Switching to VPS

Abstr

New Member
I'm new to hosting, and I know what shared hosting is (when your site is hosted on a server, where other sites are hosted), and I have a pretty good idea of what VPS means (your site is hosted on your own server.). What are the advantages/disadvantages of using VPS instead of Shared. Do you need a lot more knowledge in order to run the server. Do you have to provide your own security for the server. I know I'm a newb to hosting, but any help/suggestions/comments would be appreciated! :)
 
Hello Abstr,

You're not very far off except that a VPS is a virtual machine which is where they take a server and with software divide it up into a specified number of virtual machines. It gives you the feel of your own dedicated server but does not have quite the resources of one and most certainly does not have the cost of a dedicated box.

If all the experience you have is with shared hosting then yes there will be a learning curve. The important thing will be to get your site/s up and running and support and people here on the forum can and will help out with just about anything you run into and of course Google is a great help too ;) Take a look in the tutorials section for your control panel on the forum here and you may very well find just what you need.

As far as security goes using strong passwords is of course a must and a great place to start. If you want to install a firewall (such as APF) you can submit a ticket to support and they can do it or there are tutorials for here on the forum too (I know there's one for cPanel at least) and many more available on the web. Just take it slow and familiarize yourself with SSH and the tools/commands you need to use to get what you want done and you'll be fine.
 
Hello Abstr,

You're not very far off except that a VPS is a virtual machine which is where they take a server and with software divide it up into a specified number of virtual machines. It gives you the feel of your own dedicated server but does not have quite the resources of one and most certainly does not have the cost of a dedicated box.

If all the experience you have is with shared hosting then yes there will be a learning curve. The important thing will be to get your site/s up and running and support and people here on the forum can and will help out with just about anything you run into and of course Google is a great help too ;) Take a look in the tutorials section for your control panel on the forum here and you may very well find just what you need.

As far as security goes using strong passwords is of course a must and a great place to start. If you want to install a firewall (such as APF) you can submit a ticket to support and they can do it or there are tutorials for here on the forum too (I know there's one for cPanel at least) and many more available on the web. Just take it slow and familiarize yourself with SSH and the tools/commands you need to use to get what you want done and you'll be fine.

Could not have said it better myself! ;)
 
Thanks Dan for the in-depth response! I think I will get a bit more familiar with web-hosting before I take this step. :)
 
It definitely can seem like a big step, Abstr. I know it was one to me. Whenever you are ready to take it, you'll find the users on this forum, as well as KnownHost support staff, to be very kind and helpful with the learning process.
 
Hello Abstr,
If all the experience you have is with shared hosting then yes there will be a learning curve. The important thing will be to get your site/s up and running and support and people here on the forum can and will help out with just about anything you run into and of course Google is a great help too ;) Take a look in the tutorials section for your control panel on the forum here and you may very well find just what you need.

Let me offer another perspective on this point.

I come from a shared hosting background and have been using a VPS from KnownHost for a while now.

If you order your VPS package with the same control panel that you are used to (I use DirectAdmin), then you can pretty much administer your sites and server just as you did before.

I use my control panel 95% of the time. And that is great.

If there is something that I can't figure out, a quick ticket to KH support is normally all it takes.

Plus, I have the added option of being able to go in and poke around using the Virtuosso control panel or even SSH. I've learned so much from having my own VPS, and I'm not sure that I could go back to shared hosting.
 
Won't they get angry with you if you submit a ton of support tickets?

I don't think so. But I don't think you will have to either. I didn't.

Once the server is up and running, you can just use the control panel to do most of your admin.

KH support has been great to me.
 
I used support many times initially during set up as pointed out above. Now, I have most of my questions answered in this forum, and do not need to submit tickets. I usually have an answer to a question posted here in 24 hours or less and that works well for me.
 
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