Hosting Overseas – Is It Worth It?

In today’s world, managing your website locally is possible without facing any inconveniences even when its server is located at the other end of the world. Today, you can stay in France, market your products in UK, and host the website in the US or any country across the world for that matter.

When the question of choosing between overseas and local web hosting arises, most webmasters will not be able to make a decision. The point is that most of us don’t know the benefits of both these options. So we will simplify the solution to this question in this following guide.

Let’s take a deeper look into these alternatives.

Benefits of Hosting Overseas

An increasing number of webmasters prefer hosting their sites on servers located in other countries. Why are they doing so? There are many reasons behind this decision and they can vary from one site to another and from one niche to another.

Financial Gains

This is one of the reasons attributed to hosting on offshore servers, especially those placed in developing countries. The overhead costs are lower in these countries. This can include electricity costs, wages and taxes among other factors. Because the involved costs are lower, you can get access to lower prices and thus save a lot in the long-term for the same amount of reliability and security.

Companies in countries such as the US, UK, or other European Countries pay higher taxes, higher wages due to a higher cost of living, and consequently minimum wage, in these countries, and must generate higher income to remain lucrative.

It is not essential that the web hosting companies with servers in developing countries are actually from those countries. Your web host can be from the U.S. and have its servers located in Eastern Europe or South East Asia. Eventually, you will be getting the same benefits by spending less than half the amount.

Evading Local Laws

If you are hosting a website with content that may not be accepted in certain markets, you could host your site in another country. This could help you avoid any objections that may arise from the authorities or local communities. For example, many adult-oriented legal sites host their servers offshore to avoid all the complications of their local laws.

Benefits of Hosting Locally

If there are any benefits of hosting your website overseas, there are an equal number of reasons for hosting it locally. Some of the main ones are as following.

Better Performance

When you host your website locally, it is going to run faster and perform better. A site hosted on overseas servers will take time to render your website content. This can affect speed and performance and cause user experience issues.

If your customers are local, it is recommended to host on local servers. They will be able to browse your website easily, thus improving your site’s user experience.

A person searching for your domain sitting in Germany will see your website’s rank higher in search engines, if your website is hosted in Germany. A person sitting in US and UK won’t see the same search engine results as the one sitting in Germany. You are aware that ranking affects the amount of traffic you get to your website, so before finalizing the country where you would want to host your website, think about the audience you want to target.

Better Support

Another advantage of choosing a local web host is that it will help you get local customer support. Isn’t it nice to call someone and actually be able to speak to them during “normal” hours? A host located in another part of the world will not be able to adapt to your local culture as well as a local company.

So these are the main benefits of the two forms of hosting. The choice will eventually depend on your business niche and your preferences. There is no denying that local hosting is the ideal option, but if your website has special needs that cannot be fulfilled through local hosting, you will have to consider web hosts that offer hosting on overseas servers. Consider all these factors before you choose where your website should be hosted.

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10 Tips for Choosing the Right Web Host

One of the most important decisions you make when setting up a website is choosing a web host. The many different types of service and the wide range of packages on offer can leave a newcomer bamboozled when it comes to selecting the right service provider. To help you out, this post will give you an insight into the most important criteria you need to consider.

1. Availability

Availability is the technical term used in the industry for reliability and what you need to look for is a web host that can offer high availability. In other words, they will guarantee that your website will stay online and won’t fail due to errors with their servers or be taken offline for long periods during maintenance.

The industry standard for availability is 99.5% but this still equates to your website being offline for over 3 hours every month. Ideally, you want a high availability provider that can offer uptime of 99.95% and higher.

Choosing a high availability host is essential if you want your website and business to have a reputation for reliability. It helps your customers trust you and guarantees that your site is always there to generate income and maintain the services you offer your customers.

2. Bandwidth limits

Bandwidth is a term used to describe the amount of data you send from your server to your visitors’ browsers. Every time someone loads one of your pages on their computer or smartphone you are using up bandwidth. If you have a site that has lots of heavy content, such as large media files (videos, images, music, etc.) you may use quite a lot of bandwidth.

Some web hosts or hosting packages set a limit to the amount of bandwidth you can use each month – this is known as bandwidth allocation. For websites that don’t have a lot of visitors, this is not an issue, however, if you find your traffic growing or if there is an unexpected spike in demand (perhaps one of your posts gets a lot of shares on social media) you may find that you go beyond your allocation. When this happens, there are two possibilities, you may find that your host prevents your website from displaying for the rest of the month or you may find yourself being charged for the extra bandwidth you have used – similar to what happens if you go beyond your data allocation with your mobile phone.

Neither paying for extra bandwidth or being taken offline are desirable options, especially as going beyond your bandwidth limit is a sign that your website is doing well. What you really need to look for is a web host that provides either unmetered or unlimited bandwidth on smaller (shared) hosting packages and bandwidth allocations on bigger (dedicated server) plans which are so high it’s highly unlikely you will ever surpass them.

3. Disk space allocation

The amount of disk space you will need depends entirely on your personal circumstances. If you are a small business wanting to run nothing more than a website, then you are not going to need huge disk space at all. However, if you are a large enterprise collecting enormous amounts of data and running powerful applications you will certainly need much more space for all the information and programs you need to store.

As most hosting packages have either disk space limits or file number limits, you should carefully assess your requirements and future needs before picking a package that will provide you with the disk space you require. At the same time, you need to make sure you don’t waste money buying space you will never use. If your website is only going to be a few hundred MB in size, there’s no point buying 20GB of disk space.

4. All day, every day, technical support

Managing a website can get quite technical and sometimes problems occur that either you don’t know how to solve or which need solving by your web host. For this reason, you need a web host that provides 24 hours a day, 365 days a year technical support. You don’t want your website going offline on Friday night and not being able to talk to someone until Monday morning.

Do note that the emphasis here is on technical support. There are some hosts that advertise 24/7 support but all you get is put you through to a call centre that handles general enquiries.

5. Technical freedom

To enable your website to function in the way you want it to, there is a range of technical operations that you may want to carry out. Whilst, you may not have come across such things as FTP, PHP, .htaccess, MySQL, or cron jobs yet, it is likely that you will as you develop your knowledge of running a website.

◈ FTP allows you to upload and download files to your website directly from your computer

◈ PHP is the language that many websites are written in, but sometimes you need to use certain versions which are compatible with the software your website is built on.

