What's a VPS (Virtual Private Server) used for in SEO and would one benefit me for SEO purposes?

[Chris Sweeney]

Does anybody here use a VPS? Here's my thinking; tell me if I'm right or wrong on this...

I'm running everything for my IM business from this one computer here. It's a pretty good computer, 3 GHz CPU, 4 gigs of RAM, etc. But when I'm running a bunch of my IM tools on it, i.e. article submission tools, pinging tools, social bookmarking tools, etc., it runs slow because of all the CPU and memory it's using, and I can't really use the computer for anything else while these multi-threaded processes are running. For example, I can really only run one or two of the programs until my system starts lagging. I'd like to be able to run some of those programs while still being able to carry out, say, keyword research, for example, without my computer moving at turtle speed.

Would having a VPS be like having an extra "virtual" computer to do work on, i.e. pinging, automated article submissions, etc. to free up CPU and memory on my computer so that I can keep working while the IM processes are running on the VPS?

I'm still a little confused on the subject, but if a VPS can do these things, I think it is something I'd want to invest in. Anyone have any experience with a VPS and would recommend one and/or what you use it for? Thanks!

[dotcomken]

Yes a VPS is like having another computer running at the same time on the same machine. It does share system resources of course.

What you could do is monitor how much ram applications are using and set them to only use so much. There are plenty of apps out that can do this for you.

Also, if you want to try out some virtual stuff there is VirtualBox that is just as good as VMWare. It will allow you to run and set how much resources that virtual machine can use.

...from PA, Id die for a Yuengling

From an SEO perspective, a VPS isn't going to do anything noticeable. Hopefully I answered you correctly in terms of what you are asking.

[Chris Sweeney]

Originally Posted by dotcomken

Yes a VPS is like having another computer running at the same time on the same machine. It does share system resources of course.

What you could do is monitor how much ram applications are using and set them to only use so much. There are plenty of apps out that can do this for you.

Also, if you want to try out some virtual stuff there is VirtualBox that is just as good as VMWare. It will allow you to run and set how much resources that virtual machine can use.

...from PA, Id die for a Yuengling

From an SEO perspective, a VPS isn't going to do anything noticeable. Hopefully I answered you correctly in terms of what you are asking.

Ahhhh, thanks very much Ken, I understand. So using a VPS alone won't affect my rankings at all, but it will indeed free up system resources on my home computer here so that I can do more important things than wait around for the machine to stop pinging 10,000 backlinks (35 threads at a time). Sure, on the VPS I may only be able to to run like 10-20 threads at a time (plus or minus, depending on the specs), but that would be fine with me as long as it's freeing up my home computer for keyword research, etc.

Thanks again for your response. Take this virtual Yuengling 6-pack as a token of my gratitude . Yum!

[GeorgR.]

Oh my, totally wrong information!

A "VPS" aka "Virtual Private Server" is a hosting solution - it has NOTHING to do with your own computer at home. You are probably talking about a VM/Virtual machine on your home PC which eg. would allow to run another OS "virtually".

However, a VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a web server where you are hosting your sites. It's basically a "in between" shared hosting (like hostgator) and dedicated hosting.

While with dedicated hosting you would own/rent, well, your own server and connection to the internet to your WEB (for high traffic sites)....a VPS is "basically" similar but implemented in a virtual way, thus "virtual private SERVER".

Technically, it looks like that you indeed share a PC on your hosting provider for your sites - but you have a fixed memory, CPU, bandwidth etc.etc. assigned to you so it "feels" and behaves like a dedicated server.

The big difference is

) you dont share bandwidth etc. with other users like on cheap, shared hosting
) you have full access and control to your VPS, eg. root/linux access...down to being able to compile a new kernel on linux etc...making DEEP modifications/optimizations to your web server which you cannot do on shared hosting.

On shared, if eg. the company has some weird security policies in place making it impossible that some scripts could not work - on the VPS you could configure everything, incl. your web server.

I myself have a VPS with Cpanel...that is there is main "VPS management" interface with all those options, firewall, security etc.

But i can also log-in into each separate account/site via cpanel and manage them separately via Cpanel as in with other hosting.

