Archive for the ‘Linux Conversions’ Category
It is important that your web host has all the greatest features and technologies. However, you may not be aware of what you should look for in a web host. They all say they are the best, most reliable, etc. but how do you decipher who is really telling the truth? How do you find out what is really important when choosing a web host? In this article you will find the 5 things your web host must have. When you are researching a web host and you come across one that does not have these 5 things just click away to find one that does have what you need. 5 Features Your Web Host Must Have - 1. Greatest Control Panel: The control panel is the place you will be visiting most often, so it should be easy to use, have all the features you need, etc. You can find a great control panel with cPanel, which provides one of the best control panel user experiences among all of the others. CPanel offers more than 42 different icons, 50 of the most used PHP scripts, shopping carts, forums, and even a WordPress blog – one of the best blog hosts out there. cPanel also provides an easy to use layout and navigation so when you do use it you can forget about frustration. 2. On 24-7: Your web host should be working for you around the clock. This will keep your website up and running 99.9% of the time, and the server should be able to locate and repair any problems as soon as they appear. It is rare that a server could become inactive, but if/when it does happen, you do not want it to happen to your website. That could mean lost sales, lost visitors, and maybe even lost customers for life. No one wants that. The web host should be working all of the time – no exceptions. It should constantly monitor your website at least every few minutes for problems, check your server load and RAM, and be able to let administrators know immediately so they can instantaneously fix the problem. Your web host should also provide a fire wall to keep your website safe from hackers, viruses, and anything else that could effect your website. 3. An Outstanding Server: If you want to avoid regular problems and too much downtime (all that can be avoided) you need to find a web host with a reliable server. The web host’s server should have multiple hard drives, good RAM, the latest CPUs, the best power supply, quality motherboards, a great cooling system, and a testing system for all new servers. 4. Linux Servers: No, you do not need windows servers. You should get a web host that uses Linux only. You don’t need to have Linux on your own computer to have a web host that uses Linux. Linux has been shown to be more reliable and able to handle larger loads than other server operating systems. It is even better at virus protection and has a better uptime than others. 5. Free Features: Your web host should provide you with a variety of free features, or features that you can use for a small fee. These features should include things that you can use for your website such as graphics, blogs, paid pages, sub domains, interesting facts to add to your website, forums, and more. Gabriel Adams
If you are searching for a way to serve content on the Internet, the various Internet hosting services available today may be just the solution you are looking for. In a virtual market flooding with different Internet hosting services, Hostiety is one of the most prominent ones. Using Hostiety, users can store information, videos and images in online websites whenever they want. Established in 2005, Hostiety began as a freelance operation, which, over time, transformed into a full fledged hosting service provider. Hostiety is always ready to offer you the best web hosting services available in the virtual domain. Equipped with automated systems and effectual price controlling provisions, Hostiety today enjoy an enviable position in the web hosting market. Similar to a data canter, Hostiety offers its clients server space and Internet connectivity. The web page and file hosting services available will cater for your uploading, File Transfer Protocol and Web interface requirements. Whereas, in most cases, files are delivered to the web without any change, in certain files, minor processing is required before further delivery. In order to assist you in presenting the very best personal WebPages, Hostiety offers you some exclusive web hosting packages, in which database support and application improvement platforms form some of the chief aspects. These help in dealing with multifaceted websites and writing and installing scripts for forums and content management become a much easier job. Hostiety has 2 Intel Xeon processor-running servers, each with minimum 1 GB memory and operate on SCSI hard drives. These are capable of hosting your website with full competence and efficiency. Rest assured at Hostiety you will get the best network connections and in case you face any problem, you are always free to call or chat with our live technical support experts. Services provided at Hostiety have their own price but you can rest assured that the quality of service you get is going to be worth every penny. If you need to get some points clarified or need personal attention in