August 28th, 2009 by admin
Though often overshadowed by the market dominated Windows and Linux platform, Unix remains a widely used platform and a popular option for web hosting. This article will introduce you to seven features commonly found in Unix hosting plans. Though basic, these features are very important and should not be underestimated.
1.) POP3 Email Accounts – An example of a POP3 email account would be “mailto:yourname@yoursite.comyourname@yoursite.com“. Most hosting companies will provide you with a large number of email accounts to use for yourself or distribute to your employees.
2.) Webmail and SMTP – As soon as your website goes live, email will likely become your main source of communication. The tool you need to make this an easy process is a webmail program such as Horde or Squirrelmail. This process can be even faster when downloading your messages to email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Eudora. However, in order for this to work, you need a Unix hosting solution that supports messaging protocols such as IMAP and SMTP.
3.) Spam Filter - It doesn’t matter who you are, no email user is immune to spam messages. In this day and age of the internet, having a reliable spam filter is a must. These applications are installed on the web server where your site resides and typically offer features such as blacklisting, whitelisting and greylisting to mitigate spam. The more flexible filters will allow you to make configurations to tag spam and have it delivered straight to a quarantine folder to keep it from cluttering your inbox.
4.) FTP Accounts - FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a method that allows you to upload your files and maintain them on the server. A Unix host that supports this protocol usually provides the ability to create a certain number of FTP sub-accounts. This allows you to provide your clients and users with access to password-protected directories, which is very useful for sharing files in a more efficient and secure manner.
5.) Backup Utility - While most web hosts perform automated backups on a regular basis, you should never put the fate of your website in their hands. There are many ways to backup your website data, but the easiest way is with a utility specifically designed for this task. Most of today’s control panels come included with built-in utilities that allow you to easily backup your site in minutes.
6.) Web Stats – Analyzing your visitors and traffic can play a crucial role in the success of your site. Popular web stat software such as AwStats and Webalizer run on the back-end of the server and can provide you with detailed reports on your statistics. This can give you the knowledge to make the needed adjustments or additions that increase traffic and boost sales.
7.) PHP and MySQL – Similar to Linux, almost all Unix plans come with support for PHP server-side programming and the MySQL database server. These features are generally provided for no extra costs and can give you the power to create a dynamic, data-driven website.
Tags: IMAP, Linux, SMTP, spam filter, Unix, Unix web hosting, webmail, Windows
Category: Web Hosting Types | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
Many companies are struggling during the recession, but you couldn’t tell by viewing a certain list featuring a comprehensive look at 5,000 of the nation’s top-performing privately owned firms.
Based in Plano, Texas, web hosting provider Layer Technologies, Inc., just added another accolade to its long list of honors by ranking number 622 in Inc Magazine’s the third annual Inc. 5000. Thanks to Northern Capital Insurance, the number one company on the list this year, insurance is leading the way as the nation’s leading industry with an average growth rate of a whopping 667%. Other notable brands representing their respective industries featured on the list include beverage brewing company Honest Tea, rental car service Zipcar and internet powerhouse GoDaddy.
Jim Melloan, Inc. 5,000 project manager, says that the Inc. 5,000 is the best source for learning about new private companies that achieve success through innovative business models and older privately owned corporations that are still profiting and growing at an impressive rate. Melloan noted that this is the reason investors and other spectators look forward to the list every year.
Layered Technologies made the prestigious Inc. 5,000 list due to its tremendous growth rate of 441% over the past three years. The firm invests faithfully in research and development to implement the new technologies and features that has helped it remain one of the top 10 global web hosting providers. Layered Tech evolved from a regionally known dedicated hosting provider to a world-renown web host with a scalable infrastructure that powers a broad range of internet applications and millions of websites.
Many are viewing Inc.’s 2009 list as a report card on the U.S. economy. In light of the harsh economic climate, aggregate revenue of companies that made the list increased by an estimated $29 billion since 2008, with an average three year growth rate of 126%. Since its inception, Inc. has played an active hand in creating more than one million jobs, serving as the perfect example of the positive impact fast growing businesses can have on the economy. You can view the complete results of the Inc. 5000 list by criteria such as industry and region on the Inc.com website.
