Setup & operation
Can I run Docker on a VPS?
Short answer
On a KVM VPS, yes, without restriction — install Docker Engine from the official repository and everything works, including buildx, Compose and Docker-in-Docker. On OpenVZ or LXC-based virtual servers Docker either fails or requires unsafe host configuration, because it needs cgroups and namespaces that shared-kernel virtualisation does not expose.
Size the instance by summing your container memory limits and adding about 1 GB for the host. A typical web application, background worker and PostgreSQL stack fits comfortably in 8 GB.
Put the Docker data root on NVMe. Image layer extraction and container filesystem writes are IO-bound, and on slow storage every deployment feels slow for reasons that look like CPU but are not.
7 answers in Setup & operation
- How do I connect to a VPS with SSH? Run ssh root@your-server-ip from any terminal on macOS, Linux or Windows 10 and later. Use the key you supplied at provisioning, or the password email…
- How do I secure a new VPS? Five steps cover the overwhelming majority of real-world compromises: key-based SSH with password authentication disabled, no direct root login, a def…
- How do I stop SSH brute-force attacks? Disable password authentication entirely — brute force against key-based SSH is not possible. Add fail2ban to reduce log noise, and consider moving SS…
- How do I set up a firewall on a VPS? Use nftables on modern Linux, or ufw as a friendlier front end. Set the default inbound policy to drop, allow established and related connections, the…
- Can I install any operating system on a VPS? On KVM, yes. OnionVPS provides templates for Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, NixOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows Server, Proxmox …
- Can I upload my own ISO? Yes, on every plan, at no cost and with no approval step. Upload the ISO from the panel or point us at a URL, attach it as virtual media, and boot fro…