What is VPS Hosting?

By Matt Ewing


VPS, or Virtual Private Server, means hosting of different entities for various customers, but all in one server. It enables the service provider to make a partition of a single server into many virtual servers. The customers would then share the server as a whole, which includes both the connection and the hardware. They would actually enjoy the same benefits as they would get in case of dedicated hosting like a file system and a private operating system, which gives them the freedom of safe access. So this kind of a configuration means a combination of a dedicated and a shared hosting. In all, an enhanced performance with privacy will accrue to the company at a much lower cost than it would have to pay for dedicated hosting.

Not only the above-mentioned aspects, some other relevant features are also delivered to the customers- be it the installation of software or rebooting the server or altering the configuration of the server. Well, this is simply stated that if you want to shift from a shared hosting to a dedicated hosting keeping the cost same and if safety and accessibility are the salient features needed for you, this is ideal. It goes almost without saying that for the online business owners, this might prove to be a helpful idea to invest in a VPS hosting because the cost is even as cheap as $10/month with some service providers. This is well known that the operating system and the file system of all customers are utterly different and it is possible for the customers to avail a healthy portion of the server if it is all about the CPU, network and the disk input and output.

Another plus point of the hosting service is that even if you plan to sell the service off then too you are in advantage since the added services that your hosting will be able to offer to the customers gives you an edge over other hosting services. If you now reconsider selling and want to use the service to develop any social networking group or site then too VPS is your best shot. All of you out there who feel more at home using a shared hosting rather than a dedicated one but at the same time want privacy for their identity, for them too VPS is the best. You could install applications and even change applications of the server at will, whenever you want to. Further security is guaranteed since VPS environment software is unique for every single user and moreover this system has features which reduce interception possibilities significantly.

VPS hosting bridges the gaps between the initial and the entry level web hosting plans and the co-location. While the former offers specified services like PHP/MySQL, etc., with limited disk space on a shared server, the latter lets you fully own and control the hardware, and just rent an internet connection and a rack space from the data center. A VPS would be the best option for you if you want to have a shared hosting plan, but your finances don't permit you to opt for a co-location web hosting plan.

However alongwith considering VPS you can also count on considering a dedicated web hosting service as an alternative for your co-hosting choice. It is cheaper than co-hosting but at the same time it is dearer than VPS and nowadays the dedicated web hosting service is becoming quite high priced due to the high competition in the market. In this service instead of renting a rack space you would have to rent the entire server and hence the higher cost than VPS service since the dedicated service gives you a dedicated server as well.

Some of the advantages of a VPS web hosting plan are listed below:

It provides you with a root access which enables you to install and even configure any program that you wish to

Provides features which enables hosting of multiple sites by using virtual hosts that are provided by Apache.

Provides other services like mail server, FTP server and any other that the customer may require.

The servers provided can be used by the customer in any way he would want to.

It has also some disadvantages and they are as follows:

The VPS web hosting brings the entire server under your control which makes you accountable for any action you undertake using the server. Thus you yourself become accountable for your personal safety as such your security thus becomes totally dependable on your actions. You can charge no one for any breach of security which is an important aspect that you should count on before taking up VPS.

In this format, you have the operating system in your grip but on the other hand, you are in extreme need of sharing RAM, CPU, etc. (i.e. hardware resources) with other users of the VPS on the same host. This is quite a problematic issue. So, for top quality requirements and using resources like RAM at random, a co-location or a dedicated server is perhaps the best option to look for.

The manner in which it works:

A combination of many technologies makes running a VPS possible. Some of them are the Virtual PC by Microsoft, the User Mode Linux by Open Source, and XEN, the latest one. XEN is actually getting rave reviews from the media. There is also a possibility of it being combined with the forthcoming Linux distribution. Web developers will only benefit from it, since it will give them more freedom at a very cheap cost.

You may ask what you will get if you use a VPS account. Firstly, you will get the access to core areas of your server. As said earlier, if you are good at working on a Linux server, you can have full access and control over everything that you wish to do. But since it gives you the liberty of unlimited control, you will be liable for anything that you do. So if you are not comfortable with Linux, VPS is not meant for you.

However if you are extremely eager to use VPS then you can choose from the many disk images that will be offered to you. In fact they will also provide you with multiple distributions that you can choose from the default configurations. Just specify what you want and the VPS will be configured just to your choice in a couple of minutes. After this you will have access to the core area and the service is yours to use in any way you feel like.

VPS prices start from a monthly amount of $20 on the lower side, to up to $100 on the higher side. However, don't take price as an indication of quality. If you are not fully aware of how the VPS web host functions, you can start off with the lower end which gives you 64MB RAM and a 2GB disk space. You can expand your base from there on. You can go for the higher price band if you have great ideas but little budget to commence with your business.




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