UHost - Flexible, Secure, and Scalable Cloud Compute for Modern Applications

In the cloud, compute instances are the workhorses that run applications, APIs, databases, websites, and more. But enterprises today need more than just a virtual machine: they need flexibility, resilience, security, and seamless integration with storage, networking, and monitoring.

UHost, the cloud compute service from SCloud, offers a reliable, elastic, and secure compute platform designed for everything from small websites to large-scale distributed systems and mission-critical enterprise applications.

This article explores:

• Deep technical architecture of UHost
• Key features like images, security, and scaling
• Performance and instance types
• Real-world usage scenarios
• When and why to choose UHost

What is UHost?

UHost is a cloud virtual machine (VM) service that provides on-demand computing resources with:

• Customizable vCPU and memory
• Multiple storage options (UDisk, US3)
• Integrated networking and security services
• Support for Linux and Windows OS
• Full API, CLI, and Console management

Our infrastructure primarily utilizes the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) as the underlying virtualization technology. KVM is an open-source hypervisor integrated into the Linux kernel, widely adopted by major cloud providers due to its performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

You can launch cloud host products in more than 16 regions around the world to cover all five continents, and provide high-quality cloud computing services with consistent experience for your global business

It’s similar to Amazon EC2, Azure VMs, or Google Compute Engine, but optimized for SCloud’s environment with regional enhancements, pricing models, and performance tuning.

UHost Architecture Overview

Compute Layer: Virtual CPUs (vCPUs), Memory (RAM)

Storage Layer: UDisk (block storage), US3 (object storage integration)

Networking Layer: VPCs, Elastic IPs (EIP), Load Balancers (ULB)

Security Layer: Firewalls, Security Groups, SSH/RDP login control

Management Plane: OpenAPI, Console, SDKs for automation

Each UHost instance operates inside an isolated Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), ensuring secure multi-tenancy.

Key Features of UHost

Flexible Instance Types: CPU-optimized, Memory-optimized, General-purpose

Elastic Scaling: Start/stop/resize VMs without data loss

Image Management: Public OS images, custom private images

High Availability (HA): Multi-AZ deployment; automatic recovery from failure

Monitoring and Alerts: CPU, memory, network usage, status alarms

Elastic IP (EIP): Public internet access for VMs

SSH Key Management: Secure, password-less server access

Snapshot and Backup Support: Integrates with UDataArk for fast disk recovery

UHost Product Advantages

UHost isn’t just another virtual machine offering. It’s designed with performance, flexibility, and enterprise-grade security in mind, optimized for a wide variety of real-world cloud computing scenarios.

Here’s what makes UHost stand out:

1. Rich Instance Types, Flexible Configuration

• Choose from General-purpose, CPU-optimized, Memory-optimized, and High-Frequency Compute instances.
• Supports fine-grained vCPU and memory selection.
• Customizable instance shapes to match different business needs, from small web apps to high-load enterprise applications.

2. Stable Network Performance

• Instances come with dedicated bandwidth options.
• Guaranteed packet loss rate ≤ 0.01% in the internal network.
• Supports Elastic IP (EIP) with optional DDoS protection.
• Private high-speed VPC networking across regions and AZs.

3. Comprehensive Security Protection

• Default security group firewall for instance access control.
• SSH key authentication for passwordless and secure logins.
• Support for VPC-based isolation, ACLs, and IAM permissions.
• Optional integration with UCloud’s broader security services (UWAF, UHIDS, etc.).

4. High Availability and Reliability

• Data stored across three replicas automatically to ensure durability.
• Auto recovery of failed compute nodes at the platform level.
• Multi-AZ deployment options for business continuity and resilience.

5. Full Ecosystem Integration

• Seamlessly connects with UDisk, UFS, US3, ULB (Load Balancer), UDataArk (Backup), UDNS, and UCloud Monitoring.
• Designed for hybrid architectures, combining traditional VMs with Kubernetes (UKE) or containers.

6. Ease of Management and Automation

• Web Console, OpenAPI, SDKs, and Terraform modules available.
• Batch operations (e.g., create, delete, snapshot) supported.
• Snapshot-based rollback for disaster recovery.
• Easy migration, scaling, and instance resizing operations.

Security and Compliance

Security Groups: Firewall rules for ingress and egress traffic.

Login Authentication: Enforce SSH keys, disable password login.

Private Networking: Place VMs inside VPCs with no public exposure.

DDoS Protection: (Optional) for EIP-exposed instances.

Audit Logs: Track create/delete/modify actions (via SCloud Log Service).

UHost Instance Families

You can resize instances easily based on changing workload needs.

Image and Snapshot Management

Public Images: Standard Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, RedHat, Rocky), Windows Server (2008 64bits - 2022 64bits)

Custom Private Images: Create custom images from running instances (supported RAW, VHD, VMDK, qcow2 formats)

Marketplace Images: (Future) Pre-packaged solutions for software stacks (e.g., LAMP)

Snapshot-based Recovery: Restore full instances or volumes to a prior point in time

Real-World Scenarios

1. Deploying a Scalable Web Application

Problem: A SaaS startup is building a scalable web app that needs to grow from 5,000 to 50,000 daily active users.

Solution:

• Deploy multiple UHost instances inside a VPC.
• Attach UDisk for storage, mount US3 for static assets.
• Place UHosts behind ULB for load balancing.
• Use snapshots for fast scaling/cloning new web servers.

Benefits:

• Scale compute horizontally without downtime.
• Secure network isolation via VPC and Security Groups.
• Quick disaster recovery using UDataArk snapshots.

2. Running High-Performance Databases

Problem: A logistics company needs a PostgreSQL database capable of handling 100k+ daily transactions.

Solution:

• Deploy a UHost memory-optimized instance.
• Attach high-IOPS UDisk volumes (ESSD class).
• Enable automated snapshots for backup via UDataArk.
• Connect via private networking to app servers.

Benefits:

• Reliable low-latency disk IO for fast queries.
• Full control over PostgreSQL tuning (unlike managed DBaaS).
• Data protection with scheduled snapshots.

3. Dev/Test Environments with Custom Images

Problem: A software company wants isolated environments to develop and test their app across multiple OS versions.

Solution:

• Launch UHost instances for each OS (Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 2019, etc.).
• After initial setup, create custom images of base environments.
• Use custom images to quickly spin up hundreds of identical test VMs.

Benefits:

• Massive time savings over manual configuration.
• Easy rollback by deleting/recreating VMs from golden images.
• Cost control by powering down unused test environments.

Pricing Overview

Compute (vCPU + RAM): Per hour or per month

Disk Storage (UDisk): Per GB per month

Network Traffic (EIP): Per GB outbound

Snapshots (UDataArk): Per GB stored per month

Flexible billing options help optimize for dev/test, production, or seasonal bursts.

Final Thoughts

UHost combines flexibility, security, and reliability into a cloud compute platform optimized for any workload, whether you are launching a simple website, running a mission-critical database, or building distributed AI pipelines.

By offering deep control over instances, easy scaling, strong networking options, and integrated backup support, UHost gives developers and businesses the building blocks needed to succeed in the cloud.