About Layered Technologies
Founded in 2004, Layered Technologies Inc. is a web hosting provider that specializes in managed hosting, dedicated servers, virtualization, cloud computing and a broad range of additional web services. Leveraging the best of technology and a world-class infrastructure, the firm delivers the level of support that enables businesses of various sizes to eliminate costly upfront investments and save significantly on operating expense while focusing on the core aspects of their business. Its highly scalable infrastructure lends its power to millions of websites and a host of web solutions and applications such as SasS (software as a service), SQL Server and content distribution among others. Boasting one of the largest customer bases in the industry, Layer Technologies clients range from cutting-edge startup companies and thriving medium enterprises to some of the most successful integration and consulting firms in the world.
Tags: cloud, dedicated hosting provider, GoDaddy, Inc. 500, Layer Technologies, managed hosting, SaaS, virtualization
Category: Web Hosting News | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
Search engine giant Google, recently launched a new set of tools and gadgets designed to help all iGoogle users in the United States leverage the OpenSocial API platform for social network applications. Not only will these enhancements change how users interact in social networking environments, but on their homepage as well. According to Google, these tools will enhance the way users communicate, play games and share content right from their iGoogle page.
Some of the most notable social enhancements in the Google launch include:
Content Sharing - Google has enhanced content sharing in a number of ways, including the implementation of an NPR (National Public Radio) gadget that allows users to browse the latest news headlines and share stories with friends. Also available is a Flixster gadget that allows users to rate, review and browse films, along with a CoGomics tool that permits users to share comics and cartoon strips with friends.
Games – With gadgets such as Scrabble and Chess, users can play some of their favorite games with friends or other internet users. Another fun tool is a New York Times crossword gadget that allows user to complete any given weekly puzzle with the aid of friends.
Communication Tools - iGoogle users can now share tasks and lists with friends by utilizing the To-do gadget. This tool makes it simple to add and remove items, check items when done, prioritize lists and modify item descriptions. Also on the menu is the Social Photos gadget, which allows users to upload and share photo galleries from Picasa and Flickr as well as browse the albums and top photos of friends.
In conjunction with the launch of new gadgets, Google also released two new features for iGoogle: Friends Group and Updates. The Friends Group feature allows users to create a list of friends from their Google contacts. It also enables them to interact and share social tools with friends. The Updates feature provides users with the ability to check the status of friends by sharing social tools, photos and more on their iGoogle page. These features are entirely optional and can be disabled by any user who does not want to use them. Furthermore, not all these tools are social-enabled. The ones that are can be identified by a special icon.
Google’s overall goal is to quickly connect iGoogle users with the information that is the most essential and useful to them in a simple and customizable manner. The new social gadgets and tools are only the beginning as Google plans to continuously offer a greater range of options that enables user to create feature-rich, personalized homepages. These benefits are not strictly limited to end-users as developers can leverage iGoogle’s fast-growing community of users to promote their applications. Even more, they can earn revenue from their creations by using iGoogle as and advertising. .
Google continues its mission of innovation with a personalized iGoogle homepage that lets the user customize their web browsing experiencing. With the addition of new tools and gadgets, users now have convenient access to movie schedules, popular games, weather information and the latest news right from their homepage.
Tags: content sharing, Google, iGoogle, OpenSocial, search engine, social network
Category: SEO / SEM | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
These days, it is more important than ever to keep your website current with the latest security measures. Why so much emphasis on security? Because hackers are always looking for ways to penetrate servers and websites to thieve sensitive information. There are is a lot you can do to ensure better website security and the tips in this article should taken very seriously.
1.) Update Your Applications and Scripts
Running outdated web applications and code on your site is liking giving hackers an open invite. So if you have older versions of WordPress or Joomla installed, it is advisable that you immediately check for and perform the necessary updates. This goes for any application or programming languages used for your site. For a knowledgeable hacker, compromising Joomla 1.0 is as easy as uploading a shell script to an insecure form. If successful, they could end up with complete control of your account.
2.) Create Strong Passwords
A password can be a simple but effective security mechanism. However, this is only the case when following a strict set of rules. When securing login sessions and other areas of your site, never apply a password that can be easily guessed by others or is used for other accounts. If someone knows just one of your passwords, they can keep trying it for each of your accounts until they are successful. This could not only lead them to the control panel login of your hosting account, but also the financial institution you do your online banking with.
3.) Mask Your Folders
It is always wise to cloak your website files and folders that are stored on the server. Many security experts suggest keeping a blank index.html file in each of the folders stored in your public directory. Doing this will ensure that the contents cannot easily be viewed by internet users. This process is made simple with the cPanel control panel and its Index Manager function. You can take this one step further by password protecting the administrator folder that contains the scripts you are running. This is highly recommended as it provides an added layer of security that will make an intruder have to work that much harder.
