Hyper-V VPS Hosting
With the release and introduction of Windows Server 2008 into the web hosting industry, many web hosting providers are taking advantage of the new features that it has to offer them and most notably many web hosting providers have started to offer Windows Server 2008 VPS servers based on the new Hyper-V virtualization platform. Hyper-V is the first serious competitor for Virtuozzo which has been seen as the most popular Windows VPS Server daemon for the past few years, but because of the extra costs many web hosting providers are more tempted to use a free solution that will come as part of their Windows operating system license. Windows Server 2008 is able to offer web hosting providers just more than Hyper-V; it is able to offer them a reliable platform on which they can host customer VPS servers with ease, and such new features including IIS will also benefit end-users at the end of the day. Since Hyper-V comes free with Windows Server 2008, you may find that some VPS hosting providers are able to offer you Windows VPS Servers for less than you’re paying at the moment, although the features provided may not be up to the standard that you have available with your current Windows VPS. Although Hyper-V may not be the most popular of systems at this moment in time, as it becomes adopted by more web hosting companies and larger corporations looking to use virtual machines more, you will find that it will indeed become one of the most popular Windows VPS daemons around.
Uses
Hyper-V has many uses for both web hosting providers and software developers; for web hosting providers it allows them to use a new platform to move their Windows VPS hosting services over to, whereas for software developers it gives them a platform in which they can create the virtual machines that they need in order to test new applications that they have been developing. The following features make Hyper-V ideal for both situations:
- support for many Windows operating systems – this allows web hosting providers to offer VPS servers that are based on both Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008, and for software developers this means that they can test their new applications on the different versions of Windows that there are available
- up-to-date – since Hyper-V is very new and up-to-date it means that it is more likely to work with the more recent versions of certain operating systems – this means that web hosting providers can make use of Windows Server 2008 and software developers can make use of Windows Vista and 7.
Advantages
There are many advantages for both web hosting providers and you as the customer when using Hyper-V web hosting services, especially when it is being used for the hosting of Windows Server 2008 based VPS servers. Although Hyper-V may be classed as the ‘new kid on the block’ by some, it is able to reduce the outgoings that many VPS hosting providers are paying in order to allow them to offer their Windows VPS servers, and most web hosting providers will pass this price cut onto their customers although the cost of existing VPS servers is unlikely to change. Users with Hyper-V based VPS servers are more likely to notice an increase in performance than what they may be getting from their existing VP S server; in most cases this is because web hosting providers are using higher specification servers for Windows Server 2008, but are still hosting the same number of VPS servers per node. Other advantages may include:
- more features than Virtuozzo – Hyper-V is able to offer more features for Windows VPS servers than Virtuozzo may be able to, most notably the ability to host Windows Server 2008 based virtual machines which Virtuozzo is still unable to handle at this moment in time – this means that VPS customers are able to get more features with a Hyper-V based VPS server than they may be able to with a Virtuozzo based VPS server, and depending on how much they are paying for their current server could mean that they are getting more for less
- it’s free/packaged with Windows Server 2008 – most verions of Windows Server 2008 have Hyper-V packaged with them meaning that web hosting providers only need to pay for the cost of their operating system license and don’t have to pay any extra for the virtualization program that they are using which they may otherwise have to do if they are using Virtuozzo – this means that Windows VPS hosting providers are able to offer their existing services for a lower cost if they choose to move their VPS infrastructure over to a Hyper-V based one
- Windows Server 2008 support – web hosting providers who are still using the Virtuozzo VPS daemon to offer their Windows VPS hosting services will find that they are only able to offer Windows Server 2003 VPS at the moment since Virtuozzo doesn’t support Windows Server 2008 – this is one major advantage for Hyper-V hosting providers since it means that they can offer cheap Windows Server 2008 servers without the need to invest in any higher end VPS server daemons which may otherwise have led to increases in their prices.
The advantages that Hyper-V is able to offer both consumers and their web hosting providers means that it is more than perfect for use in a live VPS hosting environment. However, since it is included with Windows Server 2008, you will probably find that many other companies who aren’t web hosting providers are using Hyper-V for internal testing purposes.
Disadvantages
As with using any web hosting program or daemon, there are disadvantages to Hyper-V for both web hosting providers and consumers who will be having their VPS servers hosted on nodes that are using the new Hyper-V technology. Although it may be free to use, many web hosting providers are reluctant to make the move over to Windows Server 2008 based servers for many reasons, but this does mean that they can upgrade their Virtuozzo server offerings to something more realistic based on Windows Server 2008 once it is supported by the daemon software. You may also find that Hyper-V isn’t able to offer you a majority of the features that you would expect from any VPS daemon being used by a web hosting provider, but at the end of the day Hyper-V is designed more for internal use rather than commercial use. Other disadvantages may include:
- no web based control panel – Hyper-V comes with no web based control panel which would have allowed the end user to control their VPS using a web interface as well as having to work with the VPS via Remote Desktop – although this may not seem like much, it can help users restart their VPS servers for example if there is a problem with it or they can use the web based interface to end processes which may in fact be clogging up the server – the one major point against this is that Virtuozzo is able to offer consumers an easy to use web interface which will allow them to manage their VPS servers
- no support for Linux distributions – one thing which has made Virtuozzo so popular is the fact that many web hosting providers are using it to offer both Linux and Windows based VPS hosting services, but Hyper-V will only support all the versions of Windows that are available and only one Linux distribution, Suse 10, which puts many off from using it – this is only likely to affect those who like to use the same VPS daemon or control panel for their VPS servers, but corporations wishing to experiement with other Linux distributions may also find themselves limited
- untested – although Hyper-V has undoubtedly been tested a lot through the large number of pre-releases of Windows Server 2008, it is still an untested VPS daemon solution in the web hosting industry meaning that for some it still needs to prove itself as a worthy contender against existing solutions such as Virtuozzo – however, over time it is likely to grow in popularity as web hosting providers start to look at where they can cut costs, and of course if they are able to reduce their costs by using a different VPS daemon/server, they are going to make the switch.
Such disadvantages are only likely to affect those who are either very picky about the kind of web hosting account that they want, or large corporations who are relying on Hyper-V for internal testing purposes. However, as a general consumer you are unlikely to notice such disadvantages if you know what you are doing when it comes to server management.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Hyper-V VPS hosting services are offered by many web hosting providers and will allow you to make use of the new Windows Server 2008 server operating system. As an existing Windows Server 2003 VPS hosting user you may find the leap from using one technology a big one, but at the end of the day you will find that Windows Server 2008 is able to offer you advantages that just aren’t possible with existing Microsoft server operating systems.
