VPS vs Physical Server: What is Better
Infrastructure
27.11.2021
9 min read
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Simply put, a server is a remote computer that is used by developers and webmasters as a software platform to store their apps and sites on.
When you want to deploy any online product to the World Wide Web you have to host it on a server that works 24/7 and make it available to any person from any part of the globe.
There are two types of servers. Physical ones that are actual computers with real hardware in them like one that you use but much more powerful. And virtual ones that are based on similar hardware of one vigorous PC running permanently but are in fact copies of real operating systems used as a substitute for physical servers with the same capabilities.
Now let’s get deeper into how different types of servers work. How are they structured in terms of technologies, which ones are most effective and which you should you choose for your project.
What are physical servers?
Sometimes it is called a "dedicated server". As we mentioned above, a physical server is a real computer with tangible hardware parts. It has a processor, a certain amount of RAM, a disk to store data on (SSD or HDD), a lot of connectivity ports, and stuff like that.
It works like any PC, so it is possible to launch applications on it. And you can do so remotely. Some providers have plans with dedicated servers for rent. In summary, the process of working with this type of server is as follows:
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You pay in advance to access the server.
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Hosting gives you a pre-made machine with a certain amount of memory and other hardware components.
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You connect your device with a rented remote PC via a technology called SSH (or it's alternative) and control it as if it were your real computer.
Pros and cons of physical servers
The main advantage of using a dedicated server lies in the ability of the renter to control every aspect of the "machine". You have full access to anything software-wise, so you can use tools that are not available on IaaS-platforms or on virtual servers. DS comes with no restrictions at all. Also, such an approach gives you more security because nobody except you can access data inside a rented computer. Even a provider who can destroy your machine physically cannot override your privileges to control it and erase or alter data stored on the server.
There are also disadvantages in opting for such a solution. First off, it is expensive. Dedicated servers are costly to maintain so providers will charge you more, and you can’t do anything about this. Secondly, it is hard to scale a physical server when the audience for your application or the size of the database exceeds the already ambitious expectations you had when you rented it. It would be hard to move data from the old machine to the new one or to upgrade the current PC without shutting it down for maintenance.
Data backup on physical servers
One of the problems inherent in hosting products on a physical machine is the lack of basic tools to protect the data and duplicate it somewhere else in case of any malfunction.
To resolve this you might want to use software called Veeam. To back up a physical server developers have to add computers to a specific location named "Protection Group". This is possible via Veeam Backup and Replication tool. You have to add all the machines whose data you are going to add to the backup.
Then in the same application, you’ll be able to create a "Backup Job". It is a process that automatically gathers all the information from PCs included in the Protection Group.
What are virtual servers?
Virtual servers are simulacrums of physical ones. Sets of hardware and software technologies emulating real computers with the same capabilities you’d normally expect from them.
They are also used to host websites and applications but in addition to traditional applications cloud technologies and different ways of virtualization introduced products that help to create fully functional digital workspaces, massive data storages, etc.
There are three main types of virtualizations:
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OS-Level Virtualization — when the server containerizes certain applications or specific areas of OS, multiplies it, and makes it available for renters to install some software to work with.
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Full Virtualization — it is a more complex virtual that is usually launched on bare metal (real computers hardware) using RAM, processor, and disk that exist and are not emulated.
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Para-virtualization — once the hardware is used to install it many virtual OSes are controlled via special utilities called hypervisors.
Benefits of server virtualization
Different types of virtualization come with different advantages.
The most obvious one is saving. All three help providers to spend less money on actual hardware. They can create as many virtual servers on one computer with one set of RAM, ROM, etc. Artificial platforms like this are cheaper as a product for developers and webmasters. But at the same time, emulated servers have the same capabilities as real computers.
Moreover, para-virtualized solutions have enough security to work with sensitive data. And OS-level containers make it simple to scale the system as a whole.
Different ways of virtualization yielded different products based on it that are now used by hosting providers.
Virtual Private Servers
VPS is a product of para-virtualization. It is a server that "tries hard" to become a full-fledged computer and makes it possible to use any operating system and any tools that you wish to access on your remote server.
