VPS Hosting Usage and Advantages

If you have spent any amount of time on the internet hosting websites and switching from host server to host server, it has become a fast growing market. VPS hosting has come on the hosting scene to provide a completely different hosting market. VPS hosting takes server hosting to the next level, taking away the maintenance of a physical server. Before we jump into the advantages of VPS hosting let’s look at the basics of VPS and its usage.

What is VPS?

VPS stands for virtual private server, which functions like a normal hosting server. The difference between a virtual private server and a regular server is virtual private servers run from a virtual machine and can have more than one virtual machine on a server. The virtual machines are just like a physical server and store information just a like a regular server. Server virtualization makes it look like there is more than one computer, instead of simply using the resources of that computer. Resources are still shared from the virtual machine and this offers better security.

VPS Usage

VPS comes in handy for those who are trying to host a number of websites. Each website can be hosted through an individual virtual machine, which keeps it secure and fully functional. If each website is placed on a virtual machine, then they are only using the resources of that virtual machine. Having multiple virtual machines gives you the ability to give permissions to certain websites and use different operating systems. With different operating systems on virtual machines, each virtual machine can be rebooted as needed, without affecting the other users on the server.

VPS hosting can be split in two different systems, virtualized and paravirtualized. A virtualized environment, the user has virtualized hardware and is unaware that the hardware is not physical. The hypervisor must answer requests with appropriate resource requests. In paravirtualized environments, the user is completely aware of the hypervisor and deals with the host systems resources. This causes a nearly native performance on the VPS, but requires more knowledge on the users’ part. There are some servers that will offer a mix of virtualized and paravirtualized environments depending on the user.

When companies offer VPS hosting there are two ways they can manage the web hosting. There is unmanaged, where the user is completely responsible for their own piece of the server. Or companies will offer unmetered hosting, where the amount of data transferred and bandwidth used is not limited. Unmetered hosting is useful for large websites with a lot of user traffic.

Advantages

VPS hosting has many advantages that make it preferable over shared hosting. If you need to manage multiple websites, then VPS hosting should be your choice. Because each website can be hosted through a different virtual machine without taking up extra space on the server, this makes VPS hosting more marketable to businesses who need to run more than one website. For those who are interested in starting their own web hosting company VPS hosting is easily managed and allows you to receive a great client base without limiting their bandwidth and resources. With users on their own virtual machine you can leave the user to manage their own resources, upgrades, and websites. That means you can focus on the server and keeping it up and running instead of managing websites and the server. The best part of VPS hosting is that it is one of the more secure types of hosting. Once a website is being run on a virtual machine, that machine is completely separate and private from the rest of the server and other virtual machines. One of the most beneficial aspects of VPS hosting is that it is cost effective. Having multiple users on one slice of a server means they are sharing the cost of the server. This makes it ideal for those who are starting their own web hosting company because users share the cost and maintenance of the server you are selling them.

VPS hosting can put you on the road to success with your own web hosting company, or give your website the freedom it needs to grow by using a VPS host. Virtual machines make website content private and capable of expanding without stealing resources from other users on the server. VPS hosting offers great benefits for individual and business websites, while leaving server maintenance to the host company. You can easily grow your own web hosting business, or expand your website with VPS hosting.