What If I Still Get Hacked?
As we eluded to earlier, there is a possibility that even after adhering to all of these tips and more, your website can still be compromised by a hacker. Should your site be successfully exploited, there are a couple of things you should do right away to minimize the damage. The first step that needs to be taken involves changing all of the passwords associated with your website. This goes from your control panel and administrative areas to everything else in between. Next, go through your hosting account to find and update all old applications and plugins as they could easily be the culprits that led to exposure. Any website can be compromised and if it happens to you, your sensitive information can be used for criminal gain in one way or another. Prevention is the key so employ all the measures you can to ensure you are protected against the existing and emerging threats.
Tags: cloak files, hackers, index manager, outdated web applications, programming languages, security measures, strong passwords, website security
Category: Security Issues | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
Constant efficiency and availability are critical factors for any company whose business revolves around e-commerce. Every element of the organization’s architecture from operating system and web applications to hardware and network connectivity must be designed with fault tolerance and redundancy in mind. An inaccessible website or damaged OS kernel could put your operation on halt and send customers in the direction of another retailer. With your competition located just a quick click away, it is crucial to the take the necessary steps to make sure your systems are always available.
The Challenges of Cost and Maintenance
In order to accurately gauge the costs of obtaining greater availability for your systems and infrastructure, you must first determine the degree of reliability your business requires. For many large online businesses, storing data and applications in multiple locations is an ideal solution. While relying on a multitude of redundant data centers can help an organization achieve that elusive 100% level of availability, investing in such facilities can be a rather costly and daunting task. Not only must you consider the expense of building or even leasing a facility, but also hiring a dedicated IT staff and the ongoing maintenance of your systems. Achieving the fastest response times and the best performance typically demands a world-class service and support on an around the clock basis.
Considering Third-Party Help
One challenge many organizations are faced with today is the decision to create and maintain their systems in-house, or rely on a third-party company to host their applications and IT operations. Making a decision on either model is based on various factors. Experience and infrastructure are two great reasons to choose an outside vendor. Professional hosting companies have access to data center facilities and infrastructures that the average business would have a difficult time replicating internally. Traveling this route can give you the ability to do away with expensive upfront investments on servers and applications, while sparing your company the burden of maintaining complex systems. You also have a better chance of getting a scalable infrastructure that allows for upgrades as your business grows and its demands increase. In addition, choosing a third-party hosting provider as your partner enables your company to leverage both the good and bad times they have experienced. This in turn, better assures that the host can effectively handle trouble problems when they arise.
If you do choose to partner with an outside firm, it is important to go carefully go over the fine print and pay close attention to what is being guaranteed. You need to make sure the obligations and commitment to reliability are clearly outlined in the contract so that everything is understood by all parties. If you can, take a physical tour throughout the provider’s facility to ensure that the best practices are being followed and your e-commerce systems are taken care of. Should your internal IT staff be strong enough to maintain the entire project internally, be sure to devise a sound strategy that will keep your systems online despite the hardships or disasters that might come your way.
Tags: E-commerce, IT staff, redundant data centersm, retailer, third party provider, web applications
Category: E-commerce | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
Reverse domain name hijacking has proven to be one of the biggest problems in the domain name industry today. Most importantly, it is an issue that can have a direct impact on your internet identity and web presence.
What is Reverse Domain Hijacking?
Typically associated with cyber squatting, reverse domain hijacking describes a practice where a company that owns a trademark exercises its trademark rights in attempts to secure a domain name from the legitimate holder. This is something that has become all too common these days. More and more, we are seeing small companies and entrepreneurs registering domain names that are also targeted by bigger companies. In hopes of intimating the little guy, these big spenders have been known to cry the UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy) and engage in legal battles many smaller companies simply can’t afford.
While domain disputes often boil down to a lot of specifics, it is a known fact that several larger companies rely on their financial resources to wrestles names from the grips of legitimate owners. Why has this practice become so widespread? This is because the UDRP does not contain any meaningful literature stating that overzealous and determined trademark owners cannot file complaints. And despite the monstrous label of reverse domain name hijackers, nothing to this point has been enough to deter the efforts of corporate giants. As long as these companies continue to enjoy publicized measures of success, such claims could be filed for some time to come.
