Some servers racked in a data centre |
VPS Are Shared Among Fewer Users
On average a UK shared web hosting server will have a significantly higher number of user accounts (50+) than that of a VPS hosting server (normally 15-35).Shared web hosting accounts run multiple users websites under the context of the same operating system, and sometimes scripts and web content is even delivered using the same single user account! This is not the case with VPS based hosting, as each VPS effectively has its own OS and is isolated from any other accounts on the server. VPS website hosting services are notably more powerful and faster than shared hosting. This is generally due to two reasons:
- There are fewer accounts on the server competing for resources such as RAM, CPU, etc.
- Specific resources are dedicated to the VPS, so there is no waiting around for them to become available.
What About Control Panel Access?
A VPS allows you to have access to more than one control panel in order to administer the VPS itself and the services running on it. Your VPS hosting provider may give you access to a VPS management control panel, such as SolusVM, Virtualizor, etc. This type of control panel allows you to administrate the actual VPS itself, enabling such things as rebooting, shutting down, changing passwords of the VPS from a friendly web based GUI. A number of separate control panels could also be installed on the VPS itself, allowing for the administration of services running on their such as website hosting or general server administration. Such control panels include:- Plesk
- DirectAdmin
- cPanel/WHM
- Webmin
How Does It Compare To Shared Hosting?
UK based VPS hosting is much more powerful and flexible than shared web hosting solutions. In addition you get the same versatility that you would expect from a dedicated server with regards features and often, much more! The great thing about virtual machine hosting, is that all the VPS owners utilise the same physical server, which in turn leads to excellent financial and environmental savings in comparison with a dedicated server. With a few exceptions such as Perl modules, a shared web hosting package will restrict you to which OS, control panel and software you can use in order to host your websites.A VPS allows you complete control over the web hosting environment and allows you to install what you like, when you want. Resource heavy websites often find VPS hosting to be the ideal balance between performance and price in comparison to shared web hosting services. Some VPS hosting providers offer an intermediate hosting solution that sits between shared web hosting and a full blown VPS. This is often referred to as 'virtual web server' hosting. For this type of hosting a small sized VPS (e.g. 256MB RAM) is deployed for the client. It normally works out to be a little bit more expensive than shared web hosting, but also cheaper than full blown VPS solutions...