It used to be that when you referred to a “server,” you were talking about a physical computer, that was usually a very large machine. This server cou...
It used to be that when you referred to a “server,” you were talking about a physical computer,
that was usually a very large machine. This server could handle both incoming and outgoing requests, and had a connection to the Internet that was required to run other websites. Today these physical servers are still available; and necessary in many instances. But other times, a virtual server can be more beneficial, and less costly. These are called virtual private servers, or VPS, and they’re becoming very popular. But just how does VPS work?
A VPS is still one physical server, and looks very similar to a dedicated server, or a shared server. However, it’s virtually separated into many different components. With virtual software, these different components can mimic different operating systems and emulate as individual servers. This is due to the hypervisor, a component of the virtual software that acts as manager of all the resources and all the websites on that one physical server.
Each website on the physical server will have a certain amount of resources such as bandwidth and storage space that they have allotted to them. The hypervisor not only virtually the physical server into different virtual ones; it also monitors the resources being used by the different websites and distributes those resources when needed.
From a user’s end, there’s little difference in using a VPS than a dedicated server. The only real difference might be that VPS won’t have nearly the same amount of resources than a dedicated, and customization on VPS is also limited when compared with that of dedicated websites. However, the server is still usually accessed through a website, login, and password; and users can’t usually tell that other websites exist on their server.
For the web host, VPS provides the cost benefit of being able to serve a lot of customers, with few resources. Web hosts can place a large amount of customers on one VPS and so, they don’t need the storage space or the manpower required to maintain and operate the servers. This saves them money and web hosts pass those savings onto their customers. Although VPS won’t be as cheap as shared hosting, it’s also not nearly as expensive as dedicated hosting is.
VPS is a good option for those that find they’ve outgrown their shared web hosting services but aren’t yet ready to make the costly move to dedicated hosting. Because it provides all the benefits of a dedicated server, without the cost, many customers find VPS to be a nice transition. For those who don’t have a website, but know that they’ll find the limited resources of shared hosting an obstacle, starting off with VPS can also be a good choice.
VPS is becoming more popular today, and more necessary. As more individuals and businesses alike start to create more websites, more web hosting is needed and there are really only so many servers and so much space to go around. When you want to run a professional-looking website in a stable and flexible environment, consider VPS. It might be just the thing for your website.
