Although very little credit is given to cheap hosting solutions when it comes to the internet boom, the truth is that without affordable hosting solutions there was no way so many websites could have been hosted online. The price of hosting has been on a steady decline and new technologies like VPS (virtual private servers) have made hardware sharing an affordable reality. To better understand how VPS has impacted web hosting one must first understand what a virtual private server is.

A virtual private server is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers; each virtual server has the appearance and capabilities of running as a dedicated machine. In addition, a virtual private server can have multiple instances of different operating systems running at the same time. A virtual private server boots up like any normal web server, the server then executes a virtualization software that allows a single server to host multiple ?virtual machines?. The server's administrator decides exactly what resources are available to each virtual machine. Contrary to popular belief, a virtual private server is in no way inferior to a dedicated server and is far more cost effective.

A webmaster is usually assigned a super-user account on the virtual private server, and a webmaster can choose to install any software he wants. Unlike a dedicated server, there are very little restrictions on the type of software a webmaster can install, and everything from firewalls to anti-virus programs can be installed on a virtual private server. Although, virtual private servers with multiple operating systems are becoming popular, a virtual private server with multiple instances of the same operating system is believed to perform better.

A super-user also has access to various features like root SSH and memory management. As mentioned earlier in the article, the virtual private server's administrator has the rights to decide how much RAM is allocated to each virtual server thus ensuring that each virtual server is allocated enough space and memory and is not deprived of system resources.

Advantages of virtual private servers

Cost effective

The biggest advantage of virtual private serves is that they are cost effective. Compared to a dedicated server, a virtual private server is nearly 75% cheaper and can offer the same features as a dedicated server.

Greater flexibility

A webmaster can choose exactly how many hardware resources he wants allocated to his website. In addition, a webmaster can reboot the web server as and when he wants without having to worry about downtime for other websites. Virtual servers can be rebooted individually, and do not affect other servers that are running on the same virtual private server.

Expandable

Depending on a webmaster's requirements, a virtual server can be assigned greater system resources and space. For example, an e-commerce site might require more server space as its business grows. A virtual private server's administrator can assign additional server space and system resources to a website in real time with very little or no downtime.

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