Businesses seeking to grow understand the need to implement new tools and services, as well as to update and expand their IT equipment pools. In the face of fierce competition, the speed and power of such tools are becoming critical to business survival. However, the purchase and maintenance of expensive equipment is often a non-core investment and the payback period can be long.
Modern IT responds flexibly to business needs, offering services and solutions to expand the equipment park without significant investment. Virtual server leasing is one such solution. In this article, we explore the benefits of a virtual server.
What is a virtual server?
A virtual server shares software and hardware resources with other operating systems (OS). It is more efficient in terms of resource management and more cost effective due to server virtualization technology.
Typically, a virtual server is located in an off-site data centre and its resources are shared by multiple users, each with control over it. In simple terms, it is the transformation of a single physical server into multiple virtual machines, each running a different operating system.
To users, a virtual server is similar in functionality to a physical server. Multiple virtual servers can be implemented on a single bare metal server, each with its own operating system, independent provisioning and software. A virtual machine server uses the virtual infrastructure, virtualization software and abstracts the computing resources of a physical server to create a virtual environment.
Benefits include faster provisioning of resources, improved disaster recovery and business continuity, reduced operational and capital costs, and simplified management.
Types of virtual servers
There are different forms of virtualization. For example, in operating system virtualization, the desktop operating system is moved to a virtual environment and hosted on a server.
Server virtualization moves the entire physical server into a virtual environment. Instead of using just the operating system, this virtualization method can emulate a physical server and help reduce the number of servers that need to be deployed.
Virtual servers can also be used for storage or to combine multiple physical hardware units into a single virtualized storage environment.
What are virtual servers used for?
Let's start with the difference between Virtual Private Server (VPS) and Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS). Both terms refer to hosting services, where the user rents virtual server resources with predefined parameters. The terms refer to the same service. The difference lies in the type of virtualization: VDS stands for hardware virtualization, while VPS stands for operating system virtualization.
For users, there is no difference between the two.
For small sites, it is sufficient to use virtual hosting - a service that includes support for multiple domain names, web development tools, a database and disk space. As the company grows and introduces various information systems, the capabilities of virtual hosting will be insufficient. The fact is that with virtual hosting, a client only owns a small portion of the processor and disk space. By renting a virtual server, the company has much more resources at its disposal.
How to choose a virtual server?
The virtual server rental is a profitable alternative to buying your own equipment, but before using this service, it is worth taking into account several things.
Service Provider. Besides experience, consider the conditions and limitations of the server rental. Pay special attention to the SLA (Service License Agreement) as it may vary depending on the provider.
Software and hardware. Find out what hardware and software components are used to build the infrastructure. This will indicate both reliability and additional performance features.
Datacenter. An important point is the reliability of the datacenter in which the infrastructure of the service provider is located. This will determine whether the figures specified in the SLA are true or not.
