Chances are you’ve heard of VPS hosting and are wondering if it’s the right fit for you. After all, as every business owner knows, managing your own company or website involves making difficult choices. Beyond the obvious questions surrounding which services, products, or information to provide, understanding the technical requirements of maintaining your own site are just as important. With so many service types and providers, how can you know which options are best for your small business?
With its flexible blend of control, affordability, scalability, and security, VPS hosting might be the perfect solution for your business’s growing needs.
In this analysis, we’ll determine the advantages and disadvantages of VPS. By the end, we’ll arm you with all the information you need to feel confident when deciding which hosting service type is ideal for you.
So What is VPS?
A VPS, or Virtual Private Server, is a form of hosting that straddles the line between shared hosting and dedicated servers. Offering a range of benefits from both, VPS bridges the gap between shared web hosting and owning or renting your own server.
But what does this mean for you?
Well to understand what VPS is, we first need to discuss what it isn’t.
VPS vs Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is something most website owners are familiar with, even if they don’t specifically know the term. After all, it’s the starting place for the majority of websites. For a variety of reasons, shared hosting is an ideal option for newly established sites and those whose daily traffic is still low.
The principle behind shared hosting is simple: a remote hosting service provides a server and sells space on that server to multiple users for a small monthly fee. The hosting service then maintains the server. This frees site owners to focus their time on building and promoting rather than worrying about server maintenance.
While this option offers a hands-free and cost-effective solution for users, these advantages come at the expense of reduced control, lower security, and limited resource allocation.
Shared hosting is similar to your first apartment or dorm room at college. In exchange for a small fee, you’re given space in a room that’s shared with multiple other users and maintained by the hosting service. Because you’re sharing the space, your monthly fees are reduced. Since you don’t own the space though, your options to change or modify it are limited.
In addition to limiting your options for customization, your resources are limited as well. With shared hosting, server resources such as memory and processing power are shared between all users. If another site on your shared space experiences a sudden boost in traffic, the resulting drain on resources affects you too.
Think of it this way: your apartment has a shared kitchen used by you and all your roommates. There are only so many utensils. If one of your roommates throws a party and uses up all the forks, knives, and plates, there aren’t any left for you or anyone else.
Beyond this, should one of the other sites on your shared server experience a security breach, this can affect you as well. This leaves your website potentially open to unauthorized access. Since you don’t own the server, all hope for resolution is in the hands of your service provider.
While shared hosting offers a hands-free and cost-effective solution for users, these advantages come at the expense of reduced control, lower security, and limited resource allocation.
VPS hosting operates on the same principle of multiple users sharing a single server. The difference is, VPS uses virtualization technology to create clear divides within that space.
If shared hosting is tantamount to sharing an apartment with roommates, then VPS hosting is like renting your own apartment in a shared complex. You don’t own the building, but your individual room is yours to do with as you see fit.
The result is that while a server may have multiple users accessing it all at once, their resources never overlap. This means if one user places strain on their server’s output through increased traffic, it has no effect on the other virtual servers within that space.
The other advantage VPS hosting brings is greater control. Unlike in shared hosting, where the service provider makes all decisions regarding the server, with a VPS, you retain power over what happens in your virtual space.
- Want to use a different operating system (OS) than what comes pre-packaged on your server?
- Need stronger security options or a specific software necessary for your site to run at its optimal efficiency?
- Tired of forced updates breaking your systems with no control over when and how these changes are implemented?
No problem. With VPS hosting, you’re in control.
Additionally, although you are still sharing space with others, should another site on your server come under threat, a breach in security on one VPS won’t spread easily to others, as each VPS acts as its own independent server.
Now of course, with more control comes an increased price-tag and a greater need for self-maintenance and technical know-how. However, with more companies offering a variety of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) options, including Managed VPS, the right solution for your business’s needs is already out there. We’ll discuss the difference between managed and unmanaged VPS in greater detail a bit later on.
Unmanaged vs Managed VPS
So let’s say you’ve decided to make the move to a VPS. You’ve looked at some service providers, analyzed your options, and selected the package that best fits your current needs.
Now what?
If you’re working with an unmanaged VPS, the rest is on you. Updates, software installation, data backup, making sure these important processes occur as needed is now your responsibility. While this option yields the highest level of direct control, it also requires technical expertise to pull it off.
To combat this, IaaS companies have begun offering Managed VPS hosting as an option for their clients. With managed VPS, a technician working on-site can oversee these necessary maintenance procedures for an additional monthly fee.
Through managed VPS hosting, users have the control and customization options of a dedicated server with a price-tag and maintenance responsibility more akin to shared hosting. These reasons make VPS a perfect solution for companies in need of a service that can grow alongside them.
Considerations when Choosing a VPS Hosting Provider
Like with any hosting service, there are three important factors to consider when looking for the right provider:
- Affordability – does the cost of the service fit into your monthly/yearly budget?
- Reliability – does the hosting service provide a consistently stable experience for its users?
- Customer Service – will your questions and needs be handled in a timely manner and with minimal downtime?
