What to Do with a VPS

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) is a popular choice due to their unique ability to strike a balance between shared hosting affordability and dedicated hosting performance. It caters to a diverse range of needs and requirements. In this article, we will introduce what VPS is, common uses and limitations of VPS hosting, and how to choose a suitable VPS server plan.

What is a VPS?

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a virtualized server that operates within a larger physical server. It provides users with a dedicated portion of server resources, including CPU, RAM, disk space, and bandwidth, while sharing the same physical hardware with other virtual servers. After you logged in to the server, it operates just like a normal local computer with your choice of operating system and any other customizations.

Common VPS Uses

Host Websites

VPS is commonly used for web hosting. It can be utilized for hosting a wide variety of websites, such as personal blogs, ecommerce websites, project management platform, and forum. These sites can be built with popular software like WordPress, Drupal, phpBB, and Strapi. They can also be created from scratch with a specific language, like PHP, Java, and Python. Often, VPS hosting providers will offer many beginner guidance for their users to host a website.

Following are some guides regarding how to host websites on VPS.

Build a backup server

Users can set up VPS as a remote storage location to back up important files and data securely. This ensures data redundancy and protection against potential hardware failures. For example, you can install your own cloud space with Owncloud and Nextcloud software. Users can use VPS to create online albums for all their photos and pictures. Database Mart provides a range of backup solutions designed to safeguard clients' data and secure business, covering both VPS and dedicated servers. If you are looking for a VPS to create a bakcup server, feel free to visit the backup solutions page for reference.

Host a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

With VPS, you can create your own VPN, providing a secure and private network for accessing the internet or connecting remote locations. However, certain counties may prohibits this use and the associated IP can be banned. Therefore, the VPS hosting providers may not allow for this VPS use. Make sure to confirm with the service provider if they can provide the service to host a VPN.

Host a game servers

Setting up your own game server offers the opportunity to connect with like-minded players and friends, establishing your own community. It also offers a range of other benefits, including control, community building, performance optimization, cost savings, customization, learning opportunities, and enhanced privacy and security. It allows gamers to create unique gaming experiences and foster communities around their favorite games. To get all these benefits, gamers choose to host their own game server. They can search for hosting service for specific game, for example, factorio server hosting, ark survival evolved server hosting, best minecraft hosting / rent minecradt server, and 7 days to die server hosting / 7 days to die dedicated server.

Host a Mail Server

You can set up a mail server in VPS to handle email communication for personal or small business use. However, it's important to note that if your VPS IP address is used for abusive activities such as spamming, phishing, malware distribution, or being involved in a botnet, it can cause significant harm to your financial and reputational standing. At the meantime, this also violate the Terms of Service of the VPS hosting providers, which will result in suspension or cancellation of your service. Therefore, you should only build a mail server for legitimate communications and avoid these abusive activities.

Forex VPS

Financial institutions, trading platforms, and payment gateways need uninterrupted services to process transactions, handle sensitive data, and ensure secure connections. VPS running 24/7 helps maintain the reliability and security of these services. Database Mart has served many clients for their needs for trading platforms like MT4, MT5, and Exness.

Application Development and Testing

Developers often use VPS to build and test applications before deploying them to production environments. It allows them to experiment with different configurations and settings without affecting the main server. A VPS also makes it easy for remote development work. VPS allows developers to create isolated development environments, where they can work on projects without affecting their local machines.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

ERP systems are vital for businesses to manage various processes, such as inventory, finance, and human resources. Non-stop VPS ensures that critical business functions continue to operate seamlessly. Commonly used ERP and CRM software include Odoo, Dolibarr, ERPNext, OrangeHRM, and SuiteCRM.

Database Hosting

VPS hosting is a popular choice for hosting databases due to its affordability, flexibility, and scalability. When hosting databases on a VPS, you typically install and configure the database software of your choice on the virtual server. This allows you to have full control over the database environment, including customizing settings, managing security measures, and optimizing performance. As your database grows in size or experiences increased traffic, you can upgrade your VPS plan to accommodate the higher demands. This scalability makes VPS hosting suitable for both small and large databases.

Prohibited VPS Uses

Some VPS hosting providers may choose not to support certain scenarios, such as email marketing or spam-related activities, due to various reasons, including legal compliance, maintaining server reputation, and ensuring a positive user experience for all customers. Here are some activities that may not be supported by VPS hosting providers.

Copyrighted content hosting and/or linking to pirated content
Open proxies
Stressers/booter websites
Mail/SMS bombers
Mass mail
IP spoofing
Network/port Scanning
Distribution of credentials and/or personal information
Denial of Service (D)DoS attacks
TOR exit nodes
Open DNS resolvers
Hola
Virtual currency (*coin) mining
World Community Grid, Folding at Home, or similar software
CrystalMines
HitLeap or any artificial traffic creation
HYIP websites
Vulnerability scanning
Bruteforcing
Cracking
Botnets
Illegal pornography
Hivemail
Destructive activities including but not limited to phishing,
malware and/or distributing malicious content Illegal activities including but not limited to ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, phishing, scam websites and pirating software
Multics, CCcam, or any other card sharing software

Additionally, some network ports are blocked by VPS hosting providers to ensure the services are not used maliciously and to protect machines from possible known vulnerabilities. Please check with the VPS hosting providers if you require more information on specific blocks.

How to Choose a VPS?

Factors you need to consider before buying a VPS server

To ensure that the VPS can meet your specific needs, there are factors you need to consider before buying a VPS server. These factors are often listed in the plan package. It's recommended to confirm with the team if you have any concerns or questions.

CPU: CPU provides the instructions and processing power the computer needs to do its work. CPUs have processing units known as cores. The more cores a CPU has, the greater the number of instructions it can process in a given space of time.

RAM: RAM is used to store the program instructions and data currently being used by the CPU. Larger RAM space translates to more computing power.

Storage: There are mainly two types of storage: SSD and HDD. SSDs are considered much faster than the highest performing HDDs. Latency is also substantially reduced, and users typically experience much faster boot times.

Bandwidth: The higher the bandwidth, the faster the data can be transferred, which also means the faster your website can load. When looking for the best VPS hosting, a bandwidth of 100Mbps is more than enough to perform different uses.

Data center location: The closer your data center is to your website's visitors, the faster the loading speed of your pages. It is recommended that you keep your servers close by. Not necessarily within the same city. But it's better to keep it in the same country.

Uptime: Uptime is a measure of how long a computer or service is on and available. It is an industry standard to guarantee at least 99.9% service uptime. That means solution providers must have less than 90 seconds of downtime in a day, less than 45 minutes a month and less than 9 hours of downtime in a year.

Scalability: Normally, your applications or websites will grow over time and VPS server needs to expand the RAM and/or the disk space. The best VPS hosting provides you the ease of scaling or upgrade your plan, or even to customize your plan, anytime you wish, and with only a few downtime.

Technical support: 24/7 support means you can get help and find answers to questions as soon as they come up—24/7 and in real-time. It's especially important when downtime happens.

Below are the basic entry plan of each VPS product line:

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  • 4GB RAM
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  • 4GB RAM
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  • No Setup Fee

Conclusion

VPS hosting is more than just a bridge between shared and dedicated hosting. Its versatility makes it an optimal choice for a wide range of scenarios, from hosting dynamic websites and empowering e-commerce platforms to accelerating application development, managing resource-intensive tasks, and fortifying data security. By harnessing the potential of VPS servers, individuals and businesses alike can unlock a world of possibilities and ensure a smooth, reliable, and secure online presence for their endeavors. Whenever you have a question or concern about the VPS uses or how to choose your VPS server plan, you can always turn to the hosting support team.