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Shared hosting allows thousands of people to host their own sites at a very reasonable cost. It has some drawbacks, however. Since hundreds of sites can be hosted on a single server resources such as CPU, disk space, and bandwidth have to be shared with your virtual neighbours.

Shared resources are usually not a problem for small to medium sized sites. Your main limitation is the lack of control over system level software – http servers, mail servers etc. You don’t have any choice of operating system and you cannot compile programs or do administrative tasks such as setting up Spam filters or firewalls.

Many people would say ‘So what? I don’t want to do that stuff anyway!’ It’s true that the majority of website owners have no interest or ability to handle this kind of work and are happy to leave it to the hosting company. Those who desire more control over their server environment or wish to experiment with new software, however, can get access to this level of management with a Virtual Private Server.

A virtual private server (VPS) is a physical server that has been divided (using software) into several virtual machines, each acting as an independent dedicated server. The physical resources such as RAM, CPU and disk space are still shared, but each VPS acts independently of the others. Each VPS can have a different operating system and can be configured in any way possible.

The key advantage of VPS is allowing each VPS administrator access to the root level of his virtual server. This kind of access allows the administrator to install and delete software, set permissions, create accounts – in short, do everything that the administrator of a ‘real’ sever can.

As well as providing more control over your hosting environment, a VPS is more secure than shared hosting. Websites on a shared server all have the same operating system, so if a hacker were to find access to the root of the server he could damage any or all of the websites on that server. A VPS, on the other hand, is divided in such a way that even if a hacker were to gain entry through one account, there is no way to access the others. Each VPS is invisible to the others and there is no way to set up root level access from one VPS to another.

Virtual Private Servers can be set up in various ways so be sure to understand how the hosting company has allocated resources. The most common configuration is to divide all the physical resources evenly by the number of accounts. Thus, if there are 10 virtual servers, each would receive 10% of the total bandwidth, CPU, memory and disk space.

The disadvantages of VPS are almost the same as the advantages. The control that a VPS account provides can be dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. You have the ability to delete files, set permissions improperly, allow virus-laden software on the system and, in general, really screw things up. If you don’t have the knowledge to administer a server, or are not willing to learn, VPS is not for you.

If your website has outgrown shared hosting, however, VPS offers an affordable alternative to dedicated hosting. When shopping for a VPS host, be sure to find out how system resources are divided up, the number of VPS accounts on each physical server, the method for upgrading, and the choices of operating systems.

With the emergence of VPS’s and with it currently being widely offered by a number of web hosts. sometime at low prices, the question that comes to our mind is, what should I choose? a VPS or a normal reseller plan, to help you with the decision we will mention the pros and cons for both sides, which would help you better understand both of them and thus help you make the most suitable choice for your current needs.

We will start with the pros and cons of a VPS, a Virtual Private Server is basically like a reseller plan in terms of disk space and bandwidth, you would usually find reseller plans come with more disk space and bandwidth, but a VPS has allot more benefits over a reseller, the 1st one would be Root access, with a VPS you have root access which is not available with almost all reseller plans, some would say and why would I need root access, in some cases you could be right, if your looking only to resell shared hosting plans you probably wouldn’t need root access, but if your looking to install some custom software, learn some system administration on a remote machine, a VPS would be the perfect solution for that instead of investing in a dedicated server which would cost allot more than a VPS. A VPS also can be loaded with a number of operating systems depending on what the provider supports, for example of you were to choose a VPS on a linux platform you would be able to offer linux web hosting plans, which can also be measured on the windows platform.

The 2nd and most important advantage for a VPS is the privacy and isolation you have from other clients on the server, in a shared reseller environment, your account and your hosted accounts could be damaged because of someone else’s fault on the server, for example if another reseller on the same server your placed has a client running a loopy script which would eventually crash the server, your account will suffer from downtime because of that, which wouldn’t happen with a VPS environment, if a VPS where to crash on the server your VPS is placed on your VPS wouldn’t be effected at all.

The 3rd advantage would be the dedicated resources each VPS usually comes with, each VPS usually comes with a minimum guaranteed CPU and memory usage for your VPS, which means no one can abuse the server resources or manipulate it for his account, in the worst case you would have your guaranteed CPU and memory to use.

VPS would be the best choice between a reseller plan and a dedicated server, a VPS would give you more reliability and room to expand with your web hosting business. At PremiusHosting, although we do offer a wide range of Affordable windows web hosting plans, but we currently don’t offer windows reseller plans, which is not the case with a VPS which can be loaded with any operating system you want as long as we support it (currently either Windows server 2003 or fedora core 1)

Reseller Plans also have some advantages over a VPS, with a reseller plan you usually don’t have to worry about the server security, keeping your software up to date and the general management of the server which is usually taken care of from your provider.

My Advice would be, if your not experienced with running a server, just starting out or you just don’t have time to take care of a VPS, I would recommend a reseller plan, otherwise a VPS would be a smarter choice.

What is a Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated server and why is it different than normal web hosting. Web hosting offers you limited control of how the server your web site is hosted on behaves. Normal hosting plans put many customers’ accounts on a single server and you upload your files to that Server. Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated servers allow you to actually control your own server where you receive Admin access to install and run virtually anything YOU want on the server. You can host multiple web sites on the one server account, and even sell hosting and host other sites on your server.

I have referred to Dedicated and Virtual Dedicated Servers. You may ask, what is the difference? Virtual dedicated servers are similar to Dedicated servers as they offer many of the same features, but at a much lower price.

With a virtual dedicated server, the customer shares the server space with a limited number of other customers using the same server box. Each virtual dedicated server is isolated from the other accounts giving the user full control of their own server. Virtual dedicated servers are useful for companies and individuals that run complex applications that need the bandwidth, consistent performance, and flexibility of a virtual dedicated server.

With a dedicated server, you actually lease a server box that is dedicated to only you and is set up to your preferences. The dedicated server customer has exclusive rights to the server’s bandwidth, memory and storage space. Also, a dedicated server account provides full control of any software installation on the server. Dedicated servers are useful for companies and individuals that run very-high-traffic Web sites or applications that need the bandwidth, versatility, and consistent performance of a dedicated box.

Dedicated / Virtual dedicated servers are an excellent choice to use for gaming sites, database management, shared hosting, and hosting of Web sites that receive high amounts of traffic.

Companies now offer your own customization of your Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated Server. This allows you the flexibility to choose one of their popular pre-packaged plans, or go wild and customize and configure your own virtual dedicated server by selecting your own options.

One bonus that can help you decide on where to get your server from is the support they offer, the value they give you when signing up and what system
you will actually be running the server on. With support, the standard now is to be offered 24×7 email, telephone and Web-based tech support, as well as you having access to modify your server 24×7. Sometimes a free offering when purchasing the server is given. You should look for companies that offer Free and quick setup of the server, so you may be running in no time.

So you have decided you need a Virtual Dedicated Server or Dedicated Server. Now what? You need to choose a company to purchase your Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated Server from. Here is a company I recommend for purchasing your Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated Server from.

Domains at Retail – offers 24×7 email, telephone and Web-based tech support for your Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated Server, allows you to pick a pre-configured server or to customize your own server and will set up your account for free. Visit Domains at Retail at http://www.domainsatretail.com/wholesalehosting.html for your Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated Server needs!

Good Luck with the purchase of your Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated Server and start running your server today!