Talk:Virtual private server

I would agree that the page "Virtual server" should be merged into "Virtual private server" since the term "virtual server" is ambiguous; it is often used to refer to the Web sites served by a Web server such as Apache. "Virtual dedicated server" or "Virtual private server" is entirely clear, however

FYI, I am the Managing Director of Memset Ltd which specialises in Virtual dedicated server hosting.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Khcw77 (talk • contribs) .

I disagree that the terms should be merged. Virtual Private Servers and virtual servers and virtual environments are all different terms. Virtual Private Servers are intended to refer to the actual services provided to customers using virtualization technology. SWsoft (Virtuozzo) now uses the more general virtual environment term to describe virtualized environments created with Virtuozzo. Virtual servers are a general virtualization term, just like virtual environments are, but in practice tend to refer to hardware virtualization technology.

I work for SWsoft on Virtuozzo so I have some bias but use the terms daily.

Carla Safigan 20:15, 27 November 2006 (UTC)Reply

There was a section named Virtual Private Server hosting providers. There are tens of thousands hosting service providers, and pretty much every one of them are offering VPS hosting in this or that manner. Say, I know that 10 of 10 biggest HSPs in Europe are using Virtuozzo – but that is not a reason to put links to their sites to this article. So this section made no real sense – one can get VPS hosting from every HSP. Still I agree that a few years ago it was not the case and VPS offerings were unique. But nowdays it's not so, that is why I think this section make no real sense and so I removed it. If you want to discuss that matter, please read Wikipedia:External links first. --K001 11:59, 1 June 2006 (UTC)Reply

I think the two should be merged since they cover the same basic topic. Also, both are stubs and their merged content should be extended. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mfdragosh (talk • contribs) .

I agree. --K001 22:34, 17 June 2006 (UTC)Reply

I am agree with merging this 2 article together. (I mean merging Virtual server and Virtual private server) --Messi 12:27, 6 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

Definitely NOT the same topic.

Server virtualization, especially within UNIX, also refers to technologies such as IBM virtual I/O server, logical partitioning, dynamic LPAR, micropartitioning and various storage virtualization technologies. Its made possible by the use of a hypervisor, a technology adapted from the IBM mainframe.

VPS is a niche technology almost exclusively targeted at Linux and Windows and always implemented at the software layer. In comparison to true server virtualization, it is immature and is nothing more than implementing virtual machines at the application software layer. --FASherman 15:41, 6 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

• That's not even what the Virtual server article is currently about. If you think what you described is different from what is currently in Virtual server, then that needs to be a new separate article accessed via a disambiguation. Currently the Virtual server and Virtual private server articles seem quite similar, so I agree they should be merged. -- Bovineone

I strongly disagree with your opinion that VPS (you probably mean Operating system-level virtualization here) is a niche technology, and that it is immature. Say, Virtuozzo is available on the market for more than 5 years already, and Free BSD Jails are here for quite a long time. Speaking of applications of the technology, they are pretty much the same as for other kinds of virtualization -- i.e. mostly server consolidation, security improvement, and basically making possible to do things that there not possible before -- like live migration.

As for the merge -- since the articles are about pretty much the same stuff, it makes sense to merge, as I said above. --K001 20:34, 6 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

I noticed that "server virtualization" now redirects to "virtual server." The topic of "server virtualization" is broader than the meaning that many people apply to "virtual private server." Many people structure the topic of server virtualization as follows:

• Hardware virtualization: electrically or logically dividing a multi-processor server into multiple, independent computers, e.g. Sun Dynamic System Domains, IBM LPARs, HP nPars, where the sharing of hardware is minimized to optimize isolation and security
• Virtual machines: software or firmware which creates the illusion of multiple computers by providing shared, time-sliced access to hardware resources, e.g. VMware, Xen, MicroPartitions, where each virtual machine includes an individual operating system instance
• Virtual operating systems: software environments which share one operating system instance but are isolated from each other e.g. Solaris Containers/Zones, Linux VServers, BSD Jails, where most hardware resources and some operating system resources are shared among the workloads to maximize total usage of those resources

The myriad of virtualized solutions which use one or more of those types of server virtualization includes: in-house server consolidation, internet hosting services (hosting of web servers, blogs, images, videos, games, files, etc.) and perhaps other solutions.

I suggest that we create a "server virtualization" page which describes the broader context, including a link to "virtual private server" to discuss that sub-topic, and redirect "virtual server" to "server virtualization" so that people find all of the terms and their meanings.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by JeffV (talk • contribs) .

• Those three types of virtualization scenarios are covered in the general case on Virtualization (and Virtual machine and Operating system-level virtualization), so it might be redundant to try to cover them again here. Maybe Virtual private server, Server virtualization, and Virtual server should all just be merged into new sections in Virtualization? -- Bovineone 23:26, 30 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

I consult for lylix.net where we provide linux VPS hosting mostly centered around asterisk VOIP services. I must say I'm rather surprised that this rather active segment of the VPS market is not reflected anywhere in the article. The guy who runs Lylix loves OSS and Wikipedia, and what I want to know is, is there anything from the site (text or images) that could be used to make this article better, I'm sure he'd be all for it. If anyone responds to this comment, I can personally put up whatever material there is useful. Eric and I have gotten a lot of use out of Wikipedia (which is why I've done so many edits myself) and we hope that this article, which is rather near and dear to our hearts (and wallets) can be expanded to better educate visitors.

Please let me know what I can do to make this article more complete. Also I'm glad that people are able to fight off all the ridiculous spam that's been filling up this kind of page. Good work guys. - JustinWick 02:02, 22 September 2006 (UTC)Reply

Please be on the lookout for SEO keyword spammers adding links inside articles.--81.68.125.220 (talk) 09:24, 21 January 2008 (UTC)Reply