VPS Memory: How much is enough – and is there ever too much?

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Choosing how much VPS RAM to order with a VPS hosting package is a matter of knowing how you intend to use your hosting account and disk space. A simple set-up which runs one information website or blog that gets a steady number of hits can make do with the lowest amount of RAM that is offered by the VPS hosting provider, whereas a reseller account, or an account that is being used for developing and testing memory-intensive applications, is clearly a candidate for extra VPS memory.

The basic amount of VPS RAM that is needed to run a Linux VPS server is said to be 128 MB, taking into account the requirements for the popular CentOS version of the Linux server operating system. However, most experts recommend a minimum of 256 MB or even 512 MB to ensure smooth operation of even a simple blog or forum site, and 512 MB is usually suggested as the minimum for Windows VPS Hosting systems as well.

When is more RAM necessary?

High traffic sites

If VPS memory is insufficient to handle the amount of traffic that a site receives, the site will slow down considerably and even crash or produce page errors.

Complex sites

Even a relatively simple E-commerce site with features such as a shipping cost or sales tax calculator can require additional RAM so that it performs smoothly and quickly.

Multiple sites

Each site on a server has a minimum memory requirement – for instance, popular open source CMS Drupal sites require 32 MB RAM, but many users find that 128 MB or more is really necessary to run more complex applications that are commonly used with Drupal – and if more than one site is running on a single server at the same time, each one must have access to the memory that it needs.

What happens if RAM is or becomes insufficient?

Basically, if there is a shortage of RAM, either on a regular basis or during peak traffic periods, access to the data stored on the VPS becomes limited. Sites will slow down, and some functionality will be compromised. Page error messages will appear as the server is unable to make pages available due to the shortage of memory.

VPS Memory Solutions

Minimizing RAM to save money is really only practical for a simple, low traffic site, such as an internal corporate or family blog. A more practical solution is to choose a VPS hosting package with burstable VPS RAM, in which the memory capacity is automatically increased at any time when demand is increased.