Introduction of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is an emerging form of web hosting that is proving to be very popular with businesses and organisations that require a high level of uptime from their web hosting service whilst maintaining a high level of security. Due to budget constraints, only larger web hosting companies are able to offer cloud web hosting services at this time meaning that there isn’t much competition and this is normally the key to finding low cost web hosting services. Cloud web hosting is worth considering if you find that your website is providing you with a significant amount of income as if your website is down then this could result in lost revenue, something that is bad in any situation.

How Cloud Computing is Configured?

A cloud web hosting environment is generally made up of a cluster of servers that each have a specific task assigned, for example you will have a mail cluster responsible for dealing with the cloud’s email services whilst you will also have a web server cluster and DNS cluster. Storage is normally provided in the form of SANs, which are basically large arrays of hard drives directly attached to the network. The distributed nature of cloud web hosting means that even if one of the servers in the cloud fails, there will be at least one other server available to take up its role.

Advantages of Cloud Computing for Enterprises

The main advantage of using a cloud web hosting package has to be the level of uptime that most cloud web hosting services will be able to provide you with. As there is a large number of servers involved in a cloud hosting environment, it is unlikely that any downtime that occurs will be sustained meaning that your website should be available when you require it to be. If you are running a commercial website then you will find that downtime is going to lose you money and similarly if your website uses any form of advertising, downtime is going to cause you to lose advertising revenue.

There will be additional layers of security in place in a cloud web hosting environment as well which will make a cloud web hosting service ideal for the hosting of a website that is processing or handling personal data to any extent. Network security is going to be one of the biggest factors that will help to keep a cloud web hosting environment secure as web hosting providers will want to be sure that any internal communications that go on in the cloud are kept secure so that they can’t be eavesdropped on. Furthermore your web hosting company is also going to employ other traditional security features such as hardware and software firewalls coupled with anti-virus applications.

Cloud web hosting can also provide you with a platform choice meaning that whatever your requirements may be and whatever technologies you may have used, you will still be able to use cloud web hosting as a way of meeting your requirements. Windows web hosting services are always going to cost more than Linux web hosting services because of the licensing fees that are involved, although for larger businesses the features offered by Windows may be more appealing than those offered by Linux servers. Linux tends to be a more sustainable operating system in a cloud web hosting environment because the various technologies that are available tend to lend themselves towards Linux being the more beneficial operating system. In any case it is important for you to ensure that you weigh up your options correctly to guarantee that you choose the right operating system for your requirements rather than choosing it based on less effective factors such as cost.

Cloud computing will allow you to access your data from anywhere on the internet without the need to be committed to using a single device; this means in theory that you can keep the data on your desktop and computer and mobile device in constant synchronization over the cloud meaning that you won’t have to dock your mobile device every time you want to update it with new data or information. Google Apps is a good example of this in action since you can use the service to keep all of your calendars, email accounts and documents in constant synchronization between all of your devices over the internet.

Compare Web Hosting with Cloud Hosting

As a business you will find that your internal IT team has less to deal with because of the higher level of reliability offered by a cloud web hosting service but also because you won’t have to maintain any on-site servers or storage facilities since by choosing cloud computing you will be able to move all of this over to the cloud hosting service. By outsourcing a majority of your IT operations in this way you may find that you don’t have the need for so many IT support staff within your company which could allow you to make some staff cuts where appropriate, thus saving money.

Although cloud web hosting is expensive for now, as it becomes more popular economies of scale should mean that the price of your average cloud hosting service will drop dramatically. In the log term you will find that the cost of cloud computing and cloud hosting services will be easier to justify than the cost of a cheaper web hosting service since cloud services will allow you to streamline your company’s communications and IT operations whilst providing you with a higher level of reliability that will allow you to maximise your income.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cloud hosting is a very popular and emerging form of web hosting that is yet to be perfected by any single party but the sole principle of cloud hosting services is still easily achieved. When choosing a cloud web hosting package you will want to be looking at the larger web hosting providers to begin with as they are the ones that will be able to offer cloud hosting – the innovators in the industry are normally the ones who perfect the technique first so to say meaning that you will be well placed when choosing a larger and better established web hosting company.