Multi-data center clustering: The evolution of web hosting

Websites crash for numerous reasons, but you can boil it down to one thing: Dependence.

For us, dependence is a significant cause of tension and anxiety. Think about it: If you start craving something — safety, reassurance, validation, dopamine, freedom, money — your attention glues to it. And if you can’t get it? You tense up, and your mood changes.

Thankfully, websites don’t suffer as humans do. However, their response to uncertainty and instability is inherently similar.

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The current web hosting model usually depends on one pathway for data and energy to flow. And when that path isn’t available, websites collapse.

Multi-data center clustering is the solution to this anxious, outdated model. We are talking about an affordable way to achieve the best possible performance, reliability and freedom, regardless of whether you’re a startup business or a large-scale enterprise.

The present-day web hosting model

Web hosting is a service that allows you to share your website with the world. It’s like having an apartment where you can store all your belongings — you pay for the privilege of living there, and it’s yours to use for as long as you want.

The present-day web hosting model usually hosts multiple websites on one physical server. This is called Shared Hosting.

The main advantage of this type of hosting is that it’s very cost-effective and easy to manage. However, if you have a lot of websites or high traffic, you may quickly outgrow this type of plan.

Disadvantages to this model

The following disadvantages ultimately lead to higher bounce rates, less time on the page, dwindling click-through rates and other symptoms of poor user experience.

Slow loading times

Slow loading time is the primary concern of a web hosting customer. If your pages aren’t loading within 3-4 seconds, this can easily lead to a decrease in the number of visitors and revenue.

It is not just about slow pages, though. The sluggish response times can also cause severe issues for business owners who are looking to establish a successful brand.

The reason behind slow page loading on a shared server is quite logical – multiple websites are draining the same pool of resources, and yours might not be getting enough. Even if your server doesn’t operate under high load, a surge in your traffic can easily result in slowdowns.

Lack of security

Web hosting is inherently vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. That goes double if you’re running a commercial business. Any professional attack can easily render your website dysfunctional, leading to lengthy downtimes until the hosting provider patches the security breach, diagnoses the damage and resolves the vulnerability. And any second of downtime can bring devastating results.

Inflexible hosting plans

Lack of flexibility in the hosting plans is a common problem that many people face, especially when they are new to building websites. While you can always upgrade your account, shared deals are rather fixed and you cannot add more resources on the go.

Data center downtime

Website downtimes are often caused by the loss of connectivity to the hosting servers for an extended time. Various issues, including power outages, natural disasters and human error can be at fault. A data center outage can also occur when a network connection fails due to hardware or software malfunction.

In such cases, it’s essential to have backup systems in place so that your business doesn’t suffer from any interruption in service.

SEE: 20 good habits network administrators need–and 10 habits to break (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

What is multi-data center clustering?

Multi-data center clustering ensures high availability to websites and applications by hosting your data at two or more separate physical locations. Your site uptime is no longer dependent on one particular route, and with a bit of intelligent programming you can also choose the optimal connection and distribute your incoming traffic in a way that none of your servers are under high load.

Even with the simplest multi-data center clustering setup, you can achieve uninterrupted uptime and excellent loading speeds.

How multi-data center clustering solves old web hosting problems

As we all know by now, dependence can be a recipe for disaster.

Let’s take a closer look at how much more robust multi-data center clustering is compared to the old ways of web hosting.

Faster, most reliable connections

The main benefit of multi-data center clustering is that it provides high availability for applications and services while increasing performance through redundancy.

In internet terms, redundancy refers to having alternative routes that data can take between servers. If one pathway is unavailable, busy or otherwise suboptimal, a failover switch automatically triggers, and the data keeps flowing without problems.

Downtimes become a problem of the past

With different copies of your data across multiple data centers, you always have full access to your web assets, regardless of any disturbances.

Your web assets aren’t just sitting in storage either. Hot copies are always ready for action. They constantly respond to any micro-imbalances, delivering the seamless uptime we all crave for.

On top of that, geographically unique data centers allow you to have redundant power, cooling and network connections. This ensures a higher level of connectivity than if you were only using resources from one location.

Scaling is quick and effortless

A single data center cluster is more than enough for high-traffic websites. But if you want to serve more visitors, upgrading the clusters and their capabilities is as easy as flicking a switch.

You can start from the minimum configuration of five cluster nodes in one data center to hundreds of nodes in multiple data centers across the globe.

Utilizing multiple locations allows you to scale up or down as needed based on user demand or how busy each site is at a given time. With the help of multi-data center clustering, you can easily serve different visitors from a location that is closest to their own, once again giving a boost to your site performance.

Custom and flexible plans

Even though an all-powerful, virtually-immortal website has that no-compromise swagger, not everyone needs one. Sometimes, a single data center cluster does the trick; or, maybe, you need to tack on a few extra servers or load balancers for posterity.

You can add or remove any features for a highly customized plan, tailored to best serve your online project.

New heights for web security

Hackers cannot easily break in because all locations are interconnected via high bandwidth networks such as fiber optic cables and the private lines of various internet service providers. Attacking every single host will simply take way too long and cost too much.

Additionally, most network administrators set up firewalls between their systems and others, limiting access points to their networks and making them as impenetrable as possible.

In the event of a successful attack, emergency triggers can wipe out the compromised server without any consequences and stored copies of the websites seamlessly step in, making it business as usual.

Give your data the freedom to choose

Holding onto the past and worrying about the future are unhealthy habits for web hosting and our human experience alike.

Fortunately, changing data routing behaviors is infinitely easier than ascending to psychological peace and harmony.

ScalaHosting is a leader in the web hosting evolution and offers multi-data center clustering in flexible monthly packages. It doesn’t take much to tackle any uncertainties your website may face.

Author Anthony Tait loves to freedive and spend time alone in various jungles. Perhaps it’s to balance the hours rigged up to a desk studying everything content marketing and computer tech. Whatever the case may be, he’s happy to help.