Advantages and Disadvantages of VPS Hosting

VPS hosting is seen as the fill in for the large gap that stems between standard shared website hosting, and expensive dedicated server hosting; this is because the prices of VPS hosting are very similar to those for high end shared web hosting packages, and much less than those for dedicated servers but are able to provide clients with an environment which is very similar to that of a dedicated server. Unlike standard shared website hosting, but like dedicated server hosting, you are able to install your own programs within your own VPS hosting environment - this means that you can easily customize your VPS server to work and function in the way that you want it to, which you wouldn’t be able to achieve with standard shared website hosting; this also means that if you want to host an application in an environment which needs to be custom configured, then you are able to do so at a fraction of the cost of an ordinary basic dedicated server.

VPS hosting is only really made for those who need to be able to host their applications or websites in a custom environment, since in most cases a certain amount of knowledge is needed so that you’re able to administrate your VPS, since your web host might not provide you with support in some situations; it is because of this that you should always make sure that you know what you are doing when signing up for a VPS server, since you don’t want to order it then find out that you aren’t able to use it correctly - at the end of the day, not all web hosts will give you your money back.

You should also ensure that you are aware of the specifications of the VPS that you have ordered, since in some cases web hosts can accidentally assign you with the wrong amount of a certain VPS resource, or if you are not aware of your limits you could easily end up overloading your VPS which could lead to it crashing; if your VPS crashes or overloads then you also run the risk of overloading the main VPS node on which you are hosted, which is not something that you want to do since it could lead to your web host having to suspend your VPS or even terminate it if it is continually overloading the hosting node.

You should also be careful as to what programs and types of website that you choose to host within your VPS environment, since some programs use up too many resources, which again can lead to the overloading of your VPS and the hosting node on which your VPS is hosted; your website could also be resource intensive if it is for example ‘dynamic’, meaning that every time a visitor loads a page of your website, the page has to locate and pull the required information from a database - this itself can be resource intensive meaning that if you have a site which receives a large amount of visitors and is dynamic then you should consider dedicated server hosting since it meets your needs and requirements in a more specific way. More and more web hosts are starting to provide customers with VPS solutions, since the market itself has had a steady growth over the last few years, this means that there is now a larger choice of VPS hosting packages for people who are looking to take a VPS out to choose from; the reason for this large growth is mainly down to the stabilization of the software that is used to base VPS hosting systems on - more free solutions for VPS hosting have also come about meaning that the actual price of VPS servers has been dramatically reduced, allowing people to pick a VPS solution up for as little as $5 these days.

The fine line between VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting is a blurry one, meaning that for some it is hard to distinguish the difference between the two; with the help of this article, you should be able to choose whether or not VPS hosting is for you, and what the advantages and disadvantages are when it comes down to using a VPS server for your needs.

Advantages of VPS Hosting

For many, especially those who are upgrading to VPS hosting from a shared hosting account, VPS hosting is able to bring many advantages including the ability to install any software that you want as well as being able to host your websites in your own space without the worry of being affected by any other users or websites that are hosted on the same server as you; the price of VPS hosting is also attractive to many who are in need of a dedicated server, but are unable to afford one. VPS hosting is also provides better uptime than shared web hosting, which means businesses who currently have their websites on shared hosting are attracted to VPS hosting if their websites are down frequently because of an issue on the shared web hosting server on which their account and domain reside; it is because of this that the market has begun to grow, since many are now requiring better uptime for their websites, especially those which are mission critical for some.

Dedicated Environment

The main advantage of VPS hosting over shared hosting is that you given your own dedicated environment in which you are allowed to do pretty much anything you want, just as long as it doesn’t affect the other VPS servers that are hosted on the same server as yours. With a dedicated environment, you are able to install any program that you want on your VPS so that you can configure it to work in the way you want it to, just as you would be able to with a dedicated server; this also allows you to host custom websites and application that might require certain server side settings or component in order to function, and they might not be available on standard website hosting.

