What is a Virtual Private Server and when should you use one?

16 Dec 2022, by Slade Baylis

When it comes to running a website or hosting an application for your business, it can be difficult to know where to begin when it comes to what technology you should use. In the past, the common choice used to be to host these sorts of services at your own premises on your own hardware. That made intuitive sense for many businesses, as when you own the hardware and host it locally, you have full control of it. However, that standard has changed in recent years as more and more organisations have become comfortable with hosting their application in the cloud.

Whilst there is still a place for purchasing your own hardware and colocating it at a data centre – as beyond a certain scale it can be a much cheaper option – however for smaller workloads, there can be a myriad of benefits that come with a cloud-based approach. The outsourcing of the responsibility over physical hardware is often seen as one of the primary advantages - from reducing capital expenditure, removing the need to maintain and replace hardware, and doing away with needing to provide physical and digital security for that infrastructure - cloud-based solutions allow you to have your provider solve these problems for you.

However, “in the cloud” covers quite a range of different technology and platforms, including cheaper Shared Web Hosting (SWH) services, regular Virtual Private Servers (VPS), and fully redundant and fault-tolerant services like our VMware platform – so which one should you use?

In this article we’re going to be focusing on our Virtual Private Server (VPS) platform – we’ll go over where it fits in in the grand-scheme of things within the range of products that we offer, how it differs from our entry-level Shared Web Hosting (SWH) platform, and what the process looks like for those who need to upgrade to it as their business and requirements grow.

Getting started online – Entry-level web hosting solutions and managing growing requirements

When starting out as a small business, or as a lone entrepreneur, setting up some form of online presence is often one of the first things you’ll need to do in order to start off on the right foot. In a world where business is being done online more and more, without some form of website it’s unlikely that many potential customers will even be able to find out that you exist! In these early stages, the website that you initially set up is likely to be something fairly simple, functioning mostly as a your “online business card” of sorts - allowing people to find out some information about what you can offer and how to contact you if they want to know more.

With these requirements being so simple, it’s likely that some of the more complicated IT solutions would be overkill - not only that, it’s likely that they would also cost too much to be sustainable. That’s why simpler and more affordable options were developed – solutions that aim to provide simple website hosting, basic email functionality, and the ability to slowly scale your requirements as your business grows.

Within our product offerings, our Shared Web Hosting (SWH) platform is our entry-level option for those who require that type of hosting without breaking the bank. Utilising the now industry-standard cPanel web hosting control panel, users are able to get the basics set up easily through an intuitive control panel interface, without needing to know how it all works behind the scenes. Using this panel, users are able to install and set up a website based on common platforms like WordPress or Drupal, or create email accounts and forwarders as necessary. It’s due to this that this is usually the first port of call for those starting out with a new business and beginning their online journey.

One of the many advantages of utilising a platform like our SWH service is that the infrastructure is entirely “managed”. This means that the server itself is monitored, updated, and managed by Micron21 staff, rather than requiring users to have the technical know-how to do these tasks themselves. This can be a godsend for those who would rather not worry about the IT aspects and instead would rather focus on growing their business! However, as your business and your IT requirements grow, there comes a point for most where a higher level of control over the infrastructure will be required.

Reaching the limits – What should you do when you need more control over your environment?

As part of the service being entirely managed by Micron21, the configuration of the server is standardised based on our own determinations around security requirements, functionality, and useability - all in the context of trying to provide the best service possible for our clients. However, in some cases, some clients may have unique requirements that require a different server configuration, or a higher level of access and control to meet.

Those decisions around server-standards on our shared platforms are based on what we believe will provide the most security, whilst also providing all the functionality that our clients require. As with most things, when it comes to these decisions, there is a balance to strike between locking things down and providing useful functionality - whilst doing so at an affordable price-point. In most cases, increasing one aspect will directly negatively impact the other, so wherever that line is drawn it is will come with advantages and disadvantages.

In some cases, clients may be using custom applications that require non-standard software to be installed on the server to function correctly. In others, they may require server-wide configuration changes to meet industry-specific regulatory requirements - such as for those who require their systems be PCI compliant in order to handle online transactions. In these cases, these options can’t be modified and software can’t be installed without affecting other clients on the same server. It’s for this reason that clients who have this sort of requirement will usually need to move to more “dedicated” solutions to have this higher level of control.

So, what’s next? The next step is to set up your own server and then use it to host your websites and applications! Upgrading to your own server allows you to retain the same useability and functionality that you’ve grown accustomed to, whilst also giving you full administrator access and control over how the server is configured and set up.

