Frequently Asked Questions

Where is my server located?

Our servers are in Santa Clara, California. Internet traffic goes through San Jose, California which is just a few miles away.

Can you set reverse DNS?

Yes. By default the VPS hostname and reverse DNS is set to service_label.vm.tornadovps.net. There is a menu in the VPS console to set a custom domain. In order to set a PTR record the A or AAAA record for the hostname must already be set.

Can you set my forward DNS?

We don’t offer a DNS control panel, but you can run webmin with bind or another dns server and control panel and we can have our server as a slave for your domain. You can also host dns with another provider such as your registrar. The only DNS we explicitly provide is service_label.vm.tornadovps.net.

Can I run a Tor node?

A number of customers are running tor relay nodes. At this time we don’t have an explicit policy against exit nodes, but we reserve the right to add one. Persistent abuse complaints are not tolerated, so please refer to the Tor project for recommendations on a reduced exit node policy that may be able to avoid abuse complaints.

Can I upgrade my server later on?

Yes, we can give you more memory and disk and you just have to halt and create the server again once the configuration is made. Once the disk is extended, there are several ways to repartition using the new space. See Using disk upgrades.

Can I downgrade my server later on?

Yes, but it can be complicated if you need to preserve the existing data.

Can I change my billing period?

Yes. You may be able to do so by logging in but due to a billing system migration you may need to contact support for the change to be made.

I forgot my ip address, what is it?

Your service_label.vm.tornadovps.net has an address record pointing to the ip address, and dhcp is also configured statically for the mac address and ip address of the vps.

How much does a second ip address cost?

For single IPs, we charge $12 per year. You must give us justification so that our space is being used well. Good reasons include running a STUN server and SSL certificates. Bad reasons include making one vps look like two authoritative dns servers for a domain, or SEO tomfoolery. If you need more than one additional IP please contact us for pricing.

When you connect to the console it only shows you the output since the last time someone looked at the console. If there hasn’t been any output, press enter and you should get a login prompt.

I can’t seem to ssh root@myserver

permitRootLogin is set to without-password in /etc/ssh/sshd_config, so if you do not have any ssh keys added to the root user, you can’t log in. I strongly recommend that you leave that setting, create a non-root user, ssh in as the non-root user and then use su or sudo. You can change permitrootlogin if you must, but make sure you have a strong password.

Logging in through the console makes my terminal act funny

The “emergency console” is very picky. It needs to be 80x24 (or 80x25 or so) otherwise it gets very unhappy. You probably shouldn’t do most of your work through that. Create a regular user, ssh in and do your work over ssh. After you disconnect from the xen console you can run reset to make your terminal normal again, or just close it and open a new one.

Multiple xen consoles to the same vps act funny

The xen console doesn’t work well at all with multiple access, but there is no locking. Several terminals can attach, but output from the vps will only go to one. For most tasks its better to use ssh, the xen console is most useful when there is no normal network access to the vps, such as when reinstalling.

How can I repartition my domu’s filesystem?

See our page on repartitioning.

What resources do you overcommit/overallocate?

Since the server is rarely using 100% of its available CPU time, it is possible to allocate more to a given VPS than it is technically alloted. Our CPU overcommit is 5x-16x, depending on the number of VPS on a given server. We do not overcommit RAM or disc space.