(Newswire.net — June 17, 2015) –‘The cloud’ has become something of a buzz phrase in recent times. To many it means a way of storing data such as documents, photos and maybe music away from their own computer’s hard drive.
The image that their data is ‘up there’ on the cloud ready to be accessed when they like is a strong one even though the ‘cloud’ is really a data storage medium such as a server somewhere very much on terra firma.
The cloud in web hosting
Some web hosting companies have embraced the idea of cloud storage in providing a flexible, reliable and cost-effective web hosting facility. Companies such as the UK-based BestWebHosting.co.uk base their whole service on cloud-based hosting for both the shared and dedicated types.
How does cloud web hosting work?
In a nutshell, it enables a flexible use of existing hardware resources by swapping hosting accounts from one piece of hardware to the other in a seamless and rapid fashion. For example, if a hardware failure occurs, the hosted accounts and the data move swiftly to other hardware to keep the customer’s websites up and running.
It also means hardware is only used as and when it is required, so power use is reduced and less hardware is needed in the first place. Many hardware-only web hosting companies underuse their hardware yet it is still in place and has been paid for.
Cloud hosting also can be deployed to give customers effectively a dedicated server minus the cost and commitment of actually having a specific hardware server at their disposal. By creating a virtual server out of a shared type as a VPS (Virtual Private Server) it gives the customer three primary benefits:
• The use of a dedicated server minus the expense of their own hardware type
• The flexibility of being able to add capacity and facilities as they grow
• The ability to sample if a dedicated server is worthwhile – if not it’s easy to revert to shared hosting
Cost effective web hosting
The web hosting company saves money investing in hardware because the same hardware can be used to host several customer’s websites even if they have opted for a dedicated server facility. As websites such as this one show, the technology surrounding computing becomes ever more flexible and the cloud certainly offers this.
One server can be virtualised so customers have their own dedicated service, and they can try it in small doses. A basic dedicated service can be used initially, and if demands rise then the service can grow easily with them with no need for disruptive downtime such as the type that may be required when physical hardware needs altering.
Definite benefits
The ‘virtual’ hosting option means space and bandwidth can be increased quickly and with no real limits. Because hardware can be shared in the event of failures, uptime can be pretty much 100% as there is no significant interruption when different hardware resources are deployed.