Cloud Hosting Vs Regular Shared Hosting

Cloud hosting is an oft heard feature these days. The biggest companies offering hosting facilities have included cloud hosting in their kitty. Cloud hosting has emerged as a reliable solution for hosting that is easily scalable and quite affordable. There are several features that set it apart from other conventional hosting options.

Shared hosting has been the most popular hosting solution for various users so far, including those on a tight budget. Here we explore what makes cloud hosting better than shared hosting or otherwise.

What is Cloud Hosting?

A cloud is an electronic structure in which data is stored over several different computers and served up through a network connection, usually the Internet. Cloud hosting, also referred to as server on-demand hosting, cloud server hosting or cluster server hosting provides resources to users through several connected servers which form a cloud. The resources required by several users for a common project can be spread across different servers under the cloud and are allocated to each user on a demand basis. Each server in the cloud helps the users carry out a specific set of tasks. In case one server fails, the others act as a back up to keep the website functioning.

Cloud hosting it the latest market trend and is preferred for its reliable web infrastructure. Cloud hosting solutions are highly variable in their function. Every single cloud hosting solution has a special mix of features, infrastructure, layers and interfaces.

In cloud hosting, the servers integrate to behave as a single large storage space and processor. Data is stored across a connection of several different hard drives acting as a single enormous hard drive with large storage capacity. Google is an example of a website which works seamlessly round the clock and offers several features, thanks to cloud hosting options.

5 Benefits of Cloud Hosting:

The reason why cloud hosting has become immensely popular these days cannot just be ascribed to market rage but to several tangible benefits that cloud hosting offers over traditional hosting options. Here you go.

• Economical
  Cloud hosting is an affordable hosting solution that helps you reap financial benefits later on. Since it charges only as per the resources used, it ensures corporations a tighter control over the hosting expenditure. The costs for cloud hosting are calculated by the hour. Some cloud hosting options also offer bandwidth pricing that lets you keep expenditure to a minimum even when there are sudden hikes in website traffic.

In addition to paying on demand, you can also choose quarterly, monthly or annual plans to pay server costs in cloud hosting for an easy access to your information. Therefore, cloud hosting helps you closely monitor the costs and budget for your projects and helps keep them within the projected finances.

Furthermore, cloud hosting lets you cut down on buying expensive hardware, software and the need for periodically procuring licenses for new software.

• Scalable
  Cloud servers can be scaled at high speeds. Servers can be added or deducted depending on the demand so that you do not waste money on excesses. This process along with upgrading the existing servers is an easy process, requiring just a few clicks.

• Customizable
  You can customize your server if you have cloud hosting. It gives you the options of selecting the processing power of the server, location, the operating system and the best server configuration to suit your content.

• Security
  In cloud computing, server data is dispersed across redundant servers, which makes it immune towards the problems caused by hardware failure. Thus, cloud hosting protects your content. Moreover, cloud hosting automatically creates backups and snapshots for the server content to remain updated and safe. Cloud hosting security does not compromise on accessibility. You can access your information on cloud servers from anywhere, anytime you want.

• Productivity
  All over the world people can access the cloud if they have an internet connection. Working on a cloud therefore, requires less people to operate. It is also easy to learn working on the cloud with respect to hardware and software issues so you cut costs on personnel training. As you require fewer people per job, your volume output is increased with a simultaneous decrease in costs. Processes can be streamlined when working on a cloud thus, cutting down the time required. Your project also becomes more flexible as there is less at stake.

Why Cloud Hosting is Better than Shared Hosting?

• Reliability
  In shared hosting, problems in one account may cross over into other sites sharing the same physical server. Cloud hosting is more reliable in these terms. It isolates each server. Therefore, issues in one server do not affect the performance of the other servers in the cloud.

• Space
  In a shared server, you have to constantly monitor the hard drive space along with the RAM and processor power and periodically keep updating it according well in advance. With cloud hosting, if you run out of storage space or need a higher processing performance, you can add or deduct servers within seconds.

• Performance
  If your site has been accessed by an enormous number of visitors at one time, all the other sites on your shared server might get overloaded and then crash. In such a situation, cloud hosting allows you to re-assign resources and thus, tackle this problem efficiently.

• Energy-efficient
  Cloud computing lets computer components save more energy. A single computer on a full load is more energy-efficient than multiple shared computers at a half load. This is because computer components consume the same amount of energy irrespective of whether the process is idle or fully loaded.
• Scalability
  Shared hosting utilizes physical servers, which limit your functioning in a day for resource allocation. Cloud hosting has virtual servers. Resources can be added, exchanged or removed throughout the day without having to fear any loss of data.

Despite its numerous advantages, cloud hosting faces few disadvantages in terms of its high operating costs. However, with internet being accessible almost all the time from practically anywhere in the world with few problems to state, cloud hosting should not be problematic. Evaluate your needs carefully and get the best cloud hosting solution for yourself.