When it comes to business technology, a lot of managers and CEOs will find themselves asking the same question; how does my business benefit by adopting this technology?
It makes sense that key decision-makers will ask these all-important questions. After all, they want to learn more about technology before they make the call to implement it into their business. They want to understand all of the pros and cons of it before they make the conscious decision to invest in it.
However, most technology is typically very easy to understand. You can present a list of pros and cons based on the technology itself, but that’s not always the case with something such as a virtual private server (VPS).
This is because a VPS is an incredibly flexible technology that can serve multiple roles and fulfil various purposes. It’s like saying “we need a computer” to a CEO. Sure, they know that a computer is beneficial, but the exact list of pros and cons is going to drastically change as it evolves with the company.
So to help you better understand VPS technology can help or if your business can benefit, we’ve put together this informative post.
What exactly is a VPS?
The first thing to understand is what a VPS actually does.
A VPS is essentially a virtualized system that uses a part of a server’s hardware resources. For example, a server that has 1 terabyte of RAM could be theoretically split into 10 or more different virtualized instances.
Each instance could be assigned an upper limit of RAM and it will function identically to a regular computer or server. However, instead of having its own hardware resources, it will use a shared pool of resources from the server itself.
In other words, you’re splitting a server into smaller pieces that can run independently of other instances. This means you can get your own customized server at much lower prices, but at the cost of performance and potentially sharing resources with other users.
What are the benefits of a VPS?
A VPS comes with many unique benefits and potential use cases. However, many of these will share similarities with regular servers. The only difference is that a VPS is cheaper and has access to fewer resources, meaning it might be a bit lower, have less storage, or potentially be slowed down due to the nature of shared system resources.
If you’re unsure whether your business needs a server or not, then we’d suggest taking a look at this article that explains if your small business needs a server. For the rest of this section, we’ll be talking about the benefits of a VPS over a regular server.
To start, a cheap VPS can be rented for an extremely low price. This is because the resources are shared across multiple users, meaning you’re not paying for the rental of the hardware.
Instead, you’re only paying for your share of the usage. Since most VPS use cases are very light, it means that distributors can often over-budget the VPS in terms of processing power and RAM usage.
This means that individual instances have access to a considerable amount of processing power, but it can come with the downside that performance will suffer if multiple users on the same shared resources are doing something heavy or demanding at the same time.
To manage this, some data centres will use smart software to distribute the load better. However, this is usually a good trade-off because of the cost savings involved. Most people that use a VPS won’t need it for something heavy, so this is usually a non-issue.
A VPS is also incredibly flexible as opposed to a dedicated server. This is because you can easily adjust the amount of storage and system resources that are used by the VPS.
For example, if you notice that your systems are running a little slow, then you have the option of upgrading the RAM or storage immediately if the provider allows for it.
Scalable options like this are essential when it comes to growing a digital business.
It allows you to invest just the right amount of money for the performance you need without having to spend a lot of money. This flexibility is a massive boost to productivity and cost-effectiveness.
This was just a brief list of some of the top VPS benefits, but it’s important to consider how it affects your business and if it’s right for your particular needs.
Could my business benefit from using a VPS?
Whether or not you can benefit from a VPS will generally depend on your use for a server. When compared to a dedicated server, a VPS should be considered a startup option.
It’s cheaper, it’s scalable, it doesn’t require much investment, and it offers the same features as a regular dedicated server.
Here are some of the most common uses for a server:
- For cloud storage that is private to your company
- To host your website for improved speeds and reduced costs compared to typical hosting
- To run web-based applications
- To host audio streaming such as a podcast
- To create a private GitHub repository
- To run server-specific software for other users to connect to.
This was just a brief and vague list of potential uses for a server. In most cases, it’s going to be used as something that you and your employees connect to for various reasons, so if you don’t much use for technology, it’s likely that you won’t find much benefit.
A VPS can be an excellent low-cost investment in your business. However, where it doesn’t shine is in performance. If you have a heavy use for a dedicated server then it’s often best to just rent or buy the equipment yourself.
This can be vastly more complicated if you’re building the server yourself and configuring it in-house, but there are some services that will let you configure, buy and deploy a server with ease.
