OpenVZ VPS Hosting is one of the most effective platforms for your website

What is OpenVZ VPS Hosting?

OpenVZ VPS Hosting is the open-source version of the award-winning container-based virtualisation offering from SWsoft – Virtuozzo.

It runs a container-based virtualisation environment supporting a Virtual Private Server implementation. Simply put, VPS enables a physical server to be shared between separate logical server implementations, each independent and appearing to the user as if it were a physical server.

OpenVZ VPS Hosting is similar to other virtualisation offerings such as Xen, but many industry pundits claim it is better:

• Best VPS execution.
• A full basket of Linux framework layouts and application stacks; and
• Incorporating WHM/cPanel is a lot cheaper.

Container-based virtualization is a different technology from other types of hypervisors such as KVM and does have some downsides.  They are that OpenVZ resources are not fully guaranteed, that web hosts can see the individual processes and files running on your VPS host and that the shared kernel results in issues supporting certain operating systems and applications.

Other containerisation implementations like Xen do have advantages, but as with all implementations, it depends on your actual requirements.  An OpenVZ VPS server host is better for some, but a Xen VPS Server is better where you need a higher degree of control and customisation.

Managed Service Providers use VPS hosting to maximise the use of their servers and most offer different virtualisation environments to meet customer requirements.

3 Cores VPS OpenVZ

In a VPS hosting environment, the underlying server is supporting server virtual servers. That means that the VPS server must have sufficient power to deliver an acceptable level of service to each VPS server running on it. In short, it must have the horses to support the OpenVZ environment itself and have sufficient left over for satisfactory performance from each VPS running on the hardware.

Processing power, storage and networking interfaces are the major contributors to service levels.

• Processing Power

The latest processors from Intel and others have a multi-core capability, which provides much greater processing power in the same physical form.  Each sub-processor is called a core, and are usually available in 4 core, 8 core and 16 core forms. A high-performant VPS server supporting OpenVZ needs at least one or more 4 Cores processors.

• Storage

It is generally accepted that SDD disks with flash-drive technology,  are far more performant and reliable than mechanical HDD drives.  Again, to boost server performance, high-availability storage should be based around SDD technology, with second layer storage hosted on the cheaper and larger HDD disks.

• Networking Interfaces

In today’s environments, particularly the Cloud, networking performance is critical to both security and customer satisfaction. We have moved past the 100 Mb network speed to true broadband speeds reaching 1 Gb, 10 GB or more. Some researchers, for example, IBM Labs have reported networks running at Terabit speeds.

While an external user is unlikely to connect at more than 100 Mb, inter-server speeds need to run at least at 1 GB. Some connectivity for hot-standby can run at up to 40 Gb or more.

In addition, WiFi-based networks need a 1 GB interface at least.

Alternatives to OpenVZ

One of the major alternatives to OpenVZ is KVM.

As a container-based implementation OpenVZ has some cons when compared with a Hypervisor based system like KVM:

• Resources are not fully guaranteed.
• Web hosts have sight of the individual processes and files running on the VPS; and
• The shared kernel results in issues supporting certain operating systems and applications.

The single overriding advantage that KVM offers over OpenVZ is support for multiple operating systems. OpenVZ supports only Linux, while KVM can support Open Systems and Windows environments on the same VPS server. On the downside, this means that KVM needs a lot more resources than OpenVZ.

The differences are that KVM:

• supports custom kernels and kernel changes.
• has better privacy: and
• resources are fully allocated to each VM.

For a fuller description of the technical differences, read our blog posting.

KVM has earned a reputation in the web hosting industry for being of a higher quality than OpenVZ, and these differences generally detail why that has become the case.

In cost terms, as open-source, both are free.  In addition, KVM is an integral part of the Linux distribution.

The question of which to choose depends entirely on your requirements. If you need to support only Linux virtual servers and want a lightweight footprint, the OpenVZ will meet your needs. However, most MSPs want the freedom to host different operating systems in their VPS hosting implementation and demonstrate a high level of security to their clients, and therefore KVM is a better choice.

How to point your Domain Name to OpenVZ VPS

While it sounds difficult, it really isn’t.

To point your domain name to your VPS, you simply need to link your VPS IP address and your domain name to the DNS provider.  DNS Servers are linked, so additions and alterations propagate across all DNS servers quite quickly.

An A record is a domain system record, which implements the link between your domain name and the IP address of your VPS instance.  That is what needs to be created and added to the DNS server.  Each server in a VPS environment can have its own IP address and hence can have a separate, externally accessible domain name.

In an OpenVZ environment, it is the IP address of the container holding the VPS instance that you will use.

If you are using a Managed Service provider, they will do this for you as part of your server setup.

If not, you can either use a domain registrar’s DNS service or you can use 3rd party DNS services such as Amazon Route53, Cloudflare or dns.he.net

HostSailor provides a full domain name selection and registration service.

Conclusion

OpenVZ is a valuable tool in the VPS Hosting toolbox. It is a simple, light footprint application for organisations wanting a VCPS hosted environment. Its greatest limitation is that it only supports Open systems environments, which rules it out if you need a mixed OS environment.

We hope this short analysis gives you enough information, but for more, please read the blog entry, or contact our support, who will be delighted to help.