How much RAM to install cPanel on an unmanaged VPS or a Dedicated Server?

[arindamb]

I do some researches on the forum about unmanaged VPS or unmanaged dedicated server which need to install a hosting control panel for it?

Should I use free panel like webmin, ZPanel or go for paid ones as directadmin or cPanel but cPanel is very expensive?

My main question is How much RAM required to install cPanel on an unmanaged VPS or a Dedicated Server?

 

[RDO Servers]

I do some researches on the forum about unmanaged VPS or unmanaged dedicated server which need to install a hosting control panel for it?

You can install a control panel on your VPS or dedicated server, but it is not a "need". It is not necessary, but it sure does make life easier for you!

Should I use free panel like webmin, ZPanel or go for paid ones as directadmin or cPanel but cPanel is very expensive?

This is completely up to you. cPanel is the most popular by far, but there are other quality control panels. Compare the panels, look at the available features, support, etc and decide what will work for your needs. a cPanel licence for a VPS is about $15-$20/month. For a dedicated server it is about $35-$50/month

My main question is How much RAM required to install cPanel on an unmanaged VPS or a Dedicated Server?

I believe cPanel recommends at least 512mb of RAM (which is not much at all!) I would go with at least 1GB, but of course it also depends on what else you will have installed on the server, the number of sites it will be running, and the amount of traffic to the sites.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

Hey,

Actually @RDOServers cPanel upped the system requirements for their latest version. The reason for this is not only the new customizations to cPanel itself but also the huge leaps that other software that cPanel utilizes has made.

cPanel recommends a MINIMUM of 1GB of Ram to run cPanel, however it recommends at least 2GB for best performance and even more if you've got the server populated with more than a few websites. The MAIN reason for this is cPanel has made a shift away from MySQL and is now using MariaDB as its default database engine. As most know MariaDB uses a little bit more RAM than MySQL did, however offers a lot better performance.

 

[RDO Servers]

RDO Servers

Good to know! I didn't realised they had changed it.
I must admit, I don't pay much attention to minimum requirements, since it's never a issue! :vteen:

 

[melviin]

melviin

So, if we have an unmanaged VPS, could need 4GB of RAM to use 2 GB for resource of websites system

 

[ElixantTechnology]

ElixantTechnology

Generally speaking, yes. You need to consider that there is a lot running on your system, and just like your computer at home which holds a minimum of 4GB of RAM your server should as well especially if it is powering the services of which cPanel manages. This is typically why I recommend people to steer clear of a VPS unless they are willing to pay for a proper configuration. In the end, the best end-all solution would be a Dedicated Server, but they aren't exactly necessary for websites that aren't going to use the power to its potential.

A proper web host will provide memory allocation that is capable of powering traditional websites with room to grow, unfortunately people choose to go with companies such as HostGator, iPage or Godaddy all of which I don't consider to be proper web hosting providers.

A VPS can be great under many circumstances being the capablity of running services such as gaming servers, web servers and other background systems that shared hosting does not provide, but not many websites actually require this advantage and people choose to go with a VPS as it is marketed as an end-all solution. Sure, they provide flexibility of control and scalability, but unless you know what your doing you're going to waste resources.

So it boils down to my final suggestion(s):

1. Get a Managed VPS, pay the money to have a proper setup.
2. Select a "proper" host; you can find a few in the advertising section of this forum, some really good ones at that!

 

[ElixantTechnology]

It's pretty crazy actually, they jumped up the cPanel DNSONLY requirements even to 768MB, rightfully so though because it used to be 256MB; and a small DNS cluster would have kernel crashes frequently due to lack of memory.

 

[MightWeb]

What is the usage inteded for? If you're just using it personally, I'd say webmin would be good enough. Combine that with a good web stack (such as CentMinMod perhaps?) and you've got a stable setup at less than 512 MB of RAM (though you should likely keep at least 512 free for spikes, depending on how many visitrs you get).

If you're talking as a hosting solution where you'll be providing, cPanel is the only option I could ever recommend.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

ElixantTechnology

Oh man, Webmin... I remember Webmin from years back, not for the faint of heart at all! Haha, another option would be DirectAdmin, not the greatest of options but functional and cheap.

 

[MightWeb]

MightWeb

Heh, Webmin is not too user-friendly, but it gets the job done, and eats up very few resources if I remember correctly!

 

[ElixantTechnology]

ElixantTechnology

That is absolutely correct. Basically what it is boiling down to is, if you need to ask how much ram you should have, then you probably shouldn't be getting an *Unmanaged* cPanel VPS.... You'd probably be better off with Website Hosting, unless your wensites are pretty big or in the plenty.

 

[onlinestorehelp]

Or just do like me and get a reseller hosting account where you have both Cpanel and WHM and you can segregate your accounts. Much, much easier and less worry about figuring out a VPS...

 

[MarcS]

cPanel can be easily installed on VPS with 1 GB RAM (2 GB for optimal performance) with 20 GB Disk space. If you are going to offer Hosting services to your customers, I would suggest cPanel as most comprehensive and robust solution. I do not recommend any other free control panels instead of cPanel.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

Just a heads up,

With the recent cPanel update, they have made it so upon installation of the software it checks that the minimum requirements are actually availible, making them mandatory.

You will no longer be able to install cPanel on a machine with less than 2GB of RAM, and for cPanel DNSONLY you will need a minimum of 768MB of RAM.

 

[smallbudgethosting]

768MB for DNSONLY is really pushing it. I recommend at least 1GB to 1.5GB.