Cloud v/s CDN v/s Geolocated Hosting: Which Should I Choose?

Should I choose Cloud Hosting or Geolocated hosting or CDN to serve customers in different geographies?

◉ What is the purpose of geolocated hosting?
◉ What should I choose if my client expects customers from multiple locations?
◉ What about CDN?

If you’ve had at least one of these questions in mind, keep reading.

Why Should I think twice about Cloud Hosting for website visitors from various locations?

The common belief when it comes to serving customers from different locations is that Cloud Hosting, which boasts of high performance and turbo speed is probably a better option than geolocated hosting which in comparison, may not have the superior performance of the Cloud.

It is true that greatest advantage of the Cloud is amazing flexibility which makes it ideal for businesses with growing and fluctuating demands. Cloud easily gives you an advantage over competitors due to the sheer superiority of this type of hosting. But does this mean it’s the ideal hosting choice to serve visitors from locations around the globe?

Well, I’m here to tell you that that might not be the case.

What’s important to understand is that while the Cloud certainly is superior, local Cloud hosting still has servers in physical locations which, if aren’t close to your customers’ location, can affect the load speed time of your website. Surprised?

Take a look at the image below. Let’s list what we see:

◈ Cloud Servers are located in South America
◈ Your geo-located Shared Hosting servers are located in West India
◈ Your client’s customer is accessing the website from East India

If performance is your objective, Cloud hosting (which is definitely powerful and offers flexibility) would be an ideal choice. However, if low latency and high speed are important to you, geo-located servers are apt in this situation due to the sheer proximity of the server to the customer, which the Cloud might compromise on.

It’s important to assess your objective. Would you prefer the power of a Cloud server or the low latency from a geo-located server?

The alternative you could explore – CDN

Enter, CDN. CDN is short for content delivery network. It’s a system of distributed servers that deliver pages and content to users in different locations. It servers your webpage content from the closest edge-server to your visitor. Some examples of popular CDNs are Amazon’s CloudFront, CloudFlare, Akamai.

How does CDN improve speed?

CND stores copes of the files on your webpage in various locations around the world. When someone visits your website, these files are delivered to them from the closest CND server.

What are the advantages of CDN?

• Fast delivery

• Global reach

• Swift user experience

• Quick file loads

• Scalability

• High availability

Here’s a simple diagram to show how CDN works:

What about Geolocated Hosting?

Usually, web providers have servers in locations around the world to enable faster load speed and lower latency.

Advantages of opting for geolocated hosting:

1. Proximity to market i.e. the distance data has to travel between your server and the user which affects load speed also known as latency. The closer the proximity, the greater the load speed. Geolocated hosting facilitates that. Try assessing your needs with the 80:20 ratio – where serving a majority of your clients’ customers is important to you.

2. Search Engine Optimisation Benefit: Server location is one of the many factors Google considers when delivering a webpage to check if your website is relevant for that geography or language. Google says, “The server location is often physically near your users and can be a signal about your site’s intended audience” therefore increasing your chances to be visible to the target audience in their searches.

3. Cost effective: Geolocated hosting is certainly more affordable than Cloud Hosting and CDN. If your business does not see very high volumes of traffic, this might just be the best budget solution. It’s economically better if you’re looking to cover more of your target audience.

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What is the difference between cloud hosting and shared hosting?

As web hosting evolves as a service in a bid to cater to the needs of various customers, hosting providers are often asked about the peculiarities of every hosting service, cloud and shared hosting in particular. This query, asked by bloggers, web professionals and businesses alike, has often been a subject of discussion so as to come down to a better decision while choosing a hosting package. However, both shared as well as cloud hosting have their own characteristics which allow its deployers to make the most out of them. But having said that there are some shortcomings to them as well. This article aims to illustrate the difference between cloud and shared hosting and shed light on their pros and cons.

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is a type of web hosting service which allows many websites to share a physical web server as well as its resources among hosted websites. In a shared hosting package, ideally a server is split between multiple users and each user ends up sharing a specific amount of bandwidth.
Hence, users share resources like RAM, disk space with other users. Think of it this way- you are living on rent in a house with your roommates. Since you are living in the same house, all resources present in the house will be shared by everyone living in it. Shared hosting functions in the same way.

What are the advantages of shared hosting and when can it be used?

1. Shared hosting is easy to deploy – One of the major reasons it is used is, it reduces the time to get online drastically because of its simplicity in terms of deployment.

2. You are free of administrative responsibilities – This means your hosting provider pretty much takes care of all technical responsibilities (like the maintenance and upkeep of the server) and you need not necessarily have technical knowledge.

3. Cost-effective – Shared hosting is cheaper than other hosting packages. This again can be attributed to the fact that the resources are shared.

4. Easy management – You can avail cPanel, a web hosting management dashboard that allows you to manage your website or even download applications with the help of Softaculous. With Softaculous, you can download more than 300 applications and scripts with just a click.

When can shared hosting be deployed?

While shared hosting as a service can be deployed in almost any situation, we suggest you deploy the same in order to make the most out of it when-

◈ You want a solid web presence without too much of investment
◈ You do not have a lot of monthly visitors/traffic on your website
◈ You are a startup in the initial phase of your business
◈ You have limited needs in terms of resources like disk space, RAM etc.

