Michael O.
3min Read

What size VPS do I need?

What size VPS do I need?

The size your VPS (Virtual Private Server) depends on how many users you expect to use it at one time and the complexity of the software that you run.  Even very busy servers can serve simple, static content without using a lot of server resources.

But a site that generates each page on demand, varying what each user sees is going to need a database and will require more processing power.  So to make hosting recommendations means knowing the usage model and content served.

At HOSTAFRICA, we have pre-configured certain VPS capacities to cater to most of our customer needs.

Content

As stated before, the content served plays a role in determining capacity.

If the content is media rich, containing many images or video content, the storage required as well as the memory (RAM) installed will be much more than if simple images and text based static content is served up.

Any processing of data will also require CPU (Processor) capacity.


Content Management Systems

Using control panels (WHM, cPanel or Plesk) and content management systems such as Drupal, Joomla or WordPress can also require extra capacity in terms of both memory and CPU.


Site Traffic

If your site generates a lot of interest and gets many visitors, it will require a higher capacity as far as memory and CPU is concerned, as each visitor requires the generation of an extra web page and session.


Operating System

If you plan on running a Microsoft Server, it has a certain minimum requirement to function which is very different from a Linux server.

Once again, the applications you install will play a role in determining capacity. Running a SQL server or many RDP sessions will need a larger server than a single users system which runs one or two small applications.


Bringing it all together

  • Microsoft Server VPS
    • Minimum of 20GB disk size of which the MS Operating system will use approx. 12GB, leaving you with 8GB
    • Minimum of 1024MB (1GB) RAM, but at least 2048MB (2GB) is the recommended amount. Double this if you expect to run MS SQL or multiple RDP sessions
    • CPU – 1 core will work, but 2 cores allow applications to run without affecting the operating system too much. Try to stick to 64bit applications.
    • Try NOT to run desktop software such as Office and don’t use the server to browse the internet. These applications have not been optimised for a server and will overload the system.
    • Factor in at least 128MB per RDP user as a guideline
    • Our Windows W1 Server is a good start for all but the lightest of usages.
  • Linux Server VPS
    • Minimum of 10GB disk size of which Linux systems usually require up to 3GB, leaving you with approx. 7GB
    • Minimum of 512MB of RAM. If you are running cPanel or Plesk, increase this to 1024MB (1GB) of RAM. Double to 2GB if running any DB intensive applications or serving media rich content.
    • CPU – 1 core will work for most usage, but increase if using a database or expecting a lot of traffic.
    • Try not to install the desktop version of Linux, stick to the server version as this does not waste resources on a fancy interface
    • Our VPS V3 and V4 are some of our best sellers.
    • Linux VPS’s are easy to upgrade to a larger package, more CPU or more RAM without needing to reconfigure any software.

Happy Hosting! 


The Author

Michael O.

Michael is the founder, managing director, and CEO of HOSTAFRICA. He studied at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and was inspired by Cape Town's beauty to bring his German expertise to Africa. Before HOSTAFRICA, Michael was the Managing Director of Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange AG, one of Germany's largest virtual server providers.

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