VPS is actively used by developers and webmasters around the world to:
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create from low- to middle-level informational sites, online stores, commercial websites.
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develop and test applications together with the team.
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to host personal gaming servers.
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to store databases.
It is quite multi-purposeful and most of the time the VPS’s capabilities would strongly depend on the plan that you chose renting the server (and your aims of course).
How does VPS work
Virtual Private Servers differ from each other by the technology that is used to create and control virtual machines. Usually, VPS is divided into two camps: based on OpenVZ tech and KVM tech. We’ve already discussed containerization, so OpenVZ is similar in terms of implementation. It makes it possible for a provider to host many virtual machines on one PC making each of them dependable on the same CPU, the same RAM, and the same disk. KVM is different because it helps to create many isolated artificial servers on one physical one. It is a much more secure and reliable technology.
Advantages and disadvantages of VPS
Pros of VPS are:
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Relatively low price. It is not as cheap as basic virtual hosting but it costs less than a physical machine. Considering the fact that it behaves more like a real computer it seems to be a good bargain.
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Less responsibility. You don’t really have to worry about the technical aspects. Just launch a server with a desired OS and applications and you are ready to go.
Cons of VPS are:
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Dependency on shared hardware. Some types of VPS give you only a fraction of the hardware installed on a physical machine. In this case you’ll share it with other developers and webmasters. It sometimes means your application or website might performan poorly because of other tenants using the same server. Even if you choose proper virtualization technology, hypervisors will limit potential capabilities.
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Also, you have no impact on hardware itself. You’re isolated inside the workplace guaranteed to you by a hypervisor.
Virtual Dedicated Servers
If you see the abbreviation VDS don’t bother looking for an explanation. It is basically the same technology represented by VPS. The only distinction you might stumble upon is a type of virtualization used for both. Webmasters sometimes like to emphasize it. Just as VDS only means KVM-like servers and VPS OpenVZ-like. More on this in our previous article.
Shared hostings
The most basic type of virtual servers. The idea of it is similar to containerization but on a more subtle level. Basically, when you rent shared hosting you get a space on the hard drive of a PC controlled by administrators of the host you pay.
It is not as bad as it might seem at first. Yes, your server in this case is just a folder. But nobody restricts you from putting files in it. It is therefore a mediocre but practical solution for simple websites (there are many devs out there who build on top of shared hostings rather massive WordPress-based projects).
If you need something more complex that requires installing different packages or using specific structures you should rent VPS and go a step further.
Cloud-based solutions
The highest degree of virtual servers. Clouds are ephemeral and outstandingly flexible. Virtually you can convert them into anything. Database, application server, digital office, private file storage, a stack of private clouds together forming hosts to deploy different tools on, etc.
On top of clouds, different companies build fully-fledged services that are almost ready to use before you click "buy". And they are separated into three groups:
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IAAS — Infrastructure as a Service. A type of cloud where everything hardware-wise is on hosting and anything software-wise is on the tenant. A solid solution for a strong team of developers wishing to focus on development but not on server management.
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PAAS — Platform as a Service. A more abstract form of service that cuts out part of the software management and puts developers eye to eye with the OS-level fragments of the infrastructure.
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SAAS — Software as a Service. A modern solution for teams that have no need for OS-level control but rather certain software solutions. For example, Hostman offers pre-made virtual cloud clusters with analytic tools, gaming servers, databases, and other stuff that developers and entrepreneurs need for their work but have no competence to implement manually (or just don’t want to).
Data backup
Using modern virtual servers you don’t really have to worry about data safety. The host will take care of it (normally once you’ve pay for it). And it works not only for modern solutions like cloud-based ones but for classical VPS servers too.
To create backups you will need to access a control panel (a special tool provided by the host that lets interact with your server). In 99% of cases this will be a button or a tab saying "Create a backup" or something like this. Activating it will quickly and effortlessly create a copy of every bit of information on your server that you need. Moreover, you will probably to able to plan this procedure so it happens automatically every few days.