specific sectors Hostiety also welcomes personal discussions regarding its services. The 500MB of web space and 5000MB data transfer per month indicate Hostiety’s quality infrastructure. If your website surpasses the monthly transfer limit you don’t pay any additional charges. This unrestricted amount of transfer is really one of the unique advantages Hostiety can offer. While at Hostiety you can reap a number of value added services, if you would rather go for some customized packages, you can always specify your requirements via e-mail. As payments are accepted through credit cards or pay pal, you can carry out your financial transactions by the method suiting you best. For owners of single websites the Shared hosting plans of Hostiety would fit the bill best as these sites require to be flexible and are often accompanied by strong features. This type of shared web hosting service is also known as virtual hosting service. Among the entire web hosting services, virtual web hosting services are the most economical ones. As many users share this service, the system administration plays a central part in it. In the shared hosting service provided by Hostiety, management of the server, installing server software and carrying out regular security updates form some of the chief aspects of this service. As Linux is used for creating the control panel, Linux operating systems are used as the primary base of the server. Limitless POP3 accounts, FTP accounts, mySQL databases and Fantastico Deluxe software packages are some of the fundamental characteristics of Web Hosting accounts. The high-tech Dual Xeon server of Hostiety gives your sites instantaneous backups. With a single click of the mouse and you can install more than 52 scripts in the industry-famous control panel. This graphical web-oriented management tool plays a significant role in administering websites. The trouble-free interface of Hostiety further helps in this regard. Quite a few RPM-based Linux distributions like SUSE, FreeBSD, Fedora, cAos; Mandriva, CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are used for running the software at Hostiety. For an SSL version, ports 2082 and 2083 are the usual access points of cPanel. The Web Host Manager of our advanced cPanel will help you to generate unrestricted hosting accounts. If you have more than a single website to host, the Reseller hosting can prove to be more economic for you. Here, as an account owner, you can resell web hosting by dividing the prearranged hard drive space and bandwidth. If you are a web consultant, web designer, web developers or system integration company owners, then the reseller web hosting services will definitely prove beneficial for you. Being a reseller entitles you to create your own packages and set their prices and in addition, you can also act as a separate hosting organization. It’s up to you whether you are going to tell your customers about your reselling tactics. As web hosting provider, Hostiety gives you approximately 50% off on the cost of a reseller web hosting account. So, if you have little knowledge of web hosting services, going for Hostiety would definitely be a good bet. Maintenance of web server services and tasks regarding preservation are not required at Hostiety. In case any technical problem like a slow server or access trouble arises, Hostiety will sort it out for you as soon as possible. You can keep your total collected amount if you avail the reseller hosting plans of Hostiety. The reseller hosting account control panel, known as Web Host Manager, allows you to create accounts of your customers. You can do so by simply clicking the ‘create’ button after filling in the necessary account information. Thus, the customers’ accounts get set with the cpanel or control panel. After logging into the cpanel, your customers can create subdomains, insert e-mail addresses, change passwords and make other changes they feel necessary. Just like many other major hosting service providers, Hostiety offer you 99.9% uptime. With duration of 8 hours 46 minutes, the trustworthy network of Hostiety comprises of some of the highest quality appliances such as Dell, Intel, Cisco, Juniper and CentOS Linux. No matter what your specific requirements are, you are guaranteed to get the best network infrastructure here. The present server of Hostiety is situated in Hetzner datacenter in Germany. Spirit, Level 3, UUNET, Broadwing, AT&T, Verio, AboveNet, Time Warner, Allegience Telecom and Global Crossing form part of Hostiety’ 11 separate tier-1 backbone providers. Whereas, the data center staff of Hostiety keeps an eye on your site-operated network, Alertra acts as your 3rd party vigilance company. The company heads of Hostiety always strive to provide you easy and trouble-free web hosting services. Most people visiting Hostiety’s website either opt for a potent shared hosting account or a private label reseller hosting. At Hostiety you always get the chance to realize new potentials. While you can resell a good hosting account even at $19.95, you can also get technical support tickets anytime you require. State of the art cPanel, useful Fantastico, the latest anti-spam software, MySQL Databases, required