Edit: To answer OP's question. You cannot make "more resources" more memory, CPU etc. by installing WHATEVER on your home pc. Its physically and logically impossible A 3ghz 4core Intel PC with plenty of memory (4gb+) and good internet should be able to handle most common things really.

Now..you could rent/get a WINDOWS (!) VPS from some provider indeed...and then somehow install and run web applications to off-load from your PC at home - for example if someone needs to send millions of emails etc... you would hardly do this from your PC at home. Then you would install such a mailer software on the VPS instead.

But usually, main use is web hosting...and most applications and VPS are actually running some form of Linux/PhP and not so many Windows-Server VPS.

[terrapurus]

Look at it this way ...

If you are automating things and running your computers 24/7 means 80% of the electriticy bill goes into the home office, then it is time for a VPS. If you are watching tv and see an ad for an ISP and think "damn that connection is slow" ... or "he he I would chew through that bandwidth in no time at all", then it is time for a VPS.

If you are not automating but have a system slowing down because of manualy processes, then just grab a second cheap computer.

[GeorgR.]

Or you might consider getting a new PC altogether, new OS too like Win7. Honestly, my PC is not the newest anymore (Intel Quad Core, 3.6Ghz, 4GB, Win7)...but there is HARDLY anything what brings it down. And running article submission tools etc. is a joke..they should NOT bring your PC down at all. Heck, i could have 10 browsers open, MS Flight Simulator or World of Warcraft in the background...plus HTML Editor/Paintshop whatever...it would still not cause a problem.

[mikeonrails]

I highly recommend a VPS, but be prepared to learn some linux commands a make sure your IM software will run on linux. I wouldn't bother with a windows server.

Keep in mind that VPS's are biased toward serving websites vs. performing processing tasks. You may end up paying $75/month for a 2GB server(which has less RAM and speed than your home computer. Keep in mind that your software may actually run faster despite the smaller specs. The server's internet connection will likely be 10X faster than that in your home and it might have more "available" resources despite the lower physical resources because you're running linux.

If you really need processing power, then try out Amazon EC2. Since its pay-as-you-go, you could have 5+ high-speed computers run your software for 30 minutes everyday and have it be cheaper than renting a server monthly for your tasks.

[Chris Sweeney]

Originally Posted by GeorgR.

Edit: To answer OP's question. You cannot make "more resources" more memory, CPU etc. by installing WHATEVER on your home pc. Its physically and logically impossible A 3ghz 4core Intel PC with plenty of memory (4gb+) and good internet should be able to handle most common things really.

Right, I understand that; that wasn't really what I was thinking at all because that's quite impossible.

Originally Posted by GeorgR.

Now..you could rent/get a WINDOWS (!) VPS from some provider indeed...and then somehow install and run web applications to off-load from your PC at home - for example if someone needs to send millions of emails etc... you would hardly do this from your PC at home. Then you would install such a mailer software on the VPS instead.

Now that's EXACTLY what I was thinking (and hoping) a VPS could do for me; not that it could make my webpages load faster or my sites rise in the SERPS or anything like that. I didn't want to use it for hosting websites or anything at all. I am just trying to take the load off of my home computer. Now I knew that purchasing a new computer was an option, but I don't really wanna put out that kind of money now. I was hoping I could run my IM programs on a virtual system somewhere, and getting a VPS seems like the way to go. That way I can access it from anywhere too.

It looks like a VPS running Linux is a lot cheaper than one running Windows. So I'm hoping that on the Linux one I can install VirtualBox (as recommended above) and run windows from the VPS, then run my IM programs from the VPS. That's really all I wanted to do.

Thanks again everyone

[GeorgR.]

Aegh...that sounds like a lot of problems in the making...

Did you just say you want to run Virtualbox on the LINUX server, then run/emulate Windows on the server and from there run your IM programs?

Well..i dont have experience with that...but i can see this being a pain to set up respective get running? You might ask your provider first whether this is at all possible.

Hey, i have a good VPS on solarvps.com ...and you could ask their suppport (from their website) whether this is feasable to do. I am paying $60/month right now for my VPS and have a zillion of my sites hosted there.