What is Cloud Web Hosting All About?
Cloud hosting is becoming ever more popular as the 21st century rolls onward, and if you consider why, it makes perfect sense. It is extremely efficient, seemingly no power or bandwidth is wasted, and it’s extremely reliable.
This type of cloud web hosting utilizes a network of interlinking servers, and is sometimes referred to by insiders as cluster hosting or enterprise hosting. The power of multiple servers, and often time multiple data centers, is very powerful.
In cloud hosting, a website that is so hosted will actually be running with the help of many connected servers. In the traditional hosting setup, whether shared or dedicated, a single server is utilized to provide the necessary services, but in cloud hosting, the website has access to many servers instead of just one. The servers form a network of connected servers that may not even be in the same data center. In fact, they may be scattered in different locations across the world.
Websites utilizing cloud hosting are able to vary their use of resources and, as a result, they are not charged a fixed fee for the services they use. They are only charged for the resources they actually consume and that, together with being able to scale up or down their needs, makes cloud hosting a win-win situation for both the host and the hosting clients.
For anyone involved in e-business, cloud website hosting is particularly useful if they are operating on a tight budget. Individual businessmen and small companies will easily be able to focus on the actual daily needs of the business, and plan for its growth and development since they will no longer have to come up to speed on the technologies involved in managing unfamiliar resources, or in paying for them also.
These businesses are now easily able to vary their bandwidth requirement to suit the traffic their site is receiving, and therefore they will not have to rely on a technical support team to periodically provide additional bandwidth when the website needs exceed the amount available to it.
Types of Cloud Hosting
There are both public and private, virtual server and abstracted cloud hosting out there on the World Wide Web, but we realize that our readers are mostly interested in private hosting, business hosting services, and perhaps cloud storage services.
Private Cloud Hosting – This hosting is provided by private corporations whose networks have the capacity to offer hosting services to others. In many cases, private hosting is much more affordable than public cloud hosting, and run by smaller organizations which in itself gives them a distinct advantage.
Public Cloud Hosting – The players in the public cloud hosting arena are Microsoft, Amazon and Google. These organizations provide hosting services to the general public, and it is these services that have popularized cloud hosting today.
Virtual Server Cloud Hosting – This type of cloud hosting allows a webmaster to gain access to on-demand bandwidth, processing and storage to change the memory and disk sizes to match the needs of virtually partitioned servers at any time that you choose.
Abstracted Cloud Hosting – In this type of cloud computing, the virtual server hosting model has be modified to cater to the needs of an >ecommerce solution. A business utilizing this model, will be able to utilize its existing software, database or content management in this cloud model, and the business will also have service providers or the technical staff qualified to handle the tools and the administrative skills required for its operation.
Cloud storage is often a service provided by a web host. With cloud storage we’re able to store tons of files on these virtual servers, our backups, data, other files, etc. It’s wonderful for backups, which can be a life saver.
It is, however, interesting to note, from a technological point of view, how public hosting using a “cloud” is gaining popularity as well, think about all the file sharing sites, and of course Google and other major players who utilize cloud computing as well. This type of computing and hosting is bound to change the way business and computing functions over the next decade and beyond.
Our Top Cloud Web Hosting Picks For 2012
HostRocket (#1 Top Hosting Pick)
- Price $5.99/month
- Space Unlimited
- Bandwidth Unlimited
- Websites Unlimited
- Tech Support 24/7
- Servers Dedicated
Omnis Web Hosting
- Price $5.95/month
- Adwords $50
- Yahoo Ads $50
- Cloud Hosting Joomla
- Cloud Hosting Linux
- Tech Support US
Why Cloud Web Hosting Is A Good Option As Far As Cost Goes
The fact is that every business is looking to cut costs these days, especially in this fragile economy, using cloud web hosting is a great option because pricing is based upon usage. The more you use the servers the more you are charged. Use less server power and get charged less, use more and the bill goes up. It’s a great business model.
But, of course, you have to ask yourself, do I really need cloud web hosting? Chances are if you don’t need much power or bandwidth you won’t need to go with the cloud. Shared hosting is probably a very attractive option because it’s the cheapest web hosting option.
Honestly, you have to do some research and honestly access what your web hosting needs are. If they change then your host should have a way for you to upgrade or even downgrade if you so desire. That’s why the major players (Fatcow, iPage, Hostmonster, etc) have such powerful businesses, they have so many web hosting packages and plans, as well as features and scripts — even with shared plans.
Cloud Hosting — Better Security, Flexibility, & Performance
Cloud hosting is superior to shared hosting in many ways, as we mentioned pricing and usage are interlinked so that your web hosting costs are appropriate, but also security and performance are enhanced as well. There is less need for power.
Also, there are no bandwidth or server limitations, so that if traffic to a site has a huge spike, it’s not going to crash the server and you won’t lose that big traffic burst. because the extra traffic will be routed to a different server. This type of system provides for a decreased downtime and, as a result, the website will continue to be available to customers.
It is possible to vary your bandwidth requirements entirely based on the changing traffic demands of the business. Now, that provides peace of mind, does it not? There’s a reason why it is becoming more popular than ever.