DEV Community: Shannon Dias

How to Install cPanel & WHM on AlmaLinux 9 or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (2026 Guide)

Shannon Dias — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:57:46 +0000

Hey DEV community! 👋

If you are provisioning a bare-metal dedicated server for web hosting in 2026, you already know that CentOS is officially out of the picture. Getting cPanel & WHM running smoothly on modern OS options like AlmaLinux 9 or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS requires an updated set of pre-flight checks.

Relying on outdated tutorials will often result in conflicting package managers, broken dependencies, and failed installations. Since cPanel cannot be cleanly uninstalled without a complete OS wipe, you have to get it right on the first try.

We just published an in-depth, verified tutorial over at FitServers that cuts through the noise. No fluff—just the exact terminal commands and WHM GUI steps you need to get production-ready.

🛠️ What You Will Learn

Our comprehensive guide covers the entire deployment lifecycle:

OS Selection & Requirements: Why AlmaLinux 9 is the primary recommendation, and how to handle Ubuntu's specific AppArmor and NetworkManager quirks.
Pre-Installation Prep: Step-by-step commands to properly set your FQDN (hostnamectl), update core packages, and disable OS-level firewalls (firewalld or ufw) so cPanel can bind its own services.
The Installation Execution: How to safely pull and run the official installation script using a screen session:

  # Example: Starting a persistent session and running the installer
  screen -S cpanel-install
  cd /home && curl -o latest -L [https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest](https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest) && sh latest

Initial WHM Configuration: A walkthrough of the Setup Wizard, including setting up custom nameservers and provisioning Let's Encrypt certificates via AutoSSL.

Security Hardening: Essential post-install lock-downs. We detail the exact network ports you need to open on your cloud firewall and how to activate cPHulk to immediately block brute-force login attacks.

Creating Your First Account: Provisioning your first hosting package and web space.

🚀 Ready to Deploy?
Whether you are setting up your own infrastructure, migrating high-traffic client sites, or building a hosting reseller business, this guide is your definitive blueprint.

For read more, visit the tutorial link: [https://www.fitservers.com/tutorials/howto/install-cpanel-whm-on-dedicated-server/]

Reaching 3,140 Tok/s: Benchmarking the 96GB RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell

Shannon Dias — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:18:41 +0000

Fellow devs and sysadmins, the days of sharding massive models across multiple consumer GPUs just to get enough memory are coming to an end.

At Fit Servers, we've been analyzing the NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell, and the specs are heavily targeted at local AI developers and server engineers.

The Hardware
GPU Die: GB202 (Blackwell)

CUDA Cores: 24,064

VRAM: 96 GB GDDR7 ECC (1.8 TB/s bandwidth)

TDP: 600W Max (Server Edition is passive)

Why Developers Should Care: Native FP4
The biggest architectural shift is the 5th-Gen Tensor Cores with native FP4 support. A full 70B parameter model in FP4 quantization requires ~35–40 GB of VRAM. With 96GB, you have massive headroom for long context windows.

In single-GPU inference, this card hits 3,140 tokens/sec, actually edging out the H100 SXM (2,987 tok/s) because the H100 lacks native FP4 hardware paths.

The Catch
It draws 600W. You need a dedicated, full-size tower or a proper rack setup with heavy-duty power supplies to run this safely.

We’ve published the full technical spec sheet, thermal requirements, and detailed throughput benchmarks over at Fit Servers.

🔗 For read more visit the blog link and find your next server configuration: https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/nvidia-rtx-pro-6000-blackwell/

Why We Are Recommending Bare Metal Over Cloud Instances in 2026

Shannon Dias — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:23:31 +0000

Let’s talk infrastructure. We all love the elasticity of cloud providers, but when it comes to predictable, high-resource workloads, abstracting the hardware is starting to cost us—both in performance and on the monthly invoice.

If you are spinning up heavy database architectures, running containerized microservices, or deploying game servers, USA Dedicated Servers are offering unmatched advantages right now:

No Hypervisor Tax: You get direct access to the metal. Intel Xeon/AMD EPYC processors without the virtualization overhead.

