Web hosting, what is it actually?
Website hosting is a synonym for website hosting,
You can read more about web hosting in the article What is web hosting?
Cloud web hosting is divided into a wide range of services, starting from a shared hosting package,
Virtual server hosting, dedicated hosting for WordPress websites.
Web Hosting – VPS Servers
The problem with dedicated servers and conventional VPS and shared hosting plans is that eventually – if there is enough traffic – you will hit the physical limitations of the actual server.
We’re talking about a real machine with real limitations on how much memory it can use, how much storage it can hold, and how many requests it can handle.
Most sites never hit these limits, and shared or VPS hosting is more than enough. But some sites consistently get tens of thousands of visits a day, and other sites with less consistent traffic occasionally experience huge spikes that can’t be predicted, like when a piece of content suddenly goes viral.
Because of these storage realities, hosting companies offer something that is often called by a name like “scalable VPS storage” or “cloud-based storage” or “scalable cloud-based storage.”
You can read more about virtual servers in the article What is a VPS server?
What is cloud web hosting?
Generally speaking, when it comes to web hosting, “cloud” means a large number of computers are all clustered together,
And any application running on them can make use of their integrated computing resources.
With this type of hosting, your virtual private server isn’t one of several on a single server. Instead, it’s one of hundreds that all share a huge pool of computing resources.
The benefits of cloud web hosting
Typically, hosting companies try to maintain an average level of resource utilization,
Well within the limits of the actual amount of computing. It may be as low as 50%.
If there is a sudden increase in usage it is because one site has an increase in traffic,
Overall usage is rising but remains within what the system as a whole can handle.
This also works well for websites as they grow over time. The hosting company adds more computing resources, or rearranges how the virtual machines are deployed on the system, to maintain optimal performance as each website’s usage profile evolves.
Another advantage of scalable cloud storage is that you typically only pay for what you actually use. This is especially good for businesses that don’t have the money to pay for high-end web hosting initially, but will eventually need the bandwidth if the business is successful.
One of the other neat features of some cloud-based VPS plans is that you can actually tie multiple virtual servers to a single account. This is good for people who need a multi-tiered development and deployment structure, with a server each for development, testing, and production.
Not all cloud hosting is the same:
The thing to watch out for with cloud-based or scalable storage is that “cloud” barely has any legal or technical meaning, and “scalable” is equally ambiguous.
Each hosting company has vastly different web hosting plans under this umbrella of related terms, so be sure to read the features you’re actually purchasing, as well as reviews from real users.
Managed web hosting? What is it?
If you need the bandwidth and power of a VPS or dedicated server, but don’t have the technical skills (or the inclination) to do serious server management, you can get a managed hosting plan.
Managed web hosting is a term that covers many different types of plans, but what they all have in common is that the hosting company provides some kind of proactive technical support. This can be as simple as pre-installing software and helping with initial configuration, to ongoing monitoring and upgrades.
With some managed web hosting plans, you have direct access to a VPS or dedicated server, and the hosting company provides support in addition to that core hosting service.
This gives you the flexibility to do what you want or need to do, but without having to know everything about server management.
Other managed web hosting plans are designed for specific applications like WordPress, and your interaction with them is limited to the single installation.
The entire environment has been set up to provide the best experience with a single application, and there’s really nothing else you can do.
This is great if it’s the application you need, but it doesn’t give you much flexibility.
What exactly is dedicated storage?
The hosting plans listed above make up the majority of what commercial hosting providers offer. The range of features, bandwidth, and computing power available in one of these “conventional” hosting plans will suit the needs of almost anyone looking for web hosting plans.
Just for the sake of completeness, it’s worth noting that there are a number of specialty storage providers that feature specific storage and support different technology needs.
Most of these are platform-specific, such as storage designed for a particular language, database tool, or framework.
Others provide tools tailored to particular development methodologies.
The best advice is not to worry about these things at this point. If you are setting up a website or blog for yourself, your business, or your organization, it is unlikely that you will need any special hosting environment.
If you’re unsure about your specific situation, you can use our Compare Features tool to see which hosts support the technology you need.
How to choose web hosting?
Shared web hosting is very suitable for personal blogs,
For websites for small to medium organizations like clubs and churches, and small non-tech businesses.
This probably isn’t suitable for a business that relies exclusively on its website for revenue, or for a large organization with a lot of traffic.
VPS hosting is the best choice for medium to large organizations, online stores, or large blogs. Depending on the relative size of your future traffic, you may need a “scalable” VPS solution that can handle large amounts of traffic.
If you’re trying to start an online business or build a website for a well-known brand, VPS hosting should probably be where you start looking.
A dedicated server plan provides few real advantages over a VPS plan, and can sometimes be more difficult to manage.
This is really only a reasonable choice if you have a knack for managing servers in your organization and a compelling reason to run your applications without a virtualization layer.
Summary
There is a wide variety of web hosting plans available, but they all fall into one of three categories:
Shared hosting is very cheap, but not very powerful. It’s good for small projects on a budget.
Dedicated storage is expensive and very complicated. If you don’t know if you need it, you probably don’t need it.
VPS hosting, often called “cloud-based” or “scalable,” is the right default for most serious business customers.
Both VPS and dedicated server plans are available in “managed hosting” plans, which may be right for you if you need the power and flexibility of an entire server but don’t have the skills or resources in your organization to manage the server yourself.
Read more about setting up a cloud workspace – VMware
