If your website has grown and you’re getting too much traffic for your shared hosting, the next step up the ladder is a virtual private server (VPS). Giving you far more storage, RAM, CPU and bandwidth for a small hike in price, VPS are quickly becoming the hosting solution of choice for growing businesses. Before you take the leap, however, you need to consider whether you need a managed or an unmanaged VPS plan. Here we look at why managed VPS is the best choice.
What’s the difference between managed VPS and unmanaged VPS?
The key difference between these two different hosting plans is that with an unmanaged VPS, you need to manage the server yourself. With a managed VPS, your web host will take care of the server management tasks on your behalf. So, while both managed and unmanaged VPS options are available, you should only consider unmanaged VPS if your business has the skills and experience to manage the server in-house.
An overview of unmanaged VPS
As you’ll be managing the server, your unmanaged VPS plan could likely work out less expensive than a managed VPS. While this sounds like great news, the actual amount you would be saving is negligible. At eukhost, for example, our managed VPS plans start at only a few pounds a month more than our largest shared hosting plans.
The only real benefit of having an unmanaged VPS is that, by taking care of the server management by yourself, you have greater control over it. You can configure the server to best suit your needs and make changes as and when you want. However, at eukhost, you can still do this with a managed VPS account as we allow you full root access to your server.
While the advantages of unmanaged VPS are small, there are some obvious downsides. The first of these is that managing a server takes time and this could detract your staff from more business-oriented tasks. Your team will need to keep up to date with operating system updates and installing patches to prevent issues with the security and reliability of your server, and you’ll need to provide your own, round the clock IT support in case anything goes wrong. If it does, and your staff cannot deal with it, calling in third-party help could be expensive.
An overview of managed VPS
In terms of the server and what you can do with it, there is no difference between a managed or unmanaged VPS. The only difference lies in the management services your hosting vendor provides. Essentially, what managed VPS does is take the technical hassle of administering the server off your hands. You won’t need to deal with server maintenance, troubleshooting, software installation or indeed, many aspects of security. This makes it ideal for smaller companies without in-house IT skills or for firms where IT teams have more important work to do.
With a managed VPS solution, you also have round the clock technical support from expert engineers capable of dealing with all aspects of VPS hosting. If there is an issue, help will be there regardless of what the problem is or what time of day it happens.
In fact, with a managed VPS solution there are fewer risks that things can go wrong. Your server is monitored around the clock so that potential issues are dealt with before they become problems. Performance is enhanced too, with application-specific optimisation squeezing every last drop of performance out of your server to maximise your investment.
And, from a security aspect, not only do you have the peace of mind that your server software is updated and patched; you also benefit from custom firewall rules, intrusion prevention, anti-DDoS, VPN, anti-malware and application security; ensuring that your VPS server is robustly protected.
Managed hosting also makes it easier to take care of business continuity issues. At eukhost, for example, you can choose our advanced backup service that gives you full control over your backup frequency, retention length and encryption level. Stored remotely, your backups are integrity checked and encrypted to keep your data safe and help your business recover quickly should the worst ever happen.
Conclusion
For businesses that have outgrown their shared hosting, want better performance and need to handle more traffic, VPS is the ideal step forward, bringing you all the power of a mini dedicated server for a fraction of the cost. For most businesses, however, a managed VPS plan is the right solution if you want to reduce the IT burden on your staff, make sure your server is optimised for performance and kept secure.
For more information, visit our VPS Hosting page.
