It seems that cloud hosting was always around, just not many were using it I suppose. Now when you browse the web every ad you see will have something about cloud hosting or grid hosting in the ad. Why the sudden popularity?

There was an interesting story in InformationWeek (Nov 9) about Dell rethinking servers for the cloud era. I think part of today's cloud popularity is attributed to global vendors like Dell refining their products to serve this technology.

Hi!
Why all the rave? Well..it is new..and promises a great many things. Cost savings and high-availability are very good things to a great many people.

Sadly..it has failed to live up to much of the hype the PR and advocate people have given it. The reality is things do go down..and data does disappear. It is not as redundant and reliable as they said it was.

It is very expensive compared to normal solutions...and I think recent downtimes have made more than a few rethink this..and question some of the promises made as nothing more than more lies to just make more money.

I think many solutions will have to change if they are to survive. I also think it wise for people to be very selective on host selection...and be very clear on expectations up front..as they may not be met down the road.

Bryon

Cloud is the new buzzword, and as Bryon mentioned, it was thought to be the end all be all solutionfor many with regards to redundancy and security. As proven by T-Mobile and Microsoft (among others) a simple mistake on a software upgrade deleted MILLIONS of user's data. Not cool.

Cloud is very similar to Clustered except instead of clustering in one data center and load balancing, you're using multiple servers throughout the world (ideally).

Definitely more expensive if you're running any type of application that is popular, and it's also pretty difficult for people with online stores. Databases still seem to have an issue with Cloud Hosting, but it's great for static sites.

Cloud is still very new, and it has a long way to go, but steps are being made and I think that's good - we'll just need to wait and see what happens.

Standard Shared Hosting will not be disappearing any time soon.

I'll quote a colleague at a very large competitor of ours who has what was probably the best line about cloud ever, please pardon the vulgarity:

Cloud Products are like highschool sex. Everyone talks about it, very few are actually doing it, and those that ARE doing it aren't very good at it.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Not that many static sites around as there used to be though. And owners of such are definitely not the prototypical cluster hosting customer.

Clouds are becoming more popular. I think that eventually they'll play a very important role in the Internet markets.

I like your quoted quote Eric!

Very VERY few static sites around. It's one of the reasons that many of the older hosts are having problems as you can no longer cram 800-1500 accounts on a single machine and expect good results. I miss those days

I've just not yet been able to find a clustered solution that is more cost effective than regular shared hosting. By the time you pay for the extra CPU or bandwidth etc, you may as well be on a dedicated server.

Hi!
Yes..but they're not suppose to be cheaper..that's the whole deal.

If you are like me..it's one thing to pay more for better quality.

Nobody would argue that if you have international customers..there is a world of difference between a server located..say..at a low end provider vs one of the big boys/girls which have much better networks and international peering agreements.

You expect this server to cost more.

I think there are several providers just jumping on the bandwagon with many offerings. They charge much more..and you just hope that the system is redundant..that the SAN won't die..that everything will work as promised.

I'm sorry..I'm not buying it. And you shouldn't either.

Bryon

Seems I have a lot to learn about cloud hosting yet. I have read and read on it and depending on where you read, the information is different each time. I appreciate coming to the forum here and asking questions knowing I will get heartfelt answers! I know I certainly do not need cloud hosting and won't be jumping in that boat any time soon.

Thanks Conor, I laughed pretty heartily when I heard that, too.

With cloud, there's plenty to be cynical about, but it would be a serious mistake to discount cloud in our industry. I think the key to cloud, particularly for small and medium sized hosts, is to take a "fast follower" approach. Keep in mind that you have some huge companies competing in that space, Rackspace, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, the list goes on.

From a consumer perspective, however, a metered cloud is really attractive. You can scale up or down, as needed, quickly and efficiently. Whether you need storage or compute cycles, you only pay for what you use. If deployed correctly and on the right project, it could be an incredible cost savings for people with the right needs...even compared to a $5 a month shared hosting account.

I see it more as an auxiliary service, not so much a hybrid cloud because, let's face it, those are largely BS too. I think something along the lines of a modular server would be ideal and no one has really done that yet.

My two cents.

It'll be interesting to see where things take us in the next 12 months. It's still very much a "new" field and a lot of trial and error is still happening. My problem is that in order to offer the power of a dedicated server in the cloud is actually MORE expensive for the most part. I understand that speeds are supposed to be faster from various parts, but that will depend on the architecture of the cloud itself and where that data is being stored.

Don't get me wrong, I know Amazon is doing a heck of a job, as are a lot of other large online stores, but I don't (YET) see the advantage for a mom and pop going online in the cloud hosting and paying more money.

I've been reading up on it and stay on track with InformationWeek and various other weekly magazines and articles that come out, but at the moment it still seems to be a guessing game for many people.

Conor, you are always the main one to keep us informed so do let us know as you find out the newest information on it. I'm sure that in the next 12 months there will be new things and changes etc. That is all part of gaining experience right?

Cloud has its perks, I agree I would like to see where it goes in the next few years but many solutions we have now work just as well. Its nothing to get to excited about and its not about to lower costs down in anyway. Its just a new form of technology that is available to everyone.

I don't think that most people really understand what cloud computing (cloud hosting in particular) is? It really changes the way people produce and use computers and technologies. There is another important thing - the clouds are still immature!