According to Gartner’s cloud infrastructure report, 72% of VPS clients use only about 40% of the functionality available to them, meaning they are not utilizing the performance, security, and automation offered through VPS hosting.
Businesses that use fully managed VPS hosting do so because they want a high-performance, reliable, and hands-off managed VPS service. However, most users do not take advantage of advanced capabilities after transitioning from shared hosting. The lack of knowledge about the advanced features prevents teams from maximizing the speed, security, and automation built into their VPS hosting service, which they have already paid for.
When an agency searches the market to find the best VPS hosting with cPanel, it typically focuses most of its attention on three primary areas: 1) the way the provider’s dashboard works; 2) how the provider manages their customers’ DNS; 3) whether or not the provider supports sending/receiving emails. That said, a high-quality, reliable VPS host should provide much more than just these three basic features. VPS hosting providers with the highest quality enable their clients to perform a range of activities, from assessing performance and debugging issues to increasing performance and reliability.
Server-Level Caching
Most users use caching plugins without realizing they can integrate a server-level cache, with the majority of managed VPS offerings. In a Web Almanac Report (from HTTP Archive, 2024), the authors concluded that server-side caches reduce load times by as much as 50% when compared to application caches.
Unfortunately, many businesses do not take advantage of server-side caching because of default settings that are well below its range and require advanced user access.
Smart Resource Monitoring
Advanced monitoring is often included as a hidden feature in many VPS hosting plans. Unfortunately, many users do not take advantage of these tools, which include live CPU heatmaps, disk I/O tracking, bandwidth consumption, and active alerts regarding current load. Approximately 65% of performance outages could have been avoided if organizations had been using proactive monitoring and early warning systems (Gartner Group IT Infrastructure 2024 report).
For companies using fully managed VPS hosting, these forms of monitoring are generally integrated within their servers; however, they typically do not use them consistently to monitor their systems’ operations.
Some VPS providers provide thresholds, allow applications to scale resource requirements automatically, and alert the hosting provider immediately about events. As a result, these levels of intelligent management minimize downtime risk, allowing the website to run as usual even during traffic surges.
Proactive Malware Scanning
Enterprise-quality security tools may be included as a benefit of a fully managed service. Some samples of these types of services are:
- Daily malware scanning
- Rootkit detection
- Advanced firewall rules
- Brute force attack detection
- Auditing of login activity
In most cases, users do not take advantage of these features because they assume their service provider manages them automatically on the back end. While some of these features may operate in an automated format, enabling more robust, security-dedicated checks on these resources will provide much higher levels of security.
As reported in the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2024, over 31% of attacks occurred due to poorly configured or poorly monitored servers, which is the primary reason these advanced security tools are included with your VPS service.
The best way to keep your managed VPS hosting environment secure is to consistently review and enable the built-in security features of your service.
Developer-Friendly Tools
Many cPanel customers never use MultiPHP manager, Git version control, or cron job functionality, but these features could be incredibly useful when used correctly.
With the MultiPHP manager, users can run multiple versions of PHP across various website installations. Users can schedule automated backups, scans, and reports to keep their websites secure. Developers who use these features can save hours each week on application development and gain access to powerful management tools.
The best VPS hosting providers offer everything agencies need to effectively manage multiple client projects with cPanel. There is no need for developers to use terminal commands. Everything can be done from within cPanel.
Staging for Safer Deployments
The staging feature in VPS services that offer cPanel is extremely beneficial, yet it’s not widely used. Staging allows users to duplicate their website for testing purposes, enabling them to make changes on a clone of their actual website before pushing those changes live. This means there will never be an interruption to the customer experience due to a failed update or any other error that occurs during website updates.
By using staging, agencies and e-commerce websites can minimize downtime incidents during peak periods. According to HubSpot’s 2023 web experience study, if a website errors out or takes longer than 8 seconds to load properly, users will leave and are unlikely to return. Staging allows for changes to be made without affecting the user’s experience with the website.
Closing Summary
Most companies believe that switching to a fully managed VPS will automatically enhance their service delivery. However, the real benefit of this service lies in using all the additional, often overlooked features included in your service agreement with your web hosting provider. Additionally, when using cPanel with your best VPS hosting account, several powerful tools are available to users, most of which remain unused simply because they are located within advanced configuration settings.
By learning how to utilize these features, you will gain access to:
- Faster website performance
- Greater security
- Better automation
- Lower operating costs
- Increased uptime