All can design sites are served from high quality, high performance, reliable Virtual Private Servers¹.

In a traditional “shared hosting” environment you're likely to find 100 (or more, even 1000 users on a single server is not unheard of) websites all stuffed into one computer and all fighting with one another for access to limited shared resources. Usually this means the software is pre-installed/configured, generally only alterable within very limited bounds and quite likely out-of-date². This sort of shared environment often leads to gross overcrowding; since no one was ever guaranteed any level of performance or minimum system resources the sellers don’t mind if you don’t notice that they keep piling more sites per server and the resource pool keeps dwindling. Even worse, it means that if any one of those 100 other sites you share resources with have a problem then you have a problem. Maybe one of them is an email harvesting spam site that gets your server blacklisted. Maybe another has installed an untested piece of software that leaks memory and brings the system down every 37 minutes. Maybe another simply didn’t set a strong password and has allowed unseen predators onto the server to steal your passwords, delete your data and make your life miserable.

While this kind of setup might not a problem if you are just hosting a couple of pictures and some static text files for your personal webpage, it is completely unacceptable for hosting any sort of important information or as the public face for your company or service.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have “dedicated (aka, managed) hosting” in which you pay for an entire server for yourself. The hosting company is, generally, responsible for setup, security and updates. This is a great way to go if you actually need it; more affordable and efficient than bringing the equipment and personnel in-house but nearly as expensive.

So, what do you do if you are a small company, an individual or a startup who doesn’t want to deal with problematic shared hosting or prohibitively expensive dedicated hosting? That’s exactly the niche virtual private hosting was created to fulfill.

With a virtual private server your site is…

1. 100% isolated

• your security is not compromised by your neighbors lack of security
• other people’s problems are truly someone else’s problem

1. guaranteed minimum resources

• never find your site unresponsive
• or your software crashed due to lack of resources

1. completely configurable

• get only the software you need
• less software means less risk of software conflicts

1. totally scalable

• start small and grow when you need it
• start big and grow into multiple servers when you need it

Each site is built from the ground up using a lightweight, well tested, tightly integrated software set. The base operating system is Linux, well-known for it’s security and configurability. This allows a solution that is specifically crafted to your current website needs. No $500 per month behemoth, no $2 per month “why is it taking so long to load” gray box; instead you get exactly what you need when you need it.

For a more in depth discussion of the specific software used please refer to Part 2 of this article.