Regular readers of our blog probably do not need to explain in detail what virtual hosting is , and what are the benefits of using it. For those who have recently been engaged in IT-activities, we explain that this phrase hides the method of organizing hosting for sites, or rather, the allocation of software and hardware resources for their placement in the global Internet information network.
The virtualization of web hosting consists in the fact that various projects are located on the same physical server and share the computing power of the server computer using special software. In other words, the peculiarity of shared hosting is that not all of the server, but only parts of it are assigned to the online store or corporate portal.
Cloud hosting – what is it and how is it?
It would seem that with the advent of virtualization technology hosting services there is nowhere to move forward. However, IT specialists, these restless guys, went further and developed a cloud hosting, which turned out to be even more profitable in terms of functionality, in pursuit of virtual. Let’s explain. With standard virtualization, a site is concentrated within a single server. Imagine – you bought a hosting and posted your project on it, and the server took and failed, for example, during a power outage. And everything that belongs to you is no longer available to visitors. Annoying, isn’t it?
The hosting option for a site in the cloud guarantees its availability in any force majeure circumstances, since the web resource is “spread out” over a certain number of servers. Its sections are located on different computers, possibly even geographically distant from each other. And even if one electronic computer crashes, another “invisible fighter” will immediately take its place and the hosting provider will continue to work, as if nothing had happened, which means that your web project will be available to visitors always – regardless of emergency situations. This is why hosting an online project in a cloud environment is a highly reasonable solution.
The benefits of hosting online sites in the cloud are:
- duplication of hardware components of servers;
- automatic scaling;
- information security (access lists, password protection, etc.);
- high performance.
Another advantage of cloud hosting for sites is the ability to choose the type of information storage.
What projects is cloud hosting suitable for?
It should be understood that hosting in the cloud, although beneficial, is not suitable for all Internet projects. These technologies are expensive, and therefore hosting websites in the cloud environment is not always economically feasible for small projects.
And, on the contrary, the use of this type of hosting for online stores, advertising platforms and similar sites created for profit, will help reduce IT infrastructure costs. This will transfer costs from capital to operating, which will ease the financial burden on the business. From a technical point of view, shared hosting in the cloud is optimal for resources with critical requirements for constancy of availability.
Separately, it is necessary to mention that cloud hosting is almost the only tool for running such a business as reselling (eng., Reselling – resale). This is actually a transfer of your rights acquired from a hosting provider to third parties with the receipt, as financiers say, of margin. These individuals may be web studios or freelancers looking for placement options for Internet projects on the network. They can resell shared hosting or charge owners of web resources for hosting them on cloud hosting platforms.
This business is promising, especially since some hosters themselves contribute to its development. For example, hosting provider YottaHost offers favorable conditions for direct reselling hosting in a cloud environment, and also invites freelancers and web studios to participate in a special affiliate program that expands profit opportunities by reselling hosting services.
What should I look for when choosing a cloud hosting?
Finally, we turn to the most, perhaps, burning question – what aspects should be paid attention to when choosing a shared hosting in the cloud. For all the seeming complexity of the problem, the list of the main factors to consider when choosing a cloudy “home” for sites is not very large and includes the following criteria, based on the analysis of which you can find a good hosting .
- User convenience .
- Hardware part .
- The location of the servers .
- Security .
We briefly describe each moment.
User convenience
The convenience of using web hosting is determined primarily by the features of the control panel. The owner of Internet resources should not have difficulty in performing actions on web pages, configuring sites, or other manipulations. In addition, the administrative hosting tools for the site must provide remote access to statistical information.
Before you decide to buy a hosting, evaluate the user convenience in the process of trial testing, of course, if the hoster provides such an opportunity. This, by the way, is another factor that allows you to give preference to a particular hosting provider.
Hardware
Gradient and transparent effect used.
Obviously, no matter how perfect the software (operating systems, applications, etc.), the functionality of hosting for sites depends, first of all, on the performance of computer hardware. Therefore, among the many hosting companies, it is recommended to consider only those that use first-class professional equipment of such brands as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Cisco. Do not take this for frank advertising – this is the reality in which the current IT sector lives, and in particular, cloud hosting.
The second point regarding the hardware is the type of data storage included in the site structure. To date, there are three of these types – HDDs, SSDs and NVMe SSDs . The former, due to poor reliability and low performance, are used less and less, and are preferred only because of the low prices for shared hosting. The latter, on the contrary, are considered the most promising, since they have no equal in terms of information processing speed. An intermediate option, that is, typical SSDs, are a cross between HDD and NVMe both in terms of functionality and cost. They are the ideal option for customers looking for a good hosting on a cloud basis.
Geography of servers
First of all, such a characteristic of virtual hosting as response time depends on the geographical location of the servers. This is only an ignorant person believes that at a speed of propagation of an electromagnetic field of 300 thousand km / s, this moment is insignificant. With the mutual distance of the servers, the delay in the response of the equipment to user requests can be the seconds required for the signal to pass through dozens of electronic paths. As a result, web hosting when deployed on remote servers does not work as fast as the user expects. Whenever possible, choose servers located relatively close to you. Contact our specialists and they will give information on which servers of which geographical area are best suited to host your sites.
Another aspect of the choice of location, which may seem unexpected. Not all countries allow this or that activity. For example, if you decide to buy a hosting service for a resource dedicated to gambling in a country where they are prohibited, then this can subsequently lead to problems. In any case, it would be wise to make inquiries in advance about the possibility of placing a site of this orientation on your chosen cheap hosting.
Security
A sign of the seriousness and quality of the hosting service for an online store or any other resource is the approach of the hosting service to ensure client security. It is clear that this concept is complex, which only an expert in the field of hosting can comprehensively evaluate. However, even a simple user, as a first approximation, can get an idea of a particular company.
Ask tech support staff if their cloud hosting has DDOS protection . If the answer is yes, then you can safely put a plus sign and try out the services provided by the hoster. Of course, if you are satisfied with all the above signs of hosting for sites.
Instead of a point
At the end of our review, it should be said that YottaHost provides hosting services of all kinds, offering two types of virtual and cloud hosting. In the first case, the SSD LiteSpeed and CloudLinux hosting are allocated. The second type is a standard cloud hosting with hosting sites on servers in the USA. The advantages of the second are the use of Ceph-storage, Varnish-caching, the possibility of increasing the number of processors and the amount of RAM. When choosing this option, the client receives FULLY allocated hardware resources, and not “semi-allocated”, as in the first type of hosting. This nullifies the number of equipment failures and eliminates the risks of inaccessibility of Internet sites.