◈ .htaccess is a configuration file which can be edited to achieve many things including helping with site security.

◈ MySQL is a form of database needed to run applications like WordPress

◈ Cron jobs are tasks you set up to run certain processes automatically at prescribed times.

Some web hosts or some of the packages which web hosts provide do not give users the freedom to use all these services and therefore restrict what they can do with their websites. Ideally, you want to be able to use all of them and should look for a host that enables this. This is especially important for those looking for shared hosting as it’s these packages where most restrictions can be found.

6. Ability to use SSL

In simple terms, SSL is a small piece of software that enables websites to encrypt data sent from a user’s browser to your server. You can recognise sites that have it as they have an address that begins with https instead of http. If you run a website that takes payments or personal information from customers, then it’s likely that you will require an SSL certificate – especially now that Google is warning customers that websites without https are not secure.

You will find that some web hosts’ servers are not configured to enable the use of SSL certificates and this should be checked before signing up.

7. Great email

When you are purchasing a hosting package, you should also check out the email service that is provided with it. You need to make sure that you can set up email accounts that have the same domain as your website (e.g. me@mywebsite.com) and that you can use a range of access methods such as POP3 and IMAP. In addition, you want a service that can be accessed anywhere online and which allows you to set up email forwarding, autoresponding and email newsletters.

You should also look to see how well the service providers protect your email. Do they filter spam, monitor for viruses and malware, and check to see if your email address has been blacklisted? If not, you may want to choose another provider.

8. Do you get a control panel?

A control panel is the place where you manage your website and server. It allows you to make changes to your site, add new features and install new software and updates. It’s also the place where you can upgrade your account and add new hosting services if needed.

Some hosts provide a control panel which only gives you a few options and restricts what you can do, forcing you to go through customer services to do things like add new email accounts or change your password.

Ideally, you are looking for control panels such as cPanel or Plesk which are user-friendly, offer lots of options and which can be learned intuitively.

9. Security is key

Web security is becoming more and more important and your choice of web host can make a big difference to how well your site is protected. You need a web host that can offer strong firewalls, intrusion protection, and monitoring to defend against malware. In addition, your host should provide a backup service so if your site is taken offline, you can restore it easily and in no time at all.

In this day and age, if a web host doesn’t provide robust security you should stay clear.

10. Choosing the right operating system

In general, most web hosts offer either a Linux or Windows operating system for their websites. The confusion for most new users is that whilst Windows is the predominant OS for home computers, Linux is the main choice for running websites. For many, there isn’t a choice as the software you use to create your website will determine which system you have to go with. So, for example, if you are going to build a WordPress website, you’ll need to choose Linux.

When considering your web host, first make sure that you know what software you will be using to build your website and then check that the appropriate operating system is available from that provider.

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What is Managed Hosting?

What is Managed Hosting? 

When I first heard about managed hosting, I thought it was more or less the same thing as dedicated hosting. In both forms of hosting, you have a server with your web host that is completely dedicated to your web site. Keep reading to find out why that’s almost the only thing they have in common.
Dedicated hosting has long been an option for companies whose web presence is such that they can’t put their web site on a shared hosting plan without someone taking a big hit. Maybe their web site is really huge, with lots of interactive elements; or perhaps they get a lot of traffic, especially ecommerce. There might be any number of reasons a company needs a dedicated server.

While a dedicated server can provide a growing company with the space, bandwidth, and reliability it needs, there is a potential downside (other than cost). With most dedicated hosting plans, the server is effectively yours – which means you handle most of the server administration tasks. For those who are technically knowledgeable (or willing and able to become so), this might not seem like a large hurdle. But the fact of the matter is that the skills required to create and run a successful online business are not the same as those required to be a decent server administrator.

Managed hosting sprang up as an additional option for companies with a strong enough online presence to require a dedicated server. With managed hosting, most of the server administration is handled by the web host rather than the company that owns the dedicated server. The service has been described as “a glorified dedicated server armed with extended features and support.” As with a dedicated server, you get your choice of operating system, routing equipment, network connectivity and complete administrative control. But a web host that offers the option of managed hosting also takes care of much more than that for its customers.

What is Managed Hosting? - Taking Care of the Details

So what kinds of administrative tasks do web hosts that offer managed hosting take care of for their customers? The list is almost endless. Reporting and monitoring is one obvious item. Load balancing is another, and is very important for any business with enough traffic to require a dedicated server in the first place. The web host may also offer to manage your server’s security, storage, and databases. Application management may be another useful service offered by the web host.

This might not sound like a lot, but think about what’s involved. Looking just at security and application management, a good web host who offers this service will handle the provisioning, testing, and deployment of security patches and upgrades, among other tasks. Managing the storage means more than just keeping up with the backups; it also means making sure your site’s content is stored in such a way that its performance meets your (and your visitors’) expectations.

A web host offering managed web hosting won’t necessarily handle everything, however. Some companies that offer this service will let you pick and choose which tasks you want the web host to manage, and which ones you will handle yourself. Working out an a la carte managed hosting situation can be a good compromise between the complete server control you would have with barebones dedicated hosting and handing over full control to the web host.

Depending on the host, you may also have the option of choosing a pre-configured managed hosting plan. You might find that this option works out better for your budget. A web host might offer several managed hosting plans with different levels of services. Either way, a web host that offers managed hosting should be willing to go well out of its way to make sure the configuration and service meets all your needs.

After all, you may have needs of which you’re not fully aware – or, if you’re doing business in certain industries, you may be far too aware of these needs. I’m talking about new government regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. If you’re a corporation or a healthcare provider subject to these regulations, then you already know how much of a struggle it can be to keep up with the strict standards they call for in the areas of record keeping, financial reporting, and privacy. A web host that offers a managed hosting service may be able to help you with this challenge.

What is Managed Hosting? - What to Look For

Obviously, if you have the kinds of concerns I discussed in the last paragraph of the previous section, you will want to make sure that any web host that handles your managed hosting is familiar with the relevant regulations. But let’s put that issue aside for the moment. Regardless of your specific situation, if you need managed web hosting, there are certain things you should look for in a web host. Use these points to compare web hosts, and help you decide which company has earned your business.

