Understanding Cloud Web Hosting

What exactly is cloud hosting? The term 'cloud' has become quite trendy in today’s IT, internet, and web hosting industry. However, only a select few really understand what cloud hosting entails. Perhaps it’s a good idea to learn more about cloud hosting services. To keep things brief, let's start by clarifying what cloud hosting is not.

1. Cloud Hosting is Not Just Remote File Storage.

1. Offering a remote storage solution, where one storage device serves all users, does not automatically make a hosting company a legitimate cloud hosting provider.

Web hosting providers that use cPanel often call their ability to offer remote storage solutions “cloud hosting.” While this term might sound appealing, we’re discussing hosting solutions, not just remote storage services for personal or business use. It’s not enough to label a shared hosting service running on a single-server platform, like cPanel, as “cloud hosting.” That’s because the other components of the hosting platform need to operate in the same way. It’s not just about remote storage; other services involved in the hosting process must also be distributed, isolated, and “cloud-based.” This is extremely difficult to achieve, and only a small number of providers can truly deliver it.

2. It Covers Domain Names, Emails, Databases, FTPs, Control Panels, and More.

Cloud hosting is not limited to remote disk storage. We’re talking about a comprehensive hosting service that supports multiple domain names, websites, email accounts, and more.

To call a hosting service "cloud hosting" requires much more than offering remote storage. The email servers must be dedicated solely to mail services and should only handle those tasks. There may be just one or an entire set of email servers, depending on the load. To have true cloud hosting, the remote database servers must work together as one, regardless of the number of actual servers. This applies to control panels, FTPs, and other components as well.

3. Cloud DNS Servers Are Also Part of the Equation.

A legitimate cloud hosting provider will have DNS servers spread across multiple server farms located on different continents.

Here’s an example of a Domain Name Server from a genuine cloud hosting provider:

dns1.thebloghost.net

dns2.thebloghost.net

If your hosting provider uses DNS servers like these, it doesn’t guarantee a cloud hosting platform, but you can be confident that it’s a step in the right direction. In contrast, if you encounter Domain Name Servers like this:

dns658.hostgator.com

dns659.hostgator.com

you can be sure that cloud hosting is not in use. These DNS servers clearly indicate that the hosting platform is single-server based, most likely using cPanel, a solution that handles all hosting services (web, mail, DNS, databases, FTP, control panels, etc.) on a single physical machine.

Remote Storage - A Misconception of Cloud Hosting.

So, cloud hosting is not just about remote data storage, despite what many hosting providers may suggest. If it were, many file hosting companies would have been categorized as cloud hosting providers long ago. However, they are not considered as such because they only provide file hosting, not cloud hosting services. Remote file storage is far simpler than the entire web hosting platform. It cannot be classified as cloud hosting because it's only a small part of the larger cloud hosting system. There's much more to explore in cloud hosting: the hosting Control Panel cloud, database clouds (MySQL, PostgreSQL), DNS clouds, FTP clouds, mail clouds, and perhaps new cloud services we haven't even heard of yet.