Grid Hosting

[imaclient]

I need more explanation about this kind of web hosting. How do this kind of hosting work? My girlfriend asked about webhosting and while searching for the meaning, I have stumbled on this kind of hosting. It has only a very brief explanation which I could not understand.

this form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple nodes

Could anyone clear this up to me? Thanks in advance.

 

[diligent]

A grid usually uses a shared disk array or SAN (storage area network), to connect serveral computers .. So if the node (server, switch or router) you are on crashes, the host can simply use a different node to supplement the crashed one, minimizing downtime

 

[imaclient]

Thanks for the explanation. So that means this is really a good type of hosting to get. But I assume that this also has a higher price than the normal hosting packages. Could you please quote a price for monthly or quarterly price for grid hosting?

 

[brianf]

It's all but impossible to give a general quote for any type of hosting without specific specifications. For example the prices for shared hosting run from pennies per month to more than one hundred dollars per month. Grid hosting has become very popular because of it's redundancy, however, the low end plans/companies probably will not live up to any reasonable persons expectations. The same can be said for all types of hosting. Low prices mean more clients sharing the same resources and ultimately poor performance.

I wouldn't box yourself in to a specific type of hosting unless you have very specific needs. In general, for personal sites and small businesses shared hosting from a reputable company will be sufficient and be a great starting point. This will allow you to get a feel for what you really need.

 

[imaclient]

I appreciate the explanation brianf. I only need a web hosting for my personal sites so therefore I will just go for a shared hosting. But could you tell me what kind of company or websites would grid hosting do best? Or is it just the same as the other kinds of web hosting and it all depends on the resources of the company?

 

[Hostlayer]

If you are just hosting personal websites then I would not worry about going with grid hosting. Just do a bit of research on the company you are looking at, speak with there staff, see what kind of backup solutions they offer and what type of guarantees they have as well.

 

[brianf]

I appreciate the explanation brianf. I only need a web hosting for my personal sites so therefore I will just go for a shared hosting. But could you tell me what kind of company or websites would grid hosting do best? Or is it just the same as the other kinds of web hosting and it all depends on the resources of the company?

A business or organization that needed real-time load balancing and
files located and backed up over several servers. So in theory if a single server goes down, their site would still be up.

This type of hosting is appealing to everyone, however, in general it would be too expensive to justify for a personal site. There are quite a few hosts that offer this at a very low price, however, like shared hosting you get what you pay for. I've done some work for a few clients that are on this type of service and while the uptime is good, service slows significantly fairly often.

Like HL-James said, do your research and speak with the support staff.

Just don't limit yourself in to a specific type of hosting, unless you have a requirement that makes it necessary to do so.