Every business aims at expansion and as a business grows, its requirements with regard to hosting also increase. VPS, which is the abbreviation for a Virtual Private Server, offers a powerful solution and a popular option to cater successfully to the demanding hosting requirements of businesses of any size and from any industry.

Virtualization technology is used in VPS, which ensures that every client of a virtual private server gets dedicated (private) resources on a shared server that hosts multiple clients. In a VPS, multiple clients that are utilizing the services of that VPS, use isolated instances on the same parent server.  In this way, a VPS offers not only a hosting solution that has enhanced security along with stability and delivers better performance when compared to shared hosting, but also is more affordable than renting an entire server and its resources for one’s use. Hence, a virtual private server is an ideal option for those website owners whose resource requirements have exceeded that which is provided in shared hosting but have not reached the level where they need to invest in opting for a dedicated server.

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is essentially a virtual machine, which is provided by a web hosting company through its various plans for VPS. A web hosting company offers hosting services to render websites accessible over the Internet. In web hosting, server space is rented to website owners for the purpose of storing their websites’ files. The web hosting service provider also provides all the necessary technology and services for delivering the files of websites from its servers, over the Internet, to the devices of users, in order to make websites accessible. A web host is also responsible for ensuring that its clients’ websites are always up and running seamlessly. Web hosting can be of many types, such as shared, dedicated, reseller, Cloud, WordPress, VPS etc. The most renowned web hosting service providers are usually referred to with terms, such as the “Best Cloud Hosting Company”, the “Best Website Hosting Company”, the “Best Windows Hosting Company” etc.

A VPS successfully emulates a dedicated hardware and delivers functionality that is similar to that of a physical server. It is an ideal solution for those that use shared hosting and need to scale up beyond shared hosting as well as attain reliable performance and get enhanced security. Additionally, it enables the installation of custom software, isolates multiple digital service offerings and enables the creation of isolated development environments. When a VPS is availed as a service, it can be either managed or unmanaged.

The Functioning of a VPS

A virtual private server mimics virtually the environment of a dedicated server that exists within a shared server. The emulated, dedicated environment of a VPS exists on a server, which is called the parent server, or on a host or on a cluster of servers.  A VPS can be created and configured easily as it is software-defined and uses virtualization technology for providing dedicated resources to the virtual servers that reside within a parent server or a host. It functions by running its own copy of an OS (Operating system). The clients of virtual private servers have superuser level access to the OS instance for the purpose of installing software that can be run on that operating system.

In VPS hosting, a parent server is used to host many virtual servers. These multiple virtual servers remain separated from each other. Hypervisor is the software that is used for implementing a virtual layer atop the operating system in order to segment the different virtual servers. The segregation of these virtual servers lets each user of VPS install his/her own operating system and software for enabling the creation of a private server that is meant for his/her exclusive use.

Managed VPS

VPS can be availed as either a managed service or as an unmanaged service, which is also called self-managed. The choice between these two options depends on the amount of control that a user wants to have as well as on the level of technical expertise that he/she or his/her IT team possesses.

In a managed VPS, which is also known as a fully managed VPS, the clients have the convenience of reaping the benefits of a virtual private server without having to worry about the technicalities that are involved in server management. In it, it is the responsibility of the service provider to take care of every technical intricacy with regard to server management and server maintenance. The service provider handles the server’s maintenance and its security related activities and carries out the required software installations, troubleshooting, core updates etc. It not only saves the clients’ time and effort but also relieves him/her of the responsibilities with regard to server management and makes sure that technical experts manage the VPS in the most efficient way and keep it secure at all times.

The Benefits Offered by a Managed VPS

It is evident that a managed VPS offers the benefit of one’s virtual private server being managed by the professional and proficient IT team of one’s service provider.  These experts have extensive experience in managing and ensuring the safety of servers.  This saves the clients’ time, resources and efforts that he/she needed to direct at server management. It also does away with the time-consuming challenges that a technically inept VPS user might have to encounter when managing his/her server without the aid of the service provider, which is the case in an unmanaged VPS. Hence, a managed VPS saves a user’s time and lets him/her run his VPS efficiently without having to procure additional IT expertise. Moreover, the technical support team of the service provider is always available to answer every query immediately and resolve all the technical issues swiftly. A managed VPS also provides the benefit of ensuring that the OS is always updated and the latest security measures are in place for the server’s security.

To recapitulate, a managed VPS delivers all the benefits of a VPS, along with the additional benefit of the user never having to worry about his/her VPS’ management, maintenance, updates and security as all of these are taken care of by the service provider.