What are virtual machines and how do they power business growth?

What kind of hosting is best for your online project? This is a common question for everyone wanting to get online, from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals. One popular option is a virtual machine hosting environment. 

Virtual machines provide a stable, secure, and flexible way to take control of your digital ideas, whether you have an online business, you want to scale up or want to launch something completely new.

Read on to learn all about how virtual machines run, the different virtual machine hosting services available, and why it may be the perfect next step in your online journey.

What is a VM?

A virtual machine (VM), also referred to as a virtual private server (VPS), gives you more control over your hosting environment. With a shared hosting plan, you share a server and resources with multiple other sites and have more limited customization and control over settings. With a VM, you gain the benefits of your own server, with more control and customization options regarding software configurations. 

How do virtual machines work?

A VM is a type of software that can emulate how a physical computer functions, running an operating system (OS), applications, storing data, and more. Essentially, a virtual computer.

A VM is managed by software called a hypervisor. Hypervisors let multiple VMs run on a single physical server while splitting its resources. They do this through virtualization, the process of creating a virtual version of something, such as an OS, a server, or network resources. 

Other users don’t affect performance 

Hypervisors allocate physical resources like RAM and CPU to individual VMs and create isolated environments while the physical server remains the same. Because each VM, often called an instance, is isolated from the others, it won’t affect others on the same physical VM server if something happens to one instance. 

There are many benefits to this type of hosting, including more efficient usage of hardware resources. 

What are VMs used for?

VMs are a powerful computing tool that can be used for a variety of online projects. These include, but are not limited to:

• Hosting high-traffic or resource sites – VMs offer higher resources, can handle varying traffic levels, and global deployment options ensure faster loading times.

• App development – can quickly create and discard isolated environments for rapid experimentation without impacting production systems, such as sandboxes.
• Streaming content online – using a VM can minimize latency and improve user experience. Streaming is also not generally permitted on shared hosting plans.
• Backups and disaster recovery – If the primary data center fails, VMs in the cloud can take over operations with minimal downtime.
• Batch processing – can distribute tasks like video rendering, scientific simulations, or financial modeling across multiple VMs to reduce processing time.
• Big data and analytics – can be configured with high-performance resources to process large datasets and run complex analytics workloads. 

The different types of VM

The two main types of VM options are the traditional on-premises VM hosting and cloud VMs.

Traditional VM

Traditional, also known as on-premises, VM resides on a single physical server. The server is partitioned into multiple virtualized instances, each with its own allocated resources (CPU, RAM, storage). The downside of on-premises VM is that they offer limited scalability. Resources are static, and scaling up or resizing may mean downtime. 

Cloud VMs

Instead of running on a single server or a group or servers in one location, VM cloud hosting runs on a cloud provider's infrastructure with networks of servers in different locations. Because cloud VMs are more scalable, they are better equipped to handle on-demand computing power, scalable web applications, cloud-native applications, hosting applications, running development environments, and processing large datasets.

Which option is better?

The type of VM you choose will depend on your specific needs, from budget requirements to business challenges. Although Cloud VMs are generally more flexible than on-premises VM on a physical server, it may not be the best solution for all scenarios.

Uptime

Cloud providers offer high availability features, ensuring that VMs remain operational even if hardware fails, reducing the risk of downtime. Because of this, cloud VMs provide a better chance of achieving 99.99% uptime.

Scalability

Cloud VMs are great for businesses with changing demands, as you can easily scale resources up or down when necessary. Whether you want to scale vertically (adding resources like CPU and RAM) or horizontally (adding more servers to handle traffic), with a cloud VM you can do it quickly and easily because you just need to use the existing cloud architecture. For traditional VMs, the same kind of scaling could take weeks or months.

Billing

Traditional and cloud VMs typically have different pricing models. For traditional VMs, you often pay a fixed monthly rate with fixed resources. Whether or not you use all the resources, it will cost you the same amount.

Cloud VMs often have a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model, generally hourly or by-the-minute billing, where you only pay for the resources you use. This type of billing can help you save money on hosting and ensures you never pay for anything you don’t use.

What should I look for in a VM host?

As we mentioned, choosing VM hosting services highly depends on your particular wants and needs. Research providers and check whether they suit your budget and will give you everything you require in a host.

Pay particular attention to the following:

• Performance – examine the specifications offered by each provider and whether they match your needs. 
• Scalability –  do they offer additional resources to scale up or down as needed, such as the ability to upgrade in a few clicks? Do they offer add-ons like volumes? 
• Ease of use and support – find a platform that gives you total control over your digital ideas and offers expert customer support when you need it.
• A PAYG option – for full flexibility, only paying for what you use is best — just ensure you delete your VM if you’re not using it.

Also, check their add-on offering and look for the following:

• Management – Access to help when you need it, such as paid IT assistance and disaster recovery.
• Control panels – to manage your VM via graphic user interface, you should be able to add your preferred control panel management system, such as cPanel or Plesk.
• Volumes – a virtualized storage unit that allows you to store data, run applications, and manage files separately from your VM for easy scaling or moving to another VM.

Automated backups are also worth considering. Check if the provider offers off-site storage or solutions for scheduling and storing backups to restore content later if necessary. Another great option is Snapshots, which save VM states from a particular point in time and can be used to restore the server and its settings. 

Take control of your hosting

Now that you have a complete understanding of a VM’s meaning and all the related benefits, it’s time to decide if it’s the right choice for you. Whether you’re thinking of scaling up, looking for high-performance hosting, or need a space for app testing, a VM is the perfect middle ground between shared hosting and your own dedicated server. So, if you want to take your online project to the next level, a VM is the way to go.