What is a virtual server?

With increased server demands, the rise of cloud computing and a greater push toward greener resource solutions, virtual servers became a staple of modern server hosting and data centers. Traditional servers require dedicated, physical hardware to handle any workload—consuming space, power and resources even while idle. Virtual servers, however, allow a single piece of hardware to host multiple servers, optimizing resources and reducing expenses.

Virtual servers are made possible by virtualization software called hypervisors that act like a layer between the physical hardware and multiple unique virtual environments. Each of these virtual environments can run its own operating system (such as Microsoft Windows, Linux or Ubuntu). The hypervisor enables server virtualization by isolating each server and managing the resources as the physical server, at times working as a load balancer and redistributing compute resources to promote efficient operation.

There are many convenient use cases for virtual servers that have various benefits over traditional physical servers:

Generally, the advantages of server virtualization far outnumber the disadvantages. This is not to say that there aren’t any challenges that are associated with virtual servers, the most common being resource hogging. Since virtual servers are reliant on the processing power of the underlying physical machine, too many virtual servers operating on a single bare-metal server or server network can result in decreased performance. While the capacity of any physical server informs the capacity of any virtual servers it may be hosting, server crowding can be easily remedied by migrating heavy workloads to different physical servers or through virtual private servers.

A virtual private server (VPS) is one type of virtual server offered by hosting service providers that guarantees a certain amount of the physical machine’s CPU bandwidth will be dedicated to a given virtual server. Cloud services providers commonly offer virtual private servers at various pricing tiers as a way for businesses to enjoy the benefits of a dedicated physical server without committing to an actual physical machine. Full virtualization optimization allows organizations to customize their virtual private servers with features like load balancers, SSL certificates, firewalls and more.

While both virtual servers and virtual machines (VMs) use virtualization and hypervisors to create unique, partitioned virtual environments, there are key differences between the two.

As explained, virtual servers are used to replicate physical, bare-metal servers for applications like web servers, domain name servers, proxy servers and application servers, among others. Meanwhile, virtual machines are used to create virtual representations of physical computers. Cloud environment providers typically offer virtual desktops to emulate the functions of underlying hardware while simultaneously isolating the virtual machine from the host computer.

Because virtual machines are isolated from the host, they can also run their own operating systems, regardless of whatever operating system the host computer is running. For this reason, virtual machines are a useful tool for testing apps across different types of operating systems. Additionally, virtual machines can be quarantined from the larger network ecosystem, providing a level of protection and safeguarding sensitive cybersecurity incidents.