FreeBSD VPS v2: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Article ID#:
7627
Creation Date:
Feb-03-2009
Updated Last:
Feb-03-2009

Summary: The frequently asked questions concerning the FreeBSD Virtual Private Server v2 (VPS v2) product includes two types of questions: Product questions and Technical questions.

Keywords: freebsd vps v2, vps, v2, faq, frequently asked questions, 7627
Description: a description goes here

FreeBSD VPS v2: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The following list of frequently asked questions concerning the FreeBSD Virtual Private Server v2 (VPS v2) product includes two types of questions: Product questions and Technical questions.

Product Questions

  1. What is VPS v2?
  2. What can I do with VPS v2?
  3. What does Verio manage on VPS v2?
  4. What features are included in VPS v2?
  5. What add-ons are available with VPS v2?
  6. Can VPS v2 have more than 1 IP address and/or SSL certificate?
  7. Can VPS v2 accommodate IPv6 addresses?
  8. What are the benefits offered by Verio Premier Data Centers for the VPS v2?
  9. Does Verio backup/restore data for VPS v2?

Technical Questions

  1. Can I use the shutdown and reboot commands on VPS v2?
  2. Why can't I log in directly as the root user to VPS v2?
  3. What is the difference between the admin, root, and standard users on VPS v2?
  4. Can I install custom applications or use FreeBSD Ports Collection?
  5. Does VPS v2 support custom Perl modules?
  6. Does VPS v2 support a control panel?
  7. What email options are there with VPS v2?
  8. Where do subhost sites reside on VPS v2?
  9. What connection options are there for VPS v2?

Product Questions

  1. What is VPS v2? back to top

    A Virtual Private Server, version two (VPS v2) is a hosting environment that gives you your own UNIX virtual machine. Each VPS account provides a protected area that operates as an independent server. It enables you (and multiple customers) to share the expense of hardware and network connections and to eliminate the difficulty of maintaining them. Although multiple VPS customers share hardware, they do not share software. It has its own, complete directory structure, and set of dedicated application software. You can restart it without affecting any other VPS accounts which share the same hardware.

    All VPS v2s include the following features within the base price:

    • Managed services such as triple backup, operating system and core service updates
    • Security patches and updates
    • 50+ pre-bundled vinstall software packages for your specific account
    • A control panel designed to make configuring and maintaining your account easier
    • 24/7 System Administration-level support to give you peace of mind while managing your VPS v2

    With the Verio VPS v2, you eliminate the recurring costs of server administration, keeping up on possible security threats, conducting data backups, and ensuring connectivity and bandwidth availability. The VPS v2 from Verio will give you the freedom to concentrate on the success of your business instead of worrying about your infrastructure.

  2. What can I do with VPS v2? back to top

    You can use your VPS v2 as a Web server, application server, email server, FTP server, or configure the account however you like. For example, you can even configure your account as a database server and store a large amount of data on it which employees with database privileges can access. You have the flexibility to configure and manage the account to meet your precise needs. Using the VPS v2 from Verio, you can do just about anything you could normally do if you owned the hardware, but without the hassle of server management or hiring a third party to manage it for you. Enjoy full root access, multiple shell accounts, multiple domain hosting, enhanced security, and the ability to install your own applications.

  3. What does Verio manage on VPS v2? back to top

    Verio manages the hardware, operating system (OS) patches, security updates, along with maintaining customized kernel level changes designed to make your account more secure and improve the management and usability to your account. This includes security updates and patches to the CPX Control Panel and the Verio customized vinstalls. You also receive multi-level backups (instantaneous, daily, and weekly) and we monitor your account for security and reliability.

  4. What features are included in VPS v2? back to top

    Note: All applications, including those described in this document as unlimited are subject to available account resources and suggested uses for the account.

    Account Administration

    • Root access to your account
    • Configure multiple Shell user accounts
    • Host unlimited email accounts
    • Access to the FreeBSD Ports Collection of Applications
    • Install pre-configured applications of your choice through Verio’s vinstall command
    • Unlimited anonymous and non-anonymous FTP user accounts

    Web Server

    • Apache 1.3.x Web Server
    • Dynamic Module Support
    • Full CGI-BIN and log file access
    • Urchin 5 Web analytics tool and other site traffic statistical applications
    • Create and Manage multiple podcast channels

    Email

    • Unlimited POP/IMAP user accounts
    • Unlimited email aliases, virtmaps, and autoresponders
    • CPX: Control Panel Enhanced or Basic Webmail, Squirrelmail, and OpenWebMail Web-based email applications
    • Majordomo, Mailman, PGP, Procmail, and other email utilities

