A virtual server is a way of dividing a physical server into several virtual servers, where each server runs its own operating system and can be reset, customized, reinstalled, etc. independently of the others. The practice of dividing one server into multiple virtual units has been around for a long time with mainframe computers, but its large-scale application began with the development of virtualization technologies. Physically, one server is started by default, after which all VPS - virtual servers in a predefined environment are started. Virtual servers do not have direct access to the entire hardware, but run from the hard disk. There are two types of virtualization: hardware-based and software-based. Based on the virtualization software environment, virtual machines require the resources of the master node (node). This type of virtualization has many advantages in the environment, because it does not necessarily require a reset of the entire server. The most common virtualization environments are: Xen, Virtuozzo and Open VZ. Hardware-based virtualization creates real hardware partitions, where it is not possible to make changes without resetting the entire system.
The importance of VPS hosting lies in bridging the advantages and disadvantages of using shared and dedicated hosting, providing the user with software independence from other server users through the virtual server mechanism, and on the other hand, less physical server compared to expensive dedicated solutions.
Since the VPS runs a copy of its own operating system, users have the role of administrator who can install almost any software that runs on the operating system. VPS usually has guaranteed hardware resources primarily in the part of processor, memory, and disk space.
Parallels Virtuozzo provides a shared virtualization layer that allocates system resources across virtual servers called containers. The result is linear, an efficient virtualization layer is created. This translates into a higher ratio of virtual servers to physical servers providing good performance for managing a virtual environment. Some of those benefits are dynamic resource reallocation. Virtuozzo installs on top of an existing operating system and generally supports hardware that is supported by the operating system. Software add-ons have a long list of hardware drivers.
Virtual servers are the ideal solution for demanding web applications, forums with high attendance, e-commerce solutions, as well as platforms for project needs in software development.