What are the shortcomings of shared hosting?

Shared hosting does not allow websites to serve a large number of customers primarily because it has limited amount of resources to support the website’s traffic. This is a key drawback of shared hosting. In addition to this other disadvantages include:

1. Sluggishness – Since shared hosting jointly caters to a number of stakeholders, there is a chance that users may experience slow speed since other users request the same resources.

2. Server downtime – Since multiple requests are to be served, the server can get overwhelmed by the sheer number, resulting in a downtime or even crashing eventually.

3. Little or no control over features – You do not have much of a say when it comes to which features you want since you inevitably share the same features as other users on the server.

This is how one can look at shared hosting as a service with respect to its pros, cons and in which situations it can be best deployed. Cloud hosting, on the other hand, is much different from its traditional counterpart. Let us look at what Cloud hosting is all about, shall we?

What is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting service wherein you can procure computing resources with the help of a cloud computing facility to host data, web services and solutions. You can use resources of multiple servers rather than restricting yourself to a single server location. In cloud hosting, it is the facilitator of the resources that oversees its set up, security and maintenance.These computing and storage resources are spread across virtual machines to help balance the compute loads.

What are the advantages of Cloud Hosting and when can it be used?

1. Easy scalability – Since cloud hosting has a setup of a large stack of resources, it is easy for users to scale at large, that too quickly. This means as the requirement of a business increases over time with respect to web traffic etc. cloud hosting allows users to amplify and add more resources without any hassle.

2. Faster page load time – Deployers of cloud hosting experience faster page loading time because the hosting service integrates caching mechanism. With Varnish caching (which many providers are now employing), users experience high speed when it comes to page load time.

3. Storage space – The space provided by cloud hosting is immense. This is a major bonus for web professionals who want to build applications for their clients. Moreover, since the storage space is huge, cloud hosting deployers can also host multiple websites within the same hosting and control or maintain the same through a single cPanel.

4. Recovering lost data – Cloud hosting allows you to recover lost data with the help of backup mechanism tools. This primarily benefits users since data is stored in a different location i.e at data centers.

5. Saves operational and capital expenditure – Cloud hosting allows you to save major upfront costs because the hosting providers take the responsibility of maintaining the infrastructure. Hence, your deployment time, effort and eventually cost is saved.

When can cloud hosting be deployed?

To make the most out of a service like cloud hosting, you need to make sure that you set it up when-

◈ You are an e-commerce website expecting high traffic
◈ You want to pay only for the number of resources utilize
◈ You do not want to buy hardware
◈ You want to expand your business across various locations, globally
◈ You want to store a large number of files

What are the drawbacks of cloud hosting?

1. Platform dependency – Cloud hosting may limit some users by limiting them to one vendor, causing vendor lock-in. Major differences between the vendor systems can restrict users from migrating from one cloud platform to another, which can lead to increased costs. However, this problem can be countered by understanding what vendors are offering. Since most vendors use the same open source components, migration can also become easy.

2. Limited control and flexibility – Cloud Hosting providers’ policies and SLAs may sometimes limit users to varying degrees in terms of what they can do with the service. However, not every service provider imposes such a restriction.

What is the difference between Shared Hosting and Cloud Hosting?

Before we begin with the differences, let us first understand that cloud and shared hosting serve different purposes although they are both web hosting services. Shared hosting is deployed when you want to quickly go online. Hence, as a user you don’t want a service that is expensive or time consuming. Cloud hosting on the other hand is more about configuring the right resources, deploying the right servers with proper disk space etc.

So, keeping in mind the purpose that they serve, here are a some major differences based on the parameters of scale, security,traffic etc.

Parameter	Shared Hosting	Cloud Hosting
Scale	Limits the scale since resources are limited.	Provides large scope to scale.
Security	Shared environment can increase susceptance to attacks but can be secured with SSH.	Security is much better than shared environments with multiple layers of recovery options and anti-malware solutions.
Traffic	In shared hosting, websites cannot serve a large number of visitors at a time because they have a finite amount of processing power and storage capacity.	With cloud hosting, websites can serve a huge number of visitors at a time since the storage capacity and processing power is much higher.
Resources and Configurations	With shared hosting, a server’s resources are divided to host a large number of websites.	With cloud hosting, multiple servers pool resources together to host a large number of websites.
Performance	Shared hosting is not too fast as compared to cloud hosting for the simple reason that the number of servers deployed are less.	Cloud hosting typically outperforms shared hosting simply because a large number of servers are deployed.
Pricing	This depends on the provider but shared hosting is usually cheaper than cloud hosting packages.	Cloud is a tad bit expensive in comparison to shared hosting.

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The Difference Between A Domain Name And Web Hosting

It is very common for newbies to get confused between a domain name with a web hosting. However, it is very important to be crystal clear on the differences between the two before you move on to your first website.

What’s A Web Hosting

Web hosting is a place where people store their websites. Think of it as a house where you store all your stuffs; but instead of storing your clothes and furniture, you store computer files (HTML, documents, images, videos, etc) in a web host.

