What is a VPS and how does Cloud VPS work?
Understand what a Virtual Private Server is, how Cloud VPS technology works, and what you get with an UnderHost Cloud VPS compared to shared hosting or a ded...
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A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a partitioned section of a physical server that acts as a dedicated server. You get your own allocated CPU cores, RAM, and disk space-resources that aren't shared with other customers-and full root-level access to the operating system.
What is Cloud VPS?
Cloud VPS takes standard VPS hosting further by running on distributed infrastructure. The key advantages over traditional VPS:
- Instant vertical scaling-Resources (CPU, RAM) can be added without migrating to a different server
- Higher availability-If one physical node has hardware issues, VMs can be migrated live to healthy nodes
- Snapshot and backup support-Entire server state can be snapshotted for rapid recovery
- NVMe SSD storage-Significantly faster than traditional spinning drives or standard SSDs
What you get with an UnderHost Cloud VPS
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Full root access | Install any software, configure any service, full control |
| Choice of OS | AlmaLinux, Ubuntu, Debian, Windows Server, and more |
| Dedicated resources | Guaranteed CPU cores and RAM-not shared |
| Dedicated IPv4 | Your own IP address |
| Emergency console | Out-of-band access via CustomerPanel even if SSH is down |
| Reboot/reinstall | Full OS reinstall available via CustomerPanel |
| DDoS protection | Included at network level |
| 24/7 support | Available via ticket; add managed support for hands-on help |
VPS vs shared vs dedicated
| Shared Hosting | Cloud VPS | Dedicated Server | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resources | Shared | Dedicated (virtual) | Fully dedicated (physical) |
| Root access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Performance isolation | CloudLinux (limited) | Full isolation | Complete |
| Management | cPanel (easy) | Self-managed (technical) | Self-managed (advanced) |
| Starting price | $3.95/mo | $23.95/mo | $103.95/mo (USA) / $129.95/mo (NL) |
When should I move to a VPS?
- Your shared hosting plan consistently hits resource limits
- You need to install custom software (Node.js, Python services, specific database engines)
- You need a dedicated IP or PTR record for email deliverability
- You're running a game server, API, or resource-intensive application
- You need SSH terminal access to the server
- Your application requires specific OS-level configuration
Related: How to manage your Cloud VPS | How to resize your Cloud VPS-upgrade CPU, RAM, and disk | Setting up a firewall on your VPS | How to connect to your VPS via SSH
Need a Cloud VPS?
Launch an UnderHost Cloud VPS when you need root access, dedicated resources, custom software, or more control than shared hosting.
