Much like cloud computing, cloud hosting has become the newest form of shared computing. In fact, you may already be using cloud hosting without even knowing it. If you use Gmail or share photos via Flickr or Photobucket, you’ve used cloud hosting.
Differences Between the Cloud and Standard Hosting
The standard model for hosting, even shared hosting, is based on the idea of serving
Web pages from a single server. All of the power of the server, the RAM, CPU and
all of the required server-side resources, are used for the Web site or sites that
reside on that single server. However, with the cloud hosting model, a single Web
site is shared among a cluster of servers. If one server doesn’t have the resources
to serve the page, then other servers would allocate their resources to serving
the page out to the Web.
Is Cloud Hosting Necessary?
In some cases, such as small Web sites that don’t have much traffic, cloud hosting
isn’t necessarily beneficial. In many cases, though, cloud hosting can greatly benefit
the performance of a Web site. Imagine a site that experiences a huge amount of
popularity. If it’s hosted on a standard server or shares a server with other sites,
this Web site will push the limits of the server and eventually cause it to crash.
In a cloud hosting situation, when traffic increases and exceeds the limits of what
one server can handle, other servers would take over and allow the site the bandwidth
and resources needed to keep up with the traffic.
Using the cloud hosting model gives you control over the computing power of multiple
servers. As the traffic to your site ebbs and flows the servers automatically adjust
to those changes. Resources can be garnered or released, depending upon the needs
of the site.
Cloud Hosting is a Good Thing
Utilizing the power of cloud hosting allows you to refocus your vision on your Web
site rather than on your server hardware. Another benefit of cloud hosting is that
it is scalable and can always meet your site’s needs when it needs it. A final benefit
of cloud hosting is the return on investment that you receive. When you utilize
cloud hosting, you only pay for the hosting when you use it. This makes cloud hosting
one of the most cost efficient ways to host a Web site.
Cloud hosting is a highly scalable and cost efficient way to host your Web site.
More importantly, it allows you to focus on your Web site and develop it the way
you want rather than developing it so that it won’t push the limits of a single
Web server.