The first point to consider is the speed and reliability of the web host’s customer support. As a preliminary test, try sending an email to the web host before you sign up. If you get a fast, helpful response, that’s a good sign. Most web hosts who offer managed hosting will assign you to a specific representative to take care of all your needs; he or she should be responsible for only a handful of clients, so that each one receives a high level of service. Ideally, this person will be your contact during all normal business hours for both sales-related requests and technical support; with a really top-notch web host, you’ll also have a second contact person for all other times.

The second thing you should find out is the web host’s flexibility. Remember, you’re not there for the web host’s convenience; quite the opposite. Therefore, if you want to open a managed hosting account with a web host, the host should be willing to let you pick and choose from a wide range of services, and not force anything on you that you do not want or need. That flexibility should also cover how you pay for your web hosting; you might find it much more affordable to pay on a monthly plan rather than be tied into a yearly contract. A good managed web host should offer this option.

The third point almost goes without saying, since it’s the whole reason you’re looking for a web host: connection to the Internet. Your web host’s connection should be fast and reliable, and should ideally be backed up with an alternative connection in case the first one fails. You should be able to get information about your prospective web host’s Internet connection on the company’s web site, or if not, ask directly. It’s also a good idea to find out where the web host’s network operations center (NOC) is located. The United States is known for having the fastest and most reliable Internet connections in the world, so having a NOC in the US is a definite plus.

What is Managed Hosting? - Accept No Substitutes

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts here; nothing will substitute for actually doing the research on web hosts and the managed hosting options they offer. There really isn’t an “industry standard” package, price, or service level as far as managed hosting accounts; this makes a certain amount of sense, since many businesses require a custom configuration to fit their needs.

Likewise, there are certain things a really good managed web host will offer that simply can’t be substituted. Perhaps the key word here is “quality.” For example, a good managed host’s hardware will be top of the line, and backed by warranties and on-site service contracts. The software should also be the best in the field, and actively maintained.

The technical resources tell only half the story, though. A good managed web host’s greatest asset is its human resources. Remember, these people will be dealing with your equipment, and the lifeblood of your business (your web presence), much more often than they would be if you held a shared hosting account with the same company. For the technical people, find out whether they are certified, and if so, on what operating systems, applications, and hardware. For sales and customer support personnel, ask how many years of experience they have in the field and specifically in the web hosting industry.

Keep in mind that you’re putting a huge chunk of your business in the hands of this company. You need to be comfortable with the quality of hardware, software, and above all, people, who will be handling this trust. Can they provide you with the high level of efficiency you have every right to expect from them? If you can answer that question affirmatively, you have found the managed web host you need.

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Linux Web Hosting Overview

Linux Web Hosting Overview 

In this article, I will be discussing the finer points of Linux-based web hosting. First, I will go over the basics regarding what Linux is and how it can be used to run dynamic websites. I will then get into comparing Linux with Windows-based hosting, laying out the benefits and hopefully helping you, the reader, make a decision as to which is best for your situation.
Linux is a computer operating system much like Unix. It was created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. He came to develop Linux while he was working on a non-commercial replacement for Minix, a small Unix-like system, hence Linux's similarity to Unix, meant for academic use.

Torvalds wanted to exceed its 16-bit design and allow for more accessible modification and redistribution standards. Eventually, Torvalds came up with the Linux kernel. A kernel is the central component of most operating systems – it connects the application software to the hardware of a computer.

Linux source code is freely available to anyone thanks to its development under the GNU Project's General Public License. The GNU Project had the goal of developing a free and complete Unix-compatible software system. Let's be clear that Linux itself is not free; only its source code for the kernel and most software for Linux. Companies or Linux developers can charge for it as long as the source code is available for free.

The Linux operating system is capable of many things, including networking, software development, and being used as an end-user platform. It runs on nearly any kind of hardware from the basics (Intel and AMD) to the more obscure (Digital Alpha, Silicon Graphics, and PowerPC). Because of its low cost and high functionality, it has become one of the most popular operating systems, especially when it comes to web hosting, where it is widely regarded as the most well-known kind of web hosting next to Windows.

Every day, programmers and developers are fashioning Linux source code to meet their needs. Many projects are underway seeking to port Linux to a variety of hardware configurations. It's already used as an operating system for video game systems, like the Sony PlayStation series, and mobile phones. It runs on more types of computer architectures than any other operating system. This is because the kernel can run on architectures that were initially meant to use an operating system made by the manufacturer.

Go on to the next section to get a better description of how Linux can be used for web hosting.

Linux Web Hosting Overview - LAMP and Whatnot 

Before choosing what kind of hosting to use, the user needs to determine what will be required of his or her site applications. Keep in mind that web hosting is usually offered as part of your provider's Internet access plan, many times free of charge and of the Linux-based variety. Linux web hosting also presents a wide variety of software available for use. The most common configuration is the LAMP platform, which consists of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python.

The LAMP combination represents a solution stack (software components required to initiate a fully functional product or service, usually online) that can be used to support and run websites or servers. When put to use, they define web server infrastructures and the programming paradigm of developing software. It can also be used to launch a software distribution package. LAMP is popular because Linux is so cheap in itself, and it usually comes with the LAMP components, the first of which, Linux, is the operating system and has already been discussed.

Apache is the web server component of LAMP. It is an HTTP server and, like Linux, is free and open source software. It provides access to most websites on the Internet and is available for both Unix and Linux. It is the most widely used web server on the market today.

MySQL is the database management system used in LAMP. It is multithreaded and multi-user with the ability to give users access to databases by operating as a server. It has more than 10 million installations.

The programming languages used in LAMP can be either PHP, Perl, or Python. PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is mostly used in server-side application software. Perl is a script programming language similar to C and has features borrowed from shell scripting, AWK, and Stream Editor (sed). Python is a multi-paradigm (mostly functional, object-oriented, and imperative) programming language similar to Perl. (Sometimes Ruby on Rails is used in place of PHP, changing the acronym to LAMR.) These languages can be used with Windows-based web hosting, but they are used primarily on Linux web servers.

Please keep reading for a comparison of the two most popular kinds of web hosting, Linux and Windows.

Linux Web Hosting Overview - Linux vs. Windows 

When choosing the platform on which to host your website, it's important to know that it doesn't matter which operating system you run on your computer. You can choose a Windows hosting platform if your computer runs Linux and vice versa. Both servers support File Transfer protocol (FTP) in order to gain access to your web account and put your web page onto the server from your hard drive. Usually only Linux offers ssh or telnet access, however. Both are ways to open a window and manage files directly on the server, usually using Unix commands.