Here at Micron21 we have three primary cloud platforms that customers can choose to use - our entry-level shared web hosting platform that we’ve already covered, and two different Virtual Server platforms. The first platform is our KVM Virtual Private Server (VPS) platform, which is built as the next logical step for those that outgrow our web hosting platform - in addition to that, we also have our higher-tier VMware Virtual Cloud Server (VCS) platform which provides high-availability and high-performance for mission critical virtual servers.

Our VPS platform is able to give our clients that added level of control. In the same way that our web hosting services can be thought of as a smaller “slice” of a virtual server, a VPS can instead be thought of as a slice of a much more powerful physical server. By partitioning a large and powerful physical server into multiple smaller virtual servers, our clients are able to lease only the resources that they require at any given point in time – and this more efficient allocation of resources saves them money in the form of reduced infrastructure costs.

In short, virtual servers provide the same level of control that you would have with a dedicated server, but with the advantages of scalability and affordability that comes with cloud-based and virtualised solutions.

Avoid fighting for resources – What is contention and how does it affect performance? 

There are a few other advantages to moving away from shared services, with one of the greatest benefits being that these virtual servers are a cost-effective way to achieve dedicated resources, avoiding issues of “contention” or “noisy neighbours” that sometimes occur on shared platforms.

As the name implies, with shared hosting services, multiple hosting accounts are set up on the same virtual server - which allows for each account to use finite resources like CPU and RAM as they need them, whilst allowing other hosting accounts to use those resources when they don’t. The main advantage of this approach for our customers is that - much like the reduced infrastructure cost that virtualisation results in - this more efficient usage of server resources allows the service to be provided at a much more affordable price-point.

However, this “sharing” of resources does have one drawback, which is that during high load peaks, users of the service can run into an issue known as “contention”. Contention can be understood to be the waiting time that’s experienced when users of a service are cumulatively requesting more resources than what’s available. Put more simply, due to shared platforms being built with assumptions around how much resources will be required by each account on average, spikes in that usage can result in there being shortfalls and not enough resources for every user of that service. For shared web hosting services specifically, in these instances this can cause websites to load slower than they would at other non-peak times.

It’s due to this potential “fighting for resources” that some organisations prefer to look at other solutions that have dedicated resources - that’s ones whereby the resources are reserved for their own personal use - so that they can rest assured that they will have the horsepower when it’s needed. Of course, these solutions are usually more expensive than shared alternatives, but the certainty gained around performance is something that many businesses prefer once they grow large enough to afford them.

A quick summary – Which platform is right for you?

Moving from one to the other – What’s involved in upgrading to your own server?

With the “what” and “why” covered - having introduced what our VPS platform is and the different situations in which you should consider using it in - we’ll now look to answer the “how”. What does the process of moving over to a VPS look like for those who are currently on our shared web hosting platform?

As previously mentioned, the web hosting platform that we provide is based on the now industry-standard software called cPanel. This software allows a Linux server to be deployed with an intuitive control panel, which makes it easy-to-use for even non-tech-savvy people, as well as simplifies the process of hosting websites and applications. With regards to upgrading to your own VPS, users are able to have their own VPS set up to use that same cPanel software. If they choose to use it, one massive benefit is that this can drastically simplify the process of upgrading to that new platform!

With cPanel installed, the process of transferring from our Shared Web Hosting platform is simplified to the degree that we can in most cases use automated tools to bring across any required website - it’s for this reason that we usually include the transfer to this platform for free for clients that choose to use it!

Of course, cPanel isn’t a requirement for those who wish to run their own server – so for those who don’t mind getting their hands dirty, we also offer VPS servers as bare-bones Linux or Windows servers that can be configured to host any applications or software that’s required. For migrations over to these types of servers, the migration process and any costs involved are determined on a case-by-case basis. For these types of services, the process of transferring would usually be more involved, requiring hands-on work by a technician to transfer over website files, databases, email accounts, etc.

In any case, we’re here to help or offer guidance if you need us! Our technicians are experts across a vast range of cloud products, so we can answer any questions that you have. Whether it’s questions around the platforms that we offer, what your particular upgrade path looks like, or assisting with expanding your IT footprint - we can help you plan for your future!

Have any questions about any of our cloud-based platforms?

If you have any questions about our platforms and which one would best suit your needs, reach out to us! You can contact us via email at sales@micron21.com or via phone on 1300 769 972 (Option #1).