Pros and Cons of Cloud Web Hosting

If you’ve ever heard the term “software as a service” when talking about the Internet, you’ve already heard a little bit about cloud computing. And if you use a service like Gmail or Hotmail, you are also already using cloud computing. Cloud web hosting is much the same. Your server is located “on the cloud,” where it can draw resources from other clouds that are connected to it, should you run out of resources on your own. And while cloud computing and cloud web hosting is quickly becoming the preferred method of doing things for many businesses, like anything else it has its advantages and disadvantages.

The most obvious advantage to cloud web hosting is that if the cloud your server is located on runs out of resources, you can take what you need from other clouds – and they can, too. It’s really just one big sharing community, but instead of pictures and status updates, you share bandwidth and storage space.

Another advantage that comes with cloud web hosting are the cost savings. Before cloud web hosting, co-location was the closest thing to it on the web hosting market; and using cloud computing can save you over 50 per cent what you’d spend on co-location web hosting.

Of course, cloud computing does have some disadvantages. But to really understand them, or better yet, avoid them altogether, it does get a bit complicated and you might have to hand the task over to your IT team, depending on your own hosting know-how.

One of the biggest disadvantages of cloud computing goes against one of the advantages; and this is the fact that it can get very expensive. This is because if you don’t optimize the code on your website efficiently, it could cost you very high monthly fees. To avoid this, ask your cloud web host if you can receive a monthly statement outlining your optimization efforts. The code needs to be optimized so that it doesn’t require access to the main database nearly as often, which is what will save you the money in those high fees that can quickly pile up.

Another disadvantage to cloud web hosting is that most of them are not environmentally-friendly and do not take precautions to save energy in their data center. This is important, especially if you’re concerned about the environment, because these web hosting companies have every server in their data center turned on and functioning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That’s a lot of power that’s being used, and it’s not sustainable power either.

Cloud web hosting is one of the easiest and most convenient forms of web hosting that any business can use. You’ll always have your resources there when you need them, and the cost savings really can be huge. Know how to work around the small disadvantages that come with it, so that you can truly make the most of cloud web hosting for you, and your business!