I/O Performance: Swapping cloud block storage for dedicated NVMe arrays drastically reduces database query bottlenecks.

Full Root Control: Bring your own OS. Set your own kernel parameters. Configure your private VLANs and hardware firewalls without fighting a cloud provider's proprietary dashboard.

Cost Predictability: A flat monthly fee instead of getting crushed by bandwidth egress charges.

We just published a complete guide on how to architect and choose dedicated servers across 60+ US data centers, including strategies for peering and DDoS mitigation.

To read more and see the hardware breakdowns, visit the blog link: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/best-usa-dedicated-servers-for-business-and-gaming/]

How to Provision and Automate a Dedicated Rust Server on Ubuntu 🐧🎮

Shannon Dias — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:48:45 +0000

If you've ever tried running a Rust server on an underpowered VPS, you know the pain of entity desync and out-of-memory crashes. Rust is a beast—it simulates physics, AI, and building decay simultaneously. A fresh 3km map eats ~2GB of RAM, and after a few days of active raiding, you're easily pushing 12GB.

Here is a technical overview of how we provision bare-metal boxes at Fit Servers to run Rust perfectly.

The Bare-Metal Hardware Rust's main thread is heavily single-threaded. You need high clock speeds. We recommend:

CPU: Ryzen 5800X3D or i9-11900K

RAM: 24–32 GB (essential for 100+ players)

Storage: NVMe SSDs (critical for fast world saving without stuttering)

OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS

Oxide Plugins & uMod
Vanilla Rust is great, but community servers thrive on plugins. By pulling the latest Linux build of Oxide (Oxide-Rust_Linux.zip), you can drop .cs files directly into oxide/plugins/ to hot-load modifications like BetterChat or GatherManager without restarting the daemon.
Automating Wipes with Cron
Facepunch forces a wipe on the first Thursday of every month. We automate this by triggering a shell script via cron that warns players via RCON, gracefuly stops the server, randomizes the server.seed, deletes .sav files, updates via SteamCMD, and spins the tmux session back up.

To read more, visit the tutorial link: [https://www.fitservers.com/tutorials/howto/setup-a-rust-dedicated-server/]

nderstanding Australia’s Internet Backbone: Peering, Transit, and Data Center Connectivity 🇦🇺

Shannon Dias — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:39:13 +0000

When deploying applications to the APAC region, Australia is a prime choice. However, the geographic isolation of the continent means developers need to be highly conscious of their host's network topology.

If your host relies on poorly peered transit providers, your traffic might trombone across the Pacific before reaching a user in Southeast Asia.

In our latest engineering and infrastructure deep dive, we break down the major carriers operating in Australia:

Global Tier 1s in AU: NTT, Lumen, Cogent, Arelion.

Domestic Tier 2s: Telstra, Vocus Group, Optus, Superloop.

The Carrier-Neutral Architecture: Why we utilize cross-connects to bypass public internet congestion and drop latency.

If you are running real-time applications, gaming backends, or latency-sensitive enterprise workloads in the region, understanding these routing paths is crucial. At Fit Servers, we operate across 25 IX peering points to ensure traffic stays localized and fast.

Dive into the full technical guide on our blog: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/australias-major-bandwidth-carriers-&-data-center-connectivity/]

BGP Routing and Backbone Carriers: Architecting Low Latency in Asia 🌏💻

Shannon Dias — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:21:17 +0000

When deploying applications in Asia, developers often focus on the server hardware. But what about the physical network?

At Fit Servers, we spend a lot of time optimizing BGP routing tables to ensure packets take the least-congested paths. To do this, we have to leverage a complex mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2 backbone carriers.

The Carrier Landscape in APAC
If you are pushing workloads to users in Asia, here is who is handling your packets:

NTT Communications (AS2914): The benchmark for ultra-low latency in Japan.

Singtel: The undisputed cornerstone of the ASEAN internet.

Tata & Bharti Airtel: Crucial for penetrating the complex Indian domestic market.

China Telecom (CN2 GIA): The absolute gold standard for minimizing packet loss at the Chinese border.

