Dedicated Web Servers versus Virtual Private Servers
November 18th, 2011 | 
Author: Hosting a web site on a virtual private server offers many of the same benefits as dedicated server hosting. The purchaser retains complete control over his server in either case. The difference is in the method of setup. The machine upon which a virtual private server is hosted also contains other VPS servers. A user who leases a dedicated server gets access to all the resources of the machine. A virtual private server uses management software to make sure resources are divided equitably among users.
VPS servers are a bit less reliable, especially for high traffic web sites, and they are also somewhat less secure than dedicated servers. Skilled hackers are able to access multiple sites just as if they used a shared hosting program. Careful hosting providers use strong firewalls to keep this from occurring, but no firewall is ever more than a deterrent.
Dedicated hosting ensures that users get to use all the server’s resources. A top-notch VPS system manages memory well, but at times one user’s memory allocation might fall below the minimal that his contract guarantees. Users have no way of monitoring this, and it rarely presents an operational problem, but the problem still exists.
Dedicated server hosting is more expensive than VPS programs, but it offers many of the same features. Users can select either Windows or Linux plans or sometimes a less common system like Berkeley’s famous FreeBSD. Managed plans are available for users with minimal server skills, while more experienced users can opt for an unmanaged plan that lets them set up all the details just as he likes.
All this is invisible to the average web site visitor. As long as everything functions as it should, he never knows if the site he uses is on a managed or an unmanaged plan. Most users just want to get to the information they want without too much trouble. As long as a web site owner and the provider he selects can get data to the browser in a form it can use, the surfer will not care about the details of the delivery process.
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