Getting started with CloudLinux 8 on your VPS

CloudLinux 8 is a specialized, hardened Linux distribution designed specifically for web hosting environments. Built on CentOS/RHEL compatibility, it provides advanced resource isolation, account separation, and integration with cPanel/WHM to prevent one customer's runaway process from affecting others on the same server.

Pricing and licensing

CloudLinux is a paid add-on at +$14.95/month on top of your VPS base price. This license includes:

• CloudLinux kernel with LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) isolation
• Resource limits per account (CPU, RAM, I/O, memory)
• Automatic account suspension when limits are exceeded
• LVE Manager panel for resource monitoring
• cPanel and WHM integration

Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-server-ip

Your root password is in your VPS welcome email. CloudLinux behaves like CentOS/RHEL for SSH access and command-line operations.

Update packages

Always update immediately after provisioning:

yum update -y

CloudLinux uses yum (or dnf on newer versions) as its package manager, compatible with RHEL-based systems.

Resource limits configuration

CloudLinux's main advantage is per-account resource limits. These prevent one hosting customer from consuming all CPU/RAM and affecting others. View or modify limits:

# View LVE limits
lvectl set  --speed=100% --memory=1024M --nproc=40 --io=1024

# View current usage
lvectl stat

# View specific account usage
lvectl view 

Typical limits per account on a shared environment:

• CPU: 50%-100% of a core (configured per account)
• Memory: 512MB-2GB (prevents memory from being exhausted)
• Number of processes (nproc): 40-100 (limits concurrent PHP processes)
• I/O: 1024-4096 (limits disk read/write speed)

cPanel and WHM integration

CloudLinux integrates directly with cPanel/WHM. When you create a hosting account in WHM, CloudLinux automatically assigns the LVE limits set in LVE Manager. If an account exceeds its limits, cPanel automatically suspends it until resource usage drops.

LVE Manager

Access LVE Manager from WHM → LVE Manager. From here you can:

• View real-time usage graphs per account
• Set resource limits for each account
• View "faults" (times when accounts hit their limits)
• Enable/disable automatic account suspension
• Configure failover mode behavior

If a customer's account is suspended due to resource limits, they remain accessible in WHM but their website may display a message. The suspension lifts automatically when usage drops below limits, or you can manually unsuspend from LVE Manager.

Related: Getting started with CloudLinux 9 on your VPS | Linux and Windows operating systems for VPS-which to choose | Manage VPS | VPS firewall

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