Hi, I am brand new to VPS and server configuration in general. I have been a web developer for about 7 years in PHP, ASP, ColdFusion and the databases that usually go with them. However, this is the first time I have setup VPS hosting and a little overwhelmed by all of my options.

I have looked thru the support areas on the hostmysite site, but I am not finding the information I am loooking for.

The only reason I signed up for a VPS was in order to have JSP support which is a new language I am learning. I have some specific specifiations I need to mirror for a new client of mine and I want to see if my new VPS is already set with the specs, or there is something I need to do to get there (install apps, contact support to install, etc).

I have the Linux VPS plan plus.

Here are my questions and I would appreciate any help. Or even if there is another web resource that you could recommend to someone new to VPS like myself. Thanks in advance!

1. I need the following specs for my server:
JDK 1.5
Tomcat 5.5.9
Apache 1.3

2. Is there a "default" set of applications already running on the VPS? I am also going to need MySQL, and it would be nice if I could run PHP as well.

Ah!

I found under my control panel that the following application templates are already installed:

mod_perl-fc4
mod_ssl-fc4
mod_frontpage-fc4
mysql-fc4
php-fc4
mailman-fc4
psa-fc4

So, it looks like my second question is answered. If I am understanding the list above correctly there seems to be PHP and MySQL installed already. Looks like Perl, SSL, frontpage, and some type of mail application as well. Not sure what "psa" is, but I will google it.

I also found in the help that I can install "application templates" by clicking the "VPS manager" in my control panel (http://hostmysite.com/support/vps/linux/application/)

BUT, my VPS manager tab does not have the "Application Templates" option??

Hi Trock,

The "psa" template that you see is actually Plesk. As this is installed, you probably have a VPS Plus plan. Mailman is actually a very popular mailing list application. Since you are running Plesk, the actual mail transfer agent on your VPS is qmail.

At this time, only VPS Base customers have the ability to install Virtuozzo application templates through their control panel. One of the reasons this feature isn't available for VPS Plus customer's is because of the fact that the control panels (cPanel and Plesk) are very picky about what software is installed along side of it.

If you need to install Java / Tomcat, you have a couple of options. If you aren't comfortable compiling from source, you can install a package manager like yum (http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/) and then use this to install the applications. Also, there is a JDK and (Plesk compatible) Tomcat Virtuozzo application template that support should be able to install for you. The one catch is that Tomcat will most likely (read: "I've never seen it") run on only 256M of memory...especially on a VPS running a control panel (they consume thier fair amount of memory). You can upgrade to 512M of RAM on the VPS for an additional $15 / month. I have seen tomcat run on 512M successfully. You will want to make sure though, that you are specifying a min and max heap size (Xmx and Xms parameters) in your java virtual machine's startup parameters. Without this, the JVM will try to consume all available resources on the VPS.