Every HOSTDOG shared hosting account runs inside a CloudLinux Lightweight Virtual Environment (LVE) — an isolated container with its own CPU, memory, I/O, and process limits. This article explains what each limit does, why it matters, and what happens when your site reaches them.
What is CloudLinux LVE?
On traditional shared hosting, all accounts share the same server resources without boundaries. A single resource-hungry site can slow down everyone else. CloudLinux solves this by creating isolated containers — called LVEs — around each account. Your site gets guaranteed resources that no other account can consume, and in return, your site cannot affect others on the server.
HOSTDOG uses CloudLinux across all shared hosting plans, combined with AMD EPYC processors and NVMe SSD storage, to deliver consistent performance.
The resource limits explained
| Limit | What it controls | What happens when exceeded |
|---|---|---|
| CPU (SPEED) | How much processing power your scripts can use, measured as a percentage of a CPU core | PHP processes are throttled (slowed), causing longer page load times |
| Physical memory (PMEM) | Maximum RAM available to your account's processes | Processes that exceed the limit are terminated, which can cause 500 errors |
| I/O throughput | Maximum disk read/write speed (MB/s) | File operations and database queries slow down significantly |
| IOPS | Maximum number of disk input/output operations per second | Random read/write operations queue up, causing delays |
| Entry processes (EP) | Maximum number of simultaneous incoming connections handled by PHP | Additional visitors see a 503 error until a connection slot becomes available |
| Number of processes (NPROC) | Total number of processes your account can run simultaneously | New processes cannot start, which may affect cron jobs and background tasks |
How limits vary by plan
Higher-tier hosting plans come with higher resource allocations. Personal Shared Hosting plans provide resources suitable for small to medium websites, while Business Shared Hosting plans offer significantly more — up to 4 vCPU and 4 GB RAM — for resource-intensive sites like e-commerce stores or high-traffic blogs.
You can view your plan's specific limits in the Resource Usage section of your control panel, where the horizontal limit line on each graph corresponds to your current allocation. For details on how to read these graphs, see How to check your resource usage.
Common signs you are hitting limits
- Intermittent 503 or 508 errors — your entry process or CPU limit is being exceeded during traffic spikes.
- Slow page loads at certain times of day — cron jobs or traffic peaks are consuming CPU or I/O resources.
- 500 internal server error on specific pages — a script is exceeding the memory limit. Check your error log for "memory exhausted" messages.
- Faults count increasing in Resource Usage — each fault means your account was throttled at least once in the measurement period.
How to stay within your limits
- Enable caching — page caching dramatically reduces CPU and entry process usage by serving pre-built HTML instead of executing PHP for every request.
- Optimise your code and plugins — deactivate plugins you do not use, keep everything updated, and choose lightweight themes.
- Use a newer PHP version — PHP 8.x is significantly faster than older versions, reducing CPU consumption. See How to change your PHP version.
- Optimise your database — clean up post revisions, spam, and transient data regularly.
- Stagger cron jobs — avoid scheduling multiple heavy cron jobs at the same time.
- Use a CDN — offload static assets (images, CSS, JS) to a CDN so your server handles fewer requests.
When to upgrade
If you have optimised your site and still consistently hit resource limits, your site has outgrown its current plan. HOSTDOG offers seamless upgrades with no downtime — your files, databases, and settings carry over automatically.
Business Shared Hosting provides higher limits for growing sites. For sites that need even more resources, a Cloud VPS offers fully dedicated, scalable infrastructure. See How to upgrade your hosting plan for step-by-step instructions.