What to look for in a managed hosting provider

Running an online store or a company website is not a small feat. You have to spend time, money, and effort. To make things simpler, the best way to go is to subscribe to fully managed hosting services.

There have been a lot of businesses both big and small that got into a lot of trouble all because of server issues. Now the best thing to avoid server problems is to get the services of a managed server hosting company.

What is Managed Hosting?

There are two kinds of hosting that are related here:

◈ Managed hosting
◈ Unmanaged hosting

In managed hosting, this means that the hosting company of your choice will take care of all the issues that have something to do with the server. Aside from renting the hardware from the host, you also pay them for managing it for you.

In unmanaged hosting, what you do is rent the server and the rest is up to you. All the services and maintenance tasks are your responsibility.

Managed hosting can benefit your business in two ways. These are also the things that you have to keep in mind when looking for a managed hosting provider:

◈ Technical benefits
◈ Business benefits

What are the technical benefits of managed hosting?Server Monitoring

This is very important in a business. When monitoring a server, here are the things that are scanned:

◈ Virus attacks
◈ Possible breach
◈ Potential failures

These are addressed even before they get worse. The system admins should have an eye for detail when monitoring servers. This will guarantee the uptime of a server as well at the network availability. Higher uptime means more visitors are able to visit your website. While you can manage your own server, you need to have the necessary skill sets and resources.

Server Security

This is a very high priority for any business. This covers the following areas:

◈ Security audits
◈ Spam filtering
◈ OS updates
◈ Firewall configuration
◈ Virus scanning

Hosting providers have the necessary tools and experience to deal with various securities related issues so that the server is not easily attacked.

Managed Database

This is similar to managed storage only that you need the skills of a database administrator that can be provided by the hosting company. This database is the software that is designed to meet your needs and requirements. There are database administrators that are experienced in the fields of SQL so you can find what you are looking for.

Backup

Lost data in a business is a big headache. It is very important to back up regularly. With managed services, you can have peace of mind that your data is secure and backed up.

What are the business benefits of managed hosting?

Every business requires a different thing. What works for one does not mean it will work for the other. There no one-size-fits-all approach here. In managed hosting, you can customize the services the way you want it for your business.

Reduced Costs

A small business owner already has a lot of overhead expenses. Adding another in-house IT professional and database administrator can be heavy on the pockets. It is more feasible to hire a hosting company that already has people to manage server related issues.

Save Time and Money

Time is gold. If you are spending time managing servers or troubleshooting them, your time becomes less productive. The time spent managing your system can be better off spent on developing and improving your business.

With these advantages of managed hosting, you can now decide if this is suitable for your business. What managed hosting is offering is a convenient.

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Why Is Java Hosting More Expensive Than Traditional Hosting?

Now more than ever, having a fast and reliable website is essential to your brand’s image. But for the budget-conscious developers, the added price of Java Hosting inevitably raises a red flag, leaving many to wonder why Java hosting is expensive.

While the Java language was developed in 1995, its popularity has only continued to thrive in recent years.

To help you understand why Javas hosting is expensive compared to traditional hosting options, we’ve outlined its many advantages below.

What Is Java and Java Hosting?

Java is a type of programming language that allows users to create dynamic web pages and content. If you’re just starting to learn code, Java is an excellent choice as it is considered one of the easiest coding languages and it is supported by a long-standing open-source community.

Java hosting plans place the Java programming language at their core, making it easy for website builders to scale their site using things like Servlets, Java Server Pages (JSP), and more.

Traditional Hosting vs. Java Cloud Hosting: The Basics

When compared to traditional hosting, java hosting is expensive. But when you take into account the many advantages of this type of hosting, the added cost may well be worth the investment.

Dedicated Hosting: The most common traditional hosting methods include dedicated and shared server plans. With dedicated hosting, users pay to host their website on a specific server hardware and have full control of that server’s resources. The problem with this type of hosting plan is that if the server has a technical failure, your website could be down until the issue is resolved. In addition, dedicated hosting is usually quite expensive and requires advanced management experience.

