendaring
- Stream multimedia applications
- Host an online game forum
- Manage an email system
- Create a customer support tracking system
- Backup important data
- Host multiple Web sites
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How does Linux VPS 3.0 compare to previous releases of Linux VPS?
The following examples of the features enhanced or added for Linux VPS 3.0:
- Default and/or multiple Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates
- FormMail
- FairShare technology
- Mail encryption
- Mailman
- Perl modules
- phpMyAdmin
- PGP/GnuPG
- savelogs
- Secure HTTP
- Secure FTP
- Squirrelmail
- Swish-E
- Tomcat Java Servlet
- Urchin
- WordPress
Note:
Many Java applications consume significant CPU and memory resources and may not be appropriate for use on a VPS. Refer to the Linux VPS 3.0 Technical Overview for details regarding resource allocations and suggested uses for each plan.
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How do I use the documentation for Linux VPS?
By using the instructions included in the Linux VPS 3.0 User’s Guide and by applying your system administration experience, you can administer all features of your server, as well as troubleshoot common concerns. By referring to the documentation, you can conduct these tasks at your own pace, on your own, and without extensive technical support. Some additional, late–breaking information regarding installation, administration, and troubleshooting tasks are included only through periodic documents such as Linux VPS 3.0 Release Notes and Linux VPS Web content such as this document. Always verify you have acquired the latest information available prior to installing, administering, or troubleshooting your private server account.
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What is private server technology?
private server technology creates isolated, secure virtual environments on a single physical server (sometimes referred to as a sandbox). private server technology enables better server utilization and ensures applications do not conflict. your private server performs and executes your requests as a stand–alone server. You can reboot your private server account independently and configure root access, users, files, applications, system libraries, and configuration files. your private server behaves as a stand–alone Linux server. It uses standard startup scripts and software from multiple vendors. You can change any configuration file and you can install additional software. The file system and processes are fully isolated from any other account. your private server includes its own IP address. Traffic snooping is not possible. Resource management controls the amount of resources available to your server. This enables the quality of service to meet the service level agreements associated with your server.
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What is a virtual host?
Your private server account represents a highly refined step in server virtualization technology. The technology partitions a single physical server into isolated virtual
hosts. Each virtual host operates as a real, networked server.
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What applications can I run within the virtual host?
You can install most Web–based applications, software, and utilities within the virtual host without any modifications. Widely tested and utilized open–source and commercial applications run successfully on your private server account. Applications and services do not have to be aware of private server technology. However, direct access to hardware is not available.
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What are practical applications of private server technology?
The following examples describe practical applications of your private server account:
- Increase availability and keep an up-to-date copy of your virtual hosting on another server, and start it in seconds in case of failure.
- Provide trainers and learners with their own virtual server with root access.
- Enable testers and beta program participants to experiment on a machine that runs other services.
- Improve network services security; each account runs in its own virtual hosting environment. If the application has a security hole, only this particular virtual hosting will be compromised, and not the whole system.
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What are highlights of private server technology?
Private server technology provides highly scalable virtualization with low overhead, strong isolation, and rapid customer provisioning that is ready for production use right now. Deployment of private server technology improves efficiency, flexibility and quality of service offered by your private server account.
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How scalable is private server technology?
As your needs grow and as new feature upgrades become available, you can utilize more powerful plans without concern of overwhelming the physical limits of a physical server. You can upgrade without rebuilding your configuration.
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Is it true that performance overhead is a necessary part of private server technology?
There is no emulation layer, only security isolation, and all checking is done on the kernel level without context switching. This means that your private server account truly utilizes all of the processing power you purchased for each feature, application, or utility you use.
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What kind of performance expectations should I have?
The performance of your private server account also benefits from fair-share practices, network monitoring, and continuous server updates. private server technology protects your private server's resources.
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What is the difference between the root and a standard user?
The main difference between the different classes of users is based on what which permissions that user has. A user can only affect the files for which he or she has permission. The root user has the ability to control anything, including files owned by other users. Because of this power the root user has, the root user does not have FTP or email access and can only access the server through SSH (either directly using an SSH key for the root user or indirectly by logging in as the Administrative User and then verifying you operating as the root user.
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What are some of the differences between my account and a dedicated Linux server?
Your private server account is designed with the goal to emulate the behavior of a dedicated Linux server in a shared environment. Because of this, account will operate and function as a dedicated Linux server does. One of the key limitations of account is that, because of the shared environment, the private server root user does not have the ability to modify kernel or hardware-related configurations. It is significant to note, however, that any of the system files not specifically changed by the private server administrator will continue to be maintained and updated by our staff. While many of the utilities are extended to your private server account, the multi-user environment makes application management slightly different.
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Can an account have more than one IP address?
By default, your account comes with a single dedicated IP address and is not enabled to have additional ones. However, you can purchase additional, multiple IP addresses and configure your account to utilize them.
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What do the commands shutdown –r and reboot do on my account?
The shutdown and reboot commands are designed to behave on a virtual level as close as possible to the same way they would on a dedicated Linux server. Because you do not have access to the physical system to manually start up the system, you can not completely halt your private server account (the -h option in shutdown is disabled), but you can restart all the services on your server. The reboot command is different from shutdown because it does not attempt a clean shutdown of your system. Instead, reboot simply kills all your running processes and then runs
init (which will run the rc scripts).
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Why can’t I use the vnewaliases command to rebuild the data base for the mail aliases file (etc/aliases)?
For FreeBSD VPS platforms, vnewaliases is a command you can use to rebuild databases for your server’s sendmail aliases file. The vnewaliases command is unavailable on your Linux VPS. Instead, use the Linux/Unix newaliases command to rebuild the database for the etc/aliases file.
Note: Although newaliases is identical to the Linux/Unix sendmail –bi command supported by other Linux/Unix systems, be aware that the makemap command is not equivalent to the newaliases command. The newaliases command places an important, sendmail–required token into the database.
Refer to the Linux/Unix command library and Linux VPS customer documentation for more specific information about the newaliases command.
Can I change the IP address?
No. If you have not purchased additional, multiple IP addresses, you must not change the IP address. If you have purchased additional, multiple IP addresses for your account, you must exercise great care when you change an IP Address. In all cases, if you specify an IP address other than one which is assigned to you, your private server will not function. This is true of any other IP address than the those your private server was assigned
at the time of provisioning. Even the address you might see displayed as unused IP address for the subnet of
your private server might cause your private server to cease functioning. You will also be unable to see information about
any aspect of the data traffic associated with any other IP address or VPS account. The Red Hat Enterprise
Linux (RHEL) operating system supports a standard, UNIX/Linux command which enables you to see the status
of network interfaces for your private server. Use the command for diagnostic and configuration tasks only. For
example, if you issue the ifconfig command without any additional argument, all of the currently active interfaces
are displayed. If you issue the command with the additional argument of –a, all of the interfaces, including
inactive ones are displayed. Beyond the simple display of interfaces, the command includes additional argument
s which enable you to specify an IP address for each network interface. If you do specify another address in
error, the remedy is to log into your private server as root and use the ifconfig command to specify the
correct IP address. For more details about the ifconfig command, refer to the RHEL operating system
Man Pages.
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I want to learn more. How do I find other resources?
Following are links to Web sites you can use to learn more about the software applications and utilities supported by your private server account. These sites provide you with information about how the applications remain powerful and secure. They inform you how these applications interact with each other. In addition, many of the Web sites provide opportunities for you to subscribe to topical email lists and RSS Web feeds.
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