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Elastic VPS Updated 2026-05-27

Elastic VPS overview — available Linux distributions

The Linux distributions available for Elastic VPS on the Stack Harbor PaaS — AlmaLinux, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu — and how to pick between them.

Elastic VPS on Stack Harbor PaaS ships with a curated set of Linux distributions. Pick one based on the package ecosystem your workload depends on, the version cadence you’re comfortable with, and the long-term support guarantees you need.

This page lists what’s available. Each distribution has its own setup page in this section.

The available distributions

  • AlmaLinux — a binary-compatible drop-in for RHEL after CentOS Linux shifted to CentOS Stream. Long-term support, slow-moving package versions, predictable for production. Good default if your workload was built for RHEL/CentOS.
  • CentOS — the historical RHEL-derivative. Useful for workloads that have a hard pin on a specific CentOS major version. For new deployments, AlmaLinux is the cleaner choice.
  • Debian — slow-moving stable releases with one of the largest package archives in Linux. Good when you want every package available without hitting third-party repos, and when the slow pace is a feature.
  • Ubuntu — Debian-based, faster release cadence, LTS releases for long-term workloads, the most common documentation surface for third-party software. Good default for developer-facing workloads and projects that move with the upstream community.

If your software stack pins to a specific distribution and version, pick that. Otherwise, the practical decision is usually between AlmaLinux (RHEL-compatible) and Ubuntu LTS (Debian-compatible, broader docs). Both are first-class on the platform.

What’s the same across all of them

Regardless of the distribution you pick, you get:

  • A full Linux kernel inside the VPS, not a shared container kernel.
  • A public IP automatically attached to the instance.
  • The same dashboard surface: start/stop, redeploy, configure resources, view stats, take backups.
  • The same scaling primitives: cloudlet-based vertical resize, horizontal scale-out under the same triggers as containers.
  • SSH access via the platform’s SSH Gate or directly to the public IP. A Web SSH terminal in the dashboard for quick console work.

What changes between them

The interesting differences are above the kernel: package manager (dnf for AlmaLinux and CentOS; apt for Debian and Ubuntu), the system init details, the default firewall toolchain, and which version of a given runtime you’ll get from the distribution repositories. For most operational work that’s a paper cut, not a structural difference. For long-running production VMs, the choice mostly comes down to which release lifecycle suits the project.

In this section

  • General information — basic VPS concepts.
  • CentOS VPS — per-distribution setup notes.
  • Ubuntu VPS — per-distribution setup notes.
  • Debian VPS — per-distribution setup notes.
  • AlmaLinux VPS — per-distribution setup notes.
  • Elastic VPS — the section landing page and when to pick a VPS over a container.
  • Elastic VPS management — configuration and access methods (SSH Gate, public IP, RDP for Windows).
  • Elastic VPS use cases — concrete workloads you can run.