When you find that shared hosting plans are not enough to help you accommodate the traffic to your website, you should consider upgrading to VPS hosting. VPS hosting plans will give you almost all advantages of dedicated plans but at much lower costs. However, before you sign up with a VPS web host, you need to decide whether to choose a Windows or Linux VPS server. Both Linux and Windows VPS hosting has its advantages and disadvantages and you must examine these first before making a choice.

Which factors should you consider to see if Linux VPS server is right for your business?

-  A Linux VPS server is right for you when you consider the costs because all Linux distributions will be free. You have to pay for the servers but you will not have to pay any licensing charges for the operating system, as in the case of Windows. Windows, on the other hand, is owned by Microsoft and you will have to pay the license fees in order to use it. This naturally makes Windows hosting plans slightly more expensive than Linux plans.

-  As far as control panels are concerned, Linux VPS server is more flexible. Plesk can be used for both Linux and Windows virtual servers but cPanel alone is suited for Linux. So, for developers Linux servers are more suitable.

-  Since Linux operating system is open source it is not as tough on security aspects like deployment of measures to counter threats of malware or viruses. However, Windows hosting plans will focus on heightening security and there will many measures to fight SQL attacks and viruses.

-  When you choose Windows VPS servers, you can enjoy the benefits of an easy-to-use interface which is intuitive. Therefore, Windows hosting solutions may be more beneficial for the newcomers lacking hosting expertise. It is also more advantageous for people who are already familiar with Microsoft products. So, for businesses which depend largely on Microsoft software, choose Windows VPS hosting makes sense. For instance, sites that run applications which have been created using ASP.net will need Windows virtual servers to run optimally.

-  As far as remote desktop access goes, Windows appears to enjoy an edge over Linux servers. It is possible to direct access from the interface to your virtual server from any location. This is why server management seems to be much easier compared to Linux. A Linux VPS server, in comparison, will work with a complex text-run SSH interface that is known not to be very user-friendly.

In the light of these arguments, it can be said that Linux being open source offers some distinct advantages over Windows, the key ones being cost-effectiveness and stability. Most programming languages and open source scripts can run easily on Linux servers, and all applications which web developers find easy to work with, are also compatible with this operating system. When you must work with Microsoft technologies only, you can choose to buy Windows VPS plans.

Linux can run well both with cPanel and Plesk but Windows cannot function with cPanel. Linux servers have also been traditionally configured and these are controlled via command lines and accessed via SSH. This is not very complicated for newcomers and most people prefer to use this. With a Linux VPS server, you will be able to save a lot of money. Unless you must use Microsoft Access or MS SQL or .Net technologies, you can easily run your website with Linux VPS. Linux will also give you quick access to all other popular open source software like Drupal and WordPress. These are not only compatible with Linux; they have even being optimized for using Linux.