Welcome to the world of virtual server hosting, where the power of virtualization transforms your digital landscape. In this short guide, we explore the essential factors that pave the way to a successful virtual server hosting experience. Virtual server hosting offers unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency, making it an ideal choice for businesses and individuals alike. However, to fully unlock its potential, careful consideration of key aspects is crucial.
Join us as we shed light on the critical elements that define virtual server hosting success. From choosing the right hosting provider and hardware specifications to optimizing performance and security, this guide provides valuable insights to help you make informed decisions for your hosting needs. Whether you’re a startup launching your first website or an enterprise seeking to expand your digital presence, understanding what to consider for success in virtual server hosting will empower you to harness the full benefits of this cutting-edge technology.
What is a Server?
A server acts as a store for your website. It stores files, webpages, data, and other contents of the website. At the request of the web browser, it delivers the required files to the user of the website through the internet.
The physical server is a set of hardware resourced by a computer. This computer carries software and acts as a server for a website. They store the database and transfer the requested files or webpages by the visitor of the website.
One physical server can be virtualized into a virtual server. They are remote-based web hosting services that provide a virtual machine that acts as a server to multiple clients.
What are services in a cloud?
Some users require a variety of infrastructure and software. Resourcing all of them will prove costly and require enough technical knowledge. To get away with it, they can access the required infrastructure or software through the internet on clouds without downloading the actual software.
Cloud computing providers provide a variety of cloud services to their clients through the Internet. One of the most widely used cloud services is cloud storage. Access to computing resources such as applications, software, hardware, servers, database, networking, and much more are provided through the internet by a cloud. There are a variety of cloud computing services that can fulfill any IT needs of the client. These services can be categorized into four basic cloud services:
1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):
This cloud computing service provides hardware resources to the client. They will be able to access servers, networking, processing power, and data storage capacity of a computer for their use. This saves them from resourcing costly hardware and maintaining them.
The hardware is maintained by a cloud service provider and the user works with developing and maintaining operating systems, software, database, and applications.
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS):
The cloud computing service fulfills the need for infrastructure and gives the framework for creating custom-made software. The infrastructure is maintained by the provider. The provider also enables the user to design their applications on the internet. The user doesn’t need much technical expertise.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS):
The cloud computing Service Provider enables the user to use applications through the internet. They host a fully-functional application on the provider’s computer and the user is enabled to use the software through a browser.
This saves the user from downloading the application and resourcing the necessary hardware. They save the cost of upgrading and maintaining.
4. Functions as a Service (FaaS):
This is based on the concept of a Serverless Computer. The user is saved from the work of maintaining a Server. The cloud computing service provider hosts the server operations for their clients.
What is a Virtual Cloud Server?
It is a virtual server that is built and hosted on the cloud. Instead of using a powerful computer to be used as a server, a network of small computers is created. Complex tasks are distributed over small computers. These Virtual Cloud Servers can be operated remotely.
The cloud contains a bunch of servers remotely operating in data centers, making them one big virtual server. Each server has website data. When a website visitor requests a file or webpage on the website, the cloud directs any one server to transfer the relevant data to the web browser.
One cloud server could be used by multiple websites. Website creators can have private space on the server. They can upload their website data on the server. Multiple users can share the same cloud server.
Another advantage of a Virtual Cloud server is that the cloud automatically directs the request of a web browser directly to another server in its cluster if one server goes down. This reduces the downtime of a website.
What is a Virtual Private Server?
A Virtual Private Server is a Virtual Machine. The service provider divides the operating system of their computer into separate parts. These separate parts are allocated to different server users. The client can install their own software in the part of the server allocated to them. This is similar to renting a room in an apartment.
Every user has their private space on the server. This gives greater control to the user. It is more cost-efficient than building a physical server.
When to Transit from VPS to Virtual Cloud Server?
Though Virtual Private Server Hosting can be very useful and cost-effective, they are vulnerable and a section of the server can go down without any online backup This will make the website hosted by that particular section, unavailable for some time until the issue is resolved.
As VCS has a cluster of servers and each server in the cluster contains a copy of every website. If one server has a high traffic load, the cloud automatically directs the traffic to another server.
In VPS, the same hardware resources are assigned for every website they host. If the requirements increase, the system will not be able to handle the load,
In cloud servers, a pool of computers is created. Any additional requirement can be fulfilled by some other computer in the pool.
If your website requires additional functionalities, greater reliability, and faster performance cloud hosting is the answer.
Benefits of Virtual Cloud Server Hosting
Full Control:
In VPS, a single server is divided into sections. The section allotted to one user is fully controlled and operated by that user. This gives considerable control and privacy to other users. But the hardware resources are limited, While in Virtual Cloud Server, you get a pool of computer resources put together and operated as one big virtual server. Here, you need not worry about requiring additional resources as your website requirement grows along with your business.
Scalability:
Some websites have quite consistent needs. But some tend to have dynamic traffic. Sometimes the traffic on the website is low to moderate but other times, moderate to high traffic on the website is observed. If you see huge growth potential in your websites then your current hosting plans might not be able to handle the added traffic. After switching to VCS, you may not worry about additional traffic as some other server in the cluster will always be ready to take up an extra load at a moment’s notice.
Customization:
Some website owners have an idea of exactly what kind of software and application is required by their website. They can design software and operate them on a VPS. Doing so in a Cloud Server may be a bit tedious as several servers will need a replication of your customized software. Configuration of this setup will require technical expertise.
Load Balancing:
If there is one thing the Virtual Cloud Servers excel in, then that is load distribution. As they have a cluster of servers tied together to fulfill the task as one big server. The load is distributed among all the computer resources. Additional resources can be added easily to the system. If one server is dealing with high traffic, some of the traffic is directed to another server with minimum load.
Advance Billing:
If you prefer the ‘pay as you go’ method then Cloud Server might be the exact thing you need. The billing will be inconsistent as you will be paying for only those features, which you will be using.
Infrastructure Support:
As cloud servers use a pool of hardware resources on which a virtual machine is built, they provide you with these resources at hand to use. You need not worry about networking, processing power, or storage of your server.
Cost Consideration:
Virtual Cloud Storage costs a lot less than dedicated servers. But their most basic plan costs more than a shared hosting service or even a VPS as they provide a wide range of features and control. In the table given below, some of the best hosting services are listed with their price and features of their most basic plans.
|
Virtual Cloud Server Provider |
Monthly Pricing | Storage and RAM | Uptime | Some Specialized Features |
| Hostinger | $9.99 | 200 GB SSD
3 GB RAM |
99.9% |
Free dedicated IP |
| $12.95 ($4.95/month if you pay annually) | 2 GB RAM | 99.9% | Free SSL certificate, dedicated IP, free SEO tools, and free domain. | |
| Nexcess | $49.00 | 50 GB disk space | N/A |
Best for eCommerce Websites. |
| MAX $4.50 | 100 GB block storage
2 GB RAM |
N/A | Free SSD & bandwidth
full root access & control |
|
| A2 Hosting | Starts at $5.00 | 1 GB RAM
150 GB SSD |
99.9% |
UP TO 20X FASTER SERVERS |
Elastic Compute Cloud:
Amazon Web Services have EC2. EC2 stands for Elastic Computer Cloud. This is a virtual machine that allows users to control various virtual computers through a single hardware and Operating System.