Sub domains, PHP, E-mail accounts, Custom Error Pages, Raw Access Logs, Perl and 24 hours technical support for 7 days a week are some of the chief features of all packages proffered by Hostiety. In November 2006, Hostiety have also introduced a brand new web-hosting package where you can avail 500 MB web space, 20 mailboxes, limitless bandwidth, total FTP admittance and virus scanned e-mail alerts at a monthly subscription rate of $1.5. Your account setting will be initiated just after receiving the payment. However, make sure your e-mail address is different from that of your signed up domains. As strict checks are conducted for checking any type of fraudulence, any kind of misinformation can lead to the cessation of your account. Although a transfer process cannot be guaranteed, the team members of Hostiety will try as far as possible for transferring your site to its own domain. The entire service network of Hostiety abides by the rules and regulations of web hosting. Violation of any kind of copyright or trademark is strictly prohibited. In case you get across any case of infringement, you can e-mail regarding the same immediately. At Hostiety’s website, you will get to view the various steps that you have to incorporate in your e-mail. In case of a licensing issue you may need to provide further documents. At Hostiety, unwanted e-mail, Spam and bulk mails are never never entertained. Spam incorporates ’safe lists’ and ‘double opt-in’. Whereas, all payments are required to be done in advance, Hostiety reserves the authorities to change the monthly amounts of payment at any time they feel the requirement to do so. In case any kind of verbal or written abuse to our staff force is noted, the relevant person’s account can be terminated immediately without prior notification. In case of any infringement of the terms and conditions set by Web Hosting’s authorities, the customer is barred from receiving any refunds. Rahul Rungta
As we started the project of the electronic auction PoloMercantil.com, we knew that the proprietary software costs would be too high for our financial resources. Our only option then was to make use of Open Source Code softwares. However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it´s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals. In our case, we picked Linux as our operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services. We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it´s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution. Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts. Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as our web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Our experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in our production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources. Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups. For our database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably. As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions. Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database. As we came to the end of the project PoloMercantil, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months our system got into production, our server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes. Our project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks). Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites. PoloMercantil is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites. Roberto Sedycias IT Consultant for PoloMercantil This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article & biography must be kept. Roberto Sedycias
The World Wide Web has always been an entity that needed a little bit of help in order to run effectively. As long as there has been the Internet, there have been tools to help keep it running well. More times than not, those tools are the ones associated with Linux. Much of web development is based upon the system of LAMP development, which consists of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. This system makes up better than two-thirds of all Internet servers. In short, LAMP development tools are effective because they offer developers with the ability and freedom to do a lot of different things in website design. Generally, the open source underpinnings of the system of the LAMP tools offer the ability to design websites and databases that are both effective and creative. These tools would be described as being very user-friendly, making them a popular choice of web designers world wide. LAMP development tools have grown in popularity because of their availability and their adaptability. Both admirable features in a web design tool program, these things offer easy access for web designers. In addition, the LAMP development system has taken the lead as the top web design program because it is continually evolving. The system takes suggestions at many times from the folks who use it. Their effectiveness lies in the fact that they cater directly to the needs of the customers. The system constantly changes and improves itself because it takes to heart the needs of the devoted and informed customer base. Nowhere else in