What Is Private Cloud Hosting?

More and more businesses are turning to cloud-based solutions for their hosting needs. Two of the main types of cloud hosting include public cloud and private cloud hosting. Public cloud is the most common form of cloud hosting, however, private cloud hosting does have a specific purpose, which you’ll learn about below.

Below we explore what private cloud hosting is, along with the advantages and disadvantages of going private, so you can make the best hosting decision for your business.

 

What is Private Cloud Hosting?

At its core, private cloud hosting offers the same level of flexibility, scalability, and performance of the public cloud, but it also offers you greater levels of control and security.

The two main methods of private cloud hosting are in-house or hosted at a provider’s data center. Most businesses will end up opting for the second option as it’s more cost-effective and won’t require you to maintain a full-time IT staff just to manage your servers.

Typically the server network for private cloud hosting won’t be as vast as the public server network. This is especially true if you’re running your own private cloud network in-house. Often, a private cloud hosting network will instead operate in clusters. You’ll have multiple different servers that are running simultaneous versions of your website, and resources can be drawn from various sources as they are needed.

Advantages of Private Cloud Hosting

Private cloud hosting will offer you most of the benefits of public cloud hosting, but on top of that, it’ll give you much more control and security. Private clouds can be created in a myriad of ways to help support large-scale businesses that require higher levels of security.

Going in-house with your private cloud hosting will offer you the highest levels of security. However, if you decide to utilize a hosting provider for your private cloud hosting you’ll still end up with higher levels of control and security than going with the public cloud.

Private cloud hosting is essentially an upgraded version of public cloud hosting and offers you benefits like:

1. Heightened levels of security. Unlike public shared hosting you won’t be sharing the physical server environments with anyone else. This creates an incredibly secure network on multiple levels.
2. Improved customization options. Since you’re the only user on your server setup you’ll be able to completely customize it to your liking, including server hardware, software, operating system, and more.
3. Extremely reliable. Cloud hosting networks are already very reliable. With a private cloud hosting network there’s no chance of your site being brought down by other sites on the network.

 

Disadvantages of Private Cloud Hosting

Private cloud hosting can be a great hosting choice for a variety of business owners, but it’s not perfect for everyone. For starters, it’ll be much more expensive for the initial setup, particularly if you’re going in-house with your private servers. Plus, if you’re outsourcing to a third-party provider then you’ll essentially be paying for the use of multiple dedicated servers to run your cloud network on top of.

Beyond the initial setup, you might have higher fees related to server maintenance, upgrades, and management as well. This is especially true if you’re going to be purchasing and managing your own servers, instead of relying on a cloud hosting provider.

Finally, with the heightened levels of security that a private cloud host offers, this can create some issues with remote access and mobile users accessing your server environment. But if you require very high security standards, then this is a trade off you’ll have to make.