Fighting Back Against the Bullies
So, what do you do when the big bad corporate bullies come knocking and threatening to seize your domain? Well, if they have the resources along with the trademark, the company can file an action in court and make the claim that the registration or utilization of the domain is not considered unlawful on their part in accordance to the ACPA (Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act). This legislation was put in place to balance the rights of domain name holders and trademark owners respectively. Most importantly, it was enacted to address the growing problem of reverse domain name hijacking. However, there is only so much the ACPA can do for you. For instance, you can only win back your domain name as the legislation does not cover any financial damages against the trademark owner. Equipped with ample resources, this is one of the main reasons trademark owners will continue their abusive practices and keep the pressure on smaller companies. Unfortunately, even though you can leverage the ACPA to take action in court, very few domain owners have a wallet sizable enough to challenge a bigger company for the domain name they have legitimate rights to.
Change is Needed
There has been much debate on whether the ACPA should be amended to create a greater balance between the rights of domain name and trademark owners. However, implementing such a change would require the full cooperation of many parties including the domain and trademark holders who already are not seeing eye to eye, and quite possibly a few government bodies as well. Unfortunately, until the playing field is leveled, trademark owners will continue to pull out their big wallets and strip domain names away from less fortunate, but legitimate registrants.
Tags: ACPA, cyber squatting, domain disputes, domain hijacking, domain industry, domain name, reverse domain hijacking, UDRP
Category: Domain Names | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
There is much to consider when choosing a control panel, but one of the most important of all is its user-friendliness. This is especially true for a reseller as your hosting customers will likely range from newcomers to more advanced users. An ideal solution would be finding a control panel that bridges that gap between both types of users. It is understandable that everyone would prefer a control panel which is simple to navigate as it makes it much easier to find the tools and services they need to access. The control panel market is expanding rapidly, but we have listed some of the best options for your reselling hosting endeavors.
HostFlow
Though a relative newcomer, the HostFlow control panel is quickly shaking up the web hosting control panel market and serving as worthy competition to the industry leading players. As of now, HostFlow is the only control panel that allows hosts to sell web hosting plans, bulk web services and dedicated servers through both direct and indirect sales channels. A complete hosting automation system, it supports a number of modules that facilitate server, customer, order and billing management, allowing users to get the most of their reseller business. If you are a seeking a product with the ability to automate virtually every aspect of the hosting delivery process, HostFlow could the solution for you.
Ensim
The Ensim software makes another great choice for a control panel. It offers a wide variety of features as well four levels of administration, reseller option included. Ensim makes it easy to create hosting accounts, manage your clients, monitor bandwidth and much more. All of your administrative tasks can be handled in far less time as everything goes through a streamlined, centralized interface. Ensim is known as a very flexible solution that supports both Linux and Windows platforms.
H-Sphere
H-Sphere also runs on both Linux and Windows servers. This is perhaps one of the most advanced and complex of all web hosting control panels on the market. The major plus as that the software gives you a lot of power as the features are virtually unlimited. This software is ideal for experienced users as it streamlines the reselling process with extensive billing options and total automation. If you want a reseller hosting control panel that does it all, H-Sphere is definitely worth a closer look.
Zervex DSM
While it is not as well known as the other options, Zervex DSM is one control panel that demands attention. The software has a clean, easy navigable interface that benefits both server administrators and webmasters alike. Zervex allows you to administer multiple websites or a multitude of servers through a powerful web-based interface. The software has three levels: Server Administrator, Reseller and End User. Each interface is identical from a graphical aspect, providing easy to use tools at ever level. Equipped with the built-in Plug-ins manager, your customers will enjoy the ability to install well over 30 open-source software applications with the click of a button. Zervex DMS makes a solid choice if you want to give back to your loyal clients.
Tags: Ensim, H-Sphere, HostFlow, reseller, reseller software, Zervex DSM
Category: Control Panels | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
Previously known as cmPublish, the Clickability Platform is a CMS with a different approach on content management. Developed by CMS provider Clickability, this platform is delivered on an on-demand basis, as well as full service with the company’s “Innovation as a Service” solution. Aside from content management, the Clickability Platform also offers analytics, email campaign, web 2.0 and advertising among other functionality. While there is obviously far more to the Clickability Platform than content management, this is indeed the focal point of the package.
Core Technologies
Though a licensed commercial product, Clickability Platform is based on powerful open-source technologies such as PHP, MySQL and Java. It utilizes Apache as its web server and Velocity for the templating system. Even though you have to pay for a license, the leveraging of various popular open-source tools makes Clickability Platform a cost effective CMS product.
