VPS vs. Cloud Hosting for Wordpress

Regardless of your website’s size, one of the more difficult decisions you’ll make is your choice of hosting. There are plenty of options, but each will fit different needs. However, choosing the wrong type of hosting can negatively impact your site’s performance.

Two options that are a solid choice for most websites are Virtual Private Server (VPS) and cloud hosting. Their flexibility and scalability make them good for websites of any size, meaning they can be used for both personal and business sites.

VPS and cloud hosting are two of the larger-scale hosting options for WordPress websites. The latter hosts your content on various cloud servers throughout the world, much like a Content Delivery Network (CDN). In contrast, a VPS is similar to a dedicated physical server, although you’ll have to share resources (and admin privileges to it) with others.

In this post, we’ll introduce the differences between VPS and cloud hosting for WordPress. This will include a comparison of various features and an examination of what kinds of websites each hosting option works best for. Let’s get started!

RELIABILITY

In terms of providing reliable website speed and performance, both hosting options suffice. However, website uptime should be a primary concern, especially for VPS users.
For example, because a VPS is only hosted one physical server, you could experience website downtime. However, with cloud hosting, your resources are spread across multiple servers. This means one server being down won’t put your site out of commission.

SECURITY

Security is arguably the most important factor to keep in mind when running a website. It’s important to understand that the hosting option you choose will provide you with varying levels of security.

With cloud hosting, your website’s data will often be stored in multiple physical locations. This can make keeping your website optimally secure a little more difficult.

As such, VPS hosting is a better choice if you need top-notch security. This is particularly true if you are running an e-commerce site, or any other site that collects private information.

Finally, security is paramount, although the more secure your hosting plan, the less customization flexibility you’ll have, which could butt heads with your needs.

CUSTOMIZATION

Customization – i.e. the configuration and setup of your server – is usually something you’ll need to consider with both hosting options, so their limitations are important to know.

Considering that VPS hosting uses just one server – often giving you admin access at the Operating System (OS) level – customizing this setup is much more flexible than other solutions.

With cloud hosting, your customization options are usually more limited, although not as much as you’d imagine. With either option, you’ll have full access to your server, although given the nature of their implementation, running a VPS will be more focused on security considerations.

FLEXIBILITY

Both VPS and cloud hosting offer a fair degree of flexibility, which makes them popular among many website owners – although this isn’t always necessary.

Scalability is also possible with both options, but in different ways. With VPS hosting, you can increase or decrease your resources (such as network bandwidth) as your monthly needs change. With cloud hosting you can do the same, but instantaneously.

As such, VPS hosting is best for websites with a steady stream of monthly visitors. You can always upgrade as necessary on a monthly basis. On the other hand, cloud hosting is good for websites with less predictable traffic numbers. If your needs ever change, you can instantaneously increase your resources to meet them.

COST

As both hosting options follow a slightly different pricing setup, it can be difficult to compare them directly.

VPS hosting is often a flat rate fee, which can increase or decrease based upon your predicted needs for the upcoming month. This ‘no surprises’ aspect is a major benefit for small-to-medium businesses, but it can also mean you’re paying for unused resources if your predictions were too lofty.

In contrast, cloud hosting lets you pay for what you use. Instead of paying a similar rate each month, your bill will fluctuate based on your monthly usage. The benefit is you pay for only what you’ve used. However, this can mean heavy traffic months can have unexpectedly hefty bills.

WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

In short, just about any customer type – including bloggers, small business, publishers, and enterprise-grade sites – can benefit from either VPS or cloud hosting. The crucial thing to consider when making your decision is your monthly traffic levels. While this will (of course) vary, the general guidelines are:

In comparing cloud hosting vs. VPS, we considered each of the elements outlined above. Of these, cost will also be a contributing factor, and may alter what you consider to be the better option for your website.

VPS VS. DEDICATED HOSTING

VPS and cloud hosting are two of the more popular options for moderate-to-large websites. However, another option is dedicated hosting.

The main difference between VPS and dedicated hosting isn’t the number of servers used (as both use only one). Instead, it’s how the server’s resources are allocated.

As mentioned, VPS occurs on a shared server, but with deeper admin privileges. However, a dedicated server contains only one website. This offers the most in security and customization, and it’s a good choice for high-traffic websites with steady numbers each month.

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Choosing a Domain Name: Tips on Avoiding Trademark Infringement

Obviously, a good domain name is the heart and soul of a great website. It can at once express the identity of your site, its mood, and identify the content visitors can expect to see. A good domain name attracts your target audience and helps your site win the SEO battle by keeping it high in search engine rankings. With a good domain name, half your battle is won - but unless you put some thought into it, buying a good domain name can be the start of some serious problems.

Imagine... You buy the perfect domain name and set about establishing your site. You review web hosts and find the one you need. You do due diligence on website designers and get one on board. Once your site is set up and paid for, you do some basic SEO and it is flying - it is high in search engine rankings and bringing in customers AND revenue. And then it happens... You receive a "cease and desist" letter - otherwise known as an "infringement letter".

What is an "Infringement Letter"?

An infringement letter is essentially a letter sent from a lawyer to ask someone to refrain from 'illegal' activity. Receiving one can come as a tremendous shock. People don't expect buying a domain name and operating a website to constitute anything illegal. But if you have bought the wrong name, it can be extremely serious indeed. If your domain name infringes on an existing trademark, you can end up in court and in fact lose the domain entirely, rendering the time and effort you invested in your website something you have to write off.

What does "Infringing a Trademark" mean?

Let's say you have a company that makes soft drinks. For obvious reasons, it is highly unlikely that you would call your company "Coca Cola". The possible ramifications are too numerous to mention. Coca Cola is one of the world's leading brands, its name and logos are trademarked, and even a complete business novice would recognize the potential for being sued. But of course, "Coke" has become something of a generic term identifying cola drinks around the world - order 'Coke' in some restaurants and the chances are that you might get a cola drink that wasn't actually made by Coca Cola. So, if you find a domain name, "www.newcokedrink.com", or something similar, it should be ok to register it for your website's domain name, right?

