Cloud Bandwidth Costs & the True Cost of Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting services too often come with hidden costs.
To be fair to those (other) cloud companies, the costs are not actually hidden maliciously, but their services are priced in such a way that the true costs of cloud hosting are easy to overlook or difficult to fully comprehend.
One of most overlooked or misunderstood aspects of cloud hosting costs is bandwidth pricing.
Bandwidth, also called data transfer, is not usually one of the featured specs touted in cloud hosting promotions and it may not look like it’s a lot of money, but bandwidth pricing can make your cloud costs skyrocket.
Of course, not if you’re getting your cloud hosting from EarthLink Cloud.
All EarthLink Cloud hosting plans come with bandwidth included in the low monthly cost.
Cloud Hosting Bandwidth Charges Compared
Let’s take a look at the true cost of cloud server bandwidth at EarthLink and other top competitors.
The entry-level cloud hosting plan offered by EarthLink Cloud is only $60 a month, and it comes with 1,500GB of bandwidth in and 1,500GB of bandwidth out. So, if you use 1.5TB of bandwidth both ways with EarthLink Cloud, your cost is still just $60.
On the Cloud Server Pricing page at Rackspace, you’ll see a cloud server plan with 1,024MB RAM (the one most comparable to ours) priced at just $43.80 a month. Sounds like a good deal, right?
Maybe not.
Enter 1,500GB of outgoing bandwidth on the Rackspace cost calculator and you’ll see their plan shoot up to an astounding $313.80/mo. (Hey, where’d my $43 plan go?!)
And Rackspace is hardly alone. Go to the cloud computing price comparison engine Cloudorado and you’ll see 13 cloud hosting companies listed.
Prices look pretty good … before you start adjusting the sliders to add the features you need.
Then, as you add the specs that are included in cloud hosting plans from EarthLink Cloud, you see all those “hidden” costs revealed one by one. Finish by adding bandwidth costs for transfers in and out and all but one of the plans is over $100, more than half are over $200, and three are over $400 a month.
Compared to EarthLink Cloud, you’d be paying anywhere from 50% more to over 700% more.
That’s the true cost of cloud bandwidth. And, yes, sometimes the truth hurts.
Just not here at EarthLink Cloud.
See our easy-to-budget-for, flat-rate cloud hosting prices.
Is Cloud Computing for Business or Personal Use?
Though cloud computing is still relatively new, it’s already been advertised in so many ways that it can be difficult to know if it should be used as a tool for business or personal use. The answer is simple: it can (and should) be used for both!
The Wall Street Journal recently polled a small group of their online readers to see if they were using cloud computing, and, if they did, whether they used it for business or personal purposes.
Practically half of the people responded saying they used the cloud for both, with the next largest group saying they don’t use either. Perhaps it’s because they aren’t aware of the benefits…
Cloud computing is, in simple terms, using the internet to access everything you need (with applications, operating systems, and data housed on an outside server) instead of using your computer’s storage (with applications, operating systems, and the like installed/housed on your computer directly).
In your personal life, the cloud can be used to store photos, music, movies, documents (and practically anything else you can think of), meaning you can access them from anywhere that has an internet connection. Imagine being able to browse your music collection from any device without having top physically “synch” a device (like your iPod). Check out upcoming services like iCloud or the already-available cloud storage service DropBox (which is FREE!) to learn more.
For business, the benefits of using cloud are many and varied (being cloud hosted is a green way to run your business, it’s often a cheaper way to operate, you don’t have to house your own servers), but the largest benefit is flexibility. A business with cloud hosted operations can adapt to changes faster than a “traditionally hosted” one. Scaling computing/hosting resources to fit fluctuations in demand, instant growth to support the development of new ideas, and quick data transfers (to a different portion of the cloud if a server acts up, instead of buying new servers) are all possible, headache-free, with cloud computing.
Check out EarthLink Cloud (either online or at 1-800-957-4872) if you’re interested in finding out more about benefiting from moving your business to the cloud.
Cloud Computing: Basic Terms to Know
“Cloud Computing” can seem like a complicated and hard-to-understand concept, especially when providers tack their own branding onto already unfamiliar terms.
This list includes the basic cloud terms that can help you move past confusion and start exploring the exciting things cloud computing has to offer.
The Cloud
A metaphor for a global network; commonly used to represent the network of servers comprising the Internet.
Cloud Computing
Using services housed in “the cloud” instead of in your own computer or servers.
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Cloud Provider (or Cloud Service Provider)
A company providing cloud-based hosting, platform, infrastructure, or application services, such as EarthLink Cloud.
Cloud Storage
A service that allows customers to save data by transferring it over the Internet or another network to an offsite storage system.
Cloud Sourcing
Replacing traditional, physical IT services with cloud services.
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Private Cloud
Services offered over the Internet (or over an internal network) only to select users.
Public Cloud
Services offered over the Internet to anyone who wants to purchase them.
Internal cloud
The type of private cloud in which services are provided for an organization by its own IT department.
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PaaS (Platform as a Service)
A computing platform (such as an operating system) delivered, as a service, over the Internet by a provider.
Saas (Software as a Service)
An application delivered, as a service, over the Internet by a provider. Saas applications don’t have to be installed on and don’t run on the customer’s computer(s).
Note: SaaS providers are also called Application Service Providers (ASP)
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
A virtual computing infrastructure delivered, as a service, over the Internet by a provider. This infrastructure, which can include virtual servers, networking systems, hosted applications, and cloud platforms, does not require any physical equipment purchasing.
EarthLink Cloud offers IaaS Cloud Hosting services, which allow users to build and deploy custom virtual server in only minutes.
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Cloud Operating System
A computer operating system that does not run on the user’s computer; is accessed by the user over the internet. The operating system is actually running in the operating system’s provider’s data center. A type of PaaS.
Hosted Application
An Internet-based application running on a remote server. A type of Saas.
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Elastic Computing (or Elastic Cloud Computing)
The ability to quickly assign differing amounts of processing, memory, and storage resources to satisfy varying demand…without having to physically engineer such changes.
Cloud (or Content) Delivery Network (CDN)
A system of computers, located in different places on the network, that contain copies of data, allowing clients to access the copy closest to them.
What is Cloud Computing?
What cloud computing is, and isn’t, is the subject of much discussion these days – and not just at the water cooler here at EarthLink Cloud. Because one thing cloud computing is…is hot.
Hot as it is, cloud computing is still not very well defined, at least not in the minds of most people. Ask a roomful of people “What is cloud computing?” and you’re very likely going to get a roomful of answers.
Whatever they mean by it, people definitely are searching for cloud computing. The term “cloud computing” has been skyrocketing in search volume in the past several years, according to Google Insight for Search, with the term going from zero on Google’s search volume scale in July 2007 to 100 in June 2011.
Cloud Computing is also enjoying the buzz as two of the hottest tech giants trying to out-cloud each other, with Apple promoting its iCloud service and Amazon promoting its Cloud Drive.
But while buzz-worthy, these cloud-based services represent only one area of cloud computing and are likely to be misleading to someone trying to answer the what is cloud computing question.
So…What is Cloud Computing?
Luckily, there’s an official definition of cloud computing, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST):
“Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”
Need a translation? Well, CNBC’s Cloud Computing 101 says that means:
“Accessing the Internet anywhere, anytime and being able to use any or all of the data and applications that you want.”
That, however, may be an overly general summary and not instructive enough in defining just what cloud computing is and isn’t.
What is Cloud Computing: 3 Service Models
Examples are often helpful when trying to fully understand and flesh out a definition, so here are 3 kinds of cloud computing with examples of each from the NIST definition of cloud computing:
- Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) – Software as a service simply means that instead of the traditional model where software programs (e.g., email programs, word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, CRM, etc.) have to be installed on an individual’s computer to use, the software is instead web-based and hosted remotely on a dedicated server. Users typically access the software as service through a web browser. This is probably the segment of cloud computing that most are familiar with since it includes popular consumer products such as web mail services like Gmail and Yahoo Mail, Google Docs, Picassa, Salesforce.com and online blogging service WordPress.com. Users of a traditional email program like Outlook can choose to uninstall it. Users of a cloud-based email progam like Gmail can sign in or not sign in but there’s nothing to uninstall. In the software as a service model, users can sometimes make minor configuration changes to their experience of the software service, but they cannot manage or control the cloud infrastructure or overall software capabilities. Services are controlled and managed remotely—in the cloud.
- Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) – Platform as a service may be the least familiar cloud computing model. This is primarily an application hosting platform, allowing users to build and deploy apps onto the cloud infrastructure using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. Users do not manage or control the cloud infrastructure but can control deployed applications and possibly application hosting configurations. It lets app developers build or expand applications without the cost and complexity of buying the underlying hardware and software, managing the platform, and provisioning hosting capabilities. Examples of PaaS include Force.com from Salesforce, Microsoft Azure, Google AppEngine, Zoho Creator, and CloudFoundry.
- Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)- IaaS delivers fundamental computing infrastructure, such as data storage, processing, content delivery, basic networking, and other capabilities to end users as a service. It lets users provision, deploy, and run software, including operating systems and individual applications, through virtualized environments (virtual servers) without the need to purchase hardware such as servers, datacenter space, network equipment, and other in-house resources. EarthLink Cloud’s Cloud Hosting services are a good example of IaaS, letting users build and deploy custom virtual servers to our cloud platform in minutes.
What is Cloud Computing: Essential Characteristics
Whether the cloud computing services provided are infrastructure, platform, or software, they all share these 5 essential characteristics delineated by NIST. In these characteristics you’ll also start to see some of the many benefits of cloud computing.
- On-demand self-service: this means that users can provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, on their own, whenever they need it.
- Broad network access: cloud computing is available over a network and accessed through a variety of standard computing devices such as desktop computers, laptops, and smartphones.
- Resources pooling: this means that cloud providers of storage space, processing, virtual servers, etc., pool their cloud-based resources to dynamically serve multiple consumers/customers based on demand. This allows providers to provide resources more efficiently and therefore cost-effectively and pass on cost savings to cloud hosting customers.
- Rapid elasticity: one of the big benefits of cloud computing is how quickly it can scale out to meet rapidly growing demand or demand spikes and how quickly it can scale back down so cloud computing customers aren’t paying for unused capacity.
- Measured service: Cloud computing systems automatically control and optimize resource use by monitoring, controlling, and reporting on the service being offered, providing transparency for the cloud computing consumer as well as the provider.
What is Cloud Computing … And Why Should I Use It?
Here are 11 of the most often cited benefits of cloud computing:
- Cost Savings – Cloud computing reduces IT expenses overall through reduced hardware, software, and networking management cost reductions. Bottom line: you need less stuff, the stuff you need costs less, and you need fewer resources to manage it.
- Cost Control – Cloud computing helps businesses control costs because they don’t need to make usage predictions, don’t need to overbuild to handle usage spikes, can reduce upfront capital investments, and can budget cloud computing services as Opex costs (ongoing operational expenses) instead of Capex (big-ticket items you invest upfront money in to own).
- Instant Scaling / Elasticity – Cloud computing allows businesses to instantly scale up IT resources to meet new demands and quickly scale them back down as demand lessens. No need to go out and buy new hardware every time a new need comes up.
- Business Speed & Agility – Closely related to the scaling benefit: IT can react quicker to business needs to help streamline projects and decrease time to market.
- Business Focus & Growth – Relying on a cloud service provider such as EarthLink Cloud for IT services lets businesses focus more time, energy, and talent growing current revenue streams and developing new ones to grow their business.
- Automatic Updates – IT can focus on other issue and don’t have to worry about (or pay for) ongoing updates to hardware and software.
- Remote & Mobile Access – Cloud computing services are by definition remote, which frees your organization from physical limitations of your business location. Most are also available from mobile devices such as smartphones, which makes your organization more flexible and nimble.
- Innovation – How many times are good ideas killed because an organization doesn’t have the IT resources or can’t scale them fast enough to try something new? All the time. Cloud computing encourages and enables innovation by making it simple to try new things, scale up and down during a test, and remove the cost barrier of investing in new servers and other hardware to handle a new product or project.
- Expertise – Cloud computing & hosting providers like EarthLink Cloud are proven experts in deploying and managing cloud IT services. Some large enterprises have that kind of expertise in house, but not many. For startups and small to medium-sized businesses, cloud computing is a big step up in quality even while lowering costs.
- Makes Small Companies Larger – With a cloud hosting provider handling their IT needs, small companies can level the playing field with the big boys and compete more effectively. You get the same top-quality cloud computing resources as the Fortune 500 firms, but you pay only for what you need.
- Greener Computing – Cloud computing is widely regarded as being a greener option for IT due to efficiencies of scale, diversity, and flexibility. The smaller the organization, the greater the positive impact will be. According to a Microsoft study, small organization can reduce their carbon footprint by up to 90% by moving to a shared cloud environment. For a large company, the study found a 32% emission savings for cloud computing. Here are 4 reasons why cloud computing is a green solution.
What Kind of Companies Can Use Cloud Computing?
Though some of the benefits will vary with the size and structure of the organization, cloud computing can help virtually any size organization cut or manage costs, increase business focus, be more innovative and responsive, and contribute to a greener environment. EarthLink Cloud has experience working with all types of organizations, from small startups to large enterprises, in a wide variety of fields.
If you think your business may be interested in the benefits of cloud computing, visit the EarthLinkCloud.com site to review our Cloud Server Hosting, VMware vCloud Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, and other related services. Or you can give us a call at 1-800-957-4872. A cloud computing specialist can discuss which solutions may be best suited to your business.
What’s Next for Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is big now and all signs point to it getting bigger fast. Just how big?
A June, 2011 IDC study reported that “Cloud computing will continue to reshape the IT landscape over the next five years as spending on public IT cloud services expands at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.6%.
According to research firm Gartner Inc., worldwide cloud services revenue was forecast to reach $68.3 billion in 2010, a 16.6 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $58.6 billion. And by 2014, worldwide cloud services revenue expected to reach $148.8 billion.
Good luck in the cloud!
Sizing your Cloud Server – Based on Microsoft and VMware Recommendations
When planning your cloud based environment it is very important to plan a virtual system to run your applications based on Microsofts and VMWare’s best practices. Here are some common baselines when planning to run your application on the EarthLink Cloud infrastructure. Looking for an application not on our list? Feel free to call one of our Cloud Engineers at 1-800-957-4872.
| Notes | links | |
| Microsoft Exchange 2010 Sizing Calculator | http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/v144-of-the-Exchange-2010-1912958d | |
| VMware Best Practices for Exchange 2010 | http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Exchange_2010_on_VMware_-_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf | |
| Microsoft Exchange 2010 System Requirements | http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx | |
| SQL Server 2008 R2 System Requirements VMware SQL Server best practices | http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx#DCx64
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/sql_server_virt_bp.pdf |
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| SQL Server 2008 Sytem Requirements | http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506(SQL.100).aspx | |
| Sharepoint 2010 System Requirements | http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485.aspx | |
| Microsoft SBS 2011 System requirements | http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg491249.aspx | |
| Remote Desktop Session Host Capacity Planning | http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/confirmation.aspx?id=17190 |
Earthlink Cloud Launches Their DNS Control Panel
Earthlink Cloud is launching their DNS Control Panel. This is available through the client portal under the “My Domains” section.
Within this interface, you can add new domains to our shared name servers and manage all of the DNS records.
If you have any questions on how to use this interface, please contact support@earthlinkcloud.com
Moving files to the Windows 2008 Cloud with Remote Desktop
If you have a Windows Virtual Server, or a Dedicated Server you can easily load software and files onto the server without setting up FTP access or opening shared drive. Using Windows Remote Desktop Connection you have to option to map remote resources such as the Printer, Clipboard and even local drives.
Step 1: To get started launch Windows Remote Desktop Connection (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Remote Desktop Connection).
Step 2: Click on the Options tab when launching Remote Desktop and select “more”. You can then select local drives on your PC/Laptop that you want your Server to see. From your server located in the LocalSolutions.net datacenter you can now browse the C: drive on your PC and copy any needed files/programs to the Server 2008 cloud.
EarthLink Cloud Featured on Eyes on the Future
EarthLink Cloud Featured on Eyes on the Future. IT experts on this week’s show talk about Cloud Computing and how it can help your company. Session Guests include Mike Salviski of Earthlink Cloud, Jonathan Coupal of ITX, and Mike Kasprzyk of Orient Express.
Visit: http://www.rochesterbiz.com/podcast/
Or for the Apple/iPod Users: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/eyes-on-the-future/id348148953
Windows Hosting Control Panel
Our Windows (.NET) Web Hosting comes with a full control panel where you can do some of the following actions:
» Manage Domain/DNS
» Setup Websites/Directories
» Create FTP Accounts
» Manage Files
» Create Databases
» Create Mail Domains and Accounts
» Schedule Tasks, including backups
» Install Microsoft and .Net Apps
Our Industry leading Control panel allows you to take full control over your web application and manage it yourself! Here is an overview screenshot of a sample account using our .net Web Hosting Control Panel. Current legacy LogicalSolutions.net clients can migrate to the new control panel at any time by opening a support ticket.
Setting Firewall Rules on Cloud Servers
As a server administrator you have the ability to set custom firewall rules on your cloud server. To add a new firewall rule first log into the cloud control panel. Click on the server you want to setup firewall rules for, then select Networking -> Firewall.
The default firewall rules are to allow all traffic:
You can lock down all traffic on the Port, by making the default command “Drop” all connections. You can then allow specific IP addresses to access ports and resources on the server, like Port 3389 for RDP. Using IP source address 0.0.0.0/0 will allow all IPs to a specific port like 443 as shown below:
