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What's the difference between shared hosting with SSH access and VPS?
[As you can tell, I know virtually nothing about running servers.]
I'll use RAM Host as an example; compare their Basic Shared Hosting ($17.88/yr) with SSH access to Unmanaged (Semi-managed they say) OpenVZ VPS ($19.96/yr).
I've used cPanel before, and I'm guessing it is a lot easier for a newbie to use than terminal for hosting web simple pages. On a VPS, what do you have to install to start hosting? A LAMP?
I want to be able to run a game server that would use 50 KB/s max. I'm guessing SSH access means I can get a bash linux terminal. Does shared hosting SSH tend to come with root access? If I don't have root access does that mean I couldn't run a game server? (I could possibly compile it rather than install, but I don't know how firewalls or allowed ports goes.)
Shared hosting doesn't come with guaranteed RAM, does this limit its applications?
Am I wrong to think that SSH on shared means that, in theory not practice, you can make it do the same things as a VPS is capable of?
Comments
1) Yep, you'll need to set up a webserver stack on a VPS.
2) The shared hosting is only for web hosting. They probably have SSH access so people can do things like backup/restore MySQL DB's, or move files around faster. You would have to go with a VPS to run the game server, assuming it's compatible and within the resource limits of the VPS
3) See # 2
4) Yes!
Shared hosting with SSH access doesn't give you the ability to install/uninstall software - you're stuck with whatever web server (usually Apache), database server (usually mysql), and scripting languages (usually PHP) they decide to make available. With a VPS, you're in control of ALL of the software.
If you have no Linux experience, then yes, cpanel will be easier. You can install cpanel on a VPS (though you'll likely need at least 512MB of RAM). You can install an alternative (virtualmin and kloxo come to mind). Otherwise, at the bare minimum, you'll need a web server such as apache or nginx.
You're not going to be able to do this on shared hosting. Most of them forbid long-running processes if they give you SSH access.
Very much so. If your PHP scripts are consuming too much resources, you'll be suspended by the host.
In theory, you'd be able to all of the things you could do on a box that you only have a regular user account on - run software that you have access to or that is installed in your home directory. You can't install anything system-wide, nor can you remove anything. You're also not able to bind to privileged ports (ports below 1024), so you can't run your own webserver on port 80.
In practice, you're usually forbidden from running any kind of daemon, and most stuff is completely locked down to the point where you can do little more than edit files.
On a shared hosting
1. you do not have the root access, capabilities to install libraries that is need to compile your applications. You will need the administrator of that shared hosting to do that and most of the time they wont allow this as shared hosting mainly caters for webservers usage.
On a vps server
1. pretty much you can do anything to it. install anything you want within the resources given to you such as rams and disk space + banwidth.
You can run opensource panels to manage your webhosting stuff. panels like ISPconfig, Kloxo and Virtualmin have large base uses with alot of knowledgebase + guides to read up outside. Pretty to install and use.
on a vps, it is still sharing the resources of the hardware that is hosting your vps with the rest of the users, often times, if you are on openvz for example, these resources are being load balance among other vps that is sitting in that hardware, so it is not really guarranteed resources but more controlled and even out / fair usage.
Most shared hosts don't offer ssh access. We don't but will provide it (and tunneling) upon request. But only to clients we've had for a while. Leads to abuse, especially on a shared IP address.
Most of the time, folks are wanting access to a real editor instead of the ones included within Direct Admin/CPanel. Never seen the issue with DA but CPanel had a history previously with artifacts showing up in files that you had edited.
Hello,
VPS and shared hosting are two dfferent products.
Plus VPS have more recources, can choose control panel.
@balticservers I think you may want to review the OP's post as you may have misunderstood what they were asking.
There are many vps provider offer under $1 for try/learn (on first month).
Nano > VIM
Which means absolutely nothing to me @Daniel.
My Personal Preference > Giving a shit about your fanboyism
Cool story bro?
Coolest story ever, man. Just never draws original commentary, sadly
still lost me with that specific but I get the general jist of it. thanks
Nano and Vi/Vim are cli editors. Think back to DOS 'edit'.
And there's just as much fanboy dickwaving over those two little editors as you'll find in the OS or console arguements.
I wasen't being a fanboy, I probably didn't put that in a way that explained it.
I was meaning that, it dosen't matter how far these control panel's go, it simply won't equal the power of the shell.
I think cPanel has done something terrible in the industry, I know many people that get a VPS, and want to setup their own little website on it, and they think they need cPanel to run it, and end up relying on it heavily for 1 site. Such a waste of resources (as well as money and learning)
Aaah, fair enough. My apologies for the misunderstanding, then.
And aye, I agree 100% with you concerning cPanel. For experienced users/groups running a large deployment, tools such as cPanel, phpmyadmin, etc can be a great help in keeping everything running smoothly. For novice and beginner users, however, they simply form a crutch that the user will never cast aside and attempt to learn new things.
I'm not explaining shell to soccer moms unless I have to. Some of them can handle it but not most.
That's why they pay me the big bucks.