The majority of small/medium-sized businesses nowadays have recognized and opting for a Virtual Private Server (VPS) as their ideal hosting solution.
A VPS combines the benefits of a dedicated and shared server while surmounting every limitation posed by both forms of hosting.
A virtual private server or VPS allows users to install apps of their choice, pick out an operating system that is suitable for their business needs as well as reboot the server. It also provides a free control panel that allows the viewing of graphics statistics, server information, bandwidth consumption, and so much more.
A virtual private server (VPS) is created via the use of virtualization technology in which a physical server is partitioned into different small virtual servers. Every virtual server has its own dedicated resources which include CPU, RAM, disk space, etc. They are also independent of each other.
A virtual private server offers several benefits which include:
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Performance: Your applications and website have fast-load times since you now work with dedicated resources.
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Security: A VPS is self-sufficient, i.e. independent of its neighbors, and this implies that the activities of tenants will never affect the running of your business.
So, if one of the sites on the physical server becomes infected with malware or spam links, your applications or website will not be impacted in any way.
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Cost-effectiveness: The majority of small businesses or startups out there usually operates on very tight budgets and therefore, cannot afford to invest heavily in IT infrastructure solutions.
VPS hosting solutions allow such small companies to show up on the digital space and make their presence felt. Entry-level sites can afford VPS hosting solutions which cost almost the same amount as a shared hosting plan.
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Flexibility: A VPS gives enough flexibility to install the software or operating system of your choice.
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Environment-friendly: In a VPS, various clients can share the resources of one physical server. This is unlike a dedicated server that requires each client to make use of the resources of a separate physical server.
Creating a VPS, therefore, can assist in minimizing carbon footprint to a significant extent.
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Scalability: Scalability is another reason why you should switch over to using a VPS. A virtual private server allows entrepreneurs to scale their resources down or up according to the demand of their businesses.
A VPS also offers users the flexibility to upgrade their RAMs in an instant if there is an unanticipated spike in traffic. What this means that if you start using a virtual private server, your business will never experience downtimes as a result of a shortage of resources.
Next, we’ll run through the process and steps for creating VPS:
Step 1: First of all, how many VPS do you need? It is essential to check the configurations and specifications on your physical server.
This analysis will help you to decide whether or not your physical server is capable of meeting the standards or requirements of the virtual machines that you are about to create.
If your physical servers’ configurations meet the requirements of the virtual machines, head on to the second step.
Step 2: This is where you need to save your applications and data that are running on the current dedicated server.
Step 3: After you have saved your data, the next thing you should do is to proceed with the installation of the hypervisor by inserting the disk in the reader.
A hypervisor is a virtualization software that is used for quickly sequestering operating systems from the hardware. This virtualization software allows users to run multiple operating systems within virtual machines on one physical host machine.
The primary server on which the virtualization software or hypervisor runs is referred to as the ‘host machine’ while virtual servers are known as ‘guest machines’.
If you must successfully run a virtual machine on personal computing devices, you need to have access to the ideal hypervisor or type 2 virtual machine manager (VMM). The virtual machine manager is usually installed as a software app on the existing operating system.
Some of the highly recommended options include Vmware Workstation, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, and VMware Fusion.
Step 4: As soon as the virtualization software or hypervisor has been installed, you should boot the hypervisor console. You can also consult the handbook or user manual that contains information for creating Virtual Machine.
This is the stage via which you start scaling the server resources such as CPU, disk space, RAM, and memory in order to sit the requirements of your business.
Step 5: As soon as you are done with the customization process, follow it up with the installation of the operating system which may be Windows or Linux by gaining access to the image of the disk that is stored on a hard drive.
As soon as you are done, you should start installing and configuring the application.
Step 6: Repeat each of the steps highlighted previously in this article for every application that you need to install on the virtual server.
However, it is highly crucial to keep the following points in mind while creating a VPS (virtual private server):
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If you are converting more than a few dedicated and identical servers to a virtual private server, you can readily transfer Virtual Machines from one server to another without any form of interruption or glitch in service.
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Although some of the hypervisors out there are open-source, a few are premium, i.e. paid. The proprietary ones, in most cases, offer more flexibility.
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You need space for backing up files as well as for system files which must also be installed. Therefore, you cannot make use of the entire space on a dedicated server for creating virtual machines.
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You should also consider the control panel option. More often than not,Linux servers have cPanel while Windows servers have Plesk control panel. A virtual server needs a dedicated IP just like a dedicated server.
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Always pay attention to the security of virtual servers, especially your virtual server. You can enhance the security of your virtual server by changing the password to a strong, multi-character, and secure password for your account.
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You would also need billing software such as ModernBill or WHMCS. Both ModernBill and WHMCS are automated billing solutions designed for web hosting.
There you have it, the step-by-step guide on how to create a virtual private server (VPS). Follow these steps and get yourself a secured VPS before the end of the day.