Linux Virtual Server Hosting
Virtual private servers can come with a long list of different options attached. How much disk space, bandwidth, and processing power will the server require? What operating system should it have? What kind of control panel or other software will it need?
Virtual private server hosting is a bit more complicated than regular shared hosting, but it comes with several benefits. Virtual servers allow users to have more resources devoted to their site, since they aren't sharing as much as they would be with a shared plan. VPS hosting is also generally very reasonably priced when you look at all of the resources that it offers. However, using a VPS is a bit more complicated than using a shared hosting account.
VPS hosting comes in two varieties- self-managed hosting, and fully-managed hosting. Self-managed hosting requires the user to handle all of the tasks related to monitoring and managing their virtual server, while fully-managed hosting has the hosting company take care of all of that instead. With self-managed hosting, the user is also often required to supply the software they want to run on their server. With fully-managed hosting, users still get a choice between a various Linux operating systems.
The biggest advantage that Linux offers when compared to other operating systems is that it is open source. That means that all of the developer code is available to the public, to be fixed or changed as needed. If you are a programmer, you'll be able to get your operating system to behave exactly how you want it to. This isn't possible when you use a commercial operating system.
The next biggest advantage is that Linux based operating systems tend to get less viruses. This is largely due to the fact that Windows is much more popular, so more hackers have experience with creating viruses for it. Since Linux only has a small amount of the market share when compared to Windows or MacOS, it also isn't worthwhile for someone to create viruses to infect Linux-based machines, so they usually don't bother. That said, there is still free antivirus software for Linux, though this is mostly to protect machines that are also running windows or regularly communicate with Windows-based computers, to help keep them from spreading the infection.
Since Linux is open source, that means it is virtually free. This is reflected by the fact that many hosts that offer virtual private servers charge different prices for plans that are Linux based versus Windows based. Windows based hosting is generally more expensive (sometimes as much as $12-15 dollars more) to cover licensing fees for using their software. This is not an issue for Linux, so Linux virtual server hosting is generally significantly less expensive.
Lastly, many other important virtual private server components are also Linux based. Software like WHM, WHMCS, and cPanel are all Linux based, and are among the most popular products used in VPS hosting.
The decision of which software and operating system to choose for your virtual private server is an important one, since it will affect many aspects of your server experience. If you're going to manage your server yourself, it is important to choose software that you are familiar with and know how to control. For many people, this will be Linux. Even if you choose a fully-managed hosting plan, choosing Linux will enable you to have an easy to use, reliable system at a lower cost than Windows virtual server hosting.
My personal favorite for VPS servers is CentOS linux distribution.
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