The subject of webhosting was fairly straightforward in years gone by; you would either look towards shared hosting or a dedicated server, there was no in between. The introduction of Virtual Private Servers (VPS) has changed the landscape of the industry and given businesses a hybrid option between the two previous extremes. So, what can you expect from your hosting provider and what are the benefits of VPS over shared hosting?
What is shared hosting?
In simple terms, shared hosting is the creation of potentially hundreds of hosting accounts on one server. As the name suggests, with shared hosting each account will not only share the server but also server resources and software/code packages. This type of offering is extremely useful in the early days of a business but those which are resource intensive and attract heavy traffic numbers may need to think about upgrading.
What is VPS hosting?
The best way to describe VPS hosting is a virtual server within a server – let’s expand. While shared hosting means that all accounts will share resources, bandwidth, etc, with VPS hosting, specific areas of the server are configured for individual accounts. So, where heavy traffic for a number of accounts on a shared server will ultimately impact all accounts on that server, this is not the case with VPS hosting. This additional protection and ring fencing of resources/bandwidth is just one of the many benefits.
Cost considerations for shared and VPS hosting services
As a consequence of sharing resources amongst potentially hundreds of different accounts, shared hosting charges can range from anywhere between just a couple of pounds a month up to $10 a month. Even the cheapest option will allow you to host two websites with 10 GB of storage, 100 GB of bandwidth, 20 email accounts and access to Control Panel. Those plans towards the higher scale of monthly charges tend to offer unlimited resources – perfect for growing businesses.
The situation with VPS charges is slightly different, starting at around $10 a month up to $40 a month. This provides a range of RAM, storage, bandwidth and CPU units to cover the majority of website resource requirements. Many people have described VPS hosting services as akin to their own dedicated server at a fraction of the price.
What to expect with shared hosting
The major difference between shared hosting and VPS hosting services is the way in which the resources are managed. Shared hosting accounts can number hundreds on one server, ranging in size from minuscule to those attracting more business-like traffic numbers. As with any server, there is a definitive amount of resources, bandwidth and storage which are not allocated per account but effectively on a first-come first-served basis. This means that if there are a number of active websites perhaps experiencing traffic spikes this will impact response times for other accounts on that server.
As your website continues to grow, and effectively “grab” more than its fair share of resources from other accounts, you would be advised to upgrade. The natural step would be towards a VPS hosting account with your hosting provider likely offering such services.
What to expect with VPS hosting
Many people believe that VPS hosting is the most cost-effective and resource effective option for growing/medium-sized businesses. In many ways it offers the benefits of a dedicated server without the enormous expense and maintenance costs. The best hosting VPS services tend to offer significant support, often 24/7, and assistance with maintenance. However, there are other benefits for growing businesses which are resource hungry and attracting significant traffic.
As a VPS hosting account is “virtual”, as and when you need to tweak resource requirements it is simply a case of adjusting the settings for immediate real-time change. The vast majority of webhosting companies will allow you a degree of self-management over your own account although they may become more involved with major changes. The best hosting companies will maintain a degree of headroom on their servers which will allow a degree of flexibility for each hosting account. This ensures that when you upgrade you will not need to go through the process of transferring to a different server – something which may result in downtime for your website.
Summary
The introduction of VPS hosting services has proved to be extremely popular especially amongst those with growing websites which are resource intensive and attracting heavy traffic numbers. This has also taken some pressure off shared hosting services. Many providers were being pushed to the limit with customers unable to afford the jump to dedicated servers and beginning to run out of options. We have also seen the introduction of cloud hosting capabilities which offer access to a network of servers over which traffic peaks and excessive resource requirements can be spread.
In summary, the benefits of VPS hosting over shared hosting are best described as greater general flexibility, ring-fenced resources, option to adjust required bandwidth as well as a more reasonable cost structure compared to dedicated servers. In effect, the best of both worlds!