I had been using VPS (Virtual Private Servers) for my hosting needs for several years now and been through a lot of providers already. It has been very useful for me, and considering that it provides most of the cool stuffs that a Dedicated Server can offer, it’s significantly a lot cheaper. You can actually get a VPS with 128MB of RAM, and a decent amount of hard disk space for around $10. You can checkout WHT (Web Hosting Talk) for such offers. It’s where I get most of the cool deals I get for my hosting needs. 
Just lately, going for a dedicated server came into my mind when I saw some cheap offers at WHT. I just though that I don’t really need a very powerful yet expensive dedicated server so this cheap ones would already suffice my current needs, and I can easily upgrade the hardware on as needed basis. There are several reasons that pushed me to move forward from VPS to a Dedicated Server:
- Security – Most of the VPS providers I tried had problems loading the iptables modules needed by APF or CSF/LFD firewalls to run properly into the VPS host kernel. It’s either they don’t support it or they don’t know how to enable it. Those providers which supports firewalls are a bit more expensive and their prices comes close to cheap dedicated servers out there . I just couldn’t live with a VPS without any firewall security in place. It’s just like opening up my server for the Internet to attack. Another thing is that remote Samba mounts are not natively supported within a VPS. One provider informed me that the remote Samba mount should be mounted in the host before any VPS instance can mount it. Well, this isn’t really workable for me so I didn’t waste my time setting this up.
- Total Control – Having a server which you have total control of which is online 24/7 is such a cool thing for me. Not only am I able to really install every software or application of my choice, but I can easily enable/disable kernel modules of my choice or even do a kernel recompile based on my needs. With a dedicated server I don’t have to submit a ticket to the server administrator to enable or disable this or that kernel module, which is the case for VPS. Moreover, I am planning setup a VPN bridge between my home computers and my remote server. Sad to say, for most VPS, setting up a VPN isn’t supported. Another thing is, all the resources of the server are at my disposal and I don’t have to worry about someone else using up much of the CPU or RAM resources, or be at the mercy of burstable resources.
- Privacy – This is something that has become very important for me lately. Since I had this home server installed, I thought of having a remote backup of all my important files including source codes for my work. With a VPS, you really don’t have total privacy since the server admins can easily log on to your VPS instance and browse through your files. This is really done, as some providers are quite vigilant with customers hosting warez, pirated software, or illegal stuffs. Moreover your internet activity is also monitored and I don’t feel comfortable with this. It’s not that I want to download illegal torrents or host illegal stuffs, but I just want privacy with my stuffs and that’s it.
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