By Alibaba Cloud Academy: Interested to learn more about the latest cloud products and technology? Check out our course on how to Operate and Manage a Cloud Server and get certified today! In this blog, we will discuss the advantages of having a cloud server and briefly show you how to get your own one on Alibaba Cloud. First of all, if you want to learn what makes cloud servers so efficient, you should first understand the common issues that may arise on a physical server, as well as the appropriate solutions to resolve them. Although having a physical on-premises server comes with innate advantages such as having direct access to the server, a majority of the issues stem from the physical and manual operations and management (O&M) tasks of maintaining that server. Without proper planning or expertise, you may end up having suboptimal server configurations that may lead to irrecoverable business losses. Three Benefits of Cloud Servers: Ok, let's now talk about three reasons to embrace a cloud server like an Alibaba Cloud ECS instance. Easy to Deploy: Compared with physical servers, cloud servers can be easily deployed regardless of where you are. They're also more flexible, enabling you to focus on key business innovation. Unlike physical servers, with cloud servers like ECS, you don't need to purchase any hardware or find a data center to host it. Furthermore, if you need to establish a secure network, you would also need to set up a VPN. Server hardware also vary by manufacturers, you will need to hire professional operational engineers to learn how to use, operate, and manage the physical server. And of course, when it comes to upgrading the hardware, you'll need to purchase new parts and reconfigure your system. These tasks require a lot of time and money and may cause your application release to be delayed if any unexpected issue occurs. You may also need to change the way to set up a server to fit all of your requirements. Easy to Manage: Virtual machine deployment and management is definitely the another reason to choose a cloud server like ECS over traditional physical servers. With ECS, you can manage applications easily with better stability and high efficiency, all on a single console. Alibaba Cloud provides a web UI console to manage your ECS instance. For example, you can easily provision a new cluster or change the server configuration such as CPU, memory, and network bandwidth, all with just a few clicks. Almost all maintenance and daily operations can be done all be done from the ECS console. You just need to log into the console and choose operation units and submit them. And that's it, everything is done for you! What's more, Alibaba Cloud provides 24/7 support for our services. You can get professional support any time you need, or upgrade your support plan to get faster response from senior level experts. Enterprise-Grade Stability and Reliability: Another key reason to choose a cloud server like an ECS instance is better stability and high efficiency. Let's take a look at some of the big changes and how we work differently from traditional servers. If several ECS instances use a virtualized server, the cluster is able to make migration to another available server automatic for disk failure. For traditional servers, if you don't set up this backup manually, you may not be able to recover any lost data. When you use an ECS instance, you can rest assured that your files are secure using our distributed file system with three copies for your data backup. Another common scenario that traditional servers may encounter is power and service outages. Alibaba Cloud has set up the power redundancy backup for all ECS instances to ensure the servers are not affected by outages. Furthermore, ECS instances have basic DDoS protection capabilities, thanks to our Anti-DDoS product, ensuring that your services are not affected by attacks. All of these services are supported for free. All our ECS instances come with an industry leading SLA of 99.975% for single-instance configuration and 99.995% for multi-zone configuration. You can learn more about our SLA at the ECS SLA page. Should You Start Using Cloud Servers? The answer is yes! Still not convinced, well, here's a bonus reason for you to start using a cloud server: cost savings! Signing up for an account is easy and is 100% free! Just head on to our website and sign up for a free account. After registering for an Alibaba Cloud account and after a few clicks, you will be able to operate and manage a server easily through the web UI console. Unlike traditional servers, you only need to pay for the resources that you need. You can also scale your resources flexibly according to your needs. Ready to test your knowledge? Take the Operate and Manage a Cloud Server course and get certified today!