If you are working on a website and want to make it live, you need to upload all the related files to a web server. For that, you will require a hosting server. One of the secure ways to upload your files to a web server is to use web hosting. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is the most flexible and suitable web hosting option for every growing business.
Almost every business starts with using shared hosting, but with time their need for resources and demands grows, and to cope with this increase in demand, companies require a more powerful option for hosting their websites. Thus VPS hosting came into the picture as a stepping stone between shared hosting and dedicated hosting.
In general, VPS is preferred by businesses with medium traffic, exceeding the limits of the shared hosting plans but do not need a dedicated server.
What is VPS?
Multiple users can access the VPS server simultaneously, and each user can access the virtual machine running its copy of the OS. It helps the customers to experience the same functionality as a dedicated server. VPS is a hosting service based on virtualization technology offering dedicated resources on a server to multiple users.
Suppose we explain VPS in terms of shared and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting allows multiple users to share a single server and resources. It may impact the performance of other users if you are consuming a lot of resources. While, the dedicated hosting is dedicated to a single website offering dedicated resources, resulting in high-speed performance without zero downtime.
VPS lies between both shared and dedicated hosting. It is like a dedicated server but with allocated system resources.
Working of a VPS Hosting
As discussed above, VPS or virtual private server works by running its OS within a definite area of the physical server’s disk and memory resources. It is possible with type 1 or type 2 hypervisor software, such as Virtuozzo or VirtualBox. This software divides the physical server into several virtual systems and makes it available to individual websites.
Thus, it is evident that a VPS comes with the benefits of a dedicated server. We will use an example of a building that consists of several floors with their areas to manage with floor-dedicated resources and services. No other floor can access the resources of another floor. But still, some things are common for every floor like the parking space. The same concept is for the VPS.
In the case of the VPS, your data is only yours to configure. Still, some resources such as CPU cores, processing power, and SSD storage space are to be shared with others or restricted to accommodate others within the physical server.
Advantages of Virtual Private Server
If you have a growing business and have web traffic that cannot be managed using shared hosting, then VPS hosting is the ideal solution for you to adopt for your business. The advantages of using VPS are:
- Due to dedicated space and resources, VPS tends to process the requests faster than shared hosting servers.
- Instant availability of the resources whenever you scale your business.
- The server is not affected by high traffic.
- You have total control of your server resources and services.
- VPS is much more secure as you can prevent access to your files and databases from other users on the server.
- You can easily scale up your services whenever required without impacting the performance and reliability of your business.
Disadvantages of Virtual Private Server
Despite several advantages, you need to face some pitfalls of using VPS. Sometimes, these factors may impact your decision to choose the VPS. So, you must consider these disadvantages, if you still want to use VPS.
- Due to dedicated resources, it is more expensive than shared hosting.
- You need to be technically strong for managing the VPS server.
- You need to manage your server, resources, hardware, and software by yourself, so you need to hire a technical team.
- Sometimes, incorrect configuration of your server may lead to blunders.
Types of VPS Hosting
Two types of VPS hostings are available, and you can choose any of them depending on your business requirement.
1. Managed VPS hosting
WebHost Manager (WHM) is an application that allows you to manage a group of cPanel accounts. The cPanel is the most popular system administration (sysadmin) software on a CentOS server. It is also known as cPanel VPS Hosting. In this type of VPS hosting, you will get pre-installed server administration software on a predetermined OS. It helps separate the sites and applications between cPanel accounts, making it suitable for the following mentioned use cases.
- It helps freelance developers to resell their web hosting services.
- It allows web design agencies to offer web hosting and web development services.
- It enables STEM teachers to educate students on Linux systems.
- You can easily schedule the backups for websites.
2. Unmanaged (Cloud) VPS Hosting
Unlike the managed VPS, it does not have any pre-installed software for managing the VPS. In this case, the VPS is not limited to a single application and OS. It is also known as a cloud server due to its bare nature and flexibility. With this hosting, you will have the option to re-OS the server. You need to take care of all the core server management tasks. Your server will require fewer resources to provision, deploy and maintain, making it a less costly option than the managed VPS hosting plans that come with the pricing for licenses for enterprise software such as cPanel.
You need to be technically strong in the following:
- Command-line interface
- SSH (Secure Shell)
- Web server management software, installation, and other tasks.
- Disaster recovery, backup, etc.
Unmanaged VPS hosting is only recommended for those users who are capable of resolving any issues specific to their VPS setup. The freedom of customization and control over the system is preferable among experienced web developers and sysadmins.
Reasons to Choose VPS Hosting
With VPS hosting servers, you can enjoy the freedom of owning virtual machines with high performance suitable for handling moderate traffic and occasionally high surge in traffic. Apart from that, there are many benefits of using VPS hosting.