the web hosting and development market does that happen. With LAMP development technology, web designers can get down to what they do best. They can focus on using creative measures to design and produce great websites. The added advantage of having this system is that the designers can take their focus off of administrative work and onto what they do best. This allows a certain amount of flexibility for a web design business. The specifics of the LAMP development program all revolve around the Linux system. While it is best to have all of the programs working in unison, it is not completely necessary. The Linux part is the most important, though. The Linux distribution system is an important, but perplexing part of the equation. With so many different types of Linux out there for consumption, it can sometimes be confusing on which one to choose. The best and most effective of all of the Linux systems is probably the Anaconda-based installation system. The advantage with this program is that it allows for the configuration of many different types of hardware options. While Linux might be important, no one can overlook the Apache portion of the LAMP development program. This open source tool is effective because of its rich code base and its prevalence on the web. The Apache element of the program is effective because it requires really no extra work in order to install. In addition, Apache is something highly configurable and easy to modify. The MySQL database is an interesting part of the equation. This open source tool has almost revolutionized the way that web pages are hosted. This tool has given web designers an even greater measure of versatility because it allows for real-time web hosting. This allows users to create dynamic websites that are fully functional. The LAMP development system is something that has always powered the World Wide Web. Combining the powers of Linux with the other features gives web designers the ability to create versatile websites. This system will continue to be powerful tools for web designers as long as the changes of users are noted and implemented. Andy West 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 (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 http://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. Ant Onaf
Welcome, since you are here so this means that you have Are you going for a Paid server or Free hosting ? If you want to build a professional business site than it is Commercial Web Hosts now you have to write down the details of your requirements. I how much do you want to pay( monthly fees to the service Well it is better if you DO NOT COMPROMISE ON THE PRICE of web Web Host should be reliable and Fast Many people don’t’ consider this option but I think this is very How much disk space you want ? It depends on what do you want to host. If you are providing I have seen people managing in less than 25 MB space as they How much bandwidth you want ? BANDWIDTH is the amount of data transfer when a visitor visits 10,000 Visitors X 1 MB per visitor = 10 GB of Bandwidth per What kind of scripting and database you are looking for in Again, If you are really looking for more than a simple HTML crontabs to you. This are fairly basic things. FTP helps you in transferring files, where as PERL/PHP will help How Many POP email account you want ? you definitely need few email acounts like Technical Support After making a probable list of the hosts, feel free to ask all Other than these you also SHOULD look for :- Subdomains You may want to create subdomains like usa.yourdomain.com so which Server ? if you are looking to run ASP scripts than you have to go for Plans ? Web hosts provide various PAYING plans like What is the reputation of host provider (to me this is very IT is highly advisable that you should do a good research on the FINAL WORDS. So you must have got a good view of what you want and what you Arpit Sharma
Most users who use Linux use it because they hate Microsoft; people who use BSD use it because they love Unix Juraj Sipos I have been a BSD user since the late 1990’s. I started with FreeBSD 3.0 and I also made my own FreeBSD distro – a tiny floppy disk entitled 1fcdbsd, which boots in any x86 computer and plays MP3 files from a hard disk or CD’s (One Floppy CD Audio and MP3 Player – http://www.freebsd.nfo.sk/). I gained some experience with the BSD world, which rather thrives on the side without people’s knowledge that it is almost the best. History To say it metaphorically, the Internet sprung out of BSD. It is not because these systems can handle the biggest traffic as servers, but because the concept of IP addresses and the TCP/IP stack is a BSD invention. If you right click on the file “winsock.dll” in Windows 98 (C:Windowswinsock.dll), you will see “BSD Socket API for Windows” in the Properties > Version window; however, the “BSD” is not seen in newer Windows systems in the “version information” window of winsock.dll. But there is a lot of writing on the Internet about this if you Google both terms: “winsock.dll” AND “bsd”. BSD systems have a different licensing policy and anybody can take their code. BSD license gives more freedom to programmers. From the