As you are reading this, the whole world is shifting to the cloud. Systems and processes, data and software that were earlier based on local hardware are moving on to Internet based Cloud Servers. The Cloud is the new catchword of this age.
The Cloud is transforming the way we communicate, create, process and store data, run our systems and manage our businesses.
Powering all this, are Cloud Servers.
Looking deep into cloud servers
At its simplest, Cloud Servers are essentially virtual servers which run on a Cloud Computing environment. That is why they are also referred to as Virtual Dedicated Servers.
The interesting thing is – all Cloud Servers are Virtual Dedicated Servers. But all Virtual Dedicated Servers are not Cloud Servers.
So, essentially a Cloud Server is one which is built, hosted and made to function via a Cloud Computing environment. And like all Cloud based applications, the Cloud Servers too are accessed remotely through a Cloud Service Provider. Recently, we did a comparison of DigitalOcean Cloud Servers vs Virtual Private Server (VPS) in a detail.
Different type of cloud servers:
Cloud Servers come in two basic types. The logical and the physical.
Logical Cloud Servers is the one which can be operated through server virtualization. In this type of servers, the function of the physical server is divided into two or more logical servers. Each of these logical servers will have separate Operating Systems, Applications and Interfaces. The physical parts of the underlying physical server may however be shared among them. Examples, include, DigitalOcean Cloud Servers, Amazon EC2 and Linode.
Physical Cloud Servers like the Logical Cloud Server is accessed and managed remotely through the Internet. However, in this case it is not distributed or shared between different underlying physical servers. It is therefore known as Dedicated Cloud Server.
DigitalOcean Review: The Developer’s Cloud Server Solution
First things first – what is DigitalOcean?
Well, DigitalOcean is an extremely simple Cloud Server or Web Hosting Provider. It has been specially been designed for developers and is loaded with incredible technology and features. Let us look at some of the special advantages of DigitalOcean.
DigitalOcean Features:
SOLID STATE DISKS: DigitalOcean exclusively uses extremely high performance Solid State Disks (SSD). Which means that if you host your website on DigitalOcean, you are likely to get incredible side speed. If that’s not all – you can configure your cloud servers in less than a minute,
EASY TO USE CONTROLS: What is the point of having an amazing Cloud Server if it is too complicated for you to use easily? The command center of DigitalOcean makes everything easy and intuitive, whether you are configuring cloud servers or developing ftameworks.
ACTIVE DEVELOPER COMMUNITY: For developer, there are tutorials as well as an incredibly responsive Question and Answer Forum. The community pages are also continuously being updated.
ONE CLICK INSTALLATION OF LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS: You have the choice of five extremely popular Linux distributions that you can pre-install. These are Ubuntu, Fedora, CoreOS, CentOS and Debian. If you prefer FreeBSD, you will find adequate support here. Similarly, there are a huge number of applications that can be installed with just a single click. These include LEMP, MEAN, LAMP and of course Docker. Other things available at a click include development frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rails and Node. There are also a lot of popular applications available. These include DigitalOcean wordpress and Ghost, MediaWiki as well as eCommerce application Magento.
INEXPENSIVE: You can avail of DigitalOcean’s hosting facilities for as low as $5 a month. You can also get hourly billing. What’s more, you can save further by using DigitalOcean Coupon.
Offer: Free Credit: $10 free for 2 months virtual servers – Use Coupon Code: ALLSSD10
DigitalOcean Vs Shared Hosting
With DigitalOcean you can have your own cloud server up and running in just 55 seconds! You also get pre-loaded full root access, a whole range of operating systems to choose from and the power to customize. These are benefits you cannot ever get in a shared hosting plan.
DigitalOcean Vs Dedicated Server
As compared to a Dedicated Server, DigitalOcean offers you a whole range of benefits. With DigitalOcean you can scale up and down, almost instantaneously. You can change the RAM you are using by just doing a reboot. Adding more space takes less than an hour. With a dedicated server, you will not be able to get the freedom to do all these things.
DigitalOcean Alternatives
The most commonly used alternatives to DigitalOcean in the market are Amazon and Linode. Let us now compare all three products.
To get an idea of the comparative features of these products we will compare the following offerings from these three brands.
- Amazon Micro Instance @ $6.57 per month
- Linode 512 Mb Plan @ No Plan
- DigitalOcean 512 Mb Plan @ $5 per month
So let us see how they measure up against each other.
Data Storage and Transfer Cost
Amazon offers you 1.7 GB of memory and 160 GB of local instance storage. However you cannot use the local instance storage to store your date for long as it is ephemeral, which means that the space is destroyed when you terminate the server. You will have to pay extra for additional storage space. The cost comes to $0.10 GB per month. If you transfer more than 1 GB of data, you end up paying $01.12 per GB. So, say you need 20 GB permanent storage space, you end up payin $2 extra per month.
