Cloud Web Hosting

Cloud web hosting is one of the most popular emerging technologies and is being taken on board by a large number of web hosting providers who wish to be able to offer customers a more reliable and secure web hosting service. A cloud web hosting package will be able to guarantee you 100% uptime in most situations which will help to ensure that you won’t have to worry about whether your website is available or not. A wide variety of web hosting services are offered as hosted in a cloud web hosting environment; this means that you can have a shared hosting package hosted in a cloud hosting environment if that’s what you require, or if your requirements are more complex then you may wish to consider a VPS server hosting service. Cloud hosting services can generally be offered with greater resource assignments since web hosting providers usually deploy a large number of servers per single cloud hosting cluster; this means that the resources for a single web hosting package are usually split up across several different servers rather than using a single server for the hosting of a web hosting package. However, the fact that a large number of servers are required in order for cloud hosting to function correctly means that only larger web hosting providers are able to justify the cost of offering cloud web hosting services; on top of this the pricing of most cloud web hosting services is quite high due to a lack of competition within the web hosting industry. Cloud web hosting services are able to offer a higher level of security due to the fact that it is going to be multiple web hosting servers hosting your web hosting account rather than a single server; your account resource will be spread evenly in the cluster and if one server is compromised then your web hosting provider will have the ability to switch to an uninfected server that is effectively a mirror of the infected server.

You should only consider a cloud web hosting package for your requirements if you are sure that you are going to be able to justify the cost of your chosen web hosting service; this means that cloud hosting is recommended for businesses rather than individuals although most web hosting providers will be more than willing to sell to both parties. Both Linux web hosting packages and Windows web hosting packages are available for hosting in cloud web hosting environments, ensuring that there is enough choice available to meet the requirements of all.

Why should I consider cloud web hosting?

Cloud web hosting packages will be able to provide you with many advantages that will benefit a business or any website that is used as a source of income in any way (i.e. through the selling of products/services or advertising). The main advantage of using a cloud web hosting package is the higher level of reliability that you can come to expect from the web hosting service that you have purchased, and this means that you can focus on tasks that are more important to you such as the running of your business without having to worry about the level of uptime offered by your web hosting provider; it is recommended that you use a server monitoring service in the case of cloud VPS hosting so that you are able to ensure that you are receiving the level of uptime guaranteed by your web hosting provider. A cloud web hosting package will also be able to offer you web hosting services that are accompanied with greater resource assignments meaning that in most cases a cloud web hosting package should be able to represent very good value for money; this is due to the number of servers that a web hosting provider is going to be using in a single cloud hosting environment, and the resources accompanying certain VPS server hosting services for example will mean that they resemble the specifications of low to mid-end dedicated servers. Depending on the form of web hosting that you choose to have hosted in the cloud, a cloud web hosting environment should be able to offer you a higher level of security than your existing web hosting service which is an important factor to consider as hackers are becoming more intelligent with how they carry out attacks; this is even more important if you are going to be using your website to process your visitor’s personal details in any manner. In summary, you should consider cloud web hosting for the following reasons:

  • Reliability – as websites are becoming more becoming increasingly important for individuals and businesses alike, it is important for web hosting providers to be able to offer reliable web hosting services that are going to meet the expectations of their clients – a cloud web hosting package will be able to meet your requirements in terms of reliability since in most situations almost 100% uptime can be guaranteed because of the structured nature of a cloud web hosting environment – the number of servers used in cloud hosting environments mean that even if a primary server fails, there will always be at least one other server available to take over the role of the server that has crashed, this will then allow your web hosting provider to repair the crashed server quickly without causing any additional downtime as would be the case with an ordinary web hosting setup
  • Resource assignments – an increasing number of websites are now featuring a large amount of multimedia content which can include images, music and video meaning that web hosting services need to be able to offer the larger resource assignments that consumers are demanding – the large number of servers involved in a single cloud hosting cluster also allows web hosting providers to keep up with this demand by offer shared web hosting packages that just aren’t possible with single-server web hosting environments as well as VPS server hosting services that come with resource assignments similar to those offered with low to mid-specification dedicated server hosting services
  • Security – the security of your chosen web hosting service is also another factor that you need to be assured can be offered to a high level as otherwise you could find yourself in trouble if the person details of others are stolen from your web hosting account, if such a scenario is applicable – a cloud hosting environment can offer a higher level of security since the data for your web hosting account is generally spread across multiple servers, and on top of this there are also multiple layers of security in place in most cases to prevent hackers from gaining access to even a single server in the web hosting cluster – an important thing to consider is that if you choose a cloud VPS server, you will be able to secure your web hosting environment to a degree that suits you.