Conclusion
Here it is. It is of course up to you to choose what kind of server to use as a host but think twice before making a decision. Virtual platforms are highly anticipated because they are really easy to operate and powerful. Want to try one before paying for anything? Get to Hostman Marketplace and choose a virtual platform with a preinstalled software of your choice or deploy your own via GitHub. Everything is free for 7 days and after that prices start at just $5.5 per month.
Infrastructure
27.11.2021
9 min read
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Infrastructure
Private Cloud In Cloud Computing: Benefits and When To Use
What is a cloud? It’s virtualized server resources: RAM, processor power, disk space, and installed applications. The main advantage of the cloud-based approach to infrastructure is flexibility. If you need more performance, you can easily add memory or connect additional processing power when the load increases.
Difference Between Private, Public, and Hybrid Clouds
Below is the standard classification of cloud services:
Private Cloud: The infrastructure is used by only one organization. The equipment can be located either at the provider’s site or on the user’s premises.
Public Cloud: The infrastructure is shared by all registered users. Examples include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Hostman.
Hybrid Cloud: A combination of private and public infrastructure. Part of the equipment may be located with the user, and part with the provider.
From this classification, it’s clear that hybrid clouds are a compromise solution. However, using them isn’t always justified. To understand this better, let’s compare all three types across several parameters.
Comparison Table
Parameter
Private
Public
Hybrid
Complexity
High level of complexity. Requires selecting equipment and developing architecture.
Low level of complexity. You choose a suitable service and pay for it.
High level of complexity. You need to configure the private part and connect it with the external infrastructure.
Cost
Expenses are borne by the owner of the equipment and licenses.
Expenses are borne by the provider; the user pays a service fee.
Expenses are partly on the user, partly on the provider.
Maintenance
The organization must monitor the system and fix failures itself.
The provider manages the infrastructure.
The organization must monitor its private part.
Scalability
Additional resources must be purchased and configured manually.
Additional resources are available on demand.
Additional resources are available on demand.
Security
High, as everything is under the owner’s control.
Lower level of control; many security aspects remain the provider’s responsibility.
High level of security with proper architecture, when all critical nodes are located in the private cloud.
Private Cloud Advantages and Disadvantages
The comparison table above clearly shows the pros and cons of private clouds. Let’s look at them in more detail.
Advantages:
Physical access to the equipment usually remains only with the owner. It’s also possible to limit internet connections to prevent unauthorized data access.
You can save on physical equipment by investing in the development of a virtual infrastructure instead.
Flexible configuration of resources and computing power for different departments within the company.
Disadvantages:
Requires significant financial investment: you can’t build it without purchasing or renting equipment.
System design and deployment take a lot of time.
Scalability is limited by the available physical resources. If more capacity is needed, new equipment must be purchased.
When to Create a Private Cloud
Now that we understand what a private cloud is and what its pros and cons are, let’s figure out when companies choose this approach.
The main scenario comes from how a private cloud operates. Large organizations often have enough resources to purchase equipment, design a well-thought-out architecture, and fund teams of specialists to maintain the system. Such companies also tend to handle large volumes of data that require a high level of security.
Based on this scenario, the main users of private clouds are:
Mobile network operators
Banks
Insurance companies
Gas and oil enterprises
Retail companies
The types of data that companies host in their private cloud environments can vary, but they generally fall into two main categories:
Confidential or proprietary information, for which the organization must retain full control. Security policies or internal regulations may prohibit the use of public cloud servers, leaving private infrastructure as the only viable option.
Data governed by strict legal or industry-specific compliance requirements. For instance, certain privacy laws or standards (such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS) require data to be stored in secure, controlled environments or within specific jurisdictions.
In such cases, a private cloud is often the most suitable solution. It provides greater control over security and compliance, reduces regulatory risks, and allows for certification under relevant industry standards.
Moreover, if the company later needs to expand its infrastructure to store or process less sensitive data, it can integrate a public cloud and adopt a hybrid model, combining flexibility with strong data protection.
17 October 2025 · 4 min to read
Infrastructure
Hardware Virtualization: What It Is, Its Types, and Benefits
Hardware virtualization allows creating virtual machines (VMs) on physical hardware while distributing resources as efficiently as possible. This article explains how it works, what types exist, and what advantages it provides for business.