Knowing this, the main thing to keep in mind is what kind of site you are creating and how you intend to build it. If you intend to use any of the Microsoft proprietary technologies (e.g. .NET, ASP, FrontPage, Access, MSSQL, or Windows Streaming Media), then it would probably be best if you used a Windows hosting platform. Trying to run server-specific technologies on a different host can be difficult and expensive. Luckily, the majority of web technologies (e.g. PHP, POP3, MySQL) are supported by both platforms.

Regarding stability, Windows is often seen as being more unstable than Linux. This goes back to the Windows 95 and 98 operating systems that occasionally presented a blue screen when a bug occurred. Usually, this required the user to restart their computer, which is no big deal aside from being annoying. However, since 2000 and XP, which were designed for servers, Windows has grown to be more stable.

Linux has been known to run a little faster than Windows, in terms of performance. Although it's not a huge difference, Windows tends to run slower when more application processes are run on the machine. Perhaps this is because Windows likes to offer everything in one package, whereas Linux implementation is more flexible.

In my opinion, the most important difference between the two is the price (for I am poor, there I said it). Because Linux is open source, it is also low cost and generally seen as the cheaper alternative to Windows. Indeed Windows is, first and foremost, sold by a business. And it is the primary objective of a business to make a profit. Ergo, given Microsoft's quasi-monopoly status, they have a bad reputation in this department. It's true that Windows does cost more to set up and run on a server. But those merely looking to choose a hosting company will not be greatly affected (money-wise) by the non-open source environment of a Windows platform.

Hopefully this section was helpful in terms of making a decision between Windows and Linux web hosting. However, keep reading if you want to see this gruesome showdown come to a close.

Linux Web Hosting Overview - And the Winner Is... 

If your site is just a static HTML page and doesn't generate revenue, then Linux hosting is probably the best solution. In fact, server operating systems aren't even an issue with websites this basic. The type of server really only matters if you decide to add more complex, interactive features to your site. This is typical for most online businesses, in which case it's important to know what technologies your employees are familiar with. Just a reminder: ASP and ASP.NET were designed for Windows, while PHP and Perl work best with windows.

One major benefit of Linux is the fact that it's open source. I know, I already mentioned this, but I'd like to point out that because it is open to the public, bugs and defects can be pointed out and fixed more quickly than with Windows, which has the whole Microsoft bureaucracy that needs to be dealt with before any action can be taken.

Security is a concern for most businesses. Still, whether you're running your own server or using a web hosting company, security will always come down to the system administrators' capabilities. You'll want to make sure the administrators are highly skilled programmers rather than agonizing over what platform to use.

In the end, most individuals will probably choose Linux as their default option, mostly due to its popularity and well regarded security and stability. However, the differences between Windows and Linux are negligible. As I've said, it's best to know which options offered by the hosting server best fit with what you're trying to do. What operating system they use should be one of the last things that you consider.

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What is Cloud hosting? How does it exactly work?

The use of internet has increased tremendously from a decade now. Thus, the speed of the internet has become an important parameter while using it. Everyone wants high-speed internet with better security. This growing technology lead to the rise of Cloud hosting. I think, by now everyone might have heard about cloud computing. Still, many don’t know what is it? They don’t have any idea about how the files are stored in the cloud. In this article, I’ll try to explain you the concept behind cloud hosting and how it works.

What is cloud computing?

In the context of cloud computing, you cannot point any object and call it a cloud. It is an electronic network comprising of virtual servers, where data is stored on different components via the internet. So, the cloud refers to several such servers that are connected to the internet and can be leased as a part of software whenever required.

The cloud shares the load among the different servers connected in a network, hence, can provide you the high-speed internet.

The advantage of the cloud is – it has many distributed resources that act as a one which is often called as federated storage clouds.

Cloud and Internet –

Is there any difference between cloud and internet?

I think yes, but not much.

The internet is required for the cloud, but also, it is said that the internet is a mini cloud.

Let’s see how do they differ :

Internet – the Internet comprises of various networks which allow hardware and software communication for the data transfer. In order to work, the internet uses internet Protocol/ Transfer Control Protocol (IP/TCP) for the communication between different computers.

Cloud – Cloud provides resources like software, infrastructure, and platforms over the internet, that can be used as a service for different data accessing needs. The one who provides cloud services is called ‘service provider’ and the one who buys it is known as ‘subscriber’.

Basically, both – Cloud and Internet form the connection in order to establish communication between different systems.

As now we have learned about the basics of cloud computing, let’s move forward knowing, what exactly cloud hosting is.

Cloud hosting is the latest form of hosting that has become more popular over a few years.

The traditional method of hosting a website was to host it on a server in a data center. This server can be a shared one, on which multiple websites get hosted or a dedicated one, on which your website gets a separate space. But, overall the hosting principle is the same for both.

Cloud hosting is a bit different. Instead of storing your data on a single server, in cloud hosting, your data gets distributed among different servers at different places, and they all are connected. You can access your data through a virtual machine that has an access to the different servers across the cloud.

This may confuse you how the distribution of data on different servers can scale up the resources when required. So, for this, the distribution of power and storage capacity is controlled by the backend system.

The cloud server admin is able to log into the backend via terminal and can check CPU load of all machines. This process is called virtualization. Due to this, the resources required can be pulled easily and accurately.

Benefits of cloud hosting –

Cloud servers are beneficial over the traditional servers, as while opting for cloud hosting, clients are renting the virtual space and not the physical server space. So, the client can pay only when the resources are been used. It means, cloud hosting allows you to pay as per your need.

Other benefits are:

1) Scalability – In cloud hosting, the resources can be scaled upward and downward which makes it more flexible and ultimately, saves your cost.

2) Cloud servers are redundant. Means, even if one server goes down or fails, other servers will take its place and perform the task.

3) Pricing – In cloud hosting, you only pay for what you use. You don’t need to buy the ‘plan’ or pay huge amount for using the higher resources, if you don’t actually need them.

4) Security – The data is stored at multiple locations, on different servers. Thus, even if one server doesn’t perform, you have got the other server for your backup. There are different server protocols to handle the wide spread of data and it cannot be cracked that easily.