Shared Hosting: Another type of traditional hosting is shared hosting. Shared hosting allows users to rent space and resources from a server that is shared with many other website account holders. This type of hosting is much cheaper than dedicated hosting, making it an attractive choice for small and medium-sized businesses. However, shared hosting has its own share of complications. For starters, because resources have to be shared by many websites, slow loading speeds and downtime are not uncommon. In addition, if there is a technical problem with the device itself, then all websites hosted on this server could be affected. There are also security concerns and several other limitations to shared hosting that make it difficult to scale your website if you have an influx of traffic.

Java Cloud Hosting: While cloud hosting may sound ominous, it is actually the most innovative and reliable hosting option on the market. With this type of hosting, your website is not tied to a single server, but rather pulls resources and stores information across multiple devices. This means that if a specific server experiences a technical error, your website won’t suffer downtimes or information loss as other servers are able to balance the load. If you’re a fan of the saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, chances are cloud hosting is for you.

Cloud hosting is characterized by redundancy, meaning that information and apps are mirrored across multiple server clusters. This makes cloud hosting a much more resilient and flexible platform. While traditional hosting requires you to buy additional RAM, storage space, etc. as needed, and is limited by the resource availability of the server, cloud hosting makes it easy to scale your website and adjust for influxes and decreases in traffic. However, because Java code has to run in a JVM (Java virtual machine), a lot more RAM is consumed compared to traditional hosting—something that can add up to costly fees overtime.

Overall, Java hosting combines the resilience of cloud storage with Java framework to simplify programming and support optimal performance.

The Good: What Java Hosting Has That Traditional Hosting Lacks

If you’re on the fence about whether or not to invest in Java hosting, consider the following benefits:

Focus on Java language: A focus on Java language is fundamental to Java hosting, making it the clear choice for programmers who prefer to code in Java. Java is one of the most popular programming languages that allows website developers to create highly professional and dynamic interfaces with a minimal time and money investment. In addition, the many Java-centric services and applications that Java Hosting plans offer, far exceed the minimal Java support offered by other hosting options.

JSP Support and Servlet Container: With platforms like Tomcat Java Hosting, website developers can easily create Java Server Pages and Servlets with dynamic content that can help generate leads and grab visitor attention.

Easy Scalability and Redundancy with Java Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting makes it easier than ever to scale your website and pay for server resources on an as-needed basis. This is especially beneficial for small and medium-size businesses who may experience sudden influxes in traffic as their website grows. With traditional hosting, website’s that experience sudden spikes in traffic often experience crashes and downtime as their RAM and bandwidth runs out. Not to mention, with cloud service’s redundancy developers can rest assured that their hosting is optimized for maximum performance and reliability.

Linux Compatibility: Hosting a website with a Linux OS can be tricky on a traditional hosting plan, but with Java Hosting compatibility launching and managing your website is a breeze.

The Bad and The Ugly: The Main Reason Java Hosting Costs More

Despite Java’s many advantages over traditional hosting, there’s no denying it’s more expensive. Some will tell you the added cost is simply due to the superior service (aka you get what you pay for). However, those who are experienced with Java hosting, know that the added costs really boils down to one thing—RAM.

One of the drawbacks of Java code, is that it has to run in a JVM (Java virtual machine), which is a process that consumes a high amount of RAM. While it is easy to scale your website by purchasing additional RAM as needed with Java hosting, you will find that you burn through it much faster than with traditional PHP hosting plans.

In a nutshell—with great power comes great RAM, and an added price tag.

Is Java Hosting Worth the Investment?

For those who have written their website using Java, the decision is clear, as Java hosting offers specialized solutions that far exceed the basic support that other plans have to offer. However, even if you’re new to the development scene, this hosting type’s focus on the Java language offers many advantages—especially in terms of scalability and manageability. Though java hosting is more expensive than traditional hosting, it is an investment in the future of your website and brand. Though it’s true that Java hosting is more expensive due to the added RAM consumption, many agree that the benefits outweigh the added cost.

Managing Java Web Hosting

If you’re ready to invest in Java web hosting, then you need a management solution that will ensure you get the most bang for your buck. We specialize in powerful java hosting solutions at a fraction of the cost of our competitors. We take Java to cloud 9, giving our customers the security of full redundancy. Not to mention, our servers are housed in multiple premium geolocations, including New York, San Fransisco, and Amsterdam to help your website get the lightning-fast speed it deserves.

