Dedicated Web Servers vs VPS Web Hosting
At the pricey end of the Web Hosting spectrum, we find » Dedicated servers: the single-family homes of the Web Hosting world. Here we have the whole enchilada, all to ourselves. Webhosting life is good as it gets. We don't have to "share" with anyone. (If we don't want to.)
The downside to Dedicated hosting » CO$T. We'll pay anywhere from $100 to $300 per month, depending on how much horsepower our site needs.
Like a single-family home, a Dedicated server is the dream of every site owner (including me). Heck, I'm drooling on my keyboard right now just thinking about what it would be like .. the zippy responsiveness ..
.. and not having to worry that another account might be using more than its fair share of my server's resources.
I also like that we would be able to configure a Dedicated server anyway we please, and change that configuration whenever we wanted.
Terminology Note: Some companies refer to Virtual Private Servers as » Virtual Dedicated Servers. I know what they're trying to say, yet feel this is a misnomer. While a VPS *is* private (via virtualization), it's NOT really dedicated (if you think about it).
The very definition of (the term ») virtualization contradicts the concept of "dedicated." Which is why you won't find me using the term Virtual Dedicated Server.
Virtual Private Servers | VPS Web Hosting
This is what we're really here for. Virtual Private Servers are like the condominiums (or town homes, if you will) of the web hosting world. They offer us many of the benefits associated with dedicated servers, yet allow us to enjoy those benefits at a fraction of what we'd normally pay for a dedicated server.
VPS servers employ a technology known as virtualization. Expect to hear more about this (sophisticated) technology as it continues to mature and develop. The term virtualization is most closely associated with VMware, a company that specializes in it.
You can download the free VMware Player, which enables you to run a "virtual machine." With a virtual machine, I can easily run a copy of Linux from within Windows (at the same time) without having to reboot into each operating system.
The ultimate desktop virtualization software is VMware Workstation (~$189). Either of these two products will allow you to become familiar with virtualization and virtual machines.
I use VMware with a Linux virtual machine to learn how to use the Linux command line more effectively. (Better to make a mistake on a virtual machine than on a real one.)
Server virtualization is the process where a physical server is divided into virtual divisions (sometimes called "containers"), making it appear as if your site is running on a dedicated server. If you're familiar with the concept of how a large hard disk drive is partitioned into smaller logical drives, you have an idea how virtualization works.
There are several players in the virtualization game. I delve more deeply into a "compare-n-contrast" on the next page .. but for now, let's introduce the main characters, and get a feel for their relative strengths and weaknesses:
• Virtuozzo (by Parallels). This is the software that WiredTree uses. It's what most VPS hosts use. Virtuozzo is not free. Efficient use of server resources is it's primary strength (far as you & I are concerned).
• OpenVZ (also by Parallels). This is the open source version of Virtuozzo. It comes sans (without) the high-end features that accompany it's expensive big brother.
• Xen (open source). Cool name. A hypervisor. Primary strength is that it's hard to over-sell a hypervisor. With a hypervisor, you can be fairly confident you're getting what you pay for.
• VMWare. Generally considered the most mature virtualization software on the market. Also the most expensive. Probably the closest you can get to a true dedicated server in a VPS environment. Like Xen, VMWare is also a hypervisor.
On the next page, we'll continue (and conclude) our comparison of Dedicated web servers with VPS web hosting.