vps vs dedicated server

Hi,
A VPS acts like your own server where you have "root" type access but you're actually sharing it with other people. You can usually install any kind of software you want on it, etc that you might not be able to on a shared account. Usually they don't put too many accounts on a VPS so it's a good fit if you get a lot of traffic but not enough to need your own server.

The name says a lot of it. "Virtual private server."

A VPS has specific allotments of the physical server's resources which are for that account, and only that account. You know what's available to you at any time, and you don't have to share those resources. They also tend to be much more secure than shared hosting accounts, unless you install something that opens holes.

With shared hosting, you can have a lot of resources if you're on a machine with a significant percentage of low-demand sites. On the flip side, if you're on a machine that's packed to the gills, and has a few sites with high-demand processes operating, you can be squeezed down to a crawl.

Plus, shared hosting accounts are, in general, more vulnerable to security breaches caused by other customers. That can vary wildly based on the hosting company, sop take that part with a grain or three of salt. Still, it's an issue to be aware of when deciding on hosting.


Paul

what is dedicated?

Dedicated is where you fully control the server and are the only site(s) on it. No one else besides you is using it.

Just a note about shopping for VPS/dedicated systems.

Just because two companies may call it the same thing, there could be a lot of other factors that influence the costs.

I liken VPS to getting a slice of pizza. While it is all called pizza, I would rather have a slice from Frank Pepe's in New Haven than a slice from a microwave pizza. They are both slices of pizza but one costs more and is certainly tastes a lot better.

The same is true with dedicated but the difference between providers are a little less dramatic since they are providing you a bare-bones server.

I have worked with many companies using VPS systems on low-end hardware. You end up will all sorts of performance, downtime and other issues that you cannot explain. This is often due to the shared nature of the service. Because the partitioning of resources is not absolute, someone can easily cause you problems -- like someone swiping a piece of pepperoni off of that pizza when you are not looking.

A good way to think of it is shared hosting is like and apartment complex, a bunch of people sharing rented resources. VPS is like a townhouse, a few people sharing the same building, but they are separate properties. Dedicated is like a home, you own the whole building and it's all yours.

Essentially, VPS is like having a miniature server, because it's a part of a server that's all yours. Dedicated is where you get the whole server to yourself and can usually customize it to your needs.

VPS = virtual server = virtual hardware (like hardware emulation)
dedicated server = physical hardware

They're similar in most ways. VPS is still shared hosting, technically, as you share port speed and I/O at minimum. Some virtualization methods share CPU (OpenVZ, Virtuozzo) and even RAM (OpenVZ).

A few posts up sounds like my "VPS / take-and-bake pizza" blog post from 2011.