Billing method for Cloud Server hosting is based on pay-as-you-use principle. Users are supposed to pay only for the services they have used in a cloud hosting environment. If the user is not using the cloud server, the hosting provider will continue to charge because for every registered cloud the host needs to block storage, memory and IP addresses. Cloud hosting provider bills the users for software packages, additional IP addresses, storage, CPU/ RAM, and bandwidth consumption.
If the services such as storage, additional IP ranges, and software are being used even when the server is stopped, then user will have to pay for such resources. Sometimes the option of hourly billing is preferred if user needs a cloud server for the purpose of software demonstration to client or for any other reason. The server is destroyed after the task is finished and user will be billed only for the period of server usage.
Some service providers also offer facility of an Offline Mode. It is applicable for Virtual Machines. Users need not pay for resources such as CPU or RAM since these are not being consumed in an offline mode. The utility based payment model is one of the most attractive benefits of cloud server hosting.
There are many types of billing systems that can cover use of additional resources in a cloud hosting environment. Cloud hosting offers usage based billing and is therefore a highly sought after service model. Users need to closely monitor their resource consumption because there can be instances that demand provisioning of additional resources such as traffic spikes and so forth.
Users can choose resource alerts, third party management tools, or an automated resource management control to streamline the billing process. Usually, cloud hosting provider would add the billing amount for excess use of resources at the end of billing cycle. Many best cloud hosting providers ensure that users are offered billing alerts for controlling cloud resource costs that cover storage and computing instances.
It is recommended to use the option of advance payment to cover your minimum expected resource utilization. Hosting providers would calculate use of any incremental resources and invoice the user at the end of monthly billing cycle.
Dedicated server is exclusively designed to cater to requirements of a single user. It is ideally suited for large organizations that are extremely concerned with security of their mission critical applications. Organizations that need to operate in 24x7x365 environment and have to handle large traffic workloads choose dedicated servers. These servers are essential to improve IT capabilities of organizations and play vital role in management of critical data without compromising security and integrity.
Cloud servers enable organizations to manage dedicated infrastructure at considerable lesser costs. These require no upfront expenditure of purchasing physical servers or related hardware components. Cloud servers are popular among small and medium enterprises due to economy and efficiency. These can be instantly scaled up and scaled down according to workloads.
One of the most striking advantages of using cloud server over dedicated servers is the utility based billing system. Since a cloud server utilizes shared resources of an underlying physical server among multiple users, the cost of ownership is significantly reduced. Cloud servers are also more flexible than dedicated servers and enable users to know the resource consumption on hourly basis. Cloud servers can also be configured to get the equal level of security and efficiency as that of a dedicated server.
Cloud and VPS servers are products of server virtualization and therefore these are always confused to be same. Practically there are radical differences between these two in terms of scalability, setup, and so forth.
The most noticeable difference between these two is that of basic setup. Virtual Private server is derived from a single physical server and designed to operate as a single server with help of server virtualization. There are usually hundreds of virtual private servers partitioned in a single physical server to cater to needs of multiple users.
Cloud servers are built by networking multiple physical servers in a clustered formation of virtual servers that is supported with SAN storage. The basic purpose of such an arrangement is to dynamically provide resources to users by leveraging large number of servers that are networked together.
Cloud servers offer benefits of load balancing, unlimited bandwidth, and storage facilities that can be proactively provisioned to ensure uninterrupted website performance. Cloud severs can draw vast amounts of resources from the underlying network of servers that are positioned in diverse locations.
Cloud servers are designed to offer far better scalability than virtual private servers. Users have access to Cloud Control Panel to avail instant provisioning or deployment of resources and cloud applications.
Cloud hosting plans are designed to facilitate scaling and can be upgraded according to the offerings that are described in plans. The resources can be added on the existing cloud server instance or the resource addition can be executed by using VM option on the Cloud Control Panel. You will have to select the option of ‘Adjust Resource Allocation’ under the resource of ‘Action’.
The option of resizing the volumes can be tried for altering the size of disk partitions. In order to change the volume the component must be stopped and then after determining the current volume, the values can be added by denoting as ‘plus’ sign and using letters ‘G’ and ‘M’ for gigabytes and megabytes respectively. One can also use the main navigation for ordering new cloud server and then selecting the cloud server as desired.
Scalability is one the most compelling attributes of best cloud hosting. It is the basic feature that drives organizations and individuals to cloud adoption. Dynamic scaling up or scaling down is the highlight of cloud hosting that can enable efficient handling of traffic during and after traffic spike instances such as major promotional events, seasonal demand fluctuations, or product launches.
