What Is VPS Hosting?

What Is VPS Hosting?

by | Oct 18, 2023 | All Posts, Vps Hosting

For growing businesses who need more hosting features than basic shared hosting, but aren’t ready for dedicated hosting on a private server, VPS, or virtual private server hosting, can fill the bill. Flexible, scalable, and more secure than shared hosting, VPS offers users the experience of a private server with the economy of a shared physical space.

How Does VPS Hosting Services Work?

VPS hosting combines features of both shared and dedicated hosting, designed for those whose sites have outgrown the limitations of a shared hosting environment. This hybrid model uses a form of virtual technology called hypervisor to partition a single server into multiple independent spaces, or virtual machines, each with its own operating system and infrastructure. Although each VPS site on the server operates in isolation, it receives an allocation of the server’s shared resources, which are distributed among all the sites using that server.

A user’s virtual machine can be used to host a single company website, or to host multiple websites under a single account – a strategy that might be used by startup web hosting companies for hosting the sites of multiple customers. But, all sites hosted by an individual virtual machine must still draw a share from the available resources of the single hosting server.

In this way, virtual private server hosting allows users to configure and manage sites independently, as with a dedicated server, but at a much lower cost. In a VPS hosting environment, users can enjoy complete control over virtually all aspects of a site’s features and functions, with better performance and scalability than shared hosting. For many businesses, VPS hosting services may have all the features needed to accommodate growth, without the need for “upgrading” to dedicated hosting at all.

VPS Offers Control and Customization

In shared hosting environments, users typically have relatively limited control over the features and functions of the sites they own. A host’s individual hosting packages can establish which aspects of a site can be changed or reconfigured but, in general parameters, are set by the host, and users typically are not given the level of access needed to configure core aspects of a site’s appearance and functions.

As in all other hosting environments, the VPS hosting provider is responsible for the maintenance of the physical server, as well as for upgrading server software and managing its core resources of memory, bandwidth, and computing power. But, users can take control of all other aspects of configuring and managing their sites.

In VPS hosting, users have full access to the site’s operating system, including unrestricted root access and administrator permissions. That allows site owners with experience in web development and design to configure their sites from the ground up, with the ability to configure the site’s infrastructure and install any software or applications that are relevant to the company’s operations. That might include installing industry-specific security features, payment gateways or apps for protecting consumer information. For those without this level of technical expertise, though, VPS hosting providers typically offer support and assistance for setting up and maintaining sites on the virtual server.

VPS Improves Performance

Sites in a shared hosting environment can be affected by issues involving neighboring sites on the server. Surges in traffic, security breaches, and other events affecting other sites can cause a site to experience slow speeds or downtime – or even crash because of sudden demand placed on a shared server’s resources spread among hundreds or thousands of sites.

VPS hosting improves site performance because it reduces the risk of problems like this, although it doesn’t eliminate them entirely. Because each VPS site is isolated from others on the server, users face a lower risk of “contamination” from a compromised neighboring site. But VPS users still share a single server, even if it hosts fewer sites than a typical shared server would. That means that each account has an allocation of overall server resources, just as in a shared hosting environment. And, in the same way, when another site on the VPS server happens to draw more than its allotted share, that can affect the performance of other sites around it.

VPS Enhances Security

VPS hosting can be significantly more secure than shared hosting, thanks to the virtual partitioning that keeps sites separate. It also has the ability for users to install the kind of security features that are relevant to the site’s specific needs.

VPS hosting providers are responsible for installing and maintaining the essential security features of the server itself, which provides protection against a wide range of web-based cyber threats or prevents cybercriminals from attacking. But, because sites on those servers maintain their separateness, the risk of infections by malware and viruses from an adjacent site is greatly reduced. Users are also able to directly install any type of security and monitoring applications they need within the site itself so that security measures can be customized to suit individual needs.

VPS Can Be Scalable

For users looking for more room to grow, VPS offers a level of scalability that’s beyond the scope of most shared hosting and offers users a smaller slice of a server’s shared resources. With fewer accounts drawing from the resources of a VPS server, users typically have access to more bandwidth and memory. But, those resources are still finite, so a site that experiences rapid growth and a significant increase in traffic may still need to upgrade to another service tier or find another hosting solution, such as a VPS host with larger allocations or even a dedicated hosting provider.

An Economical Solution for Growing Businesses

VPS hosting plans offer an economical hosting alternative for small but growing businesses. With basic VPS plans that can rival the higher tiers of shared hosting packages, VPS offers many of the benefits of much higher priced dedicated hosting services. Within the VPS hosting environment, users can also choose from a variety of tiered plans with varying service options ranging from completely unmanaged to managed services that handle most aspects of a site’s setup and daily maintenance. Within the parameters of the shared physical server, VPS hosting can be upgraded as needed, at predictable monthly rates.

VPS hosting isn’t for everyone. But, this hybrid solution combines essential features of lower cost shared hosting with the privacy and control of higher-end dedicated server hosting to offer growing businesses a flexible hosting option for the present – and the future.

