I’m really enamored with my virtual dedicated server account%20with%20GoDaddy.com.%20It’s%20pretty%20invaluable%20and%20really%20makes%20my%20life%20much%20easier%20as%20a%20developer%20and%20a%20content%20producer.%20Interactive%20websites%20really%20need%20a%20core%20back-end%20that’s%20flexible%20and%20can%20do%20what%20you%20want%20/%20need,%20without%20requiring%20phone%20calls%20to%20tech%20support%20to%20get%20various%20‘permissions’%20or%20essential%20software%20installed.%20If%20you%20have%20any%20strain%20of%20the%20‘do-it-yourself’%20gene%20that%20I%20have,%20you%20know%20that%20it’s%20awesome%20to%20be%20in%20control%20of%20your%20own%20‘virtual%20presence’%20as%20much%20as%20possible,%20at%20an%20affordable%20price.

I%20really%20dislike%20calling%20tech%20support.%20It’s%20just%20not%20in%20my%20blood.%20I’m%20very%20happy%20that%20I%20have%20it%20(it%20makes%20me%20feel%20very%20secure,%20thank%20you),%20and%20if%20I%20was%20a%20newbie,%20I%20would%20probably%20use%20it%20more.%20Myself,%20I%20just%20like%20things%20to%20run,%20and%20run%20smoothly.%20Just%20keep%20going%20without%20any%20hangups%20and%20everything%20will%20be%20fine.%20I%20know%20a%20decent%20amount%20of%20Unix%20and%20I%20can%20find%20my%20way%20around%20the%20terminal%20from%20OS%20X%20(my%20OS)%20or%20Putty%20on%20Windows,%20so%20being%20able%20to%20just%20SSH%20into%20my%20system%20is%20essential.%20I%20call%20it%20“my%20system”,%20because%20A%20VDS%20is%20really%20a%20platform%20in%20itself;%20and%20if%20you%20are%20running%20multiple%20websites%20or%20interactive%20applications%20you%20will%20definitely%20need%20a%20platform%20that%20gives%20you%20access%20to%20the%20computing%20and%20networking%20power%20of%20the%20server%20itself.%20Sure,%20lots%20of%20shared%20hosting%20accounts%20offer%20SSH,%20but%20it’s%20usually%20limited,%20and%20of%20course%20you%20can’t%20get%20root%20access,%20or%20really%20install%20any%20scripts%20that%20use%20up%20resources%20constantly.%20What%20if%20I%20want%20to%20install%20a%20Perl%20chat%20server,%20or%20a%20Java%20multi-player%20game%20server%20for%20Flash?%20Trick%20out%20my%20PHP%20installation%20with%20new%20modules?%20What%20if%20I%20need%20to%20work%20with%20sockets?%20Even%20if%20I%20am%20just%20prototyping%20something%20for%20myself%20or%20a%20client,%20having%20my%20own%20VDS%20just%20makes%20it%20so%20easy,%20and%20I%20don’t%20need%20any%20one’s%20permission%20to%20go%20crazy%20on%20my%20own%20server.%20It’s%20my%20world!%20Woohoo.

What%20is%20a%20Virtual%20Dedicated%20Server?

A%20virtual%20dedicated%20server%20is%20basically%20a%20partition%20on%20a%20server%20which%20is%20running%20its%20own%20instance%20of%20an%20operating%20system.%20A%20VDS%20server%20can%20be%20rebooted%20and%20managed%20separately,%20making%20it%20independent%20from%20other%20virtual%20servers.%20A%20VDS%20can%20offer%20a%20performance%20level%20substantially%20higher%20than%20shared%20hosting,%20as%20well%20as%20root%20access%20and%20static%20IP%20addresses.

Safety%20Net

The%20good%20thing%20about%20having%20a%20VDS%20account%20with%20GoDaddy%20is%20that%20it’s%20“managed”,%20by%20their%20system%20administrators,%20to%20a%20degree.%20Yes%20you%20get%20root%20access,%20but%20if%20you%20really%20screw%20things%20up%20in%20a%20big%20way,%20you%20can%20always%20call%20the%20aforementioned%20tech%20support%20people%20and%20have%20them%20reset,%20reboot,%20or%20try%20to%20help%20with%20your%20problem.%20That%20is%20a%20great%20thing%20about%20GoDaddy%20–%20they%20don’t%20really%20have%20to%20clean%20up%20your%20messes%20for%20you,%20but%20they%20will%20try%20to%20give%20you%20as%20much%20help%20as%20possible,%20because%20they%20want%20your%20business.%20You%20can%20call%20them%20anytime%20and%20they%20will%20try%20to%20sort%20you%20out.%20That%20means%20a%20lot%20to%20me,%20and%20that’s%20why%20I’m%20sticking%20with%20them.

