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
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. After that, your IP address stays in the Service Details card at the top of your service page, and your hostname and plan specs in the Configuration card.
🗂️ Your service page
Your VPS's service page starts with two cards that are always shown: Service Details (plan, price, billing cycle, renewal date, IP address) and Configuration (hostname, CPU, RAM, disk, and how many backups are kept). Everything else is grouped under three tabs below them:
- Overview: Server Resources (live status, CPU and RAM graphs, and the Open Console button), Bandwidth Usage, and Power Management.
- Settings: Backups (including Back Up Now), Restore from Backup, and Reinstall Server.
- Billing: Change Plan, Cancel Subscription, and Payment History.
Tip: The page remembers the tab you last opened for as long as your browser tab stays open. Some cards only appear when they apply — for example Change Plan only while the service is active, and Restore from Backup only on our standard plans.
Note: While a plan change, reinstall, restore, or on-demand backup is running, a blue banner on the page says so, whichever tab is open. Reinstall, restore, and plan or add-on changes stay unavailable until it finishes — refresh the page a little later to check.
🖥️ Web-based console
Every VPS includes a full-screen console you can open right from your browser — no SSH client required: use the Open Console button in the Server Resources card on the Overview tab. 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
The Power Management card on the Overview tab has five power actions: Start, Shutdown, Reboot, Reset, and Stop — only the ones that fit the server's current state are shown (Start while it's stopped, the other four while it's running). 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 the Reinstall Server card on the Settings tab — Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, and FreeBSD are all available, with several recent versions of each. Type your server's hostname to unlock the button. The reinstall keeps your IP address and hostname; once the fresh system has finished its first-boot setup (usually 2–3 minutes), the server is running and a new root password is emailed to you.
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.
Note: The SSH Key(s) field on the same card is pre-filled with the key(s) currently on file. Paste one public key per line to install different keys on the fresh system, or leave it as is (or blank) to reuse the existing ones.
🔑 Root access
You get full root access on every plan — you can install and configure whatever you need, within our Acceptable Use Policy. Your root password is in your welcome email; if you ever lose it, reinstalling the OS from the Reinstall Server card (Settings tab) 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 the Change Plan card on the Billing tab — no ticket needed. Applying the new CPU and RAM allocation requires a short reboot (about a minute), and the portal warns you about this before you confirm. If the server is powered off when the change is applied, it stays off — the new CPU and RAM simply take effect the next time you start it.
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.
Note: Upgrading is self-service on our standard VPS plans only. A custom-built VPS is priced individually rather than from a tier, so the Billing tab of its service page doesn't show a Change Plan card at all — contact us and we'll quote the change and apply it for you.
Note: On an SSD plan, the Change Plan card also offers NVMe plans, as long as the new disk is the same size or larger. Your disk is migrated to NVMe storage (nothing is reinstalled and your data stays as it is), then the server reboots onto the new plan. The portal warns you before you confirm: expect several minutes of downtime depending on disk size.
🛡️ 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.
Tip: The Bandwidth Usage card graphs incoming and outgoing traffic for the dates you pick in its From and To fields (the last 24 hours by default) — the graph's level of detail adjusts to the range automatically. Below it, a bar shows this month's usage against your allowance and the date it resets, with the previous month's final usage shown just underneath. While the cap is active, a red "Speed limited — resets …" badge appears next to the usage; on a plan without an allowance, the card simply says "Unlimited bandwidth."
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 the Bandwidth Usage card on the Overview tab — 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: the Backups card on the Settings tab lists them, and the Restore from Backup card just below it does the restore. A custom-built VPS still gets the free 2 backups, but restoring one isn't self-service — contact us.
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 with the Extra backups kept selector in the Configuration card at the top of your service page (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.
Note: If you've added extra backup retention, the Backups card also has a Back Up Now button to take a fresh backup right before a risky change. It's limited to once every 24 hours per service — after you use it, the card shows when the next one is available ("Next backup available:", in UTC). It counts against your kept backups rather than adding to them (the oldest is removed once you're at your limit), and you'll get an email when it's done. Without the retention add-on, contact us if you'd like one taken first.
📊 Resource monitoring
The Server Resources card on the Overview tab shows real-time CPU and RAM usage with graphs, and the Bandwidth Usage card below it graphs your network traffic — 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.
Tip: The Server Resources card's header shows the server's live state (Running, or its current state when it isn't), and the Uptime box shows how long it has been up since its last boot. The numbers refresh automatically every 30 seconds; use the selector next to the Refresh button to switch to every 15 or 5 seconds (or Off), and Refresh to update right away.
Still stuck? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.