DEV Community: Lauraharvsey

Self Hosted Vs Managed Platforms

Lauraharvsey — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 15:19:05 +0000

The internet entertains more than a billion users each day. Whether using this advanced technology for work, school, or pure entertainment, all of this information will be found on websites. Websites are the virtual replicas of brick-and-mortar stores that used to attract visitors on a daily basis. In addition to visiting these websites, many people have a reason to start one of their own. Whether you're starting a site to promote make money or write a personal blog, there are some important steps to consider before beginning.

If you're planning on running a website, you probably understand the complex coding skills that are required to build one from scratch. Although a few basic lines of code can build the structure of a site, it takes more time to learn the advanced functionalities to which users have become accustomed. Fortunately, there are many available options that can help you publish content quicker. With these options, you can skip the complex task of coding a web platform from scratch. Before moving forward with this choice, it's important to understand the distinction between two fundamental options: self-hosted and hosted solutions.

Here are the main differences between the two that should be considered in the decision-making process.

Should I Use a Self-Hosted or Hosted Web Platform?

Before you start a website, you have to first choose between a self-hosted or hosted web platform. You can't start publishing any brand content online before making this decision. In short, if you select a hosted option, you will be trading customizability for simplicity and ease of use.

Hosted platforms provide an easy and quick way for people to start publishing their content online without having to mess with servers or managing upgrades. Hosted platforms also provide a boost in performance and reliability as everything is centrally managed. Research by Australian hosting review site Aussie Hosting shows that managed platforms operate over 30% better with increased security less downtime.

On the other hand, self-hosted platforms offer superior customization for manipulating style and functions to meet your personal requirements. While hosted platforms have limitations on what can be changed, self-hosted platforms have essentially limitless possibilities. At first, self-hosting platforms may seem like the obvious answer due to their overall personalization. However, these options require much more work and preparation.

Here are a few questions to consider about your needs before deciding on one option.

Do I need to have my site published immediately, or do I have some time to prepare?
Are there any special functionalities that will be required on my site?
Will I need access at the code-level for my site?
Will I need customer support around-the-clock to help support my site?
How much money am I willing to spend on a monthly basis to keep my site running properly?

After you've answered these questions thoroughly, you can start taking into account the main differences between hosted and self-hosted platforms.

The Main Differences Between Hosted and Self-Hosted Platforms

Even though the names sound rather similar, there are some major differences between hosted and self-hosted platforms. Self-hosted platforms are popular amongst detail-oriented web designers who are well-versed in coding and are willing to take extra time when building the site. On the other hand, hosted platforms are popular amongst business owners and other individuals who need the functionality of a site and don't want to have their content published as soon as possible. People who choose the hosted options aren't worried about having control over every little detail for their site. In fact, most of these people wouldn't even know how to make these code-level edits if the option was there.

Hosted Platforms

Publications, bloggers, and business owners all love the ease and simplicity of hosted platforms. With these providers, you'll be able to have a blog or e-commerce site running in seconds. You won't have to worry about security or updates. You'll also be able to choose new layouts without having to leave the site. However, in comparison to self-hosted options, you'll be severely limited in the manipulation of your site. With this choice, you're giving up some freedom in exchange for simplicity and speed.

Pros of Hosted Platforms

Easy to set up
Helpful support staff
Constantly updating
Managed servers
Connected to other bloggers

Cons of Hosted Platforms

Limited plugins and themes
No access at the code-level
No way to upload plugins and themes

For many site owners and bloggers, the limited plugins and themes aren't an issue. This is especially true for people who don't understand coding. The support teams will be able to handle any major problems you experience.

Self-Hosted Platforms

Any site owners that require a specific design or robust functionality will have to choose a self-hosted platform. With this option, you'll be able to access thousands of different themes and plugins. Uploading these onto your site will be as simple as the click of a button. You can even create your own functionalities if needed. Self-hosted platforms are the obvious choice for developers who need a customized site.

Pros of Self-Hosted Platforms

Massive library of plugins and themes
Access at the code-level
Ability to customize everything

Cons of Self-Hosted Platforms

Managing a server
Installing and upgrading the platform
Conflicts with plugins
Support through forums only

Self-hosted platforms offer a greater level of customization to hosted options. With some extra effort and knowledge, you can tweak every aspect of a site to meet your specific needs and desires. This is a great option for site owners who require unique functions and designs that may not be possible on hosted platforms. Although there is some extra work involved in self-hosted platforms, it isn't as scary as some make it out to be. For those looking to go this route, Digital Ocean is a great choice.

Managed websites are the better option when you're a newbie looking to setup your first website. They offer a lot of features simplified by one click installs and user guides. If you're going the self hosted route be prepared for a lot more work.

Implications of Microsoft's Underwater Data Center Experiments

Lauraharvsey — Tue, 14 May 2019 16:29:20 +0000

Recently, Microsoft began Phase II of their experiment to see if underwater data centers are the wave of the future. The testing is part of Project Natick, and it's being conducted in conjunction with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) near Orkney Island off the coast of Scotland.

The first phase was launched in 2014 on a vessel off the California coast, with the focus on collecting data. That experiment was conducted for 105 days and concluded with promising results. This second deployment is to test whether the outcome of Phase I could be replicated in a variety of marine environments.

