Web Server Hosting Types

There are different types of hosting services that you can choose from depending on what type of web development and web site that you want to host.

Dial-Up Access Hosting – This is the most basic access/hosting service and these providers also provides a web page for hosting your site. Dial-up access hosting was the first hosting available and is still around. Most ISP’s specialize in just internet access and it’s rare that you will see an ISP do both. These companies make their money off of providing access to the Internet.

Development Hosting - Web site developers are buying their own servers and offering independent hosting services for their clients. This is called development hosting in which they provide web development services along with a host server located at their place of business. The consumer gets charged for the development and the maintenance of the web-site.

Web-Hosting ISP’s. – These are companies that specialize in hosting business web sites. There is no dial up access needed and site owners access their pages via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). This is what the majority of small businesses use to put their site information on the internet. Other services are also included in the Web Hosting ISP package depending on their service plans.

These types of hosting plans are usually for corporations that need a lot of bandwidth to run their web applications. These companies run T1 access lines for big packets of internet data and have multiple connections to an internet backbone. They have fully staffed data processing facilities and the prices are substantial for using these types of services.

Corporate/Industrial Hosting - Companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell or IBM, run the server infrastructure for most of these host companies.

The SOHO business owner will usually need the Web-Hosting ISP services. It is the middle ground between the basic and advanced services.

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Top Ten Reasons To Choose A Web Hosting Provider

Choosing a web hosting provider is different for everyone. Every website has a specific set of needs and you have to find a web host that provides the needs that are specific to your website.

However, there are certain things to look for when choosing a web-hosting service. In this article I will give you the ten most common things people should be looking for. These are not necessarily in the order of priority, because as I said every website has different needs and your priorities might not be the same as the next website owner.

1. Tech Support: Tech support in any business venture is always important. As a website owner though, the tech support that your web-hosting service provides is going to be crucial to your business. If your website is offline or not working properly it will cost you sales.

If you have been buying traffic to your website and it goes offline, you are still being charged for all of those visits to your website, which they never saw. The money you are spending on your ad campaign, AdWords program or other traffic sources is going right down the drain. You cannot afford to choose a web host that does not respond quickly when you have a problem.

2. Feedback Forums: A web host that provides a forum, message board, or chat room to discuss hosting         issues or to get help in is more likely to get a user to use their web-hosting services. The reason behind this is people feel more comfortable with a web host that gives a personal touch and one that cares enough to provide a higher level of service.

3. Room to Grow: If your web-hosting service only offers one package, it’s a bad sign in most cases. What happens as your web business grows and so do your web hosting needs? If they offer upgrades to dedicated servers, larger storage and bandwidth plans, and a lot of other options, then you can feel confident choosing them as your web hosting provider. You don’t plan to stay small and your web host shouldn’t plan for you to stay small either.

4. Storage Space: This is usually only an issue with websites that will be offering users a lot of downloads such as music or software. The average website can get by with about 10 megabytes of storage, but again you want room to grow, plus you can actually use your storage to back up files from your computer. Don’t backup secure documents there, but a lot of your files can be backed up online. You have storage so use it. The more storage space they offer, the better.

5. Bandwidth or Transfer: This is the size of every file visitors to your website download automatically to their computers each time they visit. The average webpage is around 30k and then you add the graphics and other files that are displayed to the user and you get your bandwidth or transfer usage. The average website can get by on less than 10 gigabytes of bandwidth per month. However if you are offering downloads like software, music, and movies, or you are going to be driving a lot of traffic to your website, you may want to choose a plan that offers you more bandwidth. Make sure your webhosting provider has options that give you room to grow here as well.

6. Easy to use Control Panel: Cpanel is one of the most popular control panels for web hosts to offer, but there are others. Ask what type of control panel your web host is offering to provide you with. Again, this need is different for everyone and this is based on your level of expertise. Some advanced users would rather not have or don’t care about control panels because they know how to configure everything in the server by themselves. Less advanced users need to be sure they pick a web hosting service that provides an easier interface so they can feel comfortable making the alterations they need to their website.

7. FrontPage extensions: A lot of people that do not know HTML still use FrontPage or other programs to design their websites with. If you use FrontPage, you need to make sure your web host is set up for FrontPage extensions.

8. Type of Servers: An example of this is websites that will be built using the .NET framework or ASP. For your website you will need to make sure your web host has a windows based server. Most web hosting providers are on Linux or Apache and ASP websites will not function on them. A better choice is to stay away from building a website that requires a windows server in the first place.

