Cloud hosting delivers services, applications, or websites via an external cloud platform, allowing firms to host content without owning a physical server or a data center.
It’s a technique that takes advantage of cloud computing’s fundamental flexibility. Organizations can allocate and use compute resources as and when they are needed to deliver digital services without making a significant upfront investment.
Cloud hosting makes use of cloud servers, and physical compute racks that have been virtualized for use by those not in physical contact with them. Virtualization divides physical computing space into digitally accessible computing space.
If a business needs to bring a website or online application to its customers, for example, cloud hosting is a great way of doing so. It bypasses the need for infrastructure and enables streamlined digital delivery.
There are a whole range of benefits that come with choosing to use cloud hosting services, including more efficiencies in deployment, a greater level of flexibility in service size and scale, and the opportunity to scale more effectively.
Cloud hosting vs web hosting vs VPS
Choosing to host in the cloud is an involved decision. The nuances of the process will depend largely on what specific system or application needs to be delivered, and then on how best that system or application can be delivered.
For example, a commonly hosted application may be a business website. Most organizations will have an online presence in this form, and every firm that does will need to have a digital architecture on which that website lives.
An alternative way of doing this is through web hosting, cloud hosting’s predecessor and counterpart. Similarly to cloud hosting, web hosting involves a third-party provider that runs the server hosting a business website.
A web hosting provider allocates things such as storage space and network bandwidth to a user. This means business customers can access the website via a web browser that visits the domain.
Where cloud hosting trumps web hosting, though, is through its diversified server presence. Cloud hosting will keep the website live on multiple servers, providing resilience against outages, or backups when errors occur.
Organizations could also choose to host on a virtual private server (VPS), meaning renting out what is essentially a dedicated amount of server space within a physical server space that your firm will be responsible for using.
Using a VPS is costlier than other forms of hosting as it requires committing to a specific portion of a compute resource. It can also require a greater level of technical expertise if the firm chooses an unmanaged VPS option, as staff will be responsible for managing the resource.
The benefits and drawbacks of cloud hosting
Cloud hosting comes with many benefits, most of which correlate with the benefits of cloud computing in general. Because of how cloud computing works, flexibility, and scalability are a core advantage.
Unlike web hosting or VPS, cloud hosting does not depend on a single server and instead utilizes a network of servers to host the specific service or website. If a user needs more compute resources, the cloud provider can grant access across the server network rather than needing to address a specific server.
As cloud hosting is so flexible to use, most cloud providers operate on pay-as-you-go models that can be scaled just as easily. Businesses can up their compute usage in line with their payment, as well as being able to take it back down again if needed.
That being said, the industry has rallied against rising cloud costs, with many IT executives describing ‘surprising’ cloud costs as the reason they have been unable to accurately predict spending. Software firm 37 signals claimed it had saved $2 million a year by ditching the cloud.
Security can be an advantage of cloud hosting, as cloud providers provide security provisions such as firewalls and identity and access management (IAM) tools. However, users should bear in mind that, under the model of shared responsibility, cloud providers cannot entirely shield customers from a security perspective.
Finally, there is resilience. This relates to the multi-server nature of cloud hosting as compared with other forms of hosting. Being that cloud hosting is spread across a network of servers, customers are far better protected against the failure of any one server or larger-scale outages across networks.
How to get started with cloud hosting
Businesses looking to host on the cloud need first to assess their hosting needs. Firms should examine the relative advantages and disadvantages of cloud hosting and, if they meet the firm’s requirements, they need to look at what the various cloud providers offer.
It’s likely that an organization will choose to host via one of the big three cloud providers, those being Google, Microsoft, and AWS. The last of those, AWS, for example, offers a range of hosting capabilities under its cloud computing wing.
On AWS, users can host traditional websites as well as applications that can be deployed within businesses or sold to customers as software-as-a-service (SaaS), and the firm also offers file hosting services.
The other major cloud providers offer similar hosting capabilities. On Google Cloud Platform (GCP) users can deploy on the tech giant network while also gaining access to WordPress, Firebase, and Google Domains.
Users can also host applications on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Microsoft Azure. Azure offers a range of hosting types, such as simplified hosting, balanced hosting, controlled hosting, and source-code hosting.
While hosting via VPS may offer a greater level of control for those who prioritize governance, most businesses will find that cloud hosting is the optimal solution for hosting digital services.
