What Can You Do With A Virtual Dedicated Server?
Virtualization technology is a tool by which a server’s resources can be shared between multiple users. This works by creating virtual servers that are assigned allocated amounts of memory, disk and CPU time in order to run. These virtual servers are kept separate from each other and provide users with all of the options that a dedicated server does.
These virtual dedicated servers go by a number of names, though virtual private server tends to be the most commonly used one. This name is generally used to indicate that these servers are private to the individual running them, much like a dedicated server is, whilst also sharing resources on the same hardware.
What can one of these servers do? The answer is lots of things, in fact pretty much anything a dedicated server can do.
Running Websites
Probably the most common thing to do with a virtual private server is hosting a website or multiple websites on the server. From a simple WordPress blog through to an ecommerce site for your business, VPS provides a number of website hosting options.
Setting Up Email
Next up there’s email. There are plenty of free mail providers, however, if you wish to have email using your own domain name, then most providers charge for that privilege. With a virtual server, you can run your own email server with as many mailboxes as you need.
It is important, especially with the prevalence of open wifi hotspots, to keep your traffic safe and secure. It’s often recommended to use a VPN to keep your data secure when using a wifi hotspot, but how do you know that your VPN provider can be trusted? Installing a VPN on your server can help you keep your data secure, safe and under your control.
Creating a Gaming Server
Online gaming, especially with friends, is fun and enjoyable Many games allow you to run your own game server. This means that rather than playing with random members of the public, you can play with just your friends on your own server with your own rules. Want to voice chat while you play? You can also install a TeamSpeak server so you can share the laughs while you play.
Get Organized
Online cloud services are a great way of keeping track of your contacts, calendar events and file shares between locations and devices. Software such as NextCloud and OwnCloud allow you to be your own cloud provider and help you keep control of your data. These open source applications can be installed on your server to give you that control.
Desktop Environment
Sometimes you need a desktop operating system when you can’t physically get to a computer. A VPS can be used to provide you with a desktop environment that you can sign into from a phone or tablet wherever you are, meaning that desktop computing abilities are never far away.
Beef Up Your Skills
Another use for a VPS can be as a learning tool. You can launch a VPS, tweak it, configure software, destroy it and start all over again. If what you are doing breaks the server, then it’s no problem! Rebuilding your VPS back to a working state is quick and easy. This means that you can spend time learning how to do things on a real system.
You can probably think of a number of uses we’ve not listed here. Either way, a virtual dedicated server, whether you call it a virtual machine, virtual server or virtual private server, has a virtually unlimited number of uses.