What is Cloud hosting? What type of websites can be hosted on the cloud?

Cloud hosting is gaining more and more popularity with every day passing by. It has become the most preferred choice for businesses due to the ease and flexibility it offers them. It is also one of the fastest and most reliable forms of hosting available. Cloud web hosting uses virtual servers to host websites, while traditional web hosting usually houses one or more sites on one physical server. 

But that is not it. Cloud hosting can help your business grow in a lot many ways than you can ever imagine. Before we jump to the benefits, let’s first understand what cloud hosting is and why cloud hosting is better. 

What is Cloud hosting? 

Cloud hosting is hosting that leverages several congregate servers to host your website. Essentially, it uses the resources of several servers to balance the load, ensure security, and provide dependable infrastructure for your site.

A cloud server is created by dividing a physical server into multiple virtual machines or cloud servers. These machines then connect to form a network for hosting websites. Because of its interconnected cloud structure, it provides better uptime and less downtime.

Cloud hosting differs from traditional web hosting like VPS servers and dedicated servers thanks to its underlying infrastructure. Conventional web hosting generally uses a centralized approach where a single server stores all sites simultaneously.

What type of websites can be hosted on the cloud? 

The biggest advantage of using Cloud hosting is the impeccable security it offers to the website. This feature makes it one of the safest platforms to consider to host your website and applications. It is the reason why all major news publications, e-commerce websites, and websites that receive heavy traffic usually use Cloud. After all, the cloud offers everything that businesses need to run their websites and apps in a hassle-free manner. 

Furthermore, some of these websites may require stricter security for sensitive data, like customer information and payment details. In this case, they may decide to use a private cloud rather than the public one. Private clouds include dedicated infrastructure and are hosted on a dedicated server to prevent invasion from third parties. 

In other words, Cloud hosting is ideal for any website with high visitor numbers and for businesses that require storing many big-size files and data. The architecture of cloud hosting makes it simple to anticipate traffic spikes – which usually occur when you have a lot of visitors.

It is easy to forecast traffic surges – such as when big sales occur or when any web content goes viral – as cloud hosting takes care of load-balancing and ensures that a virtual server’s resources won’t be overwhelmed. 

It is one of the reasons why Cloud hosting is a little expensive as compared to other forms of hosting like VPS servers or dedicated hosting. 

How does Cloud hosting work?

Cloud hosting works through virtualization. It allows a physical server to be split into several virtual servers called cloud servers. These cloud servers then connect to form one network for hosting a website. Since this structure is far more efficient, it is preferred by businesses of all sizes all across the globe. 

Cloud computing involves several servers collaborating to create a cluster. Its advantages include eliminating the problem of relying on a single machine by dividing the load among multiple machines. As part of cloud hosting, each machine has a specific task or responsibility based on the resources it has, such as memory, hard disk, and processor. A hypervisor runs the necessary software for the cloud to work. 

Hypervisors are the code that manages the machines running in software. They are servers. Xen, VMware, Hyper-V, and other hypervisors are commonly used.

Some specifications of Cloud hosting: 

1. All the resources available on the cloud are highly scalable. 
2. It is free from the risk of hardware failure. 
3. It offers super fast speed with zero downtime. 
4. With our cloud-based servers, you can upgrade whenever you want across multiple cloud-configured servers. 
5. It boosts your business productivity with better performance that cuts browser wait times for your staff and customers. 

What are the benefits of using Cloud hosting for your business website? 

When your website faces trouble running on the current shared hosting provider, cloud hosting comes to the rescue. It is also one of the extremely popular choices that prevent the strain of hosting on a shared server. Cloud hosting, in general, helps you enjoy the benefits of dedicated server hosting but without the drawbacks that come with it. Is Cloud hosting better?- Let’s find out!

Below we are listing some of the major advantages of cloud hosting over traditional hosting for your business website: 

1. Scalability

It is one of the biggest benefits of using cloud hosting. You can always add as many resources as you want as your business reaches a new height. As soon as the traffic on your website increases, you can do instant up-gradation of RAM and CPU. Hosting your website on Cloud not just gives you the flexibility to add resources, but you can also remove them as and when you want. 

2. Redundancy

In cloud hosting, you have nothing to worry about server failure. When one server fails, the other one takes over and keeps your website running. 

3. Boosts business continuity

Is it possible for you to guarantee that your in-house servers will never go down unexpectedly? Is there a plan in place for getting them back online quickly in case they do? Cloud hosting is the answer. Cloud servers minimize the disastrous effects associated with the loss of data.

4. Pay-as-you-use

Cost-effectiveness is one of the major advantages of using a cloud server to host your website. With cloud hosting, you get the flexibility of paying for the resources you use, which means you can always choose how much you wish to spend. You can upgrade or downgrade the service as and when you want. Unlike traditional hosting like VPS server, you can save big by using cloud hosting. 

