Choose a VPS hosting for your online store

The specific constraints of an online business

The online store is a website that must present the available assortment of products or services of a business and allow the online ordering and payment of these items. Ideally, the store is accompanied by a catalog, individual sheets for each product, a search method (filters by categories, internal search engine), a virtual shopping cart where customers store their purchases before validation, and a secure payment system accepting the most common methods ( Bancontact , Visa, Mastercard, etc.).

As a result, an online store represents an important need in terms of functionality, modularity and also in terms of traffic capacity. Often times an instant messaging system is even offered to better help customers.

Sufficient storage space must therefore be provided for all product descriptions - with quality illustrations ! - as well as the possibility of using specialized programs such as a search engine.

In addition, if the store is intended to accommodate 500 visitors per day, there is no guarantee that they will be distributed harmoniously over a period of 24 hours. The Web is also experiencing its peak hours! And if successful, this number could be multiplied by 10 ... which can represent 15,000 visitors per month. However, each visit represents a request during which the server on which the site is hosted must transfer the content of the requested page to the visitor's computer. If too many requests are made at the same time, the server gets stuck. In the event of a breakdown, the online store risks breaking down in front of 1,000 potential customers .

The limits of web hosting

Due to the constraints explored above, it appears that the capabilities of simple web hosting are likely to be exceeded. This is the cheapest and most accessible option, but also the least efficient. It may be sufficient for a small shop, for example a craftsman, or for a beginner specializing in very expensive items intended for a small number of customers.

Nonetheless, there remains one problematic limitation to online hosting : security. While online hosting can guarantee payment security, it is not well armed against attacks from specialist hackers. Indeed, the site being stored on a shared server, a security breach in a site can compromise the entire server.

In addition, the solution is not very stable because the server must handle the traffic of other hosted sites.

The VPS server as a solution for online shops

The answer to the limitations of W eb hosting is the dedicated server: a machine entirely at the disposal of the client and his (or her) website. However, this solution is rather expensive and lacks flexibility.

For this reason, the VPS server solution is essential for most online stores . The VPS, for Virtual Private Server, is a virtual machine, a partition of a physical server behaving like a dedicated server. It has its own share of resources entirely dedicated to the hosted site. This solution offers more stability and higher volumes of traffic to operators.

In addition, the VPS can be easily modified to follow the evolution of a business activity in case of success.

If the use of the VPS makes it possible to use its own operating system and to manage all the technical peculiarities of the site, the hosting providers still offer site management (or even construction) solutions accessible without in-depth technical knowledge.