I was assuming that operating with virtual images would already count as "moving into the cloud". At the moment, I am experimenting with several small projects and technologies. For example, I consider prototyping a CouchDB project, but I don't think I can install CouchDB on my existing root server in addition to the services it is already running (it is very old).
I don't have a scaling problem atm, but if publishing things to the cloud is easier than going the traditional "set up a server" route, I thought it might be worthwhile to use "clouds" from the beginning (also to feel safe about potential traffic spikes). For example, using Heroku recently was pure bliss, because I really don't want to bother with configuring web servers, databases, firewalls, backups and so on for each of my projects. I would probably manage somehow, but admin stuff is not my main skill. Unfortunately Heroku does not do everything I need in other projects (ie more frequent cron jobs, other tech than Rails).
I suppose having a virtual image for every project would be perfect.
Edit: Re "Amazon is expensive": my projects don't earn money yet, so I am trying to save. My existing root server costs 20€/month, I think Amazon would cost quite a bit more, so it feels expensive. But of course my root server is old and can not handle much more modern stuff atm.
Ah, ok, then what you want is linode (or slicehost, although it's more expensive). You get images that you can expand or contract (in terms of memory, disk, cpu) as you need. That won't take you into the territory of horizontal scaling, but it should be good enough to get started without spending too much.
I don't have a scaling problem atm, but if publishing things to the cloud is easier than going the traditional "set up a server" route, I thought it might be worthwhile to use "clouds" from the beginning (also to feel safe about potential traffic spikes). For example, using Heroku recently was pure bliss, because I really don't want to bother with configuring web servers, databases, firewalls, backups and so on for each of my projects. I would probably manage somehow, but admin stuff is not my main skill. Unfortunately Heroku does not do everything I need in other projects (ie more frequent cron jobs, other tech than Rails).
I suppose having a virtual image for every project would be perfect.
Edit: Re "Amazon is expensive": my projects don't earn money yet, so I am trying to save. My existing root server costs 20€/month, I think Amazon would cost quite a bit more, so it feels expensive. But of course my root server is old and can not handle much more modern stuff atm.