The term Cloud is often heard nowadays in several forms. Some people know it as part of an App’s name, e.g. iCloud. Others hear sentences such as “its on the cloud!”. All the while referring to it as some sort of gigantic blob on the internet that stores data.
Keeping it as simple as possible, Cloud Computing is a concept that aims to fully utilize the resources of a physical computer. It does so by using the “unite and conquer” strategy. Combining the resources of multiple physical computers and splitting them into several virtual computers.
Next, the internet steps in and provides a global gateway to these resources. The machines can be setup on demand, tweaked as per requirement and used just like normal computers. This not only brings efficiency into the equation but also means greater reliability for whatever runs on the Cloud.
What is Cloud Hosting?
Out of this very concept of Cloud Computing, spurs the service of Cloud Hosting. Something that isn’t very farfetched from the explanation above. Cloud Hosting Services transform the concept of traditional web hosting by interconnecting several physical servers and providing clients multiple redundant machines for their websites. These machines are known as Cloud Servers.
Cloud Servers
A Cloud Server is a virtual machine that runs in a cloud computing environment, e.g. those provided by Microsoft Azure, VMWare and Amazon Web Services. The server can be based on either a public or a private network. But since we are talking about Cloud Hosting in particular, connection to the internet is necessary for the world to have access to the website.
Apart from running on a Cloud Computing Platform, a Cloud Server runs as a typical machine, having an OS (Windows, Linux, etc.) and other necessary software programs.
A Rule of Thumb
There are several factors governing a Virtual Server’s creation. Most of the time hosting companies don’t even burden you with this decision, but it’s good to know in case you ever have a specialized need.
CPU, RAM and Storage serve as the primary constituents of a Virtual Machine. On top of which a Software and Networking layer can be added. In case your hosting needs are specific and require special attention to resource allocation. You should always have an estimate for these terms.
How does it Work?
Let’s assume you have a website that serves as a trading platform for buyers and sellers. When people Google a certain product, your website is displayed in the search results. From thereon, users can visit the website, compare its prices, buy products or generate other inquiries.
Now, instead of having a single machine entertain these requests, Cloud Hosting provides multiple machines. This eases up the stress and prevents buildup. Something that is extremely common since a website is often used by thousands or even millions of people at a time.
This means a network of computers at your disposal can cater the requests your website receives and scaling up or down when the need arises.
A Real-world Example
There’s no better example of Cloud Hosting at work other than giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon. These websites are never hosted on a single computer because of the resources they use, the performance expectations held by users and the risk involved.
For instance, when a user performs a search on Google, the request is run on a network of computers. There even may be a network of networks, based on different continents to cut down the time required to display the search results.
Benefits of Cloud Hosting
- Flexibility: scaling up/down as per the requirements is possible.
- Efficiency: your website would only be consuming the resources required.
- Cost-savvy: most service providers offer a “Pay as you Go” model, based on which you’ll only pay for the resource consumed.
- Reliability: the cloud-hosting platform come with features that allow the website to remain operational even if an entire physical server fails, transferring the load onto another server.
- Security: As data is never kept on a single server, even if a hacker manages to go past high-end security measures (firewalls, antiviruses), its entirety is never compromised.
What other options are available?
Cloud Hosting is a relatively new concept when compared to the lifespan of the Internet. Even today, Cloud Hosting isn’t completely adopted. Options such as Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated Hosting are still available.
Virtual Private Server
The term may contain the word Virtual in it, but this doesn’t automatically translate into “Cloud Hosting”. Virtual Private Server or VPS is simply a single machine onto which your website may be hosted. These servers are also provisioned from a pool of resources, but don’t offer the ability to Scale up/down or redundancy.
You can either manage it on your own or have a service provider do it. As this is a single server, the cost is lower compared to Cloud Hosting. In this day and age, digital presence is usually paramount, but still if your company isn’t affected by service outages, this is a viable option. The reliability will always be a question, as well as the server’s ability to recover from issues such as hacking, hardware failure and software bugs.
Dedicated Server
These are arrays of physical machines located in a single, secure location. You can own these physical machines and have them placed within a 3rd party’s data center. Now, as these machines would have limited capacity, they won’t be able to handle a sharp rise in the load. And if you make too big of an initial investment, the entire setup would basically be an overkill.
Such servers are best suited for large organizations who can handle the investment and have consistent, predictable workloads.
Conclusion
As the competition gets tougher, Cloud Hosting is becoming economically viable for Businesses and Hobbyists alike. In addition to a reliable platform they provide value-added services such as comprehensive interfaces, security tools and flexible payment options.
If you are interested in setting up your own website using cloud based technology, then you can check out my guide on the best cheap web hosts for New Zealanders. In this guide, I have included hosts that support cloud web services with dedicated and shared platforms. Also it is a guide for Kiwis from a Kiwi!
I hope this gives you a solid understanding of the concept, and gets you ready to answer the question, “What is Cloud Hosting and How Does it Work”!