Within your dedicated environment, you are able to utilize your own resources such as your own hard drive space that has been assigned to your VPS, as well as the guaranteed RAM that has been assigned to allow you to run as many programs as possible within your VPS, or just to make it run faster - although that is dependent on what you prefer. You can configure your server to be any type of server, just as long as you don’t have any type of server or web hosting control panel that has pre-installed its own services on your VPS; for example you can install Apache and use your VPS as a dedicated web server, or you could install MySQL and use your VPS as a standalone database server.

If you have a low specification VPS, then you could simply use it as a testing environment where you can test out your new websites and applications before you deploy them in a live environment, so that you are able to see what effect they will have on the server and whether there is any problems with them; this means that if the application or website is faulty and was to cause damage to the server, it would only damage the VPS which is something that can be repaired - if it was to be put live on a dedicated server or similar and was to damage the server, then the server itself may not have been repairable.

Your dedicated environment is your own, meaning that what you do within your VPS will not affect the other VPS hosted on the same server as you in any way, and anything that the other VPS on your server do will not affect your VPS; this means that unlike shared web hosting, you are able to ensure the utmost reliability, and that the main reason for your VPS to crash would be because you or your website has overloaded it with too many requests or similar.

Guaranteed Resources

Unlike shared website hosting, with VPS hosting you are given guaranteed resources that will always be available for use by your VPS server, meaning that you are given limitations as to what you are able to run on your VPS; although in some sense this might appear to be a ‘disadvantage’, the fact that you have your own guaranteed resources that can’t be used by other VPS hosted on the same server as you means that you are able to guarantee your clients or website a certain amount of reliability, depending on the amount of the guaranteed resources that you have assigned.

It is important that you know the amount of certain guaranteed resources which you have assigned to your VPS server, since these can affect what programs and services you are able to run on your VPS; for example, if you run a website which is accessing a database a lot then a low specification VPS isn’t for you, since the continual access requires a large amount of RAM otherwise you could overload your VPS. However, there is one resource which in most cases is not guaranteed equally to each individual VPS - the CPU; most web hosts have a policy which means that a VPS server can use as much CPU as it wants, but when it uses it up to a certain point the VPS is automatically shut down - on the other hand an increasing number of web hosts are starting to deploy a fair share CPU architecture, in which the CPU is split and equally shared between the VPS servers.

The three main resources that are guaranteed are disk space, RAM and bandwidth; the amount of disk space that is assigned to your VPS server physically exists on the hard drive of the host node, meaning that the space assigned is yours to use only, and no-one else’s; the amount of RAM that you have assigned is also guaranteed, meaning that the programs installed on your VPS will always have that amount to use; the amount of bandwidth is also guaranteed, meaning that you can transfer the assigned amount of data before your VPS is no longer reachable.

At the end of the day, you want to be able to ensure that you are getting good value for money, and if you have high guaranteed resources then you are able to ensure that your websites and applications which you intend to host and install on your VPS server will run smoothly - it is when your websites run smoothly that you know you are getting value for money; if you happen to have a VPS server with low guaranteed resources then you are better off using it for testing, since if it used properly then you might find that it crashes frequently.

Burstable RAM

Burstable RAM is the amount of RAM that your VPS can use once it has used up all its guaranteed RAM, meaning that you can allow your VPS to have a RAM spike every now and then, although the practice isn’t recommended since the burstable RAM might have already been claimed by another VPS hosted on the same server as you, since it can be accessed and used by all the VPS hosted on one server. The amount of burstable RAM that your VPS is able to use is dependent on the VPS plan that you have, in most cases the amount that you are able to use is double that of the guaranteed RAM that you have uniquely assigned to your VPS server; this means that if you have a VPS with 256MB guaranteed RAM, you have 512MB of burstable RAM that your VPS is able to use if it runs out of guaranteed RAM.

