Why do we use Cloudlinux?

Cloudlinux

What are these emails I am receiving with the subject “Hosting account resources exceeded”? This is a question we get from clients once in a while. So perhaps we need a post to explain things.

Cloudlinux sends these emails when your shared hosting account uses more resources (such as CPU cycles, available RAM, etc.) than allowed. It’s that simple.

Increased Stability.

Cloudlinux limits the resources an account can use. Thanks to the Lightweight Virtual Environment (LVE) that Cloudlinux provides, the “noisy neighbour” syndrome – where one site on the server gets so busy it slows down other sites on the server by using up all the resources – is a thing of the past. This LVE allows us to allocate a set amount of resources to each account. Once the resource limit for an account has been reached, Cloudlinux slows down requests to that website to keep the account within its resource limits or simply stops the site entirely and shows an error to anyone surfing the website. As soon as the resource usage goes back under the limit, Cloudlinux stops slowing down the site. This prevents a hacked, abused or suddenly popular site from slowing down all the sites on the server.

Increased Security.

Cloudlinux gives us CageFS, which isolates users via a virtual filesystem and set of tools that limits each user to their own “cage” – unable to see sensitive server information (such as conf files) & any other client data. So you no longer have to worry about other accounts on our servers getting hacked and causing your site any grief. If another client does get hacked the hackers can not even see your data, let alone mess with it!

Multiple, Hardened PHP versions.

Cloudlinux allows you to select from multiple PHP versions – gone are the days of running just one version of PHP on a server. You can easily select the PHP version your website needs from the “Select PHP Version” icon under the “Software” heading in your cPanel. Plus, Cloudlinux patches all known vulnerabilities in these otherwise unsupported PHP versions. So you get an extra layer of security.

“Ok great, so it’s more “secure”… but you’re going to take my site offline?”

If you use more resources than you are allowed then yes; sadly we do not have much choice. However! When your site is limited by Cloudlinux, an email is sent out to you right away. Plus, we are very clear about our generous resource limits – they are listed clearly right on our shared hosting page.

If you do find your site being limited, you have three options:

1) Streamline your site so it is more efficient,
2) Upgrade your account to have more resources, or;
3) Ignore the warnings and live with your site running slowly or being offline once in a while.

Of course, we heavily recommend you spend time on option #1 because we believe everyone should have a fast & efficient website but we understand that not everyone can do so. Some sites just need a little more power to run smoothly – so option #2 is also a good choice.

You can upgrade your shared hosting easily from within your client area. Simply login to my.ezp.net and then select “My Services” from the Services menu. You’ll see a list of your hosting packages with us. Select the account you want to upgrade. You’ll have a big “Actions” menu on the upper left side of the screen with an option to “Upgrade/Downgrade”. Then select the package you wish to upgrade to – you’ll see the resource limits clearly defined – and follow the instructions.

In our next blog post, we’re going to explore ways to streamline your site so it is more efficient and help you avoid any issues with Cloudlinux.