Saturday 15 October 2011

Introduction To The Different Types Of Hosting From Shared To Cloud

By Eugene Yeng


It's easy to finish off this introduction to the different types of hosting in a few paragraphs. Unless... There's also an explanation of which type is suitable for what kind of website. So let's get the laundry list and tech geek to explain, and then try to match each type against a specific customer profile.

Every package offered by a web hosting company is likely to be categorized under one of four broad categories, defined by the selection of servers. This means shared, dedicated or virtual private servers. There's also one selection above and beyond these three, which is the option of hosting on a cloud where the customer accesses required resources thru the internet.

OK, we're done. Need more details? When many customers are given access to limited resources and tools on the same machine, that's called shared hosting. In contrast, a dedicated server is where the entire server is used exclusively by one customer who has full access to its resources.

VPS is a middle of the road solution where hypervisor technology is used to create virtualized instances of a server for each client. So while the client is actually getting only one of several partitions on a server, it appears as if the client has exclusive use of a full server. The client gets the same administrative rights and control as with a dedicated server.

Of all the choices, the most powerful one is hosting on the cloud. The customer can throw away the in-house IT setup with servers, complicated networking and the staff required to maintain it. Whatever the company needs will be made available via a simple web browser. It's obviously difficult to explain here, but consider it like a massive electrical grid where many customers share the power but pay only for their own usage.

Shared hosting doesn't have a lot of sub-types, but the other three do. Customers can choose from managed or unmanaged servers. Under the managed type, the host company will take care of the administration. Under unmanaged, the customer has the responsibility to install and manage everything from the OS to the web server and the tools necessary for setting up a website on the server.

Right, so that takes care of the geek stuff so let's get down to business. Which of these genries is suitable for a typical customer? It's a relative question that depends on the customer profile. When an individual or company is just getting started and needs a simple website without any security issues and no expectation of heavy traffic, it's best to go with shared hosting which is very cheap.

Bigger companies will have different hosting needs, with popular websites that store client information and process financial transactions, not to mention the company's secrets and valuable product data. Such websites need a lot more power and capabilities than can be had on a shared package, so this calls for a dedicated server solution. Some companies may be on the cusp of such requirements but don't have the budget for a dedicated server. These companies should make do with a VPS in the interim, until such time as the traffic and website growth and budget both are big enough to warrant a dedicated server.

Even bigger companies will have outgrown this stage too, and currently have a large IT setup with servers and staff. This kind of company can save a lot by getting rid of all the overheads and moving to a cloud. It's not just about savings, but also about harnessing the tremendous power of a data center while only paying for whatever resources have been accessed.




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