Cloud and VPS: the differences
CapturaWe continues to talk about projects and their implementation. What do we choose? A hosting, a physical server, a VPS, a Cloud? There are many possibilities.
In this post, we will define the Cloud and VPS, try to discern their differences, and revisit the equation: the more critical the project, the greater the investment.
The Cloud
A Cloud is a virtual machine essentially used as a physical server but for exclusive use. The fact that it is a virtual machine means that it uses virtualization, which is dedicated to dividing the physical server into different virtual machines to work as if they were physical.
Why ‘Cloud’? It is called ‘cloud’ because it is a virtual machine that abstracts the physical hardware. What is this ‘abstracting the hardware’? Elements such as the network or storage are virtualized, i.e., they are not in a specific location: in case of failure, the Cloud will look for another hardware node or continue to function.
The scalability of the Cloud is the most valuable element of this type of service, which allows hardware to be resized immediately. In addition, the Cloud is an ‘infrastructure as a service’, which enables it to be managed as if it were a real server.
The VPS
A Virtual Private Server is a method of partitioning or creating virtual environments of a physical server in different servers to work as a single machine/server.
Each VPS has its software: operationally, it is like a dedicated server; the difference is that the hardware is shared. Each VPS is segmented so that sharing via virtualization is guaranteed. For its part, scalability is possible, but only to a limited extent.
The differences
A Cloud server is tolerant to hardware failures: the infrastructure of this service (abstracting the hardware) allows it to be hosted on different nodes. At the same time, the VPS depends on the physical server to which it belongs.
A Cloud server works with Xen or KVM technology for virtualization, and this allows the Cloud to perfectly emulate the behavior of a physical server.
It is so similar that it allows the allocation of resources such as processors and RAM. The VPS, on the other hand, has its resources allocated and is subject to the help of the initial physical server.
Interruption by failure: the Cloud will be able to work with the ‘swap’ mechanism, while the VPS will be forced to ‘steal’ resources from neighboring machines, or not work at all.
While the VPS does not usually allow different types of management (console access, for example), the Cloud usually comes with different kinds of control, from 0 to total.
Price: VPS is usually cheaper than Cloud.
So, starting from the virtualization mechanism where ‘virtual environments’ or machines are ‘created,’ we can find the Cloud, where everything can be managed: the infrastructure, and fail-safe. The VPS, on the other hand, a virtual machine, allows you to control the services as if it were your server, although in a limited way and vulnerable to failures.
Which one to choose? That was our question. We believe in projects’ professionalism and the importance of investing in what is most critical.
Undoubtedly, at SW Hosting, we have opted for infrastructure as a service for our customers, fail-safe, scalable and manageable in different ways, and where price and professionalism go hand in hand according to the project’s needs.
WE WANT you to get in touch with us and we can support you in your projects HERE.
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