The machine underneath, explained layer by layer.
Two shapes of server are sold here: a KVM virtual machine with its resources set aside, and a physical machine with nothing else on it. This page is what they are made of, what is read from the hardware rather than typed into a page, and where the line sits between what is run for you and what is yours.
Two shapes
KVM VPS and bare metal
Reserved
Not burst credit
NVMe and RAID 1
Read from the plan
Root from first boot
And a panel to run it from
Two shapes
The same discipline, on virtual and on metal.
Both give you root from first boot and a panel to run the machine from. What differs is who else is on the hardware, and the answer is either "nobody you can feel" or "nobody at all".
KVM VPS — isolated, reserved
One physical host divided into virtual machines, each with its own kernel. The vCPU and memory in your plan are set aside for your instance rather than lent out as burst credit, which is what keeps performance flat when a neighbour gets busy.
Dedicated — the whole machine
A single-tenant server on a named Intel Xeon processor with DDR4 memory. Every core and every gigabyte belongs to one workload. Nothing else is scheduled on it, so nothing else can take its time.
Storage that survives a bad day
The VPS plans run on NVMe. The dedicated plans ship their SSDs mirrored in RAID 1, so a failed drive leaves the server running on its twin instead of taking it down. Either way the disk type is the provider's own word for it, read from the plan.
Read from the plan, not written here
Processor, cores, memory, storage and bandwidth on every card come from the provider's plan record at the moment the page is drawn. A figure the provider does not publish is not invented to fill the row, which is why some rows are absent rather than approximate.
How a server reaches you
Five steps between a plan card and a root prompt.
The order is the order it happens in. The last step is the one that tells you the first four worked, and it is written to your account rather than left in an email.
- 01 Pick the size Plans are grouped by what they are for, and each card carries the figures the provider publishes for it. A plan the provider pauses disappears from the page the next time it is read, so nothing on offer is something that cannot be built.
- 02 Give it a name A server is created under a hostname, and there are three ways to provide one: register a new domain in the same order, choose a domain already on your account, or type one you hold elsewhere. Add a machine name if you like, and the hostname becomes that name on that domain.
- 03 Choose the operating system Current long-term-support Linux, installed at first boot. The list is the plan's own: an image the provider has discontinued is dropped rather than offered, and a plan that publishes no list gets no chooser at all.
- 04 Add what the job needs A control panel licence, a dedicated IP address, WHMCS, managed operation, and on dedicated machines a block of SAN storage. Each is a monthly line beside the server. An add-on the provider does not price is removed from the step, never shown at nothing.
- 05 Built, then reported Your account shows the server as Being set up, then Being built, then Active, with its hostname, operating system and IP address once they exist. Add-ons are applied after the machine is up. One that cannot be applied is recorded against the service and shown to you, not quietly dropped.
What is on the label
Each row on a plan card, and where it comes from.
A VPS record is flat and a dedicated record is nested, and neither is padded to look like the other. This is what each row means on each shape.
- Processor VPS A count of vCPU, reserved for the instance. Dedicated Model, core count, clock speed and whether hyper-threading is on. On metal the model is named because the provider names it.
- Memory VPS Capacity, set aside rather than shared. Dedicated Capacity and type, as published — DDR4 on the current plans. Nothing is said about error correction because the plan record says nothing.
- Storage VPS Capacity and disk type, NVMe on every current plan. Dedicated Capacity, SSD, and the RAID level the drives are arranged in. A plan flagged only as "SSD" with no type is shown as SSD, never upgraded to NVMe.
- Operating system VPS The plan's supported list, chosen at creation. Dedicated The same list, built in rather than reimaged afterwards. Discontinued images are removed before the list reaches you.
- Network and IPv4 VPS Shown when the plan states it. Dedicated Not shown: this account's payload does not carry either field. An empty row is more honest than a typical one.
The figures themselves are on the plan cards, read from the provider each time the page is drawn: VPS plans and dedicated servers. Where each product runs is on the regions page.
Lines of responsibility
What is run for you, and what a root prompt makes yours.
Root access is the whole point of a server, and it is also where responsibility changes hands. The line is written down so that nobody discovers it during an incident.
Under the machine: ours
Hardware, power, the network in front of the server and volumetric DDoS filtering upstream of its interface. A failed drive on a dedicated plan is replaced while the mirror keeps the server running.
Getting in: covered
Boot, login, network and hardware investigation, core operating-system patches, firewall and module setup, reinstalls and reverse DNS. That is what semi-managed means here, named rather than implied.
Above the OS: yours
Your applications, their configuration, their updates and their backups. Nothing on a root server is kept for you unless you arrange it. Send copies off the machine, schedule them, and restore one occasionally to prove it works.
Or hand it over
Managed services is a priced add-on on both shapes: patching, monitoring and on-demand expert support for setup, migration and security. Unmanaged is the default, and it is the right default for a team that already has the discipline.
Questions
Before you decide.
A VPS is enough for most workloads that have outgrown a control panel: the allocation is reserved, the kernel is yours, and a neighbour's load stays on the neighbour's side of the wall. A dedicated server is for the cases where the constraint is the machine itself — sustained CPU, large memory, I/O that must not share a bus with anyone — or where a policy requires single tenancy. If you are not sure, start virtual; moving up is a new machine and a migration, not a penalty.
They are the provider's own published specification for the plan, read at the moment the page is drawn rather than typed into it. Reserved means the allocation is set aside for your instance and not lent out as burst credit. Where the provider publishes no figure for a row, the row is left out rather than filled with a typical value.
A VPS is a matter of minutes after payment clears. A dedicated machine is physical, and the dedicated server page states its usual lead time. In both cases your account shows the server as Being set up, then Being built, then Active, and the hostname, operating system and IP address appear as soon as they exist.
No. The naming step offers three routes: register a new domain in the same order, choose one already on your account, or type one you hold elsewhere. A domain held elsewhere is taken as you give it; a name to register is checked for availability first. Optionally add a machine name, and the hostname becomes that name on that domain.
Add-ons are sent to the provider after the server itself exists and the order that paid for it has settled. One that the provider refuses is recorded against the service and shown to you, and the platform does not retry it in a loop or drop it silently. A paid add-on that bought nothing without anyone being told is the outcome the whole arrangement is built to prevent.
You do. That is the honest consequence of root access, and it is written here rather than left for you to find out after an incident. Nothing on the machine is kept for you unless you arrange it. Send copies off the server on a schedule, and restore one now and then to prove the copies are good. The support section has a guide that walks through it.
A machine you can reason about.
Reserved virtual resources or a physical server of your own, each read from the plan rather than promised on a page. Pick the shape, then the size.