WHAT IS A VIRTUAL PRIVATE SERVER?

A virtual private server or "VPS" for short, is just like your traditional server with a few exceptions. A VPS looks like a server, walks like a server, and talks like a server, except it is not a real physical server. It is a completely software-based server that can run independently of any particular hardware platform. It works by running special virtualization software on a physical computer system that abstracts all the details of the hardware below it. This software provides a uniform interface to your software-based server and its corresponding operating system (OS). Your OS and software applications have no idea it is being run in a virtual environment!

This technology allows you to create exact duplicates of the same virtual server with ease. You set up an entire virtual server, copy it, and save a backup of it for later. You can give copies out to other people. You can do whatever you want with it! Virtual servers reduce a job that traditionally took weeks down to just a few minutes of work! Gone are the days of manually installing software, performing backups, and so forth.

Virtualization technology makes it possible to run multiple virtual private servers on the same physical hardware server. In the old days, your server OS and software hogged the entire machine for itself. Now with virtual software, you can share your hardware server with multiple "environments". They don't even have to all be running the same OS! They You can have a Linux-based VPS, and Windows-based, and dozens more all running on the same hardware server at the same time!

WHAT CAN IT BE USED FOR?

In the web hosting world, virtual private servers fill the gap between "shared hosting" and "dedicated servers". With shared hosting, multiple clients could share one web server, but all of their websites were co-mingled into the same environment space. There was one OS for the hardware server, and everyone shared space within it. While this is acceptable for basic websites, it doesn't offer a whole lot of control and customization for the individual client. And if one client's software caused any problems, it affected all the other clients sharing that server.

With dedicated servers, a client has full control of the entire server box, but this comes with a a higher price tag. This often ends up being overkill and leads towards a waste of server resources if the web applications are underutilized.

With virtual private servers, you get all the benefits of shared hosting (sharing one machine with multiple clients) with the privacy and control of a dedicated server. Each VPS is isolated from the others, so they do not affect each other should one crash.

Have you ever wanted to test out a new OS but didn't want to risk blowing away your existing system? Have you ever wanted to demonstrate a new web application to a client without having to touch your production servers? Have you ever just wanted your own playground to do what you want?

Europhase UK VPS can be reinstalled to how it was when you first ordered and you can install a wide range of operation systems within seconds.