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What is a cloud server and how does it work?

A cloud server is a virtual server (rather than a physical server) running in a cloud computing environment. It is built, hosted and delivered via a cloud computing platform via the internet, and can be accessed remotely. They are also known as virtual servers. Cloud servers have all the software they require to run and can function as independent units.

What is the cloud?

The cloud is commonly used to refer to several servers connected to the internet that can be leased as part of a software or application service. Cloud-based services can include web hosting, data hosting and sharing, and software or application use.

‘The cloud’ can also refer to cloud computing, where several servers are linked together to share the load. This means that instead of using one single powerful machine, complex processes can be distributed across multiple smaller computers.

One of the advantages of cloud storage is that there are many distributed resources acting as one – often called federated storage clouds. This makes the cloud very tolerant of faults, due to the distribution of data. Use of the cloud tends to reduce the creation of different versions of files, due to shared access to documents, files and data.

What are the benefits of a cloud server?

◈ A cloud server gives the business user stability and security because any software problems are isolated from your environment. Other cloud servers won’t impact on your cloud server and vice versa. If another user overloads their cloud server, this will have no impact on your cloud server, unlike with physical servers.

◈ Cloud servers are stable, fast and secure. They avoid the hardware issues seen with physical servers, and they are likely to be the most stable option for businesses wanting to keep their IT budget down.

◈ Cloud servers provide a faster service for your money. You’ll get more resources and a faster service than you would for a similar price of physical server. A cloud-hosted website will run faster.

◈ You get scalability with cloud servers. It is very easy and quick to upgrade by adding memory and disk space, as well as being more affordable.

Why use cloud servers?

◈ Between them our teams of highly skilled people have decades of practical infrastructure experience and have consulted in ultra-complex environments
◈ VM Ware Enterprise Partner
◈ HP and Microsoft Gold partnerships
◈ Dell Premier Partner
◈ Our committed technical team are experienced at delivering projects on time and on budget, allowing complete business continuity
◈ We roll out projects on a planned, low risk basis.

What are the benefits of using Cloud servers over another provider?

◈ Our cloud-based servers run across multiple cloud configured servers, so you have the ability to upgrade whenever you want to
◈ No risk of hardware failure
◈ Superior performance that cuts browser waiting time for your staff and customers, increasing your business productivity
◈ Fast connection speeds
◈ Fully managed support so that you receive a no-hassle service from our dedicated team who are committed to customer satisfaction.

Cost-effective solutions that will save your business money when compared with a physical server.

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What Are DNS Records?

DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is the largest digital database in the world, containing information about every web site on the internet. Every web site online has an IP address that is its actual internet location, and this number is used to locate the web site within the database.  The data that tells the web server how to respond to your input is known as the DNS records, or zone files. These records play a vital role in the functionality of the internet, and any aspiring internet technology expert should learn the following facts about DNS records and how they are used.

DNS Records Explained

DNS records are basically mapping files that tell the DNS server which IP address each domain is associated with, and how to handle requests sent to each domain. When someone visits a web site, a request is sent to the DNS server and then forwarded to the web server provided by a web hosting company, which contain the data contained on the site.

Various strings of letters are used as commands that dictate the actions of the DNS server, and these strings of commands are called DNS syntax.  Some DNS records syntax that are commonly used in nearly all DNS record configurations are A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, PTR, NS, SOA, SRV, TXT, and NAPTR. The following paragraph details the meaning and usage of each of these syntax.

DNS Syntax Types Explained

An “A” record, which stands for “address” is the most basic type of syntax used in DNS records, indicating the actual IP address of the domain. The “AAAA” record is an IPV6 address record that maps a hostname to a 128-bit Ipv6 address.  Regular DNS addresses are mapped for 32-bit IPv4 addresses.

The “CNAME” record stands for “canonical name” and serves to make one domain an alias of another domain. CNAME is often used to associate new subdomains with an existing domain's DNS records.

The “MX” record stands for “mail exchange” and is basically a list of mail exchange servers that are to be used for the domain.

