Cloud Server or Cloud Hosting: Which do you choose?

July 19, 2018 by Keith Rogers

Should we host our application on a cloud server or cloud hosting? With our announcement of these new exciting products just recently, we delve deeper into this question so you’re not left scratching your head!

We often get customers coming to us and asking us this. Of course, there isn’t always a straightforward answer! For that reason, we’re going to discuss some of the common use cases for each type of service and provide scenarios based on our experience for each.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud Hosting is a complete service that offers e-mail, website hosting, and a control panel to get everything setup. This service is suited to you if you want to get started with a basic website and have your own e-mail addresses.

We class a ‘basic website’ as something like the following:

• A personal or business blog using a CMS like WordPress or similar;
• A website site that acts as a front door to your business which advertises your services or provides information;
• Where you’re not wanting to store private information, such as name, address, billing details, etc;
• Not requiring a lot of server resources to be effective at delivering the content it provides.

Cloud Server

A Cloud Server is a portion of a whole. Taken from a larger server computer and dedicated to you. This service is a step-up from traditional cloud hosting affording many benefits.

We would recommend a cloud server over cloud hosting if for example, you want to:

• Use an e-commerce solution such as Magento;
• Store customer information like name, address, billing details, etc.;
• Use software that a cloud hosting service doesn’t offer or would conflict with other cloud hosting users;
• Guarantee high levels of performance or predictable performance for your application or website;
• Use specific versions of software;
• Setup custom configurations for server software;
• Tweak security settings such as those required to meet strict PCI compliance standards;
• Host an application written in-house that requires specific software that doesn’t work in a cloud hosting environment.

When the wrong choice is made

In a few cases, we have seen examples of e-commerce systems running on busy cloud hosting environments. This isn’t always a problem, but where complex e-commerce solutions like Magento have been concerned it often outgrows a cloud hosting setup. So, what are the common problems that arise when this happens:

• The cloud hosting server can crash under heavy load;
• Updates to server software like PHP can cause incompatibilities with systems like Magento and break a store;
• It can be difficult to follow security best practices;
• File and folder permissions issues can cause problems with the e-commerce software.

How do we differ?

We work closely with you to identify your requirements and suggest the best solution, as a result all of our cloud packages come with managed backups, OS updates, and monitoring. Furthermore, you can rely on our technical expertise to guide you and support you when needed.

In conclusion, if you’re unsure which package would best suit your requirements, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us as we’d be more than happy to help identify a solution for you.