What is VPS?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. Virtual private servers bridge the gap between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, giving independence from other customers of the VPS service in software terms but at significantly less cost than a physical dedicated server.
Generally, a shared hosting plan means you share the server with about 6,000 other sites whereas a virtual private server gives you the entire VPS all to yourself.
Is It Easy to Setup a VPS?
Setting up VPS hosting isn’t like a walk in park that shared hosting is to setup and most web hosts that offer VPS won’t setup your VPS account for you either, even when you choose a fully managed VPS at any level.
I will help you setup a new VPS by showing you exactly how i have setup my own in this tutorial.
You will also find plenty of tutorials and videos on getting started with VPS provided by web server providers however most are geared towards VPS for resellers of hosting, not bloggers who want more power, speed and resources for their own sites.
Do You Need VPS?
Lets take a look at why you may need VPS and why i know i need it.
I don’t like web hosts throttling my account because it reduces the speed of my site which results in a poor experience for my readers therefore less traffic. Even with a Pro shared hosting account which provides the most resources of any shared hosting plan, my site was still being throttled every day. I guess when web hosts are running over 6,000 sites per server, there’s not a lot to go around for each client.
So what are the solutions:
Optimize your databases, plugins, images etc or upgrade to VPS. I’ve already written about how to optimize WordPress for speed and already used these techniques on my own site but can’t improve my sites efficiency any further. Its time to take the next step and transfer my sites to a Virtual Private Server.
VPS Setup Steps
- Choose a level of VPS
- Create Private Nameservers
- Create a Package in WHM
- Create an account in WHM
- Transfer Your Site to Your VPS
Choosing a level of VPS
I chose level 3 VPS because it includes cPanel which i have worked with so much on my shared hosting accounts, of which i have three. You could go ultra cheap and get the raw VPS without any technical support, or get VPS with Plesk which is cheaper than cPanel.
Create Private Namerservers
One of the benefits of VPS is that you get private nameservers but you have to create your private nameservers yourself first and then set them up which i have written about to already.
Create a Package in WHM
Even if you’re only using VPS for your own site(s), you’ll still need to create a package. I created one package which provides unlimited resources which i use on the one and only account i have created in WHM for my sites. Read more on how to create a package in WHM for VPS users.
Create an Account in WHM
You’ll need to create a new account in WHM, select the package you have created in the drop down, select private nameservers etc. Read more on how to create an account in WHM for VPS users.
Transfer Your Site to VPS
Hostgator offer a free transfer service so all you need to do is choose which level of VPS you need, sign up for a VPS account and fill in the Transfer Form. The Hostgator Transfer team will take care of everything for you and notify you when the jobs completed.
Otherwise you may find these posts on how to move WordPress to a new host helpful.
VPS for WordPress
Not all hosting providers offer VPS, Bluehost being one of them.
Web hosts provide a range of different levels of VPS starting with unmanaged VPS accounts which don’t provide cPanel or Plesk. You’ll need to get to level 3 VPS if you want a fully managed VPS which includes cPanel.
Read more on WordPress VPS
Whats next? Looks like its just a matter of time before i take a dedicated server for a spin! Any recommendations?