What exactly is Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting. As far as the advantages disadvantages etc. Hopefully somebody can write a good post ion this because im clue less.

I came across vps hosting for $ 7 a month starting out

It basically means that your "server" will be hosted on the same physical server as a bunch of other sites, but that it will seem as if you have administrative control.

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Hi,

VPS servers themselves are neither good nor bad. It really depends on if it's over provisioned or not. Meaning if they sell too many accounts for what the hardware/bandwidth can handle, or if the hardware is cheap and has issues it's not a good thing.

Basically think of VPS as a way to photocopy a server, including the operating system. So you buy a physical server, you include one of the virtualization platforms which is what photocopies the server. Then instead of having one instance of a server you can have X depending on what the server and bandwidth can support. I'm using the photocopy analogy as a very simple, not completely acurate example to make it understandable.

As a buyer think of hosting in 3 tiers. Least expensive and least scaleable or customizable is Shared Hosting. Next is VPS hosting. You (hope) you get more system resources for your hosting. Then the top tier is the most expensive which is dedicated server hosting. In this case you are the only user on that server. You have complete control over customizing the os to your specific needs. You have more system resources available to you, meaning you can scale larger before having to move to a faster server.

Unless you are on a very very tight budget I would always chose VPS over Shared Hosting. Dedicated servers are cheap enough now that you should be able to find a dedicated server for $40-$60 a month. Then it is all yours.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Bang

Good post Bang.
I second VPS over shared usually. However it all depends on the host. These days the 7 dollar vps hoster is usually overselling on a less than ideal box. As such its just as bad as any shared host overselling their server. Sometimes even worse.
Dedicateds are cheap these days. If you can afford it go dedicated.

VPSLink actually provides good VPSes. Just don't expect a lot out of the $7/m one. It's not designed to run a modern website, more for running a single simple server like a DNS or mail daemon.

The advantage of a VPS over dedicated is that it's much easier to manage and backup. CPanel is available under a VPS license that's much cheaper than a dedicated server, if you use it.

If you don't know a lot about managing a server a managed VPS is the way to go.

Ok now I get it somewhat. But none hasnt gotten into really detailed. all i need is example of what you can do with a VPS or dedicated server vs a shared hosting account?

Ok shared account you are limited in what you can do eg you might not get shell access and you wont get root access, This means you can not install extra services or some things things like extra mpeg encoders for video related servers. You also can be effected if another user on the server starting having CPU/memory/bandwidth spikes and your host is not keeping a close eye on the system.

A vps is a poor mans dedicated server, as said it is the next step up from a reseller/shared account but you have to remember that this is a virtual server hosted on a dedicated server. The memory and cpu will be monitored and you will have a set amount some times as little as 128mb so dont expect to run any thing too memory intensive. But the plus side is that you can reboot the virtual server or install any thing you want you have full root access and can pretty much do any thing you want with in your limits of your memory and cpu useage.

This is a good option if you want to start as playing a host or want to run a application that you have to install custom addons that would not be allowed if you ran a shared host.

Next step up is the dedicated server you are master of your domain you can reboot or install as much or as little as you want. You have full use of the cpu and memory, its a bit like having your own PC sitting in side a data center. You can use this for memory intensive application or if you want to run some thing that you might not want a host seeing. The server is yours to do what you please with. You could set it up a mailsystem a dedicated ftp server a torrent server you name it. You can do what you want with it as its your box.

CPUGEEK what would you want to run and members can advise or check out webhostingtalk as people will be falling over them selves to host you either as shared/vps or dedicated account.

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A cookie a day keeps the tax man away

Shared hosting account you know
VPS server you can be a reseller control IP'S etc
Some account let you use different servers on there networks so you can host all over the world
Like I have my own server in the UK and use a VPS reseller account in the USA in 5 different locations on 5 IP’s
So now I have like 6 different server locations and IP’s I have other VPS in Asia and so on and so on
So you get a little more control over what you are doing but read up on all these hosts before you use them
As its very easy to spike or roll these servers and that will just get your domain banned
Bottom line you will get what you pay for and no more mach your site to the server

I use hostIcan VPS, every month $50, in my opinion is not bad, I subscribe for 1 year and what you guys thing about it?

www.vpsland.com is good too, used them a few times recently.

I agree with you, i have a vpslink and so far its been great. well worth the price.

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can we host our own proxy server in VPS hosting? (sorry if it doesnt make sense). I am looking to host my own proxy so that I can generate more IPs for craigslist posting etc. Is that possible? Please advise.

they only give you a limited number of ip's. My subscription came with 3.

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How about hosting a VPN in there? Will I be able to generate more IPs then?
As for proxies, how do I go for more than 3 ips then? How much more do I have to pay for?

Even if you setup VPN it will it wont give you more ip addresses you will still have to request these from the provider.

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A cookie a day keeps the tax man away