The more powerful your virtual server is, the more speed and accessibility your website will have. That is a very important part of the success of a website, as much as web design and customer service can be. A powerful virtual server will allow you to generate a strong and stable relationship with your users.
When you choose a hosting service, you must be very attentive, because the variety of products and plans can confuse you. It often happens that whoever is in charge of purchasing the hosting does not know what they are contracting or receive advice on, and as a result, many websites cannot support high loads and give their visitors poor performance, low functionality, and constant crashes. It is good then, to know more deeply about the option of the virtual server or VPS.
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VPS Hosting
A virtual private server (VPS) is a physical server, divided into several individual servers among a set number of clients. Said virtual server is totally isolated from the others and has its own operating system and dedicated resources. In this case, a user still shares CPU, RAM, and bandwidth performance with other users, but he has full control over his server options. In other words, you will receive a dedicated server, under the logic of shared hosting.
However, before purchasing a VPS hosting plan, you need to decide on which operating system the server will run on. As a general rule, all VPS servers can work under two main platforms: Linux and Windows. Both have their own specific characteristics and are oriented to different segments.
Linux VPS
Linux-based hosting solutions use open-source Linux software. Thanks to this fact, website owners are able to avoid spending their budget on purchasing licenses to download and run certain Linux programs and plugins. A Linux VPS server will be a real gem for companies that want to get started quickly even if they don’t have the budget.
Advantages of Linux VPS servers:
Reliability and flexibility, Linux VPS servers consume fewer resources, which increases web performance and reduces the chances of service interruptions. In addition, users will be able to allocate resources between applications, if necessary with the help of a control panel (cPanel).
Compatibility Linux VPS servers are compatible with a wide range of coding languages, such as PHP, Python, Perl, MySQL and Ruby on Rails.
Interaction, all VPS servers are equipped with SSH text-based command systems, which allow users to increase the functionality of their servers and reduce their overhead dramatically. However, the user must have particular knowledge of coding and programming to implement its operations through an SSH system.
Development As the Linux platform has an open source code, a website owner is able to change server configurations, make updates and customizations, as well as install various plugins and applications, based only on his needs and preferences.
Windows VPS
Windows VPS servers run on the Windows operating system, which makes them more popular with many website owners. However, these hosting solutions are more expensive, since the Windows platform is commercial software, which requires payment for its installation and the use of its additional programs and applications.
Advantages of Windows VPS servers:
User-Friendly Interface All Windows VPS servers have a familiar and easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI), which will be especially helpful if you are new to server management and maintenance.
Improved control, each user has an option called Remote Desktop Access. With its help, the user will be able to control and manage his server at any time and from anywhere on his own.
Site support Windows-based hosting solutions include programs such as ASP and ASP.NET, which will be very useful if you want to create complex websites or customize your existing website if it runs on Microsoft software.
The differences between these hosting solutions are obvious. In short, when choosing between Linux and Windows VPS servers, first of all, you should take into account not only their features but also your goals.