Virtual Private Servers

More about virtual private servers

Virtual private servers are also known as Virtual dedicated servers. They display a form of virtualization that split a single physical server into multiple virtual servers. This practice of dividing a single virtual server to make it appear as multiple virtual servers has been commonly observed in mainframe computers. However it has seen a sudden appearance lately with the development of software and technologies such as VMware, Xen, FreeBSD Jail, User-mode Linux, Linux-VServer, FreeVPS, OpenVZ, and Virtuozzo.

In the Internet hosting service industry, VPS hosting fill the gap between shared web hosting service and dedicated hosting service and are fast becoming the foundation of many hosting companies. They allow grass root-level access to individual clients without requiring the actual hassle of physically dedicated servers. They are popularly used by businesses and individuals that need a customized solution that cannot be done in a shared hosting environment.

Virtual private servers have also become popular for their ability to establish sandboxes. For instance - a single physical server might have two virtual private servers running; one hosting a live website and a second which houses a copy of it. When updates to important parts of software have to be made, they can be tested in the second VPS, allowing for comprehensive testing to be done without the hassle of different physical servers. It is also an ideal solution if you have an environment that needs the best of two (or more) worlds since most providers offer both Linux and Windows VPS Hosting.

Virtual private servers are also employed to provide honeypots, allowing a machine to intentionally run software with known security flaws. Since it is possible to deploy multiple virtual private servers on a single computer quickly enough, honeypots are much easier and facilitate better insight into the realm of computer security.