If you’re thinking of launching a business online, or you already have a company and you know that you need an effective digital presence if you want to thrive, then one of the first things you’ll need to do is spend some money on the right server solution. A cloud server is simply a server that’s located on the cloud or a “virtual” platform, instead of “on-premise”. Where a traditional server would need to be hosted in a physical location, a cloud server is built, hosted, and delivered completely through a cloud computing platform on the internet.
Known to some as virtual computing servers, cloud servers come with all the benefits, software, and solutions you would expect from a standard server. However, many people believe that in today’s incredibly agile technology space, a cloud server is a lot more flexible and appealing than a physical solution.
What is the Cloud Anyway?
Before you can understand the benefits and importance of cloud servers, you’ll need to know what the cloud is, and what it means to the technology world. The cloud is commonly used to refer to various servers connected on the internet that might be leased as the overall part of an application or software package.
Cloud-located services can include a range of features, all the way from data hosting, web hosting, and sharing solutions too. The “cloud” can also be used to refer to the process of “cloud computing” where multiple servers are linked over a virtual hosted connection. This means that instead of using a single powerful machine, a cloud environment can distribute complex processes across a collection of smaller computers.
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of the cloud storage world, is that there are several distributed resources all acting together to perform a single task. This means that if a problem happens with one of the resources you’re using, this shouldn’t have too much of a detrimental impact on the rest of your cloud server – unlike with physical options.
Why Should You Use a Cloud Server?
Just like any other aspect of your digital strategy, the decision of whether you need a cloud server or not will depend on your specific circumstances and preferences. While some people prefer the versatility and flexibility of the cloud, others are drawn to the stability and traditional comfort of an on-premise system. Just some of the benefits you can get from switching to a cloud server might include:
- Security and Consistency: In today’s competitive digital environment, a cloud server can provide your business with the stability you need to keep offering customers a consistent experience. This is because the software problems in the cloud are isolated and kept away from your environment. Other cloud servers won’t impact on your server, and if another user overloads their system, this won’t change how well your server runs.
- Speed and Performance: Besides offering you peace of mind when it comes to consistent performance, a cloud server is also very fast. It can avoid many of the hardware problems that are common with physical servers, and cloud solutions are likely to be more stable for companies who want to access a range of features while keeping their IT budget as low as possible.
- Cost-effective: A cloud server is versatile and scalable. You can simply choose the features that you need at any given time, and remove anything that you don’t want to pay for. This means that the cloud can provide a more reliable solution for your money. If you decide that you need more servers to run your system, it only takes minutes to upgrade your package with your cloud provider.
Do You Need a Cloud Server?
Cloud servers are flexible, efficient, and fast. If you’re one of the many businesses in today’s saturated online environment that needs to improve IT performance with the worries of significant costs associated with managing and purchasing a fully dedicated infrastructure solution, then a cloud server could be a great alternative.
Many small to mid-sized businesses, and any company that often have changing demands or workloads, can use a cloud server to their advantage. What’s more, cloud servers can sometimes be designed and customised to provide varied amounts of performance, similar to that of a dedicated server. The only difference is that instead of your solution being hosted on a physical hardware system that’s unique to you, your system is located on a virtualised environment that’s managed by a cloud hosting provider.