9. Added Features: Instant Install is a feature offered by most web hosts these days even if they call it another name. It’s an automated process for installing databases and database driven features you can add to your website like photo galleries, forums, blogs, content management systems, calendars, guestbooks, and more. It’s just as easy to choose a web-hosting provider that gives you these features in case you need them as it is to choose one that doesn’t. Again, room to grow is important.

10. Is your web host a good neighborhood: This one is a little more difficult to explain and find out about but it is important. Some search engines punish websites who are in a bad neighborhood. They do this by banning websites that come from a particular set of IP addresses due to previous problems with websites on those IP addresses. You need to see samples of other websites that are hosted by your web hosting service. If a lot of them are warez websites, porn websites, file sharing websites, or other websites whose activities do not seem to savory, then you may be looking at a bad neighborhood and may want to find another web host.

That’s my top 10 tips for choosing a web hosting service. I hope you find these tips helpful when you look for where to host your next website!

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Top 7 Powerful Linking Techniques That Rocket Your Website To The Top

Webmasters put in a tremendous amount of effort to increase the Link Popularity and Page Rank of their Websites. To succeed in your efforts you have to find ways and means of getting the links the Search Engines love and not links which can even be detrimental to your very efforts to increase link popularity. In fact obtaining links from certain sites can even get your website penalized.

Once you know the links the Search Engines love and appreciate you can concentrate all your efforts to obtain those links. Let us see what these links are.

1. If you have unique content and excellent resources in your website, other websites will link to your site, thereby giving you a one-way inbound link which is much appreciated by the search engines. Search Engines and visitors also like fresh content so updating it regularly enhances the popularity of your site even further.

Again if the site linking to your site is relevant to your site and is of high PR, then the search engines will give high weightage to that link. So it is quality and not quantity that matters.

2. The craze today to increase link popularity is to write articles and submit them to Article Directories, Article Distributors and Article Banks. This is a great way to obtain one-way inbound links through your embedded link in the Resource Box of your article. These articles are again published by webmasters who are in the look out for good content to enhance the quality of their websites thus creating a viral effect. This is a great way to increase link popularity.

Good quality articles displaying your expertise have every possibility of being published by authoritative sites thereby giving a quality link and good traffic as well. To obtain the maximum benefit from these inbound links, you should ensure that wherever possible your link is an Anchor text with one of your keywords in it.

3. It is often been said in recent times that Reciprocal Linking is dead. This is not quite true. It is known that Search Engines do not appreciate reciprocal links if your site depends solely on reciprocal links. This is because search engines have found out that there are dubious methods of obtaining links to increase link popularity. Search Engines do appreciate reciprocal links if you exchange links with relevant quality websites. Rather than linking with several high ranking irrelevant websites, it is better to obtain reciprocal links from a few relevant sites of quality, which will indeed be valuable back links.

4. Search Engines recognize and do appreciate links from good quality Directories. Hence to increase link popularity and page rank, you have to submit your site to these directories. There are both free and paid submission directories.

There are also good secondary Search Engine friendly directories where you can list your site for free, by paying a fee or by providing a reciprocal link.

5. Another method of obtaining a One-way Inbound link is to offer to write testimonials of products you have successfully tested or used and requesting the vendor to allow you to have a link back from the testimonial to your website.

6. Writing and releasing press releases on a regular basis whenever there are new promotions or major changes in your business can also be a source of good links and traffic too.

7. Participating in Discussion Forums especially in your area of expertise and including your link in the signature; posting useful and interesting comments in Blogs along with your URL, are ways of obtaining one-way links that will increase link popularity.

Successful implementation of these techniques will bring you the rewards you have been dreaming of, such as a high page rank, a surge in traffic and a tremendous increase in sales that will leave your competitors behind.

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How to Pick a Hosting Provider

How do you choose a hosting provider when there are thousands of hosting companies available online? It’s like going through the yellow pages trying to find burger restaurants. There are lots of them. Hopefully these tips will steer you in the right direction.Important factors in selecting a web hosting company include the percentage of server uptime. 98 to 99% uptime is the dream standard for server uptime, 65% is unacceptable. The higher the downtime of a server, the lower the potential for traffic at your web site. Another consideration is how much space is provided for the files that will make up your web site. How much bandwidth is in your package? Monthly bandwidth is the amount of data transfer allowed for visitors to view and use your web site.

