What options do you have with virtual server hosting?  Lets start with the simple ones:

• Operating System for you virtual server (a few of the options)
  • Windows Server 2025
  • Debian
  • Fedora
  • OpenSuSE
  • Ubuntu
• Server Specs all of which are usually limited
  • Virtual CPU Count
  • RAM
  • Hard Drive Space

Once you determine the specifications for you virtual server you will want to know more about the virtual hosting environment.

Things to consider

• Which Hypervisor is the hosting company using?
  • Brand name providers like VMware, Hyper-V
  • Or custom solutions which some of the larger hosting company’s have written
• Do they offer High Availability Failover meaning if the Host Server your virtual server is running on fails will your virtual server automatically failover to another host server?
  • Depending on the Hypervisor this may or may not be available.  Is it an option with the hosting provider?
  • Can you increase your RAM, vCPU and hard drive space?
• What kind of hard drives is your Virtual Server accessing?
  • The possibilities include SSID, SAS and SATA hard drives.  Performance often is limited by hard drive speed.
• If your future growth require moving to a dedicated server or a hybrid environment with virtual and dedicated servers does the hosting company provide those options.