| Shared hosting is a great option for a lot of websites | | | | you can do on a dedicated server, only at a lower |
| as it brings the cost down considerably. It does have | | | | cost. |
| some disadvantages, however. Your site's CPU, disk | | | | A VPS is also more secure than shared hosting. On a |
| space and bandwidth can be affected by other sites | | | | shared server, all the websites are running within the |
| on the same server. | | | | same operating system. If the server gets hacked, all |
| If your site is relatively small, these resource issues | | | | the sites will be vulnerable. |
| may not be a problem. Another downside to shared | | | | With a VPS, because of the way the virtual servers |
| hosting is lack of system-level control. You may not | | | | are divided, if one of them gets hacked none of the |
| have any control over things such as system | | | | others are visible to the hacker. They're effectively |
| software and scripts. | | | | like different computers. |
| While many webmasters don't need to worry about | | | | Virtual Private Servers can be configured in a number |
| these things, there are some that do. If you fall into | | | | of ways so you should be sure that you find out |
| that category, you might want to look at a Virtual | | | | how any particular host has set them up. |
| Private Server (VPS) for your hosting. | | | | In most cases, the server's total resources are |
| A VPS is a single physical server that has been | | | | divided evenly by the number of VPS's on the |
| divided into a few "virtual machines" through | | | | machine. ie. If there are 10 virtual servers, the total |
| software running on the server. The server's | | | | RAM, disk space, etc. is simply divided by 10 and |
| resources - RAM, disk space, etc. - are still shared, | | | | each VPS gets 10% of the total. |
| but each VPS gets its own allotment and operated | | | | The disadvantages of a VPS are related to the same |
| completely independently from the others. | | | | things as the advantages. Because you have |
| This independence lets you run scripts or software - | | | | complete control over the system, you can run into |
| even install a different operating system - without | | | | problems if you don't know what you're doing. |
| having any effect on the other virtual servers on the | | | | You can delete the wrong files, set permissions |
| same machine. | | | | incorrectly, create security vulnerabilities and more if |
| One of the biggest advantages of a VPS is the fact | | | | you're not careful. |
| that you get "root" level access to your server. This | | | | If you aren't familiar with server administration and |
| means you can install or delete any software you | | | | don't have time to learn, you should either hire |
| want, create any accounts you want, set permissions | | | | someone to do it for you or find a host who |
| the way you want - effectively all the same things | | | | manages the server for you. |