Domain Name

Typically you should enter your domain without the 'www'.  We use this domain for setting your hostname.  You don't need to own the domain name (e.g. you can order the server before you purchase the domain name then, later on, you can point the domain name to the IP we give you on setup).

Memory

We recommend 400MB or more memory if you are running memory intensive applications like a MySQL database or Java Servlets. You need 1GB or more if you intend to run JBoss or Liferay. As you add more memory your server will perform faster and more reliably.

Control Panel

Webmin is an Open Source browser based control panel.  What it lacks in prettiness, it makes up for in power and elegance.

CPanel is one of the most popular hosting control panels.

Virtualmin Pro is a control panel that enables your users or clients to manage their own domains.  It is written by the smart and Linux-friendly folks who wrote the wildly popular Webmin server control panel.  For more info see http://www.virtualmin.com/.

Plesk is a professional web hosting control panel.  It is available only on our higher end plans (since Plesk requires a good amount of memory to run).  It is a great addition to your server whether you are setting up a single website, multiple sites, or are reselling web hosting.

The Plesk install will be a recent Plesk version.  The recommended Powerpack option includes:

• SpamAssassin Anti-spam Support Interface.
• Application Pack (including Mambo site builder, osCommerce e-commerce solution, php BB bulletin board, Gallery picture gallery, bbClone counter, phpBook guestbook, and gtChat chat engine).
• Tomcat Support.
• Multi-level Support Trouble Ticketing System.

RAID

RAID ensures that your data is not lost or corrupted in the event of a drive failure.  Instead of needing to re-setup your server, the faulty drive can be quickly replaced with no data loss and minimal downtime.  To select this option you need to order at least two disks (the size doesn't have to match).

We recommend hardware RAID when using SSDs.

Server Power Options

One of the most common server components to fail is the power supply.  With a redundant power supply your server has two power connections (each drawing about 50% of your server's power needs).  Should one of the power supplies fail then the other power supply can take over.

In selected data centers (e.g. Dallas) we also have multiple independent power feeds to a cabinet.  Meaning your server can stay powered up in the event one power feed is interrupted.

VM Host

When setup as VM host you will get:

• Regular full filesystem backups.
• Console-over-ssh access.
• Data transfer usage stats per VPS.
• Browser based VM reboots.
• The ability to do quick and easy distro reinstalls.
• Dedicated hardware.  No other customer will be running on your server.

For more information about the VM setup, see here.

IPs

You can host multiple sites from your server with just a single IP.  If you want to run DNS, you will probably need 2 IPs.  SSL will require an IP per SSL-secured domain.