VPS hosting is one of the best hosting solutions available within the industry. So much so that there is a myriad of offerings that fall within the hosting environment.
For that reason, it can be a daunting task when seeking a hosting provider to sign up for VPS hosting. Many questions may arise on how you should go about choosing a host, the VPS package that suits you and then managed vs unmanaged.
For that reason, we’ve created this bite-size guide outlining the crucial things you need to know before you sign up for your VPS hosting account.
Table of Contents
What is VPS Hosting?
In case you’re new to internet hosting, VPS stands for a virtual private server. This is a hosting environment where the server is split into individualized compartments or mini virtual servers with their own resources. Therefore you rent a virtual server with all of its own amenities and server resources to host your own website. You get the benefit and cost-effectiveness of a shared hosting environment and the power of a dedicated server.
Because your website has all of the server resources allocated to it, it allows for faster speeds, an added layer of web security because you don’t share the server with other websites, thus absolute privacy, and the opportunity to opt-in to have managed VPS.
VPS hosting is the best hosting options for small business with long term scalability in mind.
Managed vs Unmanaged VPS Hosting
One of the decisions you will have to make before choosing a VPS hosting package is whether or not you want to a managed server or an unmanaged server. If you’re unfamiliar about the difference we’ve got you covered.
Managed VPS Hosting
Your hosting provider is fully responsible for the management, upkeep and troubleshooting of your server. They will maintain the server and its resources and components, handle the security and the configuration of your server.
Unmanaged VPS Hosting
With an unmanaged VPS hosting account you will be fully responsible for your server and its maintenance. This is an option of web developers and technically savvy users that want the freedom of software customization of their VPS server.
For the full scope if managed VPS and shared hosting you can read this great article here.
5 Things to Consider before signing up for VPS Hosting
1. Location of your Server
When it comes to web hosting within your region the location of your server is important. The rule of thumb is to use a hosting provider with VPS servers in the geographical location of the majority of your web traffic. If your primary customers are based in North America then you should use a VPS Server located in North America. This makes communication between your server and your customer’s browser that much faster.
2. Server and Hardware Reliability
The server hardware of your VPS server is tantamount to the overall reliability of your website. In the past, conventional virtual servers were housed on a single dedicated server which is built with a single or dual CPU, a lot of RAM and multiple drives. The dedicated server was split into virtual compartments with resources allocated to that virtual server.
With this type of VPS server, you receive great performance, reliability, and low costs. However, it wasn’t without its drawbacks which include a single point of failure of the dedicated server, limited scalability, etc.
Hosting technology continues to evolve. Now you can get Cloud-based virtual private servers built on SAN (Storage Area Network) and Blade environments. These environments are generally enterprise grade and when designed for optimum use they offer high levels of redundancy, scalability, and include higher availability.
At Hostific we use VPS hosting with advanced functionality. Our cloud-based VPS solutions are custom-made with industry-leading SAN. Thus you are afforded multiple domains, FTP accounts, and much more. We use SSD servers that are advanced and allow servers to process request faster than the competition, leading to enhanced page load speeds.
3. Virtualization Type
There are various Virtualization options on the market today and there is certainly no ‘one size fits all’ solution. All the virtual options provide you with a decent platform. However, we recommended that you do some research and find out which is best for you. The best web hosting providers utilize KVM virtualization.
KVM provides hardware-assisted virtualization for a wide variety of guest operating systems including Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows, Haiku, ReactOS, and much more.
Additionally, KVM provides paravirtualization— this virtualization type is a software layer that organizing all communication between the hardware level and the operating systems. It supports for Linux, OpenBSD, and Windows guests using the VirtIO API. This includes a paravirtual Ethernet card, disk I/O controller, balloon device, and a VGA graphics interface using SPICE or VMware drivers.
Other Virtualization Options:
Operating system virtualization – Example of this type are OpenVZ, essentially each container is a representation of the underlying operating system and must use the same kernel as the host server.
Hardware Emulation:
VMware is an example of hardware emulation, this form of virtualization replicates the server hardware in software and allows multiple operating systems to be installed on a single server.
4. Flexibility
For the most part, the reason users decide to switch to VPS is that they have outgrown their shared hosting environment. VPS offers them a lot more for their money with added layers of features. When decided on your VPS plan make sure that there is a number of plans that enable you to grow and expand, scale up or down.
5. Value for Money
You get what you pay for and scared money simply won’t make any money. With that being said, making the switch to VPS hosting is an investment into your business’ future. Luckily for you, the price point won’t break the bank and this hosting option is worth every penny. Think carefully about the plan you choose. You want to leave room for expansion as your website continues to grow and your traffic continues to increase.
That’s a wrap!
We hope we’ve helped you and given you a lot to think of before you upgrade to VPS hosting. VPS remains the best hosting solution in the industry and so there is no way but up from here.