Almost every hosting company in the world today has a cloud hosting solution, including Volico’s cloud hosting plans. We can narrow the benefits of using a real cloud hosting plan down to two main points:
1. No hardware failures or maintenance to worry about
2. Services are easily scalable on demand, saving time and money
Since the word “cloud” gets tossed around so loosely, do your homework before you pick a cloud hosting company. It helps to start from a shared cloud computing definition, since providers don’t all architect it the same way. There are a number of different platforms and methods out there, so we’ve narrowed the list down to the questions you should ask any cloud host before you sign a contract.
What to Ask Before You Choose Cloud Hosting
What Operating Systems Are Available?
For instance, does the cloud service allow for Microsoft Windows? What about 32 and 64 bit support?
Are Clients Lumped Into the Same Local Network?
This question will put a lot of cloud hosts in a hot seat. While this is quite common, it is the cause for a variety of security concerns, as a malicious attacker can exploit the network hierarchy to compromise your systems.
How Is My Data Stored?
Are there redundancies beyond a single RAID configuration? This will be revealing of the performance and reliability you can expect from your cloud host. Make sure that the hardware in place can sustain multiple disk failures. Performance-wise, you can also ask about reading and write speed caps.
Do All Customer Virtual Machines Share Resources?
Typically the answer is yes, causing valid security concerns to arise.
What Volico’s Cloud Hosting Includes
Here’s what Volico offers by comparison. Every cloud client gets a dedicated network port on a Cisco 7600 series router, a dedicated RAM slot, and dedicated CPUs, nothing shared. This promotes security and performance without compromise.
Cloud services that skip these standards typically share resources across customers instead. As new cloud services keep emerging, make sure your host built theirs to benefit you, not to cut corners and save a few dollars.
Whether you’re comparing platforms on your own or want a second opinion, Volico’s team can help. If a fully managed environment fits your business better than self-service cloud, take a look at our managed hosting for growing businesses.
