f you are looking for greater control and performance than a Shared Hosting account can provide, or a low-cost upgrade path to a Dedicated Server, a Virtual Private Server will be able to deliver dedicated-sized performance at a fraction of the cost. They come with exactly the same features, autonomy and functionality of a dedicated server, and are suitable for a wide range of tasks such as application testing/development, multiple virtual domain hosting, high traffic websites or game serving.

A Virtual Private Dedicated Server, often referred to as VPS Web Hosting, offers the benefits of a dedicated server including admin access and dedicated IP addresses, but at a much lower price. Rather than the hosting company having one server per client, they have set up a server with a larger storage capacity that is then divided into virtual servers. Users share a server, but because each virtual dedicated server is effectively isolated from other accounts, the user has full control over the server space.

Virtual private servers, VPS, allow hosting providers to offer virtual dedicated servers based on the concept of partitions on mainframes that allow each division to function as a virtual standalone server dedicated to a single customer. To ensure high and reliable performance for all accounts, server boxes are partitioned in such a way that each virtual dedicated server operates almost entirely independently of the other accounts that share the server space. Virtualization technology allows the resources of a single physical server to be efficiently divided into multiple virtual servers. Virtualization completely isolates each server so any issues adversely effecting one server will have no impact on neighbouring servers.

So lets put this into layman’s terms. The concept of APV is similar to dividing or partitioning the hard drive on your computer into several virtual hard drives and giving each section it’s own drive name, such as G Drive, H Drive and so on. Virtual Dedicated hosting is not the same as Shared Hosting as each user feels as if they are alone on the server. Shared Hosting has many websites on one server or drive just as a D drive. Virtual Dedicated hosting may still have several websites on one computer, but each website is on it’s own section such as Website 1 is on D drive, Website 2 is on E drive, Website 3 is on F drive, Website 4 is on G drive, and so on. Each user will have root access to only their own virtual space.

Most VPS Hosting provides full administrator privileges and allows the user to install any software, host unlimited domains, create unlimited databases, and tailor their environment to fit their exact requirements. VPS gives you the control you expect from a dedicated server without the high cost of a dedicated server. As well, virtual dedicated server plans feature very high performance and available disk space and bandwidth.

Virtual dedicated servers offer many of the capabilities and features of dedicated servers, including admin or root access and the dedicated IP addresses. However, as a virtual dedicated server is, indeed, virtually dedicated, each user does share the server space with a small number of other customers, but the key here is the phrase “small number”. A VPS will never have the hundreds of websites sharing resources. Instead, each virtual dedicated server is effectively isolated from other accounts on the server and each user has full control over their server space. This means that with a virtual dedicated server, you will enjoy consistent, high performance, even when usage peaks on the main server.

Virtual dedicated servers are particularly useful for companies and individuals that run higher-traffic Web sites or complex applications and thus need the bandwidth, consistent performance, and flexibility of a virtual dedicated server.