Windows 2003 VPS Hosting Explained

Like virtual private servers (VPS) and virtual machines, VPS hosting is a fairly new concept and many people have questions about it and what it does. This tab highlights some of the most commonly asked questions about VPS hosting at AppliedI.net and the other tabs go into further depth on features, platform and advantages.

1. Do you provide technical support with VPS Hosting?

Your Windows VPS server is self-managed just as you would a standard dedicated server. You'll have full access to the server and are expected to have a certain level of technical expertise at operating a server. However, you're not alone. If you require additional assistance in managing the server you can open paid technical support tickets and our team of system administrators will assist.

2. Do I have to install software updates and security patches?

No. With the VPS platform we use, updates to the operating system and vps platform are handled by our system administrators, you do not need to install operating system service packs or hot fixes, updates to the Plesk control panel or Virtuozzo engine, these are managed for you free of charge. Updates to your website or additional applications you may have installed are managed by you.

3. Can I install anything or run any program I want?

Yes. You're administrator of your own server, have full control of it and can install any application you want. All installed programs and server activities must not break any laws and must abide by our acceptable use policy and terms of service. Please understand we have a strong anti-spam policy and spamming, phishing or similar activities are NOT ALLOWED.

4. Will you install or provision my software for me?

Plesk, MailEnable, IIS Web server, IIS FTP server and DNS server are all installed as part of Plesk and provides a complete hosting solution upon request. Beyond that anything else installed would require a separate support ticket to be opened or be installed and managed by the client.

5. Can I run SQL on my Windows 2003 VPS server?

Yes. However, we do not recommend running SQL2005 server on a VPS. We do recommend SQLexpress or MySQL but these applications are very memory and disk I/O intensive and may impact your overall VPS performance. The recommended solution would be for you use our shared SQL servers which are reasonably priced at $10/month for 100MB of SQL2005 database space.

6. Can I run UNLIMITED Websites on my Windows Virtual Private Server?

You can run as many websites on your VPS as you are comfortable with. In fact many budget conscience resellers opt for VPS servers over dedicated servers. Like any server, memory, cpu and disk space resources are limited based on your VPS configuration and that coupled with what type of websites you're operating ultimately dictates how many websites you'll fit on your VPS.

7. How are backups managed?

Through the Virtuozzo Web Console you're able to manage the backing up and restoring of your VPS and can restore individual files, folders or the entire VPS. This is one of the features that makes VPS hosting ideal for developers. Backups are not automated and as server administrator it's your responsibility to manage backups either through the virtuozzo console or alternative means.

8. How do I access and control my VPS server?

You'll have full remote desktop (RDP or Terminal Services) access to the server. You'll also have the Virtuozzo Web Console allowing you to restart services, stop, start, reboot and manage your VPS. If you opted to have a hosting control panel installed you'll be able to manage the VPS with that as well.

9. Does your VPS support ASP.NET 2.0, AJAX, Silverlight, XAML or Sharepoint?

Yes. The VPS server supports all of these technologies and any other framework you opt to install including java server pages, apache, cold fusion, PHP, etc. It's up to your server administrator to install and configure these applications but you should be able to install anything on the VPS that you're able to install on a physical server.

10. Do I have burstable CPU, Memory and Diskspace?

Our VPS servers are all dual quad core xeon servers and you're able to burst up to maximum CPU usage. Memory and Diskspace in a windows VPS server is not burstable. Memory can be adjusted in real-time though and not require a reboot. Please note, VPS servers are a shared resource and you're VPS is not allowed to impact the performance of the other VPS's on the physical machine.

A Windows Virtual Private Server provides you the ability to maintain complete dedicated server control and functionality, including management of reboots and backups but still maintain the best features of shared hosting: managed operating system updates, security patches and shared hosting prices.

Applied Innovations, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, SWsoft Gold Partner, ASP.net featured host and recognized leader in Business and E-Commerce hosting is your clear choice for a reliable, stable, high performance windows vps hosting solutions.

Select any of the tabs below to learn more about our virtual private server solutions.

Often, VPS hosting provides great performance and great functionality but little in the way of management tools. Fortunately, Applied Innovations has answered this call for greater control. You'll be provided with full access to the Virtuozzo Power Panels (VZPP), a remote web based management console.

Through your VZPP management console you're able to monitor, manage, reboot, backup and restore every feature of your windows 2003 VPS server.

