You may have read about the benefits of cloud hosting as a service and how it makes things easy for one to scale a business. One of the biggest advantages being, the flexibility it provides with respect to adding or removing storage and processors. However, in order to make the most out of cloud hosting as a service, you need a partner who understands your IT and business needs. Therefore, it is critical to choose a cloud hosting provider that sees and understands your vision and provides you with right resources. But, in the midst of so many providers who claim that they provide you with easy-to-scale resources, quick upgrade of solutions and unlimited bandwidth, choosing a cloud hosting provider could be difficult.
This article aims to give you a few handy tips which will help you narrow your search down to an apt hosting service provider. Let us deep dive into this article to know how.
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Align with your technical requirements
To begin with, first make a list of your requirements i.e the infrastructure you need. Then, ask yourself whether the provider’s cloud architecture, level of standards and services are up to your required standards. Some of these requirements may include, RAM, storage space, bandwidth, etc. Also, it is vital that you know what kind vision does your service provider have for you as you scale your business. Depending on your cloud strategy, understand all the products and offerings that your service provider has in store before you go deploy the service.
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Remove unnecessary add ons
Some cloud hosting solution providers try to outsmart their customers by confusing them with unnecessary data about applications and performance management. They also charge customers with irrelevant service level agreements to extract more money. We suggest you be a little careful going ahead in case you come across such providers.
In case a cloud hosting provider asks you about certain metrics then tell them which metrics matter the most. Application performance management options do give you great insights to enhance the level of cloud hosting but this data is not really mission critical. Most of the issues while hosting a website on cloud are often because of internet than cloud itself. So, if you intend to know the performance of your hosting service, insist that your hosting provider provides you with an internet performance management solution.
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High server uptime is essential
An important metric to gauge the performance of a cloud hosting provider is the uptime that they serve. Before you buy their service, figure out what is a standard server uptime that is given by most cloud hosting providers. Once you know what the industry average is, look up for those who are in the top rung of that bracket. Most of quality hosting providers give a server uptime of 99% or above. Ensure that the provider has a consistent track record while maintaining that server uptime in times of hazard or cyber attacks. This is not only great for your website from the performance point of view but also with respect to consistency.
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Security through many means
Security of your website is key. Now there are different ways cloud hosting providers address the issue of security at hand. One is actually protecting from attacks and the other is routing through different paths to ensure you avoid those attacks altogether. Which is why, diversifying your paths through different cloud locations is necessary. The best cloud hosting providers believe in mitigating attacks by protecting against single points of failure. Which is why they choose multiple points of presence because allowing yourself to do that will protect you from what single path clouds can. In the end, it is all about making sure your website is seen by customers all over the world safely, right?
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Consistent monitoring
Consistently measuring performance gives you the advantage of detecting malware and cyber attacks much in advance. This practice leads to actionable strategies that can help businesses minimize or mitigate risks to further attacks. As a business it is your duty to vanguard the safety of daily operations and functions as much as it is to ensure the profitability of your business. So, if your cloud hosting provider is cutting you from giving performance reports or giving you the transparency you need to monitor the performance of your cloud hosting, you should definitely consider a better cloud hosting provider.
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Backup and recovery strategy
In addition to the points mentioned above, do ensure that your provider has a sound backup and recovery plan in case of disasters or virus attacks that can wipe away all your data. One of the major reasons, business turn to cloud is because every region has a geographically challenge with respect to weather and climatic. So, before you buy a cloud hosting deal, understand your provider’s backup and recovery plan enabled by cloud.
In closing
We hope that we have given you enough points to think about before you choose the right cloud hosting provider for your business. You can add basics like scale, exclusivity and functionality in the list of the mentioned points, but these points can be categorized into customization which will depend on your requirements. However, consider the given tips as essential because they form the backbone of your cloud’s architecture.