More often than not, the term “web hosting” refers to the company that rent out their computer/servers to store your website and provide Internet connectivity so that other users can access to the files on your website.

For most cases, these hosting companies will handle server maintenance work, such as backup, root configuration, maintenance, disaster recoveries, and so on.

What’s A Domain Name

A domain is the address of your website. Before you can setup a website, you will need a domain.

To own a domain name, you need to register it with a domain registrar.

Domain name is not something physical that you can touch or see. It is a string of characters that give your website an identity (yes, a name, like human and businesses). Examples of domain name: Google.com, Alexa.com, Linux.org, eLearningEuropa.info, as well as Yahoo.co.uk.

All domain names are unique. This means there can be only one alexa.com in the world. You cannot register a name once it is registered by others (governed by ICANN).

Domain Name vs Web Hosting

To simplify: A domain name, is like the address of your home; web hosting on the other hand, is the space of your house where you place your furniture.

Instead of street name and area code, set of words or/and numbers are used for the website’s naming’. Computer hard disk and computer memory are used instead of instead of wood and steel for storing and processing data files. The idea is presented clearer with the diagram below.

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Web Site Hosting: Concept, Types, Advantages and Disadvantages

Website Hosting is a service that allows people or companies to store their information, pictures, videos or any content through online systems being accessible by Web Hosting Providers. The Site typically are companies that provide space to store that content on its servers and internet connection to these data to their customers.

Among the types of website hosting services are:

Shared Hosting

In this type of service, the server is shared among multiple companies that hire the hosting service, ie, is the division of the resources of a server across multiple clients.

Each has its own disk space and bandwidth individual band, according to the hosting plan contract. The value depends on the space to be used, the resources available, site traffic, among other features.

The plan is recommended for those who do not have much traffic or are starting a website. In this type of hosting the main attractions are price, simplicity of use and maintenance, one of the most used by small businesses.

Recommended for: Small sites with low volume of requests.

Advantages :

◈ Low cost: the lowest price is one of the main advantages of shared hosting.

◈ Ease of use: simple to install and maintain the site through a system of “click and drag”, facilitating this process.

◈ Technical Support: is guaranteed by most companies that offer the service of web hosting, assisting in the resolution of questions and problems with the website, server and configuration requirements.

◈ Resources: a collection of resources that can grow as the demands of the site.

Disadvantages :

◈ They usually arise when the site presents considerable increase in traffic volume due to resource contention server with other clients of the company that offers the service.

◈ Inability to customize the hosting service.

◈ It is possible that the server be overwhelmed at times, which can take the site down.

◈ Sites with high security requirements, such as e-commerce store with credit cards in own base, for example, the system is not indicated.

VPS Hosting(Virtual Private Server)

A VPS or virtual private server is a technology that is rapidly growing in the web hosting industry.

A VPS is created by software that partitions / divides a physical server to create multiple virtual servers within it, a process called virtualization of servers.

Recommended for : medium Sites with volume of accesses between medium and high.

Advantages :

◈ Improved performance and security than a shared hosting.

◈ Cost-benefit, it may dispense with own infrastructure, use of physical space.

◈ Reduction in the cost of acquisition and maintenance of equipment.

Disadvantage :

◈ Customer is responsible for all installation, maintenance and security of VPS.

◈ If the customer has no experience in the subject, one can hire the management by the supplier.

Dedicated Server Hosting

In this type of hosting, instead of sharing the server with other customers, the hardware is dedicated exclusively to the needs of the contracting client.

The client is not obliged to share resources, providing a superior level of control, flexibility and performance. You can choose your own operating system, install the applications themselves and incorporate the security mechanisms you best for your environment.

Nevertheless, this is a scenario that requires you to have a certain ability to manage and maintain a server. Unlike shared hosting, dedicated hosting is not recommended for inexperienced users.

Recommended for : Large companies with very high volume of requests, data bank of dense and diverse applications.

Advantages :

◈ Zero risk of being harmed by other sites and

◈ Total autonomy over the hosting environment.

Disadvantage :

◈ High cost for a small business.

◈ Requires some skill to manage and maintain a server.

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Shared or Reseller Web Hosting – Here’s What You Need to Know?

Shared or Reseller? This question might have stricken your mind several times. But choosing between the two depends on the user type and also, it’s significant to know what each of them entails. The basic difference according to many people is that in shared hosting, you shared the server with thousands of other sites and in reseller hosting, you are still sharing your server with approximately hundred websites. However, you are still on shared hosting then it might be basic shared hosting account or reseller hosting account.

Prior to looking at the differences, let’s first define shared and reseller hosting.

Shared Hosting is a web hosting service wherein you can host multiple websites on a single web server connected to the internet. It’s one of the best options for those individuals and companies that are just starting up.

Reseller Hosting is a web hosting service wherein a user needs to rent out a part of his bandwidth and disc space that he receives to other users. It is an ideal choice for web hosting companies and other hosting businesses.

Below are the features of shared and reseller hosting in order to understand the differences between them –

Shared Hosting:

Shared hosting is generally used by those who need to handle only a simple blog or one or two personal sites, it means shared hosting is a good option for new bloggers too. This isn’t that you can’t handle more domains with shared hosting. In fact, you can use the “Add on domain” feature in the cPanel to add more domains.