With today’s changing trends in web hosting services, it is important to get as much server space and bandwidth as you can. This will allow for necessary updates and increased traffic to your site as it becomes more popular.

It is equally important when purchasing business web hosting that CGI access is provided; along with features such as MySQL, Real Audio, Real Video, and Cold Fusion (which some companies sell as an add on component). A crucial feature necessary for doing ecommerce is SSL, or Secure Socket Layer. This encrypts all order and credit card information until it reaches you. An SSL certificate can be purchased from most web hosting providers. Displaying it on your ecommerce web site verifies that your site transactions are safe and secure.

We’ve talked about this before in other articles. You will need a domain name that reflects the nature of your business. For instance, a sports business might have a URL that is www.coloradosports.com . To get your own unique domain name, you must first check the availability of the name with a domain name search, offered by domain registrars such as Network Solutions. 

There are many service providers to choose from. If you do your homework, you’ll find some good deals that will fit your budget.

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Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider

Are you disgusted or disappointed with your current web host? Have you switched web hosting companies too many times? Have you thought of hosting your own website(s)? Do you have the ambition to control and manage your own web server?

If you answered 'yes' to the questions above, then you may be ready to host your own sites. This article will give you things to consider while making the switch. 

When being your own web host you should be technically inclined and have basic knowledge of operating systems, understand technical terms, understand how to setup a server environment (such as: DNS, IIS, Apache, etc.) have basic knowledge of scripting languages and databases (PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.), be familiar with current technologies, and have a basic understanding of hardware and server components. 

You should realize the pros & cons. It is one thing to say, you want to host your own web server and it is another thing to actually do it. 

Pros: 

*  Own sense of responsibility 

*  Awareness level raised (you are at the frontline of all server happenings) 

*  No monthly hosting fees/accounts 

*  Incompetence no longer exist 

*  Non-shared environment (dedicated server) 

*  Unlimited websites, databases, content, storage, etc. 

*  More bandwidth 

*  No more waiting on someone else time 

*  Complete control

Cons: 

*  Exhausting at times 

*  Faced with server/hardware problems 

*  ISP business account (monthly business/broadband expense) 

*  If server goes down then the website is offline 

*  No technical support team 

*  Software, hardware, and network expenses

There could be many more pros & cons but I??ve pointed out some of the major ones. Managing a web server starts as a full time job, you must constantly monitor its performance and security. This can sometimes be an exhausting task, especially if you currently have other responsibilities. Though, the control you will have over your website and its performance is rewarding enough. You no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. You can have as many websites and databases you want, as long as your hardware can handle it. You no longer have to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host or rant about how much you hate your current host. You can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites. 

Ask yourself, how technically advanced are you? Many times you do not have to be a tech guru or anything of the sort, but you must be very resourceful. You must know how to find resolutions and answers to problems, quickly and efficiently. This means you must be internet savvy. Not just the average surfer, who surfs aimlessly, but you must be the surfer who can always find what they are looking for. This is key, because with any server environment you are going to run into problems and finding the answers are most accomplished online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Sure you can hire someone to fix your problems, but as we should have learned from the "web hosting", having someone do it for you isn't always the best option. Here is a test to see if you are ready to find solutions. I need a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error - "Event ID: 1056?? it??s a DHCP Server Error. How would you search? Go ahead find the solution. 

Did you first go to Google? If you did, that was a nice effort and common for most, plus a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developers' website. In this case "microsoft.com" would have been the first option. Why? Google would more than likely provide you with the answer from Microsoft and other sources, but you don't want to get inaccurate information from other sources. It is common to get information from Microsoft that would not specifically resolve your problem, but the developer should always be your first place to search for the answers. Now search the error again and go to the Microsoft site and find the solution. 

You should had found this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP) 

What search phrase did you use? It should have been Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the exact error, it pinpoints your exact problem without broadening your search. Sometimes the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It depends on your error, your search feedback, your ability, and technique. For this example I did not include the error description. 

Google or Yahoo! should have been your second option (the two largest search engines). Then search other smaller and niche search engines. A good search site which makes use of Google??s operator tags is www.soople.com. Next you should search within forums and discussion groups. If you are pretty internet savvy and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups which you frequent then you might actually visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo!. You can even visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but I wouldn't recommend it, I still would go to the developers' site first. Okay, so now we have planted our feet and have familiarized ourselves with being internet (search) savvy. We are ready to purchase a server! 