So what does this have to do with my domain name? 

Wrong - despite being used generically, the word 'Coke' is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company. As a result, using it in your domain name will almost certainly result in legal action. It is also the case with the multitude of lesser known names and terms that represent copyrighted material around the world. Use any copyrighted word or phrase in your domain name and the chances are you are going to have legal problems.

Why does using a trademark in my domain name illegal? 

Using a trademark in a domain name could potentially misrepresent your products and services. Potentially, if someone visits your website thinking they are visiting the website of the company who owns the trademark in your domain name, they might, for example, purchase products under the impression they are buying products from that company. This type of confusion could exist when the trademark is built directly into the domain. Examples of domains that have previously been disputed include "mcdonalds.com" and "mtv.com". However, domain names that might be recognized as belonging to another company can also infringe copyright. For example, micros0ft.com. A zero replaces the 'o' but it certainly resembles microsoft.com!
 

Generally, what do I need to look for to avoid trademark disputes? 

In many respects you have to follow your gut on this one - domain names that are immediately memorable because they are very clever are very likely to be trademark protected. A word or term that has previously been used in advertising of any nature is also likely to be trademarked. If the domain itself has been used before, it might also be under trademark protection.

How can I know for certain if a domain name infringes a trademark? 

To know for sure requires a bit of effort, but putting in that effort can save so much time and frustration for you in the end. In the United Kingdom, the gov.uk government website allows users to search terms to establish if they are protected. Likewise, in the United States the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the place to start a search. The European Union also offers a search tool for the same purpose. However, if you are intending to make a major investment in a website, it might prove sage to pay professional Intellectual Property lawyers to do a global search for you to establish whether you might experience any difficulties if you begin trading outside the country you are living in.

Come on - is this for real? 

In early 2015 a friend of mine was involved in a trademark dispute involving a specific academic test meant for foreign students studying in the United States. My friend did his homework, and counted some 789 websites with domain names which included the specific term he was planning to use in his domain name. With such prevalence, he felt he was ok to go ahead with his website plans and used that term in his domain. And he also got 'lucky' - he found a domain that also included the name of the country he was operating in. Unfortunately, the term plus the name of the country was the registered name of the test's representatives in the country he was living in. They had registered the trademark years ago, and sent out an Infringement Letter giving him 7 days to stop using the website. And that was that.

What if I ignore an 'Infringement Letter'?

If you ignore an Infringement Letter you are at the mercy of the legal system of the country in which you operate. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, who are in charge of overseeing issues related to domains, have a policy known as the "Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy" which details what happens to names that are in dispute. If the owner of a disputed name cannot be traced, ICANN ultimately has the power to convene an arbitration panel and decide whether the domain name should be handed to the trademark owner, and in most cases, this happens. So, if you ignore an Infringement Letter you could end up in court, or at the very least, the domain name could be taken off you.

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Zen Cart Hosting and Features

Zen Cart® is an open source e-commerce application written in php. Zen Cart® was originally based on osCommerce code from June 2003 and has undergone rapid development since that time. It has released three major point releases, and a couple dozen minor point releases. The current release is 1.5.0.

