Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Cloud Hosting : What characteristics should a cloud service have?

[arghhosting]

When looking for a cloud service what characteristics am I looking for the service to have technologically?

Like I know there are bandwidth limitations and storage limitations, but are there any other things?

Are there things like ram which affect how many people can see the site at once?(if so what is the actual term for that?)
Do these things not apply because of the "cloud"? Since there's multiple servers do these traits not matter so much anymore?
I'm confused about whether or not the multiple servers traits matter as much anymore.


The site I am making needs to be managed. I am looking for a cloud service because the site expects to be slashdotted/digged,
and ready to support a very large simultaneous incoming audience to the site.(millions) We would rather be very over prepared
than under prepared. The site is a video/entertainment site, without any kind of user name database needs.

Of course I also understand reputation and customer support from a company is another factor to consider. Thanks for any advice.

[UFBSolutions]

Number of servers in the cloud. The virtualization technology being used.

[holmesa]

People go with a Cloud since they want flexibility and control over all aspects of their system including hardware and networks. So the more flexibility you receive from your cloud provider the better.

My personal opinion is that support is not really a key aspect of cloud provider. You already have complete control over your infrastructure, why do you need support? - only when something is not working. Turn off that thing that is not working and launch a new one. You really want freedom from Cloud nothing else.

[sam9]

Originally Posted by arghhosting

When looking for a cloud service what characteristics am I looking for the service to have technologically?

Like I know there are bandwidth limitations and storage limitations, but are there any other things?

Are there things like ram which affect how many people can see the site at once?(if so what is the actual term for that?)
Do these things not apply because of the "cloud"? Since there's multiple servers do these traits not matter so much anymore?
I'm confused about whether or not the multiple servers traits matter as much anymore.


The site I am making needs to be managed. I am looking for a cloud service because the site expects to be slashdotted/digged,
and ready to support a very large simultaneous incoming audience to the site.(millions) We would rather be very over prepared
than under prepared. The site is a video/entertainment site, without any kind of user name database needs.

Of course I also understand reputation and customer support from a company is another factor to consider. Thanks for any advice.

Well, when you look at a cloud hosting provider you seek flexibility and availability of hosting (a) on-demand (b) on a pay as you go model & (c) instantly scalable.

Most cloud hosting providers, today, do not offer managed support. So, if you need basic administration & server management then you will have to seek outside help or use/allocate internal resources.

Hope it helps...

[consciousmedia]

the control panel... look for cPanel enabled clouds.

[HostColor]

Hi there,

I think that the "bandwidth limitations and storage limitations" are not the first things to look at when you are searching for Cloud hosting.

More important is what kind of Cloud computing infrastructure the providers have and how do they deal with HA, load-balancing and whether you can scale up the service.

[lpmusic]

Originally Posted by consciousmedia

the control panel... look for cPanel enabled clouds.

How does cPanel tie into controlling a cloud? Or are you referring to being able to run cPanel on the machines you create in the cloud?

[HostColor]

Originally Posted by lpmusic

How does cPanel tie into controlling a cloud? Or are you referring to being able to run cPanel on the machines you create in the cloud?

It should be the second, the ability to run cPanel on top of a cluster and to have load-balancing and High Availability for cPanel virtual hosting services.

[Wizzo]

The most important ones for me is being able deploy a server in a few minutes to any specification. I want to be able to upgrade the server at any time instantly. Finally I want expanding and burstable resources.

[sam9]

Originally Posted by Wizzo

The most important ones for me is being able deploy a server in a few minutes to any specification. I want to be able to upgrade the server at any time instantly. Finally I want expanding and burstable resources.

Most providers will offer you that - deploy/upgrade/downgrade within moments. For managing cloud, some providers now offer a dashboard or super panel.

[CloudWeb]

Originally Posted by Wizzo

The most important ones for me is being able deploy a server in a few minutes to any specification. I want to be able to upgrade the server at any time instantly. Finally I want expanding and burstable resources.

It depends how expanding and burstable resources you want to be able to reach in determining your application and solution. For an application to be virtually limitless with vertical scaling it needs to be built that way.

[sam9]

Well support & server management is quite important, especially for businesses who cannot manage their own cloud instances.

Cheers!

[Winky]

cloud services should ideally have:

1. instant (or at least very quick) provisioning
2. on demand scalability
3. pay-as-you-use fee structure
4. elastic resources
5. self service portal
6. advanced options: high availability, fault tolerance, disaster recovery, continuous data protection, load balancing

[cartika-andrew]

Originally Posted by holmesa

My personal opinion is that support is not really a key aspect of cloud provider. You already have complete control over your infrastructure, why do you need support? - only when something is not working. Turn off that thing that is not working and launch a new one. You really want freedom from Cloud nothing else.

the value of support does not change simply because you are on a cloud. Even "self managed" infrastructure requires prompt and educated support - otherwise, whats the point?

Originally Posted by sam9

Most cloud hosting providers, today, do not offer managed support.

I would say more and more providers are offering management services on top of the cloud - expect this trend to continue

Originally Posted by HostColor

It should be the second, the ability to run cPanel on top of a cluster and to have load-balancing and High Availability for cPanel virtual hosting services.

Load balancing alone does not constitute a cloud. Actually, you have a few technologies mixed up here. Clustering and Load Balancing cPanel does not constitute a cloud - it is simply a load balanced cluster - which has been available for years and does not really represent anything different.

a "cloud" - by my definition - which may or may not be useful or accurate - is a redundant array of resources - elastic in nature and redundant. You can certainly build a cluster within the cloud, or load balance within the cloud - but, these concepts are not interchangable.. if you run cpanel in the cloud, you are still limited by cPanels inherit limitations. Granted, the cPanel install will be elastic, and the actual hardware will be redundant - but, none the less, it will not be a clustered solution or load balanced solution without some custom settings.

Run something like hsphere in the cloud, and now you have a serious winner.. each service is run on a specialized cloud server, each service has hardware level redundancy, and you can utilize cloud servers, VPS servers or dedicated servers - in any combination - together with each other to meet your specific requirements..

[layer0]

I would agree with Andrew's definition. Some providers are offering solutions that may be flexible but are not redundant. High availability is an important aspect to a good cloud offering.