Features

Cost – One of the most outstanding features of shared hosting is its low cost.

Disk Space and Bandwidth – When you sign up for shared web hosting, a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth is allotted to the users. The maximum web space is 20 GB and bandwidth is 120 GB for corporate plan.

Administration – Users don’t need to administer the complete server and are only in charge of the control panel.

Control Panel – The Linux shared hosting control panel features cPanel, Softaculous, RVSiteBuilder, File Manager, Website Statistics and Custom Error Pages.

The Windows shared hosting control panel includes DotNet Panel, FTP Manager, File Manager, Website Statistics, Custom Error Pages and Email Filtering Manager.

Security – If there’s an exploit or php/SQL injection on one website, it could affect every website and every file you have on that shared plan.

Reseller Hosting:

In reseller hosting, you can resell the hosting space. This is one of the best options for those who are dealing with clients or are planning for acquiring clients for some services like conversion rate optimization, web design and a lot more.

Features

Cost – In comparison to shared hosting the cost of reseller hosting is quite low.

Disk Space and Bandwidth – A user gets a server as well as he gets the authority to resell some of his disk space and bandwidth.

Administration – User can manage all hosting accounts through WHM panel.

Control Panel – In Windows reseller hosting control panel only DotNet Panel is replaced by Plesk and rest all features are same as in Windows shared hosting.

Security – If the same thing happened on a reseller account, the infected files would stay within that domain’s root instead of hurting every other site you have hosted.

The differences indicate that reseller hosting has an advantage over shared hosting. There are quite few points that differentiate both and it completely depends on your requirements whether to opt for shared hosting or reseller hosting.

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What Is WHM Web Host Manager?

WHM is a server management interface from cPanel.

We offer it on our reseller plans, virtual servers and dedicated hosting.

WHM offers two levels of server administration:

◈ Reseller Rights
◈ Full Server Management Rights

With the Reseller settings the server administrator can restrict rights and offer a subset of features depending on the level of service that the client is paying for. With Full Server Management Rights the administrator has full control.

The full set of WHM features are shown below:

Server Configuration

This section allows the server administrator to customise the server settings. This covers basic setup configuration, root password changes, Cron Jobs, Nameservers, Directory Quotas, Server’s Timezone, Statistics and Update Settings.

Support

This is where you can set the support settings for your clients to contact you as well as where you can provide access to your server to cPanel support team.

Networking Setup

This is where you configure your server’s internet connectivity and set the server’s hostname.

Security Center

This is where you can configure and manage the server’s security settings. The features are as follows:

◈ Apache mod_userdir Tweak – You can make changes to the Apache settings to allow users to access URLs based on the server’s hostname and the username of the hosting account

◈ Compiler Access – This is to restrict possible Compiler focused threats

◈ Security Policies – Limit logins based on defined IP addresses and apply Two Factor Authentication, set password strength and password age to ensure logins are updated periodically

◈ cPHulk Brute Force Protection – The server can be configured against Brute Force Attacks whereby external systems try to guess login credentials based on numerous attempts

◈ Host Access Control – Restrict access to certain services based on a user’s IP address

◈ Manage External Authentication – Defines how users can access WHM and cPanel

◈ SSH Keys – SSH control can be managed by separating public and private SSH keys onto two lists

◈ Manage Wheel Group – A Wheel Group is a set of users with certain privileges and this can be managed from within the WHM security area

◈ ModSecurity Management – ModSecurity is an OpenSource security feature which acts as a Web Application Firewall (WAF). You can install and configure ModSecurity and add rules and vendors

◈ Password Strength – passwords can be configured here as well to ensure only secure login credentials are applied

◈ PHP open_basedir Tweak – To avoid certain PHP compromises this feature prevents PHP files from being run outside a user’s home directory

◈ Security Advisor – A feature to scan the server to identify any security threats

◈ Security Questions – Allows administrators to set security questions for users from unknown IP addresses

◈ Shell Fork Bomb Protection – Prevent SSH or Telnet based attacks aimed at depleting the server’s resources

◈ SMTP Restrictions – Restricts which users can connect to SMTP servers and prevent spam from being sent

◈ SSH Authentication – Administer passwords for SSH Authentication

◈ Traceroute Administration – Enable or disable Traceroute from the server

◈ Two Factor Authentication – Improved login security

Server Contacts

WHM allows you to set the contact details in case of server alerts and notifications.

Resellers

WHM has a full suite of Reseller features that can be controlled by the Server Administrator.

This is useful to allow or restrict functionality depending on the type of service the Reseller has ordered. The Server Administrator can use the following settings:

◈ Ownership of accounts – manage which resellers manage which accounts
◈ Nameservers and Privileges – to determine which features a Reseller can access
◈ Email Resellers – Keep in contact with your resellers
◈ Manage Reseller IPs – allocate IPs to Resellers for e.g. SSL certificates
◈ Reseller Administration – create and edit accounts and view reseller usage

Service Configuration

Service Configuration is where the Server Administrator can configure key server services including:

◈ Apache – Popular Web Server that manages HTTP
◈ PHP and SuExec – Manage the PHP version offered and SuExec
◈ Cpanel – Manage all aspect of the service such as web disk and web services configuration
◈ EXIM – Control how emails are sent and received via the server
◈ FTP – Full FTP Management
◈ Mailserver – POP3 and IMAP Configuration
◈ SSL – Manage your Server’s SSL Certificates
◈ Nameservers – Select Nameserver software (BIND or MyDNS)
◈ PHP Configuration – Set the Server’s PHP settings
◈ Service Manager – To Monitor daemons running on server

Locales

Locales determine which language the cPanel interface displays in and can be fully edited.