When making a server purchase you need to consider a few things before doing so. What to buy? A top of the line, quadruple processor, and super fast turbo server is always ideal, but many times it is not logical or affordable. Therefore, you need to weigh your options (sensibly). 

What to buy? 

*  First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least $2,500 for a low-end server. For a low-end, quality server with other needed equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily. 

*  Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration when choosing your ISP. 

*  A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install. The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually for safe-keeping, in event of a theft or disaster. 

*   Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to see within 1 year ?C be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number of GB space you need. 

Example: 

Daily Traffic Goal: 10,000 (Divided by) Current Daily Traffic: 500 (Times X) 5 = 100GB 

In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional). 

*   Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000 then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server, meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters. 

*   Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server. It is best to get a router which has a built-in firewall (commonly known as a ??hardware firewall??). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network. Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP.

 The hardware firewall is simply a router with a built-in firewall, which means it shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security, this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and patching your system on a scheduled routine. 

*   Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this writing the 64-bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64-bit compatible processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or deliver on that platform.

 That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also, remember the power of the 64-bit platform and the greater the processor speed the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently. At this time a dual 32-bit, 2.8GHz ?C 3.2GHz processor will suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared. Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes. 

*   Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you need to install a driver from a different location??like a ethernet driver. An external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple machines. 

*   Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not re-learn a whole new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons: Microsoft is the user-friendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of them all; Linux is the open-source/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know. 

*   You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache, IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array) Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates, security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be considered the unsecure method, especially if you don??t have a hardware firewall already in place.

Next, there are a few things to consider before installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be made. 

Where to put it? 

*   Locate a location within your home that is static-free, we do not want to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit. 

*   The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server hanging and then eventually crashing. It's the same result of when a car overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an option. 

*   It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house (mid-floor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server could overheat. Mid-floor level is usually the cooler place within the home, but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines. 

*   Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near any liquids, or near a window ??especially open??). We all know what can happen when electrical components get wet. 

*   The server should sit at least 4?? inches from the ground 

*   Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage, as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other electrical attached devices. 

*   Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the server for any dial-up services). It is not recommended to use your web service with a dial-up connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a router with a built-in firewall). 

*   Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom. 

Those are all some basic things to consider before hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host unlimited websites, databases, services, etc. 

If your web traffic becomes too great for your server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance, applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more overhead. 

The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and doesn??t experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs, then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web hosting for a small fee, I haven??t found one that is reliable yet. Or you could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your server outside your home on a larger network. 

Hosting your own server usually is not a money-saving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when you total the up keep and maintenance.

 The benefit of hosting your own server is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. ?C 7 a.m. then it would be best if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. ?C 10 a.m. You know how your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a web business, this helps you and your customers.

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Hosting Service Providers and Identity Theft

My Hosting Service, My Security Service: How much protection does your web host give you from identity theft...and how much can they? There are laws now that protect us from identity thieves, sure, but oftentimes, by the time the law gets involved, the damage is already done. 

Your website may be defaced. Your name may be sullied. Your hosting service may have locked you out. You lose customers. You lose money. To recover, you have to regain lost ground, which also takes time and money. But what can you do to protect yourself? And can your web hosting service help? In two words: they'd better. At the very least a hosting service in the age of spammers, hijackers, and hackers (oh my!) should at the very least have one or more firewalls protecting your data. 

They should also be able to offer you protection from Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, a common outcome of internet identity theft. Some hosting services may offer you a Virtual Private Network (at relevant expense, of course) for additional protection. 

 Your payment area should be completely secure, at the bare minimum promising SSL digital encryption of all incoming and outgoing data. You should also make sure the shopping cart your hosting service provides is compatible with the major online payment processing gateways, such as PayPal, NETeller, Citadel, FirePay Click2Pay, UseMyBank, and others. 

 Identity thieves will often try to access your hosting service account using the "fruits" of their thieving. Once inside, they can hijack your domain away from you or delete important files from your hosting service. If this happens to you, one thing to do is check the server logs of your hosting service to figure out the exact date and time that the theft occurred. Note the IP addresses involved in the action and contact the associated ISP. 

This alone won't resolve the problem. But it's a start. If your email address is stolen, you may find you start receiving returned messages that you appear to have sent but which you know for certain you did not. Print each and every one of those messages out immediately and make copies -- they're evidence. 

