Choose a size
The minimum runs one site well under normal use. The recommended size serves more visitors at the same time and keeps pages fast during busy periods.
Minimum
- Processor
- 2 vCPU
- Memory
- 8 GB
- Storage
- 40 GB SSD
Recommended
Room to grow- Processor
- 4 vCPU
- Memory
- 16 GB
- Storage
- 80 GB SSD
Server set-up
Any server processor made since about 2013 meets x86-64-v2. No AVX is required.
Software
- 64-bit Linux: Ubuntu Server 22.04 or 24.04 LTS, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- ext4 or XFS file system
- Docker Engine with the Docker Compose plugin
- No database licence to buy: the free SQL Server Express edition is included
Not supported: ARM processors and Windows servers.
Network
- A fixed public IP address
- Ports 80 and 443 open to the internet
- Outbound internet access, to download the software and its updates
- SSH access for your administrators
If the server is a virtual machine
Set the virtual machine's CPU type to host, or at least an x86-64-v2 model, so the processor's features are visible inside it.
To check, run this on the server:
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help | grep supported
It must list x86-64-v2 (supported, searched).
What to prepare
- The server, with an administrator account that can use
sudo - Three web addresses (DNS names) pointing to the server: the public website, the admin site and the admin API
- An email account for sending mail from the site
- A place outside the server to keep backup copies