Backups

WHM offers full control for backing up a server and include features for backup configuration, restoration, and user selection.

Clusters

A Cluster is a way of grouping a number of physical servers together to form a logical cluster which share configuration settings or DNS. This is achieved through the use of WHM generated trust keys (Remote Access Keys).

System Reboot

When a server reboot is required WHM offers the option of a Graceful Reboot where processes are closed and stored prior to reboot and Forced Reboot shuts the server down irrespective of any errors.

Server Status

Server Status allows the Server Administrator to have an overview of key services such as Apache Status, Daily Process Log, Server Information and Server Status.

Account Information

Useful feature to allow the Server Administrator to quickly search through and manage Users. They can list all accounts, check suspended accounts, search accounts and view bandwidth usage.

Account Functions

This section allows the Server Administrator to drill down and manage individual accounts and perform tasks such as changing IP addresses, creating new User accounts, emailing users, changing passwords, limiting bandwidth usage, suspending accounts, terminating accounts, changing account quotas, upgrading and downgrading and terminating accounts.

Multi Account Functions

This is a time saving feature in WHM to make bulk actions faster such as changing multiple IP addresses, modifying, upgrading or terminating multiple accounts.

Transfers

This feature is useful for transferring accounts from one WHM/cPanel server to another. It also allows Addon Domains to be set to full accounts easily.

Themes

WHM and cPanel appearance is determined by Themes and these can be managed here.

Packages

By creating Packages the Server Administrator can save time by setting various variables which match the plans advertised on their website. These include Diskspace, Bandwidth, MySQL Databases, Parked Domains and Addon Domains.

DNS Functions

Being able to manage the server’s DNS functions is important. WHM gives the Server Administrator the ability to manage all aspects of the DNS such as:

◈ Add/Delete/Edit/Synchronise DNS Zones
◈ Add an A Entry for Hostname
◈ Edit MX Entries to redirect mail traffic to external servers
◈ Add and remove Nameserver records
◈ Domain Parking – A way of redirecting secondary domain to a primary domain (e.g. .com to a .co.uk)
◈ DNS Cleanup – Useful if there are DNS conflicts or misconfigurations
◈ DNS Zone Reset – Reset DNS Zones to default settings
◈ Time To Live Settings (TTL) – Set TTL for DNS Zones
◈ Domain Forwarding – Redirect one domain to another

SQL Services

This area allows MySQL Services to be managed including accessing remote MySQL databases, Managing Users, managing passwords, managing profiles, database mapping, repairing MySQL databases, PHPMyAdmin setup and listing MySQL processes.

IP Functions

Managing IPs is vital for effective server administration. WHM allows Server Administrators to manage the following:

◈ Add, Change and Migrate IPs – Add new and migrate additional IPs and change a domain’s existing IP address
◈ Configure Remote IPs – Allows for remote server connection for mail servers
◈ IPv6 – WHM allows full IPv6 use once they are assigned to the server
◈ Rebuild IP Pool – Scan and locate IPv4 IPs not associated with the server
◈ IP Usage – Overview of IP usage on server
◈ Show/Remove IPs – Show and remove IP addresses from server
◈ Reserve IPs – Reserve IPs from IP Pool on server

Software

This section allows the Server Administrator to manage the Server’s Software. Includes:

◈ EasyApache 3 and 4 – Manage and reconfigure Apache web server using EasyApache script
◈ MultiPHP INI Editor and MultiPHP Manager – Configure the server’s PHP settings
◈ Install PERL Module – Download from CPAN
◈ Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) – Use to install RPMs on server
◈ Module Installers – Location and installation of Perl, PHP and Ruby modules
◈ MySQL Upgrade – Upgrade version of MySQL or switch to MariaDB
◈ Update WHM and cPanel – Update software to latest version

Email

How the server handles mail is crucial and can be managed here.

◈ Mail Delivery Reports – Review sent messages and information about delivery attempts
◈ Mail Queue Manager – Manage and manipulate the server’s mail queue
◈ Mail Troubleshooter – trace email routing
◈ Mailbox Conversion – switch the type of mailbox being used if required
◈ Spam Settings – Set controls for SpamAssassin
◈ Mail Statistics – Report of emails sent and received over defined time period
◈ View Relayers – Helpful to identify which users are relaying mail to another server
◈ View Sent Summary – Provides an overview of emails sent by users over a period of time

System Health

Allows Server Administrator to have clear overview of Server’s health with key processes identified. Includes Background Process Killer, Process Manager, Current Disk Usage and Current Active Processes on the server.

