Everyone who has had to work or study in the modern-day and age knows exactly how important an online presence is. Today, everything is online and connected, which means that whatever you need you can find within a few simple clicks on your favorite techie gadget. Since everyone carries at least one on their body at all times in the form of a smartphone, being present online no matter who you are is crucial.
This is especially true for businesses who are looking to expand, tend to their customer base, or simply keep up with the ever-changing and growing competition. Having a website is an absolute necessity in the 21st century if you wish to start a successful company, and there are multiple ways to do so. By far the most popular one at the moment is through the use of cloud server hosting services. If you are unsure what this is, do not worry, as this article will tell you all about it, as well as educate you on the most important tips in choosing the best and most flexible one. If you have further questions about this, make sure to check out serverspace.us.
What are they and how do they work?
Usually, websites are kept on physical servers, which are essentially computers that dedicate their hardware and software to keeping certain websites afloat at all times. The stronger the components the more stable and faster the connection, resulting in an optimal experience for the users. Many companies use this method as it is still the most common one to utilize. Hosting companies and their web developers work together to create and maintain websites, holding them on their servers and collaborating with the clients who order the website for their business.
On the other hand, cloud server hosting services do this in much the same way, except they pull their resources from different sources and create a virtual server instead, one that is itself on the internet. You are probably familiar with cloud technologies, which replace physical disk space on your device in favor of keeping data on the web. In cloud hosting, your website is stored on multiple servers at once, a whole network of them. If one goes down the site is still fully operational, unlike with traditional servers whose crash means the website’s crash as well.
The main benefit of cloud hosting is reliability, scalability, and flexibility, perfect for websites that have different amounts of traffic during the day. If more people are browsing, opening, and closing the sections, more resources will be used. If it is slow for a while, fewer resources are needed and some are pulled by other websites that are using the network. Essentially, it is an amazing choice for those looking for a fine balance between the necessary power and affordability.
Choosing the best one
Like everywhere else, there are numerous options and different companies to go with for your cloud server hosting needs. If you are in desperate need of a high-quality cloud server, there are certain things you need to consider. Following is a list of tips to pay attention to while you are making this crucial decision that has the potential of taking your business a step further, or bringing it a step back.
1. The amount of flexibility
You can think about the plan you need for your website like on a needs basis type of deal. Similar to your mobile plan, you can decide how much of the resources you need each month or each year. Considering how many potential candidates there are, pick and choose the ones with the best plans that you expect will be beneficial to your case. Think about what you will need in the next few months. Are you planning a big marketing campaign, or are you going to expand your business and introduce new products? In these situations, your website will experience a surge in traffic and therefore require more resources than before. If the cloud host service has a busy month offer, you can pick it up a one-time deal and get through it. The last thing you want is a host with limited resources that cannot offer more in tough, important scenarios.
2. Memory
To stay afloat, the cloud needs to be powered with strong and fast components, mainly RAM and SSDs. Of course, the higher amount of RAM and SSD space and the quicker they are, the better the whole system will be. Most websites need a few gigabytes of RAM to be completely covered, but during heavy traffic more may be needed. Since more websites are connected to a single cloud network, it could be that more of them need a lot of gigabytes at the same time. To be certain, look for hosts with at least 16 GB of RAM. Max storage space is not important if the cloud hosts only a few websites, but the heavier and more elaborate they are the more space will be needed. Between 200 GB and 500 GB is more than enough for most sites.
3. Processing power
The processing power of every single computer is measured by the strength and speed of the CPU. Therefore, the number of CPUs (central processing units) is key. A CPU is the heart and brain of a computer, and the faster it is the better everything performs. Again, aim for the highest you can find, but no less than 8.
4. Bandwidth
Lastly, we have to talk about the thing that allows online traffic to existing. This would be the bandwidth, the amount of data that flows between the website (and the server that powers it), the internet, and the users. Bandwidth dictates exactly how much information travels through the connections, and how quickly or slowly. Quality hosting companies have good bandwidth of at least 9 TB, so do not aim for much less than that.
5. Server Uptime
Last but definitely not least is the uptime of your website and its servers, which is literally the amount of time they have been online. As nothing in the world is perfect and 100% of anything is unachievable, you can never have 100% uptime. What you can do is be as close to it as possible. The best companies in the business have their uptime between 99.95% and 99.99%, and this is as much as you can hope for and definitely more than enough for a successful and optimal online presence.