The “cloud” — a simple word that has created a lot of buzz. But what exactly is the cloud? Is it going to affect you? Watch our video or read the transcript below to find out.
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Good morning, Richard.
Good morning.
What is the “cloud”? What do you understand by the “cloud”?
The cloud is a technology for hosting websites. Traditionally, an operating system set on a computer is physically limited by the size of the CPU and memory. The cloud is a generic term, but it refers to a set of technologies, which allow a computer to be hosted within an environment where isn’t constrained by hardware. So this means that the machine could be increased dynamically in terms of CPU and memory. Although the terminology is useful to the hosting companies, it’s not particularly useful to somebody who has a website. If you intend to host a website in the cloud, you should choose a company that really understands this technology and can deliver a scalable solution.
In terms of the cloud, what approach should we take and how should we use this technology?
As a hosting company, we use the cloud to make sure that the hosting solutions or hosting platforms that we put together to host websites will automatically scale. I think “auto scale” is a slightly more helpful term that people should use when looking for web hosting. Additionally, you should think about what will happen when your site will experience peaks in traffic, what will happen if the traffic will increase exponentially over time, and whether or not hosting your site in the cloud will allow a painless transition from a small company to a large corporation.
If I understood this correctly, the website owner almost doesn’t have to care; he has a website, he puts it onto some sort of technology, but the hosting company must do all the things behind the scene (it must provide servers, networks, and do the backups). Furthermore, it must manage everything in a way that will scale in response to the customer needs. Is that basically what we’re talking about?
That’s correct. Very often, the cloud technologies along with the interfaces that we use can be incredibly complicated. Unfortunately, there are some marketers who say that you must push your website on the cloud when, in fact, what you should do is to host your website with a hosting provider who knows how to make the most of cloud technologies. To really benefit from these technologies, you need a system administrator.
I think I’ve got a better understanding of the cloud. Thank you, Richard.
Thanks, Paul.