Cloud Hosting types and technologies are a good place to start when you’re deciding which kind of service you need for your website or business. These cloud solutions are commonly available in the form of Public, Hybrid, and Private clouds. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to understand which one best suits your needs before committing to a service. In this article, we’ll go over Public, Hybrid, and Private clouds and Community clouds.
Cloud Hosting and How It Works
In simple terms, a cloud is a number of interconnected servers that redistribute the overall traffic load among themselves. That works easily — several servers just have the same data. So, let’s imagine 20,000 users are checking a certain webpage.
Some 10,000 will access website data hosted on one server, while the other 10,000 will get it from another rack.
Looks easy, right? But if you dig deeper, you’ll discover a number of cloud hosting plans — and all of them will have different functions and applications. Read on to find out more about the most common cloud hosting types.
Cloud Hosting Types
If you browse the web, you’ll see that most web hosts have such cloud system types: public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and community clouds. Different web hosting companies have different pricing systems. So, let’s take a closer look at each cloud option to understand what would be the best solution in case your dedicated plan is not enough:
Hybrid clouds
Businesses can make use of hybrid clouds, a form of cloud hosting that blends the best of both public and private cloud infrastructures. This type of cloud enables organizations to scale security and scalability to meet their needs. Private clouds protect important information, while the public cloud accommodates massive amounts of less-sensitive data. Hybrid clouds are a great way for businesses to maximize the advantages of cloud computing while keeping costs low.
A successful hybrid cloud strategy requires a strong network connection. A wide-area network (WAN) connection is ideal, but some companies choose a dedicated network service for greater security. After choosing a cloud provider, be sure to assess the network connection and check for uptime requirements. Hybrid clouds are the perfect choice for companies that need high levels of uptime, security, and flexibility. However, they do come with some challenges.
Public Clouds
There are different types of public clouds available for different organizations. Public clouds are managed and owned by third-party vendors. The data, applications, and services hosted on these clouds belong to the vendors. On the other hand, private clouds are hosted by an organization. These types of clouds are also known as on-premise clouds, corporate clouds, or internal clouds. However, private clouds are typically more expensive than public clouds. Public clouds offer numerous benefits despite the high costs, especially for organizations with varied IT demands.
PaaS is another type of public cloud. In this type, developers can access pre-coded application components, making it easier to build software faster. Examples of such platforms include Google App Engine, Heroku, Apache Stratos, and OpenShift. On the other hand, IaaS is a type of cloud service that offers access to computing infrastructure components such as virtual machines, storage, and servers. It is typically much cheaper to use than to build and maintain these infrastructures.
As a business owner, you will want to consider all of the options available. Public clouds offer an array of benefits and can be the perfect solution for certain needs. You should consider private or dedicated hosting if you’re seeking full control. Dedicated hosting gives you more control over your cloud server than a public cloud service does. In general, public cloud hosting services offer the best solution for most people. It’s best to discuss your needs with an expert before choosing a cloud hosting plan.
Private clouds
A private cloud is a form of cloud hosting in which the hosting provider hosts the resources. Whether the cloud is hosted on-premises or in a data center, the resources in the private cloud are not shared with other organizations. Instead, they are managed by the cloud provider. With a managed private cloud, many of the responsibilities of running a public cloud are passed off to a third-party hosting partner. In addition to hosting, managed private clouds also offer value-added services like backup and business continuity.
While public cloud hosting is popular with businesses and governments, a private cloud is often the best option for organizations that have particular security and regulatory compliance concerns. Private clouds offer greater security and control and can help businesses manage costs more effectively. The virtualization technology that underpins all types of cloud hosting helps businesses manage their resources more effectively and efficiently. Private clouds also allow customers to provision virtual servers based on their needs and can scale automatically in response to spikes in usage. Private clouds can also implement redundancy for high availability and optimize resource utilization.
Community clouds
There are several ways to set up a community cloud: governed, subscription-based, or a combination of both. The community cloud can provide more data processing and regulatory compliance flexibility because consumers share similar concerns. Its providers are more likely to adapt to customer needs if the governance body is a publicly trusted organization. It can also be built with regulatory compliance in mind.
Several organizations are already using Community Cloud for their cloud needs. Federal agencies are among them. These organizations can share infrastructure and information without worrying about security breaches. Unlike a private cloud, community clouds can reduce the cost of maintaining and operating a cloud infrastructure by dividing the work among several organizations. A Community Cloud also reduces an organization’s carbon footprint by avoiding the need for separate servers for data storage and management.
Community clouds are emerging as an important part of the hybrid cloud market. This type of cloud hosting meets industry-specific needs while still delivering the benefits of the public cloud. In addition to meeting the needs of local organizations, Community Clouds allows global providers to collaborate with local partners to provide services that meet specific industry demands. This allows the cloud to grow while providing a safer environment for cloud testing. Consider these advantages if you’re thinking about building your own Community Cloud.
Self-service provisioning
When you are using a cloud provider, self-service provisioning can be a great way to gain control over your system. Implementing self-service provisioning requires an assessment of your current systems and what you need. Then, you need to identify who has access to what and when. Using design patterns and expert advice can help you make the transition smoothly.
With this model, you can add cloud devices and resources as you need them. This process is called “cloud self-service” and can often be automated. You can add cloud devices and services to your account within minutes and usually pay with a credit card. These resources are available as soon as you are ready to use them. Self-service provisioning has a lot of benefits for many organizations, including cost savings. Listed below are some of the benefits of self-service provisioning.
It allows you to reduce your IT staff’s workload. By empowering business users to request new servers, you can free up IT staff for more profitable endeavors. However, the speed with which the machines can be spun up is not without its pitfalls. You’ll need to monitor the processes of your cloud provider, and you should have built revision control in place. You should also have an application and prerequisite review process in place. Self-service provisioning can quickly turn into a sprawl situation if you don’t know how to monitor it.
Cloud Pricing Models Hourly and Monthly
There are two common pricing models you will find among different cloud host companies: the month-based and the time-based model. In the month-based model, you just pay a certain price monthly and don’t mind how many resources will be needed (or not)for the project. The time-based model will only count your time on modifying your servers. Let’s say you install and adjust an OS on your servers, and it takes you 2 hours. You’ll only need to pay for those two hours at the end of the two hours. The system looks really attractive, but the hourly prices rack up if you need services all day long, seven days a week. If you are not planning to make improvements frequently, the hour-based model is great. You will also find a couple of cloud hosts that offer hourly prices that are the same as the monthly prices divided by thirty days. That’s a rare case; still, it’s worth looking for such offers. The hour-based model is more common for public cloud
solutions. Different cloud types are not so hard to understand. On the whole, the model is the same, but with some changes. All you have to do is be attentive to your needs. Cloud hosts, in turn, will surely offer you a solution that can fulfill any needs you may have.
