Hyper-V VPS Web Hosting

Previously a majority of web hosting providers had used the Virtuozzo VPS hosting platform to offer Windows Server 2003 based VPS hosting solutions, but with the release of Windows Server 2008 web hosting providers no longer need to make use of third party applications in order to offer Windows VPS hosting services. With Windows Server 2008 comes the Hyper-V virtual machine platform, and as this is included with Windows Server 2008 web hosting providers are able to offer Windows Server 2008 VPS hosting services at a low cost. Hyper-V VPS hosting services allow Windows web developers to make the most of what Windows Server 2008 has to offer, such as the IIS 7 web server. Although Hyper-V itself doesn’t offer consumers any form of web based control panel that they can use to manage their virtual machine, some web hosting providers are making use of the features that DotNetPanel has to offer which will allow users to manage their Hyper-V VPS servers using a web based control panel.

Hyper-V Windows Server 2008 VPS hosting servers will come with the same set of features that you would find with a standard Windows VPS server; this includes administrator access via Remote Desktop and guaranteed assignments of disk space, RAM and bandwidth, but because of the nature of Windows Server 2008 the likelihood is that you will have to pay more for a basic VPS server because of the extra resources that are needed. Hyper-V works differently to other VPS platforms that are available as it is part of the operating sytem which will allow for better performance, whereas alternatives such as Virtuozzo are installed on top of the operating system as regular applications. Although Hyper-V VPS hosting may cost more than your average Windows Server 2003 based VPS server, the advantages you get in terms of the performance increase and the fact that you will be able to make use of Windows Server 2008 justify the cost for most people.

Advantages of Hyper-V VPS Hosting

There are many advantages to be had from using Hyper-V VPS hosting services for both businesses and individuals who are willing to upgrade from Windows Server 2003 VPS server hosting services to more modern and sustainable Windows Server 2008 VPS hosting services. The main advantage to using Hyper-V VPS hosting services is the fact that you will be able to make use of Windows Server 2008; this will allow you to make the most of what you are paying for as you will be able to use all of the latest technologies that Microsoft has developed for use in a server environment. Another advantage of Hyper-V VPS hosting services is the ability to run classic ASP and ASP.NET based websites which require a Windows based web hosting environment; classic ASP and ASP.NET won’t run on Linux based web hosting environments, and by using them in a Windows Server 2008 based hosting environment you will be able to achieve the best level of reliability. Hyper-V VPS hosting services can also offer you a greater level of reliability than older Virtuozzo based Windows Server 2003 based VPS servers, the mean reason for this being that Hyper-V virtualization is part of the operating system and not a separate application. In summary, the main advantages of Hyper-V VPS hosting services include:

  • Windows Server 2008 web hosting - many users are now moving over to Hyper-V VPS hosting services from Virtuozzo based Windows Server 2003 VPS hosting services so that they are able to make the most of what Windows Server 2008 has to offer - this means that web developers can make use of the updated IIS web server to host their content as well as the other features that are available with Windows Server 2008 - most web hosting providers are now discontinuing the use of Virtuozzo based VPS hosting services
  • Running of classic ASP and ASP.NET based websites - some web developers choose to build websites using classic ASP or ASP.NET as these may be their preferred languages to develop with - in such a case you will find that classic ASP and ASP.NET based websites will only function correctly on Windows based servers because they are both Microsoft technologies - by using Windows Server 2008 hosting services you are able to ensure that your website is able to embrace the latest technologies that Windows Server 2008 has to offer
  • Reliability - because Hyper-V VPS hosting services make use of the Windows Server 2008 operating system, website hosting providers are able to ensure that they are offering the most reliable Windows VPS server hosting services that they can - because Hyper-V is an operating system component rather than a third-party application meaning that things are less likely to go wrong, and because it is developed by Microsoft it is guaranteed to perform very well with Microsoft operating systems.

You will find that Hyper-V VPS hosting services are able to offer you a greater level of reliability but also a lot more features than you may have thought possible with VPS hosting services, but with the use of Windows Server 2008 web hosting providers are able to offer you a lot more for your money in terms of featrues and resource assignments. It is a good idea to note that you should only consider Windows web hosting services if your requirements constitute the need for a Windows web hosting package; such requirements would include the hosting of classic ASP and ASP.NET web pages or the hosting of Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server databases - websites developed using PHP and MySQL are better suited to Linux based web hosting services.

Disadvantages of Hyper-V VPS Hosting

There can also be some disadvantages to using Hyper-V VPS server hosting services, mainly due to the fact that it is a form of dedicated web hosting which means that you get extra resources but also means that you will have to pay more to receive a reliable web hosting service. The main disadvantage of Hyper-V VPS hosting services is the cost; due to the fact that web hosting providers need to account for the cost of the individuals Windows Server 2008 licenses, they need to pass this extra cost onto you - Windows Server 2008 also requires higher resource assignments which increases the cost again. Another disadvantage to using Hyper-V VPS hosting services is that in some cases you may not be provided with a web based control panel which you could use to manage your Windows VPS as you can do with Virtuozzo and Windows Server 2003 VPS servers; in such a case the only way for you to manage your Hyper-V VPS would be via Remote Desktop. You will also find that some Hyper-V VPS hosting services aren’t that good value for money; Windows Server 2008 requires more resources to run properly, and this along with the extra cost of the operating system license means that you aren’t going to get large resource assignments for your money. In summary, the main disadvantages of Hyper-V VPS hosting include:

  • Pricing - although web hosting providers try and offer their web hosting services as cheaply as possible, in most cases it is impossible for them to offer cheap Windows Server 2008 VPS hosting services based on Hyper-V because of the additional costs involved when it comes to operating system licenses - Windows Server 2008 also requires larger resource assignments which means that web hosting providers have to charge extra for the additional resources that are being used
  • No web based control panel - unlike Virtuozzo based Windows Server 2003 VPS servers, Hyper-V based Windows Server 2008 VPS servers don’t come with any web based control panel that you can use to manage your VPS server - however, some web hosting providers are making use of third-party software such as DotNetPanel so that users have an alternative way to manage their Windows VPS server instead of Remote Desktop
  • Value for money - Hyper-V VPS hosting services don’t particularly represent good value for money at this moment in time due to the amount that you will have to pay, but as the cost of a Windows Server 2008 license comes down there is no reason why the price of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V VPS hosting shouldn’t and as that happens you are likely to be able to get better value for money in terms of resource assignments as well.

As many web hosting providers are still offering Windows Server 2003 VPS hosting services using Virtuozzo at a much lower cost, the disadvantages of Hyper-V VPS hosting services would suggest that it may be more beneficial for you to consider Virtuozzo VPS hosting services for now whilst the cost of Hyper-V VPS hosting comes down so that you can upgrade to Windows Server 2008 VPS hosting at a later date. You should only spend the money on Windows Server 2008 if you are going to have it installed on a dedicated server, as for now it isn’t necessary to run it on VPS servers for now unless absolutely required.

In conclusion, Hyper-V VPS hosting services have a lot to offer users who wish to make the most of the new technologies which Microsoft has to offer in Windows Server 2008, but for users with smaller budgets Windows Server 2003 Virtuozzo based VPS hosting services are more than sufficient. Although the resources that come with Hyper-V VPS servers appear to be generous, Windows Server 2008 requires higher resource assignments than Windows Server 2003 to run correctly; if you wish to make the most of Windows Server 2008 you should consider Windows dedicated server hosting.