Handling%20Multiple%20Domains%20and%20Users

When%20you%20work%20with%20a%20VDS,%20you%20can%20handle%20multiple%20domains%20very%20easily,%20compared%20to%20shared%20hosting.%20Every%20domain%20really%20is%20its%20own%20entity,%20not%20just%20an%20aliased%20folder%20in%20your%20public_html%20directory.%20Each%20website%20has%20it’s%20own%20true%20directory%20structure,%20with%20a%20private/%20directory%20and%20cgi-bin%20of%20its%20own.%20Also,%20each%20domain%20will%20have%20its%20own%20users%20(shell%20and%20FTP),%20which%20will%20give%20you%20the%20ability%20to%20handle%20a%20big%20organization’s%20hosting%20needs,%20with%20every%20one%20only%20being%20able%20to%20see%20what%20they%20need,%20without%20exposing%20the%20rest%20of%20your%20files.

Run%20Anything

As%20mentioned,%20with%20a%20VDS,%20you%20can%20run%20anything%20on%20your%20server.%20This%20is%20HUGE,%20if%20you%20are%20creating%20multimedia%20apps.%20I%20am%20basically%20a%20Flash%20(ActionScript%203.0)%20developer%20working%20with%20a%20lot%20of%20PHP%20/%20MySQL.%20However,%20I%20often%20need%20to%20add%20modules%20to%20my%20core%20system,%20especially%20Unix%20apps%20that%20handle%20.Mp3s%20and%20streaming%20(like%20Icecast%20and%20Ices,%20getid3,%20etc),%20or%20libraries%20for%20processing%20images%20or%20video%20on%20the%20server.%20I%20then%20hook%20these%20into%20Flash%20through%20PHP,%20Perl,%20Java,%20XML,%20or%20some%20combination%20of%20these.%20I%20set%20up%20a%20few%20cron%20jobs%20and%20init.d%20scripts,%20and%20suddenly%20I%20am%20running%20an%20extended%20back-end,%20much%20bigger%20than%20I%20expected%20at%20first..%20It’s%20impossible%20to%20do%20this%20on%20shared%20hosting%20,%20but%20if%20you%20want%20to%20play%20with%20the%20big%20kids,%20then%20VDS%20will%20allow%20you%20to%20do%20it.%20You%20can%20tie%20in%20your%20apps%20with%20web%20services%20already%20out%20there,%20like%20Flickr,%20Amazon,%20Facebook,%20etc.,%20making%20your%20computing%20/%20multi-media%20power%20“virtually”%20unlimited%20(no%20pun%20intended).

Super%20Responsive

My%20VDS%20is%20quite%20‘fast’,%20from%20a%20response%20standpoint.%20Even%20though%20VDS%20servers%20are%20actually%20partitions%20of%20a%20bigger%20server,%20because%20of%20virtualization,%20when%20you%20use%20a%20VDS,%20you%20are%20getting%20your%20own%20set%20of%20resources.%20This%20means%20that%20other%20partitions%20on%20the%20main%20server%20can%20be%20overloaded,%20but%20this%20will%20really%20not%20affect%20you%20–%20your%20sites%20will%20keep%20cruising%20along%20as%20fast%20as%20your%20scripts%20allow.%20This%20is%20so%20much%20better%20than%20shared%20hosting%20where%20your%20traffic%20can%20see%20a%20big%20drop%20because%20of%20bad%20programming,%20or%20your%20scripts%20will%20end%20up%20executing%20slowly%20because%20someone%20is%20running%20resource-hogging%20scripts.%20This%20doesn’t%20happen%20on%20a%20VDS.

Simple%20Control%20Panel

I%20am%20not%20a%20big%20fan%20of%20those%20overloaded%20control%20panels%20that%20some%20hosting%20companies%20offer.%20They%20are%20generally%20too%20many%20graphics,%20and%20too%20many%20page%20refreshes%20for%20my%20liking.%20If%20I%20just%20want%20to%20create%20a%20database,%20why%20do%20I%20need%20to%20go%20through%205%20screens%20to%20make%20it%20happen?%20With%20my%20particular%20VDS%20account,%20I%20get%20a%20‘Simple%20Control%20Panel’%20which%20gives%20me%20everything%20I%20need,%20without%20bloat.

Plenty of Benefits

There are other things I like about my VDS, but too many to mention here. I’ll summarize some with bullet points:

• Root Access – Basically gives you complete control of your server, giving you the lowest-level access available
• Unlimited Databases and Command Line Management of Them
• Total Control Over Cron Jobs
• Abiliy to Reboot Your Server When You Want
• Unlimited User / FTP Accounts
• Run Java / C++ / Perl Socket programs — Woohoo!
• Lots More

In short, if you are an interactive designer or developer, and you are still running shared hosting, you will probably need to step it up at some point. When you do, consider a VDS account that gives you the flexibility you need. Oh, and you might want to learn just a little bit of UNIX – it will go a long way. Happy scripting.

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