The “PTR” record stands for “pointer record” and maps an Ipv4 address to the CNAME on the host.

The “NS” record stands for “name server” and indicates which Name Server is authoritative for the domain.

An “SOA” record stands for “State of Authority” and is easily one of the most essential DSN records because it stores important information like when the domain was last updated and much more.

An “SRV” record stands for “service” and is used to define a TCP service on which the domain operates.

A “TXT” record lets the administrator insert any text they'd like into the DNS record, and it is often used for denoting facts about the domain.

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Private Cloud is an Evolution of Dedicated Servers, not Cloud

There are a variety of computing workloads that support successful business operations. If we were to maximize resource usage for these workloads, we would end up with a vast assortment of computer chassis, hard drives, RAM chips, and a host of various other computer parts. And although this assortment would provide coverage for the current needs, it would not be able to keep up with business growth (or shrinkage), nor would it be economical to maintain.

What is a workload?

“Workload is a generic industry term meaning an independent collection of code, service (app), or similarly packaged process. A defining factor in the definition, especially when looking at today’s infrastructure technologies, is the independent nature.“

But that is where many on-premise businesses find themselves. A large collection of mish-mashed gear that was perfect when purchased, but has fallen behind in adequately covering business needs economically. Unfortunately, when many businesses turn to the cloud, they find that the over standardization of the market has left them with fewer options than their needs dictated and at a higher price tag.

Private cloud was designed to address the needs of businesses finding themselves in these situations. Private cloud is the efficient methodology for defining workload space within a fixed cost environment. That being said, private cloud is not found within the public cloud business model. As many analysts and industry insiders have said before, private cloud is almost the antithesis of public cloud, for it shackles public cloud expansion by placing VMs in a much smaller fixed environment. In fact, some analysts have gone so far as rejecting the private cloud operations model completely.

So why is it that many businesses are finding more success with private cloud than the public ones?

What is a workload?

Workload is a very generic industry term that means an independent collection of code, service (or app), or similarly packaged process. A defining factor in the definition, especially when looking at today’s infrastructure technologies, is the independent nature. Can I pick up this service, as is, off of the current server and run it on a different one? In a cloud environment, would I be able to move the service from one VM to the next?

A few examples of computing workloads (be it cloud or otherwise) include batch, database, mobile application, backup, website, and analytic workloads.

A batch workload, as an example, includes processing large volumes of data and can be run off hours at scheduled intervals. Batches include data reconciliations, audits, and system syncing. These workloads rely on predetermined scripts, access to the data, and a pool of compute and memory (whether that pool is fixed such as on a full server or dynamic such as in the cloud is irrelevant). As long as the originating system has access to the data or systems involved, those scripts can be picked up and moved to a new server.

The Evolution of Dedicated Servers

The reason that more businesses are finding success with private cloud is that private cloud is not the evolution of public cloud, it is the evolution of dedicated servers.

Dedicated server environments increased in popularity as the need for root access, dedicated static IP addresses, and dedicated resource pools increased. In the early days of hosting, both root access and static IPs were firmly out of reach in a shared environment. The unfortunate consequence was those who had smaller workloads but required either a dedicated IP or root access had to move to a dedicated server. These scenarios helped push forward VPS and later Cloud.

On the other end of the spectrum, many dedicated server users had multiple workloads they had to run, and many placed them on the same server. Although this would help both from a cost standpoint as well reducing complexity, it also increased the possibilities for performance issues (compute and storage bottlenecks) and security and business continuity problems. The fix to this was to purchase multiple servers, which would increase cost but would solve performance issues.

Although Cloud was an answer to these problems, it wasn’t always the most economical even when compared to those who purchased multiple dedicated servers.

Cloud pricing is based on overselling the hardware. If you took 10 VMs from any number of Cloud hosts and compared the price of those VMs to an equal measure of server hardware, you could purchase at a Dedicated Hosting outfit you would find that, without automated processes for spinning down and spinning up VMs, the pricing was greatly inflated with the Cloud host.

Now if we apply what we learned from Cloud operations to the dedicated server world, we would find something remarkable. The ability to take your current server configuration and streamline it, so each workload receives the proper amount of resources is game-changing in the dedicated server world. It means consolidation of servers. It means incredible flexibility for provisioning resources for the right fit of the workload. It gives DevOps and Sysadmins the ability to automate provisioning across their servers based on a set of pre-determined criteria, and that is game-changing.

