Explanation of Cloud Hosting

What is cloud web hosting in fact? The word 'cloud' appears to be quite modish in today's information technology, Internet and hosting parlance. Yet, just a select few actually are informed about what cloud hosting is. Perchance it is a clever idea to inform yourself about cloud web hosting services. To render a very lengthy tale succinct, we will first notify you about what cloud hosting is not.

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

1. Delivering a remote data storage solution, which involves one file storage device for all users, does not convert any given web hosting supplier into an actual cloud web hosting supplier.

The cPanel web hosting corporations dub the ability to supply remote disk storage services a cloud web hosting service. So far there is nothing bad about the cloud classification, but... we are discussing website hosting solutions, not remote disk storage solutions for personal or business needs. There's always one "but", isn't there? It's not sufficient to dub a shared web hosting service, based on a single-server hosting environment, precisely like cPanel, a "cloud web hosting" solution. This is so because the other constituents of the entire web hosting platform must be functioning in precisely the same manner - this does not refer solely to the remote data storage. The other services involved in the whole web hosting process also must be remote, isolated and "clouded". And that's quite hard. A very meager number of hosting providers can actually attain it.

2. It Entails Domains, E-mail Boxes, Databases, File Transfer Protocols, Control Panels, etc.

Cloud web hosting is not restricted to a remote data storage exclusively. We are discussing a hosting service, serving lots of domains, web sites, email accounts, and so on, are we not?

To dub a web hosting service a "cloud web hosting" one needs a lot more than delivering merely remote disk storage mounts (or possibly servers). The mail server(s) have to be devoted solely to the email related services. Doing nothing else than these particular procedures. There might be just one single or possibly a whole cluster of mail servers, depending on the overall load created. To have a true cloud web hosting service, the remote database servers should be functioning as one, regardless of their real quantity. Performing nothing else. The same is valid for the customers' CPs, the File Transfer Protocol, etc.

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

The DNSs (Domain Name Servers) of an authentic cloud web hosting packages provider will support numerous data center facility locations on multiple continents.

Here's an example of a Domain Name Server of a real cloud web hosting provider:

dns1.aimtv.us

dns2.aimtv.us

If such a Domain Name Server is supplied by your web hosting provider, it's not a guarantee that there is a cloud web hosting environment in use, but you can definitely be convinced when you observe a Domain Name Server such as the one underneath:

dns658.hostgator.com

dns659.hostgator.com

that there isn't any cloud hosting service. This kind of Domain Name Server simply indicates that the web hosting platform in use is one-single-server based. Perchance it's cPanel. cPanel is a one-single-server hosting platform and maintains a market share of more than 98%. In cPanel's case, one single physical machine handles all hosting services (web, mail, DNS, databases, FTP, hosting Control Panel(s), web site files, and so on).

Remote File Storage - The Distorted Definition of Cloud Web Hosting.

So, a cloud web hosting solution is not limited just to a remote file storage service, as plenty of web hosting service providers wish it was. Unluckily for them, if that was the case, most of the file hosting firms would have been categorized as cloud hosting ones long ago! They are not classified as such, since they simply distribute file web hosting solutions, not cloud hosting solutions. The file hosting platform looks indeed very plain, in comparison with the web hosting platform. The remote disk storage platform is not a cloud hosting platform. It cannot be, as it's merely one small part of the whole cloud web hosting platform. There's plenty more to be discovered in the cloud web hosting platform: the web hosting Control Panel cloud, the database clouds (MySQL, PostgreSQL), the Domain Name Server cloud, the FTP cloud, the electronic mail cloud and... in the not too distant future, perhaps a few brand new clouds we presently are not acquainted with will emerge unexpectedly.