VPS Guide

Getting Started with VPS Hosting

Everything you need to access, manage, and monitor your virtual private server from your NordServ portal.

Instant setup Web-based console Power controls Reinstalling the OS Root access Upgrading your plan DDoS protection Bandwidth allowance Automatic backups Resource monitoring

🚀 Instant setup

Your VPS is provisioned automatically as soon as your order is confirmed — no manual step on our end. You'll get an email with your root password and IP address as soon as it's ready, and the same details stay available on your service page.

🖥️ Web-based console

Every VPS includes a full-screen console you can open right from your browser — no SSH client required. This is especially useful if your server's networking is misconfigured and SSH itself is unreachable, since the console connects directly to the virtual machine's display, not over the network.

Tip: The console opens in a new window sized for a terminal — if it looks too small, most browsers let you zoom out with Ctrl/Cmd and minus to see more at once.

⚡ Power controls

Your service page has five power actions: Start, Shutdown, Reboot, Reset, and Stop. Shutdown and Reboot ask the operating system to shut down cleanly first (like pressing your PC's power button); Reset and Stop cut power immediately, which is only meant for a server that's genuinely frozen and not responding to a clean shutdown.

Tip: Try Shutdown/Reboot first — Reset and Stop skip the OS's own cleanup and can occasionally cause filesystem issues on an otherwise-healthy server, the same as pulling the plug on a physical machine.

💿 Reinstalling the OS

You can reinstall your VPS with a different operating system at any time from your service page — Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, and FreeBSD are all available, with several recent versions of each.

Warning: A reinstall wipes every disk on the VPS — there's no way to recover data afterward. Back up anything you need first; this action needs a typed confirmation in the portal precisely because it can't be undone.

🔑 Root access

You get full root access on every plan — there are no restrictions on what you can install or configure. Your root password is in your welcome email; if you ever lose it, reinstalling the OS from your service page issues a fresh one (see the reinstall warning above, since that wipes your disks too).

📈 Upgrading your plan

You can move to a larger plan anytime from your service page — no ticket needed. Applying the new CPU and RAM allocation requires a short reboot (usually well under a minute), and the portal warns you about this before you confirm.

Note: VPS plans are upgrade-only — disk storage on a virtual machine can't be shrunk, so downgrades aren't supported. See the FAQ for how billing works on an upgrade.

🛡️ DDoS protection

Network-level DDoS mitigation is included on every VPS plan automatically — there's nothing to configure or turn on. It activates automatically at the network edge as soon as attack traffic is detected, filtering it out before it reaches your server.

Note: Mitigation can absorb up to 10 Gbps of attack traffic. Beyond that, the targeted IP is temporarily null-routed (traffic dropped upstream) to protect the rest of the network — standard industry practice, not unique to us — and normal traffic resumes once the attack stops.

📶 Bandwidth allowance

Every standard VPS plan includes a monthly network bandwidth allowance, shown on the pricing page for each tier. If a service goes over its included allowance within a calendar month, its network speed is automatically and temporarily capped to 100 Mbps until the next month starts, or until the plan is upgraded to one with a higher allowance — there's no overage charge.

Note: This throttling is applied automatically and can happen without prior notice, though we make a reasonable effort to email the account when it does. The throttle lifts automatically at the start of the next calendar month. Custom-built VPS plans are priced individually and aren't subject to this allowance. You can track usage in real time from your service page — see Resource monitoring below.

🗄️ Automatic backups

Every VPS is automatically backed up roughly every 2 days, with your 2 most recent backups kept — at no extra cost, nothing to configure. It's a safety net for the "something broke and I need yesterday back" case.

Note: These are full scheduled backups, not live snapshots — restoring reverts the whole VM to that point in time and takes some time to complete, it isn't instant. On our standard VPS plans you can restore any of your kept backups yourself anytime from your service page in the portal; a custom-built VPS still gets the free 2 backups, but restoring one isn't self-service — contact us. If you've added extra backup retention, you can also take a fresh backup on demand ("Backup Now") right before a risky change, once per day per service — it counts against your kept backups rather than adding to them. Without the retention add-on, contact us if you'd like one taken first.

Note: This is provided on a best-effort basis, not a guaranteed SLA — for anything mission-critical, keep your own independent backups too. Need more than the free 2 kept? On our standard VPS plans you can add extra retention (4 or 7 total) anytime from your service page in the portal (not available on a custom-built VPS). The backup schedule itself (every ~2 days) isn't adjustable — contact us if you need it more frequent.

📊 Resource monitoring

Your service page shows real-time CPU, RAM, and bandwidth graphs, so you can see at a glance whether your server is under load or approaching your plan's limits — useful for deciding whether it's time to upgrade, or for spotting a runaway process.

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.

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