I am sure you have heard mention of “the cloud”. I remember when the Amazon Cloud crashed and took down huge companies websites. I was thinking then, what the heck is a Cloud, fully realizing it is not the ones in the sky! Then when my iPhone crashed and I lost everything, I was told I should have backed up to the cloud. Okay, Okay! Now I am hearing about VPS Cloud Hosting and realized it is time to research exactly what this is all about since it has to do with websites and hosting. Something a site owner needs to know about.
In terms of hosting for a website, most of you know that if you own your own domain name and have a site built, you are on a hosting plan. But there are many different types of hosting. There are small site plans where you are sharing space on a server with hundreds of other sites. This can cause issues with down time if your servermates (new word lol) hog the resources. Been there and had that issue with this site! So we moved to a dedicated server.
A dedicated server is one where you are the only site on that server. That means you have all the space you need to run your site. There are no worries about image size or the size of your site.
There is also VPS Hosting. VPS means virtual private server. This means that your server is broken down in to compartments where you have dedicated space. This is based on a time share concept depending on your usage. Most sites are busy at certain times of the day and this type of hosting allows sharing of resources, usually with between 20-40 other sites.
Then comes the Cloud. The cloud or VPS Cloud Hosting means that you are are not using just one private server. You are actually relying on hundreds of servers that will be a back up for your business. Most VSP hosting plans will allow you to go in and adjust your resources so if you need more space at a certain time of day, you can adjust for that. Your downtime will be near non existent, unless the whole system goes down, much like the Amazon issue. That is extremely rare. Even government sites use cloud technology for their sites.
So there you have it. Now you can say you know what it means when people talk about the cloud. I know I feel a lot better. Professionally, I do not think we are ready for cloud hosting yet. Maybe some day when we grow bigger but at least I can make an informed decision now!
Disclaimer: I was compensated by the advertiser to write this post. I was provided with the subject matter to write about but the thoughts, opinions and words are 100% mine.
I did not know any of this. I have wondered what the Cloud meant. Now I understand it a little better. Thanks forthe info.
I know some of my data is backed up on other servers, but don’t know if there are clouds on my horizon. As long as I back up my computer to DVDs, I feel pretty safe.
I have heard about the cloud and never understand it… this explains it kinda maybe I am not ready to knw what it is!
I had never heard about any of this, but it is good to know about. thanks for sharing the info 🙂