"When it comes to cloud computing, there is often confusion about the various options available and the differences between them. One of the most common questions asked is ‘what is the difference between VPS and Cloud IaaS?’
This article will go about answering this question so you can make an informed decision when you are deciding between the two platforms.
WHAT IS A VIRTUAL PRIVATE SERVIER (VPS)?
This is the oldest and often the simplest cloud offering to understand. When you purchase access to a VPS service you pick the size and type of server your business requires. You are given the information needed to access the virtual machine (VM) the service provider has set up for you to use.
There is no standard amount of access you will have to the VM. That will depend on the service provider you have bought your service from. Some may offer you remote console access while others limit access through the use of a server application.
The specifications of the VM, the operating system and what applications are installed should have been agreed and depend upon what services you have signed up for at the time of purchase. Therefore, it is important when making the decision to go with a VPS that you check what you are getting and ensure it meets you needs.
The virtual machine that you use will then live on a physical server that is hosted at your service provider’s data center. This will run under one of several hypervisor platforms.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
A VPS will virtualize the servers but IaaS will do the same to the entire data center. Therefore, instead of buying a set number of VMs that would fulfill your computing needs, you would instead look at purchasing the exact amount of computing power required for your business. For instance, you would specify the amount of memory, storage and network resources that you think you need to do your work. This might be listed as:
3 GHz of CPU.
32 GM of RAM.
300GB of persistent storage.
5 Public IP Addresses.
These resources can then be used to create the virtual machines your business needs. This approach allows almost complete flexibility as you could use the specifications you requested to create one very large and powerful VM or lots of smaller but less powerful ones. How the computing resources are distributed is up to you.These resources can then be used to create the virtual machines your business needs. This approach allows almost complete flexibility as you could use the specifications you requested to create one very large and powerful VM or lots of smaller but less powerful ones. How the computing resources are distributed is up to you. Further to this, you could network the VMs together using any number of subnets and protect them all with a single virtual edge gateway. This would seal your computing resources off from the rest of the virtual data center.Unlike with a VPS, should your business require more or fewer resources, changing your requirements is easy and takes relatively little time. All you would need to do is contact your service provider and let them know what your new requirements are.
The downside of IaaS is that it is usually 20% more expensive than that of VPS services. So while you gain greater flexibility and self-determination, it could cost you more than you can afford. Therefore, you need to consider your options very carefully.VPS and IaaS are similar approaches of cloud computing services for your business. While VPS are not flexible and it is hard to adjust your products, it does offer a low cost option to create virtual computing power for your business. On the other hand, IaaS is completely powerful and flexible but there is a higher price to pay for those advantages."
