When many people first hear of cloud computing and cloud hosting, they think that the two terms are interchangeable and that they mean the same thing....
When many people first hear of cloud computing and cloud hosting,
they think that the two terms are interchangeable and that they mean the same thing. In fact, cloud computing and cloud hosting work very similarly in that they both work “on the cloud,” but it’s the difference to the end user that you’ll most likely notice is the biggest.
Cloud computing is the term given to websites that use cloud hosting to deliver a service to the user. These are also known as “software as a service,” or SaaS providers. These websites use cloud hosting to allow visitors to use a service simply by going online and jumping onto “the cloud.” Essentially cloud computing is an online service provided to hundreds, thousands, and sometimes, even millions of people.
Cloud hosting isn’t all that different from cloud computing, except that it targets a different end user. Cloud hosting is used by individuals that want to run their own website, and want to host it on a cloud, where they’ll be able to draw resources from different clouds. This can be a very good, and very budget-friendly, option for webmasters that want to have the flexibility of having whatever resources they need available to them, such as bandwidth and storage space, but don’t want to pay high costs for resources they’ll never need – such as some might with dedicated servers.
When a webmaster wants to use cloud hosting on their site, they’ll have two options available to them – platform as a service (PaaS) or infrastructure as a service (IaaS.) The type chosen for web hosting will mostly depend on the control the webmaster wants to have over the operating system.
PaaS cloud hosting is a type that web developers and designers will use when creating the website that will provide the software as a service mentioned above. The web developers will have access to virtual computers or servers at a web host’s data center, and from there they will be able to manage the most common types of operating systems, such as Windows or Linux. While the operating system can’t usually be changed, configured, or maintained very much, it does allow webmasters more of a chance to focus on other aspects of the website, and managing other operating systems.
IaaS cloud hosting on the other hand, gives webmasters far more control over their operating system. While automatic updates may not be provided, IT personnel or web developers can create and use just about any application, on pretty much any operating system or platform they choose to run. This is the biggest difference between the two different types of cloud hosting.
Cloud computing and cloud hosting are two terms that are so similar, it’s not difficult to understand why so many people think they are one and the same. However, the basic difference is that if you’re using a website or service as the end user, you’re using cloud computing. If on the other hand, you’re providing a service or a website to other individuals, and you want to use the cloud to do it, it’s going to be cloud hosting you’re looking for.
