Virtual server hosting is a form of hosting where you share the same hardware as other VPS users but your Operating System and data is stored on an emulated server/computer, this emulated system, is completely independent and can even be rebooted without affecting the other users. You essentially get an entire operating system to yourself and you can do what you want with it. The virtual server platform is idea for those that need the flexibility of their own OS but they do not need the performance of a dedicated server.

VPS Virtual Private Server

The main physical server will typically run an emulation service that will assign its own resources to create virtual disks, memory, and other resources for use by the client side operating systems. These OS's can be anything from basic control panel based Linux to more advanced windows platforms.