Dedicated virtual servers: what are they?

A dedicated virtual server is another term for a virtual private server. Here at Tibus, we tend to refer to virtual private server hosting or VPS hosting, and that is probably the prevalent term. But dedicated virtual server is equally applicable.

What are dedicated virtual servers?

Dedicated virtual servers are virtual servers that appear to the end user to be a dedicated server. In fact, each dedicated virtual server is installed on a computer alongside other dedicated virtual servers, each with its own operating system and hosting the software and data of a different end user. The extent to which the hardware is shared between multiple dedicated virtual server customers varies between web hosting companies. Our VPS customers share physical hardware components, such as server nodes and SAN, with other VPS clients.

This setup is achieved through virtualisation software, which effectively divides a physical server into separate servers, which are called virtual machines (VMs). Each virtual machine has its own operating system, which can be optimised to the client’s requirements, and is granted access to its fair portion of the physical server’s compute, memory and storage.

Benefits of dedicated virtual servers

One of the key advantages of dedicated virtual server hosting is that is generally much cheaper than an actual dedicated server. It also provides the client with root and administrator permissions, which is not always the case with other forms of shared hosting.

Another important benefit is that, although multiple tenants might have virtual machines that sit on the same physical server, they can only access the operating system, not the server. These means that a VM cannot interact with a VM belonging to another tenant.

The end user is also able to add File Transfer Protocol site, a mail server, applications and databases suited to their activities, as well as hosting multiple domains on a single VM.

Disadvantages of dedicated virtual servers

Although a dedicated virtual server mimics a dedicated server, it cannot match a dedicated server in terms of performance. This is logical since dedicated virtual server hosting is based on the idea of sharing the resources of a single server between multiple tenants. Clearly you will have better performance if you have all of the server’s resources at your disposal.

The other main disadvantage is security. Although, as we outlined above, VMs on a dedicated virtual server cannot interact with each other, there are inherent security risks from sharing a physical server that do not apply to dedicated or private server hosting.

Is a dedicated virtual server right for you?

Dedicated virtual servers are a good option for those with a limited budget and a website that isn’t too busy or heavy on resources. For those with high traffic websites or detailed security requirements, it is better to consider a private cloud or dedicated bare metal server hosting environment.