What is a VPS?

Technically it’s a group of small servers using shared resources of a larger server or even more recently cluster of servers to emulate a dedicated server. Ok so in more basic terms that means you’re going to get a slice of a dedicated server with your own completely separate operating system that only you use.

Now this is different from shared hosting as on them you’re actually sharing the operating system and complete resources with other clients and due to security concerns most customizations are limited by the host, you can’t install programs, use certain scripting functions, have high memory/cpu scripts or even sometimes use all your bandwidth and disk space.

On a VPS it’s your OS do what you like, use 100% RAM, processor, disk space... as you purchase a specific amount of resources that are not oversold and not just a general package we allow 100% utilization 24/7 of your allocations.

Do I need a VPS?

The easiest way to answer this is “do you need something shared hosting doesn’t offer?” now that question can be many things:

1. Custom program install’s or scripting functions
2. High resource usage and processing power
3. Higher security
4. More physical control over the server
5. value for money when hosting many sites/services
6. The list is nearly endless...

Previously you could only rectify those problems buying a dedicated server which is costly now you can have a VPS at little more or even less than your shared hosting.

Which VPS?

Ok this I will split into four sections to make things easier.

• Managed or Unmanaged

Linux VPS’s come mostly blank unless you get a control panel installed on them; this means you really should know server management if your thinking about an unmanaged service.

Unfortunately alot of people don’t have server management skills and therefore using an unmanaged service could be very risky with security problems and lack of knowledge to fix issues which will arise as always, for these people some form of server management is essential either from your host or from a third party company.

• Linux or Windows

With servers I will personally always say “Linux! (unless windows has a feature you require that linux doesn’t have)” also more specific Linux running CentOS with cPanel is my preferred setup this is nearly what I would call industry standard for website hosting these days.

• XEN or OpenVZ

This is personal choice here are some points for you to chose:

OpenVZ - This allows the host to oversell resources without the client’s knowledge, you may pay for 1GB of RAM out of the servers 8GB but the host could have 30 people on there all thinking they are getting 1GB of RAM, you can’t ever know for sure. From an honest host this can be faster and also is normally more supported in the industry. It also shares the main nodes kernel meaning it can be quicker.

XEN - This allows 100% custom kernels’ meaning even windows can be installed, down side can be its slower. Mainly people go for this as it doesn’t allow overselling! You get 100% of the resources you pay for. It will normally cost more because of that also because it sometimes needs better hardware.

There are other options out there such as vmware, esx as we don't use them I wont be covering them at the moment, would be foolish to talk about something I don't know. Sorry...

• Specification

This really depends on your website and services, most small websites will run on a 256-512mb RAM server, bigger onces will need 512mb-1024mb RAM and large sites need 1024mb+. It mainly depends on the software your using and the OS (windows or servers with VNC desktop need alot more than SSH Linux servers)
Really the best way is ask someone, email sales@zanyhost.com with your website stats and we will try help. Remember you can always upgrade and downgrade the server with the click of a button, so start small and get bigger as needed!