Renting a web server can appear to be difficult – at least making the decision, what server to rent. First you will probably have to decide, what ‘size’ the server should be – and what kind. Do you want to rent a Virtual Server or a Dedicated Server? And what does this even mean? I was recently asked, what Dedicated Virtual Server Hosting is. My first reaction: Wow! Dedicated Virtual Server Hosting? Sounds great – but – wait a minute…
To me the term Dedicated Virtual Server Hosting really sounds great – sounds promising – but as far as I’m concerned it is a mixture of Dedicated Server Hosting and Virtual Server Hosting. You can not really have both at the same time. Or can you?
Virtual Private Server – What is Virtual Server Hosting?
Some hosting providers offer hosting on Virtual Private Servers. Some providers may call this tpe of hosting Cloud Server, others call it Virtual Dedicated Server Hosting. How does this work?
Basically a software manages a web server across a network of different machines – a server cluster – or a server could. Renting a Virtual Private Server you can basically expect guaranteed memory (RAM) and disk space (web space). That RAM memory and disk storage is then handled by the server cloud. However, it is often not clear how the actual processor requests are handled, since you are not renting an actual physical machine. And for some this may be an argument against renting a virtual server.
What is Dedicated Server Hosting?
Also here the term dedicated tells a lot about what to expect. I would like to sum it up like this: the server is dedicated – to you and your web projects. You are renting a web server – and in this case this means you are renting an actual machine.
And then there are a couple of features and options and possibilities, that may vary, depending on the service provider you chose. Some may offer shell access, other my provide you with protocols that would let you use your server as a cloud hard drive. With a dedicated server there are are virtually endless options.
Dedicated vs. Virtual Server Hosting
Basically these are the two most common, most popular types of hosting: you can either rent a Dedicated Server or a Virtual Server. So what are the differences? What are the advantages? And what are the disadvantages?
A Virtual Server Account is basically more powerful and often faster than most Shared Server Accounts, yet cheaper than a Dedicated Server. In most cases a Dedicated Server will however be faster than a Virtual Server, since the processor is all yours. Also chances are that you have more options to configure if you are on your own server, if it’s a physical machine. However, that additional speed and flexibility comes with a price.
I hope I could spread some light on this not so important, yet interesting little detail. Please feel free to add your thoughts and questions in the comments below. Thank you!