Information Technology Education

Should you self-host or cloud-host your servers and data?

Web hosting is a must-have when it comes to getting your website live. Every website needs a host, which is what gives your website and applications a place to live and makes it accessible to visitors.Generally, web hosting can either be self-hosted or hosted off premises in the cloud. Self-hosting means installing, running and maintaining the hardware locally and managing the software application on premises, instead of renting this service from a SaaS (software as a service) provider.Self-hostingThe main advantage of self-hosting is you have full control over your data. The software can be run behind your own organization’s firewall. Your critical data is kept in-house and no other party has access to it. For organizations that already have a dedicated and skilled IT team as well as infrastructure set up with spare capacity, the on-premises version might be a good option.But self-hosting, even for those organizations with large IT departments, has some distinct disadvantages. Organizations must handle and maintain servers, which involves purchasing hardware that has sufficient processing speed, RAM, and the right operating system. This hardware is expensive because it is designed to run 24-7 and handle constant traffic and you will need to keep replacement parts on hand in case of hardware failure.With self-hosting, you are also responsible for maintaining and updating the software to avoid technical issues or having your site compromised by hackers, and you may miss out on critical server security updates that will expose your website to intruders. You will also need to make a plan for back-ups and data recovery to make sure you are not susceptible to a data loss in case of a disaster situation.Finally, there are the issues of time and service. Hosting your own website and data means adding even more tasks to your already full schedule. You have to worry about security, monitoring and optimization. Most importantly, self-hosting may take your attention away from your organizational mission. For service issues, if you’re having trouble with your platform, you’re left to try to solve the problems on your own.

SELF-HOSTING
Your critical data is kept in-house and no other party has access to it.

Cloud HostingFor the vast majority of small- to mid-sized organizations, cloud hosting makes the most sense. Cloud hosting is unique in that you’re using virtual hardware. Your entire hosting environment lives in the cloud, not on your premises.Because cloud hosting is not limited to a single server, you can scale seamlessly by adding more space without needing to switch hosting providers or reconfiguring. It also has incredible reliability and maximizes your website’s uptime, because you never have to worry about a single sever going down. If one server in the cloud experiences an outage, the others pick up the slack so there is no service interruption.Cloud hosting is also cost efficient because you don’t have to worry about capital expenditure on infrastructure and you only need to pay for the services and resources that you are actually using. As for security, cloud hosting comes with an established infrastructure with multiple layer security that includes data, network, application and physical security. Cloud service providers also provide secure and encrypted solutions, backup recovery, firewalls, identity management and data isolation and storage segregation. Your data is also automatically backed up, providing fast and easy disaster recovery in case of an emergency.

According to Zippia, 94% of enterprises use cloud services; 67% of enterprise infrastructure is now cloud-based, and 92% of businesses have a multi-cloud strategy in place or in the works.

CLOUD-HOSTING
With the use of virtual hardware in cloud hosting, your service comes with an established infrastructure with multiple layer security, incredible reliability, and is scalable to fit your present needs.

Interested in cloud hosting?

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Christian Brothers Information Technology & Website Services is a private enterprise cloud service provider, which means we can help you relocate your on-premises hardware and software from your data center to ours to gain benefits.Relocating your data center into the CBS data center has the potential to provide your organization with many benefits, including the reduction of your overall IT burden in terms of time and dollars, as well as a secure backup and disaster recovery system, if needed.Our CBS cloud hosting services – powered by US Signal’s data centers -- include:

Public clouds or Resource Pools to help you leverage the benefits of a multi-tenant cloud service that meets your needs. Our Resource Pools comprise one of the most secure multi-tenant cloud services available. They're built on HIPAA-compliant and PCI DSS-certified infrastructure and powered by US Signal's protected network and include redundant firewalls that restrict data access. US Signal, a part of the CBS Preferred Vendor Program, is a provider of data center services, offering connectivity, cloud hosting, co-location, data protection, and disaster recovery solutions–all powered by its wholly-owned and operated, robust, fiber network. US Signal also helps customers optimize their IT resources through managed and professional services.

Private clouds, which are generally suited to providing organizational cloud-based services where a more industrial strength Service Level Agreement (SLA) may be needed. A private cloud provider can provide an SLA to an organization that meets specific hosting requirements for reliability, availability, security, maintenance, and management features, especially one that must protect confidential, proprietary and individually identifiable information (CPI) where a public cloud provider will be challenged to do the same. Our Hosted Private Cloud offers all the benefits of a secure, single-tenant compute with dedicated or multi-tenant storage resources. Plus, it’s built using security standards in compliance with HIPAA and PCI regulations.

Disaster Recovery as a Service - With Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS), your primary production environment will be continuously replicated to a US Signal cloud environment or between two US Signal virtual data centers. When needed, a fully replicated instance of your environment can be deployed with just the click of a button. US Signal’s fully managed DRaaS solution is available in two service tiers to fit your applications, business requirements, and budget.

Backup as a Service - With our Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS), you can back up your data from any physical or virtual infrastructure or Windows workstation to the US Signal Cloud. Then, access it anytime and restore it to anywhere via the Internet and outgoing TCP ports.

The choice between self-hosting and cloud-hosting your data is an important business decision for your organization. The distinctions between the two options are clear, but the ability to scale your resources and only pay for what you require, while increasing collaboration and efficiency, are enough reasons to move to the cloud as soon as possible.

For more information on enterprise private cloud hosting, DRaaS or BaaS, please contact Bob Fiorentino at Bob.Fiorentino@cbservices.org.