above it is clear that Microsoft, too, used or “stole” this code, not only Linux. BSD grew up in the 1970’s with a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) support. Version 4.3 BSD (1986), 4.3 BSD Tahoe (1988), BSD Net 1 (1989), and so on followed. The history is well described also on BSD sites, such as www.freebsd.org. FreeBSD, for example, started as a project in 1993 shortly after NetBSD; and OpenBSD is a fork of NetBSD, but these all are derived from 386/BSD. Linux versus BSD BSD: BSD systems are based upon an actual Unix variant called Berkeley Software Distribution, which has a long history. Linux: Linux is based upon a clone of Unix (Minix), which was far away in functionality in comparison to the above Unix at its time. Terminologically speaking, Linux is only the kernel. The “Linux-versus-BSD” discussion is very sensitive for some people – they may get very angry about any direction, either in favor of BSD or Linux. It is not a good idea to compare these systems as the whole, but it’s not a bad idea to compare their “usability” in various aspects, for example, as an “office solution”, “desktop solution”, “multimedia solution”, “server solution”, “firewall solution”, etc. The widespread use of Linux helped some users switch to BSD for good, as various opinions made the issue of “Linux-versus-BSD” visible to public eyes, which made the BSD world appear more attractive. If we talk in general, we can say that “BSD is much more stable, as it is a REAL Unix” and that “Linux is a very good desktop toy more adapted to users’ needs, as it has more drivers and apps”. Other global aspect that makes Linux and BSD systems look different is that BSD OS’s have everything under one hood and control. Linux is murky waters because it is not united. For example, you have a DEB (Debian Linux) package – you will not always install it if you use Mandrake or SuSE. A long list of problems ensuing from discrepancies among Linux distros may be written. Linux users surely remember the effort of UnitedLinux, but now it is devoid of life. In the chaos where one Linux system installs with various services and the other one does not, we see that the Linux community is broken as the whole. Linux is more developed in terms of its accessibility to various types of hardware like, for example, inkjet printers or WiFi USB solutions. But this is because, as I already said, various companies support it. Linux is good for desktop users who want to forget about Microsoft and BSD systems are best as server/router/firewall solutions. Many good administrators say that Linux behaves much worse as server than BSD systems. Something like Red Hat or SuSE Enterprise Server is rather a joke – these systems cost a lot of money. Every good administrator would only bet on BSD or other Internet solutions today. Slackware Linux is exception – it is one of the best. There are many reasons why BSD systems are less noticeable. The availability of Live CD’s and their easy-to-use presentation is something in which BSD systems lagged behind. You may download Linux ISO images at the drop of a hat. With BSD systems, this is a bit different. You could hardly find a desired BSD Live CD in the 1990’s. Only a few of them do appear now. OpenBSD I tackled the problem of building such a CD myself. I toiled with FreeBSD. I succeeded. Later I focused on OpenBSD, as it has a good reputation concerning its solid security structure. I succeeded too. But this would require additional writing and this article is not about making an OpenBSD Live CD; I only want to introduce this system a little and give advice how to make a simple OpenBSD bootable installation CD/DVD, which is also hard to get. Usability BSD systems work well with all kinds of standard hardware; however, some users say they are “less user-friendly”. On the other hand, others consider the so-called “user-friendliness” to be a hindrance in making needed configurations. In other systems, where many services run automatically, it is a bit irritating when administrators, with their own security policies in mind, must turn them off on a regular basis after every installation. OpenBSD could be, from a Linux user’s point of view, a can of worms. Some may disagree with me, but in the world where all mainstream operating systems bet on easiness-to-use and the graphical interactivity, this is surely the case. This means you must forget about graphical installers – your first touch with the system is the text mode. But the text is the best format some people like. OpenBSD can run Linux binaries on an emulation layer; DOS (and other systems) programs within the Qemu emulator, as well as FreeBSD and other BSD and Unix binaries. Albeit OpenOffice.org has not been ported yet (do you really need such a big bulk of software when there are more handy solutions?), you can easily write or open your MS Word documents in TextMaker for Linux, or in native OpenBSD AbiWord port. The system and packages The BSD family of operating systems consists of the base system and packages. The OpenBSD core – its kernel and the base system (system/network utilities, man pages, etc.) get cautiously, if not paranoically audited for security holes. The OS has a