Clickability Content
The main content entity in the Clickability environment is the item. Authors have the ability to create content items by selecting various types of content from the navigation pane. This CMS gives you a number of different content items out of the box, including jobs, blogs, press releases, case studies and FAQs. Furthermore, custom content types can be created as well. The templating system is a major part of the process as it allows you to actually get the content on your web pages. These templates can be tailored to display numerous types of content in different sections of a single page. While this feature caters to beginners, Clickability Platform also has something for developers with advanced creation environments and other customizing assets such as stylesheets.
Additional Features
Clickability Platform certainly isn’t short on features. The package bundles streamlined content management capabilities alongside a host of SEO tools, Web 2.0, capabilities and the following list of features:
Newsletters – Publishers can create a newsletter of content and automatically distribute it to subscribers. They can also manage mailing lists and have the ability to provide subscribers with double opt-in capabilities.
Advertising - Adverting functionality is tightly integrated into the Clickability Platform. This allows administrators to create and maintain campaigns as well as all the details that go along with them. Because ads are considered content pieces, they have targets that provide administrators with a way to track and keep up with the history of their performance.
cmSideKick – Clickability Platform allows you to run your website in the browser and the intuitive cmSideKick in a second frame. cmSideKick is a utility that enables you to perform deep analyzation of statistics, allowing you to view your site in the administrator mode or selective views to modify certain areas. This is one tool that you are likely to put to great use in the Clickability environment.
Conclusion
Clickability has come a long way since its days as cmPublish. However, it has managed to maintain all the basics of content management and received some nice upgrades to compliment the emerging technologies and web trends. Clickability Platform is definitely a enterprise CMS solution and can help to satisfy the needs of businesses of all sizes.
Tags: advertising, analytics, Apache, Clickability, cmPublish, CMS, cmSideKick, content management, email campaign, MySQL, newsletters, PHP
Category: CMS | Leave Comments »
August 28th, 2009 by admin
More small and medium sized companies are thriving due to the benefits of managed hosting. However, with the popularity has come various myths about this service that have done nothing but confuse interested customers. To keep you in line with the facts, this article will debunk five of the most common misconceptions about managed hosting.
1.) Managed Hosting is a Completely Outsourced Solution
The way some describe it, managed hosting is a type of service that completely alleviates you from server administration and daily management tasks, a fully outsourced service that does not require you to lift a finger. In most cases, this isn’t true. While you typically get far more automated assistance than offered by a dedicated hosting provider, the level of managed services all depends on the price, package and host you select. Even when signing on for a fully managed contact, you will still be responsible for design, promotion and the basic administration of your site.
2.) Only Inexperienced Users Need Managed Services
Many have the misconception that managed hosting is strictly designed for businesses and individuals who lack the abilities needed to maintain a web server. This comes from the fact that managing a dedicated server requires a certain level of technical skills, which is the reason that several choose to outsource these tasks to another company. Be that as it may, managed hosting can benefit all types of customers, even those who are well versed in administration and know their way around a web server.
3.) Managed Hosting is More Reliable
Almost all companies will promise you a respectable uptime and reliable service. The same holds true for managed hosting providers. Although you have your own server, there are still many incidents that could possibly result in service interruptions and downtime. The reliability you get from a managed hosting solution all depends on the company you choose. If they have taken the time to build a stable infrastructure with redundant systems, downtime should be a very rare occurrence.
4.) Managed Hosting is More Secure
One of the biggest misconceptions you can fall into is automatically assuming that a managed hosting provider will keep your server secure. Most companies take the necessary steps to detect and prevent common threats such as malware, intrusion, DDoS attacks and other exploits. What you should know is that no server or web hosting system is ever 100% protected. Different strains of malicious software are released on a frequent basis and hackers grow more sophisticated everyday. This is why it is so important for both you and your managed hosting provider to make security a priority.
5.) Managed Hosting is Cost Prohibitive
In general, managed hosting is more expensive that your typical dedicated server plan. However, it can also result in tremendous cost savings for your business. These savings are obtained by the fact that you don’t have to make any costly upfront investment on hardware, software or infrastructure. You can also spare yourself from having to hire a professional IT team. At the very least, you can keep staffing expenses to a minimum. Over the long run, managed hosting can be far more cost effective than leasing a dedicated server.
Tags: DDoS, dedicated hosting provider, malware, managed hosting, outsourced solution, server administration, uptime
Category: About Web Hosting | Leave Comments »