How It Works
The basic level of any virtualization is the server. Data processing occurs on physical hardware, regardless of the level of abstraction.
In hardware virtualization, a hypervisor is installed on the server. This is software that creates sets of virtual resources. There are two main types of hypervisors: Type 1 (bare-metal), which runs directly on the hardware, and Type 2 (hosted), which runs on top of a host operating system. Both create and manage virtual machines, but Type 1 generally offers higher performance. We have covered hypervisors in detail in a separate article.
The top layer of abstraction is the virtual machine. At first glance, it does not differ from a traditional server. Essentially, a VM consists of a single virtual disk and files describing its configuration.
The virtual machine is installed on the hardware hypervisor. Once the VM is prepared, operating systems and application software can be installed on it.
A helpful analogy is a book. Imagine a physical server with installed software as a book on a shelf. You can pick it up and move it physically, but creating a copy to give to someone else requires significant effort: retyping or scanning each page, assembling the pages, and binding the book.
A configured VM with allocated resources and installed applications is like a digital version of the book. You can make unlimited copies with minimal time and effort. You can create a backup, transfer a copy to another machine, or share it with another user. Virtualization of CPUs and other resources enables this simplicity in deployment and management.
Hardware Support
For VMs to function efficiently, resource allocation must be supported at the processor level. Two major technologies exist from leading manufacturers: Intel VT and AMD-V.
Both technologies have multiple development directions. The primary one is CPU virtualization, which allows running multiple systems on a single processor, either in parallel or nested within each other.
Technologies for virtualized graphics and input/output are also advancing. They facilitate remote access and sharing of physical hardware, which is useful for remote workstations or online gaming.
These hardware extensions are particularly important for Type 1 hypervisors, allowing virtual machines to run at near-native performance without modifying the guest operating system.
Types of Hardware Virtualization
The main types of virtualization are:
Full virtualization: hardware is fully emulated. This creates an environment that can run on different servers without lengthy configuration.
Paravirtualization: a special version of the operating system is created for the virtual machine. It can be modified or recompiled based on the server's hardware resources. This method was historically used to improve performance, but modern hardware virtualization extensions have largely reduced its advantage.
Hardware-assisted virtualization: a fully virtualized VM is created using the computer's physical hardware with support from processor extensions (Intel VT/AMD-V).
The choice of type depends on the tasks to be solved.
Differences Between Hardware and Software Virtualization
Hardware virtualization is not the only approach. Software virtualization relies on a host system and adds an extra layer of abstraction:
Physical server with resources
Host operating system
Hypervisor installed on the host OS (Type 2 hypervisor)
Virtual machines installed and managed via the hypervisor
Adding this extra layer complicates the process and reduces hardware performance. Physical resources are consumed by both the host OS and the hypervisor. Other issues include:
If the host system fails, all VMs running on it lose access to physical resources.
Security risks become larger; if the host OS is compromised, all VMs are at risk.
Updating or reinstalling the host OS requires stopping the VMs.
Software virtualization is suitable for simple tasks, such as testing another operating system inside the main one, avoiding the need to install multiple OSes side by side.
For business purposes, hardware virtualization is preferred because it provides higher performance and security. The key is efficient resource usage.
Business Advantages
Virtualization technology offers several benefits:
Cost efficiency: reduces expenses for purchasing, configuring, and maintaining physical hardware. Instead of multiple servers, a single powerful machine can be used, with the virtualization system dividing resources among VMs performing different tasks.
Flexibility: VM configurations can be saved as images and deployed across different hardware or moved between servers.
Scalability: when workload increases, additional VMs can be quickly launched to add resources and stabilize operations.
Fault tolerance: VM snapshots can be created at any time. Copies can be distributed geographically, so even if part of the hardware fails, the infrastructure continues to function. The load on active components can be managed by adding extra resources.
Security: VMs are isolated from each other. Compromising one VM does not affect others.
Conclusion
With hardware virtualization, external applications cannot distinguish virtual machines from physical servers. Guest operating systems run on the CPU without knowledge of other OSes sharing the same hardware. This isolation helps maintain high security.