Burstable RAM should only be used in the most desperate of situations, since if your VPS happens to use it too frequently or ends up using too much of it, your web host may be forced to suspend or terminate your VPS since it could easily be affecting the performance of other VPS hosted on the same server as you. You shouldn’t take burstable RAM for granted, since if your VPS happens to have regular RAM spikes then you might find it crashing regularly if it is unable to acquire any spare burstable CPU; it is also for this reason that you should regularly monitor your VPS using a third party monitoring system so that you can be alerted as to when your VPS crashes if you are unable to be at your computer all the time. Burstable RAM is something that is only available with VPS servers, since dedicated servers are physical meaning that they have a physical amount of RAM which can’t be virtualized to give any extra, and shared web hosting is based on one server meaning that user don’t get their own virtual/dedicated environment in which they are able to install any programs of their choice.

In most cases you aren’t able to increase the amount of burstable RAM that your VPS has, since it is made up of the left over RAM after all the relevant VPS have been created on the server; however, you should be able to increase the amount of dedicated RAM that your VPS has, allowing you to improve the performance of your VPS at a lower cost than having to upgrade your VPS package altogether. As mentioned previously, burstable RAM is a resource which should only be dipped when really needed; this is because it could affect the performance of the other VPS that are hosted on the same server as you, meaning that your VPS might be suspended without warning - you don’t want this to happen since everything on the VPS will become unavailable. One thing to note is that burstable RAM isn’t available for Windows VPS because of the architecture of the Windows operating system; it is only available for Linux VPS based on either OpenVZ or XEN.

Disadvantages of VPS Hosting

Although VPS hosting might have a few advantages that will benefit most, it also has disadvantages like any type of hosting does, that have the ability to affect how some people are able to use their VPS server. If you are new to VPS hosting, then the main disadvantage for you will be that you might not be able to use your VPS correctly, since you might not have the required amount of knowledge to - in this case you should read a few VPS tutorials before parting with any money on one. Another main disadvantage of VPS hosting is the fact that in some cases the CPU of the main server is not equally shared between all the hosted VPS, meaning that it is open to compromise from rogue VPS, and if done correctly a rogue VPS could easily bring down the whole node if it ends up using too much of the CPU.

CPU

In some cases, the way the CPU is used by all the VPS hosted on the same server as yours can prove to be a disadvantage, sine in most cases the system architecture of the virtualization software means that the actions of other VPS hosted on the same server as your can easily affect the performance of yours; if this is the case for your VPS, then you should consider moving to a web host where they deploy the correct type of CPU splitting to ensure that the performance of your VPS isn’t affected by the performance of others on the same node as yours.

In most cases the CPU of the host node is not evenly distributed between all the VPS that are hosted on the node, meaning that the VPS are able to use up as much or as little of the CPU as needed - this system is open to abuse since one VPS can easily use up the whole CPU and cause the whole node to crash, in turn bringing down all the VPS on that single node; however, most VPS virtualization softwares have a monitoring system of sorts built in, meaning that if a VPS was to use up too much of the CPU, that VPS would be automatically suspended or shut down as to ensure that it isn’t able to affect the performance of other VPS hosted on the same node. If too much CPU is being utilized by another VPS hosted on the same node as yours, then you might notice that your VPS becomes un-responsive to certain commands, and that your website may not be loading meaning that it might be timing out; this will be because there is not enough CPU left to process your requests, which is not something that you want - it is because of this reason that you should try and choose a web host that deploys a fair share CPU architecture so that you are guaranteed a certain share of the physical CPU.

If your VPS is based on a node that is using fair share CPU architecture, then you are able to ensure that there will always be a certain amount of the CPU available for you use, meaning that you are able to guarantee your website or clients a certain level of reliability; also, with fair share CPU architecture, it is more or less impossible for one VPS alone to bring the entire VPS node down since the amount of CPU assigned to each VPS would not crash the entire server if it was used up - this means that it would take several VPS that are maxing out their CPU to crash an entire VPS node. Although in some cases, such as with the use of fair share CPU architecture, the CPU of a VPS may appear to be at an advantage, overall when you consider all the options the CPU architecture of a regular VPS can be classed as a disadvantage.

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