CPanel

This section allows the Server Administrator to manage various aspects of end users cPanel accounts. This includes, branding, plugins, additional cPanel compatible software and plugins, Mailman password management and cPanel/WHM upgrade to latest version.

SSL/TLS

WHM let’s Server Administrators manage security on the server and includes automatic SSL provision, SSL and Certificate Signing Request (CSR) creation, SSL Certificate Installation, SSL Host Management, SSL Purchase and Installation and SSL management of all installed Certificates.

Restart Services

This section allows the Server Administrator to restart a number of daemons (mini processes running in the background) including DNS, FTP, HTTP, IMAP, EXIM, MailMAN, MySQL and SSH.

Development

Server Administrators have access to additional resources to assist them including API Shell, the cPanel Development forum, x3 Plugin Generator, cPanel Plugin Generator, Manage Hooks and a Software Development Kit.

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How To Install A WordPress Plugin?

What are Plugins?

Plugins are modules of an application/CMS or a piece of software which adds more functionalities and provides scope for customization of the application/CMS.

Why is it necessary to update a WordPress Plugin?

The answer is pretty simple and straight forward, to keep the website secure by avoiding vulnerabilities in the older versions and to incorporate additional features added in the new version in the WordPress website.

Different ways to install Plugins

1. Search Plugin and install from WordPress Dashboard
2. Upload plugin downloaded from third party sources and activate it from WordPress Dashboard
3. Upload plugin to the WordPress plugin directory via FTP and activate it from WordPress Dashboard

Search Plugin and install from WordPress Dashboard

◈ Go to WordPress Dashboard >> Plugins >> Add New

◈ In the Add Plugins page, search the required plugin and hit ‘return’. When the list of related plugins appear, Click on ‘Install Now‘.

◈ After installation click on the ‘Activate Plugin’ link in the installation page or go to Plugins >> Installed Plugins and click on ‘Activate’ button.

Upload plugin downloaded from third party sources and enable it from WordPress Dashboard 

You can also download the plugin from the plugin developer website or github (make sure the plugin is trust-worthy) to your local machine and upload it to the WordPress plugin directory.

◈ Go to WordPress Dashboard >> Plugins >> Add New and click on Upload Plugin

◈ Browse the plugin zip file which you have downloaded from your local directory and click on ‘Install Now’.

◈ Once installed, activate the plugin as mentioned above.

Upload plugin to the WordPress plugin directory via FTP and enable it from WordPress Dashboard

This is similar to the earlier step except the fact that plugin archive is not uploaded to the server via WordPress admin panel but instead you are using FTP clients like FileZilla.

◈ Open FileZilla or any other FTP client and connect to server.

◈ Navigate to public_html/wp-content/plugins directory in the server and upload the plugin directory.

◈ Uploaded plugin will be automatically installed.

◈ Activate the plugin as mentioned above.

The important thing to do before updating a plugin is to make sure that there are no incompatibilities between the plugin version and the WordPress version. Also some of the plugins is not this easy to update, so read the plugin developer’s documentation before updating the plugin.

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What Is CPanel?

cPanel is a commercially available and popular Linux based web hosting control panel for managing all aspects of a web hosting account.

It employs and easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI) and operates on a three tier hierarchy as follows:

◈ Hosting Company
◈ Reseller
◈ End User

The Hosting Company and the Reseller use a similar interface called Web Host Manager (WHM) where the Hosting Company has the highest level of administration rights and can restrict access to certain features in the Reseller WHM. These restrictions are usually based as much on security (i.e. SSH) as they are on marketing (i.e. allowing Overselling).

The end user has access directly to a cPanel interface where they can perform a comprehensive range of tasks for their website.

In addition, cPanel also has the ability to allow 3rd party vendors to integrate their services into cPanel so that the client can seamlessly access these services via an automated integration.

cPanel can be licensed for both Dedicated Servers and Virtual Private Servers and will run on CentOS, RedHat Enterprise Linux, CloudLinux and FreeBSD.

CPanel supports Apache, MySQL and PHP as well as popular email protocols including POP3, IMAP and SMTP. cPanel is accessed via port 2083.

What Are The Main Features Of CPanel?

cPanel has a comprehensive set of features detailed below by category for ease of use:

CPanel File Management

◈ File Manager – Quickly access and manage files (create, edit, remove) without FTP
◈ Disk Usage – A graphical way to understand how disk space is being used for better disk management
◈ FTP Connections – Gives overview of FTP sessions
◈ BackUp and Backup Wizard – Backup Wizard to make backing up website files easy
◈ Images – This feature allows users to resize, convert and view images
◈ Web Disk – Allows webmasters to view disk space as if on a PC and administer disk space (edit, navigate, upload and download files)
◈ Anonymous FTP – Useful for offering files for public download
◈ Directory Privacy – Password protect directories for better security
◈ FTP Accounts – Manage FTP accounts easily

CPanel Database Management

◈ PHPMyAdmin – Third Party GUI Tool for database administration. Ideal for use with MySQL
◈ Remote MySQL – Allow databases to be accessed remotely e.g. from other applications on other servers
◈ MySQL – Powerful Database to run your web based applications
◈ PostgreSQL Databases – Popular Database alternative to MySQL
◈ MySQL Database Wizard – Easily create and manage your MySQL Databases
◈ PostgreSQL Database Wizard – Easily create and manage your PostgreSQL Databases

