Brief:
An article discussing the ability to host medium-size sites, or sites that require more resources than standard shared hosting, with particular emphasis on Virtuozzo and Plesk.
Themes:
What do virtual servers offer? Constrictions on tasks; positives of the virtual server platform; how Virtuozzo works; the benefits of Plesk for the mid-sized company and resellers; the Hostway offering.
Introduction
With the physical size of websites increasing, and the need to provide more complex applications and solutions to visitors, many SMEs are choosing the concept of Virtual Server hosting.
Although Virtual Server hosting has been around for a while, it seems to have taken off in the last 12 months as website developers try to maintain cost efficiency, but at the same time enjoy the flexibility of having their own server.
Virtual Server platforms make this possible by creating multiple, isolated VPS installations all within the same single piece of hardware. Each VPS acts as a standalone server, with the ability to run services and applications completely independently of other users on the same hardware. The cost savings of using this type of solution mean that businesses do not have to spend a great deal of their IT budget on purchasing dedicated servers to run, what for the most part, are information or data-capture websites.
How exactly does a VPS work?
For those that have not heard the term before, or are unable to distinguish one acronym from another anymore, a Virtual Private Server is essentially a server that is ‘split’ using Kernel-based partitioning software into multiple "Virtual Servers".
Each Virtual Private Server in turn has its own operating system, and a guaranteed share of resources (Processor, Disk, RAM) which can be appropriated for any purpose. CPU and RAM limits are only limited by the architecture of the server hardware, and a typical server installation can support as many websites as a server set up to run shared hosting.
Resources can be set by the administrator of the server environment, and QoS can be set up to allow specific limits per VPS. This allows administrators to have as many or as little VPS installations on a server as they wish, thereby giving them full control over the business and pricing model that they follow.
Who Offers Them?
Although there are many VPS open-source models out there, many leading hosting companies have partnered with SW-Soft® to offer their proprietary Virtuozzo™ technology. This makes commercial sense since SW-Soft® are also responsible for the Plesk™/Confixx™ Control Panel software that is installed on the majority of Linux shared hosting services worldwide.
Therefore, pairing Virtuozzo with the Plesk CP allows for a solution that not only works out of the box, but also provides an interface that many Linux users are comfortable with.
But I Want An Open Source Model!
Of course you do, and for that you can turn to Linux VServer, a community project that was created by Jacques Gélinas and is now led by Herbert Pötzl. The Linux VServer project works according to the same concepts as the SW-Soft platform – kernel patches to protect contexts, and a set of tools to allow virtual server management.
Linux VServer has also seen significant implementation within the hosting arena; most notably by Lycos, who use VServer for their own hosting product line. In addition to this the open-source model allows developers to change or add modules based on their own preferences. Pairing VServer with Webmin and Usermin as administration control panels creates a system that is entirely open-source.
What Would I Use A VPS For?
The benefits of the VPS model are diverse. They range from game development and multiplayer environments, short-term pre-launch development projects, to database-driven application hosting and of course as a ‘White Label’ platform that resellers can use to offer their own shared hosting services, complete with webspace, email and database services.
I Want…Which One?
In the case of Hostway, an early adopter of virtualisation technologies, VPS packages come in two separate formats. The first, ‘Plesk VPS’, does not allow root access to the OS, but instead offers a VPS where control of domains, webspace and FTP is handled from the Plesk interface. This type of plan allows resellers, or those with limited sys-admin knowledge, to configure their own settings and offer their own branded service.
The second type is ‘VPS Root’, which as the name suggests, involves root SSH access, and your choice of either Webmin or Usermin to configure the platform. SSH access also means that developers have full control of the VPS, with the ability to start/stop their own services and set individual firewall rules. Of the two options, this one offers the greatest degree of configurability, but it’s not for beginners.
There Has To Be A Catch…
There are no catches, but there are a few constraints. To be fair, no solution is ever going to give you everything you need without any drawbacks, it just depends on what you need to achieve. The VPS platform is not a replacement for a dedicated server – it is the middle-ground between shared and dedicated hosting for those with smaller budgets and higher needs. You can’t, for instance, run applications that require the loading of a kernel module or applications that require NPTL. But you can install your own choice of applications and configure them to your heart’s content.
Conclusion
Is VPS the next Big Thing? Well, time will certainly tell. It does offer a combination of elements that have been lacking in the hosting marketplace for a long time, and it enables more flexible, reliable hosting services than have previously been offered. With a number of providers offering dedicated servers at the sub- £100 mark, VPS could find itself cannibalised, but if you need remote development space at a low cost, it’s certainly amongst the best options right now. As always, the market will decide.
_________________________________________
|
Title
Click here to print our PDF pricelist.