A virtual private server, also known as virtual dedicated server, provides one of the ways of partitioning one server computer into multiple servers. By this, each server has the facade and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine or computer. In each virtual private server hosting, a full-fledged operating system can independently run and reboot each server.

Virtual private server hosting is not a new technology, as it is common practice in mainframe computers. However, it has had a rebirth of sorts with the improvement of virtualization software and technologies for other architectures. In all, virtual dedicated server hosting acts as a bridge between shared web hosting services and dedicated server hosting services. The biggest advantage of using virtual dedicated server hosting is its cheaper cost, in comparison to a dedicated server.

A virtual private server hosting provider generally runs its own copy of operating system with customers having super-user-level access. Above all, in virtual dedicated server hosting, you can easily install almost any software that runs on the OS.

Recent time has witnessed the massive increase of the number of virtualization clients. These virtualization clients usually run on a single machine. A virtual private server web hosting generally has limited processor time, RAM, and disk space. You will be surprised to know that at times virtual dedicated servers are also employed as honeypots. These honeypots allow a machine to purposely run software with known security flaws. They, of course, make sure that it is done without endangering the rest of the server. Multiple honeypots can be quickly set up through virtual private servers in this fashion.

While choosing a VPS hosting company, ask the following questions:

• What are the specifications of the host server, that is, the RAM, CPU, and network throughout?
  
• How many virtual private servers are run on the host server that you'll be on?
  
• How is resource contention handled? In other words, what happens if all the other virtual private servers on your host server are running CPU/RAM-intensive processes?
  
• Do you have a dedicated minimum amount of RAM/CPU/Network usage? If so, how much?