Almost every business owner is faced with this dilemma at some point of time or the other; whether to use cloud servers or dedicated servers for storing their data and critical applications. What is most important is for us to store the mission-critical data in an environment which is secure and easily accessible. At the same time, the costs for data storage should not be steep. So, to get all of these benefits, it is important to make a decision as to whether you should store the data in a dedicated hosting environment or in a cloud server.
What are cloud hosting and dedicated hosting solutions?
In cloud server hosting, computing resources are made available from multiple servers that are interconnected. Cloud hosting is therefore very reliable because even if any of these servers crash, there are other active servers to which the workload can be suitably redirected. Moreover, cloud servers are also scalable because you can avail of additional resources whenever you need them. This guarantees endless scalability which is imperative if your site has to expand. Most importantly, cloud hosting is affordable because the client enterprises end up paying only for the resources that they use and nothing extra. In dedicated hosting, on the other hand, a single server and its resources are rented out by a client enterprise exclusively for its own interests. This makes dedicated hosting also rather reliable as you can be assured of a high network uptime; all resources are owned by you and do not have to be shared with co-users. Moreover, dedicated hosting is scalable too because you have root access to the server and you are free to install new applications or get additional resources like bandwidth or space whenever the need arises.
What is the difference between cloud and dedicated servers?
As more and more businesses are going online and hosting solutions for hosting their data are becoming more and more technologically superior, there will come a time when you have to weigh the pros and cons of both dedicated and cloud servers for choosing either dedicated or cloud hosting. When you choose cloud hosting, you do not have to buy or maintain costly hardware to store the data. The cloud services provider will take care of server management and troubleshoot any server-related problems. However, in dedicated hosting, you will need to buy the hardware for storing data. Depending on whether you opt for managed or unmanaged hosting, you can save on your hosting plans.
1. In terms of availability, cloud servers seem to perform better compared to dedicated servers. In cloud hosting, even if a single server malfunctions, there are standby servers which will step in to ensure that the site continues to function optimally. So, there are zero downtime issues and highest network uptime as far as your site is concerned. However, in dedicated hosting, you cannot get rid of downtimes completely; risks of hardware failures are there as there are no standby servers for sharing the load.
2. As far as scalability goes, cloud servers can get as many resources as you want when you want them. So, resources are made available in real time and on an on-demand basis. This helps to boost your site’s performance and makes sure that your functions continue seamlessly because of ready availability of resources. But in dedicated hosting, scaling of resources takes time and may be slightly challenging.
3. When you compare cost-efficiency between cloud hosting and dedicated hosting, you will see that in cloud hosting, you have to only pay for the resources that you use and not a penny extra. The cloud vendors typically follow a pay-as-you-go model where clients pay only for what they use. This guarantees better resource allocation and no wastage of capacity. In cloud hosting, the SQL storage, bandwidth costs and server space may be a tad costlier compared to dedicated servers. But in dedicated hosting, you will be required to pay a fixed sum every month, regardless of what resources you actually use.
4. As far as security goes, cloud servers are highly secure because the providers implement robust measures like secure firewalls, anti-virus protections, backup provisions, on-site surveillance, data encryption methods etc. in dedicated hosting, you are expected to implement security measures and you may need to upgrade the servers when you are dealing with highly-sensitive information.
5. Finally, where the degree of control is concerned, cloud servers do not allow you to enjoy complete control over the server as does dedicated web hosting providers. In dedicated hosting, you can have full control over the server; you can adjust its settings and configure the server to suit your business requirements. Cloud server control is limited by offerings of the vendors.
To conclude, whether you should opt for cloud hosting or dedicated hosting will depend entirely on the nature of your business and your business goals and requirements. Cloud servers are better suited for ecommerce sites which are likely to face unpredictable traffic peaks and need resources right away to handle these sudden demand fluctuations. Small and medium sized businesses also find cloud hosting more lucrative as you only have to pay for resources you use. However, when you seek high performance, high reliability and complete server control, you should settle for dedicated servers.