different packaging philosophy in comparison to Linux. It uses ports and prebuilt packages. Ports are fingerprints of applications on your disk. They contain the basic information where they can be downloaded from. You just “cd” somewhere to the hierarchy of the /usr/share/ports directory, where applications are divided by categories; then type “make install” and wait for sources to be downloaded, compiled, and installed. Prebuilt packages, too, can be installed with a breeze. Unlike RPM archives, which you must install in the consecutive dependency order, here you have everything on tap. And with the “pkg_add –v ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.0/packages/i386/package.tgz” command you download everything from the Internet even without specifying a package’s version. This is something most Linux packagers cannot do, only APT (Debian) and its clones. Installation The policy of the OpenBSD team is to sell CD’s. Unless you are prepared for a difficult network install, you have two options: either you buy their CD’s, or build them yourself. If you choose the latter option, download the core system from these FTP mirrors: www.openbsd.org/ftp.html. Pick out your architecture like AMD64 or i386 and the version (like 4.0, 3.9, etc.). Place all downloaded files in any directory (for example, in /usr/opbsd) and issue the following command to make the ISO image of it: mkisofs -b cdrom40.fs -c boot.cat -R -v -o /usr/my_openbsd.iso /usr/opbsd The above command may be used both in Linux and in BSD systems and possibly in any system to which mkisofs is ported. When ever in the future you are ready to download a newer version of OpenBSD with purpose to make a bootable CD/DVD of it, just change the “cdrom40.fs” in the above mkisofs command (4.0 is the current version of OpenBSD) to the version it agrees with, for example, “cdrom45.fs” (a future OpenBSD), which is a bootable image as the emulated big floppy. A CD or DVD burned with this ISO file will boot on any PC (not DVD in UDF format, but DVD in ISO format). The following files contain the basic OpenBSD installation – networking, Unix commands, X Window, man pages; not packages like KDE, Aspell, etc. OpenBSD 4.0 core system Packages # you can create this directory and put packages in it CKSUM, INSTALL.i386 , INSTALL.Linux, MD5, base40.tgz , bsd, bsd.mp, bsd.rd, cd40.iso, cdboot ,cdbr, cdemu40.iso, cdrom40.fs, comp40.tgz, etc40.tgz, floppy40.fs, floppyB40.fs, floppyC40.fs, game40.tgz, index.txt, man40.tgz, misc40.tgz, pxeboot, xbase40.tgz, xetc40.tgz, xfont40.tgz, xserv40.tgz, xshare40.tgz It is important to say that the ISO file cannot be burned to a CD as an ordinary file like an MP3 file – it can be done this way, however, but you will not be able to boot from such a CD/DVD. If you use Windows, the proper way for burning ISO files is to use the “burn image” command in programs like Nero Burning ROM (or “burn ISO” in other programs). Under FreeBSD, you can burn the ISO image with the burncd command (if your CDROM is the master on the second IDE channel; “-s” is for speed): burncd -f /dev/acd0 -s 4 data my_openbsd.iso fixate It would be a good idea to make the bootable OpenBSD DVD with packages included in it – just download them and put them to a directory (for example, to a directory “Packages”) where you have your core OpenBSD installation files; then apply the above mkisofs command. Installation is quite easy. For newbies it is recommended to use a mobile rack and use some older disk (about 3 GB). This is because installing OpenBSD to an already partitioned disk requires a lot of knowledge and if users do not want to bother about numbers of sectors/cylinders and other things they must type in the text wizard, this solution is very handy. OpenBSD in action The system boots fast (much faster than Linux). If you selected the X Window environment during the installation text wizard, you only need to run the “xorgcfg” command from the console to configure your X Window environment. Did you lose yourself somewhere in the text-mode consoles? Use the F5 key (Ctrl+Alt+F5) to get back to the X Window. Are you a complete newbie? Type “man afterboot”. Are you accustomed to Linux and do you prefer a Linux terminal type? After every logon, OpenBSD asks you to type the terminal type you want to use, but the default one – vt220 – does not map keys like you got accustomed to in Linux if you use programs like Midnight Commander (for example, F7 behaves like F6, etc., but not in X). After typing “nxterm” everything should work OK. A manual text-mode configuration is the absolute preference here. Almost all services are turned off – a first choice for every good administrator, as he will have ultimate control over the whole system. Users, too, may familiarize themselves with Unix and see what is going on under its hood. To run the X Window, just execute the “startx” command. If you want to edit or re-edit the configuration files, peep into the /etc directory with vi as your editor. Do you want to add more packages? Just download them and issue “pkg_add -i package.tgz” command and that’s it! OpenBSD 4.0 is geared up for most of the network or desktop tasks. After I downloaded some fine MP3 