Are you gearing up to launch a website for your business? You might be wondering how and where to host it, and whether or not you should invest in a data center or physical server.

Cloud hosting solutions can provide you with virtual resources like central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), and memory space. There are two types of virtual private server (VPS) software available—managed VPS hosting and unmanaged VPS software. Managed VPS hosting solution takes care of all the IT-related tasks from end to end whereas if you choose an unmanaged VPS hosting solution, it allows you to choose and make decisions for tasks such as managing the data storage, security, software installations, and operating system upgrades.

VPS software can lower the cost for your business as it can provide a combination of dedicated server and shared web hosting services. This means it combines the physical machine together with a VPS hosting provider, enabling users to attach or detach hardware components as per the size and needs of a business. This software capability lets users scale their business efficiently.

Given the many options available on the market, deciding which software to purchase can be difficult. In this buyers guide, we’ve provided all the information you need to make the right decision for your VPS hosting solution.

Here’s what we'll cover:

What is virtual private server software?
Common features of virtual private server software
What type of buyer are you?
Benefits of virtual private server software
Key considerations when purchasing virtual private server software
Market trends to understand

What is virtual private server software?

Virtual private server, or VPS software, is a multi-tenant cloud VPS solution which includes virtualized resources like central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), storage space, bandwidth, and a dedicated operating system, which lets users install software and manage guest operating systems, system specifications, and the overall software stack. It allows you to manage user permissions and access controls settings, data storage, web hosting, and reporting.

VPS or cloud hosting is a kind of web hosting which is used to host websites in scalable virtual environments. VPS providers offer access to the computer servers through a rentable virtual machine. Each of these machines act like a unique server in itself. The software helps in managing the multiple virtual instances which run and reside on a single server without interfering with neighboring website performance.

Server management in Cloudways software (Source)

Common features of virtual private server software

Most virtual private server software have the following features in common:

Configuration management	Identify and maintain components (i.e. servers, configuration information, software, etc.) and their relationships across all processes. Manage system access to prevent unauthorized changes to the settings.
Dedicated virtual resources	Manage shared hosting, software installations and upgrades. The solution offers dedicated resources like RAM, CPU, and bandwidth resources.
Performance management	Monitor and manage the performance of each virtual machine on your network and track the memory being used to optimize it.
Backup and recovery	Create and manage backups of your machine on your network and save your entire data and system configuration. Also provides methods to recover deleted/lost data.
Dashboard	View and analyze reports that can be generated through graphs and charts.
File management	Allows you to create, edit, save, retrieve, and store files.
Resource optimization	Reallocate existing resources to better utilize server capacity.
SSL security	View and manage the encryption-based internet security protocols necessary for data protection and privacy.
Uptime reporting	Track the time and performance metrics for which a designated network or a website is available and is used over a given period of time.
Website hosting	Publish the websites over the internet for your users and manage its statistics, which helps in optimizing website traffic and data.

What type of buyer are you?

Most buyers of VPS software belong to one of the following categories:

For small and midsize businesses (1-500 employees): These buyers range from startups to midsize businesses who have limited workforce with growing IT requirements. They often do not have an in-house IT team, as they have to keep operations and budgets in check. But they expect to host fewer virtual machines compared with large businesses. VPS software helps them scale their resources and provides control over them and lets them define role-based permissions.
For large enterprises (500+ employees): Large businesses have to support a huge number of employees’ devices on the network. They can save on cost for IT managers, as they can opt for a fully-featured solution to cater to all their complexities and challenges, such as handling monitoring the remote desktops or to protect sensitive business data. They should look at the compatibility of existing applications with hardware virtualization so that the data can be easily shared with the virtual servers.

Benefits of virtual private server software

Fully managed services: Moving to the virtual server means having accountability of lesser things such as data and network security. Most VPS tools include managed services through platforms to enhance disaster recovery capabilities and provide all-time available IT support. Some of the software also offer a cloud snapshot feature which enhances the data security. This enables clients to migrate, revert, and extract replicas of their data from the cloud snapshot residing on another server in case of a disaster.
Simple licensing: All the associated costs of the license are already included in the monthly charge for the server. This lets you know the costs beforehand, which you will have to bear for deploying the virtual private server. This makes cost management of licenses simple and easy in scenarios where multiple operating systems and applications are involved.
Improved reliability: VPS hosts many clients simultaneously, meaning there is a virtual partition on a single server that converts it into multiple independent servers. That is how, in comparison with shared hosting, virtual private servers become more reliable. On shared hosting servers, the traffic of other server websites can impact the others. For example, in a case where two or three customers are experiencing heavy traffic on the server, everyone else might be affected. This does not happen with a VPS.

Key considerations when purchasing virtual private server software

Here are a few things to keep in mind when purchasing a virtual private server software solution:

Network security: Cybersecurity and data protection are among the top features when choosing a web hosting provider. Depending on your industry, you can check whether the VPS server can offer your industry-specific data protection and security measures. Additionally, the solution should offer features like spam filters, virus protection, and even IP blocking.
Platform used for server hosting: Virtual private servers can either be hosted on a virtual dedicated server that allocates resources on-demand or on the dedicated hardware with zero contention. Which is right for you depends on the type of workload you want your virtual private server to perform.
Better uptimes: Choosing the right VPS software will lead to improved performance of the website. If you choose a VPS software that has too many residing clients on a server, the risk of other client websites crashing can have an impact on your server. Consider a scenario where websites hosted by other clients on the server are being attacked by malicious software. It could pose a threat to your server. To avoid the risk of crashing impacts on the server and website attacks, you should keep a check on the security measures followed by the VPS solution.
Scalability: Virtual private servers are mostly adopted for their scalability benefit. The virtual server should offer scalability options for scaling up and down, in and out. This means the solution should be able to cater to more resources like memory, hardware, and server. This should be achieved by upgrading from the existing plan to a higher plan which offers support for higher storage, processing units, and other resources.

Market trends to understand

Rise of managed web hosting services: In the current scenario, where competition is neck-to-neck in every domain, it becomes quintessential to find solutions that can save you time, because time is money. According to analysis by Gartner, by 2025 cloud managed service market is forecasted to reach $102 billion, as businesses observe a demanding agility in the digital environment. Businesses are increasingly adopting cloud based managed services for various applications, one being VPS hosting solutions. It also helps to eliminate the need to manage the server and decreases the manual intervention required for updating software and security patches and applying them to servers.

Note: The applications mentioned in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.

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