You will find that a cloud web hosting service will be able to offer you a more complete web hosting experience that will be more in line with what you expect for your money from a web hosting package. Regardless of your chosen form of web hosting, a cloud web hosting environment can guarantee you a level of uptime not currently possible.

What are the disadvantages of using cloud web hosting?

As with any web hosting service available, there can also be disadvantages to using cloud web hosting services that you should be aware of before pursuing with a cloud web hosting service since you may find another web hosting package that will match your requirements to a higher level. The main disadvantage that you could face with using cloud web hosting services over traditional web hosting services is the fact that a cloud web hosting package is going to be more expensive meaning that if you require budget web hosting then cloud web hosting may not be exactly what you want; the high cost of cloud web hosting is due to the resource assignments that accompany most cloud hosting services, a lack of competition and the fact that cloud hosting is still an emerging technology. Cloud web hosting services can also be a major target for hackers, despite the higher level of security that is going to be employed in most cloud web hosting environments; the cloud is effectively a massive storage environment that is going to be hosting many sensitive files that hackers would love to get hold of since these could be very beneficial to them in the way that any useful information could then be sold onto third-party scammers. Overselling may also be a problem with some web hosting providers who are offering cloud hosting packages meaning that you should only purchase your cloud web hosting services from a reputable web hosting provider who you are sure will be able to provide you with the resource allocations that you have purchased; web hosting providers who oversell their servers should be avoided at all costs since the levels of uptime and security offered will differ greatly from those offered by a reputable web hosting provider. In summary, the main disadvantages of using cloud web hosting include:

  • Cost – a cloud web hosting service may set you back more than you may be willing to pay and in such a situation if you are unable to justify the cost of a cloud web hosting package you may find it more beneficial to re-evaluate your web hosting requirements – the amount that you pay for your cloud web hosting service will depend mainly on the form of web hosting that you choose to use as well as the resource assignments that you purchase – shared web hosting accounts are available for hosting in a cloud hosting environment and these are going to be the cheapest option for most, although cloud VPS servers will be able to offer a much higher level of reliability, something that many businesses could benefit from – your chosen web hosting platform (i.e. Windows web hosting or Linux web hosting) could also have an affect on cost
  • Target for hackers – although cloud web hosting services have been designed with security in mind, they can also be a rather tempting target for hackers due to the amount of data that your average ‘cloud’ is going to be storing – a majority of the data stored in large web hosting accounts is sensitive and most websites are now used to collect personal information in one way or another – personal information is what hackers are generally after since this can then be sold on to scammers who will then move on to using it illegally – however, the security measures in place in most cloud hosting environments will prevent any hackers from even getting a sniff at the data that is stored within the cloud
  • Overselling – this is only usually a problem with single-server hosting solutions but in some cases you may find that your chosen web hosting provider is overselling the resources that they have available to use in their cloud hosting environment – most cloud web hosting services will come with large resource assignments which will be of benefit to you in the long term since these will allow you to make the most of your web hosting environment, and the large number of servers deployed in the cloud hosting cluster will help to ensure that your web hosting provider will be able to meet your requirements in this area.

Any potential disadvantages there may be of using cloud web hosting are unlikely to affect you if you are sure that cloud web hosting is the right form of web hosting for you; it’s just up to you to ensure that you choose the right web hosting provider and cloud web hosting service for your requirements.

In conclusion, cloud web hosting is one of the biggest advances in web hosting in recent years. The fact that you can now purchase a web hosting package that can offer you the same level of uptime as a dedicated server for a much lower price now means that reliable web hosting is available for the masses.