Not only may they come in handy in tracing the source of the theft, but they may be the very things that keep your hosting service from terminating your account (if, for one hypothetical example, a thief uses your email address to send X-rated material). The other immediate action to take if you ever suspect yourself of being a victim of internet identity theft is notify your hosting service, your ISP, and your domain name registrar. Any instructions they give you, follow. You could also file a police report (and probably should, at least to get the crime on record), but as it's unlikely anything will come of it (at least not immediately), this should really only be done after you've first contacted your hosting service, ISP, and registrar. 

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Posted in: Hosting Service Providers and Identity Theft

Hosting In The Modern Day Of Cyberspace

So what has hosting have to offer? A lot. Hosting is more than just a website that contains a bunch of words and graphics that are designed similar to printed posters to be appealing to the eyes. Hosting is a virtual business and identification card to which can be found using the world of cyberspace. Many people are located in cyberspace today, using it as the main means of communications and advanced business undertakings. It has totally evolved into something that has given companies and organizations an overall facelift on what strategic management is all about.

With the growing competitiveness of most business ventures today, various new strategies have been taking place today. Among them is the investment in technology and easily, it is website hosting and technological tools connected with building awareness overt the web that has been the new tool for efficient business management ventures. A lot of local businesses in your region exist, and while most would spend millions in making ads to help carry out their various awareness building plans for products, services and overall corporate existence.

The best thing about hosting is the fact that they are not expensive compared to the usual tri-media services we hear about today. Practically anyone can resort to this type of support. It doesn’t need much overhead costs. All it needs is a good host and a good web administrator to get the jobs done. There are also a lot of companies who offer this as a package to which a simple sign-up can prove to be beneficial in their search for a more profitable venture that can be easily identified in the congested consumer market the world has today.

Hosting goes in line with proper domain name selection. These two are the key essentials in making the entire resort a beneficial one. Bandwidths, storage space, scripts, discount deals, packaged deals and of course customer and technical support are the key areas of interest to which a client will always look at prior to anything else. People will always seek the best value for their money and they have an abundant list of providers to which they can be able to do so.

Building identity and finding their place on the web may sound easy, but it needs proper selection and study before choosing the best hosting solution service offered by companies such as House of Hancock. Whatever the final choice may be, the only concern that people would have in mind is the fact that they are after establishing their business with the help of hosting technology over the Internet and broaden their target market as well. With the Internet audience, this is a reality that they can sure to benefit from.

Nothing beats having your own host when you use email hosting services for your company. Adding that branding mark of having the company name in dotcom fashion really makes an impact when people present themselves or communicate with other companies. It really creates quite an impression considering that we are in the age were emails and websites are now at the forefront of building branding over the Internet today.

That is not all. Consider the fact that emails allow most people to communicate with anyone anywhere in the world if the recipient also has an email to use. Considering our modern age of communications, the chances of that party having their own email hosting provider is a practically a given. Emails have made it more economical and logical for people who converse and transact business without having to worry about escalating telephone bills like the early days.

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Posted in: Hosting In The Modern Day Of Cyberspace

Hosting Considerations For Online Video

Many webmasters (you may be one of them) have probably considered using video on their web site for promotional purposes. Video is an excellent way to command attention from your viewing audience.

However, the two largest concerns with video are file size and bandwidth.

File Size

Video is the largest of all currently deployed files on the web due to the fact it has audio and moving video. If you plan to host video on your own web site, it is important to know how much free space is available for your web hosting account due to the fact you can run out of space very quickly with video.

A general rule of thumb is that a medium-quality video will consume one megabyte per one minute of video. For example, a five-minute video would be 5MB in size on average.

Bandwidth

Because video has a very large file size, it also consumes a lot of bandwidth. Every time someone downloads or streams a video from your web site, an excessive amount of bandwidth is used. Again, you should check your web hosting account to see how much bandwidth you have available.

For example, let’s say you have a web hosting account that allows five gigabytes (5GB) of data transfer per month. You have one five-minute video available for download on your web site that is 5MB in size. Without anyone downloading anything else, your video could be downloaded 1,000 times. However, in combination with your web pages and images, that number will decrease significantly. Also, if you have additional videos for download, the number is even less.

Alternatives to Hosting Video on Your Web Site

If hosting your own video consumes too much space and bandwidth, an alternative is to use a video hosting service. There are both free and paid hosting services available. Free services are YouTube and Google Video. For pay services, do a web search for video hosting and plenty of options will present themselves.

The advantage to paid hosting is that you can host files yourself without any “branding” that does not belong to you on your video. For free services, branding does exist which may drive traffic away from your web site.

