vCPU Servers

A vCPU Server that you create is a new Virtual Machine (VM) provisioned and hosted in one of IONOS' physical data centers. A vCPU Server behaves exactly like physical servers and you can use them either standalone or in combination with other IONOS Cloud products.

You can create and configure your vCPU Server visually using the DCD interface. For more information, see Set Up a vCPU Server. However, the creation and management of a vCPU Server can be easily automated via the Cloud API, as well as our custom-made tools like SDKs.

vCPU Servers add a new dimension to your computing experience. These servers are configured with virtual CPUs and distributed among multiple users sharing the same physical server. The performance of your vCPU Server relies on various factors, including the underlying CPU of the physical server, VM configurations, and the current load on the physical server. Our Data Center Dashboard (DCD) lets you closely monitor your CPU utilization and other essential metrics through the Monitoring Manager.

Boot options

For each vCPU Server, you can select to boot from a virtual CD-ROM/DVD drive or a storage device (HDD or SSD) using any operating system on the platform. The only requirement is the use of KVM VirtIO drivers. For more information on how to install VirtIO drivers in windows, see Install Windows VirtIO Drivers . IONOS provides a number of ready-to-boot images with current versions of Linux operating systems.

Availability Zones

Secure your data, enhance reliability, and set up high-availability scenarios by deploying your vCPU Servers and storage devices across multiple Availability Zones allowing you to deploy your Shared vCPU instances in different geographic regions.

Assigning different Availability Zones ensures that vCPU Servers or storage devices reside on separate physical resources at IONOS. This helps ensure high availability and fault tolerance for your applications, as well as providing low-latency connections to your target audience.

For example, a vCPU Server or a storage device assigned to Availability Zone 1 resides on a different resource than a vCPU Server or storage device assigned to Availability Zone 2.

You have the following Availability Zone options:

• Zone 1

• Zone 2

• A - Auto (default; our system automatically assigns an Availability Zone upon provisioning)

Live Vertical Scaling (LVS)

If the capacity of your Virtual Data Center (VDC) no longer matches your requirements, you can still increase or decrease your resources after provisioning. Upscaling resources allows you to change the resources of a vCPU Server without restarting it, permitting you to add RAM or NICs ("hot plug") to it while it is running. This change allows you to react to peak loads quickly without compromising performance.

After uploading, you can define the properties of your images before applying them to new storage volumes. The settings must be supported by the image, otherwise, they will not work as expected. After provisioning, you can change the settings directly on the storage device, which will require a restart of the vCPU Server.

The types of resources that you can scale without rebooting will depend on the operating system of your vCPU Server. Since kernel 2.6.25, Linux has LVO modules installed by default, but you may have to activate them manually depending on the derivative. VirtIO drivers are optimized for virtual environments and provide direct access to underlying hardware.

For IONOS images, the supported properties are already preset. Without restarting the vCPU Server, its resources can be scaled as follows:

• Upscaling: CPU, RAM, NICs, storage volumes

• Downscaling: NICs, storage volumes

Scaling up is the increase or speed up of a component to handle a larger load. The goal is to increase the number of resources that support an application to achieve or maintain accurate performance. Scaling down means reducing system resources, whether or not you have used the scaling-up approach. Without restarting the vCPU Server, only Upscaling is possible.

vCPU Server Features

vCPU Server provides the following features:

• Flexible Resource Allocation provides you with presets, which are recommended vCPU-to-RAM configurations for your virtual machines. Furthermore, this option empowers you to add or remove compute resources flexibly to meet your specific needs.

• The Robust Compute Engine platform supports the vCPU servers, ensuring seamless integration. Additionally, the features offered by the Compute Engine platform remain accessible for utilization with vCPU servers

• Virtualization Technology enables efficient and secure isolation between different VMs, ensuring the performance of one VM does not impact the others.

• Reliable Performance and computing capabilities make it suitable for a wide range of applications. The underlying infrastructure is optimized to provide reliable CPU performance, ensuring your applications run smoothly.

• Easy Management via the intuitive Data Center Designer. You can easily create, modify, and delete vCPU Servers, monitor their usage, and adjust the resources according to your needs.

vCPU Server Benefits

vCPU Server provides the following benefits:

• Cost-Effective: vCPU Server helps reduce costs when compared to major hyperscalers with similar resource configurations. This makes it an ideal choice for small to medium-sized businesses or individuals with budget constraints.

• Scalability:** With the IONOS vCPU Server, you have the flexibility to scale your computing resources up or down based on your requirements. This ensures that you can meet the demands of your applications without overprovisioning or paying for unused resources.

• Reliability and Availability: IONOS's cloud infrastructure ensures high availability and reliability. By distributing resources across multiple physical servers, IONOS minimizes the impact of hardware failures, providing a stable and resilient environment for your applications.

• Easy Setup: Setting up the IONOS vCPU Server is straightforward. The IONOS DCD and Cloud API offer controls for provisioning and configuring vCPU Servers, allowing you to get up and running quickly.

Limitations of vCPU Servers

This section lists the limitations of vCPU Servers:

CPU Family of a vCPU Server cannot be chosen at the time of creation and cannot be changed later. vCPU Server configurations are subject to the following:

Components	Minimum	Maximum
vCPU	1 vCPU	60 vCPUs
RAM	0,25 GB RAM	230 GB RAM*
NICs and storage	0 PCI connectors	24 PCI connectors
CD-ROM	0 CD-ROMs	2 CD-ROMs

Note: Additional RAM sizes are available on request. To increase the RAM size, contact your sales representative or IONOS Cloud Support.

RAM Sizes: Because the working memory (RAM) size cannot be processed during the initial configuration, a newly provisioned vCPU Server with more than 8 GB of RAM may not start successfully when created from the IONOS Windows images.

Live Vertical Scaling: Linux supports the entire scope of IONOS Live Vertical Scaling, whereas Windows is limited to CPU scaling. Furthermore, it is not possible to use LVS to reduce storage size after provisioning.

Note: To increase the resource limits for your account, contact IONOS Cloud Support