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VPS vs. Shared Hosting - Do You Need a VPS?

VPS6NET

New Member
We often hear the question, "do I need a VPS?" Whether you are looking to upgrade from Shared hosting, or find a cost-effective alternative to dedicated server hosting, a VPS will most likely be the perfect fit for your budget and needs.


Shared hosting, virtual private servers, and dedicated servers are often compared as three of the main web hosting solutions, occupying "tiers" one above the other. Shared hosting is the cheapest option, but also the least secure and lowest in quality. Conversely, dedicated servers are very secure and completely customizable, but often very expensive and difficult to maintain.-VPS hosting is a solution that hybridizes the two: host servers are populated with multiple users, like Shared hosting, yet every VPS environment is completely private and customizable, like dedicated server hosting.-Below is an in-depth look at the key differences between Shared and VPS hosting.

Platform Capabilities-- VPS vs. Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting accounts are typically setup with a panel like cPanel or Plesk, where users have access only to the "user level." Aside from FTP, the control panel will be the user's only method of server administration, and server functions will be limited, in large extent, by those available in the control panel.
A virtual private server, by contrast, has essentially the same capabilities as a dedicated server. Though cPanel or another control panel can be installed on a VPS (this is how many Shared resellers setup their hosts),-a VPS user will have-complete-control over the system via the "secure shell," or SSH.-There are absolutely no limits imposed on a VPS beyond the limits of hardware; any VPS will allow you the ability to create "unlimited domains," "unlimited users," etc, up to the capacity of the CPU, RAM, and disk space allocated to your VPS.

Security-- VPS vs. Shared Hosting:
Insecurity is a basic and innate flaw of Shared hosting environments. Since every user on a Shared hosting server will be running applications within the same filesystem and same operating system, there is relatively great opportunity for a single user to exploit the system and negatively affect all other users hosted on the same server.
A VPS, like a dedicated server, will remain almost completely isolated from other virtual servers.-Every VPS runs its own independent operating system, and in some virtual servers, even its own kernel (see OpenVZ vs. Xen: What's the difference, and which is better?). This allows VPS users to customize their own firewalls and security settings, totally independently of other virtual servers running on the same host.

Options and Extensibility-- VPS vs. Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting providers have complete control over what will be available to you in your Shared hosting environment, and the options are usually very limited. A setup that is compatible with one host may be completely unusable with another host, because of limits on the ability of users to customize software like mailservers, webservers, and MySQL. You will also be out of luck if you require an operating system (OS) or software that your Shared host does not support.
However, since a VPS is just a server inside another server, or "virtual server," you will have-complete control over your individual server's environment. With most VPS providers, you can choose from many different operating systems; with any VPS host, you will have the ability to-install any software you need. VPS hosts will set absolutely no restrictions on what can be installed (excluding, of course, applications that are illegal or extremely resource-intensive).

Resource Allocation-- VPS vs. Shared Hosting:
In a Shared hosting environment, all hardware resources are shared among all users, with virtual limits set for the amount of bandwidth, disk space, and other resources available to each user. The individual users' resources are not in any way separated, nor can server performance be effectively monitored on a per-user basis, hence the notorious overselling, "unlimited" resource allocations, and poor performance too-often associated with Shared hosting.
On a VPS node (host server), each virtual server is allocated a "hard" amount of disk space, RAM, and other server resources. Though different virtualization techniques handle this slightly differently (see-OpenVZ vs. Xen: What's the difference, and which is better?), VPS resources are basically equivalent to actual "slices" of the physical hardware in a server: one slot of RAM reserved for one VPS, one CPU core reserved for one VPS, etc. These dedicated resources, combined with advanced per-user monitoring tools, make virtual private server hosting far more reliable than shared hosting.

Convenience-- VPS vs. Shared Hosting:
Although Shared hosting offers the convenience of a straightforward and easy-to-use control panel for server management (which can also be installed on a VPS), virtual private server hosting offers an even greater convenience: the ability to setup a customized system that can be painlessly upgraded or downgraded at any time. Due to the virtual nature of VPS hosting, where multiple "containers" coexist on the same host server,-administration of virtual servers is considerably more efficient than dedicated hosting, and has many more options available than Shared hosting.-Where a Shared host may simply suspend a user for a traffic spike or sudden increase in resource usage, a VPS host can seamlessly expand a virtual server's resource allocation to accommodate higher demand.


