Linux Based Virtual Private Servers

During the past several years, the web hosting service in general has been constantly evolving in a positive manner. This was mainly due to the fact that a lot of people realized that having a web site is a great way to make your idea, or product, known to the world. Due to the high demand and the web hosting business saw the need for various types of web hosting services, which can suit the different types of users. Therefore, today, besides the standard shared web hosting service, we have services like semi-dedicated servers, fully dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and most importantly- virtual servers.

Flexibility and control

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server and as the name itself suggests, it is a virtual private system, which imitates the capabilities and the functionality of a dedicated hosting server. Each VPS hosting account has its own, completely independent operating system, to which the user has full root access, thus being able to make all kinds of alterations to the server's system files and settings. In the past, such services were mainly used by professional system administrators, who hosted certain services which require root access and privacy, but do not need the full hosting features of a dedicated server. Such as service, for instance, is the Voice Over IP, or shortly know as VOIP, which is basically a phone line that goes through a webserver, thus allowing the administrator to easily set up and manage a large telephone network, usually for business purposes. In any case, today the VPS web hosting service is far more user-friendly, thus no special programming skills, or any programming skills for that matter, are required. Since the introduction and the evolvement of the web hosting control panels, today practically anyone can sign up for a virtual private server and manage just like a shared hosting account- through a graphical interface. And even though the management process is quite similar, the VPS is very different than a shared hosting service. Since it is a private server, it offers far more hosting features, allowing the user's website to support a greater number of visitors. In addition, the full root access makes it possible for the website itself to become more complicated and more diverse. For instance, since video/audio streaming is fully supported on VPS accounts and streaming videos will not result in getting your service suspended for overload, the webmaster can implement video and audio files on his website, without the risk of website downtime.

Reasons for moving to a VPS account

The most common reason, for people to upgrade their shared hosting service to a private server, is the fact that their website popularity has grown, the daily website traffic has increased and thus the website no longer fits within the limitations of a shared hosting service. When that happens, the user has to move either to a dedicated server, or to a virtual private server. And since fully dedicated servers are quite expensive, and in most cases are absolutely unnecessary, the VPS is the perfect solution. In fact, although most VPS services are almost at the same price as the normal shared hosting accounts, people still prefer the shared hosting instead, due to some outdated believe that virtual servers are hard to manage. Another reason for switching to a VPS hosting, may be the need of extending the website's functionality, such as adding an online stream, or the need of a certain software- for instance the Magento content management system requires an InnoDB storage engine which is rarely available on share web hosting accounts. Whatever the reason, the VPS web hosting is the perfect solution for any web hosting user, even for the beginners, contrary to popular believes.

Windows vs. Linux

The virtual private servers are available under both Windows and Linux platforms, meaning that there are two types of VPSes- Windows based and Linux based. For the past several years, Microsoft have been trying to overtake the web hosting market, however, their attempts did not achieve anything more than a mediocre success. Being a closed-source OS, Windows does not offer many possibilities for system customization. In addition, the server setup being the same on every Windows based platform, the risk of a successful hacker, or a virus attack, is much greater. This, on the other hand, is where Linux shows its great potential. Its open-sourced code allows the programmer to integrate his own, unique scripting which makes almost every Linux based web server secured in a different fashion. This does not only help protecting the server and minimizing the risk of a potential attack, but also improves the server's overall performance. Therefore, as far as web hosting is concerned, Linux based servers are far more stable and reliable and therefore, are preferred by both system administrators and website owners.

Breaking the misbelief

Virtual private servers are still referred to by most people, as being an advanced service which is not suitable for novice users and this was indeed the case, some few years back. Today, however, managing a Linux based VPS service is just as easy as managing a normal shared hosting account. Due to that, and because of its affordable price, it now represents the perfect solution for anyone, who wishes his website to run under a secured and fast environment, where the it can grow without undisturbed, by the limitations of the technologically outdated, shared web hosting services.