What Exactly is Cloud Web Hosting?
What is cloud web hosting indeed? The word 'cloud' seems to be quite fashionable in today's information technology, Internet and hosting parlance. Even so, only a few really are aware of what cloud hosting is. Maybe it is a clever idea to inform yourself about cloud web hosting services. To render a very long story concise, we will first let you in on what cloud hosting is not.
1. Cloud Web Hosting is Not Restricted to a Remote File Storage Solely.
1. Supplying a remote disk storage solution, which comprises one data storage device for all customers, does not transform any given web hosting provider into a real cloud web hosting provider.
The cPanel hosting companies dub the ability to furnish remote file storage services a cloud web hosting service. So far there is nothing bad about the cloud classification, but... we are discussing hosting services, not remote file storage solutions for personal or business needs. There's constantly one "but", isn't there? It's not sufficient to call a shared hosting solution, driven by a one-server hosting environment, just like cPanel, a "cloud web hosting" service. This is so because the other components of the entire hosting platform must be working in exactly the same way - this does not apply only to the remote disk storage. The remaining services entailed in the whole web hosting procedure also need to be remote, separated and "clouded". And that's very tough. A very small number of web hosting service providers can truly attain it.
2. It Involves Domain Names, Electronic Mails, Databases, FTPs, CPs, and so on.
Cloud web hosting is not restricted to a remote file storage only. We are discussing a web hosting service, serving numerous domain names, web portals, email aliases, etc., are we not?
To name a web hosting service a "cloud web hosting" one needs a lot more than delivering merely remote data storage mounts (or probably servers). The email server(s) must be devoted exclusively to the email connected services. Performing nothing else than these given assignments. There might be only one or perhaps an entire pack of electronic mail servers, based on the total load generated. To have an authentic cloud web hosting solution, the remote database servers should be working as one, irrespective of their real amount. Doing nothing different. The same is valid for the clients' web hosting Control Panels, the File Transfer Protocol, etc.
3. There are Cloud Domain Name Servers (DNSs) too.
The DNSs (Domain Name Servers) of a real cloud web hosting company will support multiple data center sites on different continents.
Here's an example of a DNS of a real cloud web hosting distributor:
dns1.www.k9webhosting.com
dns2.www.k9webhosting.com
If such a Domain Name Server is furnished by your web hosting plans provider, it's not a sure thing that there is a cloud hosting environment in use, but you can absolutely be certain when you discern a DNS such as the one below:
dns658.hostgator.com
dns659.hostgator.com
that there isn't any cloud web hosting service. This kind of DNS merely reveals that the web hosting environment in use is one-single-server based. Perchance it's cPanel. cPanel is a single-server web hosting platform and has a market share of more than 98%. In cPanel's case, one physical server tackles all web hosting services (web, email, DNS, databases, File Transfer Protocol, web hosting CP(s), files, and so on).
Remote File Storage - The Distorted Description of Cloud Web Hosting.
So, a cloud web hosting service is not confined simply to a remote file storage solution, as numerous web hosting service providers wish it was. Unfortunately for them, if that was the case, most of the file hosting providers would have been referred to as cloud hosting ones a long time back! They are not categorized as such, as they merely provide file web hosting solutions, not cloud web hosting services. The file web hosting platform appears indeed quite plain, in comparison with the hosting platform. The remote disk storage platform is not a cloud web hosting platform. It cannot be, since it's just one simple part of the entire cloud hosting platform. There's plenty more to be found in the cloud web hosting platform: the Control Panel cloud, the database clouds (MySQL, PostgreSQL), the Domain Name Server cloud, the FTP cloud, the e-mail cloud and... in the foreseeable future, probably a number of new clouds we currently don't know about will spring up unexpectedly.
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