Turkey (Türkçe) 
VDS Operating System Selection Guide
Fully compatible with RHEL 9; the enterprise Linux distribution preferred by the cPanel/CloudLinux hosting ecosystem.
Native integration with cPanel/WHM, CloudLinux and Imunify360.
At the order step, choose the Rocky Linux 9 template.
| Version | Rocky Linux 9 (Blue Onyx) |
|---|---|
| Base | RHEL 9 clone |
| Package manager | dnf (yum) |
| Kernel | 5.14 (RHEL 9 compatible) |
| Architecture | x86_64 |
| Init | systemd |
| LTS / support | 2032 |
| Container | Podman (default), Docker CE |
The recommendations below are for general guidance; actual needs vary with traffic and application architecture.
| Use | Resources | Note |
|---|---|---|
| cPanel single-site test | 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM | The official minimum; may fall short under heavy use |
| Production hosting | 4 vCPU · 4–8 GB RAM | Recommended for multiple accounts |
| Mail + web combo | 4+ vCPU · 8 GB+ RAM | Spam filters consume RAM |
| cPanel | ✓ Supported |
| Plesk | ✓ Supported |
| DirectAdmin | ✓ Supported |
| Docker | ✓ Supported |
| Nginx | ✓ Supported |
| Apache | ✓ Supported |
| LiteSpeed | ✓ Supported |
| CloudLinux | ✓ Supported |
Rocky Linux 9 is a Linux distribution release published in 2022. Kernel/base: 5.14 (RHEL 9 compatible). Default components: SELinux enforcing, firewalld, systemd, dnf, Python 3.9. In a VDS environment, Rocky Linux 9 is delivered as a virtual machine with root/Administrator access and IPv4/IPv6 support, through SistemDC automatic provisioning or the KVM console. The support window means security patches are available until 2032, which makes hosting costs predictable. At the KVM hypervisor layer, dedicated vCPUs and NVMe I/O deliver consistent performance without noisy neighbours. On a Rocky Linux 9 VDS, the hostname, SSH key and package updates can be automated with cloud-init (on supported templates) or the SistemDC post-install script. For disk I/O, keep the NVMe queue depth high; for PostgreSQL/MySQL the vm.swappiness=10 sysctl setting is recommended. Logrotate and journald prevent the disk from filling up. Monitoring: a lightweight setup with node_exporter + Prometheus or Netdata. If you use containers, after a dnf-based Docker/Podman installation run containers as non-root and define cgroup v2 limits. SistemDC's Istanbul POP delivers low jitter for traffic within Turkey, without carrier-grade NAT.
Choose Rocky Linux 9 if…
When? The CloudLinux ecosystem
When? Docker/DevOps-focused
When? Minimal web without a panel
Typical use cases for a Rocky Linux 9 VDS: cPanel/WHM, CloudLinux hosting, Oracle/Java enterprise, PCI-DSS-compliant web, Postfix/Dovecot mail. Thanks to the Turkey location, local users get a fast TTFB with 5–15 ms ping domestically. On Ryzen VDS plans, high single-core GHz is preferred for game servers and Discord bot workloads. With SistemDC NVMe disks, random-I/O-heavy database queries see 5–10x lower latency than on an HDD VDS. Under heavy traffic the Stormwall DDoS filter kicks in automatically at the network layer. For CDN origin, reverse proxy caching and static asset delivery, optimise the Nginx/Apache configuration on Rocky Linux 9 with HTTP/2 and Brotli compression; for users in Turkey, the origin location directly improves the SEO Core Web Vitals LCP score.
When ordering a SistemDC VDS, choose Rocky Linux 9 as the template. After the first login, run dnf update && dnf upgrade -y to update the packages. Hostname: hostnamectl set-hostname server.yourdomain.com. Time zone: timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Istanbul. Create a new user with sudo privileges and disable root SSH login. Verify the network configuration (netplan/NetworkManager/ifcfg). On low-RAM plans you can add a 1–2 GB swapfile. Installing Fail2ban is recommended.
SSH hardening: /etc/ssh/sshd_config — set PermitRootLogin no, PasswordAuthentication no (use an ED25519 key), with an optional port change. firewalld: firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh, --add-service=http, --add-service=https, firewall-cmd --reload. Leave SELinux in enforcing mode; use semanage when opening custom ports. Updates: dnf update -y && dnf upgrade -y — automate with a weekly cron. KernelCare (optional) applies kernel patches without a reboot. SistemDC Stormwall network-layer DDoS protection is standard. SSH guide: Linux SSH Security.
A Linux VDS environment has no physical sleep/hibernate mode; the virtual machine is kept running continuously by the hypervisor (N/A). Power management is provided on the server side with 24/7 active uptime; systemd sleep targets are disabled in the server templates.
In the VDS order flow in the SistemDC client area, open the Operating System step and choose the Rocky Linux 9 template. For general web/API, choose the Intel Xeon TR-VDS plans; for gaming, bots and high GHz, choose Ryzen VDS. For control panel installation, see our application setup guides for details. Category: VDS plans.
Can cPanel be installed on a Rocky 9 VDS?
Yes; cPanel/WHM officially supports Rocky Linux 9.
Should SELinux be disabled on Rocky 9?
No; enforcing mode is recommended for production.
Should SELinux be disabled on a Rocky 9 VDS?
No; in a hosting environment, enforcing mode with the correct contexts is preferred.
Minimum RAM for Rocky 9?
2 GB is the lower limit for cPanel; 4 GB+ is recommended for production hosting.
Moving from CentOS 7 to Rocky 9?
A clean VDS installation + the cPanel transfer tool is the safest route.
Are the EPEL and CRB repositories necessary?
For many packages, yes: dnf install epel-release; enable CRB (PowerTools).
Turkey location · Stormwall DDoS · NVMe disk · 99.98% uptime SLA
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