Features

A list of features of Zen Cart®

◈ Allows customers to shop your store 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
◈ Easily keep your products/catalog updated - no HTML coding required to add, delete, or modify products.
◈ Works on the popular combination of PHP and MySQL technologies.
◈ Secure - no one but your administrative personnel can access your customer/catalog data.
◈ Easy to install - our helpful installation program guides you easily through the setup process.
◈ User frontend is validated to XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
◈ Advanced template system using stylesheets and images.
◈ Any PHP coding changes can be protected during upgrades by using the built-in override protection system.
◈ Switching from one installed template to another is as simple as a couple of clicks in the Admin.
◈ Merchandise Pricing options - single and multiple items can be put on sale. Sale options include percentage-off, fixed amount off, new price, etc. Sales can include or exclude product attributes. You can add or exclude a discount from a special. You can put a whole category or the entire store on sale.
◈ Products can be marked as free or Call for Price.
◈ Products can be marked as Featured for specific highlighting/attention.
◈ Products can be linked and/or copied to multiple categories.
◈ Minimum or maximum quantities and units - you can sell one per customer, or require at least four and in multiples of two. You can set requirements on a per-product basis.
◈ Quantity discounts can be configured per-product for varying pricing levels or quantity levels.
◈ Product attributes can be added, either as radio buttons, checkboxes, drop-down lists, text boxes, file uploads, file downloads, and more. Attribute options can upcharge the price of an item, and an item can have its price completely controlled by attributes. Attributes can be configured as read only so as to provide a features list.
◈ One-time fees can be added to products via attributes.
◈ Attributes also support text pricing, such as price-per-word or price-per-letter for personalizing.
◈ Attributes can show image/color swatches.
◈ Store layout can be controlled in great detail simply by switching settings in the Admin area. Choose your side column and box widths, bread crumb separator, which sideboxes you want to appear where on the page, enable/disable links in various places.
◈ Entire categories of products (or individual products) can be enabled/disabled with just a few clicks.
◈ Sort order of products is easily controlled in the Admin area.
◈ Integrate with phpBB so that your support forum login passwords match your Zen Cart® shop.
◈ If you need to take your site offline for a period of maintenance, you can do it easily by posting advance notices, as well as a friendly Down For Maintenance page that's also search engine friendly. Webmaster and web designer can specify IP addresses to override maintenance and still access the site for testing.
◈ You can send administrative emails on most customer shopping activities to various administrators as desired. Email addresses are protected from abuse, as they are not displayed on-screen. The Contact Us page can be configured to support multiple destinations, such as sales, technical support, webmaster, and so on.
◈ Nearly every piece of information about your products can be controlled in the Admin area, giving you the ability to fine-tune how your products and services appear to your customers. Features and options can be enabled/disabled quickly and easily.
◈ Multiple items can be added to the shopping cart by simply entering quantities and clicking Add.
◈ The product type feature allows you to customize information fields and display format for different products differently. Products for sale vs. documents for viewing, vs. music downloads, and the list goes on.
◈ You can add multiple images to your products, in small/medium/large format. Popups are available if desired for viewing of larger images.
◈ A verification for agreement to the Terms of Service has been added for compliance with new laws regarding privacy and disclosure.
◈ CVV2 card verification number support is available for compliance with most merchant agreements. This feature is enabled/disabled in the Admin.
◈ Shipping options - multiple carriers are supported, including hold for pickup, free delivery in an area, and most major couriers and postal services.
◈ Customer access control - you can set up your shop to only allow customers access to pricing or pricing but not buying until after being authorized by an administrator. You can restrict them from browsing at all too, if desired.
◈ Showcase - you can set your store up to be simply a product showcase, without pricing at all.
◈ Search options allow you to search for products based on name, description, metatags, price, and more.
◈ Meta tags keywords and descriptions can be controlled at the per-product level, all from the administrative interface.
◈ Automatic detection of search engine spiders.
◈ Intelligent generation of metatags content for search engines.
◈ Easily upgrade from one version to the next. Upgrade detection notifies administrators of new versions at login.
◈ Built in WYSIWYG page editor for modifying non-database pages.
◈ Tight security on password handling, login/logout, and more.
◈ HTML-style email supported.
◈ Email can be sent via sendmail, smtp, or smtp-with-authorization.
◈ Email archiving supported for audit trail.
◈ Administrative activity logging enabled for audit trail - especially beneficial with recent merchant agreement requirements concerning tracking of activity related to accessing customer information.
◈ Advertising banners - show information about your business colleagues and track banner link activity. Banners can open in new windows so that customers never really leave your site.
◈ Shipping estimator allows your customer to get an idea of their shipping costs prior to checkout.
◈ Coupons and gift certificates are easily handled both by customers and administrators.
◈ Customer group pricing allows groups of users to receive a set discount amount at checkout.
◈ Newsletter and product notification systems.
◈ Low order fees can be configured.
◈ COD fees can be added.
◈ Shipping tare, large package handling to give fine-grain control over shipping services.
◈ Tax rates, tax zones, etc easily configured in the Admin area.
◈ PayPal™ IPN and many other popular merchant services supported.
◈ Customers can write product reviews (approvals can be required by an Administrator).
◈ Low stock notifications to administrator when inventory is getting low (level can be configured).
◈ For the developer - simple customization via stylesheets.
◈ Developers toolkit helps quickly locate a setting or text string to be customized.
◈ Scalable from small shops to larger shops with hundreds of thousands of products.
◈ Track who's online interactively.
◈ Multiple language support.
◈ Multiple currency support.

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Why Cloud Hosting is Better than Traditional Hosting

In the modern business climate where companies are looking to cut costs and maximize efficiency, people are looking for more effective ways to manage their web hosting requirements. This is a realm that is forever evolving. Technological advancements have led to cloud hosting becoming a popular and revolutionary method. The cloud is becoming a buzzword. With everyone moving to this method you may be wondering why cloud hosting is better than traditional hosting? You might also ask, how does the cloud work?

We will address these two important questions throughout this article. By the time you reach the conclusion, you will understand the true benefits of cloud hosting.

Server costs have dramatically fallen in correlation with internet speeds increasing. To define the cloud, it’s important not to view it as a physical object you can point to. From this groundwork, you can effectively assess the cloud hosting vs traditional hosting debate.

You should view the cloud as an electronic structure that is capable of storing data across multiple computers. This data is served up through network connections such as the internet, thus aligning with the online era in today’s society. These server farms behave as one large storage processor and space. And the data from your website is spread out over various hard drives, which are clustered together.

After addressing the question how does the cloud work, you get an idea of the unlimited storage potential it permits. This directly links to one of the biggest advantages of cloud hosting.

The Advantages of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is highly accessible and offers a level of scalability beyond the capabilities of traditional hosting. You can essentially access your information on-demand and users pay as they go as opposed to paying for a set amount of space up front. This makes cloud hosting a very affordable method and its setup means no lost information, even if an individual server goes down. It’s this level of redundancy that makes cloud hosting resilient and elastic since problems with one particular website are unlikely to affect overall performance.

Cloud hosting also provides infrastructure and is responsible for the housing, running, and maintenance of all the necessary hardware. This allows clients to consequently pay for the resources they use in a fashion similar to paying for electricity utilities. Since cloud servers scale up and down automatically, this flexible solution means you don’t need to add or remove server space. This is because there is an uptime that is proportional to your site’s performance. This maximum uptime is interconnected with the servers on hand, where one of many will be available to take your request.

Why Cloud Hosting is Better: Security and Collaboration

Another reason why cloud hosting is better is it increases security. It does this through customer identity management, storage segregation, data isolation, firewalls and backup recoveries, and encrypted solutions. The backup feature also provides disaster recovery. This is when an interconnection server stores all your company’s backed-up data. This creates peace of mind for concerned users thinking they might lose everything if there is a malicious attack. There is also a great capacity for group collaboration, where increased access means that employees within the same organization can share applications and documents from various locations.

When assessing cloud hosting vs traditional hosting, it’s important to remember that cloud hosting is the latest technology available. So regardless of all the advantages, keeping up with the times is a logical decision. Cloud hosting allows you to integrate software applications and permits customization, working with user needs and preferences.

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What Should You Look For in eCommerce Web Hosting?

Memory Allocation Specifications

Most web hosting providers are upfront about things such as disk space and bandwidth. However, not all tend to share details about memory allocations.

