Recent years have been marked by the rise of cloud technology; a global network of remote services that operates as a unique ecosystem, generally associated with the Internet. There are countless on-demand service providers offering space in this cloud, and this expanding market has led to the democratisation of access to these tools, which are now accessible to any organisation.
Whether companies today have their strength in the Internet or not, it is essential to have a server on which to upload and store all the information. This is where the decision to use must be made:
- Local server: A server that is managed from its own command line and is hosted on the user’s own personal computer.
- Cloud server: An infrastructure that stores and processes information and applications belonging to a hosting company, with multiple servers and locations.
In this post, we want to help you decide on the server that best suits your needs and the requirements of your organization, so we will explain the advantages and disadvantages of the two types that exist. Let’s get started!
Local servers
Local web servers are stored on a local network to the reference machine itself.
Advantages
- Security control: The company has full control over how data is stored and who has access to the security protocols. Security settings can be customised internally.
- Data control: The company has full control over the location and status of backups as well as better control over who accesses their data.
- Centralisation of incidents: The company has an internal record of any incident and knows first-hand the history of what may happen.
Disadvantages
- Implementation: Implementation requires physical space and configuration. It is usually a complex process that requires an external expert, who must also intervene if problems arise.
- Data recovery: In case the server is damaged, the data will also be damaged. In turn, locally stored data is far more susceptible to overloading, damage or errors of any kind.
- Data backup and maintenance: Local server backups are easy to lose or destroy and updates must be done manually to avoid system failures.
Cloud Servers
The cloud servers are hosted in spaces of a global network, managed by the hosting companies.
Advantages
- Data recovery: Most of these storage systems are equipped with redundancy, so if a disk crashes, the system continues to run on the copy. This makes it very difficult to lose data and very viable to recover deleted files or accidental overwriting.
- Security control: With secure credentials, files are encrypted and protected. Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) have invested heavily in state-of-the-art security over the last few years, and AI technologies make security smarter and more scalable.
- Secure Exchange: There is no need to copy files or send memory of them in order to share them with someone. By giving you access, it is shared in a secure and controlled way.
- Security cost: Security costs, data and file hosting in the cloud have been reduced, making it accessible to all types of companies.
Disadvantages
- Malware: There are very sophisticated types of viruses that can infect servers in the cloud. In case of corrupting local copies that have overwritten the stored ones, data could be lost, although it is a very unlikely case.
- Lack of provider transparency: It is important to be well informed when contracting a hosting. The lack of transparency on the part of some providers means that many times the location of the information is not known or the confidentiality of data is not respected.
- Access with credentials: The fact that it is possible to access from any point with credentials gives rise to access to the cloud and the theft of information by people in the environment.
Why is the cloud server the server of the future?
In terms of security, the cloud is a much more resilient environment with additional layers of security compared to more traditional local servers. This happens as long as a number of conditions are met, we will discuss them below:
- A cloud server is highly secure as long as the company using it is secure. Enterprises need to take the initiative to enable the security controls offered by CSPs and ensure that these providers have relevant policies in place and keep devices up to date to ensure data security.
- This data storage system, in addition to surpassing traditional ones in terms of security, is a highly scalable model. The scalability scheme of the cloud servers is superior to any other infrastructure we have seen in the past. For these and many other reasons, is recommended companies rely on this type of servers to host their information and exploit the data through the cloud monitoring, as long as a consultancy stage is completed and a reliable provider with experience in these services is found.
Nexus Integra adapts to your needs
Nexus Integra is a tool with a web access interface that enables the digital transformation of industries, centralising all the information with the maximum security and protection of your data. We adapt to your company so that exploiting your data is a judicious and valuable process, regardless of the type of server you prefer to work with.
