I am new to the whole getting to know what things are when it comes to web hosting. I cam across this 'Virtual Private Servers'. I was wandering if someone could explain to me what it's use it?

If this is in the wrong section, please move. Like I said I don;t know what it is, so I couldn't figure out where it went!

Thanks!

A virtual private server or vps is a server that has been partitioned using software to act like several small dedicated servers.
They allow you to have all of the features of a fully dedicated server, ie: root access, without the cost of a dedicated server.
VPS servers are also for the most part managed so the learning curve is much easier.

Moved to VPS, Dedicated & Colocation Hosting.

All it is, is a semi dedicated server, Its in between shared hosting and a dedicated server.

Blue and RyanL are correct so now you know what it is. So let me tell you a bit about the positives and negatives about it.

The positives were mentioned by Blue, it is cheaper than a dedicated server, and it is easier to learn on that a dedicated server. You can also have root access to the server, so it is better than a shared server, and there probably aren't as many accounts on a VPS machine as there are on a shared machine.

The negatives are, you share your resources, suach as CPU, RAM, B/W. This can cause bottlenecking. If you are planning on hosting something which requires high bandwidth usage, like video streaming, then VPS might not be the route you want to take. Also, with all of the users rooting in, and sharing your resources, your sites may be sluggish at times, and it may also go down because of someones else mistakes. Another thing is, because it is manage, you are not as free to do what you want as far as updates on software and other things, as you would be with an unmanaged dedicated server.

These can be a good read:

http://www.virtual-dedicated-server.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server

Thanks for moving webfreak08.

Guys you are brilliant, and very helpful. I now understand what is meant by Virtual Private Servers. Also Serverman, thats a brilliant post it is always good to know some of positives and negatives!

Do any of you use this, by any chance?

ServerMan, On your negatives, you stated that VPS Share BW and CPU Usage Limits, but no adays 70+% Of DEDICATED servers do the same, somewhat, with burstable CPU Usage, and Burstable RAM.

I have not yet used a VPS, I was thinking about it, because its a cheap way to do things, but have never got around do it.

What I dont quite understand is Virtuzzo? Is that what it is called? I dont get what it is, most VPS and Ded's provide it..

Virtual Private Servers - well it's a recent concept which has come up as far as deidcated hosting is concerned and a good concept though.

Virtual private servers are a dedicated servers with 2 operating systems loaded, different ones, with 2 different control panels.

Thank you.

Regards,

Virtuozzo for Windows & Linux Server Virtualization

Virtuozzo creates isolated partitions or virtual environments on a single physical server and OS instance to utilize hardware, software, data center and management effort with maximum efficiency. Read More here http://www.swsoft.com/en/products/virtuozzo/

VPS save cost and ease mgmt in summary:-)

We use VPS on day to day basis.

Here's a little story for you -

A common person once told me he wanted a dedicated server. However along the way he was always apprehensive - I'm new to the Dedicated biz what if something goes wrong.....somehow he mistakenly messed up his server , crashed the entire thing ...he asked me for a reload....Well I had to tell him...Reloads cost money...50-100$ for a reload and refresh ..plus no way to recover your data, Im afraid.

And here's another one , my favourite and hopefully yours -

A common person once told me he wanted a VPS server. However along the way he was always apprehensive - I'm new to the Dedicated/VPS biz what if something goes wrong.....somehow he mistakenly messed up his server , crashed the entire thing ...he asked me for a reload....Well I happily told him..our main server backups your vps every night so we dont lose any data ..we can reload your vps back to where it was last working great..and help you out..no loss of money

Moral of the story..with high experience go dedicated...you get more resources. However less support if things backfire.

For a new user or someone with less tech knowledge go with VPS. You can't go wrong there

A VPS is a replacement for a cheap dedicated server. A VPS is a 'piece' of a high end enterprise server. A cheap dedicated server is just that, cheap and unreliable. Its hard disk will fail and your business will be down for a few hours/days.

A VPS won't fail, but it might get slow. Happily you can upgrade it with an email, phone call, or mouse click.

When your site has very high volumes, thats the time to look at a real dedicated server...redundant power supplies, hardware RAID, offsite backup etc. Thats an expensive game.

Yeah! VPS is a cheap option compared to dedicated. It can be said as a middle to shared and dedicated.

VPS or VMS (virtual Managed Server) also requires you to have some basic knowledge to administor it. If you are not sure how to do this then you should get teh basic understanding first before moving forward.

Remeber that a VPS is basically a glorifed shared account and you are still sharing resources with others on that server