How Does Cloud Hosting Work?

Cloud hosting offers agility, cost savings and enterprise-grade computing power, but businesses have diverse requirements and only a diverse range of cloud solutions can be the perfect match.

Understanding the basics of cloud hosting can greatly increase your confidence as a stakeholder in your company.

So, how exactly does cloud hosting work? 

A massive misconception about the cloud is that it’s just ‘up there,’ a single, nebulous mass of data with no true geographical home. If that were true, you’d be wise to hesitate about adopting cloud hosting!

Simply put, cloud hosting is when your data is stored across a network of inter-connected servers which could be in different geographical locations, rather than on a single machine in a single data centre. 

You then manage your data through a virtual machine, which has access to all of your different servers in 'the cloud'.

The Cloud is actually a multitude of smaller clouds, places where your data is hosted on real servers in real-life data centres all over the world and accessed over Wi-Fi.

There are three main types of cloud environments:

Public Cloud – the public cloud is often available to the general public, through services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure or common platforms like Dropbox. Buying public cloud storage means sharing space in the datacentre racks alongside other businesses or individuals. It can be a very budget-friendly option, and with a managed cloud solution, the infrastructure and security can be managed by a third-party to ease the burden on your business.

Private Cloud – private clouds are provisioned for a single user, containing only your data and apps. Private clouds do not share infrastructure with any other users. A private cloud can be built or managed by a third party (often referred to as an MSP, or managed services provider) or by your business. It can also be hosted on or off-site.

Hybrid Cloud – favoured by many, a hybrid cloud combines the best of public and private clouds through a mix of on-site private, off-site private, local or hyperscale global public cloud hosting to fit your unique business needs. Many businesses navigating compliance or data security regulations will choose a hybrid cloud approach to fulfil all their requirements.

You may be thinking, 'this all sounds great but, why trust the cloud data centres?'

The data centres used by cloud hosting providers can far outpace the processing power and availability of on-site servers, especially if you're a small or medium-sized business.

For example, SysGroup hosts in its own world-class data centres alongside others like Next Generation Data and LDEX, with future-facing and exacting standards for security and availability. These are a few of their features:

• Military-grade fencing with 24/7 physical security patrols
• Dedicated power substations to ensure 100% uptime
• Enough computing power for any size workload
• Tier 3+ hardware with UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
• Comprehensive, 24-hour network monitoring

They are incredibly compliant too, including security credentials like:

• ISO/IEC 27001:2013 (Information Security Management)
• ISO 22301:2012 (Business Continuity Management)
• PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards)
• ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management system)
• ISO 50001:2011 (Energy Management)
• BS OHSAS 18001:2007 (Occupational Health and Safety Management)

There are numerous benefits that cloud hosting can bring your business, including:

• Cost Savings - Cloud computing offers businesses the flexibility to reduce their CAPEX costs through more predictable, monthly spending. Plus, you benefit from the enterprise-grade hardware and computing power without having to build it yourself.
• Business Continuity - Cloud hosting minimises any disruptions to your service, especially through services like cloud backup or a full disaster recovery plan. With your entire network mirrored to a secure, secondary site, you don’t need to fear a power cut, massive storm or even human errors anymore.
• Scalability - Because of its "pay for what you use" model, cloud hosting is an IT investment that supports, rather than hinders, your organisational goals. Cloud hosting can grow with you or be easily scaled back when necessary.
• Security - Data stored in the cloud is also incredibly secure, mirrored to secondary locations and much more stable than outdated legacy hardware. Additionally, cloud vendors can help you ensure that you are meeting regulatory requirements like GDPR, PCI DSS and more.
• Cohesion and Control - You gain greater control over where your data is stored and can monitor traffic and activity on your network with just a few clicks. Plus, you gain the help of outside experts who can help you decide how to apply the latest technologies to achieve your goals