Linode offers 1 GB memory and 24 GB storage space. You get access to 8 cores with low priority. This includes data transfer up to 2 TB. If you need to transfer further data, you need to pay $0.10 per GB.
DigitalOcean offers you 2 GB memory, 40 GB of storage and access to 2 cores. The cost includes 3 TB of data transfer. If you wish to transfer more data, you pay $0.02 per GB.
(You will notice that if your data transfer is high, Amazon is the most expensive of the lot. If you need to transfer about 2 TB of data, which Linode and DigitalOcean provides free, Amazon will charge you up to $240!)
DigitalOcean Speed Comparison
Tests by independent specialists show the following results.
- Amazon allows you speeds up to 4.5 requests per second.
- On the other hand Linode is up to 15 times as fast!
- DigitalOcean however is only 6 times as fast as Amazon.
The reason for Linode’s superiority is obvious: its 8 core server. Detail comparison available here.
Digitalocean Droplets: The Perfect Blend of Features and Usability
You might wonder What are DigitalOcean Droplets?
Well, droplets are the name given to Private Servers by DigitalOcean. They are incredibly easy to set up and convenient to use. You can actually have a new one up and running in less than a minute!
Let us take a look at some of the special features of these droplets.
1. Solid State Disk Clouds
DigitalOcean uses Solid State Disks, the fastest and the most advanced Cloud Technology to give you better speed, more reliability. Moreover you also get the option of choosing the data center that is nearest to you.
2. 55 Second Provisioning
In 55 seconds you can be sure that your machine is already online, and fast. Every DataOcean cloud server provision in less than 55 seconds.
3. Tier 1 Bandwith
All Cloud Servers of DataOcean are equipped with a 1 GB per second network interface. The lowest plan of data transfer is 1 TB per month.
4. KVM Virtualization
DataOcean’s KVM Virtualized Droplets deliver extremely high levels of performance as well as security.
5. Powerful Hardware
All DigitalOcean Servers are based on extremely powerful Hex Core Machines. These machines have dedicated ECC Ram as well as RAID SSD Storage.
6. Private Networking
Private Networking allows DigitalOcean Droplets to communicate with other Droplets as long as they are in the same data center. Any data transfer between Droplets that are in the same data center will not be counted as traffic and will not be charged for.
7. Simple Api
The API of DigitalOcean gives complete control over the virtual private servers. All the functionalities of the control panel are also available through the API. This allows one to build one’s own control interfaces.
8. Global Transfers
You can transfer copies of your Droplet snapshots to all global regions. Once done, you can then spin the image snapshot in any region from the droplet create page.
9. Simple Control Panel
Nothing could be simpler. The control panel provides enhanced usability, and never before control thereby simplifying greatly the process of web hosting.
10. IPv6 Support
In the Singapore region, IPv6 addresses are available for all droplets. You can enable IPv^ right at the time of Droplet creation or even in your existing virtual servers without rebooting the server. This is soon going to be extended to all data centers.
11. DNS Manager
DigitalOcen also has state of the art DNS manager, where you can add domains, subdomains, MX, CNAME, PTR, TXT, A records very easily.
12. Droplet Transfer to other User
Recently, DigitalOcean launched this facility too, where you can easily transfer a droplet server to new user. You just need to key-in email address of the user, to whom you want to transfer and then start the process. Finally, you are done.
DigitalOcean Coupons for Free Server
DigitalOcean is well-known as the most simple open cloud VPS hosting based on US Company. Now, anyone who signup for an account can be received a $10 to $20 free credits with promo code which means a 2 month or 4 month free VPS hosting when buy a $5 VPS plan, go to DigitalOcean Review to read more.
After sale – service is also very easy, the supporter answers quickly and enthusiastic. And no need to worry about payment method cause you can easily use PayPal to pay.
This month, they launch a competitive SSD – based Virtual Servers. The promo code is very useful for anyone who want to find a good hosting or server provider. For $10 free credit, you can use DigitalOcean service for around 2 months.
Not only is DigitalOcean the most convenient and effective Cloud Based web hosting solution, it is the most inexpensive as well. But it doesn’t end there.
These options can in fact allow you free VPS hosting for the 2 to 4 months!
Offer: Up To $20 Off Your DigitalOcean Purchase – Use Coupon Code – DO10
Digitalocean: The Best Way To Get On The Cloud!
It is convenient, it is easy to use, it is inexpensive. If you are a newcomer in the world of web hosting, DigitalOcean provides the best option. You can start low scale and scale up as and when you wish. And the best thing – the whole range of value added features will ensure that you will not want to migrate to any other web hosting solution ever again.
Leave a Reply