Cloud Hosting, the name itself is very appealing that you will never face any problems with it. But in practice there are many issues and troubles with Cloud Computing. This is where the difference between true Cloud providers and fake Cloud providers can be known with ease.

True Cloud powered services generally offer SLA, Scaling options, Node Balancing and Hourly billing. The fake ones give you everything in the world for a cheap price.

While some of Cloud Computing concepts are true, some are just myths.

The Myth’s about Cloud Computing:

1. Cloud Hosting gives you 100 (or) 99.99% uptime with SLA
2. Hourly billing in available in Cloud
3. Your website/application is on the Cloud and across the world on different servers.
4. You have highly secure environment.
5. You’re getting it dirt cheap.

The Facts of Cloud Computing:

1. You will never have 100% uptime.
2. Hourly billing is not a component of Cloud technologies.
3. You will only have one server storage, unless you buy a Node balancer.
4. Nope, you’re wrong! You are the one who has to secure it.
5. No way! It’s costly than a VPS as you need multiple instances to get the true Cloud environment.

Let us dig deep into these Cloud Computing points clearly:

My website uses Cloud Hosting but it is down:

This is one of the biggest Myths of Cloud Computing. Even though you have an SLA in Cloud service providers, you need to understand that there is no 100% cloud uptime in this world.
If you get a 99% uptime which means you still get 7.2 minutes of downtime for a month. Just calculate it using 720 hrs. a month. This downtime is generally based upon so many factors.
Some of them are:

• Scheduled backups(Backups can’t be taken when your machine is running)
• System maintenance and Updates (They are a must for security
• Your Website/Application running at peak memory or CPU
• Incorrect configuration of your Cloud.

They all lead to downtime. It is not a good idea to start a fight with your cloud provider for downtime of a 7 minutes or 10 minutes. Know the concept of Cloud and Uptime in Cloud, adapt your business strategy according to it.

My Hourly Billing is way more costly than the fixed monthly plans:

Hourly billing is not a part of Cloud Computing. Many providers use this technique to make it easy for starters. In practice monthly or yearly billing saves a lot of money to your Cloud Providers also. Don’t think the hourly billing will save your a**. Those plans are for newbies who want to test the cloud.
You will be billed for the resources you use and your provider will also be having the same bill for the resources they give you. If you move to monthly payment, then they can save money on monthly payments and in turn reduce the costs of the plans. Hourly billing needs a cap on your data usage and bandwidth usage to see how much you used every day, this will increase the cost.

My Website/Application Data is stored on the Cloud but it is lost/unrecoverable why?

Well, that’s your bad! You are the one responsible for taking regular backups of your Cloud, no one will do it for you unless you pay extra money 😉
It’s just like the ‘You must do your own homework’ rule at school. Your cloud, your care. It’s that simple.
Multiple instances can eradicate this problem when you have a perfect setup of synchronization between the two clouds. Node balancers are available from many providers for those very reason. Everything is synced automatically.
You can also purchase Cloud backup service from your provider if they provide one. This will save your data at all times.

The Cloud is a secure environment, but someone stole my stuff. How?

Yeah that happens all the time. Generally every one thinks of Cloud computing as THE solution to all problems. However the Cloud has its own problems. The data has no particular centralised storage with a protection mechanism, so eventually it is unsecure.
You should use a good firewall application on your Cloud. (Windows and Linux both have firewalls, don’t get smart for giving excuses). Alternative you can use the Cloud services from providers who have a good security reputation and well-built protection details in their plans.

Cloud Computing is very costly for me, but how do I get one for cheap/Free/Cracked etc. etc:

That won’t work here in any way. In order to enjoy the true power of Cloud, you need multiple instances working together in a secure environment and monitored all the way. This is costly and you will have the benefits in the coming days. If you can’t afford it, they don’t go for it. Unless you are sure of what you want, you can’t choose a perfect Cloud for your Business/Websites/Applications.

How to choose a Cloud Provider and how to utilize Cloud Computing power?

We have practically tried many hosting solutions for our websites and yeah we learnt a lot of lessons too.

Here are a few topics we did some good home work with and got caught by our teacher (Downtime and Security).

Cloud Pricing and end Costs: Never pick a Cloud provider by the cost

Uptime and SLA: Go thoroughly though their SLA (Service Level Agreement).

Don’t go for “99.9999% Uptime Guarantee”, instead opt for “99% uptime guarantee with SLA”

Security History: No one provides security for free, not even the Expendables. Everything has a price. So bear the cost and secure your Cloud environment.

Go for a secure Cloud Provider and choose the ones with a good security background.

Monitoring and Automated Control: Without any basic monitoring and control management for your server, you are purely wasting money.

You need to know what’s happening with your Cloud and you have the right to ask that, remember you are paying them money.

These are the mistakes many people do in choosing a Cloud Provider. ‘Cheap’ is not the solution to everything, especially when it comes to Cloud Computing. If we get some more lessons, we’ll post it here.

Here is a list of things to check with a cloud provider before you get an account with them:

1. Uptime with a strong SLA
2. Good Security background.
3. Scheduled Backups option
4. Automatic Node Balancing with a little more payment.
5. Automation Control Panel to manage the instances.
6. A Scalable plan (Upgrade or Downgrade at ease).
7. Trial (Try before you buy)
8. Monitoring solution (Best if it comes with the control panel you get)
9. Xen or VMware based Virtualization.
10. Availability of latest and wide range of Operating systems (this is one point where most providers fail)

We have practically tried many Cloud Providers and had experienced all these issues. We have our own list of Go and No Go for Cloud Providers. If you have any concerns about Cloud Computing or want some suggestions from us on which Cloud you need for your Company/Organisation/Application, you can take a look at our previous article on Hybrid, Public and Private Clouds

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All the best with your Secure Cloud Computing plans. If you want to add any suggestions or modifications, please let us know in the comments below