When compare with shared hosting or a semi dedicated server hosting, VPS hosting requires a lot more job and money. How do you decide when is the right time to go VPS hosting? What kind of websites (game servers?) would need a VPS hosting?

The price ov Virtual Private Servers is so low nowadays that I would choose it as a startup hosting environment every time, to avoid sharing resources and depending on the kid next to me overloading the server with silly scripts.

An upgrade to VPS is recommended when you see your traffic on a shared account projected to exceed your providers comfort level. How do you know what that is? Normally by reading their TOS and comparing that to your plan.

Plus the web host will tell you that you are using to much resources and will advise you to upgrade to the next level. What ever that may be.

Unfortunately, making that comparison is usually not very easy. Things get that more complicated when the site has a spiky traffic.

Generally, you go for a VPS when you need better control over the environment (want stuff installed or configurations that don't really make sense in a shared hosting environment), site is of a critical enough nature that shared hosting with its possible issues are just not worth the risk, or the shared host says your site is too big for their shared hosting environment. A VPS is not always an upgrade in terms of computing power, and may potentially result in more sluggish performance. Mileage may vary a lot though.

Well, you would normally switch to a VPS when you start using to many resources that your provider is not comfortable you using on a shared environment. Also, VPS prices are low now a days, so upgrading to a VPS would be a good choice once a shared environment becomes unsuitable for your needs.

When the domains shows up intermittent issues of slowness, internal server errors, all can be indications of the resource over usage by your domain services. That would be the best time to consider the VPS hosting for your hosting.

Most reputable providers will alert you that you're reaching the point of upgrading services and offer to help.

Agreed. If you shop around you'll see that VPS aren't really that expensive. In fact there's many VPS providers offering plans that are even cheaper than some shared accounts.

It depends on your situation. If you're running a website on a shared account and it seems as if you are outgrowing your host, you should upgrade to a VPS. But game servers run best on dedicated servers.

If you need any kind of control that isn't provided by your shared provider, or you are concerned about security, a VPS is the way to go.

Having your own IP's is also a huge feature if you're sending mail. A shared IP means someone else can send spam and have the shared IP blacklisted, meaning *your* mail will be flagged as spam.

A VPS comes with its own dedicated IP's so you won't encounter that situation (unless *you* send the spam).

I made the switch to a VPS because of the resources- as another user mentioned I like to know that negligence by another client won't affect my guaranteed RAM, etc.

Here's a blog post I wrote a while back. Not sure how useful it'll be for you but hopefully somewhat

Moving up to Virtual Private Server Hosting.

Most veteran Internet users today are familiar with “shared” web hosting, or virtual hosting accounts. A shared hosting account is where you rent space on a server which is shared among many other users, often numbering in the hundreds.

This is a cheap way for the consumer to get started online but it has many draw-backs.
1.) You will encounter email delivery problems because of spam complaints against other sites on the same server.
2.) You will find your site’s grinding to a halt when someone else does some heavy database work on your server.
3.) You may find your site going down because of a denial of service attack against someone else hosting on the same server.

How can your business avoid all of these problems? By upgrading to a virtual private server (VPS). A VPS allows you to run your sites as if you had your own dedicated server. However, VPS is cheaper because you are really just using part of a server that has been split into multiple VPS accounts, each with dedicated system resources.

Often, you can find VPS accounts starting at just $30 a month, such as these accounts: *omitted for this message board*. You’ll get a much larger chunk of bandwidth compared to shared hosting, and none of the problems that go with a shared host. You can also get multiple public IP addresses that are exclusive to your sites, giving you more control.

The main disadvantage of upgrading to VPS hosting is that you will need to be more tech savvy so that you can administer the server, keep it up to date and make changes. This requires a bit of time to learn the necessary Linux skills to make sure your server runs smoothly. Or check out managed services offered by most VPS providers. On the other hand, if you already have these skills then VPS should be no problem for you.

Thanks to the increased speed and bandwidth that a VPS host offers, along with none of the headaches commonly caused by shared hosting, the move is one you’re no likely to regret.

Nice post sevenl. Keep in mind, there are hosts out there that do provide fully managed VPS accounts, but don't get me wrong. Technical knowledge is needed, but you don't really have to have every aspect down in order to manage your VPS if you are using a company who provides a fully managed VPS. I'm not saying there isn't a need for being technically savvy, I'm just saying there are options out there for those who don't have every part of server management under their belt.

To me its pretty obvious when the switch needs to be made to a VPS. When the site starts to have loading problems (loads slow, guests experience errors during extremely busy times), it shows that now is the time to move You have to be quick to upgrade though, as you don't want to lose visitors!