What exactly is memory allocation in web hosting and how does it become really vital for an eCommerce hosting plan? Memory allocation, as the name suggests, refers to the amount of memory that is allocated to your specific hosting account. Naturally, for eCommerce websites, having an ample amount of memory becomes especially important.

Unlike blogging sites where most users just tend to read or comment, an eCommerce store can have users comparing and browsing multiple products. This means more and more calls can be made to the database and higher amount of memory or RAM can be consumed. Thus, it is crucial for you to ensure that your eCommerce hosting plan comes with sufficient level of memory allocations — most unlimited web hosting providers tend to provide only a limited and lesser amount of memory on shared hosting plans.

Security and Backups

Does your web hosting provider have a backup policy? Also, what about restoring from such backups? Can you do it in one click or will your hosting provider do it for you?

Things can go wrong at any step. Running an eCommerce store means you should always keep regular backups of your data. There is hardly anything worse than losing business because of a faulty hard drive or server failure. Keeping multiple copies of your data can ensure such problems are fixed in good time. With that said, it is always a good policy if your web host maintains backups of your data on a remote location. You should consider opting for a web hosting provider that supports services such as JetBackup — this can help you restore your content within minutes should something ever go wrong.

In terms of security, your web hosting provider should always run the latest versions of tools such as cPanel/WHM as well as any other server-side scripts that might be installed. Outdated versions can pose a security threat for both your site as well as your users’ data.

SSL Certificates

When speaking purely in terms of requirements, your eCommerce store does not really need an SSL certificate if it is not accepting or storing user data. For example, if you are selling digital goods and sending your users to PayPal to complete the payment, you do not need an SSL as you are not handling payments yourself.

However, not having an SSL certificate for your website is a risk that you should not take. Google nowadays considers SSL as a ranking factor, and most users do not trust websites that do not have an SSL active, especially if the said site is an eCommerce store. Obviously, it is a wise investment to install an SSL certificate on your site.

Let’s Encrypt SSLs can work for basic eCommerce stores, and your web hosting provider should offer that without any additional cost. However, you can also opt to buy separate SSL certificates that come with greater and enhanced validation as well as longer duration of validity.

It is a good idea to talk to your web hosting provider about the type of SSL certificate that you might require. A good web host will always be able to answer such questions and also guide you in the right direction.

Speed Enhancements (SSD vs HDD, Server-side Caching)

You will need to take extra measures to ensure your eCommerce store runs fast and is not sluggish or slow. Having caching plugins (if running WordPress or a similar CMS) as well as database optimization measures at hand can be a good strategy to follow.

But what about your web host? For the most part, every decent eCommerce hosting plan should be backed by some level of server-side caching solution. This can help in providing a performance boost for your website.

And what about the storage disks? The debate has long been ongoing about SSD vs HDD, and there is no clear winner in this regard. Going by the textbook definition, SSDs are always faster than HDDs, but there are various other considerations too. For instance, an SSD hosting plan provided with poor memory will fare worse than an HDD hosting plan with better memory allocations. As such, make sure you consider all the aspects as mentioned above, but with all other things being constant, SSDs are faster than HDDs. This is especially useful for database-driven applications, such as WordPress (WooCommerce) or OpenCart, etc.

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What is the difference between cloud hosting and shared hosting?

As web hosting evolves as a service in a bid to cater to the needs of various customers, hosting providers are often asked about the peculiarities of every hosting service, cloud and shared hosting in particular. This query, asked by bloggers, web professionals and businesses alike, has often been a subject of discussion so as to come down to a better decision while choosing a hosting package. However, both shared as well as cloud hosting have their own characteristics which allow its deployers to make the most out of them. But having said that there are some shortcomings to them as well. This article aims to illustrate the difference between cloud and shared hosting and shed light on their pros and cons.

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is a type of web hosting service which allows many websites to share a physical web server as well as its resources among hosted websites. In a shared hosting package, ideally a server is split between multiple users and each user ends up sharing a specific amount of bandwidth.

Hence, users share resources like RAM, disk space with other users. Think of it this way- you are living on rent in a house with your roommates. Since you are living in the same house, all resources present in the house will be shared by everyone living in it. Shared hosting functions in the same way.

What are the advantages of shared hosting and when can it be used?

1. Shared hosting is easy to deploy – One of the major reasons it is used is, it reduces the time to get online drastically because of its simplicity in terms of deployment.

2. You are free of administrative responsibilities – This means your hosting provider pretty much takes care of all technical responsibilities (like the maintenance and upkeep of the server) and you need not necessarily have technical knowledge.

3. Cost-effective – Shared hosting is cheaper than other hosting packages. This again can be attributed to the fact that the resources are shared.

4. Easy management – You can avail cPanel, a web hosting management dashboard that allows you to manage your website or even download applications with the help of Softaculous. With Softaculous, you can download more than 300 applications and scripts with just a click.

When can shared hosting be deployed?

While shared hosting as a service can be deployed in almost any situation, we suggest you deploy the same in order to make the most out of it when-

◈ You want a solid web presence without too much of investment
◈ You do not have a lot of monthly visitors/traffic on your website
◈ You are a startup in the initial phase of your business
◈ You have limited needs in terms of resources like disk space, RAM etc.

What are the shortcomings of shared hosting?

Shared hosting does not allow websites to serve a large number of customers primarily because it has limited amount of resources to support the website’s traffic. This is a key drawback of shared hosting. In addition to this other disadvantages include:

1. Sluggishness – Since shared hosting jointly caters to a number of stakeholders, there is a chance that users may experience slow speed since other users request the same resources.

2. Server downtime – Since multiple requests are to be served, the server can get overwhelmed by the sheer number, resulting in a downtime or even crashing eventually.

3. Little or no control over features – You do not have much of a say when it comes to which features you want since you inevitably share the same features as other users on the server.

This is how one can look at shared hosting as a service with respect to its pros, cons and in which situations it can be best deployed. Cloud hosting, on the other hand, is much different from its traditional counterpart. Let us look at what Cloud hosting is all about, shall we?

