If you’ve ever felt that getting decent hosting is like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, you might be interested in User Mode Linux...

The choice today, for LAMP hosting, is tricky.

On the one side there’s using a cheap shared server where you simply have a user account and are subject to the whims of the company running the server. For PHP, when you start doing anything serious, the lack of control over your own environment is a serious problem (one which I’ve been burnt by before).

The other choice is to pay for a complete server, giving you root access but for a serious dent in your wallet.

But how about this as a price - 32Mb Ram, 750Mb HD Space, 5Gb transfer/month and root access for 10 Euro / month? This is what VD Server, a German hosting company, are offering for entry level accounts.

What makes this possible is User Mode Linux, a version of Linux which other instances of the Linux operating system to be run in a completely isolated (including IP stack) virtual machine. That means a hosting provider can safely give you root access to a virtual server without having to worry about what you do with it.

VD Server, for example, provide you with a Debian installation over which you have comlpete control. A friend of mine is just check them out and, so far, is very impressed.

There are others, such as Linux Virtual Dedicated Server which charge similar prices (e.g. $20/month for virtual server with root access) - a few more listed here here.

Interestingly this introduces a new factor, for which a host can charge for, being the amount of RAM allocated to your virtual server (in addition to the bandwidth and diskspace you have to pay for today).

Right now there’s only a few hosts (presumably with a high level of Linux expertise - not the norm) offering it and as an end user, there’s no doubt a much greater responsibilty to be able to maintain your own environment.

In theory, having a virtual server on User Mode Linux, could be a better option than paying the fee for your own piece of hardware. Using Linux clustering, a host can run your virtual server independently from the underlying hardware, so if something breaks, your server simply moves elsewhere in the cluster (more or less transparently).

Definately one to consider.