Communicating and managing your business over the cloud (internet) in a convenient, secure, and best way is called cloud hosting platforms. First, what is cloud hosting? It is an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) cloud delivery model that provides a set of remote or virtual services.
In simple words, cloud hosting mainly refers to using the network, hardware, storage, or composite way out from a cloud vendor. The whole data center is distributed and delivered to various users online in the chorus, and they can use the center infrastructure to host their applications, services, or data.
However, cloud hosting might even merge the capacity of numerous servers to offer a single cloud-hosted server. For Instance, a few of the cloud-hosted solutions are cloud storage, cloud desktops, cloud servers, and so on.
In today’s world, cloud hosting platforms have become a necessary aspect of the modern business landscape. Because they are suitable and scalable, they quickly became vital for businesses that rely on moving and storing an enormous quantity of data.
By applying cloud hosting, businesses, startups, and small businesses can benefit. There are both paid and free cloud hosting platforms.
Here, we will explore some of the well-known top 4 best cloud hosting platforms so that you can find out which one would be a perfect pick for your business.
Microsoft Azure
It is one of the top cloud service providers launched in 2010 by Microsoft and quickly gained popularity in the business market. Microsoft Azure (earlier Windows Azure) is enabled mainly via Microsoft-managed data centers, and it’s a reliable solution primarily for Microsoft evangelists. And it supports the deployment, development, testing, and management of applications or services.
It is compatible with ASP.net, PHP, and Node.js for web development needs. It is used to deploy code on Microsoft\’s servers, and this code retains way into local storage resources, for example- tables, queues, etc.
SQL Azure is not a complete SQL Server instance, but it can be incorporated by SQL Server. The security attributes, such as authentication, etc., are maintained via Azure AppFabric, which permits applications inside your LAN to communicate with the Azure cloud. In short, it’s a full package that involves upgrading, managing, and protecting applications.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
It’s a Google public cloud computing solution that provides services in the foremost areas, comprising networking, computing, storage, the Internet of Things (IoT), and machine learning. It also includes tools for cloud management, development, and security.
The Google Cloud Hosting Platforms (GCP) is a large dynamic storage solution that supports both cloud SQL or NoSQL(cloud datastore) database storage.
The Google compute engine gives users virtual machine instances for workload hosting. Google App Engine provides software developers with access to Google’s on-demand hosting and an SDK (Software development kit) to build applications that execute on the app engine. You can access all these services via the public Internet and through dedicated networks.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon was one of the prime hosting platform providers that ventured into the cloud market with AWS. AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon and provides on-demand cloud computing platforms for data analysis, storage, etc. They present many computing services, including deployment and mobile networking. AWS lets their subscribers have a friendly, full-fledged virtual cluster of computers based on their necessities.
Amazon is considered the most versatile and dominant solution compared to other cloud service providers. AWS’s virtual cloud platform has tremendous attributes of a real computer, i.e., hardware (CPU(s) and GPU(s) for processing, RAM for memory, and hard disk or SSD for storage). And an OS (operating system) to select from or pre-load apps like CRM, web servers, databases, and so on. The complete AWS service is enabled by means of the internet.
IBM Bluemix
It’s an IBM cloud computing solution that offers infrastructure (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS). Via Bluemix, users can organize and close access virtualized compute power, storage, or networking with the Internet. You can use IBM service assistance as a hybrid, public, or private model as per the organization’s needs.
Programmers can use these services to create, manage, and deploy scalable applications for the public cloud or on-premises environments. The IBM Bluemix PaaS is based on Cloud Foundry, an open-source cloud platform that supports many programming languages, such as PHP, Node.js, Python, Java, etc.
Key Points to Remember
Computing Power
Consider the computing power of cloud hosting platforms, as it will allow you to handle a particular task better. You need to know that extra power comes with an additional cost; however, it’s also the right choice for startups as it frees them from investing in hardware or paying for preservation and running costs. The computing services in all hosting platforms look similar; hence, try to separate them via cost and user experience.
Cloud Storage
The other facet to note is cloud storage; the logistics of organizing cloud storage on cloud hosting platforms without losing a tiny bit of data are multifaceted and even confusing. However, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) edges in advance of the rest. Its documentation is broad, and it provides full community support. Somehow, you will find all the cloud hosting platforms are consistent and absolutely enough. But the more storage space you require, the higher the prices.
Geo Locations
It will be surprising for you; however, your Geographic (Geo) location can influence the charge of the cloud services you receive. Cloud services are built on massive data centers distributed throughout the world. Hence, users in the US have to pay more because building centers where land or local taxes are extra costs have an unplanned effect on the closing price.
Managing Database
Managing a database (DB) is the best use for cloud hosting platforms other than this, make sure that you check the provider’s data policies and terms and conditions before you take any action. Many vendors give DB images to aid end-users in getting started rapidly. Google doesn’t have this alternative. However, via AWS and Azure, you get diverse choices for this.
For example, Amazon’s RDS (Relational Database Service) supports central databases, such as PostgreSQL, Oracle, and many more. Therefore, you can automatically administer your updating and patching and find help with recurring database problems. However, these are just a few of the various tools or services these leading cloud service providers provide.
Final Words
If you are administrating applications that are based on the Microsoft working environment, then you have to choose Azure as your business platform. Here, GCP and AWS are also powerful choices that can meet your desires to a great extent. Now that you have an idea about platforms, your actual requirements might differ depending on your tasks.
And also on- What type of business do you have? How much budget can you invest? Thus, you must always test the cloud hosting platform service you intend to employ before you entrust it. As a result, it will save you time or money in the long term.
