Virtual Dedicated Server

Port One - Your Hosting Partner

What is it?
A VPS or VDS is an alternative to running a dedicated server using hardware virtualisation technology. It looks and feels just like a dedicated server, it has a full operating system and you have full root/administrator access.
The difference is that the hardware it runs on is virtualised. This brings a number of benefits to you:

The server can be scaled up or down instantly and without down time
It is more power efficient than a dedicated server
Can be instantly migrated to a dedicated server if you need to in the future
Carries a 100% uptime guarantee
Costs less than a dedicated server - from just £19.99 per month

Virtual Private Server

Why is it so reliable?
We use the latest Xen Virtualisation platform. Each VPS is monitored 24/7/365
If there is a harware failure the VPS can be moved instantly to another server
Don't just take our word fopr it though, take advantage of our 100% uptime guarantee!

Why is it so much cheaper than a dedicated server?
The majority of dedicated servers are greatly under-used. Having looked at our own clients' dedicated servers we dicovered that a great deal of our servers were running at less than 20% capacity.
That can add up to quite a waste of money and power.

We further virtualise your server by placing data storage on an external Network Attached Storage (NAS) device we cut our hardware and power costs dramatically and then pass that saving onto you, our customer.
This guarantees you the full amount of RAM on your virtual server and an equal share of the CPU

VPS

Does this have an environmental benefit?
We have calculated that one of our virtual server platforms uses
around 20% of the power that one dedicated server would use. This makes quite a difference. Many people with older, less power efficient servers have switched to our Virtual Servers and have stated that our Virtual Server platforms actually out-perform there dedicated servers!

Flexible and Upgradable
If you are looking at taking a single Virtual Server or a cluster backed with dedicated hardware, where you could either resell or use cross-platform resilience, we will have not only the solution for you but also the technical expertise in-house to advise and support you every step of the way.

We can facilitate multi-site load-balancing, server clusters, off-site back up, server administration much as we do with Dedicated Servers.

Do I have full control over my Virtual Server?
Of course. You have full root or Administrator access just like a dedicated server. You can even change the operating system and download control panels, add-ons, whatever you like.
It really is just like having a full dedicated server but at a fraction of the cost.
You can start, stop and reboot your Virtual Server remotely just as you would with one of our dedicated servers.

What happens when I need to upgrade my Virtual Server?
This is one of the greatest advantages of a Virtual Server over a Dedicated Server. With a dedicated server we'd need to shut down your machine while one of our technical team performed the hardware upgrade (such as more RAM for example) Even more disruptive would be having to migrate all of your data to a more powerful machine should you outgrow your physical dedicated server.

With our Virtual Servers things are far more simple.
After ordering your upgrade (be that more RAM, hard drive space, more CPU cores etc.) we simply make a small change to our Virtual Server controller. Your machine then reboots at a convenient time and your Virtual Server will be upgraded and back on line, usually within 2-3 minutes.

Another advantage is that you can upgrade your hardware instantly and don't have to wait for a technician to be available to shut down your dedicated server and perform tasks upon it. The upgrade is instantaneous and has little or no disruption for your business and clients.

Ok, I've heard enough. How do I get a Virtual Dedicated Server?
Well the good news is that like most things concerning our Virtual Dedicated Servers, it's instant. Once you sign up and configure your Virtual Server online it's available straight away. We send you the log in details and that's it. You're live and online.

Virtual Dedicated Server

One more thing - how long do I have to sign up for?
Glad you asked. We don't require a lengthy contract. All you sign up for is 30 days Of course we also offer longer contracts but we believe that once you've tried our Virtual Servers you'll stay with us and grow with us. That's more important to us that lengthy contracts. We want you to stay with us because you want to.