With Dedicated Private Cloud, a user can take a dedicated server environment and cut it up into the appropriate VMs necessary to handle their current workloads. No need to pay for overhead or per VM licensing costs.

Where as public cloud is amorphous with nigh-limitless resource pools, private cloud is more like slapping a perfectly formed organizer on your resources. Some companies need the ability to grow and shrink in seconds, or the lowered costs of operating a few cloud servers. Most companies, however just need a way to organize their workloads, providing each with the perfect balance of resources to keep the engine running at peak efficiency.

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Web Hosting Basics: Domain Registrar, DNS Host, Web Host — What’s The Difference

New web hosting clients are often confused by the way the domain name system and the domain registration system work. More specifically, they’re confused that there is a difference between registering a domain name and actually linking it up with their site via a DNS hosting service.

I’d like to take a look at the three services that work together to ensure that when a user puts a web address into their browser, the appropriate web site appears. Those three services are web hosting, the domain registration system, and DNS, the Domain Name System.

TL;DR

Even when simplified, the explanation is complex, so here’s the nutshell version:

1. Web hosting provides the server your site lives on and the bandwidth that connects it to the outside world. The server has an IP address that other machines on the internet can use to communicate with it, much like a phone number.

2. A domain name registrar allows you to reserve a domain name for use with your site.

3. The Domain Name Service(DNS) tells web browsers which IP address goes together with your domain name.

What is Web Hosting?

This is the easiest one to explain. When you pay for web hosting, you are buying space on a server in a data center with a connection to the Internet. Your site’s files are stored on the server, and that server — or the network interface it’s connected to — has an IP address. An IP address is a set of numbers that routers, switches, and other servers use to find a particular server from the millions that constitute the internet.

What Is A Domain Name?

When someone wants to visit your site, they don’t enter an IP address, they enter a human-readable domain name. Domain names look like this:

www.example.com

The “example” is your site’s domain, and the “.com” is a top-level domain. To be able to use a domain for your site, you have to register it with a domain name registrar. The names of sites on the web are handled by a set of organizations that manage registries — essentially big lists of who “owns” a particular domain. You don’t deal directly with registries; you deal with a registrar, which manages registration on behalf of the registries. That sounds confusing, but the details aren’t really important. You register a domain name, and you get control over the use of that name for period of time.

What Is The Domain Name System?

At this point, you have web hosting and you have a domain name you can use. But something is missing — how do you connect the domain name to the server on which your site is stored? Domain name registries don’t do this. It’s the job of the Domain Name Service (DNS).

When your domain name is entered into a browser, the browser asks a domain name server, probably your Internet Service Provider’s domain name server, if it knows which IP address is associated with that domain. If it knows, it will send that IP address to the browser. If it doesn’t know, it will ask a different DNS server for the information.

DNS servers are arranged in a hierarchy. At the top of hierarchy are the root name servers. These know where to find the domain name servers that have authoritative information for top-level domains like “.com”. The root name server tells the ISP’s server where to find the DNS server that has information about “.com” addresses, including “example.com”. The DNS server for “.com” knows where to find the name server for your domain name — that is, the domain name server that knows the IP address of your website. At this point, the ISP’s DNS server knows the IP address of your site, and can send it to your browser.

So, why do you need DNS hosting? Because that’s what provides the authoritative domain name servers that know the IP address of your site. When you link up your site with its domain name, you tell the domain registrar where to find the authoritative domain name server for your domain name and that information is propagated through the DNS hierarchy.

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cPanel - Addon Domain

Addon Domains are addition domains hosted in your account, stored in subfolders. System treats these domains as a subdomain to your system. If you want to run a whole different website under the same hosting plan, you can use this feature of cPanel. It is the best option to run multiple websites on a single cPanel account. For example, you have a hosting for blogging website, and you want a different website for your CV, you will not need to purchase a different hosting account, but you can use the same hosting for your CV website.

To use this feature, you will need to click Addon Domains link under your Domains section from cPanel Home.

