We frequently encounter clients who refuse VPS servers as a viable successor to dedicated servers. However, the concerns about virtual servers are often unfounded, and virtualization can offer numerous benefits. Let’s explore what you can gain by transitioning from a dedicated server to a VPS.
What is a VPS and Physical Server Virtualization?
Server virtualization allows you to split a single physical server into several independent virtual servers (VPS). The physical server is equipped with powerful processors (Hyper-threading) that enable full hardware virtualization with KVM and an operating system that includes software for managing virtual servers, known as the Hypervisor. The Hypervisor creates and manages virtual servers, acting as an intermediary between the physical hardware and the operating systems of the virtual servers. Virtual servers (VPS) do not include any hardware drivers from the physical machine because the Hypervisor provides its own drivers directly to the virtual servers (VPS). This makes VPS migration highly advantageous. Simply put, you can package a VPS, move it to another physical machine, unpack it, and have it running on a new physical server within thirty minutes. In case of physical server hardware failure, this feature is invaluable.
We will not discuss software virtualization (para-virtualization or pseudo-virtualization) here, as this type of virtualization generally offers lower performance and stability compared to KVM hardware virtualization.
Benefits of Physical Server Virtualization
In the past, the more services running on a physical server, the more prone it was to failures, and its management was expensive. Even today, you might find servers where a single physical server without virtualization handles a web server, mail server, DB server, statistics, primary and secondary DNS, VPN, monitoring, backups, and corporate applications. In the event of a serious physical server failure, restoring from backups can be problematic or impossible.
With a virtualized server, individual virtual servers are isolated from one another. If one virtual server has issues, it does not affect the other virtual servers. Additionally, each virtual server does not need to have the same performance parameters. The administrator can allocate the necessary resources to each virtual server. During high-traffic periods, such as around Christmas, the administrator can allocate memory and performance from another virtual server to the web server, resolving issues within minutes without needing a reboot.
In earlier times, if a company wanted to conduct quality business, it would purchase several dedicated servers and distribute the services among them. Consequently, a company could own, for example, five servers. The costs for server placement and additional electricity could add up to 10,000 CZK per month or more. By creating the same situation on a single virtualized physical server, monthly costs could drop to just 2,000 CZK. The cost of managing one virtualized physical server is also lower than managing five dedicated servers.
Flexibility of a Virtualized Server
Beyond the benefits described above, many additional advantages can be seen:
- There is no problem with restarting individual VPS on a virtualized server.
- You can add another virtual server without investing in a new physical server.
- You don’t need to test your applications on the production server; simply create a copy of the production server on a new VPS and fine-tune the applications there.
- You don’t need to back up data on the server; you can back up the entire VPS including its configuration.
- For a single application (accounting programs, IM communication, branch connectivity, document and video generators, organizers, and crm systems), you do not need to purchase a new dedicated server; simply set up a new VPS.
- By isolating services on multiple virtual servers, you can achieve excellent service availability.
- Guaranteed service parameters.
- Faster problem resolution for individual servers.
Server virtualization is essentially about reducing the overall cost of server operations.
Mydreams.cz offers comprehensive solutions for businesses, where our administrators take over the company’s IT infrastructure, and through virtualization of existing company servers (if supported), reduce the cost of server operation and management.
For more information: CORPORATE IT SOLUTIONS
Recently, we also encounter companies that prefer not to worry about even a single virtualized physical server and opt for purchasing virtual servers from us. Companies do not need to invest in a physical server for VPS, so the overall return on investment for corporate IT solutions is very quick. For smaller and medium-sized companies, we recommend our VPS Full servers from our offer.