You probably saw images of data centers, the vast server-lined rooms. A private virtual server (VPS) is the same as buying one server disk. The hosting provider (like SSD Nodes) breaks down a server into smaller, virtual machines that allow multiple users to have installations entirely separate on one computer.
That means that within your hosting provider limits, you can install the operating system of your choice and gain superuser access to your own virtual machine only. You can therefore configure your VPS to do anything. This is the beautifulness and the challenge of using a VPS. What does anything mean? What does anything mean? We help people and companies do a lot of truly interesting work at SSD Nodes. Some of our favourites are here. And this is not a complete list of the options to run your own VPS.
Web server/SaaS platform
This may be the most obvious and common use for a VPS, but it can not be worth it. There are simple LEMP / LAMP stacks for the use of MySQL or other popular databases for static or PHP sites (WordPress is a good instance), but you can be much harder.
Perhaps you want to build a more complex blogging engine like Hexo? Exploration and learning processes are part of the fun in VPS.
Game server
Online gaming has been popular for decades, but in the last few years, there’s been a resurgence of online gaming on private servers. Minecraft has been leading the charge here, although other games like Rust or Terraria also allow individuals to set up their own servers to play with friends or a small community.
Each game server requires a lot of (costly) dedicated resources, but that’s not always the case. A VPS can be a good place for a game server with a good number of competitors. Make sure you do some work on the hardware needs and don’t overwhelm your schedule. In addition, hosting a game server could be a wonderful way to find out more about hosting and to wind down after a hard day!
Educational tool
Most people want to know the Linux administration basis, but they have no spare computer or cannot slaughter the Linux installation on their main machine. What would be better than a cheap VPS? Because there is no other UI than a Linux shell, the basics of managing servers in live environments must be learned quickly.
Custom-built backup server
Most VPS plans do not have enough room to back up all your files. So it could only be the ticket if you’re imaginative. The most popular Casbay plan, comes equipped with 160 GB of SSD-based storage to support Word documents, or even code that you worked with.
Using a Bash Script or an existing solution, you might build your own SCP or rsync solution. Also can install a wider solution like your own cloud for a self-hosting Dropbox-like solution.
A VPS = unlimited options
We have listed just a few of the many different ways. Which you can make a barebone VPS more efficient, intelligent or even a little more fun loving to you. However, there are numerous more options to create a VPN which will crypt your traffic from running IRC channels.
