Glossary¶

Here you can find the definitions of terms that are specific to SolusVM 2, arranged in alphabetical order. To help you recognize SolusVM 2 specific terms, they are always capitalized, both in the SolusVM 2 documentation and the user interface.

For example, "Virtual Server" specifically means a SolusVM 2 Virtual Server, while "virtual server" can mean any server that is virtual.

Administrator¶

A person whose SolusVM 2 User has been granted a role with the permissions to manage the entire SolusVM 2 Cluster.

Application¶

A Virtual Server image with an OS and a preinstalled and preconfigured service or web application, such as MariaDB or NextCloud.

A maximum of one Application can be installed on a Virtual Server, and only during Virtual Server creation.

SolusVM 2 ships with a number of prebuilt Applications. Administrators can also create custom Applications.

Backup Node¶

A remote storage where Virtual Server and/or Management Node backups are stored. A Backup Node can be assigned to any number of Compute Resources. Also, one Backup Node can be selected to store Management Node backups.

To be able to back up the Virtual Servers hosted on a specific Compute Resource, make sure that at least one Backup Node is assigned to that Compute Resource.

SolusVM 2 supports the following Backup Node types:

A physical or virtual server running Linux and accessible using SSH.
A Hetzner Storage Box.
S3 storage (Amazon or generic).

Cluster¶

An entire SolusVM 2 infrastructure. A Cluster consists of a Management Node and every Compute Resource registered in it.

Compute Resource¶

A physical or virtual server registered in SolusVM 2 and used to host Virtual Servers. SolusVM 2 supports the following Compute Resource types:

A physical or virtual server with KVM support running a supported Linux distribution/version.
A physical or virtual server with Virtuozzo or OpenVZ installed on it, which may also have KVM support.

Customer¶

A person whose SolusVM 2 User has been granted a role with the permissions to manage one or more Virtual Servers. For example, a person who has ordered a Virtual Server, an employee of your business, or a member of your organization.

Location¶

An optional property of a Compute Resource, such as "Frankfurt" or "Germany". Locations can be created by an Administrator. A compute resource can be assigned any number of Locations.

Assigning a Location to a Compute Resource that matches the server's physical location makes it easy for customers to make sure that their Virtual Servers are as close to them as possible when placing an order.

Management Node¶

A physical or virtual server running a supported Linux distribution/version, with SolusVM 2 installed on it. Enables managing the Cluster via GUI and API. Every Cluster must have a single Management Node.

Offer¶

An optional property of Plans. Offers allow upselling by enabling customers to purchase additional disk space, or adding faster storage to their Virtual Servers.

Plan¶

A template for creating Virtual Servers. Customers can purchase Virtual Servers based on available Plans. Administrators can customize the Virtual Servers they create.

A Plan dictates a number of important parameters that are true for every Virtual Server based on it. For example:

What virtualization type the Virtual Server can have (KVM or VZ).
What OSes are available for the Virtual Server.
How many virtual CPUs, and how much RAM is allocated to the Virtual Server.
The type of Storage used for the Virtual Server's virtual disk, and its size.
What Locations are available for the Virtual Server. If no location is specified in the plan, or if there are no available Compute Resources with at least one matching location, Virtual Servers based on that Plan cannot be created or purchased.
How many Tokens the Virtual Server costs per hour and/or per month if postpaid billing is used.
What Offers are compatible with the Virtual Server.

Project¶

A property of a Virtual Server, assigned during its creation. Every Virtual Server must belong to a Project. Once a Virtual Server has been assigned to a Project, it cannot be reassigned to a different Project.

Assigning Virtual Servers to different Projects makes it possible to group Virtual Servers logically, so that they are easier to keep track of. For example:

You can assign Virtual Servers performing similar roles (such as website hosting) to the same Project.
You can assign Virtual Servers that work together (for example, a Virtual Server used for website hosting, and another Virtual Server used to host databases or backups for the websites hosted on the former Virtual Server) to the same Project.

Projects also make administering Virtual Servers easier. You can grant third parties access to individual Projects. This way, they will be able to log in to SolusVM 2 and see and manage the Virtual Servers assigned to that project, but not other Projects in the same account.

Every Customer has a Project called "Default project", and can also create any number of additional projects.

Role¶

A property of a User. A Role is a combination of permissions that allow the User assigned the Role to perform certain tasks in SolusVM 2.

A user can have any number or roles assigned to it. A user can perform any task in SolusVM 2 that is allowed by at least one assigned Role.

Storage¶

A location where Virtual Servers' virtual disks are stored. Every Compute Resource must have at least one Storage attached, and can have multiple Storages of different types attached. SolusVM 2 supports the following Storage types:

File Based, LVM, ThinLVM, and VZ. These Storage types store data on the same Compute Resource the Virtual Server is hosted on.
NFS storage. This storage type stores data remotely, on a server that is not a Compute Resource.

Token¶

A virtual unit of currency, used to set the price for Virtual Servers per hour and/or per month. When integrating SolusVM 2 with a billing solution, you need to manually specify the conversion rate between Tokens and every currency you will take payment in. For example, "1 Token = $0.00100 = €0.00091".

User¶

An account in SolusVM 2, allowing its owner to log in to SolusVM 2, and to perform the tasks allowed by its Role(s).

Virtual Server¶

A KVM virtual machine, or a Virtuozzo or OpenVZ container managed by SolusVM 2.