What is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting service wherein you can procure computing resources with the help of a cloud computing facility to host data, web services and solutions. You can use resources of multiple servers rather than restricting yourself to a single server location. In cloud hosting, it is the facilitator of the resources that oversees its set up, security and maintenance.These computing and storage resources are spread across virtual machines to help balance the compute loads.

What are the advantages of Cloud Hosting and when can it be used?

1. Easy scalability – Since cloud hosting has a setup of a large stack of resources, it is easy for users to scale at large, that too quickly. This means as the requirement of a business increases over time with respect to web traffic etc. cloud hosting allows users to amplify and add more resources without any hassle.

2. Faster page load time – Deployers of cloud hosting experience faster page loading time because the hosting service integrates caching mechanism.

3. Storage space – The space provided by cloud hosting is immense. This is a major bonus for web professionals who want to build applications for their clients. Moreover, since the storage space is huge, cloud hosting deployers can also host multiple websites within the same hosting and control or maintain the same through a single cPanel.

4. Recovering lost data – Cloud hosting allows you to recover lost data with the help of backup mechanism tools. This primarily benefits users since data is stored in a different location i.e at data centers.

5. Saves operational and capital expenditure – Cloud hosting allows you to save major upfront costs because the hosting providers take the responsibility of maintaining the infrastructure. Hence, your deployment time, effort and eventually cost is saved.

When can cloud hosting be deployed?

To make the most out of a service like cloud hosting, you need to make sure that you set it up when-

◈ You are an e-commerce website expecting high traffic
◈ You want to pay only for the number of resources utilize
◈ You do not want to buy hardware
◈ You want to expand your business across various locations, globally
◈ You want to store a large number of files

What are the drawbacks of cloud hosting?

1. Platform dependency – Cloud hosting may limit some users by limiting them to one vendor, causing vendor lock-in. Major differences between the vendor systems can restrict users from migrating from one cloud platform to another, which can lead to increased costs. However, this problem can be countered by understanding what vendors are offering. Since most vendors use the same open source components, migration can also become easy.

2. Limited control and flexibility – Cloud Hosting providers’ policies and SLAs may sometimes limit users to varying degrees in terms of what they can do with the service. However, not every service provider imposes such a restriction.

What is the difference between Shared Hosting and Cloud Hosting?

Before we begin with the differences, let us first understand that cloud and shared hosting serve different purposes although they are both web hosting services. Shared hosting is deployed when you want to quickly go online. Hence, as a user you don’t want a service that is expensive or time consuming. Cloud hosting on the other hand is more about configuring the right resources, deploying the right servers with proper disk space etc.

So, keeping in mind the purpose that they serve, here are a some major differences based on the parameters of scale, security,traffic etc.

Parameter	Shared Hosting	Cloud Hosting
Scale	Limits the scale since resources are limited.	Provides large scope to scale.
Security	Shared environment can increase susceptance to attacks but can be secured with SSH.	Security is much better than shared environments with multiple layers of recovery options and anti-malware solutions.
Traffic	In shared hosting, websites cannot serve a large number of visitors at a time because they have a finite amount of processing power and storage capacity.	With cloud hosting, websites can serve a huge number of visitors at a time since the storage capacity and processing power is much higher.
Resources and Configurations	With shared hosting, a server’s resources are divided to host a large number of websites.	With cloud hosting, multiple servers pool resources together to host a large number of websites.
Performance	Shared hosting is not too fast as compared to cloud hosting for the simple reason that the number of servers deployed are less.	Cloud hosting typically outperforms shared hosting simply because a large number of servers are deployed.
Pricing	This depends on the provider but shared hosting is usually cheaper than cloud hosting packages.	Cloud is a tad bit expensive in comparison to shared hosting.

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What is the difference between web hosting and website builder?

If you are thinking of creating a website for your business, it’s likely that you have researched enough to know about our hosting solutions to put your business on the Internet, such as hosting and site builder.

But do you know the difference between them? And what is right for your business? Below, we’ll help you decide. Check it:

Website Hosting

Staying in a hotel room means you pay to occupy space or a room for a period of time, right? Well, to work, online content – such as blogs, websites, and online stores – must be stored within a large computer called server. Hiring hosting service for a website means renting a space within a server to store all the information of your website.

The hosting works as an online folder, which contains all the information of your website, including administrative data to which only you have access, and as an extremely versatile platform that you can use to start building your site. For this, there are several platforms that you can install via cPanel, such as WordPress, which is one of the most popular tools for creating blogs and websites, and Magento, specializing in eCommerce.

If you have no experience in creating websites or a professional technology to create the design for you, you can find it a little difficult to do this in the beginning. In this case, it is better to opt for the option below.

Website Builder

They are ideal for anyone who needs to create a website in a short time and has no knowledge of IT or web design. With simple and intuitive systems, you can even create pages, add text, photos, maps and videos using ready and editable templates.

To air, the site created using a site builder, it must also be hosted on any server. But in these cases, you usually don’t need to worry, because the hosting is already included in the package.

They are designed to be simple. To build and manage the sites made with site builders, you may not have all the flexibility and other features that a site created from scratch has.

This makes a big difference in hosting and website builder is that in addition to the first being a platform and the second a tool, the hosting behaves as a blank canvas, a platform where you can create a website in the way you want, provided you have some knowledge or a professional to develop your project. Meanwhile, the site builder is a tool designed for those who want something simple and fast, in which creation can be much more limited.

Before choosing between a conventional hosting and a site builder, evaluate what are your goals with your website, whether or not you have someone who can develop it and be sure to consult with our team to know about other available options!

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Deciding between Cloud and cPanel hosting?

If you're unsure how to answer the common question "what's the difference between Cloud and cPanel hosting?", take the time to read this article that delves into the technicalities of Cloud and cPanel hosting as well as the basics of how web hosting works.