players, I could instantly listen to music. The X Window’s look does not differ from any Unix-like box. VLC or MPlayer multimedia players will help you enjoy all your favorite music or film recordings. If you have euphoria from seeing the KDE or Gnome Desktop and other apps running smoothly, you may soon become disappointed – OpenBSD has fewer packages than FreeBSD or Linux. For example, running VMware on FreeBSD has been possible for quite a long time; OpenBSD (but not OpenBSD in the VMware environment) requires some smart tweaks to achieve this. New technologies and automation can also impose a risk Numerous companies want to earn the highest profit and they introduce various technologies that serve as a marketing competition strategy for most of the time and are often useless. A bluetooth or WiFi technology in your mobile phone brings a security risk when any good hacker can get to your most sensitive data within seconds right from your neighborhood. Most users do not have time to study various security datasheets and they often live happy without knowing they are unprotected. I do not want to say that newer technologies are always nonsensical; however, they deserve pertinent praise only if used on the right place. If a reader understands this, the mainstream world’s policy is to create the Matrix or a big web of dependencies – if hardware can run in Linux, users use Linux (and possibly buy Red Hat or Xandros). Numerous “terrific” companies that sell their “amazing security products” forget that using carrier pigeons for communication is by far a more secure solution than any computer communication – an encrypted e-mail, if you are already under suspicion, will always get intercepted, and governments have always enough resources and money to do their job well. Why BSD or OpenBSD? Today, when too many companies bring out various distros, it is hard to tell which of them best suits our needs and you may become mixed-up in such a huge list. If companies invest money to a software solution, they may become disappointed if its licensing policy changes. OpenBSD has one sturdy feature above everything – the system and packages are perfectly audited for security holes. The power of a good policy will make you feel somewhat sheltered from the bad behavior of the world, because you do not have to worry that network services, for example, contain security holes. Something like this often happens with Linux – its websites urge users to download important patches soon after distros are released. With this particular security point OpenBSD as a BSD system stands aside from the usual crowd. Source: http://www.freebsd.nfo.sk/ Juraj Sipos
Today many people have taken to promoting their own website. From idea to creation building a web site can be a daunting task. One part does not need to be, finding the best web hosting service. You need to be confident in your site and should not be drained financially by your web hosting service. With a bit of research and comparison, you can find the best web hosting service for your site. Network UP Time Any company you decide to go with should have at least a 95% up time, meaning they have the correct T lines for transmittal of data. This also means they will stay online even when traffic on their server is drastically increased. As popularity increases so does the amount of traffic on server. During certain holidays there are also peak times. Do understand that the best servers will have occasional issues, but should have few major issues. Your web host server should regularly debug and install new software in order to keep up acceptable service. Customer Service Always check out any potential web hosting service thoroughly before signing with them. Look for service recognitions from other companies. Read the testimonials and reviews. Word of mouth can be very helpful; you can learn a lot of a company’s quirks and good points from current and previous users. Search the internet for ratings and the competition. Check with the Internet Better Business Bureau for how long business has been around and for complaints. Disk Storage Allotments and Bandwidth Increase Options Never simply accept the word of the company on this one, always sign a contract. Keep these tips in mind; Never get locked into a contract allowing only certain usage for an extended period of time. You want to have the contract allowing the option of increasing amounts. Script Providing Because you need to easily be able to get your information on your website, pick a company that has the same operating system as you, so they will have the same type of scripts you will need. CGI and Perl Scripts run well with Windows OS and Linux OS. If you use Access for forms you need a web hosting provider running Windows OS exclusively. Website Statistics Reporting System This is a very important part of your site, even veteran hosts use this. It enables you to track your marketing plans and bandwidth usage. It saves you money by preventing wasteful spending on not profitable website advertising campaigns. Control Panel Most control panels are very easy to use since they are developed with a user friendly interface browser for the everyday user. Linux is a bit more complicated to use than Windows but has other advantages, Linux also offers up some perks like changeable code and free use. Familiarize yourself with both systems so you can make them work for you. Some other things to look for when shopping around are numerous email domains and great SPAM filters. With research you can compare and feel good knowing you took extra care to educate yourself. Gregg Hall
