Posted on

Guide To Choose The Most Reliable VPS Hosting For You

Has your website grown a lot, and is your current hosting service starting to fall short of your expectations? Often the pages load slowly, or the site crashes and is no longer reachable? It means that, also for your site, the time has come to abandon shared hosting to move to something more performing and professional like a dedicated server or, more likely, a VPS or VPS Hosting.In this guide, we will try to explain, in detail, but as simple as possible, how to choose and buy the right one for your specific needs, finally listing those that, in our opinion, is the best VPS hosting on the market.

Aspects to consider when choosing a VPS Hosting

This guide aims to help the reader make amindful choiceof the right VPS service, offering a criterion as objective as possible, based on particular characteristics. Let’s see below the aspects that should be considered beforebuying your next VPS hosting.

Resources (CPU, RAM and disk space)

The first element to consider when purchasing a VPS hosting is the hardware characteristics of the virtual server. If we have decided to abandon our old hosting service, it is probably because our website has grown quite a lot, revealing the need for more resources to “run” correctly. But what and how many resources does our website need?
The hardware characteristics of a VPS hosting have measured in terms of CPU, RAM, and storage. When choosing a new VPS, you must pay attention to the number of CPUs covered by the offer. It is important to specify that usually, the CPUs indicated do not necessarily correspond to as many “physical” CPUs. In practice, the real computational capacity of the hardware of the “physical” system is divided into a certain number of virtual processors that determine the computing capacity of the individual virtual servers to which they are assigned.
 

Having an adequate amount of volatile memory is extremely important when you make regular use of complex applications or those subjected to heavy traffic. Suppose it is true that the CPU determines the processing speed. In that case, it is equally valid that any RAM saturation would result in a significant slowdown of your site, despite the potential offered by the processor.
 
The last hardware feature to consider when choosing a VPS server is the storage capacity, i.e., the storage space for our data. How many GBs our site needs is a rather easy figure to measure: in fact, it will be sufficient to “weigh” the sum of the files, folders, any databases, and mailboxes that compose it, to have a reliable unit of measurement. 

Data traffic and bandwidth

An important element in evaluating the various VPS cheap offers is the bandwidth and the possible limit to data traffic. The bandwidth determines the amount of data that can pass through at the same time. It is evident that a greater width determines a better capacity for the system to support a greater number of simultaneous requests. With regard to this point, it is advisable always to check the guaranteed service levels, such as the minimum bandwidth made available to each individual account.
 
But how much traffic does our website need? Here’s an example, let’s suppose that our website delivers a million page views each month and that the average weight of each page (including HTML, images, and any other multimedia elements) is 300 Kb. At this point it would be enough to carry out a simple multiplication:
1,000,000 * 300 Kb = 286 GB

The data obtained, as mentioned, is purely indicative but still represents a useful reference in choosing your new free VPS.

Infrastructure

It is very important to know and correctly evaluate the provider’s infrastructure’s overall characteristics, from which we have decided to purchase your new VPS hosting. With the term “infrastructure,” we refer to a set of overall characteristics concerning the network, hardware, and some software characteristics.

Backup

When purchasing a new VPS server, it is advisable to check whether there is an automatic backup service or the possibility of performing a manual backup. In this way, we will be sure to have all the necessary tools to guarantee our valuable data.

IP geolocation

Often, this is a neglected aspect when choosing a VPS hosting, but knowing the actual geographical location (geolocation) of the servers can be quite important for a double order of aspects. First of all, the geographical proximity of the server with the target audience of your site helps to improve its performance. It is inevitable that proximity affects travel times (of data) from one node to another in the network. Correct IP geolocation will also help your site from an SEO point of view, as it increases the loading speed of web pages and will allow you to improve your position in the Google SERPs (in reference to our target market, of course).
When choosing the VPS hosting, it is good to inquire in advance about the location of the servers and/or about the possible choice (now offered by many providers) about the geographical location of the data center in which VPS is activated.

Guaranteed uptime

A golden rule in the web hosting industry is to always inquire about guaranteed service levels (SLAs) before buying. Certainly, the most important data concerns the guaranteed uptime. In these cases, the guarantee of a high continuity of the service being provided for forms of compensation if the promised level is not maintained.

Support

How can we not talk about assistance? It is a crucial element in the world of web hosting. But in the case of VPS hosting, it is important to make a distinction: when you buy a virtual server, you normally assume the responsibility of making it work properly. 
However, it must be emphasized that the service provider is always and in any case required to offer technical assistance on all problems related to infrastructure and the Network. Therefore it is always good to choose a company that offers timely assistance, better if 24 hours 365 days a year. 

Price

Obviously, the price cannot be ignored, but – this must never be the only criterion of choice. The economic factor must be carefully weighed within the context of our needs and expectations, remembering that too basic levels of price risk corresponding to very high levels of dissatisfaction.

Posted on

Ways a Free VPS Can Endanger Your Privacy

Often many people make the huge mistake of using the cost to determine which VPS to buy. Free VPS usually seems mouth-watering to many people, especially beginners, due to their little to no cost. However, these people are usually short-sighted. There’s no doubt that they’ve reduced their spending in the short-term. However, they did not think of the future. Free VPS is often full of vulnerabilities and accompanies other factors that risk your privacy; this is due to their cheap cost. Your data might get sold by the host, or you might have to shut your website down. Low security can lead to many such problems. However, if you are aware of how a free VPS hosting can endanger your privacy, you will not make the mistake of buying one. 

Vulnerabilities of free VPS

People who are offering free VPS have to keep the price little to none. However, at the same time, they need to make money out of it. In such cases, it’s best for the seller to keep the investment and effort low. This means that the security features of VPS are usually either non-existent or obsolete. Whether the host provides you with Windows-based VPS or Linux based VPS, they are both going to have some type of vulnerabilities, that will put your data and privacy at risk. For example, many free VPS hosts do not update the VPS software. Firewalls and other such security measures are also usually obsolete. Furthermore, these vulnerabilities not only occur at the software level but also at the hardware level. A free VPS host will never use expensive and reliable hardware. 

Man-in-the-middle attacks

Man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM) are a particular type of cyberattack. This is when the attacker captures our data, passwords, and other private information when we log on to a website that appears to be safe. Free VPS is at a higher risk of MITM attacks. Many attackers look for your financial information. Therefore, they might steal your money. Moreover, attackers are also able to steal the private information of people who use your website. This might decrease the traffic coming to your site. 

Trusting the free VPS host

When you sign up for a free VPS server hosted by someone else, you are giving you private information in the host’s hands. However, is it really a good idea to entrust your valuable information to an unknown person? Even well-known companies are known to sell user data; therefore, this type of VPS hosts can’t be trusted with your private information. The host has full access to your data and can use it whenever needed. It will be sold before you can even think of it. Even if VPS is free, it’s very likely that you’ll have to send your credit card information, which can often lead to many scams. Selling your private information is often used as a way of making money by VPS providers which are free, as you are not paying them. 

Location of the free VPS

A hosted VPS can be located in any part of the world; it’s not necessarily located in the same country as yours. Many hosted VPS are located in countries with laws that put your server at risk. For example, there might be laws that might be used to spy at hosted VPS. Moreover, many countries have higher crime rates, which means that your VPS can be physically hacked without you ever being aware of it. Free VPS is usually located in these types of countries, which compromises the security of your privacy. If the VPS is not hosted from a safe country, then it’s best to avoid using it, even if it’s free. 

Be aware of scams

Scams are found in every field of business; we should always be aware of them. However, the risk of getting scammed increases sharply if you’re buying something that is free. People are heavily attracted to freebies, and scammers do not take this fact for granted. They take advantage of this, and people often come into their trap. As free VPS is also free, as the name suggests, you are likely to be scammed, and there is no way to avoid being scammed effectively. You can only be lucky to find a trustworthy free VPS provider. However, with such a high risk of getting scammed, it’s best to find alternatives to this type of VPS; otherwise, you might end up costing yourself a fortune. 

Storage of activity logs

Another problem that arises from free VPS is the storage of activity logs. This means that the VPS will retain your activity when you log into the VPS, and can even monitor your connection to the VPS. This makes it easier for the host to get access to your private information, which will most likely be sold by the provider. Many free VPS providers are not trustworthy, as discussed earlier. Even if this information will not be sold, it will undoubtedly be monitored by the provider. Who would want their private information to under constant surveillance? 

Higher risk from hackers

As discussed earlier, VPS cheap are more vulnerable and thus exposed to a higher number of attacks. This type of VPS is an opportunity for hackers to steal private information. Of course, the attacker will choose the easiest prey, which is undoubtedly a free VPS. A hacker will not bother trying to attack a well-protected server when a vulnerable VPS is available. This will double the risk of your data getting stolen, and in most cases, this will become inevitable.

Conclusion

All these ways a little to no cost VPS can endanger your private information shows how unsafe it can be. A free VPS is surrounded by attackers and risks from all sides. The modern world is full of people trying to get their hands on your private data, while scammers steal your money. Therefore, the best option is to find a VPS provider after thorough research; only then will you able to protect your private information.