Whether you want to merely store data in the cloud or run any kind of online project, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) can’t be beat. Depending on your budget, a VPS solution lets you adjust your RAM, CPU, storage, and backup constraints into an hourly billing service. Clouding.io is an EU-based Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) player that provides a self-managed VPS hosting solution with its datacenters in Spain.
It offers more storage than any other hosting provider. This should cover an entire gamut of bandwidth-intensive applications: database servers, Windows RDP servers, and of course, websites that can scale to any amount of traffic. In the following review, we examine the major benefits and applications of Clouding.io as a VPS hosting provider.
What Is VPS Hosting?
A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a cloud-hosted machine that runs its own copy of a Linux or Windows-based operating system and is tasked with creating, releasing, and managing guest “resources.” A VPS is an enormous step up from a shared hosting plan, as you, the user, are in greater control of the system resources. Typically as a user, you have access to an entire operating system instance on a machine. The only limits in a VPS are RAM, CPU, storage space, and your own self-managed restrictions.
Clouding.io describes itself on its website as a “supercharged VPS server” with a goal to unite VPS, Dedicated and Cloud in a single service. The servers are operated on fault-tolerant SSD Enterprise machines and Intel Xeon cores with a 99.99% uptime promise. You can run a large number of customized applications based on their images, including Docker, WordPress, and Magento, and take advantage of a powerful infrastructure to create any online service that you desire.
Account Activation
Activating the account on Clouding.io is very easy from its website. For this, you need to validate your account, which requires confirming an e-mail account, a phone number and a credit card with 3D Secure. As soon as you furnish the details, you will be taken to a dashboard where all server-related activities can be done quickly.
Creating Your First Server
In order to create your first server, you need to click on “Servers” on the panel. Go to the blue button and click “Click here to create your first Server.”
This will now lead to a new window where you have to provide several details, such as the server name and the image to be selected, which can be either Windows or Linux. From a pull-down menu of Linux, you can select either CentOS, Ubuntu, or Debian, and go with the appropriate version you want from running the server.
In the apps option you get a number of advanced images, such as WordPress or Magento, which will create an appropriate server for a website based on those apps.
In the next step, the resources of RAM, CPU, and SSD disk are defined by you. Remember, they can be increased and decreased anytime even after the server has been created. You can choose to set up a firewall or SSH keys (or use the one that is set as the default). The most important part is backup, which can range from daily to once a week.
The prices for all these configurations are easily viewed in a calculated total summary. As soon as you click on “Submit,” the server is launched.
The cost you incur is the same whether the server is on or off. This is because even when the server is off, the resources that the client chooses are reserved for them. If clients want to save in offline mode, they should not forget to archive the server. In the archive mode, only the SSD disk is charged and not the RAM or CPU.
It takes around 50 seconds for the server to provision itself and become active. You will be alerted by email when the server has become active.
In the email, you can find the user IP address and password for the created server. You can access your Cloud Server with any SSH client. Once the server is ready, it can be deleted/renamed, resized, and archived anytime on the control panel itself.
Pros and Cons
Clouding.io gives a single dashboard view of all server information. You can do a number of things right away with this server: creating snapshots is very easy, as is accessing SSH keys and learning about any server’s host name, Public IP, and other details. You can also “archive” the server, which means the RAM and CPU are no longer charged and that only the SSD space is.
Cloning or resizing the server is very easy. You can run multiple websites or online services that are similar and consume similar amount of resources.
The best part of Clouding.io is its support for a large number of preinstalled images such as WordPress, Docker, LAMP, Magento, Odoo, and other configurations. All server resources are at your disposal with these preinstalled, updated images.
In case you have any access issues, there is an emergency console to help you get right back to using the server.
The customer support is 24/7 and has a superfast response to your queries by email. You can also access them via phone during Monday to Friday according to EU business hours. However, I did miss the convenience of a Live chat, which is extremely common with other VPS providers.
Getting your queries resolved by email isn’t my first choice, but I could appreciate the personalized attention to customer needs. The support staff seem knowledgeable about every kind of issue. Clouding.io also has a knowledgebase with screenshots for further information.
One disadvantage was a server timeout feature which is way too soon. The Captcha can be a bit annoying. If I have logged in once, I may not want to be signed out too often.
Pricing
Clouding.io has a varying range of self-managed plans, starting from as low as €3 per month for 1 GB RAM and 5 GB SSD, which is sufficient for running a small personal site. Depending on how much RAM you need (faster website response for more traffic), the prices are reasonable, but there are a few competing VPS providers that provide slightly cheaper rates. The billing is done on a per-hour basis, as per the instructions shared in the previous section.
Final Verdict
VPS solution providers are a great means of managing a service with adjustable CPU, domains, and storage resources. There are no online services you can’t run with such a massive amount of data bandwidth supported. Once you reach the highest storage limit reached (2 TB per server), the price slowly increases by €0.02/GB, thus letting your website scale to infinite values. In summary, Clouding.io has a solid foundation in terms of the hosting plans it supports. If you’re ambitious about your online services, a customizable VPS platform like Clouding.io will definitely serve your needs.
This is a sponsored article and was made possible by Clouding.io. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence, even when a post is sponsored.
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Sayak Boral –
Staff Writer
Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over eleven years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.
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