VPS is a modern version of hosting, which is considered universal and suitable for launching web projects of any complexity. A virtual server is a virtual operating system. On one machine, due to the use of virtualization systems (OpenVZ or Xen), several such systems can work simultaneously. Various Xen VPS Provider, OpenVZ providers are available.
The technologies allow you to over verse, and it is almost impossible to avoid the influence of two users on one machine for each other - at least for something, but they are guaranteed to compete, which will be especially noticeable if you do not put the allocated cores and disks, hard limits for iops etc.
Even with a superficial examination of the proposals for renting VPS, there is an abundance of virtualization systems offered by the hosting providers. Among them you can find OpenVZ, Virtuozzo, Xen, KVM, Microsoft Hyper-V, VDSmanager and various modifications of these technologies. Each provider brings a lot of advantages of the system it uses, but few people compare virtualization technologies with each other and talk about disadvantages.
Disadvantages and advantages
Advantages of VPS
Root-access, through which you can perform any manipulations with the file system of the server, and install additional applications
- High performance
- High Uptime (from 99%), which indicates the stability of the server equipment
- Most hosting providers provide VPS-servers with proper protection against hacking and DDoS-attacks
- You will have full control on your VPS server
- You will get power with more resources for your business websites
- Better security and performance compared to free and shared hosting
- Very easy to upgrade to the higher resources if needed
- Almost isolation from another VPSs running on the same physical machine
Disadvantages of VPS
- The performance of VPS is noticeably lower than that of dedicated servers
- They require customization (this defect is almost not felt if the provider suggests using special software for customization)
- It costs you more expensive than shared hosting
- You will need more technical skills to manage VPS server
- It’s more complicated and harder to control than shared hosting
How does VPS differ from virtual hosting?
After you order a virtual server, you will be available a certain amount of server resources. The peculiarity of VPS is that they will belong exclusively to you, and not be in the general use of many sites, which is observed when using virtual hosting.
OpenVZ is a free virtualization technology used by most hosting providers and supported by many VPS server control panels, both paid (SolusVM, VDSmanager) and free (HyperVM, OpenVZ Web Panel).
OpenVZ is actively developing, and is the first to receive all the innovations that after the break-in pass to Virtuozzo - the commercial version of OpenVZ, developed and promoted by Parallels Corporation as the optimal platform for VPS hosting.
Types of VPS hosting and types of virtualization
On modern VPS-servers the following types of virtualization are most often used: OpenVZ and Xen. The main distinguishing feature of OpenVZ is the use of a common Linux kernel for all virtual operating systems. Because of this, on servers with OpenVZ it will not be possible to start a system other than Linux. Xen virtualization uses separate kernels for all systems. Therefore, it is cross-platform.
OpenVZ is a cheaper system, so with it you will not be able to achieve high performance. Its drawbacks also include the problem of allocating resources. Ordering VPS-hosting with OpenVZ, you will notice that the actual characteristics do not correspond to those declared in the tariff plan. Xen virtualization has no problems with allocating resources and it is considered more productive.
Renting a virtual server is a process during which you should pay attention to the hardware characteristics and type of virtualization used. Choose its type depending on what performance you need and which operating system you are more comfortable with.
