WordPress is arguably today’s most popular blogging platform, also called a content management system. In some sense the two labels have blurred boundaries as technology changes and blogging takes on an increasingly sophisticated role. It began its life as an offshoot from another blogging application called b2 in 2003. Since then WordPress has come a long way. It has become so popular that many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) such as Names Co Hosting provide it as a free application right on the cPanel. This streamlines installation and insures that the servers are configured for proper operation. However, your ISP is not your only choice.
One popular alternative to that is Amazon WordPress hosting. Specifically, the web service is called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud or Amazon EC2.
Top Benefits of Amazon WordPress Hosting
- Amazon’s proven computing environment is extremely fast; booting new server instances takes minutes, not hours, so customers can respond to rapidly changing situations on the fly.
- Use only the resources you need. Depending on your changing computing requirements you may quickly scale the capacity you have at your disposal, both upwards and downwards.
- It’s simple economics. Dynamic scalability means you only pay for the services that you use.
- Tools are available to build failure resilient applications to ensure maximum uptime and minimum downtime.
- EC2 provides the ability to run hundreds or thousands of server instances at once in real time.
Cloud Hosting Services that are Flexible, Reliable, and Responsive
In addition to running WordPress, Amazon provides the ability to run other software packages simultaneously as your needs grow. There is no need to be locked into a particular choice of operating systems. You may choose one of many Linux distributions as well as Microsoft Windows Server; all these are supported. Once you specify your operating system, you may designate your boot partition size, instance storage, memory configuration, and CPU.
EC2 is dedicated to the highest levels of reliability. If it is ever needed, replacement instances can be rapidly and predictably commissioned. The service doesn’t operate in a remote physical location from Amazon’s core business. In fact, it runs with the same network infrastructure and datacenters which allows them to commit to a proven 99.95% availability.
Security is a Priority
Since WordPress is one of the top blogging platforms, it stands to reason that it is also a popular target for hackers. Choosing Amazon WordPress hosting largely takes care of that threat. Amazon has always made security a top issue since they handle so much of their customer’s private data and identity fraud continues to be a major problem for online transactions. Since EC2 shares the same resources, the security measures are inherited.
If you already have an existing IT infrastructure, you will be pleased to know that you can interface with resources in your Virtual Private Cloud via conventional encrypted IPsec VPN type connections. For your convenience, your instances are located in a VPC defined within an IP range of your choosing. Furthermore, you as a client can determine which ones are exposed to the Internet and which ones stay private.
If you desire a higher level of security, you may employ what Amazon calls dedicated instances. What this means is that these instances reside on hardware that is dedicated to a unique customer in order to provide additional isolation from other users. For still more control, you have the ability to grant network access, both inbound and outbound, to and from your instances.
The Bottom Line — What’s the Pricing Structure?
With Amazon WordPress hosting, you have a variety of cost options to suit your particular situation.
- The On-Demand Instances plan is a good choice for the customer who is not in the position to make a long-term commitment. Instead, you will be billed by the hour. This type of pay-as-you-go plan works well for small start-ups that find themselves on a tight budget.
- The Reserved Instances plan is similar to the On-Demand model but allows you to put down a minimal, single-time payment for every instance you decide to reserve. Then you score an attractive discount on the hourly price of that instance. This plan is good for the customer that is ready to make a bit more of a commitment.
- Finally, the Spot Instance plan allows you to roll the dice in the sense that you bid on idle Amazon EC2 capacity. You may then run those instances for for the period where their bid is higher than the current Spot Price.
There is no doubt that you have a variety of options when selecting a hosting service. In the long run, all situations are different but Amazon EC2 has a lot to recommend it with a high level of scalability, proven security, impressive uptime, and flexible payment plans.
If you are considering Amazon for your WordPress website call us on 01494 819900 to discuss a suitable strategy OR alternatively download our guide below.