Terminology: VDS and VPS
VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) and VPS (Virtual Private Server) are essentially the same thing: a virtual server allocated to you on a physical host. The difference in naming is more of a marketing distinction than a technical one. In Russian-speaking markets, the term VDS is more common, while English-speaking markets tend to use VPS. If a hosting provider offers a "VDS" or "VPS" — don't focus on the name; ask about the virtualization type and guaranteed resources instead. That's what determines the actual quality of the service.
Virtualization Types: KVM vs OpenVZ
KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is full hardware virtualization. Each server gets its own Linux kernel, can boot any OS, and has isolated resources — CPU, RAM, and disk. Neighbors on the same node cannot "steal" your resources. OpenVZ is container-based virtualization: all servers share the host system's kernel. It's cheaper but comes with limitations: you can't change the kernel, can't install a non-standard OS, and RAM is often shared between neighbors (overselling). If you need stability and predictability — go with KVM.
When Virtualization Type Really Matters
For a simple landing page, the difference between KVM and OpenVZ may be negligible. But if you're running a database, a game server, Docker containers, or any workload with peak RAM consumption — KVM is critical. With OpenVZ, you may encounter a situation where a memory check shows available resources, yet processes are still killed by the OOM-killer due to host-level limits:
free -h
With KVM, this won't happen: your 4 GB of RAM is truly yours, no strings attached.
What We Use
VDSok runs exclusively on KVM virtualization. Each server receives guaranteed resources: dedicated CPU cores, a fixed amount of RAM, and NVMe SSD storage. We don't oversell — if you pay for 4 cores and 8 GB of RAM, that's exactly what you get. All servers are deployed on modern hardware with AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and latest-generation Intel Xeon processors.
Practical Advice
Don't chase the lowest price — a cheap OpenVZ VPS advertising "8 GB RAM" for pennies is almost certainly overselling. It's better to get an honest KVM server with fewer resources. Always check reviews and test the server during the first few days. Run a CPU test:
sysbench cpu run
Check disk speed:
fio --name=disktest --rw=randread --bs=4k --size=256M --runtime=10 --direct=1
Test the network. If anything doesn't match the advertised specs — that's a red flag.