Shared web hosting can offer a number of benefits for your business, allowing you to quickly establish a web presence or store your data online. However, while shared hosting comes with a low starting cost and often “unlimited” resources, as your business grows you may find that you begin to touch the edges of those resources. Perhaps your website is bogged down by slow loading times with limited options to increase the amount of server resources you can utilize. If you find that your old shared hosting server can no longer keep up with your needs, it may be time to consider upgrading – it may be time for a VPS server.
Instant Benefits of VPS Server Hosting
The key to a hosted VPS lies in its ability to provide the service of a dedicated server but at a price that is much closer to that of a shared server. When you purchase a piece of server real estate with a reliable provider, you will instantly gain access to a private server space where you can consolidate multiple shared hosting accounts, combine those from different providers, or set up multiple instances on the same VPS server, each of which is separate from the other. In addition, you’ll be given a guaranteed amount of uptime, which in many cases can be over 99%.
While you’ll be sharing the server will other users on a broad scale, there will be far fewer than those in a shared hosting situation, and the virtual division created by a hosted VPS solution means that your portion of the server will act as though independent of all others – meaning that you can install whatever OS you prefer and download whatever apps best suit your needs. Even another user crashing his part of the server will not affect your data, giving you enhanced reliability.
Long-term Benefits of a Hosted VPS
In addition to the instant benefits of VPS server hosting, you’ll also be able to enjoy a number of long-term improvements over a shared hosting environment. From the outset, you’ll be able to choose the amount of resources that you’ll need for your new VPS server, including the amount of RAM and hard drive space you will need. As your needs evolve and your server use increases, you’ll be able to upgrade these resource allocations on the fly and with virtually no downtime. In the case of a shared server, while “unlimited” resources are available, none of them will be dedicated and specifically set aside for your use. You’ll also be able to customize your VPS server environment with multiple applications and programs so that it runs exactly as you need it to, without being bound by the constraints imposed by a shared host.
A VPS server is for all intents and purpose completely private, which gives you the freedom to start from a blank slate and install whatever works best to meet your needs. Over the long term, a hosted VPS can provide security and stability not found in a shared host, and can also be managed more effectively with the use of VPS control panels that give you a graphical interface to deal with common tasks.
While a shared hosting plan is a great place to start defining your web presence, you may find that your needs are starting to push the bounds of the “unlimited” plans many of these hosts may offer. A VPS hosting provider can supply you with a safe, stable environment that can be both customized and expanded as you need.