If you’re buying into a reseller account that has both Windows and Linux support, you may find yourself at a loss at the sort of web panel you want installed. What kind of web panel would get the best of both worlds, so to speak, and at the same time would remain easy to use? If you’re looking for flexible, easy-to-use reseller web software, try getting cPanel reseller hosting. Ease of use is the biggest selling point of cPanel reseller hosting. In fact, cPanel has been called the “Microsoft of web panels.” If we’re going to ask ourselves WHY cPanel is perhaps the most popular web space administration tool out there, we’ll have to ask the millions of satisfied customers who’ve experienced cPanel and how it makes commands easier to execute, even to brand-new, fresh-faced webmasters. It’s the graphical interface, first and foremost, that makes cPanel so much fun to play around with. And an element of playfulness is important, especially for people who are nervous about touching web space for the first time! In addition, the use of mainly icons to represent most of the features available on one’s chosen web hosting package is reminiscent of the way Windows displays its many functions. And nearly every computer user in the world is familiar with Windows. In fact, an estimated 90% of all computer users in the world run Windows on their personal machines. This is counting the ones who also patronize alternative operating systems such as the Macintosh and Linux. A single personal computer can have more than one operating system (OS) installed, after all. One more interesting thing is, cPanel is actually a Linux program. It is a proprietary software that was made specifically for large server use. You only need to license cPanel once per server, which makes cPanel a practical alternative to resellers, especially those who can appreciate the power and economy of adopting open source operating systems like Linux. And when it comes to end users, they too can appreciate the ease of use afforded by this web panel. Let it not be said that cPanel only accommodates open-source software. This particular web management software continues to grow and gain greater flexibility. A multitude of plugins and extra features have been added to cPanel, such as Fantastico and RVSkins. And even if your end-users only have Windows machines with which to interact with your Linux servers, they can enjoy the best of both worlds with cPanel reseller hosting! Trevor Mulholland
Most wannabe geeks would say Linux, though it is just a kernel and not an OS. Some would answer Ubuntu or Gentoo depending on which is the ‘in thing’. A few people would perhaps say MacOS X is the best. Windows, of course, is not the one geeks want to be associated with. One more OS is making waves in the academia and business world and with serious geeks for the last yr or so, after it was open sourced. For all the right reasons. That is the grand daddy of all, the most popular Unix – Solaris OS. No other operating system, not even Linux can claim to have as much geeky meat as Solaris. Some of the mouth watering stuff in Solaris 10, especially for geeks include: Zones – software virtualization feature which has no match in any other OS. I can’t remember which technology in any other OS comes even close. BSD jails, perhaps. ZFS – the ultra modern file system, again with no match. The only thing that comes close is VxFS but ZFS is free with source code in the open. DTrace – again no match anywhere. The capability to look into each and every place into the kernel and other parts in a running system using DTrace is unparalleled. It has been winning accolades all over. SystemTap for Linux is still not complete and its design makes it unlikely to be able to compete with DTrace in the future. BrandZ – It gives you the capability to run Linux apps on top of Solaris. For example, you can run a version of Linux like CentOS right inside a Solaris Zone. Say you want to play Quake or use Google Earth which don’t have Solaris apps; just create a Zone in Solaris, install your Linux in the zone and play away with the apps which are available in Linux. How more geeky can one get! Of course, serious business won’t play games. For them there are other more serious features like: Fault Management Architecture (FMA), Service Management Framework(SMF), etc. Linux is a good Operating System and has the advantage of having more drivers. But in almost everything else, Solaris scores higher. Now that it is open sourced it should get people interested in creating drivers. The community and codebase of Solaris is called OpenSolaris. Looking at the number of posts and projects there, it really looks like a dynamic and vibrant group of geeks. http://osgeek.blogspot.com/2006/12/which-is-best-operating-system-for.html os geek |