Cloud VPS: KVM Virtual Machines in New York

The flavors, and the limits each one enforces

A larger flavor raises its disk caps and its traffic allowance along with its memory and disk, so a bigger machine never queues behind a small one's limits.

The flavors as the cloud defines them. Disk caps count reads and writes together.
vCPU	Memory	SSD	Disk IOPS cap	Disk throughput cap	Port	Traffic a month	Price	Order
vCPU	Memory	SSD	Disk IOPS cap	Disk throughput cap	Port	Traffic a month	/mo/yr	Order
vCPU	Memory	SSD	Disk IOPS cap	Disk throughput cap	Port	Traffic a month	/mo/yr	Order
vCPU	Memory	SSD	Disk IOPS cap	Disk throughput cap	Port	Traffic a month	/mo/yr	Order
vCPU	Memory	SSD	Disk IOPS cap	Disk throughput cap	Port	Traffic a month	/mo/yr	Order
vCPU	Memory	SSD	Disk IOPS cap	Disk throughput cap	Port	Traffic a month	/mo/yr	Order

What is shared, and what the caps protect

Processor

A vCPU is a thread the host's scheduler runs on a physical core that other guests use as well. The flavors do not pin vCPUs to cores, so processor time is shared rather than reserved. A workload that keeps every core busy all day belongs on a machine of its own.

Disk

The hypervisor enforces two caps on every guest disk: operations per second and bytes per second, reads and writes counted together. They are the figures in the table, and they are what keeps one busy database from starving everyone else on the host, including you.

Network

The virtual port is capped at the table's speed in each direction, and every flavor comes with the monthly traffic allowance shown beside it.

Outbound mail

TCP port 25 is closed for outbound connections on every new machine. A fresh address delivering straight to other mail servers is how shared ranges end up on blocklists. Ports 465 and 587 are open, so an application that sends through a mail provider works from the first boot. If you run your own mail server, ask support to open port 25 for your machine.

Images

Each system is installed from its distribution's official cloud image, with the QEMU guest agent added so the dashboard can reset the root password while the machine runs. Reinstall a different one whenever you like; a reinstall erases the disk.

Driven from the Virtual Machines tab

Everything below is a button in the dashboard you already use for servers, domains and invoices. None of it needs a ticket.

Power: Start, stop, reboot, or a hard reset when the guest has stopped answering.
Console: A noVNC session in a new window while the machine runs, from a link that works once and expires after ten minutes.
Reinstall: Any image in the list, with new SSH keys if you want them. It erases the disk, so the dashboard asks you to type the host name first.
Root password: Shown on request, or set through the guest agent while the machine runs.
Activity: The actions taken on the machine, each with who took it: you, a user you gave access, our support team or the system.

When a dedicated server is the better buy

A VPS is the right size for a small, steady job. These are the signs a job has outgrown one, and each of them is answered by a physical server of your own.

The processor is busy all day, and shared vCPU time is the bottleneck.
A database needs more disk operations than the largest flavor's cap.
The traffic outgrows the allowance. Our dedicated ports carry no allowance at all.
You need a GPU, Windows, or a hypervisor of your own, such as Proxmox VE installed at build time.
You want the hardware's own console, below the operating system.

Price can be the other reason: our cheapest dedicated servers cost about what a mid-sized VPS does elsewhere, on hardware nobody else uses.

Questions engineers ask before ordering

Is a Cloud VPS a dedicated server?

No. It is a KVM guest on a host that runs other customers' guests too. Its flavor caps disk operations, disk throughput and the port, so no guest can take another's share of those, but processor time is shared rather than reserved. A machine with nobody else on it is a dedicated server.

Where does it run?

In New York, on OpenStack hosts that Server Room operates. It is sold in that one region.

Which operating systems can I install?

Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux, each from the distribution's official cloud image, in the releases listed on this page and on the order page. There are no Windows images. A reinstall from the dashboard switches systems at any time and erases the disk.

How do I log in the first time?

As root, over SSH. Keys you paste on the order page are installed for root when the machine is built. The root password is shown in the dashboard on request, and you can set a new one there while the machine runs, without a reboot.

Can the machine send email?

Through ports 465 and 587, from the first boot. Outbound port 25 is closed on new machines; if you run your own mail server, ask support to open it for yours.

How do I move to a bigger flavor?

Ask support, in a ticket or in live chat. The machine is resized to the new flavor, which restarts it once and keeps its addresses and its data. A flavor only ever grows, because a disk cannot be shrunk.

How is it billed?

Monthly or yearly, in advance, on the same account as your other services. The machine is built once the first invoice is paid, usually within a couple of minutes, and you get an email when it is ready. If a renewal is left unpaid the machine is suspended, and the dashboard shows it with a button to pay the open invoice.

Is DDoS protection included?

No. We do not sell DDoS protection on any line, and the Cloud VPS is no exception. If what you run attracts attacks, put a scrubbing service or a CDN in front of it.

What is not allowed on it?

Torrents, as on every line under our terms of service. Running a VPN endpoint is fine.

Pick a flavor in the table. The order page asks for the operating system, an optional host name and your SSH keys, then takes you through sign-in and payment.

Back to the flavors