In all probability you have started your business on a shared hosting plan, but now you feel the need to upgrade to a more secured and dedicated plan. Virtual Private Server is what you should be interested in.
A VPS gives you complete isolation, which essentially means that you would remain largely unaffected by what others are doing on a server. VPS also provides you with guaranteed resources in terms of RAM, CPU, HDD and bandwidth. In short, get the best features of a dedicated server for no extra cost. It combines the benefits of shared hosting, Server Root Access and Dedicated Resources. All this comes with the advantage of having an isolated environment. Of course, you do share the resources with other websites, but you also have the liberty to make modifications in the space allocated to you.
In VPS, a physical machine is divided into several virtual compartments. A separate server software makes each unit capable of functioning independently.
A VPS hosting is just a server with its personal operating system and server resources, inside a bigger server. All the sites are hosted on a virtual private server on a more powerful hardware.
The best way to know what a Virtual Private Server can do for your business is by comparing it with Shared Hosting.
VPS brings together the best of two worlds (shared and dedicated hosting) to give the much-needed competitive edge to your business plan.
One significant advantage of VPS is that there are very few websites with whom you share the space. Although the cost for getting this isolation is high, it is not much if you consider the overall benefits. You don’t need to keep borrowing resources from the common pool all the time.
Similarities between VPS hosting and Shared Hosting
There is only one commonality between the two: Sharing space on one server with other users. VPS divides the physical server into dedicated sections with each having its own storage, memory and processing limits.
Differences between VPS hosting and Shared Hosting
- Privacy:
Your website’s performance on a Virtual Private Server is unaffected by problems on other websites. This may not happen when compared to Shared Hosting.
- Better control:
Shared Hosting does not allow you root access to your server. VPS hosting gives you this access as well as the freedom to install any application of your choice.
- Reliability:
The VPS package of your choice guarantees a specific allocation of resources like CPU, RAM, HDD and bandwidth. In contrast, resource allocation on shared hosting is asymmetrical.
- Security:
Your website is not secured on a shared hosting. If another site gets hacked, it is possible that you may come under attack as well. On the contrary, a Virtual Private Server ensures trouble with one website does not spillover to others.
Advantage of VPS
- Get all the benefits of a dedicated server for a fraction of the price.
- Higher flexibility as compared to shared hosting.
- High security and greater stability. The performances of other websites will not affect your Root access!
- The technical knowhow required to handle a VPS is less than what is required for a dedicated server, but more than what you need for a shared hosting. So, it is advisable to upgrade your knowledge to get the best out of VPS.
Know some of the common terms needed to understand Virtual Private Server Hosting
Virtualization: Here, ‘virtualization’ literally means generating a virtual version of an operating system (OS) inside a server. By way of virtualization, the server can have multiple OSs for each user.
Virtualization has brought about a revolution in the world of computing because it allows one computer to run multiple virtual computers simultaneously.
Hypervisor: Virtualization is not possible without a software/device, which results in creation of virtual machines. This software is called a hypervisor. The hardware that supports this software may also be referred to as a hypervisor.
Virtuozzo: Virtuozzo is a system used to host a VPS. Its state-of-the-art control panel gives the individual user a more limited set of functions on their own “power panel”.
Virtuozzo is used to start, stop, reboot, reload and do many other things to the container itself.
KVM: Kernel-based Virtual Machine is an open source virtualization technology built especially for Linux. Installing KVM helps run multiple guests. Every virtual machine (guest) has a separate virtualized hardware (inclusive of memory, storage, graphics adapter and a network card). This makes it possible for KVM to benefit from all the features of the Linux kernel.
Virtuozzo and KVM are two types of virtualization that have their own sets of benefits and drawbacks. When it comes to selecting one of the two, think of what is the need of your business. Some providers give both options.