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In this post, we discuss Cloudways, a Magento cloud hosting solution. Basically, we ask if it meets all of Magento’s essential requirements. Let’s find out.
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As a merchant, you should do your research before deploying an application or developing an ecommerce store using Magento. That’s because ordinary hosting providers can’t sustain or host Magento. Its architecture is complex. Also the platform keeps growing with the latest emerging technologies.
Therefore, Magento has officially listed its essential server requirements. Your hosting provider should meet these requirements to provide you with excellent performance. In today’s blog, therefore, we discuss Cloudways, a managed Magento cloud hosting solution. It serves as the backbone for thousands of successful merchants, agencies, and small to medium-sized businesses.
Let’s find out if Cloudways does meet the server requirements recommended by Magento devdoc.
What Are the Server Requirements for Magento DevDoc?
Magento officially recommends the following requirements while deploying Magento 2.4.x applications to the server.
- Operating System (OS): Magento supports Linux distributions (RedHat, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, and others). However, Magento doesn’t support Windows and macOS.
- Memory Requirement: Minimum 4GB RAM.
- Composer: Magento 2.4.2 is compatible with Composer 1.x and 2.x. However, Magento 2.4.1 is only compatible with 1.x.
- Web Server: Apache 2.4 and NGINX 1.x.
- Database: MySQL 8.0 and MariaDB 10.4.
- PHP: Magento 2.4.0 supports 7.4.
- Required PHP Extensions: Here are the supporting PHP extensions: ext-bcmath, ext-ctype, ext-curl, ext-dom, ext-gd, ext-hash, ext-iconv, ext-intl, ext-mbstring, ext-openssl, ext-pdo_mysql, ext-simplexml, ext-soap, ext-xsl, ext-zip, and ext-sockets.
- Elasticsearch: For Magento 2.4.2, it is recommended to use Elasticsearch 7.9.x. On the other hand, Magento 2.4.x is compatible with Elasticsearch 7.4.
- PHP OPcache: Magento strongly recommends enabling PHP OPcache for optimized store performance.
- SSL: A valid SSL certificate is required for Magento store.
- System Dependencies: Magento requires the following operational tools: bash, gzip, lsof, mysql, mysqldump, nice, php, sed, and tar.
- SMTP: Magento requires SMTP for emailing service.
- Other Technologies: Redisversion 5 is compatible with 2.4.x and Redis 6.x is recommended for Magento 2.4.2. Alternatively, Varnish version 6.4 is compatible with Magento 2.4.2, and Magento 2.4.x with Varnish 6.x.
So these are the crucial server requirements that Magento supports for web applications, and which you should cross-check with your hosting provider. Therefore, let’s check out how Cloudways meets these server requirements.
Cloudways Offers a Managed Hosting Stack
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting for Magento stores. Partnered with cloud giants like DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform, Cloudways integrates all the services required to support Magento applications. This leaves you free to focus on your business growth rather than figuring out server issues.
Cloudways has its own hosting stack that it updates with the latest technologies recommended by Magento. This stack comprises the following resources:
- Supports Debian.
- Recommended memory requirement is 4GB.
- PHP version: 5.6 – 8.0 (The user can choose between any of these PHP versions, but the default PHP version at the Cloudways Platform is 7.4.)
- Fulfills all the PHP extensions. However, to check, run this command: PHP -me.
- PHP OPcache via Cloudways UI navigate to Server dashboard > Setting & Packages.
- Offers 1-click free SSL certificate.
- Support Composer 2.x for Magento applications.
- Cloudways offers Rackspace and other SMTP services like Mandrill, Mailgun etc.
- Cloudways supports Apache 2.4.x and for NGINX 1.19.8. To check, use this command line: dpkg -l | grep apache & dpkg -l | grep nginx
- Supports all the system dependencies. To verify, run this command: ls/bin/
- The supported Elasticsearch version is 7.6.
Check Out Cloudways’ Other Supporting Features
In addition to its hosting stack, Cloudways also offers a bunch of other features for streamlined store operations without pause.
Automated Backups
Through the Cloudways dashboard, anyone can maintain server and application backup at any time. You can also schedule backup frequency according to your requirements.
Seamless Scaling
A sudden traffic surge is a top-priority concern for an ecommerce business. Cloudways understands this challenge. Therefore, it allows the user to scale the server at any time. Moreover, you won’t need to give any prior notice.
Secure Magento Applications
The engineering team at Cloudways takes care of security patches to protect the server from any unwanted malicious attack. Cloudways also offers a dedicated firewall for all the Magento servers.
Staging Environment
With Cloudways, you can test your Magento by creating a staging environment before pushing it to the live server. Just follow the simple easy steps to do this.
Backed by 24/7/365 Support
Get into trouble? Don’t worry about it. The Cloudways Support Team is available around the clock every day of the year. What’s more, they’re always happy to assist you and resolve your issues.
What’s the Verdict on Cloudways?
Yes, Cloudways meets all the server requirements for Magento. Understandably, this blog isn’t enough to explain the entire product. However, you can create a trial account for FREE and use it for three days. Alternatively, book a demo with one of their experts. Happy hosting!