VPS Hosting vs. Dedicated Server Hosting

If you are a business running a mission critical website or are an individual who is hosted websites on behalf of others and needs to be able to guarantee a certain amount of reliability, then you will most likely be considering a method of server hosting in order to use a web hosting service that is able to meet your needs and requirements. Server hosting services are designed for those who need a dedicated environment in which they can host their websites, and also need a greater amount of reliability since with server hosting services your websites are unlikely to be affected by server performance or the performance of other users websites. Although VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting have their similarities, the two different forms of web hosting are still different in many ways including how they respond to certain commands as well as overall server performance. Server hosting is able to provide you with greater uptime than if you were to use shared web hosting services, meaning that if you are hosting your business websites on a shared hosting package, there could be many advantages to be had if you move over to server hosting services. If you are also after greater performance, then you can even consider server hosting such as VPS hosting if you have a low budget.

The main pupose of a server hosting service is to allow you to expand your website operations, since many move up to server hosting from shared hosting simply because their websites have outgrown the limits that are in place on shared web hosting packages. There are many advantages with using a server of your own instead of a shared or reseller hosting package, and the main of these advantages is to ensure that you receive a better web hosting service which is what you need for your websites. Web hosting providers also strive to ensure that you have a good server hosting experience. Such server hosting advantages that you may notice could include:

• reliability - the performance of shared web hosting servers can be compromised by the users that they are hosting, which in turn can affect the performance of other user’s websites; server hosting services on the other hand provide you with a dedicated environment, but VPS hosting services can be affected by the performance of other VPS hosting servers hosted on the same node, but only slightly
• dedicated environment - with the use of a dedicated environment, you are able to install any programs of your choice without affecting the performance of other user’s websites, it also allows you to carry out custom configurations if you need to ensure that any websites that you are hosting are able to function correctly
• dedicated resources - with server hosting, you are given your own dedicated resources which are unable to be used by any other users - with VPS hosting you will find that the CPU is shared amongst all the VPS servers hosted on one node, although the resources that you are given with dedicated server hosting are yours to use only and no-one else can use them.

The mix of more reliable web hosting services as well as having your own dedicated environment and resources means that your websites are unlikely to be affected by the performance of other websites which would otherwise be hosted on the same server as yours in the case of shared web hosting services. At the end of the day, all most people want from their web hosting package is reliability and a good amount of uptime so that visitors are able to pass through as they wish; a web hosting package with true reliability is only possible with server hosting services.

Although VPS hosting is designed as a form of server hosting, it is priced to allow those who are unable to afford a dedicated server to purchase something similar which should cover their requirements; the pricing of VPS hosting also tends to be just slightly more than that of shared and reseller hosting. It’s not only the pricing of VPS servers which sets them apart form dedicated servers, but in terms of resources the CPU of the hosting node is shared amongst all of the hosted VPS servers - however, although the other resources such as RAM and disk space are guaranteed.

VPS servers tend to be of a lower specification that dedicated servers since the specifications of a VPS server are determined by the physical resources of the hosting node as well as how many VPS servers a web hosting provider wishes to fit onto a single hosting node. Dedicated servers on the other hand can be configured to any specification you want, high or low; there are many different options available for dedicated servers than there are for VPS servers - for example, you can have multiple hard drives in a dedicated server. Dedicated servers can also take a lot more RAM than VPS servers can, and also allow you to upgrade any of the resources that you have to higher amounts at any time.

When purchasing either VPS servers or dedicated servers, web hosting providers will expect you to have at least some knowledge on how to manage a server. Because of this, both VPS servers and dedicated servers are available with different levels of support meaning that you are able to purchase a server hosting package based on your specification requirements as well as support requirements. However, it should be noted that servers which come with a low level of support are going to be cheaper than servers which come with high levels of support for obvious reasons. There are three main different levels of support available, which are:

• unmanaged server hosting services - unmanaged server hosting services normally come in the form of unmanaged dedicated servers, and mean that you are expected to have full knowledge on how to manage a dedicated server and that you are only provided with support for any network problems that may have been created on the side of the dedicated server host that you have chosen to use
• semi-managed services - semi-managed servers regularly come in the forms of VPS hosting and dedicated hosting, and although you are expected to have some knowledge on how to manage a server, you can still call on your web hosting provider’s support team to carry out certain tasks for you on your VPS server or dedicated server
• managed hosting services - for businesses and individuals who need to be guaranteed a certain amount of uptime, managed hosting services are important since it means that a support team can take full control of their VPS server or dedicated hosting server, meaning that the support team concerned can be contacted if the server owner wants any modifications or tasks to be carried out on their server.

If you choose the right kind of VPS or dedicated server which comes with the right level of support for you, then you will find that your server is more reliable than any other form of web hosting that you may have used in the past such as shared hosting or reseller web hosting. Support is normally provided by the web hosting provider that you choose to use, and is normally in the form of the support team that they employ.

The choice of whether you purchase a VPS hosting server or dedicated server at the of the day is down to your needs and requirements, as well as you feel that you are able to get what you need out of your chosen form of server hosting. Although VPS hosting may have its advantages if you are moving over from a form of shared hosting, there will come a point where you will have to upgrade to a dedicated server because you can’t upgrade your VPS server anymore.

If you are just an individual with a few websites to host then by all means a VPS server will be more than enough for you, but if you want to achieve the best amount of uptime available and are after high server resources, then your only choice will be a high specification dedicated server. VPS hosting does tend to provide you with a majority of the advantages that come with dedicated server hosting but at a much lower price; but dedicated server hosting on the other hand will allow you to achieve the highest amount of uptime available - the main reason being that you are unable to be affected by the performance of other users websites and servers.

In conclusion, VPS hosting services and dedicated servers have their differences but the choice on whether or not one is more suitable for your needs than another is yours and yours only to make. Server hosting services are the most reliable forms of web hosting available when compared to shared and reseller web hosting packages, but if your needs don’t extend as far as needing server hosting then you would be better off purchasing a higher end shared web hosting package that will still be able to cover your needs.