VPS Hosting – What Are The Benefits?

VPS hosting (Virtual Private Server hosting) is a step up from shared hosting which gives many of the benefits of dedicated server hosting at a much lower price.

As such, it is an ideal solution for small business website hosting (or anyone else) who have outgrown shared hosting or want the control and security that virtual private server hosting provides.

VPS hosting involves the use of virtualization technology to partition a single computer to simulate multiple servers where each virtual server behaves like a physical server. The system resources of the virtual server are defined at the outset, the more resources you want the higher the price, but can be upgraded later. Some hosts allow the guaranteed resources to be exceeded in short term “bursts”.

The features of a VPS Hosting package vary by supplier but in general the benefits include:

• Most of the benefits of dedicated server hosting at a much lower cost.
• Ability to start small but scale up quickly and easily.
• Much better security than shared hosting. The virtual server runs in its own isolated environment shielded from any actions of other users.
• Full root access (or full administrative access on Windows) enables software installation and customization of the server as though it were a dedicated server.
• Guaranteed system resources means that there is no competition for resources, as with shared hosting, and resources can be easily increased as you grow. Website performance (loading times) should be better and more consistent.
• Choice of control panels may be offered by a supplier enabling you to match your requirements and technical knowledge.

A possible disadvantage of a VPS Hosting plan compared to ashared website hosting is that you need a greater technical expertise. With a shared hosting plan you have limited access to the server and the hosting company will manage it applying security patches and system updates etc.. With VPS hosting you usually have root access to the virtual server and can load the software you require. This means that you will be responsible for managing it and if problems arise on your virtual server you will have to resolve them.

You should therefore check the management services that a website hosting company offers and whether, like a managed dedicated server, you can trade some off the flexibility and freedom that VPS hosting provides for more extensive management by the hosting company.

Compared to dedicated server hosting, VPS hosting offers much the same benefits but is still slightly inferior in terms of performance. Although you have a guaranteed allocation  of system resources (CPU, RAM, disc space) you are still sharing the physical hardware  with other VPS users hosted on the real server. As a result virtual private server hosting cannot quite achieve the stability and optimal performance of a dedicated server.