There are essentially two types of hosting solutions available: Virtual Hosting and Virtual Servers. Though the terms seem similar, the underlying functionality of the two solutions is very different. Your Internet site is very likely an integral part of your business, therefore understanding the differences between Virtual Hosting and Virtual Servers can have a significant impact on your hosting decision. A decision that can be as important as choosing what content you place on your site.

Web Hosting solutions consist of two components, namely:

1. the hardware (such as the CPU, memory, disk drives, etc), and
2. the software (i.e. the web, ftp, and pop servers, the e-mail gateway, and any third-party applications such as CGI scripts).

In a "Virtual Hosting" environment both the hardware and the software are configured and customized by the hosting provider. Therefore, the client is left with little or no control over how his or her Internet Services behave. This kind of inflexible solution simply shares the single set of software applications on the physical server. The client in effect, has only "sub-letted" software resources controlled and maintained by someone else!

In a true "Virtual Server" environment only the hardware is controlled and maintained by the hosting provider. The software (i.e. the web, ftp, and pop services, as well as the smtp gateway) is completely autonomous and affords the client complete flexibility, control, and power over how his or her Internet services behave.

How is this accomplished? The root physical server is multiplexed or "partitioned" into many Virtual Servers. Each Virtual Server can be configured and customized at the discretion of the client. This solution, is far superior to the simple "Virtual Hosting" solution so many vendors offer on the Internet today.