How Fit Servers Achieves <5ms Latency
We don't rely on a single upstream provider. By operating in carrier-neutral facilities, our NOC maintains connectivity from multiple carriers. If one path drops or clogs, our routers automatically failover to an alternative transit provider. Add in active IXP peering, and we maintain a 99.99% uptime SLA.

Want to deep-dive into the technical topology of Asia's internet infrastructure?

👉 Read more by visiting the blog link: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/bandwidth-carriers-powering-data-centers-across-the-asia/]

The Architecture of Speed: Designing Low-Latency Infrastructure in Europe

Shannon Dias — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:46:58 +0000

If you're deploying demanding workloads—think real-time gaming, high-frequency trading, or intensive microservices—you already know that compute power is only half the equation. Network latency is the silent killer of user experience.

At Fit Servers, we spend a lot of time optimizing BGP routes and peering agreements. We've just published a deep dive into the physical reality of European data center connectivity.

What's inside the article:
The Big Players: A look at ASN routing giants like Arelion (AS1299), Deutsche Telekom, and Colt Technology Services.

The FLAP Ecosystem: Why Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris hold the densest Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) like DE-CIX and AMS-IX.

Carrier Neutrality: The architectural advantage of cross-connects and avoiding vendor lock-in at the facility level to build true redundancy.

If you are architecting a bare metal or cloud deployment in the EU and want to understand how to shave off those crucial milliseconds, check out our full breakdown.

👉 Read more on the Fit Servers Blog: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/navigating-europes-premier-bandwidth-carriers/]

Architecting Ultra-Low Latency in LATAM: A Guide to South American Bandwidth Carriers

Shannon Dias — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:43:47 +0000

If you are deploying applications, gaming servers, or fintech platforms for the Latin American market, you already know that network performance is everything. But delivering content from Bogotá to Buenos Aires means navigating a highly consolidated telecom landscape.

Unlike North America, data routing in LATAM is heavily dictated by a few multinational giants like América Móvil, Telefónica, and Embratel.

At Fit Servers, we obsess over routing. We just published a deep dive into the South American internet backbone. In this guide, we cover:

The role of Global Tier 1 carriers bringing data to the continent's shores.

The dominant regional heavyweights controlling the terrestrial fiber.

Why Carrier-Neutral Data Centers are the modern solution for redundancy and cost.

How we utilize Intelligent BGP Routing and direct peering at IXPs (like IX.br) to shave critical milliseconds off your ping times.

If you are building high-stakes applications for LATAM users, understanding this infrastructure is critical.

Read the full technical breakdown here: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/comprehensive-guide-to-south-american-bandwidth-carriers/]

How We Engineered Sub-Millisecond Routing in NA using BGP and Tier 1 Carriers

Shannon Dias — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:26:00 +0000

When architecting scalable applications, we often obsess over code execution time, but completely ignore physical network latency. At Fit Servers, we’ve built our infrastructure to solve the "last mile" and "backbone" bottlenecks across North America.

The Carrier-Neutral Advantage
Most budget hosting is single-homed. We use a Carrier-Neutral approach heavily reliant on BGP. By sharing floor space with AT&T/Verizon and maintaining direct uplinks to Zayo's dark fiber and Lumen's global backbone, BGP can automatically recalculate the lowest-latency path during localized outages or congestion.

Why Devs Should Care:

TTFB: Lowering hop counts by 30-50% drastically improves Time to First Byte, a crucial metric for Google's Core Web Vitals.

Jitter Reduction: Critical for WebRTC, VoIP, and WebSocket-heavy applications.

DDoS Scrubbing: Tier 1 transit providers scrub malicious packets upstream, keeping legitimate traffic flowing to your instances.

We’ve published a complete architectural breakdown of our North American network hierarchy.

For read more visit the blog link: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/a-deep-dive-into-north-american-bandwidth-carriers/]

cPanel vs CyberPanel vs Plesk: Choosing a Dedicated Server Panel in 2026

Shannon Dias — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 07:04:34 +0000

Over at Fit Servers, we’ve been looking closely at the software layer that sits on top of our dedicated hardware. The control panel landscape has shifted a lot recently, especially with the push towards API-first administration and container-native hosting.

