To launch a website or online business through WordPress, there is always a question: “What is the best web hosting option?” To which the answer is usually “cloud hosting”.
There is a lot of hype around cloud hosting. But what is “the cloud”? And what does this have to do with housing?
You probably already use so-called cloud services, but you didn’t realize it. ATMs, Gmail, social networks, even your online banking depends on cloud services to function.
Cloud hosting makes websites available using the same cloud resources. It’s a popular choice for “WordPressers” who don’t want to worry about their site crashing, loading slowly, or costing too much.
This article explains what cloud hosting is and its benefits.
Cloud hosting employs virtual support to host websites. It makes applications and websites accessible using cloud resources.
Cloud hosting is not implemented on a single server.. Instead, a network of connected physical and virtual cloud servers hosts the application or website, ensuring greater flexibility and scalability.
Cloud hosting is the acquisition of computing resources from a cloud computing provider or
facility to host data, services and/or solutions.
What exactly is Cloud Hosting?
Instead, it is a way to store data on multiple computers and access that data through a network connection such as the Internet.
As a whole, the cloud behaves like a single physical computer, with infinite processing power and storage space.
In typical server setups, you are limited to the physical constraints of the server your site is hosted on. With cloud hosting, you rely on a single server setup that allows you to use multiple different servers, resulting in an affordable hosting solution that’s also scalable and incredibly reliable.
The simplest definition of cloud hosting might be a network of virtual servers that connect to an underlying network of physical servers. The extent to which you access this network depends on the actual needs of the website and can be increased or decreased as appropriate.
How does Cloud Hosting work?
As we all know, with traditional hosting servers, we have a single server that contains all the resources website files and data. The easiest way to break down cloud hosting is to compare it to a single server model. When a user visits your website these files are then served up from that single physical server.
Compare this to a cloud hosting setup where your site’s resources can be drawn from multiple different virtual server environments.
At the core of a cloud hosting setup is a network of physical servers, with virtualized servers running on top of them. With this setup you can draw from a near-infinite supply of server resources and scale your site as your needs grow.
Benefits of Cloud Hosting
There are a number of benefits of cloud hosting which are stated below-
- Flexible pricing structure: In most other hosting styles, you pay a monthly fee whether or not you use all of the server’s resources. One of the biggest advantages of cloud hostings is that you pay only for the resources you use. So if you expect a post to go viral or your site receives unusually high traffic, you don’t need to completely upgrade your package. All you need to do is increase your resources during traffic spikes and decrease them once traffic levels return to normal. Instead of having to pay high hosting fees across the board, your price is based on the total amount of server resources you use.
- Easy to scale server resources: For most cloud servers, you’ll have access to an intuitive site management dashboard that lets you see how your site is performing in real time. You can increase or decrease server resources on premises without having to wait for approval from your hosting provider.
- Redundant server environment: With most types of hosting, your site lives on a single server. If something were to happen to this server, your site would go offline and you would not be able toget back online until this server is fixed. When your hosting is redundant, a site backup will supportyour existing site in seconds. However, not all layoffs are the same.
- High uptime and availability: If you use a traditional form of hosting, the availability of your site depends on the physical server environment. If you log out, so does your site. Unless you’re using a CDN, this can help reduce overall downtime for your site. Cloud hosting has high availability built into its fabric. Since your site will virtually use the resources of multiple servers, it can simply be transferred to another server if one of them goes offline or has technical problems. Plus, with its ability to scale server resources on demand, your site won’t go offline due to an unexpected surge in traffic.
- Quick server setup process: Unless you subscribe to a beginner shared hosting plan, getting your web host up and running can take some time. This can be a problem if you need your site online quickly, or if you’re doing a host migration and are stuck waiting for the server to be ready.
- Security against server hardware problems: With cloud hosting, your site is isolated from any physical server issues, including hacking, hardware failure, or system overload. When a physical server is compromised or has a problem, you can simply use the physical resources of another server, all without any downtime.
- Increased website speed and performance:Most of the cloud servers can give you amazing speeds. In addition to being able to effortlessly expand your site’s capacity, cloud hosting also allows for easier load balancing between multiple server environments, which can help significantly reduce the strain on a single server’s resources. Of course, the basic hardware of the server will also influence the speed of your site. So look for a cloud host with multiple layers of caching, high-end server hardware, and low-density servers.
- Works great for sites with scalable traffic: If your traffic levels go up and down, it will be hard to find a web host that gives you the best value. With cloud hosting, you have the ability to easily scale your server resources up and down as needed. It is very difficult to find this level of scalability with any other style of hosting.
- Simple Server Admin Panel: In the past, cloud servers were a bit difficult to manage and required technical expertise to effectively manage and scale your server. But, with today’s cloud hosting, you can easily track your hosting and scale it on demand through an intuitive dashboard. The best part about cloud hosting is that you don’t need that much technical knowledge.
- Reduce your overall environmental impact: If you’re a business or individual concerned about your impact on the environment, but need a hosting solution that goes beyond traditional shared hosting, cloud hosting may be just what you’re looking for. With cloud hosting, you use fewer overhead data centers and only use the server resources that you really need at the moment. By optimizing your use of resources and data, you generate less environmental impact.
