Updated July 5, 2023
Introduction to Best Cloud Hosting
The following article provides an outline for Best Cloud Hosting. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Software as a service (SaaS), and Platform as a service (PaaS) are the three major categories in cloud computing. Services offered in SaaS and PaaS categories revolve around a specific Software and Software related platform, respectively. IaaS provides compute and storage infrastructure to the users in the cloud to host any applications as per their needs in the operating environment they want. It is the best option among many offerings in the IaaS category. Virtual Private Servers hosting (VPS) and Shared hosting are the other offerings in IaaS.
Why is Cloud Hosting Important?
Organizations should have a strong cloud strategy with clear guidelines to adopt the right category of Cloud deployment model and the right hosting option within the category based on Application needs, usage factors and other parameters as listed below.
A detailed study should be carried out to arrive at the option.
- Users seeking cloud services expect to Compute resources to be.
- Available without any disruption thro a 24×7 time window.
- Scaled up and down as per their needs.
- Offered from multiple server locations so that other servers will act as a buffer and services resume seamlessly if one server fails.
- Allotted to them dedicatedly and not shared with other users to ensure the protection of their data 5. Delivered as per the agreed Performance level.
- Free from security threats and vulnerabilities.
- Managed easily.
- Available at a cheaper cost and pay peruse.
It is the best option available to meet all the above expectations of users. It provides the compute, network, and storage resources remotely and virtually hosted on multiple servers. These services are offered abundantly as per the user’s demand. Users can make use of these hardware resources to deploy their application, data, and any other services as per their business needs.
VPS hosting and shared hosting are the other alternatives available to the users in the IaaS cloud offerings. Though the solutions offered are cheap, they have their limitations. In Shared hosting, the resources are shared with other users in a common environment, which may bring in security concerns and performance issues.
In VPS hosting, scaling up/scaling down the compute resources and the absence of backup resources to handle the main server’s breakdowns are the main issues. It gains importance over other hosting options in many ways, as explained above, and meets most of the expectations of the users willing to migrate their applications to the cloud.
How Cloud Hosting Solutions Deployed?
The following parameters should be considered for the selection of cloud hosting service providers and monitoring their performance post-implementation:
- Easy Scalability.
- No or Minimum downtime.
- Simpler Horizontal deployments.
- Meeting performance expectations right from initial page loading up to the completion of transactions and queries.
- Business continuity Process thro data replication (Mirroring) in the servers at the secondary site.
- Hassle-free migration to other cloud service providers (If required).
- Pay peruse.
- Ease in Management through self-service options.
- Controlling the traffic among various resources by in-house team
- Support level from a vendor in stabilizing the performance.
Steps in Managing the Cloud Operations
Below are the different steps to manage cloud operations:
Step 1: Onboard the Cloud hosting vendor.
Step 2: Migrate the existing data to the cloud servers.
Step 3: Direct user access to cloud resources.
Step 4: Monitor the performance of the application and data traffic. Develop dashboards and alerts to manage extreme situations.
Step 5: Allocate additional RAM and CPU cores in the servers and storage commensurate with a load.
Step 6: If the traffic decreases, de-allocate the resources as required.
Step 7: Develop a mechanism to verify the payment with the actual usage and ensure that billed services are being used effectively. Stop the services if it is not used regularly.
Step 8: Monitor the data replication status at the secondary site and ensure that the secondary site is ready to host the services in case of disaster.
Step 9: Get feedback from end-users on service availability, performance, and outages.
Step 10: Have periodical review meetings with service providers on the measured performance parameters and make a course correction if needed.
Cloud Hosting Service Providers
Big Players like Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft Azure provide cloud hosting services globally, and in India, there are multiple service providers like DigitalOcean Cloud, Jelastic PaaS, Netmagic offer this service. One will have to evaluate the vendor technically before getting into any engagement.
General User Experience
More than 80% of users adopt cloud services, and 70% of them have engagements with multiple cloud vendors. users embrace cloud options enthusiastically and face several issues in their journey, like:
- The cost of cloud services appears to be huge.
- The metrics of billing are not clear to the users.
- Users feel that they are charged for invisible services, and there is a lack of transparency.
- There are performance issues in the services.
Of late, there are many cases of users changing cloud vendors or bring the services back to on-premises due to multiple reasons like high cost, manageability issues, etc…
Advantages
Given below are the advantages mentioned:
- Limitless compute resources in a secured environment with an option to scale up/down to suit the business requirements.
- Outages free services.
- Cost savings in IT services.
- The platform for testing and hosting new Technology applications.
- Avenues to accelerate the Business transformation.
This model transforms Business into:
- Nimble footed
- Agile
- Competitive
- Frugal
By responding to the dynamic computing needs at the right time with the right quantum of resources at the right cost.
Conclusion
It has many advantages and few hiccups for the users who need easily scalable/manageable, stable, secured; the cheapest compute resources in the cloud to meet ever-increasing needs. Vendors will address hiccups like the lack of transparency of cloud vendors on the metrics of licenses and billing of services in the future, and cloud hosting costs will decrease as the usage increases.
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This is a guide to Best Cloud Hosting. Here we discuss the introduction, steps in managing the cloud operations, general user experience and advantages. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –
