Website hosting is a field that doesn’t often see the spotlight, but nevertheless, it’s extremely important for nearly everyone that owns a website. Website hosting companies have been quietly working behind the scenes to keep everyone’s websites running smoothly for years, making numerous advancements in the process. Here are some of the latest advancements in the world of web hosting.
Improved Security
Whether you’re a blogger that only posts on your site once a year, or you’re an international bank that handles the online transfer of millions of dollars daily, security is extremely important for your websites. Hackers are improving every single day, but so are website hosting companies.
Lack of security can be devastating to a website’s owner if exploited, luckily, most web hosts know this, and take steps to improve the security of their clients’ websites. Many have implemented advanced security measures into their higher tier hosting packages. These security systems can range from preventative measures to regular backups in case something does go wrong.
There have been several more recent advances in website backup procedures. Many hosts have implemented automated backup systems that can save backups of your site semi-permanently at any number of different frequencies, from hourly to monthly. These backups are then stored on a server, and in the event that something goes wrong or something breaks the site, the client can safely roll back to an earlier backup. A few hosting services also allow you to automatically remove certain backups after a certain timeframe in order to save server storage space (e.g. remove daily backups older than a month, or weekly backups older than a year).
But one of the biggest recent advancements has been in DDoS protection, such as CloudFlare, Incapsula, or Akamai’s DDoS Protection services. Which can mitigate most DDoS attacks.
The number of DoS and DDoS attacks is rising quickly and have become extremely complex, and often overwhelming to websites without protection. While DDoS attacks are by no means something that’s only happened in recent years, the tools and resources that can be used in order to conduct these attacks have been quickly evolving to be more devastating and efficient. DDoS protection services such as CloudFlare DDoS protection are designed to completely mitigate these attacks, so their clients don’t suffer any downtime.
Hosting services have also made significant advancements in firewall technology and numerous other security improvements, drastically improving security across the board.
Cloud HostingÂ
There has recently been a lot of talk going on about cloud computing and cloud-based web hosting. Numerous advancements in cloud computing have been made recently which allow cloud computing to be used reliably as a website hosting solution. Cloud hosting uses the resources of multiple clustered servers, rather than a single server. This allows for highly scalable hosting services by automatically balancing the load between multiple clustered servers, as well as improving security.
Cloud hosting is an adequate solution for sites which have grown to a point where their existing hosting provider can no longer support the traffic the site is receiving, such as when a website gains a surge of new visitors or a boost in popularity, causing a high amount of strain on its current server. Without cloud hosting, the site would have to either move to a better server or find another way to deal with the large surge of data. Whereas cloud hosting will automatically scale to any load, and doesn’t require the client to migrate to a new server if their current one is unable to handle the stress.
Recently, more web hosts have begun offering cloud hosting services, although the number is still relatively small. The high scalability and efficiency allow cloud-based servers to better serve website owners without them having to worry about any downtime or their site slowing down if it has a sudden surge in popularity.
Quick Deployment and Improved Servers
With advances in cloud computing, server software, and the constant improvement of hosting providers, website deployment is quicker than ever, allowing clients to bring their sites online as quickly as possible.
The ability for clients to have their sites up and running quickly and easily is extremely important for the less tech-savvy, or simply anyone who wants to have their site online as soon as possible. Rapid deployment can also significantly reduce the time spent waiting for your site to update after uploading the latest version. This is especially useful if you often revise your site or constantly improve your website.
Furthermore, with the extremely competitive website hosting market, and the growing complexity of websites, there are constant improvements in server quality. Improvements in hardware have also led to massive improvements in server quality as well. Maximum bandwidth increases have improved website performance during peak hours, and server storage has skyrocketed, reaching into the Terabytes of storage for even the lower-end hosting plans.
Server improvements have allowed website owners to handle more and more visitors and host more complex websites or web apps, leading to an overall increase in maximum website complexity and server storage.
ConclusionÂ
While the field of web hosting rarely sees the spotlight, it’s still seeing constant improvements and advances. Bringing with it improved security, from DDoS protection to firewalls, as well as the rise of cloud computing, allowing web servers to be far more scalable and able to withstand sudden traffic spikes, and improved server hardware allowing for ever-increasing server reliability. Website hosting companies are constantly advancing forward and making their services more convenient, and more efficient and scalable than they’ve ever been.