Artificial intelligence is changing countless industries in unprecedented ways. One of the industries that has been touched by the hand of AI is web hosting.
DataFloq author Josh McCalister has talked about the benefits AI offers to web hosting providers and their clients. He points out that AI has improved the productivity of web hosting solutions, as well as helping them respond to new threats, such as digital security breaches.
Companies need to understand how artificial intelligence is changing their options when they need web hosting. AI technology has made both VPS and shared hosting more effective, so they need to look at their options carefully.
AI Creates New Options for VPS and Shared Hosting
In order for your website to be accessible online, it needs to be hosted on a server. There are a number of different options for hosting your website. AI has changed these options in some ways, but the underlying benefits remain the same. This article is going to focus on two hosting options: virtual private server (VPS) hosting and shared hosting.
Shared hosting is a form of web hosting in which several sites are hosted by a single physical server. As multiple users are able to utilize the resources of a single server, this keeps costs low. However, a shared hosting server isn’t strong enough for sites with high volume and high traffic. For these types of sites, you’re going to want to use VPS hosting. VPS utilizes virtualization software that separates a single physical server into several “virtual” servers. Each virtual server has its own operating system and is able to provide all the site performance benefits of a dedicated physical server.
This is one of the ways that AI comes into the equation. AI is used to personalize the experience for every user. However, artificial intelligence also creates benefits at the macro-level. It can identify bandwidth needs in advance and ensure the right resources are allocated for the network.
In order to know when to use VPS hosting or when to use shared hosting, you need to look at the needs of your website. The amount of space, flexibility and growth potential that your site requires from a server will determine what type of hosting is the right option for you.
3 Reasons to Choose VPS Hosting Over Shared Hosting
1. Your Bandwidth Usage is High and Your Site Performance is Slow
Shared hosting is a cost-effective option but you never want to sacrifice quality. AI has made it even more cost-effective.
Shared hosting restricts the growth of your site because you share everything with several other websites. Additionally, resources such as disk space and bandwidth can be affected by the traffic and bandwidth usage of the other sites that are running on the shared server. VPS hosting doesn’t require that you share resources with other sites, even though you’re sharing one physical server. VPS provides a lot more bandwidth and disk space and ensures that someone else’s website doesn’t compromise the performance of your site. Furthermore, VPS is a more flexible solution than shared hosting because it’s easier to move a VPS to a new physical server if your website grows. Therefore, if your website is using a large amount of bandwidth while being slow to load, this is a good indicator that you’ve outgrown the resources that a shared hosting plan can provide and you should move to a VPS.
2. You Want to Customize your Web Hosting Server or Need More Technical Flexibility
If you want to be able to run certain applications, but can’t afford the hefty price tag of a dedicated server, then VPS is a great option. VPS hosting gives you full root-level access which enables you to install and delete software, create accounts, set permissions, and choose your customized server environment. Not to mention that because you’re sharing hardware you don’t have to worry about maintaining the physical server or its security. A VPS will also provide you with an increased level of security because each VPS is completely isolated from the other VPS’s on the physical server. This means that if a hacker gets into one VPS there isn’t access to the others.
3. You Need an Environment to Develop and Test your Website Hosting
Because you can have multiple VPS’s without the need for more than one physical server, you can run one VPS with your live site and have another for testing changes. Essentially, you could install major changes and software updates, as well as debug software without causing problems for your live site. In this way, you would be able to ensure optimal performance before making changes to your live site. Additionally, you can have a VPS for file storage or back-up. Switching between virtual servers is simple which will make protecting and maintaining your website’s visibility that much easier, even while performing development work.
Shared hosting is the most cost-effective option when it comes to web hosting. However, shared hosting can significantly decrease the performance of your site. If you want to run a site that performs optimally, with fast load times and low downtime then you need a dedicated server. Dedicated servers, however, are pretty pricy. A good middle ground, therefore, is a VPS. With a VPS you get all the benefits of a dedicated server for much less money and without the need for technical maintenance and physical security. Furthermore, you can own multiple VPS, allowing for more storage, a dedicated testing environment and an increased level of security.
AI Has Made Hosting Far More Effective
Artificial intelligence is changing the discussion about the benefits of web hosting. Companies should evaluate the benefits of different hosting options and make sure that they use the right AI solutions to get the most benefit.