VPS plans come in a variety of sizes. The
smallest generally provide 64MB of memory per user, and
2-5GB of disk space. The largest have usually 512MB-1GB of
memory, and 20-50GB of disk space. Higher end plans often
give their users the ability to store snapshots of their
systems, allowing a user to make a configuration error and
then undo the damage by reverting to a known good backup.
The more expensive plans will often include control panel
software such as Cpanel or DirectAdmin, which allows users
to more easily administer their servers, and can be used to
resell web hosting plans. Administration of a dedicated (or
virtual-dedicated) server is not trivial, and for those who
don't have the confidence and skill to do it themselves can
get a "managed VPS". The vendor will provide a certain
amount of support for free monthly. Management usually
consists of configuring the server, adding new
applications, and debugging any problems that crop up.
With all of the sizes and capacities of VPS plans that are
available, it becomes a bit of a guessing game as to which
plan is big enough to match the capacity of the job at
hand. Some vendors will describe a typical use for their
packages - low end packages are often used as backup DNS
servers, or for development work, but can't be relied on
for heavy web traffic. A bigger VPS will be able to serve
web pages - as memory capacity and the effective
"horsepower" of the server increases, the server will be
able to handle more traffic. The highest-end packages will
be able to handle difficult tasks such as serving very
popular sites and handling dynamically changing sites such
as forums and sites requiring powerful databases or large
applications such as Java. As a rule of thumb, you should
purchase the smallest VPS that you think will do the job.
If your server is under-powered, it will usually require
either a support request or a visit to your server's
control panel in order to bump your plan to a higher
capacity, more powerful one.
Most Virtual Private
Server vendors will charge a monthly price for the
use of their service. Some vendors will charge much
less for the first month, allowing users to "test
drive" the company and their servers, and make sure
that they are happy. Once the customer is convinced
that they are buying the right VPS, they can often
save money by paying for longer lease terms - vendors
will often give increasing discounts for accounts
billed quarterly, half-yearly and annually.