Manage Resources and Limits with CloudLinux Manager in WHM
Updated 4 weeks ago
If you have a Reseller plan or a Cloud VPS with CloudLinux, you can see how much each of your accounts uses and assign limits from the CloudLinux Manager option in your WHM panel. This helps prevent a single site from using up all the plan's CPU or memory: your plan's resources are shared among all your accounts.
What happens when an account reaches its limit
The effect depends on which resource is exhausted:
CPU (SPEED) and disk (IO): the site responds more slowly.
Memory (PMEM) and processes (NPROC): the account may show a 500 or 503 error.
EP (simultaneous connections): the account may show a 508 error.
If your entire plan runs out of resources, all your sites will show a 503 error until resources become available again.
A 503 doesn't always mean a limit has been reached; it can also be caused by the server or application configuration. To identify the cause, check the account's usage and faults under Resource Usage in its cPanel. The resource usage and 503–508 errors guide explains how to interpret this data.
Where to find CloudLinux Manager
Log in to the WHM panel and open CloudLinux Manager. If you manage a Cloud VPS, log in to WHM as root. For a general overview of the panel, see the main options in the WHM panel.
CloudLinux Manager tabs
When you open it, you'll find these tabs:
Tab | What you'll find |
|---|---|
Current Usage | Current usage of each resource, by account. |
Historical Usage | Your plan's usage and fault history, with filters by time period and a top 5 list of accounts with the highest usage. |
Users | The limits assigned to each account. You can edit them from this tab. |
Statistics | Historical usage for each of your accounts, with filters by limit type to help identify usage spikes. |
Options | Settings for alerts when an account reaches a limit: recipients, resources to notify about, minimum number of faults, and frequency. |
Packages | Resource limits for each of your predefined packages, if you use them. |
If you manage a Cloud VPS with root access, you'll also see the Dashboard and PHP Selector tabs.
How do you manage your accounts' limits?
Log in to the WHM panel and open CloudLinux Manager.
Go to the Users tab, where you'll see a list of your accounts and their limits.
Choose the account you want to adjust and edit the limits you need to change.
Save your changes.
Don't assign all your plan's resources to a single account: leave enough room for your other accounts to keep running.
The limits you can assign
From the Users tab, you can set limits for these resources:
Limit | What it measures | What happens when the limit is reached |
|---|---|---|
SPEED | CPU, as a percentage of one core: 100% equals 1 core, 200% equals 2 cores. | The site responds more slowly. |
PMEM | Physical RAM. | The account may show a 500 or 503 error. |
IO | Disk read and write speed. | The site responds more slowly. |
IOPS | Read and write operations per second. | The site responds more slowly. |
EP | Entry Processes: simultaneous connections to the account, such as dynamic web scripts, cron jobs, and SSH sessions. | The account may show a 508 error. |
NPROC | Total number of processes and threads. | The account can't create new processes and may show a 500 or 503 error. |
We don't limit IO or IOPS in any of our plans, but if needed, you can set a disk limit for a specific account.
The most common limits are SPEED and PMEM: as your site's traffic and functionality grow, you'll need more CPU and memory.
What limit alerts mean
When an account reaches a limit, a fault is recorded showing which resource was exhausted, how many times, and when. You can set up alerts for yourself and your clients from the Options tab.
To tell a one-time spike from sustained usage, compare current usage in Current Usage with the account's history in Statistics.
If you work with Node.js applications and see errors such as cagefs_enter: Unable to fork, or can't open Terminal for the account, see the guide to the Node.js error caused by exhausted processes.
How to use fewer resources
To help your accounts perform better within their limits, log in to each one and:
Remove any applications or files you don't use.
Update your applications, whether WordPress or Joomla, to the latest version, and make sure all plugins and themes are fully up to date.
Use PHP 8.3 and avoid older PHP versions whenever possible.