An OS designed for shared hosting
CloudLinux is an enterprise Linux distribution (derived from RHEL, like AlmaLinux or Rocky) but augmented with an isolation technology: LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment). Each user runs inside a cage that caps its CPU, memory, I/O and processes. The result: a site that runs wild affects only itself, never its neighbors.
What CloudLinux delivers in practice
- LVE isolation: CPU/RAM/IO limits per account, no more noisy neighbors.
- Stability: the server no longer goes down because of a single site under load.
- PHP Selector / alt-PHP: each client chooses its PHP version and extensions.
- CageFS: a virtualized file system that prevents an account from seeing those of others.
- Native compatibility with cPanel/WHM, Plesk and DirectAdmin.
CloudLinux vs AlmaLinux/CentOS
AlmaLinux and Rocky are excellent free server OSes, but without per-account isolation: on a shared server, nothing prevents a site from monopolizing resources. CloudLinux adds precisely this layer of isolation and QoS, plus the software version selectors. It is a paid OS (per-server license) that is justified as soon as you host third parties.
CloudLinux is the foundation of Imunify360: the two products, from the same vendor, complement each other (isolation + security) and share the same reseller network (CloudLinux Network). If you plan on Imunify360, starting with CloudLinux from installation simplifies everything.