A website is made up of files – these files can be code, graphics, animation, video and so on. To be able to have a website you need somewhere to store these files so that people can access them via the Internet. So, much like leasing a home to live in, you lease web hosting space for your files to 'live in' on the Internet.

There are hundreds of different technologies and configurations for web hosting, each delivery different but benefits for websites. The two most popular forms of web hosting are "Cloud hosting" and "cPanel hosting", but what is the difference between these products and which of these would best suit your business?

Cloud hosting

Apart from being a popular marketing term there is substantial meaning behind the word 'Cloud' and it’s relevance to the potential power of this hosting environment.

In web hosting 'Cloud' means that all web hosting services (DNS, mail, web, ftp, database) run on multiple servers rather than a traditional single server. This ensures that a failure in one server will not cause downtime for your website.

cPanel hosting

cPanel web hosting service is well known in the hosting industry and for business alike. It's currently the world's most popular hosting control panel and one that the majority of users are familiar and comfortable with.

cPanel is commonly installed on a standalone server and, while this will generally work well "most of the time", it does mean that all services are susceptible to failure if that server fails, or need to be taken offline for maintenance.

So, how to choose between the two> When choosing between Cloud and cPanel it is important to look at the features of each hosting option and compare the differences.

User Interface

Though the UI might not seem important, it is the first difference most people notice between the two control panels.

A Cloud hosting control panel can have either a basic, clean or complex UI which enables users to manage their website and other standard features. Depending on the provider this may or may not provide more than its cPanel counterpart. This is due to many new providers coming into the space creating their own proprietary control panels.

As a widely-used hosting control panel, cPanel has undergone considerable development over the years where additional features have been added to allow users to make change through an interface rather than a hosting configuration. For users that are reliant on a UI, cPanel will be the most likely choice, as more customers would be familiar with the cPanel interface due to its widespread use within the industry.

Server infrastructure

It is important to know the clear difference between how Cloud and cPanel are hosted, so that you are chooseing the right infrastructure for your business. Cloud hosting services (PHP, web server, databases, email, DNS) all run on individual and separate servers. This means there are a group of computers dedicated to supporting server applications that are utilised or can be readily utilised with no downtime.If you were hosting your website on a service which was not clustered, if the server attached to that service crashes, your website will be offline until the server is fixed.

cpanel on the other hand, is commonly hosted on a single server. All services (web, email, database, DNS) are all reliant on this one server to be running every minute of everyday, representing a single point of failure. This means there is a substantial benefit to choose Cloud as this provides greater performances and reliability.

Load Balanced

Servers often become overloaded; this is common among web hosting providers which affect the performance. The load balancer prevents such bottlenecks by forwarding requests to servers that are best suited, thus balancing the load.

Cloud hosting is load balanced, allowing all client requests to be distributed across multiple servers. This ensures that response time for visitors to your website is faster and the site is more tolerable to faults.

cPanel is commonly not load balanced, therefore, Cloud hosting becomes the relevant choice for web sites that require higher performance requirements.

Technology

Cloud providers are now adopting new web server technology to keep up with the change in the environment, specifically with more ecommerce stores using highly intensive applications such as Magento. Litespeed is a web server, which is high performing and reads Apache server configuration directly, it also out performs a standard Apache configuration on all benchmarks conducted.

cPanel currently uses a standard Apache configuration unless configured otherwise by your web host. This configuration is common in the industry and is perfect for most website found on the internet.

Domain Name Servers (DNS)

DNS is the first step to a faster performing website, for most cPanel customers the DNS will be served locally from the same server as the hosting. Cloud hosting on the other hand, leverages a single DNS cluster. This cluster utilises a number of nodes (servers) strategically placed across the globe to provide an enterprise level of DNS redundancy.

In summary, there are a number of differences between Cloud and cPanel. Cloud hosting is a faster platform that is technology advanced. Whereas, cPanel will most likely appeal to users who want an aesthetic interface and additional functions, also let’s not forget about the millions of users that are familiar with the platform. So when choosing a hosting platform take into consideration the functionalities you will need for your website, who will be managing your website and their technical knowledge to manage your hosting infrastructure.

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Differences between Linux and Windows Hosting

Websites need space to host data and run their scripts and applications. This space is provided to them by servers – either Linux or Windows servers. Both Linux and Windows servers have been used in the hosting industry since long. Users choose them according to the applications or programs they are implementing on their site.

Both Linux and Windows servers have their pros and cons but Linux servers are most widely used in the recent years due to Linux being an open source, robust and secure operating system- one with well managed file system. The main advantage of Linux is that it has a large community comprising helpful people and so there are more Linux users in the world.

More than 80% of developed applications use Linux Server due to ease of application development and faster execution.

Below are major differences between Linux and Windows Servers:

Features	Linux Servers	Windows Servers
Console	Linux mostly provides CLI console which requires lesser memory.	Windows provides GUI console and so it requires more memory, otherwise it hangs.
Security	Linux provides many levels of security like iptables, tcp_wrapper and pam.	Windows provides security in the form of firewall only.
Control panel	Since Linux is open source, it has many open source control panels for managing hosting but most commonly used control panels are cPanel/WHM and Plesk which are paid.	In Windows server, most commonly used control panels are Plesk and WebsitePanel.
Application language	Applications developed in PHP mostly use Linux. Except PHP, other languages like Perl, Python mostly require Linux only.	Applications developed in ASP.NET use Windows.
Database	MySQL is most commonly used database in Linux server.	MSSQL is most commonly used database in Windows Server.
Application level security	Linux has many application level firewalls like ModSecurity which protects website.	There is no or lesser security on application level in Windows server.

Also most applications that run in Linux server can be also run in Windows server but Windows can’t provide full functionality and security as compared to Linux Server.

Linux or Windows servers – which one to choose?