5) Customization – You can customize your data, as per your requirements. You can ‘ create – modify – destroy’ your data easily.

6) Load Balancing – As the data is distributed on different servers, one server doesn’t need to bear all the uploading or downloading of files. Hence, the load gets balanced and the speed of your system increases.

The drawback of cloud hosting –

Cloud hosting is a full proof solution for all your hosting needs. But, its major drawback is lack of knowledge.

How does cloud hosting works?

For each computer used in any organization, it needs a license to carry out the tasks like data sharing and for other complex work, machines with high processing power and dedicated equipment are required. This needs a huge capital. So, the substitute for this is ‘cloud hosting’.

The backend and frontend involves mostly logging into applications through web browsers. The backend provided by a cloud hosting service is in the form of SaaS (Software as a service), PaaS (Platform as a service) or IaaS (Infrastructure as a service).

Cloud hosting service uses the following technologies –

1) Hardware –

As a cloud hosting service does not use any dedicated server to store the client’s data, it uses high-end servers with high capacity and high-speed hard disks, along with the high capacity of RAM.

2) In public cloud models, the hosting is done on a virtual server that pulls resources from the other publicly available virtual resources.

3) This public network is used to transfer the data which is stored on a server that acts as a resource for the cloud.

4) All these public clouds include security measures to ensure that the data is kept private and won’t be affected by any malware.

5) Private cloud is more suitable from the security and privacy point of view. It uses ring-fenced resources like servers and networks that are located on-site or with the cloud service provider.

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Vertical Vs. Horizontal Scaling : Which Is the Right Option For Your App?

When there are a lot of users using your application and when your application is on demand, with the growing demand, it is also important to expand the accessibility, power and reach of your application. So what is the right move for your business? Should you scale vertically? Or horizontally?

What you essentially want to do is add more computing resources to your existing infrastructure to be able to cope with the demand. When you scale up (vertical scaling), you are incorporating more power to your existing system. Whereas, when you scale out (horizontal scaling), you are adding more resources by adding more systems to your network, thereby distributing the processing and sharing workload throughout multiple devices.

Why Horizontal Scaling Is Better Than Vertical Scaling?

One way to approach this is to think about what is at stake when you scale up in comparison to when you scale out.

Vertical scaling is not bad or illogical but what makes horizontal scaling a better choice is that when horizontal scaling is implemented, the user is not caught in resource deficit. Horizontal scaling lets you work with your existing pool of computing resources and adds more resources to your infrastructure. The best benefit is that when you scale your app horizontally, you get more elasticity.

You can easily scale your app horizontally and add more resources to it when your app is hosted on a managed cloud environment.

The benefits of horizontal scaling in a cloud environment include the following:

◉ Continuous availability

◉ Intuitive resource distribution

◉ pay-Per-Use concept

◉ Redundancy and elasticity

◉ Easy to size and resize as per your requirements

Here’s how horizontal scaling works for your app:

The most important benefit of scaling horizontally is that it provides the users the ability to increase the capacity/resources on the fly, therefore the functioning of your app is not affected. Want2Host cloud environment is intuitive and user-friendly, it facilitates the automatic changing of the application server nodes according to the resources used by your application. You can determine the minimum and maximum number of nodes allowed and you can also determine the conditions for adding and removing these nodes through the triggers.

Horizontal scaling increases the capacity of your application by adding many software and hardware entities in such a way so that they function as a single unit. With horizontal scaling, the resilience of your infrastructure is improvised because of the presence of multiple discrete systems.

You might have some prior experience in scaling when it comes to application deployment. The virtualization technology has simplified the process of scaling an application. Now, with the advent of cloud, it is possible to scale to infinity. You might have worked with some auto-scaling parameters based on the underlying system requirements like CPU, thread count etc. The question is – Can you scale your cloud environment to meet the demand? And the answer to this is adding of sufficient computing resources. Horizontal provides the perfect environment to take care of the growth of your app. If your app has high traffic ratio and if it is in demand, scale it horizontally to get more processing power and to achieve the faster functioning of your app.

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Domain Names & Hostnames

Introduction

When you use the Internet, you use domain name and hostnames all the time. These hostnames and domain names when put together become the Internet address that you search with. The domain name without a hostname is also the most common email address. This article will explore what hostnames and domain names are and how they are used. We will also discuss TLD's, or Top Level Domains, such as .Com, .Net, .Org, etc.

Domain Names

Domain Names are the unique name that identifies an entity, whether that be an single individual or a company, on the Internet. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts seperated by the dots. The leftmost piece is the most specific part while the right part is the TLD or Top Level Domain.. Lets disect a domain name so you can see what were are talking about.

Take the domain name want2host.com. This domain name consists of two parts. The leftmost part is the word that identifies the entity, in this situation its want2host. This is a unique name and there can not be any duplicates on the rest of the Internet that are used by anyone else. The second part, or the rightmost part is the TLD, or Top Level Domain. This is .Com which means that it is a commercial organization.

In the beginning there were only 5 Global TLD's that were recognized by everyone. These TLD's are discussed below:

.com

This TLD is intended for Commercial business around the world.

.net
This TLD is historically and is still used by Internet Service Providers.
.org
This TLD is intended to search the noncommercial community.
.mil
This TLD is restricted to use by the United States Military.
.gov
This TLD is restricted to use by United States Government Agencies.

As the Internet grew and expanded throughout the world, new TLD's were created to represent different countries. For example the TLD .uk is for the United Kingdom and .au is for Australia. As more and more domains were registered, available domain names in the above TLD's were hard to come by. Due to this more TLD's such as .biz, .info, .name were created to allow more people to register domain names that fit their needs.

Hostnames

Hostnames can be a confusing as they have a double meaning. The hostname of an Internet Address is all of the left most pieces of a full internet address if there are more than 2 parts to the address. If there are only 2 parts of the address, then the hostname is equivalent to the domain name.

Here are some examples:

Full Address	Hostname	Domain Name/Subdomain	TLD
www.want2host.com	www	want2host.com	com
want2host.com	want2host.com	want2host.com	com
www.google.net	www	google.net	net
my.www.want2host.com	my	www.want2host.com	com

As you can see from the examples the hostname can be many different things.

● If the entire address consists of only 2 parts, then the hostname is equivalent to the domain name.

● If the entire address consists of more than 2 parts, then the hostname is equivalent to the left most pieces before the first period.

