A cloud server is a virtual server that runs on shared physical hardware in a cloud computing platform. The customer requests the server over the Internet, and the provider starts, resizes and stops it on demand. The customer pays for the resources the server uses.
History of Cloud servers
Creator: No single creator; Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Rackspace and NASA were early providers and sponsors. Year: 2002.
Cloud computing goes back to the 1960s. Time-sharing was used then. It ran through remote job entry (RJE). Users sent jobs to operators. Operators ran them on mainframes. The idea grew from that model. It was to share computing power among many users.
The word cloud came up for virtualized services in 1994. General Magic used it. It named the places that mobile agents could visit. This was in its Telescript environment. The term cloud computing became known in 1996. Compaq Computer Corporation used it in a business plan that year.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) started in 2002. It allowed developers to build applications independently. In 2006, Amazon launched Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). It also launched the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Amazon EC2 runs virtual servers on demand. They are called instances.
More providers launched cloud services in the following decade. Microsoft launched Microsoft Azure in 2010. In 2010, Rackspace Hosting and NASA started the open-source OpenStack cloud software project. IBM launched the IBM SmartCloud framework in 2011. Oracle announced the Oracle Cloud in 2012.
In 2011, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a definition of cloud computing. The definition lists five characteristics. They are on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measured service. Cloud servers rely on these traits. A client adds or removes capacity. No call to the provider is needed.
Changelog and latest update
Cloud hosting uses clustered servers. They are load-balanced. If one machine fails, other machines take over its work. Providers charge for the resources a client uses. The client pays for capacity that is running. The client does not pay a flat fee for capacity it might need.
In December 2019, Amazon launched AWS Outposts. It extends AWS infrastructure into a client's own data center. It also extends AWS services, APIs and tools there. This let a client run cloud services on equipment. The equipment sits in a building the client controls.
Cloud systems share responsibility. The provider and the client each carry part of it. The provider handles the infrastructure. That includes physical hardware. It also includes software updates for its platform. The client handles data encryption. The client also handles identity and access management. The client handles the security of its applications. The duties differ between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
Cost tools show how resources are used. Wikipedia names AWS Cost Explorer and Azure Cost Management as examples. Unused resources and wrong settings raise the bill. Frameworks such as FinOps have emerged. They standardize financial operations in the cloud.
Latest update: NIST SP 800-145, The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing, 2011-09
The NIST page for SP 800-145 lists the date as September 2011. Its authors are Peter Mell and Tim Grance. The page defines cloud computing. It also defines its five characteristics. It lists cloud keywords such as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. The Wikipedia article notes an update. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) expanded and refined the list of characteristics by 2023.
Usage examples
A cloud server is started, checked and stopped through a provider's command line tool or its API. The examples show a launch on Amazon EC2 with the AWS command line tool, a launch on Google Compute Engine, a launch on Microsoft Azure, and a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) status check of the new server.
aws ec2 run-instances \
--image-id ami-0123456789abcdef0 \
--instance-type t3.micro \
--count 1 \
--key-name my-keyThe aws command line tool calls the EC2 API and starts one virtual server, called an instance. The image ID selects the operating system image, and the instance type sets the processor and memory size. The key name names the SSH key pair that the administrator uses to log in.
gcloud compute instances create web-1 \
--zone=us-central1-a \
--machine-type=e2-microThe gcloud command creates a virtual machine named web-1 in one zone of Google Cloud. The zone option places the machine in a single data center region, and the machine type sets the processor and memory size. The command prints the external IP address when the machine starts.
az vm create \
--resource-group demo-rg \
--name web-1 \
--image Ubuntu2204 \
--size Standard_B1s \
--generate-ssh-keysThe az command from the Azure CLI creates a virtual machine in a resource group that holds related cloud resources. The image option picks the Ubuntu 22.04 image, and the size option picks a small machine type. The generate-ssh-keys option creates an SSH key pair for the first login.
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" http://203.0.113.70/
# prints 200 when the web server answersThe curl command requests the front page of the new server and discards the body. The -w option prints the three-digit HTTP status code. A 200 result means the web server answered, and the administrator can then stop the instance with a stop command when the work ends.
References
These sources are outside Websnoogie and were checked on 2026-10-12.
Cloud computing
Wikipedia
The encyclopedia article on cloud computing. It covers the ISO definition, the five NIST characteristics, the history from time-sharing to AWS and Azure, the shared responsibility model and the cost tools used to control spending. The article is the main reference for the cloud terms in this entry.
The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing (SP 800-145)
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The NIST publication that defines cloud computing and its five essential characteristics, dated September 2011. It names the service models of Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service, and the deployment models. The page is cited here for the five characteristics and the 2011 date.
What is Amazon EC2?
Amazon Web Services
The Amazon EC2 user guide page that lists the features of the service. It defines instances as virtual servers and Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) as preconfigured templates that package the operating system and software for an instance, which is the model the first example uses. The page is cited here for the instance and image terms used in the first example.
Virtual private server
Wikipedia
The encyclopedia article on virtual servers sold as a service by hosting companies. It explains how a hypervisor shares physical hardware among virtual machines, and why a virtual server costs less than an equivalent physical server. Cloud servers use the same model. The article is cited here for the hypervisor model behind cloud servers.
Pick a server size that fits your traffic
Owners often ask whether a cloud server is worth the cost. The honest answer depends on how many visitors you get and what your site runs on. A cloud server is computing power that can grow or shrink with demand. You pay for the power you use. Before we choose a size, we review your traffic, your software and your plans for growth.
A small brochure site may need very little. A busy online shop may need more room on its biggest sales days. Our CMS hosting plan for WordPress sites is $149 a year. We run our hosting at 99.999% uptime, so your site stays reachable nearly all the time. Each plan is sized for the site it carries, not for a generic package.
When a site moves to a cloud server, we copy every file and test each page first. We check forms, links and email settings before we switch the address. Then we send you a short written list of what changed and why. You do not need to know server terms to read it, and you can ask us about any line.
Send us your visitor counts and a short list of what your site needs. We will return a plan with a price. Reach us at 402-813-4034, or use the button below to begin with our $300 website package.