What Is VPS Hosting?

What is Dedicated Hosting?

by | Oct 18, 2023 | All Posts, Dedicated Hosting

For first-time site builders and owners of small websites, shared hosting can fill the bill for an affordable price, but that option may not be able to meet the needs of larger, more complex sites and those with high traffic volume. For those users, dedicated hosting offers a scalable, highly customizable alternative that bypasses the limitations and risks of shared hosting in favor of sole occupancy on a server reserved exclusively for a single website.

How Does Dedicated Hosting Work?

In all web hosting models, account holders’ sites are hosted and maintained on the servers of a remote provider that is also responsible for essential maintenance and some site management, depending on the type of hosting plan. To keep costs low, shared hosting providers put many accounts on the same server, where they draw from the server’s shared resources.

In this environment, any site can be affected by the behavior of its neighbors on the server. A surge in traffic on one site can cause others to run slowly or experience interruptions in service and the basic security measures put in place by the provider may not be able to stop the malicious activity that infects sites through shared technology. And, since shared hosting is designed for smaller sites with low traffic, when a site’s monthly traffic volume exceeds a cap set by the provider, the account can be terminated.

Dedicated hosting avoids those issues by providing a more flexible, efficient, and safe alternative for growing sites with an ever-increasing volume of traffic, as well as the established sites of large companies. In this hosting model, a provider makes an entire server and all its resources available to a single client, with varying levels of support and maintenance available depending on the provider’s hosting plans.

Although dedicated web hosting can cost considerably more than basic shared hosting, this kind of hosting environment offers far more flexibility, privacy and user control than other kinds of web hosting solutions. The benefits of dedicated web hosting include enhanced performance, better security, complete customer control, and a spectrum of support services from the hosting provider. If these are the kind of features you are looking for, get started with dedicated hosting today.

Enhanced Website Performance

In a dedicated hosting environment, all resources such as bandwidth, RAM and CPU output on a user’s contracted server are dedicated to supporting that user’s single site. That ensures maximum uptime with no “competition” from other sites on a shared server so that a site’s performance can’t be affected by shifts in the use of those shared resources. With all resources available at all times, dedicated hosting can also offer enhanced speeds and added stability for businesses whose computing needs involve sensitive financial transactions or the handling of personal information.

Superior Security for Unique Needs

Dedicated website hosting avoids many of the security issues that worry users of shared hosting services. Depending on the hosting plan, dedicated hosting users may be able to install security measures designed to meet their specific needs alongside – or in place of – those that are provided by the host. Because sites on dedicated servers don’t share space with others, they face no risk of becoming “infected” through shared technology by malware or malicious activity directed at a neighboring site on a shared server.

Each server used for hosting has its own IP address and, in a shared hosting environment, that IP address is also shared by all the sites, both legitimate and questionable, that are using that server. Because no other sites share a server in a dedicated hosting situation, each site has a unique IP address, which eliminates confusion and adds additional layers of security that can be essential for processing financial and medical transactions.

Flexibility for Customization

Dedicated hosting makes it possible for users to have virtually complete control over all aspects of their sites – or leave some or all of its management in the hands of the hosting provider. With managed hosting plans, the host handles ongoing site management along with maintaining the server itself, while self-managed hosting allows site owners complete control of all aspects of their site, with only server maintenance and support provided by the host. In both models, though, users are free to install software packages and security features of their choice to meet the specific needs of the site and the company behind it.

Dedicated hosting also provides scalability for the life of a site. Though a site can outgrow the limited resources of a shared hosting environment fairly quickly, the resources of a dedicated server make it possible to scale a site to just about any size – and to add the additional features and functionality it needs at every stage of development. Dedicated hosting packages allow for scalability, too, with tiered pricing that reflects added RAM, bandwidth, and other features as needed.

Ongoing Technical and Server Support

Dedicated hosting providers typically offer around the clock technical support from a well-trained staff with the expertise to resolve issues of all kinds – an important aspect of this kind of hosting, since users can opt to handle all aspects of site management on their own. Hosts also provide ongoing server support, including maintenance and installing upgrades and other features as needed for optimum performance and uptime. All costs for maintaining the server are assumed by the provider, but users can purchase and install any software they choose.

Who Needs Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting is not for everyone. This kind of hosting can be expensive, costing hundreds per month, although some providers offer self-managed economy plans for less. For new users with small sites or longtime sites with small amounts of traffic, shared hosting at a lower cost might be the right choice for both short and long-term needs.

For sites that have, or expect to have significant traffic, dedicated hosting provides the needed resources to accommodate site visits numbering into the millions. Dedicated hosting also supports complex sites that require extensive customization, such as those sponsored by large e-commerce businesses and other kinds of enterprises. This kind of hosting may also be right for sites that demand strict security, such as those involving financial transactions or the handling of medical data and patient information.

