{"id":103541,"date":"2023-03-27T15:59:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T19:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/?p=103541"},"modified":"2025-06-06T10:51:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T14:51:24","slug":"ultrastack-vps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/product-guides\/ultrastack-one\/ultrastack-vps\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started with UltraStack VPS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\t\t\"Getting\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

UltraStack ONE for WordPress<\/a> is the production environment for your WordPress website. It\u2019s been fine-tuned for performance and lean speed. We\u2019ve removed all the bloatware that traditional managed VPS environments may have\u2014there\u2019s no control panel software or email server\u2014only the services you need for a screaming fast website.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their place, you manage your server from InMotion Central<\/a>, which uses API-driven Ansible Playbooks to talk to your server, make updates, and ensure steady operation. In this guide, you\u2019ll learn what UltraStack is and how to perform basic tasks on your UltraStack VPS, troubleshoot common issues, and get the most out of your new server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is UltraStack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In short, UltraStack is the result of years of research and development by InMotion Hosting\u2019s WordPress and Linux experts to give you the highest-performing Managed WordPress VPS <\/a>on the market today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a high-level overview of the server\u2019s stack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Container<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your VPS has dedicated resources, meaning neighboring servers should never impact your server\u2019s memory or CPU limits. We\u2019ve also removed all unnecessary services and software, such as email, control panels, and other services not related to delivering your website.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The container uses the best features of LXC (Linux Containers) and Virtuozzo hypervisor management to ensure that you always get the power your VPS has available. We also employ advanced service monitoring to ensure that recovery is fully automated any time an issue occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operating System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our UltraStack VPS is currently based on CentOS 7, the latest enterprise-stable version of CentOS. We\u2019re actively researching alternatives to CentOS, including RHEL-based distros like AlmaLinux and Debian-based distros like Ubuntu.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that you\u2019ll almost never have to worry about the Operating System\u2019s quirks, since we manage software and security updates via Ansible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your VPS uses state-of-the-art NVMe Solid-State (SSD) hard drive devices, which offer significant read\/write speed improvements over older SATA and PCIe protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apache<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the most basic level, your website runs on the venerable Apache web server, the most well-documented and stable web server on the market today. We\u2019re actively researching alternatives like the LiteSpeed web server, but for now we\u2019re sticking with Apache because of its familiarity of configuration (such as the use of .htaccess directives) and FOSS (free, open-source software) philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGINX Proxy Cache<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Apache handles the actual execution of your website\u2019s code, it actually serves that content to your NGINX proxy, which in turn serves your visitors with a dynamic page cache that prevents Apache from using too many resources during high traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll be able to fine-tune your proxy cache or use our experts\u2019 predefined caching profiles, which have been designed to meet different use cases, from dynamic WooCommerce shops and Forums to mostly static sites like blogs and brick-and-mortar businesses. You can even disable the NGINX proxy to pass all requests to your Apache server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHP-FPM<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

PHP-FastCGI Process Manager<\/strong> is the fastest and most secure PHP handler on the market today. Using isolated pools and workers for Opcache and bytecode caching, our engineers have tuned the PHP configuration for the most performant settings out of the box.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redis Persistent Object Cache<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UltraStack Virtual Private Servers with sufficient memory resources come pre-loaded with Redis, an in-memory cache of your most common PHP objects and pages. Storing this cache in RAM rather than on disk reduces the latency even further.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brotli Compression<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After all of the performance optimizations further down the stack, all responses are compressed using the Brotli lossless compression algorithm, initially developed by Google engineers for the WOFF web font file format. Brotli is around 15-20% more efficient than gzip for JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files, and is supported by over 96% of browsers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cutting your files down in size means faster loading times for your visitors and for Google\u2019s Core Web Vitals assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Working with your UltraStack VPS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your server is set up out-of-the-box to work well with the majority of WordPress site configurations. If you need to customize anything, here\u2019s how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Run\/Upgrade Playbook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Re-running the Ansible Playbook can resolve most unforeseen issues with your VPS. This process ensures that your site is running, all services are up, SSLs are configured, and your Central connection is intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you upgrade your playbook, it\u2019s a good idea to take a server snapshot so you can easily revert in case of unforeseen problems. Navigate to UltraStack VPS > Tools > Manage Server<\/strong> and click on Server Snapshots<\/strong> to make a \u201csave point\u201d you can revert to in case of problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigate to UltraStack VPS > Tools > Manage Server<\/strong> and scroll down to Server Software<\/strong> to see the current and latest versions of the server playbook. Click Run Playbook<\/strong> to begin the process. Allow the process to run for a few minutes, and check if the issue has been resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Change PHP Settings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Navigate to UltraStack VPS > Tools > Optimize > PHP Settings<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>where you can change your PHP version and<\/span> common configuration (php.ini) settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop, Start, and Restart Server<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Navigate to UltraStack VPS > Tools > Manage Server<\/strong> to find controls to stop, start, or reboot your container.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add SSH Key<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Navigate to UltraStack VPS > Tools > Manage Server<\/strong> and click on Add SSH Key<\/strong> to enable shell and sFTP access to your server. Follow this guide to generate an SSH key<\/a> from a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Updating Your Site URL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Set the Site URL to any domain you\u2019ve added to your project\u2019s domains area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Navigate to the project you are working on.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Click on Manage<\/strong> next to your UltraStack VPS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Click on Site URL<\/strong> from the sidebar menu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Click the Add Domain<\/strong> button.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. You can then select a domain from the drop-down menu.
    \"Selecting
    If your domain has not been added yet, click the Add New Domain<\/strong> button. For more information, see our full guide on adding a Domain to InMotion Central<\/a>. Once your domain has been added, you can proceed to the next step.<\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Click the Continue<\/strong> button.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. You will then have the option to create a Subdomain<\/strong> or click Continue Without Subdomain<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Finally, click the Apply Site URL<\/strong> button.
    You are finished when you see a message stating \u201cYour site is live!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Troubleshooting Common Issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    SSL Certificate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In some cases, your SSL certificate may not have been issued when the server was set up. Most often, this is caused by our playbook trying to set up the certificate before DNS propagation has taken effect. Normally, your server will fix this automatically <\/strong>when it detects DNS propagation and will re-run the SSL playbook when your domain is resolving, but occasionally you may want to run it manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Common issues resulting from a problem with your SSL are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n