VPS Ecommerce Hosting- Those who host ecommerce sites often look specifically for "ecommerce hosting," but they may also meet their hosting needs through, shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting. This article explains the basics of VPS ecommerce hosting.

Introduction to VPS Hosting

is an acronym for Virtual Private Server. It is identical to the service called VDS or Virtual Dedicated Server. It is sometimes referred to as "semi-dedicated." Like other ecommerce options, it is most offered on servers with Windows software or a Linux distribution for its software.

The basic set-up of VPS hosting is this: like shared hosting, VPS hosting is set-up on a server that other customers of the web host also have disk storage on. Unlike shared hosting, customers with VPS hosting have dedicated resources, including RAM (memory), storage space, and bandwidth. Note that some hosts may reserve some, rather than all, of these three resources, so check carefully. Because of the dedicated resources, VPS hosting shares features with dedicated hosting, while still sharing server space with others. Web hosts claim that well-run VPS hosting "feels" like dedicated hosting because the behavior of others on the server, whether they are resource hogs or experience a traffic peak, should not affect other VPS accounts.

VPS hosting is more likely than shared hosting to have an SSL Certificate included (rather than being offered as an upgrade) and to allow/offer multiple IP addresses. Another key difference is that VPS may be offered in managed or unmanaged options, whereas shared hosting is always managed. The unmanaged option gives customers the ability to take control of their own server segment. In addition, VPS hosting may be more likely to be easily upgradable with little effort.

Ecommerce web hosting is centered around the needs of etailers. It is designed with the merchant’s need for appropriate resources, shopping carts and SSL certificates, payment gateways, shipping software, site analytics, store templates, and advertising starter services with companies like Google and Yahoo! Services that the ecommerce host might need, like web design and marketing, are often available directly through the web host.

Ecommerce web hosting can be offered in a shared hosting environment, on a dedicated server, or in a virtual private server environment. VPS ecommerce hosting may be just the thing for the etailer who expects to have needs that exceed those provided by shared hosting, such as being able to rely on dedicated resources or managing his or her own server section, but is not yet ready for dedicated server hosting. Keep in mind, though, that choosing a shared server environment, even with the separations provided by VPS hosting, may impost certain limits on your site development, such as the types of software you can put on the server, and if you run into issues with VPS ecommerce hosting limitations in the trial period, it may be worth considering a dedicated server, with or without managed hosting.

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