To make things even more confusing, you can refer to the full address in its entirety as a hostname. For example, with www.want2host.com:

● want2host.com is the domain name.

● www is the hostname

● www.want2host.com is the hostname as well!!!

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What is a Dedicated Server Hosting and what it can do for your business?

What is a dedicated server hosting?

Dedicated hosting platform provides the user with dedicated resources and the user gets complete access to the server. As all the resources of the server are dedicated to one website, this hosting platform ensures maximum efficiency and reliability. Generally, people using a complex website prefer hosting on a dedicated server so that web applications and scripts can be managed efficiently. Dedicated server exhibits great power, that is also one of the main reasons why most of the eCommerce business owners consider dedicated server hosting as the perfect hosting platform.

In the case of dedicated server hosting, the complete server belongs to a single user, therefore, the user has the discretion of selecting the preferred operating system and control panel.

When is a dedicated server needed?

The situations when dedicated server hosting is the perfect option are mentioned below:

• If a website is said to have heavy traffic

• Multiple websites have to be hosted

• Critical applications are to be hosted

Less Overhead And Larger Return On Investment

A business looking forward to gaining a large amount of control over the business operations and the computing facilities will derive great benefits through dedicated server hosting. Dedicated servers define absolute security, and they are the ideal hosting solutions for the people whose websites generate heavy traffic and even for the websites that contain eCommerce applications. Just like dedicated servers are beneficial for the large websites, they also provide great utility to the small and medium sized business websites. Dedicated server hosting certainly involves a higher price, however with the features provided, it is a complete value for money.

Flexibility, control, and speed are the topmost features of dedicated server hosting. Imagine having a powerful hosting server all to yourself – no shared resources. In case you are operating a large website, steaming media, big database applications or if higher speed, reliability, flexibility, and security are required, then dedicated server hosting is the most efficient solution. If there are a large number of domains and websites to be hosted, the cost incurred per website dramatically reduced. You get complete control over the websites hosted on the dedicated server. In case you encounter higher traffic (approximately over 100,000 hits per day), there will be a drastic improvement in your website performance and this will enable you to withstand the competition and increase the profit margins.

Dedicated server hosting can result in saving money on a long term basis. Even if you are running your website on a shared hosting plan currently, you will get better utility through a dedicated server hosting solution. In most of the cases, there are set limits on the amount of bandwidth and disk space that can be utilized per month. In case you go beyond these limits, you might have to pay extra cost or think about an upgrade.

Investing in dedicated server brings about long-term gains as the monetary resources can be focused on other crucial aspects of the business expansion. If you are not sure about investing in the dedicated server hosting platform, take some time and consider the amount that you’re paying for your current hosting plan, plus overages and the amount that you are likely to spend for getting additional hosting resources for supporting the website and other applications.

A dedicated server hosting plan provides with higher limits and better service. By investing in dedicated server hosting once, you are actually saving money on a long terms basis.

When should you consider the upgrading to a dedicated server?

It is essential to check the website statistics in order to determine the website traffic and the resources utilized. You must upgrade to a dedicated server in the following situations:

• Sharp increase in the website traffic

• Downtime to the website or slowing down of the website

The best thing about this hosting platform is that since server administration facilities are provided, the server can be configured in accordance with your requirements and your website’s server usage can also be optimized. Having this privilege will enable you to allot more bandwidth and space to each area of your Website as needed.

While selecting a dedicated hosting platform, you will come across two types of dedicated hosting platform – managed and unmanaged. Preferably you must always opt for a managed hosting platform where the server is monitored and managed by the web hosting company. The web hosting company will take care of operating system installation, security software and control panel, application installation and regular backup facility.

All you have to do is manage your website content and all the other factors will be taken care of by the web hosting company. The most crucial factor is uptime and that is very well taken care of through the resources provided by the dedicated server and the technical support offered by the web hosting company. If you are planning to expand your business, even in that case dedicated server hosting is the best hosting platform as it provides the perfect platform for business expansion.

Dedicated server hosting will surely provide you with long term gains and maximum business efficiency will be ensured and thereby profitability can be ensured.

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Understanding a Web Server and Types of Web Servers

A program that uses HTTP for serving files that create web pages for users in response to their requests that are sent by the HTTP clients of their computer is called as a web server.

If any server delivers an XML document to another device, it can be a web server. In simple words, a web server is an Internet server that responds to HTTP requests for delivering content and services.

Let’s take an example, if you are working on your computer, browsing your web and a message pop ups from your friend that “I had just read a great article at the following URL: http://www.want2host.com/”.

So, you will insert this URL into your browser and press enter. That’s it!

The web server on which your website is based in the world doesn’t matter at all as the page you have browsed immediately appears on your computer screen.

A web server is never disconnected from internet. Each of the web servers has a unique address that comprises of a series of four numbers between 0 and 255. These numbers are separated with a period (.).

With the web server, the hosting providers can manage multiple domains (users) on a single server.

A web hosting provider rents the space on a server or cluster of servers for people to create their online presence with a website.

Types of Web Servers

There are mainly four types of web servers – Apache, IIS, Nginx and LiteSpeed.

Apache Web Server

Apache web server is one of the most popular web servers developed by the Apache Software Foundation. Open source software, Apache supports almost all operating systems such as Linux, Windows, Unix FreeBSD, Mac OS X and more. Approximately, 60% of the machines run on Apache Web Server.

You can easily customize an apache web server due to its modular structure. Since it’s an open source, your own modules can be added to the server when you want to make modifications to suit your requirements.

It is highly stable as compared to other web servers and the administrative issues on it can be resolved easily. It is possible to install Apache on multiple platforms successfully.

The Apache’s latest versions offer you the flexibility to handle more requests when compared to its earlier versions.

IIS Web Server

A Microsoft product, IIS is a server that offers all the features such as Apache. Since it’s not an open source, adding personal modules as well as modifying becomes a bit difficult.

It supports all the platforms that run Windows operating system. Additionally, you also get good customer support, if there is any issue.

Nginx Web Server

Nginx is the next open source web server after Apache. It comprises of IMAP/POP3 proxy server. The significant features offered by Nginx are high performance, stability, simple configuration and low resource usage.

No threads are used to handle the requests by Nginx, instead a highly scalable event-driven architecture that uses small and predictable amount of memory under load is utilized. It has become popular recently and hosts about 7.5% of all the domains globally. Many web hosting companies have started using this server.

