Category: Cloud
Cloud Hosting: The Future Of Website Hosting Is Here
What is cloud hosting? It is a form of web hosting that were once only used by the larger online companies like Google and Amazon to host their website, but now even small businesses are starting to make the move from traditional hosting services to cloud servers. Unlike a dedicated hosting plan where one client is given exclusive use of one server to host a website, in a cloud system, the load of hosting a website is spread across multiple servers that work together. This is the “cloud.”
The biggest benefit of using a cloud hosting service is that it is more reliable and less prone to crashing than dedicated server hosting. Because the workload is divided across multiple servers, if one of them crashes, the website they host will not go down. Using cloud servers your website will rarely go down, unless you take it down for maintenance works.
Cloud servers can also provide your website with large bandwidth allocations. So even if your website unexpectedly gains a very large level of internet traffic, instead of slowing down and even crashing (which usually happens with dedicated servers), a cloud server system another server will just provide your website with the resources it needs to stay online and function as normal. This is great for small businesses because as they expand their website will be able to keep up with them.
Another great benefit of using cloud hosting is that the servers are not located on site. Companies no longer need to own and maintain their servers, this leaves their IT team with more time to devote to other pressing matters in the company. Not having hulking computer servers also mean that you will be saving a lot of floor area in your offices and the total electric consumption will also be considerably lowered as a result, and lowering your company’s carbon footprint as a result.
The main reason why most small companies have not switched over to cloud hosting is that they have issues with the price, but the truth is that the costs of this kind of hosting service has considerably fallen the past couple of months. There are also some hosting companies that will only charge according to the amount of resources that the website uses, which means great savings for companies who know how to manage their resources properly so that they can get all the benefits of using cloud servers without the premium price.
Cloud hosting is poised to take over the web hosting landscape in the next couple of years because it can benefit companies large and small websites alike. With the costs continually going down, more companies are starting to migrate their websites to the more reliable cloud servers. If you use cloud servers, you no longer have to worry about downtime so you can focus most of your attention and resources in the other important aspects of your business. If you want your company to expand, then start by transferring your website onto the “cloud.”
Server Breakthroughs that Revolutionized Web Hosting
The exponential increase in the number of Internet users over the past few years has caused a need for servers to evolve, becoming faster, bigger, and better in order to keep up with the pace of Internet growth. Below we’ll take a look at some of the biggest server breakthroughs in recent history and how they’ve helped revolutionize the web hosting and server administration industries.
#1: Data Security
Perhaps the biggest concern shared by today’s Internet users is the security of his/her personal information. It has been an issue of concern to so many that it lead to various privacy legislation and acts in US. The biggest breakthrough in data security has been data encryption. A well secured data transfer from a secure server ensures the highest level of encryption using public-private key cryptography and further encryption of public key using symmetric cryptography. The variety of cryptographic scheme ranges from 8-bit encryption to 256-bit encryption.
In addition to encryption, the development of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) prevents packet sniffing and data sniffing from a data transmission between two servers. This further enhances the security as the data being transferred is encrypted first and then sent through SSL transmission that blocks any unauthorized extraction of user data. Security has played a vital role in web hosting revolution, as it has allowed web hosting to become secure and reliable.
Cloud Provider FiberCloud Offers Virtual Firewall Protection
Cloud service provider FiberCloud announced this week that it has added virtual firewall options to its cloud server solutions. These new firewall features will allow Windows and Linux Cloud customers to manage secure and custom connections across multiple cloud servers.
Web hosting providers that are part of FiberCloud’s reseller program will be able to offer customers additional security through this offering.
According to FiberCloud, customers will have full control over network traffic with the virtual firewall feature. The virtual firewall allows customers to form secure connections when managing traffic and give people the ability to move data between their private network of cloud servers.
“We think that security and flexibility are crucial to our cloud server products,” Susan DeFlorio, COO at FiberCloud, said in a statement. “By adding this new Virtual Firewall option to our cloud servers, we’re empowering customers with greater choices and greater freedom to access and move information across multiple cloud servers.”
Virtual firewalls can be added to any FiberCloud cloud server without installing software on the server itself.
Google Announces Official Launch of Google Drive
Google officially announced this week that it has launched its new cloud storage service Google Drive. According to the Google blog, users will get 5GB of free storage and can upgrade for a monthly fee (25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month, or 1TB for $49.99/month).
Web hosts that currently offer cloud storage don’t see Google Drive as much of a threat at the moment, as Google Drive is designed to work seamlessly with other Google products (like Gmail) as a way for Google to retain customers rather than acquire new ones. However, as Google Drive continues to evolve, web hosts may need to lower their cloud storage prices.
Web hosts may also want to take note of third-party app integration, since there are several free web hosting apps in the Google Chrome web store (like Yola, which includes a free website builder and hosting that can be integrated with Google Drive).
Google Drive offers all the features a consumer would want in a cloud storage product, including collaboration. Google Docs has been integrated into Google Drive to allow users to work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and other items.
Currently, users can install Google drive on both Macs and PCs, as well as download the app on Android devices. iOS support is scheduled to be added soon.
Cloud Backup Firm BackupAgent Releases WHMCS Module
Cloud backup software provider BackupAgent launched its new WHMCS integration module this week, which allows the company’s web hosting partners to connect cloud backup into their control panel.
According to their press release, the module is available for all web hosts in the SPLA partner program “Powered by BackupAgent” that use the WHMCS control panel.
“We are incredibly excited with the launch of the integration module. We are always eager to keep up to date with the latest hosting technologies and we are proud to be the first cloud backup platform to integrate with WHMCS,” Robbert van Geldrop, CTO of BackupAgent said in a statement. “We have had a tremendous amount of requests for WHMCS and are delighted we can now satisfy these requests.”
WHMCS was created in 2005 as an all-in-one client management, billing and support solution. According to the press release, WHMCS is used by online businesses in more than 90 countries, and is a standard option for web hosts.
“A significant number of our customers, especially within the hosting sector, have requested a cloud backup service to be integrated in our control panel and billing platform,” Matt Pugh, president and CEO of WHMCS said in a statement. “BackupAgent has done a great job in building a module and we are confident it will be popular with our users.”
