Cloud hosting – 10 benefits

Cloud hosting is something you ought to use nowadays. Read below to find out why!

Currently hosting is one of the most popular and important services on the Internet. It is a service that allows hosting any data online, including websites.

There are four types of hosting: virtual, dedicated, virtual dedicated and cloud. Each has its benefits and drawbacks. In this article we will discuss cloud hosting.

Cloud hosting became popular recently, but it gradually drives out alternative solutions thanks to its availability and great features. When you use cloud hosting, you only pay for the capacity that you really use by storing data in the cloud.

Transition to cloud is a modern phrase that gains popularity day by day. In this article we are going to unravel why so many people transit to the cloud model. What are its benefits and does everyone need to do it?

What is the cloud?

This word has come into wide use long ago, and not only in IT and other areas related to data storage. Even the most common PC user everyday uses cloud storage. He may simply not know about it. For example, if you use Gmail from Google, you store your data in the cloud. So, what is the cloud?

Cloud includes essential business resources that are located on remote servers. Those resources are internet services that provide access to data and its storage. Hosting data on personal computers is not always safe and secure. Besides it’s quite pricey and not comfortable at times. That’s where cloud hosting may help.

What does a transition to cloud mean?

In plain language transition to cloud is migration of your data, applications, e-mails and software to cloud hosting. Access to this cloud hosting may be gained from any spot of the Earth.

Here are some examples of using cloud storage: reading books on Kindle, Google Drive and listening to songs stored on your PC via cell phone. Yahoo, Outlook and Gmail are the examples of cloud web mail. As of cloud business apps, one may mention AppExchange from Salesforce.

Why should business transit to cloud?

• To comply with ever-growing storage resource requirements of users.
• To get simple solution of advanced hosting environment to meet business needs.
• To get rid of common hosting restrictions that will also be discussed below.

Cloud hosting – 10 benefits or why cloud hosting is much better than traditional one

Cloud hosting service has a set of advantages. There are more, but we tell you about the major ones.

1. Higher server availability

Speed of your website directly depends on the server uptime. If you prefer to use cloud hosting over a common one, you may provide constant operation of the network. It helps to avoid breakdown of the entire system.  This factor is very crucial for smooth running of your website. Cloud hosting is a system of servers that are interconnected. This means that if one of them can’t process your request, it will be done by another server that is available.

As of traditional hosting, it commonly uses a single server, so the hardware failure probability is higher. As a result, your website may be down for some time, and applications may stop working.

2. Clear payment for resources

When using cloud hosting model you shouldn’t worry about capital expenses. You don’t need to invest big money into infrastructure, as well maintenance and service of servers. Operating costs are much lower, since you only need to pay for the resources and services you really use. Nothing extra.

When you use traditional hosting model, you pay fixed price for the services. It doesn’t matter if you use them or not.

3. Enhanced security

Ordinary hosting uses all the resources and processor power for all the websites located on the shared server. You may still use private server model, but you will spend more money to store your data.

Cloud hosting is built on infrastructure that protects your data on different levels: network, data, applications and physical level. Cloud service providers allow securing you data with user accounts management, proper data isolation, storage separation, secure encryption methods, network security systems and data backup capability.

In contrast to local systems, cloud servers feature protocols developed by the best security analysts.

4. Scalability of the resources

Using cloud hosting, one may easily distribute resource for your needs. Cloud hosting allows you to choose and control resources like bandwidth, storage volume, RAM and process power from the network that consists of many servers.

Physical server in traditional hosting model is limited in resources and specifications. So if you need to use extra server resources, you can’t do it promptly. Usually you need to update or replace the old hardware.

5. Not confined to location

Servers that are used in common hosting systems are attached to a certain place. Location of server is very solemn, since it affects the loading of your website. That’s why you must choose storage very carefully. Cloud storage servers are located all around the world. They may be easily accessed from anywhere globally through any device. It may be laptop, tablet, cell phone or PC. All you need to have is a high-speed secure internet connection.

Using cloud hosting you may easily work from one device and then switch to another one without thinking of resources. All the changes will be updated.

6. Improved collaboration

Cloud computing allows to gain access to data from anywhere, even if you are on the run. Company employees may share the same documents or applications online. So it doesn’t matter if they work from home or sit in the office. If you have a journey on business, you may use Microsoft Office 365. This office suite will greatly speed your work and allow using different working methods.

All these features are not supported, if you use common hosting.

7. Backup and recovery

Disaster recovery in cloud hosting is provided by automatic data backup on connected server.

Ordinary hosting doesn’t have this feature, because it uses a single server for storing data and programs. With this server, data backup should be done manually.

8. Using new technologies

Cloud hosting uses latest technologies. It allows you to set and integrate all of your applications according to your business needs. Server upgrades, latest versions of software and increase of processing power are supported.

If you use ordinary hosting system you can’t perform upgrade or customize immediately.

9. Environmental safety

• Cloud servers are used to full capacity. This allows minimizing hardware downtime and saves energy, both for company and environment.
• There are no back-end servers, so there is no need in their maintenance. This greatly decreases ecological impact, since carbon emission is lower. In this way you make our planet greener and cleaner.

10. Productivity

Website located in the cloud works much faster than the one that is located on a common server. You may always change your plan and use more computing resources.

Who should use cloud hosting?

Such type of hosting will be mostly suited for people who have just launched their project on the Internet. This is because it’s hard to predict the number of visitors and server loading for new websites. When you use cloud storage, you only pay for the resources that you use. This is similar to payment for utility services.

When there is a snap rise in requests to the site, ordinary hosting may not cope with the load. When this happens, server usually goes down or restarts. This is not good for those who want to have a professional website without losing the clients. Cloud hosting instead is able to respond swiftly to such a growth in traffic with to use of many available resources.

Despite the benefits listed above, cloud hosting also has its weak spots. Since you pay for the resources that you use, when the popularity of your website increases, you will pay a lot more. One of the reasons why cloud hosting cost so much is quite costly infrastructure. Providers also need to create stock of resource for your client needs. It is also not very easy to calculate how much you will spend on used services. This may seem gross for many users, especially the novices.  But cloud hosting provides one of the crucial benefits. It’s peace of mind. By paying more, you may be 100% sure that your resource will work without any interruption. So, the decision is up to you.

Conclusion

If you want to increase the speed of your website and use resources as flexible and fast as possible, perhaps you should prefer cloud hosting. This type of hosting also supports the disaster recovery and allows you to save energy.

If you have something to add, tell us by leaving a comment. We will be pleased to know more about your personal experience in using different types of hosting.

You may also read our quick guide on how to create a website. It describes how to create domain name, find hosting and install platform. If you want to create a website right now, maybe you need a theme. We advise you to look through the reviews of the best WordPress themes for different purposes that we have prepared before.