Clustered hosting is a type of server or hosting environment where the resources are shared between multiple servers to make sure a website or a set of websites are always available. This shared technology has been designed to avoid any downtime and it is the basis for any high-load, high-availability hosting environment.
There are two types of clustered WordPress hosting solutions:
Managed and Unmanaged.
Managed WordPress hosting requires you to hand over the management of your WordPress installation to the provider, while unmanaged WordPress hosting gives you complete access to the server environment.
This guide is written specifically for managed WordPress hosting — we will explain what is clustered WordPress hosting and how to use it to improve the performance of your website or application. We’ll also cover some of the features that you might want to look out for when choosing a clustered WordPress host.
What is Clustered WordPress Hosting?
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A clustered WordPress environment is a server or cloud-based architecture where multiple servers share resources and load balancing. This technology was designed to avoid downtime or any other problems that could result from a single point of failure. There are two types of clustered hosting solutions:
Managed WordPress hosting requires you to hand over the management of your WordPress installation to the provider, while unmanaged WordPress hosting gives you complete access to the server environment.
This guide is written specifically for managed WordPress hosting — we will explain what is clustered WordPress hosting and how to use it to improve the performance of your website or application. We’ll also cover some of the features that you might want to look out for when choosing a clustered WordPress host.
Some of the most significant benefits of using a clustered WordPress hosting solution are:
Scalability — Providers can add more resources as your business grows.
— Providers can add more resources as your business grows. High availability — The server keeps running even if a component fails.
— The server keeps running even if a component fails. Load balancing — Clustered hosting distributes the load of incoming requests across multiple servers, which improves the performance of your website or application.
— Clustered hosting distributes the load of incoming requests across multiple servers, which improves the performance of your website or application. Fault tolerance — A service that monitors the servers and restarts them when necessary.
— A service that monitors the servers and restarts them when necessary. Reliability — The availability and uptime of your hosting service are higher due to the fault tolerance.
— The availability and uptime of your hosting service are higher due to the fault tolerance. Scalability — You can add more servers to handle more traffic.
— You can add more servers to handle more traffic. Maintenance — Your provider will take care of the system updates, backups, monitoring, and more.
— Your provider will take care of the system updates, backups, monitoring, and more. Efficiency — A clustered hosting solution uses multiple servers that work together to handle a website’s load. It allows you to use the resources of several servers at once. This means that one server can be busy serving static content (such as images or CSS files) while another serves PHP or handles WordPress database queries.
Clustered hosting: The downsides
The most significant downside is the price. Setting up a clustered hosting solution is expensive and requires a lot of technical expertise on the part of your hosting provider.
You will have to pay more for the extra hardware and maintenance, as well as for the time it takes to set it up.
It’s also worth mentioning that a clustered hosting solution isn’t always necessary for WordPress. If your website doesn’t get much traffic and you don’t use many plugins or other add-ons, then it may not be worth the extra cost.
Clustered hosting: The verdict
If you decide that clustered hosting is right for you, then you should probably look for a managed WordPress hosting provider instead of trying to get it yourself. That way, you don’t have to worry about the technical details.
For example, WP Engine is a well-known provider that offers clustered hosting. You can find out more about them here.
Cheap VPS hosting
If you’re looking for cheap but effective hosting, then Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a good choice. This type of hosting gives you more control over your environment, though it will still cost less than clustered hosting.
The best option is to go with a VPS hosting plan that includes managed WordPress hosting as part of the package. That way, you don’t have to worry about maintaining the server yourself.
VPS: The benefits
The main benefit of VPS hosting is that you don’t have to share a server with other websites. That gives you more control and helps to ensure that your site doesn’t get slowed down by others.
So if you have an e-commerce website or a large blog with high traffic, then VPS hosting will help you to provide a better user experience.
VPS: The drawbacks
The drawback of VPS hosting is that it will cost more than shared hosting. So if you’re on a tight budget, this may not be the best option for you.
VPS: The verdict
If you want more control over your hosting environment and aren’t worried about the added expense, then VPS hosting is a good choice.
But if you just want a low-cost option that will get the job done, then shared hosting will be fine.
WordPress Hosting: The options
Once you’ve decided on shared or VPS hosting, you need to consider the different options available.
The two main choices are managed WordPress hosting and unmanaged WordPress hosting. With VPS hosting, you’ll generally want to go with managed WordPress hosting.