I am asked this almost every day. Cloud computing, cloud servers, cloud service, cloud storage, cloud application, storm cloud, etc. What is a cloud server? How is that different from a regular server or ‘virtual’ server?
Well here goes… a cloud server is simple from the end-user perspective. It looks like a server, feels like a server, functions like a server, and is a the same as any other server that they access remotely. It is simple. It is easy to use. Just fire up remote desktop and type in your username and password and you are working on the server.
From an infrastructure perspective it is an entirely new field to play on. Everything is highly redundant, not just RAID or having two power supplies in your server, truly redundant. Separating the processing power and storage allows you to be more flexible and agile when responding to changing business needs. It is a software defined data center that you can run with an easy to use command line interface / API or web based control panel. Its having multiple network running easier and faster (private for private between server data transfer, Internet for public access, and if you can run Hybrid – like CeraNet can – virtual private using Cisco’s hardware firewall / vpn).
The main differences between a regular server and a cloud server is in the flexibility, agility, and redundancy.
Flexibility & Agility
On a cloud server you can add / change / remove processing power, memory, and storage as needed. On the fly, little to no downtime, and in an instant. *Some OSs require a reboot, but that’s it. With a regular server, you have to find out what kind of hardware you need, order it from the vendor, schedule installation and reconfigure the software to accept the new drives/memory, and hope all goes well. It can take days (if not weeks) and you’ll be out of service during the ‘upgrade’. True cloud providers also let you turn up new servers on the fly… something that would take considerable resources in a traditional environment.
Redundancy
If you run a single dedicated server and the power supply blows, you are out until it is fixed. If you are on a cloud server (a true cloud server, not just a virtualized server), you will never know or see any problems. On a dedicated or ‘virtual private’/virtualized server and the hard drive goes bad, you lose your data. On a high availability cloud server, you will never know.
To learn more – contact sales@cera.net