Shared hosting options may be all a small site needs for the duration of its life, but with exclusive server resources and extensive user support, dedicated hosting provides the flexibility and scalability that can sustain a website’s growth and development now and for the future.

What Is VPS Hosting?

Benefits of Shared Web Hosting

by | Oct 18, 2023 | All Posts, Shared Webhosting, Webhosting

Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and independent creatives know that a website is an essential tool for spreading their message and building their brand, but the costs of hosting that website can create an insurmountable obstacle for new site owners on a tight budget. Offered by a wide range of hosting providers, shared hosting is an affordable option that lets users set up an online presence quickly and easily. While shared hosting has definite drawbacks, especially for high traffic sites, this kind of hosting is inexpensive, accessible, modestly scalable, and requires little or no knowledge of website design and development.

What is Shared Hosting?

Before we talk more about the most notable shared hosting benefits let’s first what it is by definition. Shared hosting is one of a number of hosting options offered by providers around the world. As its name suggests, in a shared hosting environment multiple websites, potentially thousands of them, are hosted on the same server, which is owned and maintained by the hosting provider. All sites on that server must share the server’s resources, which include bandwidth, memory and computing power, and those are allotted equally to all accounts on the server. Users can set up multiple websites under a single account as long as they don’t exceed the limitations on resources that are set by the provider.

The hosting provider maintains the servers and takes care of security and upgrades, but users are responsible for setting up and running their own sites, usually with installable scripts available from the host or with the help of the host’s support staff when needed. Because shared hosting involves many websites, but the resources of only one server, providers can offer this kind of hosting for extremely low costs – often less than $5 per month on many promotional plans.

Who Should Use Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting packages for these prices typically have minimal features and support services, but users can often upgrade to a higher shared hosting tier that offers added services for additional fees. For some users, shared hosting plans are the only kind they’ll ever need, but a site might “outgrow” a shared hosting situation as it acquires more visibility and traffic, and require more hosting resources than shared hosting can offer, such as managed or dedicated server hosting that reduces or eliminates the sharing of servers and offers a long list of additional features.

Shared web hosting costs far less than those other types of web hosting and allows users on a shoestring to find an online home for their site. But, security risks come with the shared technology and resources on a single server packed with many different kinds of sites. And, what happens with one site on the shared server, such as a spike in traffic that suddenly gobbles up large amounts of computing power, can affect many others with downtime or slowdowns. Still, for new site owners and those with small, low traffic sites, the benefits of shared hosting can significantly outweigh those drawbacks. Here’s why.

Shared Hosting is Affordable

As we’ve noted, shared hosting plans are typically very inexpensive, typically costing only a few dollars per month on a provider’s introductory promotional rates. Those rates typically go up to the site’s standard package rate after that promotional period ends, but even at those standard rates, shared hosting remains the least expensive option for basic website hosting. And while shared hosting generally offers relatively few extra features, it does include the essentials for setting up and maintaining a small website.

Shared Hosting is Accessible

The low cost and easy availability of shared hosting make it possible for just about anyone to open an account, sign a contract and begin setting up a site. This kind of hosting is offered by most general web hosting providers, although it may not be available from hosting providers that are dedicated to serving specific niches and website types.

A new shared hosting account typically includes the basic tools for getting a small site up and running, too. Some, such as one-click installs of content management systems like WordPress and easy website builders like Wix are free and included with a new account, while others can be added for additional fees. Depending on their level of expertise, users can use the host’s built-in tools to develop their site elsewhere and upload it to the hosting account or stick with the site building and content management options offered by the host.

Shared Hosting Can Scale

Shared hosting works best for new sites and small sites that don’t see much traffic. That allows them to remain within the limits established by many users drawing from a shared server’s finite resources and allows sites room to grow – to an extent. Once a site reaches a certain level of monthly traffic or uses its allotted disk space, it may need to upgrade to a different tier of shared hosting or switch to another kind of hosting entirely.

Shared Hosting Doesn’t Require Design Skills

Opening a shared hosting account can be a new site owner’s first foray into the world of website creation – and they may not have the means to hire a designer to create and manage their site. Most shared hosting providers offer basic site creation tools for setting up a small site without the need for specialized website development skills or familiarity with code.

From a central control panel, users can do tasks such as customize the site’s theme and settings and manage its content without any specialized knowledge of web design. Widely used site builders and CMS options also allow more web-savvy users to make more customized changes, as long as they’re within the terms of the provider’s contract.

Although shared hosting users generally set up and manage their own sites, they can turn to the hosting company’s support staff for help with a wide range of problems ranging from basic setup issues to troubleshooting specific problems as they arise. Tutorials and FAQs on the host site can also help users solve problems and make needed changes to their sites. For an additional fee, many providers also offer site setup using a variety of site builders.

Every business needs a website, and there’s a hosting option to meet every need. Shared hosting may not be right for large sites and those with a high volume of traffic. But, because this kind of hosting service is affordable, accessible and even moderately scalable, this user-friendly option offers webmasters on a budget a way to easily establish an online presence.