A Virtual Private Server or VPS is a cost-effective hosting solution that is a trade-off between dedicated hosting and shared hosting. The main server hosting your site is partitioned into multiple segments giving you a “dedicated” virtual server. It gives you the control and many of the benefits of a dedicated server without being as costly.
VPS has become extremely popular lately and prices are continuously coming down. This trend is expected to continue.
VPS offers you a much greater degree of control over your environment and resources. Restrictions are minimal and you are free to install software, configure things as you would like them and use your choice of control panel. Shared hosting does not give you that freedom. Another important benefit is that you will get root access and you are able to make use of scripts. This gives you great flexibility to do things yourself as and when you need to. You are also not bound by some of the security restrictions one finds on shared platforms.
Flexibility and Scalability
The great thing about a VPS hosting solution is you only select and pay for the resources you need at the time. It can quickly and easily be scaled down or up as you go, without any down time. It is a completely customized, tailored solution. If necessary, you can easily add, or decrease, RAM, disk space or vCPUs.
You never know at the start exactly how busy a website will be and traffic, as well as other factors, can change literally overnight. This flexibility is a great way to save money on unnecessary resources while still having them instantly available if and when needed. You can drive and grow your website safe in the knowledge that when there is a surge in traffic, you can immediately adapt accordingly.
Security is a major issue with hosting and a VPS offers greater levels of security than a shared solution. You are able to put in custom firewalls and set them according to your requirements. You will not be affected by threats against other websites on a shared hosting platform. Also, you will be given a unique IP address. This will prevent the conflict that often occurs on a shared system where other users are blacklisted for any reason.
An issue that is becoming more and more important these days is the environmental impact of a business. All companies need to try and reduce their carbon footprint and make use of eco-friendly technologies. Using a VPS is one way a company can assist with this. With a dedicated server, you are using all the resources of that server for yourself. With VPS, the resources, and therefore the environmental impact, is shared over multiple users. This makes VPS a greener friendly solution.
As the technology improves, the cost of hosting on VPS has come down significantly.
What was previously only viable for big business is now and affordable option even for small business. As previously stated, you only need to pay for those resources you require at the outset and upscale resources as you grow. So, you
It is likely that the technology will continue to improve and costs will continue to fall making this the only choice, apart from dedicated hosting for larger websites. Shared hosting will soon cease to exist. Companies will benefit from the improved performance, enhanced security and flexibility of a VPS without paying exorbitant prices. All this is done with less impact on the environment and can easily and instantly be scaled up as the website grows in popularity.