A virtual private server or VPS, also known as A Virtual Dedicated Server is a technique employed in partitioning a server computer into a number of virtual servers such that each one of them appears to, and is capable of running like as if, it's running on a dedicated machine. This means that all virtual servers can separately run individual operating systems and can be rebooted independently.

This practise of making partitions on a single server to get multiple virtual servers has been going on since a long time in mainframe computers. Due to the evolution of virtualisation softwares, this has become a common practice.

The process of virtualization is easy to understand.

The Basics

During the process of virtualisation, the physical server undergoes a normal boot up sequence and then initiates a program that boots all virtual servers separately. The process is similar to that of an emulator. The hardware is not accessible to virtual servers.

Kinds of Virtualisations

These are of two kinds, i.e.

Software based virtualisation where servers share the same core and are dependent on the mainframes resources. This virtualisation is best suited for web hosting and,

Hardware based virtualisation where the virtualisation process involves partitioning of hardware resources. This is kind of virtualisation is a lot more secure and is typically employed in commercial deployments.

Uses of Virtual Servers

These servers have made shared web hosting and dedicated hosting available on the same platform. There are a few softwares that do not run well on a virtual private server environment such as firewalls and ant viruses.

VPSs are isolated in nature and thus have become common for separating various running programs. This is necessary in insecure public user environments. This is clearly explained in a following citation.

Suppose that a physical server is running two virtual servers, one hosting a running usable website and the other containing a copy of it. If upgrades are to be made to the website, then they can first be tested on the second server.

Web Hosting Services

A lot of companies provide such services and call VPS as Virtual dedicated server or dynamic dedicated server. These services include:

Managed Hosting, used to control or monitor a machine. Unmanaged hosting used to provide minimal number of services and is less costly than Managed Hosting. Unmetered Hosting where a fixed bit rate is provided, so that the monthly budget is not exceeded.

Many a times, virtual software's are used as honey pots (which allow the machine to run software with known potential security flaws without making the rest of the server vulnerable.

To know more about webhosting, dedicated servers and their service providers go online and make a research. It is vital, before you make any kind of choices and buy a web hosting service.