In Addon Domains interface, you can do the following tasks.

Create an Addon Domain

To create an Addon Domain, follow these steps −

Step 1 − Find Create an Addon Domain section in Addon Domains, as shown below.

Step 2 − Fill your domain name in New Domain Name textbox.

Step 3 − Subdomains and Document Root will be automatically filled. Then you can leave the setting as it is or you can change them according to your need.

Step 4 − You can create an FTP account, which will be associated with the Addon Domain. To create an FTP account, select the checkbox on which Create an FTP account associated with this domain is written.

Step 5 − Enter FTP Username and Password to create an FTP account.

Step 6 − Click on the button “Add Domain”, if no error occurs, you will get a success message.

Remove an Addon Domain

To remove an Addon Domain, Scroll down to “Modify Addon Domain” Section and press remove link from Actions corresponding to the Addon Domain.

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How to use WHM Feature Manager?

In this documentation, we can check how to manage features in your account. This option allows you to enable or disable icons in your cPanel account.

1 ) Login to WHM.

2 ) Navigate to Home >> Packages.

3 ) Click the icon ‘Feature Manager’.

cPanel and WHM includes the following three predefined feature lists.

Default – The system grants cPanel users access to these features by default. If you disable a feature from this list, the system will disable it in every user’s cPanel that uses that list.

Disabled – cPanel users cannot access these features, and other lists cannot grant access to them.

Mail Only – For cPanel users that can only access mail-related features, such as Email Archiving or SpamAssassin.

Add New Feature List

1 ) Enter new feature name in the section ‘Add new feature list’.

2 ) Click the button ‘Add Feature List’.

3 ) Then cPanel shows the list of available features.

4 ) We can select the features from this list and Click ‘Save’ button’ to update.

Edit Feature List

1 ) To edit the feature list, select the desired feature list from the option ‘Manage Feature List’ and click ‘Edit’ button.

2 ) You can select/deselect the checkboxes to enable or disable the features for the specified feature list.

3 ) Click ‘Save’ button to update the details.

Delete Feature List

1 ) To delete the feature list, select the desired feature list from the option ‘Manage Feature List’ and click ‘Delete’ button.

2 ) Then cPanel will delete specified feature list.

That is how we can manage features in your account.

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Introduction to Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is an industry term for managed data storage through hosted network (typically Internet-based) service. Several types of cloud storage systems have been developed supporting both personal and business uses.

Personal File Hosting

The most basic form of cloud storage allows users to upload individual files or folders from their personal computers to a central Internet server. This allows users to make backup copies of files in case their originals are lost. Users can also download their files from the cloud to other devices, and sometimes also enable remote access to the files for other people to share.

Hundreds of different providers offer online file hosting services. File transfers work over standard Internet protocols like HTTP and FTP. These services also vary in:

◈ storage capacity and network bandwidth quotas
◈ network transfer speeds supported
◈ price (some are free or ad-based, while others are based on data usage)
◈ the software interface (some are browser-based while others utilize dedicated application clients)

These service work as an alternative to home network storage systems (such as Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices) or email archives.

Enterprise Storage

Businesses can utilize cloud storage systems as a commercially-supported remote backup solution. Either continuously or at regular intervals, software agents running inside the company network can securely transfer copies of files and database data to third-party cloud servers. Unlike personal data that is generally stored forever, enterprise data tends to quickly grow obsolete and backup systems include retention policies that purge useless data after time limits have passed.

Larger companies can also use these systems to replicate large amounts of data between branch offices. Employees working at one site may create new files and have them automatically shared with colleagues in other sites (either locally or in other countries). Enterprise cloud storage systems typically include configurable policies for "pushing" or caching data efficiently across sites.

Building Cloud Storage Systems

Cloud networks that serve many customers tend to be expensive to build due to the scalability requirements for reliably handling large amounts of data. The decreasing cost-per-gigabyte of physical digital media storage has helped offset these costs somewhat. Data transfer rates and server hosting costs from an Internet data center provider (ISP) can also be substantial.

Cloud storage networks tend to be technically complex due to their distributed nature. Disks must be specially configured for error recovery, and multiple geographically-distributed servers must typically be managed to cope with the high bandwidth requirements. Network security configuration aspects also require the expertise of professional who command relatively high salaries.

