Virtual private servers (VPSs) are an increasingly popular option for organizations seeking affordable, scalable and secure platforms for their applications. VPSs eliminate the upfront costs and maintenance associated with on-premises hardware while offering greater performance than a multitenant cloud environment.
However, the allure of VPSs goes beyond cost savings. As organizations advance their digital transformation initiatives, they need secure and reliable compute infrastructure that can handle diverse workloads. VPSs deliver those capabilities and can scale easily to meet increasing demands.
Regulatory compliance and data privacy concerns are also driving VPS adoption. Because VPS environments are more isolated than the public cloud, they reduce the risk of unauthorized access and data exposure. In addition, many VPS providers now offer enhanced security features and data protection. This makes VPSs a good option for online retailers, financial services firms, and software development and testing.
How Do VPSs Work?
VPSs use virtualization technology to partition a single physical server into multiple isolated, virtual instances. Each instance functions as an independent server with its own operating system and applications.
Virtualization reduces hardware investment, energy consumption and maintenance costs by consolidating multiple workloads onto fewer physical machines. It also increases hardware utilization rates by 80 percent or more compared to underutilized physical servers. Virtual servers can be deployed quickly, scaled up or down easily, and migrated across physical machines without downtime.
Hosting services leverage virtualization to deliver these benefits to multiple customers. The public cloud provides flexible, on-demand server resources in a multitenant environment with pay-as-you-go pricing. At the opposite end of the spectrum are virtual dedicated servers (VDSs), which provide dedicated physical resources for each instance. The cloud is ideal for dynamic workloads, while VDSs provide enhanced performance for resource-intensive applications.
VPSs serve as a middle ground between the public cloud and dedicated servers. With VPSs, multiple tenants share a physical server, but each has dedicated virtual resources that are isolated from other tenants. That makes VPSs a reliable and budget-friendly option for most needs, including web hosting and small-to-medium workloads.
What to Look for in a VPS Solution
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a VPS solution. Organizations should look for providers who offer solid-state storage for fast data access and dedicated CPU options for resource-intensive applications. They should also ensure that the provider makes it easy to upgrade memory, storage and CPU resources as needs grow.
It’s also important to look at the operating systems supported by the VPS. Most providers support various Linux distributions (Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian), while some also offer Windows server options. To reduce latency and improve performance, organizations should choose a provider with data centers close to their users.
In addition to comparing initial and renewal prices, organizations should be aware of extra costs for add-ons such as backups and additional network bandwidth. Some providers charge for cPanel licenses that provide access to the control panel for managing websites, emails, databases and other tasks.
Organizations must decide if they have the technical expertise to manage server maintenance and updates themselves (unmanaged/self-managed) or if they need a managed services provider (MSP) to handle these tasks (fully managed). They should also evaluate the quality and availability of customer support (live chat, phone, tickets), as this can be crucial when issues arise.
How Verteks Can Help
Verteks offers virtual private server solutions from leading providers backed by our comprehensive suite of managed services. Our team can assess your existing environment and needs and determine the best platform for each workload. Let us help you take advantage of virtual private servers to minimize the need for onsite hardware while gaining greater performance, predictability and control than the public cloud.
