Web hosting or plain hosting refers to utilizing a server to host a website.
This hosting service enables a site to go live on the internet and let the people who are online see all the text and images provided on that particular website.
It used to be just plain hosting of a site.
Today, however, there exists what is known as cloud hosting.
The term may sound new to you but you may actually be using it without your knowledge.
Google is a pioneered in cloud hosting.
The cloud actually refers to an extensive computer infrastructure that Google utilizes especially in most of its operations including the search engines.
By cloud hosting, it means a website is being hosted on a clustered or group of servers.
Through this method, more than one server supports a site's online operations giving it more power with little chances of a crash or other server-related problems.
In other words, a website takes advantage of a number of servers in managing its security features, load balance and hardware resources and in real time at that.
With this type of hosting, a website can expand easily unlike when using a single server or shared server which has certain limitations.
Lesser problems can be experienced by website owners and publishers owing to the scalability of this option.
Less cost is also involved which can really be a major advantage.
The reason for its cost effectiveness is that cloud hosting companies charge users only for every use.
Only the quantity of the computing power is what's considered similar to what power and water companies do.
There's no longer any need to reserve power for server because cloud hosting providers can easily meet the requirements of websites on time.
In terms of security, companies still have to make sure they have an effective strategy for protecting their valuable data.
This is one area where they should invest in training their people.
An important step to take as well is to reach an agreement with the cloud hosting service to encourage them to be transparent in their operations and to assure clients of immediate action should troubles occur that can affect online operations.
Cloud computing and hosting have become an integral part of the IT industry in the recent years.
In fact, this has led to the entry of more companies providing such service.
Among the major groups in this field today are the GoGrid, Amazon, RakeSpace, Mosso, FlexiScale, GridLayer and NetDepot.
Reports have it that startup companies are opting for cloud hosting nowadays rather than build their own IT infrastructure or data centers which can be very expensive.
Apart from the appliances, getting manpower to oversee them adds to the expense.
Whereas by going for the cloud, organizations can just leave their server needs to these services on the internet and pay only for the computing power that they use.
For those conscious about their budget but aim to create powerful websites, this route is indeed highly recommended.