- Customization: VPS hosting allows you to own your OS. Thus, you can customize it as per your requirement. You can adjust the settings to run different types of applications on your server without impacting the performance of each other.
- Control: You can control the allocation of the resources and install whatever applications you want to run on your server without affecting other users on the server. Not only this, you can restart your server’s instance without degrading the performance of other users.
- Cheap option: If we talk about the dedicated server, you do not have to spend much on managing and owning a virtual private server.
- Dedicated server: Another benefit of having VPS hosting is that you will get a predefined amount of RAM. You can use it to run as many applications as you want.
- Scalable: It works well for a growing business as you can scale up the resources as per the requirement. VPS supports your growing business and adjusts accordingly.
Right Time to Switch to VPS
Switching to VPS is not easy and is not a single-day task. Every business has its demands, and they know when their business is growing and when they require more resources to handle it. You need to be sure that your business requires more flexibility to use the resources. So, make sure you take the right decision and opt for VPS. Below are the reasons why you should consider moving to the VPS.
- Security: If you are looking for advanced security, monitoring capabilities, backup space, improved website performance, and others, you should step forward to VPS hosting. With VPS, you can quickly get reliable resources and security.
- Experiencing high traffic volumes: Shared hosting is the best and most affordable solution for startups with low traffic. In case, you are experiencing a sudden surge in traffic and don’t want to run the risk of running out of resources and impacting the website’s performance. In that case, you should upgrade your hosting plan to VPS and manage the increased traffic seamlessly.
- Website’s poor performance: With time, as your website’s content grows, loading the website starts taking time and creating a poor user experience. So to remain in the competition and perform better, you need to consider increasing your RAM. It is only possible if you opt for VPS hosting and handle your website’s performance without worrying about the slow load times.
- Online business: If you have an e-commerce website, you require a more secured and dedicated VPS hosting server to support your secured transactions.
- Frequent server errors: If you are experiencing frequent server errors or server downtime, it cannot handle your website and traffic surge. It is time that you upgrade to VPS to avoid server downtime and improve the website’s performance.
- Limited budget: If you cannot go for the dedicated servers and want its benefits at an affordable price, you must go for VPS. By doing so, you can leverage increased security, increased bandwidth, more RAM, and other features within your budget.
- Website development: If you are into the website’s development, you must consider the hosting option to host several domains on a single server. Then VPS is the right option for you, and you must switch to it.
How is VPS Different from Shared and Dedicated Hosting?
VPS vs. Shared Hosting
Both shared hosting and VPS hosting are similar in some ways. Both the hostings share a physical machine and resources with other users on the server. Consider a shared web hosting as an apartment where you have roommates. If a roommate consumes hot water for long, you might not use it. And since you share a physical address, your privacy will be affected by other users. But you use it anyway due to its affordable price and necessity.
Shared hosting shares all the resources with all the users on the server and might not utilize them appropriately while impacting the performance of your website. But with VPS, you will have dedicated resources that improve performance and uptime.
The advantages of VPS that you will get over shared hosting are:
- You will get consistent performance with dedicated resources for your website and database. Your system will run faster, improving the overall experience for your customers.
- You will experience improved SEO due to a dedicated IP address. You will eliminate the spamming of your email box with unnecessary messages.
- You will have sysadmin access to manage all your services and can install complex software without the need of any third party.
- Another essential aspect that makes VPS better than shared hosting is enhanced security. You can run secured tasks without worrying about the compromise of the data stored on the servers.
VPS vs. Dedicated Hosting
Suppose a shared hosting is a building, a VPS is a floor, and a dedicated server is an entire area. With dedicated server hosting, you can leverage all the benefits and availability of VPS hosting. You will be able to install whatever Linux OS and hardware customizations as required. Not only this, but you can also upgrade your Linux kernel and remove modules if not required anymore.
Top giants in the market prefer the most secure and customizable option, that is, dedicated hosting, due to the isolation from other server users and overall server architecture. But due to the costly option, people stick to VPS. Below are some reasons that make VPS stronger over dedicated hosting.
- You will save money by sharing the physical server with other VPS users. So you only have to pay for the resources, software, and hardware that you are using.
- You will also save your time and effort as you do not have to set up the server environment by opting for a pre-configured OS.
Conclusion
VPS hosting is suitable for your growing business where you can handle your server yourself. You will have guaranteed resources and complete control of your server with the access to customize it as per your requirement. Not only this, you will experience better performance of your websites without being affected by other websites.
With VPS, you will get a smooth running server as you can scale up the resources per your business requirement. In this article, we have mentioned the pros and cons of VPS, how it is better than other hosting servers, and when you should consider switching to VPS. So, analyze your business needs and understand if your business requires VPS.