Choosing a Cloud Storage Provider

While using a cloud storage system brings advantages, it also has downsides and involves risk. Selecting the right provider for your given situation is critical. Consider the following:

◈ Cost. Vendors charge fees for at least their more advanced service offerings. Service plans may be divided into tiers according to usage, with penalty fees charged if you exceed the specified quotas. So-called "free" services can place serious restrictions (quotas) on the amount of data which can be stored in or accessed from the cloud. Carefully consider your storage needs before locking into a subscription: Buy enough capacity and capability to support you and your organization, and try to avoid long-term contracts that can cause serious issues later when your needs grow.

◈ Usability. Cloud storage systems should make working with remote data almost as easy as data on your local hard drives. Test out carefully both the user interface (browser or separate application screens) and responsiveness (network latency ) of a vendor's system looking for major time-wasting usability limitations that sap your productivity.

◈ Reliability and Reputation. Even a free cloud storage service can be costly if it suffers from frequent downtimes, loses or corrupts data, or has had past security incidents. Research the service providers you are interested in for reputation and their brand quality before committing to one. Consider also using a vendor's trial subscription before committing to a long-term investment with them (and do not load any particularly sensitive data onto a service during trial periods).

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Using the Cloud: Public vs Private Cloud

There is no doubt that cloud computing has revolutionized the world of information technology. Moving to the cloud is a choice that every business that is serious about scaling up must face. A critical step is understanding the right cloud computing model; for example- the difference between public cloud and private cloud. If the next step for your small business is to move your IT infrastructure to the cloud, this blog will explain the choices available to you and what they entail.

First, what is a ‘Cloud’?

Many businesses are still not quite sure what the ‘cloud’ is and how important it is for a modern business. ‘Clouds’ are virtualized data centres that are made available or shared to meet the dynamic demands of any business application that wishes to plug into it. As everything here is entirely virtualized, cloud computing can be more efficient and valuable in terms of cost than regular, physical data centers.

What are common reasons that companies use the ‘Cloud’ for?

To set up and manage;

◈ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools

◈ Human Resource Management Tools

◈ Collaboration across different geographies

◈ Business Analytics, etc.

Businesses do this in 3 main ways:

1. Through the ‘Public’ version of the ‘Cloud’- also known as ‘Public Cloud’:

In a ‘Public Cloud’ model, services are rented out by the Cloud provider over the internet to the public on a pay-as-you-go model. In other words, if you, as a small business, require cloud computing services, you can partner with a cloud service provider that will be responsible for the set up, upkeep and management of the data center and services for you, freeing you from having to purchase, manage and maintain all the infrastructure yourself. As you can gather, most companies who favour a public cloud do so to save deployment time and management complexities. Unlike the popular opinion of public cloud services, security breaches are in fact quite rare.

Who are the top Cloud providers in the industry right now?

◈ Amazon Web Services

◈ Google Cloud

◈ Microsoft Azure

All 3 offer a 1 year free trial of services.

Other notable providers include OpenStack, IBM, Oracle and Cisco.

2. Private Cloud/Enterprise Cloud/Virtual Private Cloud:

Unlike a public cloud which is available over the internet, services through a private cloud will be made available only behind a firewall to your employees. You can think of it as a highly virtualized cloud data centre provisioned inside a company’s firewall that you can control and customize to fit your needs.

Exclusivity is the defining characteristic of the Private Cloud set-up. The services are for the dedicated use of a single organisation. As you can guess, however, this model will need to be managed with your own internal resources. Servers, storage and related infrastructure will be owned and paid for by your organisation.

How do you benefit with a Private Cloud?

◈ Private Clouds are best suited for organisations that have unpredictable computing needs such as government and security organisations. Private Clouds are preferred for their robust security and greater flexibility compared to a public cloud set-up.

◈ Since you have the infrastructure, you have greater control than in a public cloud and can control how you deploy applications on the infrastructure.

◈ You can also expect lower latency  as services are used only within the organisation

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What are the Benefits of WordPress Hosting?

