Definition of Cloud Website Hosting

What is cloud hosting really? The word 'cloud' appears to be very fashionable in today's computing, Internet and web hosting lingo. However, only a select few really are familiar with what cloud hosting is. Possibly it is a sensible idea to educate yourself about cloud hosting services. To make a very lengthy story concise, we will first let you know what cloud hosting is not.

1. Cloud Hosting is Not Confined to a Remote Data Storage Only.

1. Providing a remote disk storage solution, which involves one single file storage device for all users, does not convert any specific web hosting firm into a real cloud hosting services provider.

The cPanel hosting firms call the ability to offer remote file storage services a cloud hosting solution. Up till now there is nothing bad about the cloud terminology, but... we are talking about web hosting services, not remote data storage solutions for private or business purposes. There's constantly one "but", isn't there? It's not sufficient to call a shared web hosting service, powered by a one-single-server hosting environment, exactly like cPanel, a "cloud hosting" solution. This is so because the other components of the whole web hosting platform must be functioning in exactly the same way - this does not refer solely to the remote disk storage. The other services entailed in the whole hosting process also need to be remote, separated and "clouded". And that's very tough. A very small number of hosting suppliers can truly accomplish it.

2. It Includes Domains, Mails, Databases, FTPs, CPs, etc.

Cloud hosting is not confined to a remote file storage only. We are discussing a web hosting solution, serving lots of domain names, web sites, electronic mails, etc., aren't we?

To dub a web hosting service a "cloud hosting" one demands a lot more than providing simply remote file storage mounts (or perchance physical servers). The mail server(s) must be dedicated exclusively to the electronic mail associated services. Executing nothing else than these particular assignments. There might be only one or perhaps an entire bunch of e-mail servers, determined by the overall server load generated. To have a true cloud hosting solution, the remote database servers should be working as one, irrespective of their real quantity. Performing nothing different. The same is valid for the clients' web hosting Control Panels, the File Transfer Protocol, and so on.

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

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

Here's an instance of a Domain Name Server of a real cloud hosting firm:

dns1.grabbaghosting.com

dns2.grabbaghosting.com

If such a DNS is provided by your web hosting services provider, it's not a guarantee that there is a cloud web hosting platform in use, but you can definitely be confident when you perceive a DNS such as the one underneath:

dns658.hostgator.com

dns659.hostgator.com

that there isn't any cloud web hosting platform. This kind of DNS just illustrates that the web hosting environment in use is one-server based. Probably it's cPanel. cPanel is a single-server web hosting solution and holds a market share of more than 98%. In cPanel's case, one physical machine tackles all hosting services (web, email, DNS, databases, FTP, CP(s), web site files, and so on).

Remote File Storage - The Distorted Explanation of Cloud Hosting.

So, a cloud hosting service is not limited exclusively to a remote disk storage service, as multiple hosting vendors wish it was. Unfortunately for them, if that was the case, the majority of the file hosting companies would have been classified as cloud web hosting ones long ago! They are not categorized as such, since they merely deliver file hosting services, not cloud web hosting solutions. The file hosting platform appears really quite plain, when compared to the web hosting platform. The remote data storage platform is not a cloud hosting platform. It cannot be, as it's simply one tiny constituent of the whole cloud web hosting platform. There's plenty more to be discovered in the cloud hosting platform: the hosting CP cloud, the database clouds (MySQL, PostgreSQL), the Domain Name Server cloud, the FTP cloud, the electronic mail cloud and... in the upcoming future, perchance a few brand new clouds we presently are not aware of will surface out of the blue.