Virtual Private Servers
Virtual private servers or Virtual dedicated servers are a form of virtualization that split a single physical server into multiple virtual servers.
Virtual private servers provide:
- Site functionality
- Site performance
- Reliability
- Security
Virtual private server is a refinement on shared hosting. Along with the advantages that shared hosting provides it gives some additional advantages that are not given by shared web hosting. These are:
1. Customizable configuration
Virtual private server gives the privilege of customized configurations to suit individual preferences. This is not always possible in a shared web hosting scenario.
2. Assured root access
Make sure that your web host service provider gives you the root access when you are opting for virtual private server. This helps to give you the following:
• Instant own independent applications
• Standard access control
• Authentication mechanisms
Choosing the host that will provide virtual private server:
The following points need to be analyzed carefully once you decide on the company that will provide you this service.
1. Technical Support offered
The technical support that the company is offering is a major point that has to be considered. The expertise of their staff, technical competence, turn around time to fix major problems, accessibility and
24x7 availability has to be personally verified to be professionally relied on.
2. Existence of the company
The tenure of business of the company has to be checked. It is always recommended that you should go for a web hosting company which is in business for a considerable time; say 10 years; as it ensures that it will not be winded up soon and has the potential to ward off financial and technical difficulties that might arise.
3. Customer retention ability
The customer retention ability of the company must be high as it ensures a list of satisfied customers who continue with them. A positive feedback from the current customers also increases the faith on the company.
4. Back up measures
The company must ensure appropriate back up measures as it enhances the reliability and security. It should have the competence to tackle major mishaps for a limited time till measures are taken to remove the mishaps completely.
5. Downtime experienced
Data must be collected and stored for the downtime experienced by the server provided by the company in the past year or in the last 2 years. This gives an idea of its working.
After considering the above points the host selected should also provide:
- Superior performance
- High reliability
- Personalized services
- Economical hosting plan
Details of hardware resources offered by the host
After deciding the host documentation of the hardware resources being offered by them needs to be done. You should note:
Specifications of the host server i.e. RAM, CPU etc.
Number of Virtual Private Servers that run on the host server. This is important as sharing of the server is involved and if a large number of VPS are connected to the server it might affect the speed and its efficiency.
Resource contention- It is important to note the measures taken to handle resource contention of RAM intensive processes and CPU and what happens when more than one client run a RAM intensive process.
Details of software resources offered by the host
While deciding on the host it is important to note the details of the virtualization technology that is offered. You need to analyze the following:
- Operating System that is being offered
- Understand the logic of choosing that operating system
- User mode applied
- Compatibility with the hardware offered
- Allowable scripts
Is upgradation possible?
It is very important to discuss with the host before taking up any plan about the possibilities of a possible upgradation. Your requirements are based on certain assumptions and larger storage space may be required later on. It is not wise to start with a large plan and it is always advised to start with a basic plan.
Suppose you start with a plan of 64MB dedicated RAM and 2GB disk space. After a certain time may be a year or so you might require a comparatively more RAM and larger disk space. Now the question arises of upgradation. The host must provide the upgradation facilities and the procedure of allocating additional resources and the cost involved should be decided on at the start itself. This is because upgradation is a natural process which might be needed and if the host declines a request to upgrade at a later date it gives birth to a lot of complications. Moreover switching over to a new host is not a very easy task. Hence proper understanding with the host for possible future upgradation should be decided in advance.
Effectiveness of Virtual Private Server
Virtual Private server is a perfect solution for the following users:
1. A large company
2. An online mall
3. Domain Resellers
4. Online service providers
Virtual Private Servers is becoming popular for the various advantages that it provides to those clients who have considerable web presence but not the financial capability to own a personal dedicated server.
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