To answer the original question,-yes!-Make the move to a VPS today, and see why virtual servers are the fastest-growing trend in web hosting.

 
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Good attempt at the topic, nice 1. But the links to your own site make the purpose of this forum post glaringly obvious!
 
well
it is a intresting post ( so far i read the big lines)
but if you want to post difference betwean Xen and openvz then take a look at this page
http://powerchaos.com/vps-servers.html

it explains the difference betwean openVZ , Xen and parrallels ( virtuozo)

then to provide a bit of comment
it all depends what system you use for your vps system
if you use openvz then it is shared and not even dedicated aka hardware virtualisation

there is a price difference to betwean the packages , hardware virtualisation (like xen , XenServer , VMware , ESXII, ... ) is more expensive then software virtualisation ( like openvz , virtuozo, ... )

but to answer the question of the topic

you only need a vps if you use more resources then the hsot allow , shared hosting is good to start until a X amount of visitors or if you like to put a blog on it that use plugins to grab posts from other sites , or a proxy or any other script that use a lot of ram and traffic

for the vps it depends again on what you use , do you like full control over your wordpress blog then a vps is fine , else it can be on shared hosting
do you want to config everything on your own -> vps
so it all depends what you want to do in first place (and your budget)

now to make it even more fun , you can sometimes better use a dedicated server
it depends on the amount of traffic you use , the hd space you need and amount of ram
as a vps got limited traffic and mainly limited ram ( also a vps is shared)
but that depends on your budget and your project

to give a example, if you start a filehost then you go dedicated ( lots of traffic)
if you start a webhost then you got vps/dedicated (preffer dedicated but it depends on amount of clients :p )
if you start a video sharing site like youtube -> webhosting is enouf for a certain time , but again a vps is needed to be good (or dedi , depends what you all do -> hd space )

so choosing is hard and difficult , it cost money to make the right desision and it is complicated to calculate what you exact need
mainly a vps is a good solution for everything if you know what you do , else it is just webhosting
but if you know you go extreme or get a massive amount of visitors a day then a dedicated server is a must

hopely this explains the difference betwean them :D

Greetings From PowerChaos
 
There is no denying the fact that shared plan is most economical option for hosting as many people share the overall cost of server maintenance. This is generally affordable web hosting solution for small business. VPS has had much better uptime, is much faster, and gives you much more freedom.
 
Forum like FreeWebSpace is a place to discuss web hosting and other website maintenance and business topics, to ask questions and get answers. I'm not a moderator, but the forum is certainly not a place to post some kind of article-like threads. if you want to see you signature under the posts, you'd better join conversations, stay on the topic and contribute to the forums.
 
Nice article but instead of posting the content you could have shared the url to avoid content duplication. ;)
 
VPS = Run many time of applications.

Shared = restricted to running only a website.

That's not necessarily true - some shared hosting plans allow for the addition of multiple addon domains (through cPanel, etc.). I think this topic is extremely subjective and varies greatly on the buyer's specific needs.
 
That's not necessarily true - some shared hosting plans allow for the addition of multiple addon domains (through cPanel, etc.). I think this topic is extremely subjective and varies greatly on the buyer's specific needs.

What he means is that most shared hosting doesn't allow shell access, only things that can run through a web interface are allowed.

A VPS doesn't have such a limitation, things like IRCds and gameservers can be put on a VPS where they probably would not have been allowed by a shared host.
 
Shared hosting is a lot like living in an apartment building with a courtyard, garden or pool that is also used by your neighbors. With this type of web hosting, you share the same physical server with other businesses or users. There is no reason to be concerned, though. No one using the server is able to see what others have on it. With shared hosting, you simply share some of the physical resources with other users.

Virtual private server hosting is similar to living in a single-residence home or a duplex that requires you to maintain your own space. The responsibility is entirely yours, but you have the benefit of being able to customize the space however you see fit. If your website deals with secured data or resource-heavy applications, VPS hosting may be the way to go.
 
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