5. Security

When it comes to data security, stay assured that your data is secure 24*7 secured and safe. The advantages of cloud hosting go hand in hand with the security measures it provides. When you host your website on Cloud, you stay free from security breaches like hacking, data theft, unauthorized access, identity theft, etc. 

6. Load-balancing

Since your data is distributed on multiple servers, you never have to worry about your server going down. When one server is down, another server will take on, and your site will run 24*7. Thanks to this, the load on the server always stays balanced, and the speed of your system increases. 

7. Flexibility

The cloud provides flexibility in bandwidth capacity and storage requirements. It also makes it easy to scale the cloud capacity when necessary. It also makes it easy to test and deploy applications. We can install or remove any such applications easily.

8. Competitiveness

Cloud hosting offers enterprise-class technology that is cost-effective, as well as pay-as-you-go services and cloud business applications that allow you to run a globally accessible business. It, in turn, leads to the reduced price of cloud hosting. 

What are the downsides of Cloud hosting? 

Security risks and loss of control are perceived as downsides to public Cloud hosting. Some businesses tend to believe that data and apps outside their perimeter may not be secure and they could lose control over them. In a nutshell, we think that this is an error of perception and that the vast majority of Cloud hosting companies will offer security levels that are far beyond what most businesses can initially afford.

Businesses should not worry about loss of control and/or data privacy unless they operate in a highly regulated environment or hold sensitive information. In these cases, using a private Cloud to achieve compliance would be beneficial. 

Why Cloud hosting is better than other hosting solutions? 

As compared to the normally dedicated servers, cloud hosting is more efficient and offers better performance. A more even distribution of servers means the users of a website powered by cloud hosting can enjoy more stable services. Since dedicated servers lack hardware load balancing, they will find it hard to compete with cloud hosting. Without hardware load balancing, dedicated servers cannot offer the same level of efficiency and performance as cloud hosting.  

Shortly, many web designers and web hosting companies will see the advantage of cloud hosting over dedicated hosting. With time, cloud hosting will become the norm for web hosting.

What to look for in a Cloud Hosting service provider? 

Once the business owner has decided to use cloud hosting, he or she should ensure that the hosting company offers all of the perks. For instance, the hosting provider should have enough servers to handle the traffic and data transfer. Choosing a Cloud hosting provider will usually bring more benefits than inconveniences, but you still need to choose a company with a reputable reputation.

Here we have rolled down some of the factors that you must look for in your Cloud hosting service provider: 

1. Efficient customer service

Verify that they have an excellent technical and customer support team. Contact their customer service to learn more about how they run their business. See how competent and responsive they are to your questions.

2. Flexibility

The outsourcer needs to offer a highly open and flexible platform that meets the needs of each client. Open standards provide both easy migrations from traditional solutions (such as dedicated hosting) and do not lock in your data or your privacy.

3. Uptime

In the cloud hosting world, uptime is a key factor. Though the efficiency of cloud technology should mean no downtime, not all clouds are created equally. They differ based on their proprietary models, workloads, etc. It’s a good idea to confirm the uptime record. Although 100% uptime SLA is best, you can use any cloud server hosting service with 98% to 99.99% uptime as good enough.

4. Deployment model

If you are looking for cloud hosting in India, you need to look for a long-term solution. It has to be flexible enough to expand with your business’ growth. Do they provide public as well as private cloud hosting? How many data centers are there? It is vital.

5. Pricing

Hosting your website on the cloud in India is a more profitable option than traditional solutions. However, transferring your current web hosting package is expensive. The installation process is also not free. So, you must have the budget for the move.

6. Security

The Cloud server should be configured with an easy-to-manage web-based interface that also includes full API access so that switching suppliers is as seamless as possible. Utmost security and guarantees of confidentiality and integrity of your data should also be provided.

What is the cost of a Cloud hosting solution?

There is no set pricing when it comes to cloud hosting. The amount you pay will be based on the cloud infrastructure you select, and the resources you pick for your plan. But if we talk about the average cost of cloud hosting, you pay less per month for Cloud servers than with dedicated servers. Cloud plans start at $5/month, while dedicated servers start at $50/month generally. With a dedicated server, you pay the same price whether you’re using the server or not.

Conclusion                                    

Now that you know what value cloud hosting adds to your business, you must think about migrating your business to the cloud. So if you wish to simplify or accelerate your business growth, using cloud hosting is undoubtedly the best way to achieve it. For expert advice and the best hosting solutions, you can also contact our highly experienced and trained professionals at Go4hosting.com. We promise top-notch quality hosting services and customer experience. 
Our cloud hosting services include using new technologies like the internet of things, big data, and blockchain technologies. We analyze the usage, performance, and cost of the cloud and ensure that we offer you the best hosting services. So, wait no more and connect to our experts at [email protected].