1c1g Optimize

Posted Jan 3, 2006

By Joey

5 min read

Great idea 👍 I’ll treat this as two publish-ready tech articles you can post on a blog / Medium / dev.to. Because these articles contain shell commands, I will not use writing blocks (per UI rules) and instead give you clean Markdown-style content with proper code blocks.

Article 1

How to Optimize an Ubuntu 1C1G Cloud Server (A Practical, Proven Guide)

Introduction

Running a cloud server with 1 CPU and 1GB RAM is common for personal projects, landing pages, and small websites. However, default Ubuntu installations are not optimized for such low-resource environments, often leading to:

High memory usage
Random freezes
OOM (Out of Memory) kills
Poor performance under small traffic spikes

This article walks through real, production-tested optimizations to make Ubuntu stable, predictable, and usable on a 1C1G server.

1. The Core Principle: Reduce, Don’t Tune Blindly

On a 1C1G server, optimization is mostly about removing unnecessary components, not endless tuning.

Key rules:

Fewer background services
Fewer resident daemons
Predictable memory usage
Swap is mandatory

2. Enable Swap (Non-Negotiable)

Many cloud images ship without swap, which is dangerous on low memory machines.

  
sudo fallocate -l 512M /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Verify:

free -h

Why this matters:

Prevents sudden OOM kills
Absorbs short memory spikes
Improves system stability dramatically

3. Adjust Kernel Memory Behavior

Reduce aggressive swapping and cache pressure:

  
sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-1c1g.conf <<EOF
vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=200
vm.dirty_ratio=10
vm.dirty_background_ratio=5
EOF

sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-1c1g.conf

4. Install earlyoom (Fail Fast, Not Freeze)

Instead of letting the system hang:

  
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y earlyoom
sudo systemctl enable --now earlyoom

This kills memory-hogging processes before the kernel panics.

5. Remove Ubuntu’s Server-Unfriendly Services

Ubuntu enables many services that are useless on cloud servers.

Disable them:

  
sudo systemctl disable --now \
  snapd \
  fwupd \
  multipathd \
  iscsid \
  packagekit \
  unattended-upgrades

Remove snap completely if unused:

  
sudo apt purge -y snapd
sudo rm -rf /snap /var/snap /var/lib/snapd /var/cache/snapd

Memory saved: 100–200MB

6. Limit systemd Journal Size

Unbounded logs silently eat disk and memory:

  
sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d

sudo tee /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/limit.conf <<EOF
[Journal]
SystemMaxUse=50M
RuntimeMaxUse=20M
EOF

sudo systemctl restart systemd-journald

7. Optimize MySQL for Low Memory

MySQL is often the largest memory consumer.

Edit:

sudo nano /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

Add under [mysqld]:

  
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 128M
innodb_log_buffer_size = 8M
max_connections = 20
performance_schema = OFF
table_open_cache = 400

Restart:

sudo systemctl restart mysql

8. Tune PHP-FPM Conservatively

For PHP 8.x:

sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Recommended settings:

  
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 2
pm.start_servers = 1
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 1

9. What “Healthy” Looks Like

free -h

Expected:

Available memory ≥ 450–550MB
Swap usage < 100MB
No frequent CPU spikes
No OOM events

Conclusion

A 1C1G Ubuntu server can be perfectly stable if treated correctly.

The key is not powerful hardware—but intentional minimalism.

Article 2

Building a Website on a 1C1G Server: Technology Choices, Pros & Cons

Introduction

Once your 1C1G server is optimized, the next question is:

What website stack should I actually run on this thing?

Not all web technologies are equal under resource constraints. This article compares popular website-building approaches, focusing on performance, maintainability, and suitability for low-end servers.

1. Static Sites (Best Choice for 1C1G)

Examples

Hugo
Astro (static output)
Jekyll
Hexo

Pros

No database
No runtime backend
Near-zero memory usage
Extremely secure
Handles traffic spikes easily

Cons

Content editing workflow may feel less “CMS-like”
Requires rebuild to publish changes

Best For

Homepages
Blogs
Landing pages
Documentation sites

2. Static Site + Visual Editor (Best Balance)

Example

Publii + Nginx

Architecture:

Visual editor runs on your local machine
Server only serves static files

Pros

True WYSIWYG editing
Zero server-side processing
Ideal for non-developers
Almost no maintenance

Cons

Editing not done directly on server

Verdict

👉 The most practical solution for 1C1G servers

3. Traditional CMS (WordPress)

Pros

Huge ecosystem
Familiar admin interface
Plugins for everything

Cons

PHP + MySQL memory overhead
Security maintenance burden
Poor performance without tuning

Verdict

⚠️ Acceptable only with strict optimization ❌ Overkill for simple homepages

4. Headless CMS + Static Frontend

Examples

Hugo + Decap CMS
Next.js static export + CMS

Pros

Online editing
Clean separation of content & presentation
Modern workflow

Cons

Setup complexity
Git-based workflow may confuse non-technical users

5. Node.js CMS (Ghost, Strapi)

Pros

Modern interfaces
API-driven

Cons

High memory usage
Database dependency
Poor fit for 1C1G

Verdict

❌ Not recommended

6. Comparison Table

Stack	Memory Usage	Stability	Ease of Use	1C1G Friendly
Static (Hugo)	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	✅
Publii	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	✅
WordPress	⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⚠️
Headless CMS	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⚠️
Node CMS	⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	❌

Final Recommendation

For a 1C1G cloud server:

Static-first architectures are not a compromise—they are the optimal design.

If you need:

Maximum stability → Static site
Visual editing → Publii
Dynamic features → Carefully optimized WordPress

If you want, next I can:

Edit these into Medium / dev.to formatting
Add SEO titles & summaries
Turn them into a series with diagrams
Localize them into Chinese or bilingual versions

Just tell me how you plan to publish them.

This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.

Article 1

How to Optimize an Ubuntu 1C1G Cloud Server (A Practical, Proven Guide)

Introduction

1. The Core Principle: Reduce, Don’t Tune Blindly

2. Enable Swap (Non-Negotiable)

3. Adjust Kernel Memory Behavior

4. Install earlyoom (Fail Fast, Not Freeze)

5. Remove Ubuntu’s Server-Unfriendly Services

6. Limit systemd Journal Size

7. Optimize MySQL for Low Memory

8. Tune PHP-FPM Conservatively

9. What “Healthy” Looks Like

Conclusion

Article 2

Building a Website on a 1C1G Server: Technology Choices, Pros & Cons

Introduction

1. Static Sites (Best Choice for 1C1G)

Examples

Pros

Cons

Best For

2. Static Site + Visual Editor (Best Balance)

Example

Pros

Cons

Verdict

3. Traditional CMS (WordPress)

Pros

Cons

Verdict

4. Headless CMS + Static Frontend

Examples

Pros

Cons

5. Node.js CMS (Ghost, Strapi)

Pros

Cons

Verdict

6. Comparison Table

Final Recommendation

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