A Virtual Private Server, or VPS, is something of a high-tech (and pricing list) "middle ground" between dedicated and shared servers. It provides most of the important features of a dedicated server using a machine shared by other hosting accounts. Therefore, without their having to sacrifice privacy or performance, VPS customers get hosting services very similar to those in a dedicated hosting plan. You need to know what you are looking for when you begin seeking out a VPS provider, and there are no unimportant details. VPS providers offer an array of different options within their own plan structures, as well as in competition with other firms, so comparing apples to apples is extremely important. This is why the statement that "there are no unimportant details" is, itself, an important detail.
Basic operations
Since a VPS is essentially a "mini" dedicated server, you get complete root access to manage how the server operates, and different plans and approaches allow you as much or as little of this responsibility as you care to take on. Among other variables in the plans, the degree of control you want, and the concomitant responsibility you must take, will affect the price you pay.
Management tasks for your VPS can include installing and updating software, troubleshooting performance issues, managing firewalls and otherwise "tweaking" the server to function as you want it to. There are plenty of articles on what to look for in a VPS, but in this brief but pithy article you will also learn why those things are important, how they work and what "the big picture" is.
Managed or unmanaged
On a managed VPS plan, the host typically handles the software or system updates as agreed to in your plan package. This is obviously the appropriate solution for people who have little or no experience setting up, managing and maintaining a server, virtual or otherwise. It should also be obvious that this level of support means that a managed VPS is always going to be more expensive. Whether that is by "a lot" or "a little" is a matter of how well you perform your research, shop around, bargain with hosting companies and negotiate win-win agreements.
If your firm has the requisite expertise in-house, you will certainly want to maintain your own servers. This makes an unmanaged VPS the ideal solution. After initial setup costs, you are "left to your own devices" (pun intended) and are responsible for managing, maintaining and troubleshooting your server. You will pay less this way, because the web host only needs to address hardware, network and "uptime" issues.
Scalable RAM with a minimum
Like they do with their (physically) dedicated servers, hosting providers generally assign a VPS a set amount of random-access memory (RAM). If you are reading as carefully as we always recommend that you do, you will doubtless notice that there are actually two definitions of RAM. Physically they are identical, of course, but operationally the two types are quite different.
"Guaranteed RAM" is the minimum amount of RAM that the host will ever make available to you at a given time. This is essentially a guarantee in your service agreement, so it is the figure that is safest for you to use when trying to project throughput or other processing loads.
There is also something with the unfortunate term, "Burstable RAM." Fortunately, it has nothing to do with explosive potential. It simply refers to the amount of RAM that your VPS estimates it can take from any free RAM available on your physical server. Various methods that create "virtual RAM" from hard disk space on your home or office PC are wholly insufficient for use in the fast-paced environment of the Internet. Perhaps the best way of looking at the RAM situation is that you have scalable RAM with a guaranteed minimum, although there is no guarantee of how, why or when your RAM would scale to any "maximum."
Final considerations
If you are looking for additional information about VPS web hosting, you can check the various "VPS review" sites for details on hosting packages, company ratings and contact information for various hosting providers. There are a few things that most experts would suggest you look into before signing (physically or virtually) on the dotted line:
Support forums: A reputable, full-service provider will most likely have a forum or support area where users can exchange information, ask questions of company representatives or lodge a complaint.
Daily backups: If the host performs daily backups, it is a great plus. If not, you should at least be able to do your own backups without them impacting your bandwidth limit.
Firewall and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection: This is entirely the province of the hosting providers, and they have plenty of incentive to be on top of this.
Backup MX mail server: This is a very good benefit, but the lack of one should not be a deal-breaker if everything else is up to snuff.
Security upgrades: Like any other kind of upgrades or updates, it is always a good day when you don't have to take care of security updates.
As always, do your homework, talk to people in the know, consult the online experts you trust and read the user forums. If you want a great VPS deal, they are there to be found and are often closer, easier to get into and less expensive than you imagine.Amy Armitage is the head of Business Development for Lunarpages. Lunarpages provides quality web hosting from their US-based hosting facility. They offer a wide-range of services from linux virtual private servers and managed solutions to shared and reseller hosting plans. Visit online for more information.