LightSpeed Web Server

A high-performance Apache drop-in replacement, LiteSpeed (LSWS) is the 4th popular web server on the internet and is a commercial web server.

When you upgrade your web server to LiteSpeed, you will experience improved performance that too with low operating cost.

This server is compatible with the most common Apache features such as .htaccess, mod_rewrite and mod_security.

It has the ability to load Apache configuration files directly and work as a drop in replacement Apache with almost all the hosting control panels. It can replace the Apache within 15 minutes without any downtime.

LSWS replaces all the Apache functions which other front-end proxy solutions can’t do to simplify the use and make the transition from Apache smooth and easy.

Apache Tomcat

An open source Java servlet container, Apache Tomcat functions as a web server. A Java program that expands the capabilities of a server is called as a Java servlet. Servlets can respond to any types of requests but they most commonly implement applications hosted on web servers. These web servlets are Java equivalent to other dynamic web content technologies such as PHP and ASP.NET. Sun Microsystems donated Tomcat’s code base to the Apache Software Foundation in 1999 which became a top-level Apache project in 2005.

Released under the Apache License version 2, Apache Tomcat is typically used to run Java applications. But, it can be extended with Coyote, so that it can also perform the role of a normal web server that serves local files as HTTP documents.

Often, Apache Tomcat is listed among other open source Java application servers. Some examples are Wildfly, JBoss, and Glassfish.

Node.js

Node.js is basically a server-side JavaScript environment that is used for network applications such as web servers. It was originally written by Ryan Dahl in 2009. Having a smaller market position, Node.js runs 0.2% of all websites. The Node.js project, managed by the Node.js Foundation, is assisted by the Linux Foundation’s Collaborative Projects program.

Node.js differs from other popular web servers because it is mainly a cross-platform runtime environment for building network applications with. An event-driven architecture is applied by Node.js which is capable of asynchronous I/O. Due to these design choices throughput and scalability are optimized in web applications which helps to run real-time communication and browser games. Node.js also helps in understanding the difference in web development stacks, where Node.js is clearly part of the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript stack, as opposed to Apache or NGINX which are a part of several different software stacks.

Node.js is released under a mix of licenses.

Lighttpd

Pronounced as “lightly”, Lighttpd was initially release in March 2003. It currently runs approximately 0.1% of all websites and is distributed under a BSD license.

Lighttpd stands unique due to its small CPU load, low memory footprint, and speed optimizations. An event-driven architecture is used by it and is optimized for a large number of parallel connections, and supports FastCGI, Auth, Output-compression, SCGI, URL-rewriting and many more features. It is a popularly used web server for the web frameworks such as Catalyst and Ruby on Rails.

There are also some other types of servers as below:

Mail Server: In a mail server, you get a centrally-located pool of disk space to store and share different documents in the form of emails for network users. All the data is stored in a single location and so, administrators need to backup files only from one computer.

Application Server: It acts as a set of components which can be accessed by the software developer via an API defined by the platform itself. These components are usually performed in the environment similar to its web server(s) for the web applications. Their main job is to support the construction of dynamic pages.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Server: A separate control and data connections are used by the FTP between the client and the server. It is possible for the FTP users to authorize themselves in the form of a username and password.

However, they can connect using anonymous names, if the server isn’t configured to allow them. For transmission security, the username and password need to be encrypted using the FTP and SSL.

Database Server: A computer program that offers database services to other computer programs or computers with the use of client-server functionality is called as a database server. There are some DBMSs (example: MySQL) depend on the client-server model for database access. This type of server is accessible either via a “front end” that runs on the user’s computer where the request is made or the “back end” where it is served such as data analysis and storage.

Domain Name System (DNS) Server: A computer server that hosts a network service for offering responses to queries is called a name server. It maps either an addressing component or numeric identification. This is done by the server to give response to a network service protocol request.

These DNS servers primarily translate the human- memorable domain names and host names into the corresponding numeric Internet protocol (IP) addresses. DNS also helps to recognize a namespace of the Internet, used to identify and locate computer systems and resources on the Internet.

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Everything About The Concept Of Cloud Computing

Understanding the concept of cloud computing is very simple!

Think of everything you can do on your computer with your files and applications.

For example, if you need to find a text file, you can search, browse the folders, or even know where you are and go straight to it. Or, if you want to open an application or software, you click on the icon, it opens, you type what needs to be informed and it generates the information without problems.

Well, the concept of cloud computing is basically the same thing, with 3 small differences.

The capacity of cloud storage is huge! Your HD will never get crowded or slow.

You can access your files from wherever you are (just have internet). From home, at work, on the bus, on the plane or in a spaceship (if you have a signal), you access the document or application you want and the device you are using (tablet, smartphone, notebook, etc.).

Everyone can access the same files (if authorized by the author) and view, comment, and even edit (if allowed). Nothing to have a lot of repeated worksheets with old versions and duplicate documents, one on each machine.

Did this concept of cloud computing surprise you? Well, know that this is just the tip of the iceberg of everything it can offer you!

Let’s check out some other advantages of cloud computing and also explain a little better how it all works.

How the concept of cloud computing works?

Do not worry. Your company’s data and the information are not floating around, that’s not what they mean when they talk in the cloud.

In fact, giants of the information technology industry such as Google and Microsoft, just to name a few, have giant installations scattered around the world where they host your company’s files with complete security to prevent data loss or failure and access disruption.

You log in to these services with a password and you can save your files there, just as you do on your computer by dragging and dropping into a folder.

In most cases, there is an excellent search engine, an intuitive interface and easy to operate and saved files can be of the most varied formats and sizes.

But the advantages of cloud computing do not stop here!

There are applications in the cloud, called Software as a Service (SaaS), that you can use directly from the servers in the cloud, without having to install anything on your machine, check out:

The concept of cloud computing and software as a service

Imagine the example we gave about the software. Now, instead of buying software and installing on your company’s machines, using your own database and taking up huge space, think about doing it remotely.

The advantages are immense because all the employees who work with this will have access to a unified database, without duplication, with much fewer errors and can work from wherever they are.

Usually, these services are paid through a monthly subscription, but many of them offer a free version, for a limited time or with some functionalities less, totally free, is what is called Freemium service: “premium” quality for “free”.

