Beginners Guide to VPS

The Plan Types

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, and A2 Hosting offers two types of VPS Accounts: Semi-Managed and Managed. Our VPS services are designed to provide you with flexibility and enhanced user control to run applications that are not supported or permitted on our shared hosting plans.

The differences between the two can be found here: http://www.a2hosting.com/services/vps-hosting-comparison/ Below, a summary of the main differences is provided. http://wiki.a2hosting.com/skins/common/images/button_image.png

Managed VPS

Managed VPS Plans

Managed VPS plans offer a managed environment similar to our Web Hosting accounts but with fewer resource limits. This is the option to go with if you are currently outgrowing a shared hosting environment but are not ready yet to make the jump to dedicated hosting. It's also the best option if you have certain customizations you need that aren't provided with our shared hosting plans, but you still want us to take care of implementing the configuration changes, upgrading software, and taking care of other system administration for your virtual server.

Managed VPS plans all come with cPanel by default, and WHM access for an additional monthly fee.

cPanel can be accessed for your account at http://www.yourdomainname.com/cpanel or http://yourIPaddress/cpanel using the admin username and password provided in your welcome email. More information on cPanel can be found in the Getting Started videos once you log in, or you can check out our Knowledgebase here for lots of common questions and answers:

You can also control some aspects of your VPS from yourr Client area at https://my.a2hosting.com. Once logged in, go to 'My Products and Services', then select Manage next to your VPS plan, and scroll down to the 'Virtual Server Control' section. From there, you can Shutdown, Boot, or Reboot your VPS, view your disk space, bandwidth, and memory usage, and log into cPanel as well.

Semi-Managed VPS

Semi-Managed VPS Plans

The Semi-Managed VPS plans, on the other hand, are not managed by us, so they are best for the more advanced user who is familiar with the command line interface. These plans come with root access and, with this, the ability to customize as much as you need to. The following is considered your responsibility: installing applications, upgrades, and security patches. It is still semi-managed in the sense that we will provide the following services:

1. Management of our infrastucture; including network, power, security, hardware, and VM hosts
2. Initial provisioning of VPS accounts (using our default templates)
3. Re-provisioning your VPS with a different OS
4. Complete reset of your VPS back to the original settings (erases all data)
5. Provisioning additional IPs
6. Reverse DNS management and delegation

The following is considered your responsibility on a Semi-Managed VPS, and if you don't feel comfortable with these tasks, you may be more satisfied with our Managed VPS plans:

1. Managing a Linux-based operating system, including: Installing applications, upgrades, and security patches
2. Reboots
3. Backups
4. Custom partitioning
5. Resetting passwords
6. Fixing broken user accounts

You can access the VPS control panel at:

https://solusvm.a2hosting.com:5656/

with your VPS control panel username and password sent in your welcome email.

You can also access your VPS via SSH as root user.

Once you SSH into your account, you will have immediate access to the A2 QuickInstaller. Django, Grails and Zope are just a few of the tools available for install. Users just select which one they would like to use and the A2 QuickInstaller installs and compiles the tool in a matter of moments. Customers can even suggest solutions they would like added to the A2 QuickInstaller.

If you have purchased a new Domain Registration or Domain Transfer through A2 Hosting, you may use the following Nameservers:

dns1.name-services.com dns2.name-services.com

To set them log into the My A2 Hosting Customer Portal, go to My Domains and click Manage for the Domain in question. You can then set the Nameservers on that page. To create DNS Records for your Domain click the DNS Management button at the bottom of that page. You will probably want to create an A Record that points to your VPS IP listed above.

If your Domain is with another Registrar you can use their DNS Management.

The Interfaces

cPanel - cPanel is the primary interface for our Managed VPS plans only. It allows for an easy upgrade path from a shared server to a managed VPS to a dedicated server. Accounts can be completely and quickly transferred by our technical support staff - just open a ticket if you need any assistance.

SolusVM - This is the primary VPS control panel for our Semi-Managed VPS accounts. It can be accessed at https://solusvm.a2hosting.com:5656/ and allows the user to control or view the following:

# Disk space, bandwidth, and memory usage for your VPS
# Power Control: Shutdowns, boots, and reboots
# System Control: change which image/OS you want to use for your VPS, change your root password or hostname, or access the console
# IP information, logs and statistics

As well, you can set your contact information here, and we may occasionally need to contact you regarding your services with us so please keep your contact details up to date. Your email address should be one that you can still access if your VPS is not working. You can also view your

HyperVM - HyperVM is a legacy interface that is no longer provided with any new VPS purchases. It allows a user to control and administer their vps directly, in this area you can change the root password, change images and boot and shutdown your vps instance

Please see the A2 Hosting Documentation here: HyperVM Documentation

Kloxo - Kloxo allows a user to control the internals of their vps, things like your webserver, mail server, dns and other administrative tasks. It is not included by default but can be installed using the A2 Hosting Quickinstaller that comes with our Semi-Managed VPS plans. It is not supported by us, however, and it is up to you to maintain it.

Please see the A2 Hosting Documentation here: Kloxo Documentation

LxAdmin - Lxadmin has been deprecated in favor of Kloxo. LxAdmin allows a user to control the internals of their vps, things like your webserver, mail server, dns and other administrative tasks.

Please see the A2 Hosting Documentation here: lxadmin Documentation