Below are a couple screen shots of the management console, click on them to begin the management console slide show.

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Sometimes called OS-level or shared OS virtualization, OS virtualization virtualizes servers on the operating system (kernel) layer. This method of virtualization creates isolated partitions, or virtual environments (VEs) on a single physical server and OS instance to utilize hardware, software, data center and management efforts with maximum efficiency. When compared to hardware virtualization methods OS virtualization has less overhead and generally results in a 20% increase in performance. However, OS virtualization does not currently allow for such functionality as private VPNs or direct hardware access.

The diagrams below show the hypervisor or hardware virtualization technology in comparison to OS virtualization.

Click to Enlarge

The hypervisor model has a base layer (usually a thin Linux kernel shown here as a hypervisor or standard OS) that is loaded directly on the bare server. With hardware virtualization to allocate hardware and resources to the virtual machines, all of the hardware on the server must be virtualized. The next layer up shows each chip, board, etc. must be virtualized so that it can be assigned to virtual machines. Once in the virtual machine itself, there is a complete copy of an operating system and finally the application or workload.

The OS virtualization model is streamlined for the best performance, management and efficiency. At the base resides a standard host operating system, in the case of Virtuozzo that includes Windows and Linux. Next is the virtualization layer with a proprietary file system and a kernel service abstraction layer that ensure isolation and security of resources between different virtual environments. The virtualization layer makes each virtual environment appear as a standalone server. Finally, the virtual environment itself houses the application or workload.

As you'll notice HW virtualization requires a separate operating system install on each virtual machine where OS virtualization maintains a single operating system. As a result, HW virtualization requires all operating systems to be maintained, updated, patched separately and OS virtualization requires only the master operating system to be maintained. With OS virtualization (as provided by Applied Innovations) you'll benefit from reduced diskspace waste caused by the file redundancy in HW virtualization.

Applied Innovations selected Virtuozzo and Windows 2003 to power our VPS hosting solutions for several reasons and below are just some of those reasons and the great performance benefits associated with an Applied Innovations powered Virtuozzo VPS server.

High  Performance Windows VPS Hosting

Virtuozzo’s lean architecture performs at levels consistent with native servers. Virtuozzo has no virtualized hardware and uses native hardware and software drivers making its performance unbeatable. Virtuozzo’s performance makes it suitable for high I/O applications such as data bases and email servers.

Scalability and Clear Migration to Dynamic Dedicated hosting

Each VE (VPS) can seamlessly scale up to the resources of an entire physical server. Utilizing Virtuozzo's unique near zero downtime server migration your Windows VPS can be migrated from one hardware node to another to facilitate maintenance or hardware upgrades without alarming your customers.

Efficient Windows Virtualization

Virtuozzo’s efficient technology makes its VEs the most efficient Windows virtualization platform available. OS code and resource/cache sharing across VEs, templating of OS's and applications, VzCacheOnline are a few of the capabilities that enable efficient VE deployment and use in a production environment.

Consolidated OS and Application Management means less work for you.

Virtuozzo uses a single OS, making it extremely simple to maintain and update across VEs. This means that the VPS administrator never has to worry about OS updates or security patches, it's all handled by our server administrators at the host level.

Eliminates Diskspace waste

Single OS instance reduces the amount of diskspace a single VPS requires. Unlike hardware virtualization solutions where you lose 4GB just to the OS, you have full access to the entire VPS diskquota. Utilizing the Virtuozzo template engine, applications may also be deployed as a single instance.

Dynamic Resource Allocation & Detailed Resource Control

Low on memory? Need more diskspace? Not a problem with Virtuozzo's heavily detailed VE resource parameters we're able to adjust your resources in real-time with the flexibility to enable burstable resource usage. Increase diskspace or throughput without the downtime associated with hardware upgrades.

A Powerful Management Suite of Tools for Windows Virtual Servers

The complete suite of management tools includes permissions enabled browser-based and client interfaces for Virtuozzo and VE administrators. Tools enable many operations including: convert, provision, monitor, backup, recover, analyze, troubleshoot, repair, migrate, self-manage and more across both Windows and Linux platforms for easy consistent management.

Live Migration with Near Zero Downtime

Eventually all servers experience a need to be upgraded or have failed hardware replaced. By utilizing Virtuozzo we're able to move VEs without a service interruption allowing for near zero downtime or service interruption.