What Is Cloud Hosting?

An actual cloud web hosting solution serves distinct hosting services like disk space, mail, FTP, databases, DNS, statistics, hosting control panel, backup, etc., on individual racks of commercial-grade servers. Each individual service set creates a cluster. All servers in a cluster are dedicated to handling just one particular service and nothing else. They all function as a single web server, sharing the service's load in near equal proportions. To be an authentic cloud web hosting service, there must be:

• A disk space cluster
• An electronic mail cluster
• An FTP cluster
• Database clusters (MySQL/PostgreSQL)
• A DNS cluster
• A site statistics cluster
• A control panel cluster
• A backup cluster, and more…

All of these individual service clusters form the “cloud web hosting” platform.

Cloud hosting misconceptions

The general public is not fully aware of what cloud web hosting is. Based on this, “cloud web hosting wholesalers” tend toward exaggeration just to secure customers. This is due in large part because, unlike the domain industry, which is regulated by ICANN, there is no such self-governing entity for the web hosting industry.

Single server-based control panels

The popular hosting control panels like cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, etc. are built to function on just a single server. All web hosting services (web space, email, FTP, databases, DNS, statistics, control panel, backup, etc.) are being provided by the same server where these hosting CPs are installed.

The absence of open-source control panels

With the absence of open-source CPs, any firm considering cloud web hosting as part of their product portfolio must be prepared to create their own hosting control panel that will function perfectly within the cloud platform as if it were a component of it. Proper instances of custom made cloud website hosting solutions with custom created hosting control panels narrows the choices to just The Whole Internet and FreeHostia.

Cloud hosting hardware equipment charges

The minimum funding required for provisioning the cloud web hosting hardware amounts to somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 (USD). That's excluding the DDoS apparatus, which is another $15,000 – $20,000, with pay-as-you-go solutions even higher. Based on the infrastructure funding requirements, you now have an idea of how many cloud web hosting platforms you are likely to encounter, and above all, why the web hosting sky is so blue… and nearly cloudless. 😉