CPanel Domain Management

◈ Site Publisher – Create a basic website presence or holding page in preparation for a new website
◈ Aliases – Redirect domains to different websites
◈ Advanced & Simple Zone Editors – Manage various aspects of a domain’s DNS such as A and CNAME Records
◈ Addon Domains – Reduce costs by adding domains and creating new websites and email addresses for each without the need to purchase new hosting for each domain
◈ Redirects – Setup redirects from a specific page to another one
◈ Subdomains – Used to create subsections of a website for a specific purpose such as a company blog or knowledge base

CPanel Email Features

◈ Email Accounts – Setup and manage all aspects of email accounts quickly and easily
◈ Autoresponders – Useful for sending automated replies to emails received
◈ Track Delivery – keep track of emails sent
◈ Authentication – Send secure email which has been authenticated
◈ Archive – Save emails received and sent for a specified time period
◈ Calendars and Contacts – Keep up to date with the calendars and contacts interface
◈ Forwarders – Setup email forwarding for specific email addresses
◈ Default Address – Any email received which is incorrectly addressed is sent to the default address
◈ Global Filters – Set up email filters
◈ Encryption – Creates a ‘Public Key’ for secure email communication
◈ Configure Greylisting – A basic spam prevention measure
◈ MX Entry – Reroute incoming email to another server
◈ Mailing Lists – Create one email and send to multiple recipients
◈ Email Filters – Useful for redirecting emails, spam prevention or piping emails to applications (i.e. a helpdesk)
◈ Apache SpamAssassin – Anti-Spam application
◈ BoxTrapper – Prevents unknown emails from hitting your inbox

CPanel Metrics And Analytics

◈ Visitors – A complete record of visitors in the Apache log files
◈ Raw Access – A zipped version of your server’s visitor logs
◈ Webalizer – Website visitor analytics tool
◈ Errors – A full set of the most recent errors on your site so you can address any issues
◈ AWStats – 3rd Party tool to visualise visitors to your site
◈ Webalizer FTP – Metrics tool to show FTP visitors to your site
◈ Bandwidth – Shows bandwidth usage
◈ Analog Stats – Simple view of website visits
◈ Metrics Editor – Select Metrics to run on domains

CPanel Security Features

◈ SSH Access – Secure, authenticated connection to the server via the Command Line
◈ Hotlink Protection – Prevents bandwidth theft when content embedded on another website
◈ ModSecurity Domain Manager – Enable or Disable ModSecurity
◈ IP Blocker – Decide if you want to block certain IPs from accessing your site
◈ Leech Protection – Restrict the number of logins
◈ Two - Factor Authentication – Improved login security
◈ SSL/TLS – Enhanced security by managing SSL/TLS and Certificate Requests
◈ Security Policy – Set questions verify access from unknown IPs
◈ SSL/TLS Wizard – Automate the SSL provisioning process

CPanel Software Applications

◈ PHP – Check the server’s PHP configuration
◈ RubyGems – Management of Ruby
◈ Optimize Website – Tweak Apache responses
◈ PHP Pear Packages – Instal PEAR packages so you can run them in PHP
◈ Ruby On Rails – Deploy Ruby On Rails Applications
◈ MultiPHP Manager – Manage PHP configurations easily
◈ PERL Modules – Create PERL Modules so you can create PERL tasks
◈ Site Software – Add extra software such as Ecommerce and Bulletin Boards
◈ MultiPHP INI Editor – Manage PHP configuration

Advanced CPanel Settings

◈ Indexes – Customize the default Apache Index page
◈ MIME Types – Set instructions for dealing with different file extensions e.g. .html, .htm
◈ CRON Jobs – Automate repetitive tasks at scheduled times, e.g. daily invoice creation
◈ Error Pages – Configure how error pages appear to your visitors
◈ Virus Scanner – Identify Malware threats
◈ Track DNS – Check DNS settings by tracing the route from a PC to the server
◈ Apache Handlers – Control file types and extensions
◈ API Shell – Used to run cPanel API calls

CPanel Preferences

◈ User Preferences – Set User preferences
◈ User Manager – Set and edit user rights and permissions

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What is web hosting and how does it work?

What is web hosting?

Web hosting (in layman’s terms) is the service of providing storage space for a website or application on a server on the internet. Once your website is made available on the internet, it can be accessed by other computers connected to the internet.

How web hosting works:

Web hosts are companies that rent out their services and technologies to host websites on the internet. Once the hosting company hosts your website, users can access it by typing in your web address (domain name) in their web browser. When they do this, their computer connects to the server your website is hosted on. The server in turn serves (sends the files you have stored on the storage to display) the website to your web visitor in their web browser.

How to choose the right web hosting package:

There are several web hosting options available. To know which one would be right for your business, ask yourself the following questions:

What kind of website do you plan to host online- a blog, an ecommerce portal, a news website, etc as this will determine how much web traffic you expect and how robust the infrastructure required to host your website, should be.

◈ What are the goals of your website? How fast do you see yourself expanding online business?

