Earlier, cloud catered primarily to programmers. However, that is not the case anymore. A majority of cloud providers give cloud services and products with interfaces that are easy to navigate. Acquiring the knowledge to use these services can make your life as a web designer a dream.
Cloud storage includes your computer’s digital data being stored in logical pools. This model of data storage is called “the cloud”. There are several physical storage servers spread across a number of locations at times. A hosting company usually manages and owns these physical data centers. The responsibility to run and protect the physical centers, as well as keep the data accessible and available around the clock is shouldered by the cloud storage providers. This storage capacity is then bought or leased from the web hosting company by individuals or companies to store applications, organizations, or user data.
There are unfortunately some myths that keep people away from cloud hosting. Let’s analyze some of the frequent misunderstandings that scare web designers away from cloud computing.
Myth: Scalability on a large scale is the only reason to use Cloud storage.
Cloud storage’s massive scalability is definitely one of its key features. However, it is just the tip of the iceberg. It comes with several benefits.
- Reliability Your web host might have backups but they might not have a failsafe in case that backup fails. Cloud services save 3 or 4 of your backups in a number of different geographical locations. This can’t be provided by the majority of web hosts.
- Performance Your website’s performance receives a boost from cloud storage. The cloud provider will automatically supply resources when there is a rise in traffic that leads to more requests. Your web server has comparatively fewer requests to deal with when you transfer your downloads including images and videos from the web server to cloud storage. This will enable your web server to take care of more page views before it requires upgrades.
- Website portability If all the websites you work on store their data in the cloud, it would make upgrading your shared hosting to a dedicated host or transferring your website from one host to another extremely easy. Backing, copying, and moving your work is made extremely straightforward and quick through the cloud.
Myth: Use can only access cloud storage through API calls.
Not true. File management is done through a web interface by a majority of top-tier storage services. You can also access your cloud storage using your computer. These programs are extremely fast in comparison to SSH or FTP.
Myth: Cloud storage is not pocket-friendly.
Several web hosts in the market offer the same features like bandwidth and unlimited storage. However, if your website is successful and receives traffic on these hosts, you get your money’s worth.
Cloud storage is extremely affordable in comparison, and a majority of well-known providers provide a free tier that sufficiently meets the requirements of startup applications and small websites.
The most significant feature is that while you pay for the amount you use since cloud storage does not provide unlimited plans, the performance you get is also on a much high level than the one you might receive from a budget web host.
Myth: A dedicated server is much faster than cloud storage.
There is a shade of truth to it, but overall it is still untrue. In case you have a superior level datacenter connected to top-quality internet servers, you’ll receive an extremely quick performance. However, this is just during the initial stage.
The lack of load will result in your server working extremely fast. It will be a dream of information showing up on your screen without any lag. When compared to the time it takes for cloud storage to load images, you’ll notice a margin of difference.
This difference all but disappears once you launch your website and traffic starts to trickle in. As time passes and you encounter huge amounts of traffic, the performance will invariably slow down. Those fast speeds will be a thing of the past. To retain the initial speed, you’ll have to add more servers, load balancing, and clustering. This will result in decreased performance.
If you subscribe to cloud storage from the beginning, you can benefit from great performance from the beginning. It might not be the best though. However, the level of performance you’re introduced to in the beginning will hold steady even after you launch your website and there is a boom in traffic. The biggest advantage is that the hardware management to keep your site’s performance in top shape is all taken care of. So you won’t ever have to fret about it.
Conclusion
If you want to understand cloud storage further, there are a few elements of note. While we have barely scratched the surface of all the brilliant features provided by cloud storage, there is a whole world that you can explore. If you have a small project, you might not need the higher tier of features. There are features available for every level of website you might run. You can pay for the features that are compatible with your needs, and enjoy your safe cloud storage experience.