Virtualization is used by large companies, small and medium businesses, and individual users. It enables building a flexible infrastructure of any size that can be easily scaled and protected against internal and external threats.
17 October 2025 · 5 min to read
Infrastructure
What Is a Virtual Data Center (vDC): Its Capabilities and Purpose
Virtual Data Center is infrastructure resources in the “cloud” allocated for business needs. Physically, the equipment is located in traditional data centers. The provider rents it out using virtualized space.
A virtual data center (vDC) can be managed from anywhere in the world via a console. At the same time, the flexibility of such a solution is higher than that of a traditional data center. There are also advantages in terms of cost efficiency, scalability, and security, which we will discuss below.
Virtualization Layers
A virtual data center is a multi-layered system, where virtualization is applied at each level. There are five main layers:
Network. Virtualization allows configuring communication between multiple servers to build a unified infrastructure.
Storage. Administrators manage file placement at this level, which is convenient even if the data is stored on different devices.
Resources. Virtualization enables flexible adjustment of available computing power, changing resource usage based on business needs.
Applications. Virtualization solves compatibility issues, allowing applications to run independently of the host operating system.
Access. User rights management, for example, for remote system access.
These layers are interdependent. A virtual data center operates correctly only if interactions between the layers are properly configured.
vDC Capabilities
The main advantage of a virtual data center is the ability to quickly scale resources up or down, allowing businesses to address various tasks without contacting the service provider. Other important capabilities include:
Data protection. Storing information in a vDC significantly reduces the risk of data loss, especially when backups are properly configured and geographically distributed.
Disaster recovery. With a simple and fast backup system, the infrastructure can be restored within minutes.
Flexibility. IT teams can automate routine tasks, quickly implement and test new systems and features.
Reliability. Providers use high-performance equipment and maintain the physical infrastructure of the vDC.
Control. All monitoring and management tools are available to the customer who ordered and paid for the resources.
Cost savings on hardware. There is no need to buy, configure, or maintain physical equipment; the provider handles this. Customers pay only for the resources they use.
Another important aspect is the availability of different billing models. Customers can either pay a fixed monthly amount for allocated resources or only for the resources actually consumed. Both models guarantee that the provider will allocate the requested resources, preventing situations where the client requests capacity but does not receive it in full.
Scalability Features
One of the main advantages of a virtual data center is rapid scalability. When demand increases, add resources; when demand decreases, reduce unused capacity to save costs.
Scalability can be of two types:
Horizontal scaling: new elements are added. For example, if an application normally runs on two servers but user demand increases fivefold, additional servers can be added and users distributed among them.
Vertical scaling: additional resources are added to an existing server. For instance, RAM can be increased, storage expanded, or the server replaced with a more powerful one if the CPU cannot handle the load.
Horizontal and vertical scaling are not mutually exclusive and often complement each other. Horizontal scaling is usually used for expanding server clusters, while vertical scaling is applied when increasing load without adding new servers.
A single task can be addressed with either horizontal or vertical scaling in a vDC.
Example: A web server hosting a website experiences increased traffic. Vertical scaling would involve adding CPU, RAM, or storage to the existing server. Horizontal scaling would involve cloning the server and distributing the load across multiple virtual machines.
Use Cases
A virtual data center can fully replace physical infrastructure and help address almost any business task. Common scenarios include:
Data storage
Software development and testing
Increasing capacity using reserve resources during peak loads
Creating a backup data center that fully replicates the main data center
Setting up remote workstations
These are just a few typical use cases. In practice, vDCs can be beneficial in many situations. However, this solution is not suitable for everyone, partly because vDCs are usually more expensive than standalone cloud servers.
Suitable for:
Medium or large companies planning or already migrating some processes to the cloud.
Companies with seasonal fluctuations or plans to increase load.
Startups that need to minimize infrastructure costs initially but be prepared for rapid growth.
The final decision on whether to deploy a virtual data center should involve IT specialists, economists, analysts, and managers responsible for strategic development, so everyone understands what a vDC is and the risks and benefits of its implementation.
16 October 2025 · 4 min to read
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