What is Project Natick?

The experiment involves building submarine-like data centers and sinking them below the ocean surface. The containers are about 40 feet long, ringed with external heat exchangers, and cooled by sea water. Each 30,000 pound container houses the cooling system infrastructure and 12 racks equipped with 864 servers.

Although there are several floating data centers, these are the first that are completely submersible and designed as fail-in-place infrastructure.

The project rests on the theory that, because nearly half of the Earth's population lives within 200 kilometers of the ocean, placing servers on the ocean floor at strategic points along global coastlines will improve service speed and reliability.

It's also designed to reduce the footprint that results from increasing technology and use; energy consumption by data centers is expected to reach 140 billion kilowatts by the end of 2020.

The way these submersible data centers are constructed and cooled reduces the amount of energy needed to operate and cool servers that are becoming overwhelmed with the demand of more users, cloud computing, and advanced tech like artificial intelligence. Right now, the research project remains in the realm of an applied study, but it could include deploying cloud-computing applications for real clients in the future.

According to project manager, Ben Cutler, Microsoft believes, “The structure is potentially simpler and more uniform than we have for data centers today." Feasibility remains hypothetical at this point, but, The expectation is there actually may be a cost advantage to this.”

How Does is Work?

While the concept is progressive, it doesn't employ groundbreaking concepts like blockchain technology. The data center relies upon existing land-based electrical grids and fiber-optic cables. Cooling mechanisms are based on natural cooling from the ocean water itself by running it through the exterior heat exchanges.

Cooling busy data centers is the biggest cause of energy consumption and pollution in tech environments. The electrical grid on Orkney Island is already 100 percent powered by renewable wind and solar energy. Researches also point out that winds are typically stronger along coastlines, which supports the possibility of wind as the primary energy source.

The current phase of testing is expected to take about a year plus container recovery time, at which point the team will try to correlate their expectations against actual results. The containers themselves are designed to last five years in the underwater environment, at which time Microsoft expects that advancing technology will have out-paced their usefulness anyway.

What's the Point?

The stated purpose of this experiment is to investigate ways to expand data centers into spaces that promote sustainability by utilizing renewable resources rather than contributing to global warming by continuing business as usual. It's also to support faster cloud deployment at a lower cost than building and maintaining land-based servers.

If it works, the innovation will reduce the environmental effects of powering large data centers while bringing more reliable service where it's needed most. In a probable future where serverless apps and virtual environments are the norm, creating cost-effective green solutions that actually improve service delivery seems like a no-brainer.

This advancement is being called by some at Microsoft "Cloud-in-Ocean computing" using FPGA boards from a Microsoft Azure data center that were re-located at the Northern Isles data center. The containers themselves are being built by a marine manufacturing company. They can be mass-produced and turned out in 90 days at a much lower cost than land-based data centers.

What About Security?

The logic of sinking sensitive electronics equipment underwater instead of keeping it safe on dry land is an obvious question many skeptics ponder. One problem that the Microsoft team is working on is a condition called biofoulment. This is caused by micro-organisms attaching themselves to materials placed in the ocean, and it can begin within minutes. One solution would be to construct water-tight containers from materials that could eventually be converted to artificial coral reefs, as some coastal areas are doing.

Another concern is the impact on ocean temperatures. Although these are the only such containers in existence, preliminary figures show that the temperature change near the containers was about one-thousandth of a degree. The heated water dissipated within 20 feet of the vessel.

With only the few containers being tested, no big deal, but if the technology were to become popular and suddenly there are thousands or hundreds of thousands of containers in the ocean generating heat, that’s something different.

Underwater Hackers?

As for physical server security, there is no mechanism currently in place to send scuba-diving techs down to service broken or damaged equipment. During testing, a diver conducts a visual inspection of the container monthly.

The design is built on a self-sustaining "lights-out" protocol that makes human oversight and intervention unnecessary. The location would also make physical break-ins, vandalism, and theft unlikely.

Physical Security: As outlandish as it might seem, data security on these underwater servers will be unremarkable. Encryption and authentication methods should be no different than what is already used to protect traditional data centers and virtual computing environments. The wrench that might eventually be thrown into the mix is that Microsoft currently holds a patent on the concept and design.

It’s not hard to envision a future in which Microsoft makes it difficult for VPN service providers and firewall and anti-virus software manufacturers to create products compatible with the new servers. We have only to look to the 2001 antitrust lawsuit brought by the federal government (read more about the browser wars) to see how Microsoft has behaved in the past.

The bottom line is that, assuming the playing field is level, data held on these container servers should be privy to the same protection by VPNs, firewalls, and anti-virus software as any other. On the flip side, the servers would also find themselves targeted by hackers to the same degree.

Final Thoughts

The future of tech is in collaborative virtual environments. Placing servers closer to where they're needed will not only lower costs while improving speed and availability, it will cut enterprise time-to-market delivery by boosting advanced remote development capabilities. However, questions remain about the feasibility and security of such environments.

Stay tuned for the results of Phase Two to learn how this experiment pans out and what it may mean for the future of computing!