Virtual server Windows hosting is a web hosting option that is attractive to small and mid-sized businesses. The reason it's so appealing to smaller and midrange companies is that it offers the benefits of the most expensive hosting plans at a much affordable price. On the high end of hosting offerings is dedicated physical server web hosting. In this type of plan, a hosting company rents an actual dedicated server to their client, who administers the server themselves. On the other end is shared web hosting, where the hosting firm offers space and resources on a shared web server. This server manages the web sites of a multitude of clients using a hosting application like Tomcat or IIS. Shared hosting is inexpensive because all the hosted sites share the server's resources, allowing the hosting company to spread to server cost. The way companies manage their site differs between the two as well. With dedicated physical server hosting, the client has full access to the physical server and can do anything they need to do with regard to applications, OS maintenance and more. The client has far less control in a shared hosting scenario, where they manage very specific aspects of their site with a control panel application.
Virtual web hosting falls between these two options. Clients who purchase virtual server Windows hosting or Linux virtual server hosting enjoy the cost savings of collective server resources and the stability of dedicated server hosting. This is because this type of hosting relies on virtualization technology. With virtualization, a host server coordinates the activities of multiple virtual "guest" servers. These servers aren't servers at all. They are files that look and act like real physical servers, each with their own OS and programs. The virtual host obfuscates their "simulated server" nature, making them functionally indistinguishable from real servers to the outside world. Virtual guests do share the host's resources, but the resources can be statically allocated for better performance. For site management, clients still get total access to the virtual server the same way they would access a dedicated physical server. So you can see how clients who buy virtual server hosting get the savings associated with sharing resources, but the control and stability of a dedicated host. The only choice to make after deciding to go with virtual server hosting is the choice of operating system. The options are virtual server Windows hosting or Linux hosting. There are many special situations depending on your web needs, where Windows is the best pick.
Microsoft-specific Technology: There are software platforms that are specific to Windows that Linux either can't run, has trouble running or needs tweaks to make function properly. These include ASP, .Net, MySQL and many more. If your site is going to use these or other Microsoft technologies, you will need Windows hosting.
Popular Operating System: How many Linux specialists do you have on your staff? This is an important issue, since clients who purchase dedicated server hosting will administer their own server. If your IT team doesn't have advanced Linux knowledge and you don't want to hire outside help, virtual Windows server hosting is the smarter choice.
Security Concerns: Conventional wisdom says that Windows is far less secure than Linux. The opposite may actually be true on the web side of things. Since Linux owns more market share of the web OS market, it is a much larger target for hackers looking for the biggest attack surface possible. In this case, Windows' lack of dominance as a web server OS makes it more secure.
Better Support: Microsoft updates Windows monthly at a minimum and support is just a phone call away. Linux updates are rarer and support varies depending on which distribution you choose.