There are a lot of web hosting options out there. To simplify the process of deciding what type of web hosting you’d like to implement for your server(s), here is a closer look at three of the most popular hosting options available.

Shared Hosting

If your server is low-end of the hit counter, or not hosting anything resource-intensive, you’ll probably want to take a hard look at shared hosting. This solution is the cheapest way to go because you share a server with other tenants. The resources allotted to your site are dynamic, so if your traffic increases, you get a little more processor time. If no one is on your website, then resources previously allotted to your site can be temporarily reassigned to help out the next website over that is hosted on the same server. Of course, problems arise when your site is constantly being neglected in bandwidth and hardware resources in favor of your neighbors on a server.

Dedicated Hosting

In a dedicated server, your data is the only content on the server. You don’t have to worry about the problems that are present in a shared hosting environment. The only real downside to this option is that it’s the most expensive option. If you want to cut costs, dedicated hosting might not be your best bet, but if you’re tired of fighting for bandwidth in a shared situation, a dedicated server might be your answer.

Cloud Hosting

Hosting your website in the cloud has become the latest trend in web hosting, providing the benefits of both dedicated hosting and shared hosting while dissolving some of the negatives of either option. To have the scalability that reduces your cost when your website isn’t operating at peak traffic and the resources available to you and only you when it is, the cloud is the answer. Your website is hosted across a network of servers, so as one server is in use by another cloud customer, the next available server steps in to host your server, with no noticeable performance difference on the user side of things. Because of this quick scalability between servers, it also means that your up-time will be near perfect. One server you’re running out of goes down? Jump to the next sever without a hitch.

http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031

A comprehensive review of cloud computing as SaaS:  “Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.”

http://fivepercent.us/2009/04/11/cloud-computing-truly-green-data-centers/

Future methods to conserve energy in an IT environment will and must include cloud computing, one writer predicts. With cloud computing, data centers can potentially reduce energy consumption by 70-80 percent, he claims, and logically it makes perfect sense to come to that conclusion.

My personal opinion is that as cloud computing becomes the hosting method of choice for the majority of users, the effect will be more broadly felt by those data centers that adapt to the growth of demand for that service.  Eventually, the benefits of hosting in the cloud will out-weight those of resisting the turning of the weather.

http://govit.ulitzer.com/node/1217529

JP Morgenthal offers an informed, albeit satirical view of the IT universe, past and present. He explores the frontier of cloud computing and the irony of modern social networking, provoking more than one chuckle and a variety of deep thoughts.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/490368/Cisco_CEO_Cloud_Computing_a_Security_Nightmare_

“Traditional security protocols will not reign in the cloud,” says John Chambers, Cisco Systems’ Chairman and CEO. According to Chambers, while the future of cloud computing is exciting, and inevitable, we should be prepared to invent entirely original measures to make it secure. Simply put, Chambers says cloud computing poses a “security nightmare,” and as of now, the more appropriate name for it would be “swamp computing.”

Personally, I wonder if Chambers’ view of cloud computing has changed since the publication of this article, because if it hasn’t, it must be kind of frustrating to him to see cloud computing so widely embraced by key players like Amazon and Rackspace, as well as their customers.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/492967/Cloud_Security_Danger_and_Opportunity_Ahead

Ariel Silverstone levels a microscope on the implications of Cloud Computing, stating that these issues must and should be addressed by each pertinent organization “before the technology become[s] either unmanageable or, conversely, be seen as too risk-laden for corporations to use.”

In other words, walk before you run.

There is no doubt of the risks inherent in virtualized storage and processing of vast amounts of user data online, and responsible providers would take steps to reduce those risks not only for themselves, but for their users.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137297/Cloud_Security_Time_to_Smoke_Another_One_?taxonomyId=154

Bill Brenner calls the security of Cloud Computing into question with input from industry authorities Chris Hoff and Ariel Silverstone.

http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/web-hosting-knowledge/a-brief-on-cloud-hosting/

According to Jerry of Web Hosting Knowledge, Cloud Hosting can be broken down into two words: scalability and cost-efficiency. He also includes an almost-too-easy-to-be-taken-seriously video that dissects the concept even further.

Data Center in the Sky…

It’s just too easy nowadays to flip a switch and have light; twist a knob and have heat; and the result is a lack of appreciation for how the energy that fuels the bulb and lights the fire is generated. Similarly, when the majority of us connect to the web, the last thing on our minds is that far-off data center and the watts of electricity it’s churning out to keep our favorite sites live and accessible.

As for the rest of us, our greatest concern is keeping that data center operating at full-bore, without interruption, and in the most cost- and energy-efficient ways possible. That’s a huge order to fill when you consider the involved, energy-consumptive machinations that drive an ultra-utilized data center like ours. You can be sure that we are weighing cost against benefit on a continuous basis in an attempt to achieve as near perfect a balance as possible, because the price of imbalance is paid not only by us, but by the environment.

The Promise and Price of Redundancy

In order to guarantee uptime to our clients, a guarantee which is as valuable to most businesses as the profit they would lose during a system outage, there are a few vital precautions that must be taken and processes that must be followed, and that includes provisioning our servers with backup hardware.

Redundant backup servers are one of several components that make up a comprehensive failover plan, but they are perhaps the most important and consume the most energy. The servers run around-the-clock as 24-hour reserves, but they consume just as much energy as if they were live. Features like solar panels, ultra-efficient processors, and innovative cooling systems help to minimize electricity usage and costs to a degree, but the fact of the matter remains that data centers on a whole are running at almost a fourth of their available capacity the majority of the time because of the necessity of redundant hardware.

Clients have the right to guaranteed uptime and in many cases depend on it to make their businesses successful, but the toll of such a guarantee is hefty indeed and until recently, there was not much way around it.

The Scalable, Saleable Cloud

The advent of cloud computing has many IT professionals twisting the corners of their hypothetical mustaches. The cloud is ripe with a bounty of possibilities, enough to pique the interest of any value-conscious individual, whether or not that individual is Internet savvy or entirely computer illiterate.

The concept of pay-as-you-go scalability is an especially enticing one, specifically for the online store or business that experiences sporadic volumes of traffic. They, like anyone that cruises the cloud, pay for what they use, not for what they may use.

What exactly does this mean for data centers like ours? In short, it means that our methods of backing up our clients’ servers can potentially become drastically less complicated, less expensive, and less impactful on the environment.

For example, if our customers are flaring up their own “server instances” on the fly, as they need them, and then returning them to the cloud when demand for them decreases, it will naturally trim off excessive use of resources. And if a “server instance” fails, it can be replaced just as seamlessly, without the need for a costly cache of redundant hardware.

The inherent advantages of cloud computing—the ease of fluctuation and “waste not, want not” service structure—can’t help but contribute to a business plan that is looking to become more green-conscious. As more and more businesses and data centers recognize this, they too will begin taking advantage of the cost- and energy-reducing aspects of the cloud.