If you are provisioning a new dedicated box in 2026, you generally have a few distinct paths:

The Modern/Speed Route (CyberPanel): If you are running heavy WordPress stacks, CyberPanel is hard to beat right now. Because it's built natively on OpenLiteSpeed, the out-of-the-box performance destroys legacy Apache setups.

The Enterprise/Mixed Stack Route (Plesk Obsidian): If you are dealing with a mixed Linux/Windows infrastructure, Plesk is still the most pragmatic choice. Their native Docker and Git deployment workflows are excellent for dev teams.

The Open-Source Route (Virtualmin/ISPConfig): For the sysadmins who hate licensing fees and want raw, granular control over their fleet.

We put together a comprehensive side-by-side comparison looking at Docker support, multi-server capabilities, and pricing models.

What is your go-to panel for a fresh Linux install these days? Let me know in the comments.

Read the full technical breakdown on our blog: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/best-control-panels-for-dedicated-servers/]

Architecting Off-Site Backups: The Bare-Metal DR Playbook

Shannon Dias — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 07:57:12 +0000

Let's talk Disaster Recovery infrastructure. We all know the 3-2-1 rule, but modern threats require a 3-2-1-1-0 approach—especially when dealing with ransomware payloads that target network-attached backups.

While S3 buckets are great for object storage, relying on them for massive VM restorations can crush your budget with egress fees and throttle your RTO. Architecting a dedicated bare-metal server for off-site backups provides the hardware-level control needed for true immutability.

Key considerations for your bare-metal DR build:

Storage Architecture: Don't skimp on redundancy. Use RAID 6 (Double Parity) for massive spinning-disk archives to survive dual drive failures. For rapid database ingestion, RAID 10 is your best friend.

Immutability: Use Linux hardened repositories to ensure that once data is written, it cannot be encrypted or deleted by compromised admin credentials.

Secure Transit: Never expose port 22 or 3389. Route all traffic through an IPsec VPN tunnel or a ZTNA tool like Tailscale.

Want the full blueprint for assessing your data footprint and automating your bare-metal backups?

Read more on the Fit Servers Engineering Blog: [https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/dedicated-servers-for-offsite-backups/]

Inside the Scrubbing Center: How We Mitigate 30Tbps+ DDoS Attacks 🛡️

Shannon Dias — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:59:03 +0000

As developers, we focus on code optimization and database queries, but your application is only as fast as the network allowing users to reach it. In 2026, DDoS attacks aren't just "pings"—they are sophisticated, AI-driven floods.

When you manage a dedicated server, you are the primary target. Here is how we shield the "Beast" at the network edge.

The 4-Step Mitigation Pipeline
We don't just drop traffic; we filter it in a multi-stage pipeline using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI):

Continuous Monitoring: We establish a L3/L4 baseline. Our systems flag anomalies—like a sudden surge in SYN packets—using machine learning.

BGP Diversion: Once triggered, we use Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to reroute traffic away from the physical machine and toward our global Scrubbing Centers.

The "Scrub": This is where the magic happens. We apply Rate Limiting, Signature Matching, and Behavioral Analysis to separate botnets from actual users.

Clean Forwarding: The "clean" traffic is tunneled back to your server. Total latency added? Usually under 10ms.

Always-On vs. On-Demand
For dev teams, the difference is critical:

On-Demand: There is a "detection gap." Your server might be down for 120-300 seconds while the route propagates.

Always-On: Traffic is permanently inline with scrubbing hardware. No gap. No downtime.

The Math: If your API handles $10k/hr in transactions, a 5-minute detection gap is an $833 loss before you’ve even started debugging.

Summary
Don't let a botnet dictate your uptime. Robust protection acts as a bouncer standing miles down the road, ensuring only your VIP guests get through the door.

Check out the full technical deep dive on our blog:
👉 Read More at FitServers--------->
https://www.fitservers.com/blogs/how-ddos-protection-works-on-a-dedicated-server/