In the race of powerful yet cost-effective hosting servers, VPS Hosting has evolved as a preferred hosting type for all kinds of websites. Hosting companies use server virtualization to create virtual hosting servers that have dedicated resources, account isolation, and complete root access. When you host your site on a virtual server, you get a hosting environment similar to a dedicated server with limited resources. However, being a new technology, many site owners are not aware of how Virtual Servers are created and how they can benefit them.
Hence, in this article, we will talk about server virtualization and hypervisors and the role they play in creating the architecture of VPS hosting.
Server Virtualization and Hypervisor
In the simplest terms, virtualization is the method of creating a virtual version of a resource. In fact, we have been using virtualization since the launch of computers. Remember the old desktop with C: and D: drives? The computer had a single hard disk that was partitioned and made to appear as two virtual drives. In the hosting industry, virtualization is used to create multiple virtual servers on a single web server. There are various types of virtualization techniques like desktop virtualization, server virtualization, network virtualization, application virtualization, etc.
In server virtualization, a physical web server is divided into smaller virtual servers allowing for optimum utilization of server resources. These virtual servers work as exclusive physical servers. They are created by using a server virtualization software called a hypervisor. It is this software that makes virtualization possible.
The hypervisor partitions the hardware and abstracts and isolates different virtual servers from the main system. This allows the physical server to run and operate multiple virtual servers without one affecting the other. The hypervisor also makes management of these virtual servers easy as it helps in the distribution of resources, memory, and allotment of storage, etc. Further, the hypervisor enables communication between all virtual machines and keeps them connected. It allows the server admin to start/stop any virtual machine at any time.
