What is CloudLinux?
CloudLinux OS is a commercial Linux for shared hosting servers. Its LVE technology caps each account's CPU, memory, entry processes and disk IO so one site cannot overload the server, and CageFS hides other accounts' files. A "508 Resource Limit Is Reached" error usually means your account hit its entry-process cap.
For shared hosting customers who see resource-limit errors and want to know what CloudLinux limits mean before upgrading or changing plugins.
knowledge
- Read time
- 3 min
- Sections
- 5
- Updated
- 14 Nov 2026
- Written by
- WebJi® team
Last editorial update: 14 November 2026. Prices follow the dated sources on this page; checkout confirms current charges.
What does CloudLinux do on a shared server?
CloudLinux OS is a commercial Linux distribution for multi-tenant hosting that puts each hosting account inside its own resource limits, so one busy or hacked site is slowed or stopped before it can take down the whole server. It is built by CloudLinux Inc. on a RHEL-compatible base and works with control panels such as cPanel, Plesk and DirectAdmin.
It is not a control panel and not a cloud VPS. Your neighbours are still on the same machine; the difference is that the ceiling each account can reach now has a name and a number.
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) | Meters and caps CPU, memory, processes and disk IO per account |
| CageFS | A virtualised file system so each user sees only their own files |
| PHP Selector | Lets each account choose its own PHP version and extensions |
| MySQL Governor | Tracks and restricts database usage per account |
- It caps an account; it does not give that account the whole server.
- It does not replace backups, updates or a firewall.
- A limit message is the ceiling working, not proof that hardware failed.
What do LVE limits cover for CPU, RAM, entry processes and IO?
LVE meters each account against separate ceilings for CPU time, memory, concurrent entry processes, total processes and disk throughput, and hitting any one of them slows or refuses requests. The numbers are set by the host per plan, so only your host can state your exact ceiling.
| Limit | What it counts | Often mistaken for |
|---|---|---|
| SPEED (CPU) | Share of processor time for the account | The speed printed on a laptop advert |
| PMEM (physical memory) | RAM the account's processes may hold | PHP memory_limit, which cannot exceed the account cap |
| EP (entry processes) | Concurrent entries into PHP or CGI | A monthly visitor total |
| NPROC | Total processes, including cron and SSH | Entry processes |
| IO / IOPS | Disk throughput and operations per second | A promise that the disk is NVMe |
How does CageFS isolate one account from the others?
CageFS gives every user a private view of the file system containing only their own home directory and the system tools the host chose to expose, so another customer's files are simply not visible. With it on, a compromised neighbour struggles to read your configuration files and mail.
- It is isolation, not encryption: anyone you give your password to can still read your files.
- It does not fix your own permissions: world-writable folders inside your account are still a risk.
- It is not a backup: malware in your own account can still change your own files.
How do you read a "Resource Limit Is Reached" error?
On CloudLinux servers, "508 Resource Limit Is Reached" usually means the account hit its entry-process cap, while memory or CPU limits can show as 500, 503 or slow pages; read which counter tripped before changing anything. Raising PHP memory will not lift an EP cap, and an EP cap will not lift disk throughput.
- Copy the full error and note the time and URL; a backup job, a cron or a bot swarm often lines up with the spike.
- Open the resource usage page in your control panel, if your host provides one, and see which limit was hit (EP, PMEM, SPEED or IO).
- For EP faults, enable page caching and block abusive bots; for memory, find the heavy plugin or import.
- If the counter is a file-count cap, that is an inode limit, not LVE; see what an inode limit is.
- If faults repeat at normal traffic, the site has outgrown the plan.
On a server you administer yourself, CloudLinux's own tools show the same data: lveinfo --period=1d lists accounts that hit limits, lvectl list shows the configured limits, and cagefsctl --list-enabled shows which users are caged. Shared-hosting users cannot run these. Why a plan can say "unlimited" while these caps exist is explained in what unlimited hosting means.
Does WebJi® shared hosting use CloudLinux?
WebJi®'s shared hosting page, read on 4 November 2026, names ControlPanel.Systems on Linux, free SSL and its published limits; it does not name CloudLinux, CageFS or LVE, so do not assume them from a generic error. Plan from the CPU, storage and mailbox limits the page publishes.
- Compare WebJi® plan limits with the limits themselves, not with another host's LVE chart.
- cPanel is not the panel on these shared plans, so cPanel-only CloudLinux screens will not match.
- If an error message does mention LVE, email support@webji.services with the time, URL and exact line.
The plans on WebJi® shared hosting were Launch at ₹299 a month or ₹2,868 a year, Turbo at ₹399 a month or ₹3,828 a year, and Scale at ₹699 a month or ₹6,588 a year, read on 4 November 2026, before 18% GST; checkout confirms the current figure. A site that keeps hitting ceilings is usually ready for a VPS, which has no shared-account limits.
Frequently asked questions
Is CloudLinux free?
No. CloudLinux OS is licensed per server by CloudLinux Inc. and the cost is built into the host's plan price. AlmaLinux, which the same company sponsors, is a free RHEL-compatible distribution but does not include LVE or CageFS.
Does CloudLinux make my website faster?
Not directly. It makes performance more predictable by stopping neighbours from starving the server, but your own site can be throttled when it hits its own limits. Caching and lighter plugins are what make a site faster within those limits.
Can I run CloudLinux on my own VPS?
Yes, with a licence. It is useful when you host many client accounts on one VPS or dedicated server, for example as a reseller. For a single site on a VPS it adds little, since there are no neighbours to contain.
What is the difference between EP and NPROC?
EP counts concurrent requests entering PHP or CGI, roughly simultaneous dynamic page loads. NPROC counts every process the account runs, including cron jobs, SSH sessions and mail. A site can hit NPROC with heavy cron jobs while EP stays low.
Checked against CloudLinux documentation, 14 November 2026 · Reviewed by the WebJi® team, Jaipur.
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