  5. What add-ons are available with VPS v2? back to top

    Multiple Domain Hosting

    • Domain Names
    • Virtual subhost support

    E-commerce

    • SSL Web Server encryption
    • ShopSite E-commerce (storefront management with secure transactions and payment processing)

    Web Development Tools

    • Miva Empresa
    • PHP 4.x
    • Perl, Python, and TcL scripting languages
    • CGI Library

    Database Solutions

    • MySQL 4.0.x
    • MySQL 4.1.x
    • PostgreSQL 7.4.x

    Multi-Media Applications

    • Macromedia Flash Support
    • Support for Darwin, FFMPEG, and several other media servers

    Web site Traffic Analyzers

    • Urchin5

    Email Utilities

    • Email Autoreply
    • PGP and GnuPG
    • Majordomo - Mailing List Utility
    • Mailman - Mailing List Utility
    • Procmail - Email Sorting and Filtering Utility
    • Vnews
    • SpamAssassin spam filter
    • ClamAV virus filter
    • Quota checker proprietary user quota utility

    Groupware

    • CPX: Control Panel - providing System Administration, Email, User configuration, and more
    • Enhanced Webmail
    • Squirrelmail - Web-Based Email, Calendar, and more

  6. Can VPS v2 have more than 1 IP address and/or SSL certificate? back to top

    No. At this time VPS v2 accounts come with a single static IP address and are not able to support additional addresses. Because the VPS v2 has one IP address, you can only associate one SSL certificate with the standard SSL port (443) for the Web server. You can, however, configure your Web server to use the Apache Listen directive to monitor other ports for SSL requests, and associate other certificates with these different ports. Doing this requires you to indicate the port number in the URL. If you choose to provide multiple certificates on your the VPS v2, please be aware that this configuration is not supported by our Technical Support representatives.

  7. Can VPS v2 accommodate IPv6 addresses? back to top

    Not at this time.

  8. What are the benefits offered by Verio Premier Data Centers for the VPS v2? back to top

    Each VPS v2 account resides in a protected Verio Premiere Data Center. All data centers are engineered with carrier class uninterruptible and backup power. Fully redundant power supplies connect to multiple power feeds. Advanced cooling and humidity controls provide continuous environmental controls. Around the clock monitoring ensures that all systems are fully operational. Our data centers are connected directly to our industry-leading IPv6 compliant, Tier-one, global IP network backbone - all via multiple and diverse physical and logical network paths - ensuring that your account and applications provide the high performance and response time that your users and customers require.

    Additionally, our data centers are staffed 24x7x365. With bullet proof glass, biometric hand scans, controlled man-traps, and digitally recorded closed circuit video monitoring, Verio’s physical security for our data centers is among the best in the industry. A fire suppression system works in collaboration with heat and smoke detection systems and a continuous air sampling system. Your data and software are safe in our Premiere Data Centers.

  9. Does Verio Backup/Restore data for VPS v2? back to top

    We work hard to ensure that your data is backed up and that you can easily access those backups. Verio’s data backup services* include:

    • Mirror Backup: On the physical server we provide RAID hardware mirroring disk-to-disk backups. Your master and slave mirrored backups provide real-time, automated backups so your Web content is not lost even if a hard drive fails.
    • Hard Disk Backup: In addition to the dual mirrored drives, each physical server has a hard disk backup that runs every 24 hours. You can access this hard drive backup anytime from your account command line using the getback command.
    • Weekly Backup: Approximately each week, we archive backups to an off-server location in the data center. There is a $100 fee for data restoration from one of these weekly backups.

    In order to restore files from the backup drive or weekly backups, we have created a utility called getback. The getback command can restore a single file, multiple files, and whole directories. To use the getback command you simply type getback file or directory at a command prompt and you will see a list of available backup versions. The first is the on-line version, which is free. The others are from the weekly backups and require a fee.

    *ADVISORY: While Verio fully supports the backup process as a feature/service to our VPS v2 customers, the company does not legally guarantee the backup system with an SLA at this time.

Technical Questions

  1. Can I use the shutdown -r and reboot commands on VPS v2? back to top

    Your VPS v2 is running a Virtual Kernel. To run the shutdown or reboot commands will effect the shutting down or the rebooting of your virtual kernel and the applications running on it. The shutdown command attempts to cleanly halt and restart services on your VPS v2, including execution of the commands in the /etc/rc.shutdown script. The shutdown procedure then kills any processes that do not exit cleanly, and restarts the init process (the init process reads the /usr/local/etc/rc.d directory scripts to start system services and applications). Because you do not have access to the physical machine level, you can not completely halt your VPS v2 (the -h option for the shutdown command is disabled), but you do have access to stop/start/restart all the services on your account.