Maybe you have not noticed it, but apps like Facebook, LinkedIn are Software as a Service.

Advantages of cloud computing

As you may have guessed, this concept of cloud computing only has advantages. Let’s list some of them so that you understand even better about this subject:

◉ Integration of teams, who can share and edit files together in a collaborative way.

◉ Mobility: Access files and applications wherever you are with various types of devices.

◉ Creativity and innovation: The more different opinions and diversity of ideas shared quickly, the better and more innovative results.

◉ Transparency: Information and documents are available to all those authorized for this and who need them.

◉ Agility and speed in information exchange.

◉ Security: The companies that provide cloud computing services follow the most stringent procedures and protocols on the market.

◉ Less costs: Nothing to have to buy huge servers for your data.

◉ There is no need to maintain systems and software.

◉ Automatic backups, no need to waste time on it.

◉ Updates are developed and made available automatically and without having to install them on each machine.

As you saw, the concept of cloud computing is here to stay. Today, more than a competitive advantage, cloud computing is the least expected of a modern enterprise that wants to make its processes more agile and efficient. This is a new way for entrepreneurs to approach Information Technology.

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What Is Web Hosting Overselling And How It Can Be Avoided?

Overselling is one of the common business practices that is prominent in many industries like travel industry, telecommunications industry, hospitality industry, IT industry etc. The technique of overselling is practiced for getting the maximum return on investment. The path of overselling is laid on the expectation that the customers will not take complete advantage of the resources available to them and they might cancel their services or bookings. The company sells more than the readily available resources and this ensures that the gap created in between the average use of the resources and the maximum allocation limit is filled. In some industries overselling is regulated and in case the customers are denied a service that they were expecting from the company, the company is liable to give compensation to the customers.

This is a grey area of businesses that is used for maximizing ROI. The practice of overselling also prevails in the web hosting industry and it has almost the same effects as that of the other industries.

What is web hosting overselling?

Overselling can be done for any web hosting type like shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting etc. Let’s consider the instance of shared hosting. In shared hosting many websites are hosted on one physical server and all the resources are pooled and distributed between the users of the same server. Even though every user is allocated a maximum limit of resources, the web hosting providers monitor the server usage on a regular basis and they know that all users are not utilizing the maximum available resources.

In reality, complete server resources are barely utilized by the users and if in case the server is under-allocated, the hosting provider will continue to add users to the server. In this case, the hosting provider is selling the resources that it no longer has, this is overselling.

Also Read: Top 10 Hosting

Web hosting overselling has become more prominent with unlimited web hosting packages. In an unlimited web hosting package, the web hosting provider does not define the exact amount of resources that wall be allocated to each client. Even though the hosting package is promoted to be unlimited, this might not be the reality. Having said that, there are hosting providers that offer genuine unlimited web hosting packages as well. Therefore, it is important to read the terms of service (TOS) of the web hosting company before signing up for any unlimited web hosting package.

The web hosting providers that practice overselling rely on the thought that users are not very wise. If the user’s website is up and running, the load times seem to be ok and there are no downtimes or outages, then the user will continue to be happy with the service. If overselling is done to the extreme, it can have harmful effects on the quality of service provided. Hosting more and more users on a single server (crowding the users) until the server can no longer bear the load will result in a catastrophic situation and there will be many angry customers who will no longer trust the hosting provider.

While overselling is a way through which the hosting companies try to get more return out of their investment, it is a risky move and can cause long term damage to the name and trustworthiness of the hosting company.

Why do web hosting companies oversell?

Even though the web hosting industry is highly lucrative, it is highly competitive as well. If we analyze web hosting overselling though a pure business perspective, we can relate to it as it is the last resort that can fetch a high ROI. But when you look at it from an ethical point of view, the practice of overselling is risky and not fare.

Web hosting companies have to recover the costs that are incurred for advertising and promotions, affiliate programs etc. and one way to do this without increasing the costs of the services provided is to squeeze the server resources as much as possible. From the affordability point of view, even though a web hosting provider is overselling, it is not that the customer is losing out on anything. Not all the web hosting companies that practice overselling are bad, but if overselling is not managed and stopped at the right time, things can get out of control and there are possibilities of servers getting failed and services getting degraded.

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Someone Registered My Domain – What Now?

Everybody is after domain names these days whether its for a website or just an email address to demonstrate credibility. A domain name shows ownership, helping to prove that you are independent of any free web hosting or email service. If you have a domain name in mind for your business, it would be a wise move to secure it before someone else does.

So what can you do if someone already registered the domain name you want? You generally have two options: come up with another name or try to purchase the domain from the owner. The results you get with the latter largely depends on why the domain name was registered. Domain speculators, more commonly known as cyber squatters, often purchase domains for the sole purpose of selling them off to the highest bidder. Believe it or not, some have made a lucrative business out of this practice. Companies have paid hundreds to millions of dollars for hot domain names. One example is Pizza.com which sold for $2.6 million this past April.

In some cases, domain names are purchased because a company or individual wants to establish a legitimate online business. The cold hard facts are that if someone has registered your ideal domain name, you may have no other choice but to go with something else. There are however, instances where a third option can be exercised. United States courts have mandated that trademark holders are able to claim specific domains even if someone else registered the name first. Assuming Toys R Us has their name trademarked for instance, if they run across a site using this for a domain name, they would be able to take legal action and seize control of it. If you experience something similar, you may be able to claim your domain which will also depend on what type of name it is and how its is being used by current owner.

Because .com reigns supreme on the internet, there is a good chance that your preferred name may not be available with this extension. In this instance, you might want to consider another top-level domain such as .org or .net. While these extensions don’t have the familiarity of .com, they still make solid alternatives. You also have other options as several alternative TLDs have been approved over the last few years. If you have to choose another TLD, be sure to read the accompanying explanations so you know just who qualifies for what extension.

Another option you have for registering your domain is to use an extension that associates with your country. Two of the most popular extensions are .de in Germany and .ca in Canada. The country of Montserrat sells its .ms domain for around $50 per year while domains in the United States can be registered with the .us extension at no cost. These domains are more likely to be available yet are not well known. Furthermore, domains with a us. extension are also required to include city and state extensions such as mycompany.detroit.michigan.us. If you are looking for a catchy name that is easy to remember, this obviously wouldn’t be the way to go.

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