Mastodon Instance on an Anubiz Romania VPS
Running a Mastodon instance is operationally heavier than most decentralized stacks because the workload spans Rails web nodes, Sidekiq workers, PostgreSQL, Redis, and optionally Elasticsearch. For a community or single-user instance hosted in Romania, the VPS V tier ($99.99/mo) carries the full stack comfortably for low-thousands of registered users. The legal posture is the standard EU intermediary framework: you moderate, you act on DSA NTD notices, and you accept that Anubiz Host does not pre-screen your toots.
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Resource Sizing for Real Workloads
Mastodon RAM split for a 1,000-active-user instance: Rails web 1.5 GB, Sidekiq 2-4 GB across default/push/pull queues, PostgreSQL 3-4 GB shared_buffers, Redis 500 MB-1 GB. Total resident around 8-10 GB. The Romania VPS V tier with 16 GB ECC handles this with headroom. The Mini-V tier is too small for anything beyond a private single-user instance.
Storage: media accumulates fast. A 500-user instance with active fediverse federation accumulates 200-400 GB per year in cached remote media plus local uploads. Set MAX_REMOTE_DAYS aggressively (30-45 days) on tootctl media remove. Plan for 2 TB if you intend to host a community for years.
Sidekiq Queue Depth
Sidekiq is the soul of a Mastodon instance. The default queue handles push/pull federation, the push queue handles outbound activities, the pull queue handles incoming. Run separate sidekiq processes per queue with concurrency tuned per queue: 25 workers on default, 10 on push, 5 on pull is a reasonable starting point for a thousand-user instance.
Monitor queue depth with sidekiq-prometheus. Sustained depth above 1000 on default queue means your instance cannot keep up; either scale Sidekiq workers or reduce relay/follower outbound load.
PostgreSQL Tuning
Mastodon hammers PostgreSQL with timeline queries. Set shared_buffers=25% of RAM, effective_cache_size=75% of RAM, random_page_cost=1.1 on NVMe, checkpoint_timeout=15min, max_wal_size=4GB. Run autovacuum aggressively; statuses table bloats fast.
Federation and Moderation
You moderate your instance. Anubiz Host does not see toot content. DSA NTD applies; you handle takedowns within reasonable windows. CSAM is the line we enforce at the infrastructure layer on credible notice. Document your moderation policy clearly in your instance rules.
Internal Links
Order: Romania VPS. Related: VPS lineup, anonymous hosting, dedicated tier for >5k user instances.
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