VPS is the short form for Virtual Private Server. It is a website hosting solution that uses virtualization technology, allowing you to have private resources on a server utilized by several users. It is useful for hosting websites such as eCommerce and software applications such as portals. The good thing with a VPS is that it is a more reliable and secure solution than shared hosting where you don’t enjoy a private server space, but it is cheaper than renting the whole server since you don’t have to manage the server’s physical hardware.
A VPS such as OVHcloud is beneficial to users who attract medium-level traffic that surpasses a shared hosting solution’s limits but who still don’t require an entire server. There are several hosting plans at OVHcloud, from which you can choose depending on your business needs and capabilities. You can scale up when you require more resources by simply adding what you need.
How a VPS works
To know how a VPS works, you need to know what a server is first. A server is simply a physical computer that stores your web host data, such as your website’s necessary files. So, when a user requests to visit your website, their browser sends a request to your server, sending the files needed via the internet. So, the VPS is similar to the physical server but uses a virtual technology shared among several users. In simple terms, it is a virtual server.
Using virtual technology, the hosting provider, such as OVHcloud, installs a virtual layer on top of the server’s operating system (OS). Then, the partition to allow each user to establish their OS and software. Thus, a VPS is both virtual and private since you have total control of your own server space. What separates you from the other users is the OS level. To further understand a VPS, you can compare it to when someone partitions their computer when they want to run more than one OS without rebooting the system.
Operating on a VPS allows you to run on a dedicated container with your reliable resources such as CPU cores, disk space, and memory, to mention but a few, which you don’t have to share with the other users. It is a cheaper version of having a dedicated server.
Advantages of a VPS
A VPS comes with multiple advantages when compared to other hosting solutions.
- A VPS is cheaper than having to rent a dedicated server.
- It is stable and faster than sharing a hosting server.
- When there are traffic issues in one of the shared user’s site, it doesn’t affect your website.
- You have access to your virtual server.
- It also has enhanced privacy since the other server users don’t have access to your data and files.
- It is an easily scalable solution since you can advance to more resources whenever your business demands it, so you pay for what you need.
- It has a zero minimal fluctuation since you have a guarantee of server resources such as processing power and memory.
The bottom line
A VPS is a flexible server hosting solution that allows you to enjoy the benefits of having a dedicated physical server without going through the hassles of running one.