There are essentially two types of hosting solutions available: Virtual Hosting and Virtual Servers. Though the terms seem similar, the underlying functionality of the two solutions is very different. Your Internet site is very likely an integral part of your business, therefore understanding the differences between Virtual Hosting and Virtual Servers can have a significant impact on your hosting decision. A decision that can be as important as choosing what content you place on your site.

Web Hosting solutions consist of two components, namely:

1. the hardware (such as the CPU, memory, disk drives, etc), and
2. the software (i.e. the web, ftp, and pop servers, the e-mail gateway, and any third-party applications such as CGI scripts).

In a "Virtual Hosting" environment both the hardware and the software are configured and customized by the hosting provider. Therefore, the client is left with little or no control over how his or her Internet Services behave. This kind of inflexible solution simply shares the single set of software applications on the physical server. The client in effect, has only "sub-letted" software resources controlled and maintained by someone else!

In a true "Virtual Server" environment only the hardware is controlled and maintained by the hosting provider. The software (i.e. the web, ftp, and pop services, as well as the smtp gateway) is completely autonomous and affords the client complete flexibility, control, and power over how his or her Internet services behave.

How is this accomplished? The root physical server is multiplexed or "partitioned" into many Virtual Servers. Each Virtual Server can be configured and customized at the discretion of the client. This solution, is far superior to the simple "Virtual Hosting" solution so many vendors offer on the Internet today.

Is your web site currently being virtually hosted?

Chances are yes. Almost all Internet Presence Providers only provide simple Virtual Hosting solutions for their clients. As you review the chart below, compare the capabilities of your current web site to those of a Digital Daze Virtual Server. If you find that your current hosting solution has less "YES's" than "NO's", you are using a solution inferior to what you would enjoy as a Digital Daze client.

Virtual Server Advantages

Below are just some of the advantages you will find with the Digital Daze Virtual Server solution.

			Virtual Server			Virtual Hosting
	Complete control of your own server environment		YES			NO
	Individual Web Server (HTTP)		YES			NO
	Individual FTP Server*		YES			NO
	Individual POP Server*		YES			NO
	Individual IMAP Server*		YES			NO
	Individual SMTP Gateway		YES			NO
	"Virtual Root" access		YES			NO
	Complete telnet access		YES			Maybe
	Ability to run Server Daemons (i.e. RealServer, Java Virtual Machine)		YES			NO
	Access to your own Web Server configuration files (httpd.conf, srm.conf, access.conf, mime.types)		YES			NO
	Full cgi-bin access		YES			Maybe
	Complete log files		YES			Maybe
	Access to your own passwd file, aliases file, virtmaps file, and sendmail.cf configuration file		YES			NO
* - Services not available to the Basic Virtual Server (Server 1)

Virtual Servers vs. Virtual Hosting - A Technical Perspective

Our Virtual Server is created by multiplexing a single dedicated server into a system of multiple virtual machines. Each virtual machine, or Virtual Server, is given its own IP address, domain name, web server with complete logs and configuration files, ftp server, pop server, and smtp gateway.

In addition to the performance and flexibility of our Virtual Servers, our Virtual Servers also offer virtual "hosting" capabilities. In other words, virtual "hosting" is a feature of our Virtual Servers. Our Virtual Servers allow you to create virtual web hosts, virtual e-mail, virtual ftp logins, and quota support. Most of our competitors simply offer virtual hosting, which is simply a single feature of our Virtual Servers.

A real Virtual Server is not simply a virtually hosted (VirtualHost) site on a web server we control, rather we give you "virtual root" access. When you telnet to your Virtual Server you will see directories such as "dev", "usr", "bin", "etc". In your "etc" directory you will find your own "passwd", "aliases", and "sendmail.cf" file- this allows you unlimited flexibility to add as many POP accounts, aliases, and autoresponders as you would like and you can customize every aspect of the way mail functions.

With our Virtual Servers you will also find an entire "usr/local/etc/httpd" directory structure including your own httpd.conf, srm.conf, and access.conf files, your own logs, and cgi-bin. Basically our Virtual Server acts and behaves like a dedicated server, you have complete control of your web, ftp, and e-mail services. The basic differences between a dedicated server and a Digital Daze Virtual Server is the disk space and the price.

Order a Virtual Server Today

To ensure that you get the power and control a Virtual Server can provide for your web site, order a Digital Daze Virtual Server for your company or for the company of one of your clients today. Ordering is extremely easy. Simply use our convenient on-line Virtual Server Order Form to order your Virtual Server.