Elastic VPS is the virtual-machine slot on Stack Harbor PaaS. Where the platform’s system containers and Docker containers share kernels with the host and lean on the platform for orchestration, an Elastic VPS gives you a full virtual machine with its own kernel — Linux or Windows — that you administer like any VPS, but that still gets the platform’s scaling primitives, public-IP wiring, and dashboard tooling.
What this section covers
- Elastic VPS overview — the available Linux distributions (CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux) and the per-distribution notes.
- Elastic VPS management — how to configure a VPS and how to access it: SSH Gate or public IP for Linux, RDP for Windows.
- Elastic VPS use cases — practical examples like running a Java console application or a self-hosted mail server.
When to pick a VPS instead of a container
The decision is usually one of three things:
- You need a full kernel. A VPS lets you load kernel modules, run unusual filesystems, attach kernel-level debuggers, or run workloads that simply do not work in a container — kernel-tuned databases, low-level networking experiments, software that ships its own kernel module.
- You need stronger isolation. A VPS is a virtual machine, with all the boundary guarantees of one. For workloads where neighbour-noise is unacceptable or where compliance demands a hard isolation boundary, the VPS is the cleaner pick.
- You need a self-contained box. Some software ships as “give it a Linux box and it’ll configure itself” — mail servers, certain enterprise apps, build-from-scratch experiments. A VPS lets you treat it as exactly that, while still keeping the box inside the platform’s environment, billing, and operational model.
For everything else — and that’s most modern application workloads — system containers and Docker containers are lighter, scale faster vertically, and are friendlier to declarative topologies.
What the VPS keeps from the platform
Picking a VPS does not drop you back to a bare hosting provider. The platform keeps:
- Cloudlet-based vertical scaling. Resize the VPS in place — RAM, CPU, disk — the same way you resize a container.
- Horizontal scaling. A VPS layer can hold multiple instances and grow under the same triggers as a container layer; each VPS in the layer gets its own public IP.
- Public-IP wiring. Every VPS is automatically provisioned with a public IP so you can reach it directly over SSH or RDP.
- Dashboard control. Start, stop, redeploy, snapshot, and inspect the VPS from the same dashboard surface as the rest of the environment.
Common questions
How does Elastic VPS compare to containers?
Elastic VPS provides full virtual machines, each with its own kernel and stronger isolation. Containers share the host OS for lighter workloads. VPS gives you more isolation and flexibility but requires more manual configuration of the hosted software.
Which operating systems are available?
Linux distributions: Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, AlmaLinux. Windows VMs are also available, depending on the hosting region.
How do I access my VPS?
All Elastic VPS instances are provisioned with public IP addresses. Connect over SSH for Linux or RDP for Windows. The platform also provides a Web SSH terminal from the dashboard for Linux VPS instances.
Can I resize a VPS?
Yes. Resize a VPS the same way you resize a container: drag the cloudlet sliders in the topology wizard or call the changetopology CLI. Horizontal scaling is supported too — add more VPS instances to the layer.
Where to go next
- Elastic VPS overview — per-distribution setup and usage.
- Elastic VPS management — configuration and access methods.
- Elastic VPS use cases — concrete workloads people run on VPS layers.