WordPress Hosting is, in most cases the ideal hosting for WP websites. Not only does it provide great performance owing to the fact that it is configured to be highly compatible with WordPress, but it also provides a range of WordPress management features. This makes it very easy for website owners to manage and maintain the website without having to allocate additional resources to do the same. Although different hosting providers provide different features, we will talk about the benefits of WordPress Hosting.

◈ Highly compatible with WordPress
◈ Enhances the performance of WP websites.
◈ WordPress is pre-installed to provide a plug and play environment for developers.
◈ Automatic WordPress updates to keep you up to date all the time.
◈ Cloud-based hosting infrastructure that provides a high level of scalability.
◈ Automated backups using CodeGuard.
◈ Daily malware scanning and security with SiteLock.
◈ Pre-installed plugins that make your job easier
◈ Managed services that take-up WordPress maintenance.

To get a better understanding of the benefits of WP Hosting, let’s look at them individually in detail.

1. Performance:

Every software will have its own system requirements that determine how efficiently the software will function. With that in mind, even WordPress as a software has its ideal system requirements. WordPress Hosting ensures that the hardware, firmware, and software configuration is highly compatible so that it runs efficiently.

Having a system that is compatible ensures that you do not run into performance issues and system freezes. If the system does not function properly, the hosted website may crash, or temporarily be out of service which will have serious implications on the website’s authority and visitor’s experience.

2. WordPress is Pre-Installed:

Developers who take up WordPress projects regularly would love this feature. With WordPress pre-installed, you have no need to spend time downloading and installing the CMS on the server. You just purchase the plan and begin developing the website. This saves a lot of time and you never have to worry about compatibility issues.

3. Automatic WordPress Updates:

Another important benefit for WordPress Hosting is automatic WordPress updates. Every update that is released comes with a bunch of improvements and bug fixes. If your instance of WordPress hosting is not up-to-date, not only will you lose out on these essential improvements and bug fixes, but also become more susceptible to external security threats. The automatic update feature of WP Hosting ensures that you are covered on this front.At times, the website you are hosting is not compatible with newer versions of WordPress. Although this scenario is very rare, it still persists. In such cases, turning off automatic updates is just a switch flip away.

4. Cloud-Based Hosting:

One of the biggest benefits of WordPress Hosting plans is that the hosting is Cloud-Based. Which means the advantages of Cloud Hosting are cascaded to the WordPress Hosting. These advantages include scalability at the click of a button and a high level of reliability as there is no single point of failure. Moreover, we integrate Varnish Cache within this Cloud-based environment that has the potential to increase your website’s speed by 1000%.

5. Great Security and Backup:

Our WordPress hosting packages provide the option to include premium website security and backup tools. One of them being CodeGuard, which automatically takes website backup periodically so that you have enough restore points in case of a disaster. The other tool that our WP Hosting contains is SiteLock. This software regularly monitors the website for malware and security threats and notifies you to take necessary action. SiteLock can also be configured in order to deal with security threats automatically in case of an encounter.

6. Pre-installed Jetpack Plugin:

Plugins form a very strong base for WordPress development. Any task or functionality that you can imagine can be made possible with plugins. Our WP Hosting plans integrate certain essential plugins such as Jetpack plugin. This plugin can be used for a variety of functions including provisioning of WordPress themes, lazy loading, marketing services such as analytics, automated social media and SEO tools, Payment gateway integrations and high-end security for your website.

7. Managed Services:

Another very useful advantage is the inclusion of managed services. What this means is that the WP Hosting team takes care of dealing with all your website maintenance tasks. Without managed services, you as the website owner are responsible for taking care of the WordPress maintenance which requires resources.Managed services include a barrage of activities like scalability of hosting resources such as CPU, RAM and storage space. As your website grows, you will need more hosting resources to handle the incoming traffic load.

This can be easily done by the managed team without you having to worry about the specifics.
Another example of managed services is the optimization of the WP Database. The WP Database holds all the important information of your website such as pages, posts, form entries, cookies, plugin settings, theme settings etc. As your website grows, this database becomes bulky. Bulky WP databases are usually slow and need to be optimized so that they do not affect the overall speed of the website. The managed hosting team takes care of this on their own without you having to intervene.

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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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