1. A computer cluster for providing hosting services, comprising: a plurality of nodes, the nodes being responsive to administrative requests; and each node including a virtual environment such that each virtual environment responds to user requests and appears to the user as having its own operating system, wherein any virtual environments running on the node share the same host operating system with other virtual environments of that node; an operating system virtualization layer that allows users to access their virtual environments with super-user rights; a distributed file system that permits private data from each virtual environment to be located in the common area and visible to every node and usable for restarting a virtual environment.