Cloud-based solutions are increasingly used across many sectors of the IT industry. How does a VPS server — one of the most popular server hosting options — differ from a cloud solution?
What is a VPS server?
A VPS server gives you a dedicated slice of a physical server with your own access to its resources. In practice, this means every customer gets to configure their space as if it belonged to them entirely. This type of server increases flexibility, since you’re not dependent on other users. Your resources are kept separate from other customers’ resources, which boosts your available computing power and other capabilities. As part of the service, the customer gets administrator access, so they can manage, administer, and configure the server themselves. VPS is a solution that sits between shared hosting and a dedicated server. It combines a lower price than a dedicated server with significantly more capability than shared hosting.
What is a cloud server?
The cloud is a system that provides access to a virtualized pool of server resources through a software interface. It’s an advanced physical or virtual infrastructure that allows applications and information to be stored. With the help of virtualization software, a physical server is split into many virtual servers. Organizations use the IaaS model — infrastructure as a service — to store information and handle workloads. This is precisely what gives them remote access to virtual server functions through an online interface.
VPS vs. cloud – the differences
What differences will you find between the cloud and a VPS server? Let’s start with the fact that the cloud can be significantly more efficient. A VPS server operates independently of other servers on the same machine, but it may not guarantee uptime the way the cloud can. On top of that, resources on the physical server can run out, and in the event of a failure, you’re forced to move your data to another machine. There’s also a difference in resource scalability, since the cloud relies on auto-scaling technology. This means its resources adjust automatically to whatever you need at any given moment. With a VPS server, an administrator has to step in and manually change the memory or processing power of the physical device.
Both VPS and cloud servers are solutions that let you store your resources. Each comes with its own advantages and drawbacks, so it’s worth carefully analyzing your own needs and choosing the technology that fits them best.