It depends on the choice of users – which platform is needed by their applications for faster execution. Today most applications are developed in either PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby on Rails, Java etc. and all these need Linux server for faster execution and high security.

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The Difference Between Managed Hosting and Colocation Hosting

There are many types of web hosting plans available in today’s market, thus it can be difficult to decide which one would be best for you. As soon as you think you have finally narrowed down your choices, that’s when you find out about another type of web hosting plan that could possibly suit your needs. With so many choices, making that final decision can be a very confusing process.

Even after you have decided upon a specific kind of web hosting plan, you then have to consider the sub-types of each type of web hosting. For example, you may choose dedicated hosting, however you then have to decide whether you want managed or unmanaged web hosting. Some of the web hosting types are very similar, and to the untrained eye there is seemingly no difference. If you;re having trouble deciding between colocation and managed web hosting then this article may help you make an educated decision that you won’t regret after the fact.

Managed Web Hosting

Managed web hosting is actually a form of dedicated web hosting. With managed web hosting you’ll have a dedicated server that is used only by you, however you will not have full administrative control over this server. In other words, the web hosting provider will be responsible for maintaining the integrity, performance, and reliability of the server. Since you will not be responsible for the administration of your server, you’ll have an added cost as you will essentially be paying for the continual service of the web hosting company. Many people choose this solution since it is much more convenient than having to manage the server themselves. This solution is especially optimal for novice users. Managed web hosting is considered one of the most expensive types of web hosting plans, right behind colocation hosting.

Colocation Hosting

Colocation is similar to dedicated hosting, as you will also have a server that is used only by you. However, the main difference is this server will actually be yours and will not be leased by you but will be owned by you. In other words, you will have to actually buy your own server which will cost thousands of dollars in startup capital. With dedicated hosting you’ll be leasing the server which is far cheaper than colocation hosting. Colocation hosting lets you store your private server at a facility that is specifically designed for server security. Therefore, colocation hosting is basically a server storage solution for larger corporations and businesses. For this reason, colocation hosting is the most expensive kind of hosting available.

The Main Differences

The primary difference between colocation and managed hosting is the amount of control you have over your server. With colocation hosting, since you actually own the server, you’ll have complete control over the server, however you’ll also need the ability to do so. With managed hosting you’ll be leasing the server and you won’t have to worry about the hassle of maintaining it. For most people managed hosting is the desirable solution between the two.

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Cloud Vs Colocation Vs Managed Hosting

Many people seem to forget that there are other hosting options apart from the cloud. The amount of effort and technology invested in storage solutions has made it possible for a range of company-specific options. In contrast with the cloud, managed hosting and colocation are similar solutions that dedicate physical machines to a client. It is therefore important for all entities to analyze different hosting solutions before making a determination on the most suitable.

A point to note is that; there are clear differences among available products which is why proper expert analysis should be done to match your needs. Apart from the other differences we are going to discuss within the article, the main difference between managed hosting and colocation is the party responsible for the hardware. For the cloud, servers are virtualized so that clients are sharing a physical machine.

Cloud  

Ease of scaling is cloud’s greatest advantage over the rest, but it is also important to consider the other alternatives. For cloud hosting, you only need to pay for what you need, thereby saving clients the need to invest in expensive infrastructure. Cloud service providers (CPS), are charged with infrastructure management so that there is enough time for the internal teams to concentrate on revenue generating activities.

Organizations must be careful when choosing their cloud hosting providers, especially those that are required to comply with various standards and regulations. Companies handling sensitive data should possess appropriate certification and utilize the most recent security measures to protect information. The cloud service should guarantee availability as extended downtime could result in heavy losses for their clients. Customers should be able to make requests, perform transactions or other business without undue interruption.

Pros

◈ Higher savings as organizations that rely on the cloud do not have to acquire expensive hardware or software.

◈ Information on the cloud is easily accessible from different devices with only a few clicks. Here, data is centralized to ensure that vital information is available to anyone with clearance to access it.

◈ On the cloud, all documents and files can be emailed or shared in a near-instant. This means that necessary information can be transmitted at any time without using so many enterprise resources.

◈ The cloud is a virtual environment that eliminates the costs involved in expanding storage space, memory and processor power.

◈ Automatic data backup to the cloud is a great advantage that saves data recovery time and money if there is a system failure.

◈ Businesses do not need to hire more employees to enjoy proper cloud hosting which is easily set up by the existing team. Cloud applications do all the hard work that would otherwise be left to employees, ultimately saving time and money that is then dedicated to other pressing business needs.

◈ Top class security is a near guarantee with cloud hosting as most vendors take care to choose the most secure data centers. For sensitive information, the providers offer passwords and encryptions as an extra security measure.

Cons

◈ You might not get necessary support when you need it in the cloud. Vendors do not always provide contact information which is a red flag for businesses handling sensitive information. This is a huge risk to carry in this era of malware that could easily infiltrate systems on the cloud.

◈ There may be compatibility problems for employees trying to access information from different devices.

◈ Since it is online, the cloud hosting may be vulnerable to threats and malicious hackers. This is why experts recommend that organizations seek assistance from IT firms to ensure that their data is properly secured.

◈ The client doesn’t have the power to dictate the tools and methods of data backup and handling, which is a major downside for companies that would wish to have some influence over their files and documents on the cloud. Lack of insight into your network proves troublesome as you wouldn’t tell when there is a bug, hardware problem or other problem affecting your system.

◈ Without a proper internet connection, you will be unable to access the cloud and this could prove troublesome in case of emergencies. Low bandwidth also compromises the quality of audio and video among other files. Quality may also be affected if too many people are on the internet at the same time.

◈ The cloud might become expensive if the service provider keeps charging additional fees. Some essential features may be missing with the hosting services which would reduce the quality of the cloud as a hosting service for your business.

The cloud may be the perfect solution for small businesses or startups without great data needs but are looking for competitive backup and management options. It is an inexpensive solution but only if the organization makes the right choice of service providers. There is a need for a thorough understanding of the types and the actual amount of support provided by the hosting company.

