Blog Comments

Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting which uses a network of servers all connected to each other to form a combined server resource. These connected servers are known as a ‘cloud’ or ‘cluster’. Through this ‘cloud’ a user can use al the resources that all the servers have to offer. Features such as memory, power, hard drives and processing speed are shared in cloud hosting. Resource usage is spread over many servers so if one server goes down it usually doesn’t affect users and so therefore cloud hosting often provides greater uptime than traditional web hosting. With cloud hosting shopping websites don’t need to fret over lost customers as a result of site downtime, as the remaining servers will keep a site running if one server stops working. Sometimes there is downtime if there is a problem in the server network and servers can’t communicate with each other, but generally the network is monitored often, with regular backups and security checks.

Within cloud hosting the cloud hosts measure how long various processing tasks take, and these measurements are referred to as compute cycles. These measurements help users to save money as the cloud host only bills them for the resources they have use or require. Through a cloud hosting plan the cloud hosts allocate a set resource amount to users and bill them according to the resource amount utilised. If users use more than their allocation they are billed per GB of bandwidth and data usage.

This means people can develop their websites and push traffic to them without having to worry whether the hosting package can handle the increased site data and traffic. Through being able to add or remove server resources as desired, cloud hosting offers great scalability to users.

This easy scalability offers to users better control of spending as well as the virtual environment. For instance a cloud host can back up and store a business database while the business maintains a separate dedicated server for their business application, or a business can test a new website via a cloud host, thereby ensuring the testing doesn’t affect the business’s separate dedicated server. Users don’t need to install hardware or download software as they can instead access it through one of the servers on the ‘cloud’. Cloud hosting permits different technologies to be utilised together which wouldn’t be allowed by traditional hosting so a UK cloud host for example become an even more viable option. For instance the ability for .php and .asp files to be utilised simultaneously through ‘cloud’ technologies offers enhanced flexibility for users.

Another benefit offered by a cloud host is that through outsourcing its IT infrastructure a company can free up physical space on its business premises. Companies would also require less in-house technical staff and have lower electricity bills. The cloud host takes care of upgrading the infrastructure, so companies can enjoy a high availability of resources without having to do the upgrading themselves.