◈ How much hand-holding do you need?

Your answers will determine how much you need of the following:

◈ Storage space

◈ Bandwidth

◈ Control–is it important that you have root control of your server?

◈ Cost–how much are you either willing to spend or need to spend?

How to know which web hosting provider to partner with?

Investigate their performance or claims in the following area:

1. Uptime - Do they guarantee at least a 99% uptime? Where are their servers located?

2. Years in the industry - One way to determine their credibility

3. Customers - How many customers do they serve? In what locations do they have a presence?

4. Online reviews and testimonials - These should give you a more factual idea of the company’s reputation

5. Support - Does the company offer 24X7 support with trained personnel to assist you?

6. Related products - Select a web hosting company that offers you other related web service products such as security, email and backup services. Getting it all in one place could reduce the time coordinating with different providers

7. Security considerations

8. Backup services

9. Mobile Access – Can you access your control panel from a device on the go?

What are the web hosting options available?

There are several ways to host your website:

1. Shared Hosting:

If you have a blog or a small business that is just starting out, Shared Hosting is a good option to start with. It’s the most affordable hosting option available as your server space is shared by other websites. It’s simple and easy-to-use. On the other hand, because you share space and resources with multiple other websites on the same server, an overload with another website will cause your website to slow down. You have minimal control over the server.

2. WordPress Hosting:

If you have a WordPress blog or website, it is recommended that you purchase a WordPress hosting package as it is specifically optimized to cater to your WordPress website.

3. Reseller Hosting:

If you want to get into the hosting business, purchasing Reseller Hosting enables you to rent out or re-sell the same hosting services provided by the parent hosting company. With Reseller Hosting, you can also upsell every other web service offered by the parent web host.

4. Dedicated Hosting:

Dedicated hosting gives you complete/administrative control of your server with full root access. You can choose to install any software you wish to.

5. VPS hosting:

You can think of VPS hosting as a higher, stronger more advanced form of shared hosting. While you do share a server with other websites, you are assigned resources that are not shared with the other properties. If you cannot afford a dedicated server, VPS is the way to go.

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Reseller Hosting vs VPS Hosting: The Difference

There are several things one needs to take care of when starting an online business. One of the most important things while setting up your business is a well designed website. And though the look and feel of your website matters a lot, what many people tend to overlook is the hosting.

Good web hosting is equally important as is the design of your website. Good hosting means good page load speed, reduced downtime and support. But with so many hosting options available, how do you decide which is the one for you?

In this post, we’ll compare two popular hosting services, Reseller Hosting vs VPS Hosting and define the parameters on how to decide which web hosting is best suited for your online business.

Reseller Hosting:

Reseller Hosting, as the name suggests is a type of web hosting which benefits a Reseller business owner. In simple words, the Reseller (owner) of the business purchases bandwidth and hard disk space and rents out portions to different customers. Thus, in Reseller Hosting the owner allows different users to host their website on his hosting service where the owner, acts as service provider. Reseller Hosting therefore, is a reasonable way to host many websites on the internet and in turn generate revenue.

Advantages of Reseller Hosting:

1. Reseller Hosting is easy to setup and manage. Also, you don’t require thorough technical knowledge.

2. It provides a customizable control panel as well as several themes. With this type of hosting, the Reseller has control over the customer’s control panel. Nevertheless, the customers too can personalize their panel as they wish.

3. Reseller Hosting is affordable with varied plans to choose from. Also, upgradation is easier. There also is an option to choose between Linux and Windows.

4. With Reseller Hosting, you can manage all your website using one single control panel, WHM – Web Host Manager, (these websites can be yours or your customers).

VPS Hosting:

VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server) is an intersection of Shared Hosting and Dedicated Hosting, i.e it gives the best of both the worlds in terms of hosting services provided. VPS in simple terms can be said to be a physical server that is divided into multiple virtual compartments.

In VPS, the resources like CPU, RAM, disk space and OS aren’t shared like other hosting services. These independent compartments help in maintaining the performance of your website. Owing to this you as an owner get full root access of your server though you are sharing the main server with other users. Another feature is, VPS comes with WHM (Web Host Manager) using which you can create multiple accounts and this can be used for reselling. Also, if you are a web developer or designer it can be used for powering the heavy built client websites and web apps.

Advantages of VPS Hosting:

1. Here one server is split and distributed amongst several users, each having their own set of resources.

2. VPS Hosting is cost effective and allows users to easily scale and upgrade their hosting plans whenever required.

3. It is fitting for website owners who want a customizable environment and do not have much technical knowledge.

4. With VPS Hosting you have more control over your server.

The Core Difference – Reseller Hosting vs VPS Hosting: Which to Choose?

The choice of opting for Reseller Hosting vs VPS Hosting solely depends on the kind of online business you are running. If you have multiple websites or you’re running a Reseller Hosting business, then Reseller Hosting is the hosting is the most logical choice. Whereas, if you are just starting your business and expect a fast growth, then it would be advisable to go with VPS Hosting.

Herein, lies the core difference, Reseller Hosting allows you to run an online business where you provide hosting service to your customers, while in VPS you could be running any kind of business and only need to purchase the hosting to manage your website alone.

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