Choose the right cloud hosting provider for your business

To benefit from cloud hosting, an organization must look for a provider that meets specific needs. Some of the important facts to check include:

◈ The hosting provider should disclose their recovery capabilities in the event of a disaster.
◈ A good service should be able to prevent attacks to your system before they can cause extensive damage.
◈ They should submit all necessary audits for your type of company and adhere to compliance regulations

Colocation

This is a solution for which organizations must bring their own hardware including switches, servers, storage, and software. In this case, the hosting service provider is only responsible for monitoring, maintenance, and backing up. Colocation is popular among companies that must meet specific compliance or data protection requirements. It is also sought after by institutions that need to broaden their current data center without actually paying for construction.

For some businesses, colocation is an important alternative in case disaster strikes. This option is most preferred by organizations with purchasing power for servers and ability to pay people to manage them. Colocation offers clients maximum flexibility over hardware as they are free to use custom storage configurations and fancy servers. It is viewed as an alternative for the maturing startup that can no longer rely on the cloud to meet their unique needs.

It is important to consider the scalability of the colocation service, to ensure that you can expand and reduce services according to your deeds. The provider must be clear about how they intend to maintain and store data without leaving out cooling and power information. If they are not ready to provide this information, services may not be rendered as promised; a situation that could cause data loss and trigger legal suits.

PROS

◈ The client has freedom of choice over hardware and software to be used for their data. Companies that cannot afford their own data center but feel hesitant about using third party hardware are the perfect candidates for colocation.

◈ Colocation offers more flexibility than managed hosting as customers can host anything as if it were their own data center.

◈ This option carries a lower risk of network outages due to redundant systems that allow the network to stay up even after a system failure. Colocation providers use virtualization to ease data recovery after an outage.

◈ On-site monitoring is done round the clock to identify potential issues and promptly inform customers about them.

◈ Colocating servers in a common environment benefits smaller organizations that wouldn’t afford to invest in data centers. This option allows them to get more bandwidth at a lower price and access to staff that they wouldn’t afford otherwise.

CONS

◈ Colocation is initially expensive for all organizations as they must procure software and hardware. Some service providers offer cost-friendly solutions but signing up for their package may mean compromises on important features like security.

◈ Companies have to fix problems with their hardware and this may prove impossible for some that cannot promptly handle arising issues.

◈ Some service providers offer pre-built storage configurations at a lower price but this means less control over the software and hardware.

◈ Organizations must send their staff to the co-location centers so they can check on their equipment. This is time-consuming and demands selection of data centers that are close by for ease of travel. Choosing a data center so close to your business may be a bad idea in the event of natural disasters as it would further complicate the data recovery process.

The pros and cons of colocation indicate that not all companies make good candidates for the solution. Management must weigh their options to ensure that colocation is the perfect solution according to their needs. If you can afford the hardware and need to eliminate third parties, colocation is the best option.

Cloud and colocation services are similar in that the client companies realize cost savings through the aid of a shared facility. The main difference is the fact that cloud service providers supply and manage the full hardware infrastructure, as well as servers, storage, including network elements.

Managed Hosting

‘What is managed hosting?’ This question is difficult to answer since it is a term that has grown to be ambiguous. Each service provider delivers slightly different version from the other, but all of them dwell under the popular banner of ‘managed hosting’.

Usually an extension of dedicated hosting, Managed Hosting is the concept where client purchases dedicated hardware from a preferred hosting service provider. The required hardware is leased to a single client by the hosting company. The solution here may be offered as a service or utility-based model and it is the provider’s duty to maintain the hardware and provide support. Thus, the main advantage of this hosting option is that you do not have to do the job yourself. The in-house IT personnel will be left to concentrate on other matters.

PROS

Managed hosting providers typically offer services in the following discernible categories:

◈ Support: This effectively upgrades your infrastructure to enable secure hosting. It may be achieved by outsourcing and managing data centers, desktop and network support operations.

◈ OS monitoring and management: This is the process of backup, security management and provision pf patches for the protection of OSs. Proactive monitoring is important to prevent compared to recovering from attacks.

◈ Application management (AM): The process of managing maintenance, operation, upgrading and versioning of applications throughout their lifecycle. AM includes procedures and best practices to ensure optimal performance. This approach is great for individuals and organizations looking to free up the internal IT team.

◈ Server Monitoring: This entails scanning and searching any bugs and potential failures. Server monitoring aids in detecting possible issues for the expert to rectify before the bad happens which may lead to disruption.

◈ Server configuration and maintenance: For the hosting company to be relevant to the customer, a team of specialists is hired to ensure that the server is configured according to client expectation. This is also effective if you plan to make things run smoothly.

◈ Flexibility: Managed hosting is not a one-size-fits-all service but a flexible solution which gives the client the freedom to choose a service that would match the budget including other needs. It is also flexible when a client decides to expand the services where the platform will effortlessly be scaled according to the latest needs.

◈ Limited cost of operation: It is costly for a company to have in-house managed hosting compared to outsourcing it. And according to economics, ‘if the cost outweighs the benefits then that’s a call for a change of tactics’.

◈ Effective use of resource: Hiring an expert IT staff can be costly for most companies. It is for this reason you need to outsource the hosting services including taking care of daily running and server maintenance. This means that the in-house IT staff will focus on other more important tasks.

Managed hosting providers have faced many challenges, making it better for them to handle any emerging issues with your business systems. Your organization doesn’t have to incur hardware costs or constantly take up the expense of upgrading to current technology. This hosting solution cuts manpower costs, freeing up an organization’s budget for other activities.

CONS

◈ The service provider might slack on their job, and this might translate to downtime and fines for your organization.

◈ Upgrades are not guaranteed and the client cannot dictate storage configurations or hardware type.

◈ Having third parties handle company data may compromise it especially if they are not ethical professionals.

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