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Posted in: Hosting Considerations For Online Video

Hosting At Home: The Pros And Cons

Is Web Hosting At Home Right For Me?

Many people today have considered web hosting at home. However, before you make that final decision, you should make sure you have all the facts.

You will definitely want to weigh the pros versus the cons of hosting within your own home and deciding if it is right for you.

To do that, you must have the most accurate and helpful information available, this is where this article can help you.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is where some form of website is given space upon a server.

The type of website hosted varies from one host to the next. There are several types such as strictly HTML, a combination of different allowable languages, shopping carts, and databases, just to name a few.

Of course, when it comes to websites, you have more than just the code that need hosted, you have a variety of images as well, that will vary from one person or business to the next as well.

Web hosting in general is allowing a person to take up space on a server for a nominal fee.

The amount of space that you allow another person to have is up to you, your equipment, and how much you have to offer.

Every website you see online has a web host; it is what makes up the World Wide Web as a whole.

What Infrastructure Do I Need?

There are several things combined that will help make you get started in offering web hosting at home.

Some of the equipment you will need may include:

High Speed Internet. Preferably Cable, but DSL is acceptable as well. Dialup is never acceptable for a web hosting provider.

Static IP. This address should be local and for your own network at home.

Router. This router should have the ability to forward different connections to that of your server. The HTTP port suitable for web hosting is port 80.

Apache. This program is both free and of the highest quality. This program allows you to host several websites simultaneously.

Perl

PHP

MySQL

Reliable Computers. Plural because most web hosting companies run their own dedicated servers and uses multiple computers to do so.

Is it Really Possible to Turn My PC into a Server?

Yes it is, provided that you have the above items implemented. You want to be sure that you have tight security on your systems and servers as well.

This will help keep hackers at bay. You want to make sure that you have the ability to provide your customers with outstanding service, reliability, and uptime.

Web Hosting At Home Pro's

1. A great business venture

2. You can use your own PC.

3. You have the opportunity to offer a higher standard in customer service and web hosting.

4. You no longer have to worry about which web hosting company is taking advantage or charging too much.

Web Hosting At Home Con's

1. It can be fairly difficult to implement

2. The investment can be quite large

3. It takes a lot of time and dedication

4. You have to constantly stay on top of maintenance to ensure that you are offering high quality and the latest in platforms.

Web hosting at home is your decision that only you can make.

With the right information, you now have the opportunity to make an informed and calculated decision.

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Posted in: Hosting At Home: The Pros And Cons

Hostgator Host Providing Webhosting Services

If you are looking for shared hosting or reseller hosting, you might want to trek over to Hostgator.com. Hostgator specializes in web hosting facilities, and as far as I can see, they are doing a good job. They have recently picked up the Editors' Choice Award by Findmyhost.com. I think they deserved it.

Hostgator.com is both reliable and fast -- essential qualities for any web business. They work on Dual Xeon servers with 4GB memory and IDE hard drives. Moreover, with their claim of 99.9 percent uptime, they provide great hosting packages. At the same time, they are quite affordable.

The basic shared hosting package is offered at a monthly rate of $6.95. Yearly rates for the more advanced packages start from $9.95. You might be thinking that this is slightly higher than the rates offered by other web hosting providers. In my opinion, it is well worth the money. Moreover, each of the packages comes with a thirty day money back guarantee. So just wait and see for a while before you pronounce your final verdict. My guess is that you will want to stay with Hostgator for some time.

There are several other plusses to using Hostgator. For one, you get instant backups for your website. Moreover, you can host unlimited domains, sub-domains and FTP accounts. The most basic shared hosting package comes with limits though. It allows one domain and twenty sub-domains. Of course, you could always shift to a better package once you start expanding your website. And with as many as fifty-two scripts, this is a great web host.

In general, most users are satisfied with the Control Panel offered by Hostgator. In fact, their CPanel is pegged as being one of the best in the web hosting world. It adds to the convenience of managing your domains and sub-domains. The Control Panel demo helps new users get used to the various facilities offered by Hostgator.

In my opinion, one of Hostgator's greatest virtues is that it offers great customer service. Most of the packages offer instant set up at no extra charge. There is twenty-four hour customer support. You can decide whether you want to interact with their customer care representatives over live chat or the phone. You could also make use of the email ticket system. I have found that their customer care execs are often more than ready to go out of their way to help you out. Yes, there are the occasional goof-ups. On the whole, however, Hostgator.com seems to be satisfying its customers.

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Posted in: Hostgator Host Providing Webhosting Services