    The reboot command differs from shutdown because it does not attempt a clean shutdown of your system. Instead, reboot simply kills all running processes and then runs init (which will run the /usr/local/etc/rc.d directory scripts).

  2. Why can't I log in directly as the root user to VPS v2? back to top

    For security purposes, direct root logins using the username root and the root password are not permitted on your VPS v2. Many administrative tasks can be accomplished by logging into the VPS v2 account as the administrative user. Once you have logged in as the administrative user, you can then use the su command to become the root user. See the VPS v2 User's Guide for more information on the different protocols as well as the appropriate user to connect with.

  3. What is the difference between the administrative, root, and standard users on VPS v2? back to top

    The main difference between the different classes of users is based on permissions offered to the user. A normal user can only affect the files they own, whereas the administrative user can affect some system files. The administrative user is created at the time you provision your VPS v2. The root user has unlimited file and application access, including files owned by other users. Because of the power of the root user, this user does not have FTP or email access and can only access the account through SSH, either directly using an SSH key generated for the root user or indirectly by connecting through shell as the administrative user and then using the su command to become the root user. For more information on the abilities of different users, see the VPS v2 User's Guide.

  4. Can I install custom applications or use FreeBSD Ports Collection? back to top

    The VPS v2 environment enables you to install and run most FreeBSD compatible software and some LINUX software on your account. This includes the ability to install software from the FreeBSD Ports Collection, which is available in the /ports directory within your account. See The FreeBSD Ports Collection for details about what is available and how to use the Ports Collection.

    Many common programs that require additional configuration or special installation steps are available through our vinstall utility, standard with your VPS v2. See the VPS v2 User's Guide for more information about considerations and information you should be aware of before attempting to install custom programs on your VPS v2.

  5. Does VPS v2 support custom Perl Modules? back to top

    Your VPS v2 has the CPAN utility installed. On the first use of CPAN, it will ask you to configure where you want to download and obtain certain Perl Module file for installation use. There are several Perl modules already installed for you on your account that pre-installed applications use. To see which Perl modules and packages are installed on your account you can use the pkg_info | grep p5 command. FreeBSD uses the pkg command to keep track of what modules and packages have been installed to the environment. To install a Perl package/module with CPAN, you can use the perl -MCPAN -e shell command to enter the CPAN utility. Once you have entered the CPAN utility, to install a Perl module/package use the command install module/package. To see if CPAN has the available module you want to install, use the i /CGI/ command with in the CPAN utility to list all of the CGI modules.

  6. Does VPS v2 support a control panel? back to top

    CPX: Control Panel provides an intuitive Web interface to administer your VPS v2. Many of the day-to-day account management tasks can be performed through CPX. In addition to user and domain management, CPX also offers an enhanced Web-based email interface and mail management modules.

    One of the key benefits of CPX is how it empowers subhosting on VPS v2. CPX was designed in a tiered model giving you the ability to create domain administrators with end user management control. This allows each subhost and its respective end users the ability to setup and control their own accounts. CPX offers the following features:

    • File Management
    • Webmail
    • User Management
    • Domain Management
    • Mail Management
    • Profile and Preferences
    • Java plug-in SSH terminal

  7. What email options are there with VPS v2? back to top

    Sendmail, ipop3d, and UW IMAP are used for mail services on the VPS v2. The Dovecot email server is also available through a vinstall. You can use Sendmail to send to mailing lists using Mailman or Majordomo. Also available is the autoreply function. CPX allows you to configure autoreplies easily. Complimented with Sendmail are Spamassassin and ClamAV for email spam and virus filtering.

  8. Where do subhost sites reside on VPS v2? back to top

    The default location for subhost Web content in the VPS v2 is in the content owner's www directory. For example, the content for domain.com administered by the domain administrator user named bob, would reside in the /home/bob/www/domain.com directory (where /home/bob is the home directory of the bob user). This is the easiest way to manage subhosts in a multi-user environment. For more information, see the VPS v2 Users Guide.

  9. What connection options are there for VPS v2? back to top

    The UNIX shell is the most powerful tool for the VPS v2. Using an SSH (or Telnet) client, you can connect and log in to your VPS v2 from anywhere in the world as if you were sitting in front it. Included with SSH and Telnet, the VPS v2 account offers FTP and SCP access. FTP gives those with access the ability to upload/download files to and from their /home directory on the account. SCP uses SSH to allow users to transfer files to and from the account with an encrypted connection. These connection types can be assigned on a user-by-user basis.

    Note: Although Telnet is available, it is not a secure protocol and should be avoided in favor of secure protocols such as SSH.

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