What is Cloud Hosting?

What is cloud hosting in fact? The term 'cloud' seems to be quite fashionable in today's information technology, World Wide Web and web hosting jargon. Nonetheless, just a few in fact are informed about what cloud hosting is. Perhaps it is a smart idea to inform yourself about cloud hosting services. To render a very lengthy tale succinct, we will first inform you about what cloud hosting is not.

1. Cloud Hosting is Not Limited to a Remote Disk Storage Exclusively.

1. Providing a remote file storage solution, which comprises one data storage tool for all customers, does not transform any given hosting provider into a genuine cloud hosting firm.

The cPanel web hosting providers call the ability to deliver remote data storage solutions a cloud hosting service. Up to now there is nothing bad about the cloud labeling, but... we are talking about website hosting solutions, not remote disk storage services for private or corporate purposes. There's constantly one "but", isn't there? It's not sufficient to name a shared web hosting service, powered by a single-server hosting environment, precisely like cPanel, a "cloud hosting" service. That's because the other components of the entire web hosting platform must be working in exactly the same way - this does not apply only to the remote data storage. The other services entailed in the entire web hosting process also need to be remote, separated and "clouded". And that's extremely difficult. A very meager number of hosting companies can actually do it.

2. It Involves Domains, Mail Addresses, Databases, File Transfer Protocols, Hosting Control Panels, etc.

Cloud hosting is not limited to a remote file storage exclusively. We are talking about a hosting solution, serving plenty of domain names, online portals, email boxes, and so on, aren't we?

To name a web hosting service a "cloud hosting" one takes a lot more than providing merely remote file storage mounts (or perchance servers). The e-mail server(s) must be dedicated only to the mail associated services. Carrying out nothing else than these particular procedures. There might be only one single or perhaps a whole assortment of e-mail servers, based on the overall server load generated. To have a true cloud hosting service, the remote database servers should be performing as one, regardless of their actual quantity. Executing nothing different. The same goes for the clients' Control Panels, the FTP, etc.

3. There are Cloud Domain Name Servers (DNSs) too.

The DNSs (Domain Name Servers) of a true cloud hosting plans provider will support numerous data center sites on multiple continents.

Here's an instance of a DNS of a genuine cloud hosting corporation:

dns1.xnethost.com

dns2.xnethost.com

If such a Domain Name Server is offered by your web hosting services provider, it's not a sure thing that there is a cloud web hosting environment in use, but you can definitely be confident when you notice a Domain Name Server such as the one underneath:

dns658.hostgator.com

dns659.hostgator.com

that there isn't any cloud web hosting service. This type of Domain Name Server merely reveals that the hosting environment in use is one-single-server based. Perchance it's cPanel. cPanel is a one-single-server hosting solution and maintains a market share of more than 98%. In cPanel's case, a single server handles all web hosting services (web, e-mail, DNS, databases, File Transfer Protocol, hosting Control Panel(s), files, and so on).

Remote File Storage - The Distorted Definition of Cloud Hosting.

So, a cloud hosting service is not restricted exclusively to a remote file storage solution, as a lot of web hosting companies wish it was. Unluckily for them, if that was the case, the majority of the file web hosting vendors would have been referred to as cloud web hosting ones a long time ago! They are not classified as such, since they merely deliver file web hosting solutions, not cloud hosting services. The file hosting platform seems indeed very plain, when compared to the hosting platform. The remote data storage platform is not a cloud web hosting platform. It cannot be, as it's only one tiny fraction of the entire cloud hosting platform. There's plenty more to be encountered in the cloud hosting platform: the hosting Control Panel cloud, the database clouds (MySQL, PostgreSQL), the DNS cloud, the FTP cloud, the e-mail cloud and... in the foreseeable future, perchance a couple of new clouds we currently are not informed about will emerge out of nowhere.