Web Hosting

cPanel Makes Improvements to Support System

Last month, cPanel, maker of the industry’s leading web hosting control panel, announced that it would be making significant improvements to its technical support system.  According to the late November announcement, the company has expanded support in three critical ways:

1. Making a new live chat feature available on the company website: www.cpanel.net

2. Revamping its online discussion forums and dispatching technical support experts to monitor them on a full-time basis.

3. Providing technical support 24/7 via phone.

Once upon a time, cPanel’s main outlet for technical support was its web-based ticket system.  While efficient for the most part, this system was only available to customers during daytime business hours.  As we all know, technical problems have no schedule and tend to arise at the most untimeliest of moments.  That has all changed now as cPanel’s tremendous growth has forced the company to make drastic improvements in the support area.

Sean Richards, Technical Support Manager at cPanel, explained that because the software provider’s client base is growing so fast, expanding the technical support team only makes sense.  He hinted that it is the only way to provide its customers with the around the clock assistance they deserve.  Customers have also benefited from the increased size of cPanel’s technical support team.  Richards said that by adding a number of talented technical experts and seasoned veterans, expanding support for migrations, bug review, and direct API issues has been much easier.  He noted that enhanced support in many other keys will be critical for the upcoming year of 2010.

As we noted earlier, cPanel has also added live chat to its support system, a feature that can be accessed directly from the company website.  This new feature allows any existing customers or prospects to reach the customer service team directly from their web browser.  The staff provides immediate responds to matters concerning billing and sales questions in near real-time.  The cPanel live chat feature is available during normal daytime business hours.

The online discussion forums have always been one of cPanel’s most popular support outlets.  Even this channel has received a major overhaul.  Richards commented that customers looking for help will find the layout of the new support forum far more useful.  Among the enhancements is a designated area for users who would like to make feature requests, as well as improved access for mobile devices.  According to Richards, PDA and smart phone users can experience these enhancements from their mobile devices by visiting the cpanel forum at http://m.forums.cpanel.net.  In addition, an expert from the cPanel support team is now assigned to forums to address customer questions and concerns.  cPanel is hoping this will help the community by speeding up the response time on technical issues.

While cPanel has made improvements, its around the clock support system is still not without flaw.  The price for telephone support is based on a nominal fee per incident.  Fortunately, this fee covers however many calls it takes to resolve the problem at hand.

Five Simple Website Safety Tips

Google, Microsoft, and The New York Times are just a few of many big names that have suffered notable security breaches in recent times.  Hacking has become an industry all its own and there is a lot of money to be made for unscrupulous characters who are good at it.  While there is a good chance your website is safe and secure, there is also the possibility that it is vulnerable and open to a wide range of threats.  Unfortunately, many new customers have the presumption that just because they have signed up with a well known web hosting firm, they are automatically protected from a security breach.  They believe that the host will handle all the security measures while they sit back and simply maintain their website.  It is this type of thinking that could make you an easy victim.  In fact, your best defense against a security breach involves taking the necessary measures to protect yourself.

A Little Common Sense Goes a Long

While many security software solutions exist, some of the best ways to defend yourself can be summed up to applying common sense.  Here are five simple tips to help keep your website safe and secure:

1.) Smart E-commerce – If you plan to sale goods or services through a shopping cart, make sure that the software used is properly figured and secured.  If you do not possess this knowledge, bring someone on board who does.

2.) Password Protection – Use secure passwords for all of your website applications that require a login.  This goes for everything from your control panel to CMS software.  A good rule of thumb is to use a combination of numbers, letters and symbols, in addition to never using something that others can associate with you for a password.

3.) Monitor Your Server Logs – By checking your server logs on a regular basis, you may be able to identify strange or unusual activity.  Because knowing what to look for can be difficult, many software solutions exist that will do the job for you.  These programs analyze your log files and automatically send alerts if strange behavior is detected.

4.) Update Your Web Applications - An outdated web application is one of the most vulnerable points of a website.  Hackers are constantly working on new ways to compromise security so if your applications are not up to date, you could be exploited.  Also keep in mind that most updates consist of critical upgrades that address known security issues.

5.) Backup Your Website – Because no website is ever 100% secure, it would be wise to frequently backup your site and all the files its contains.  Don’t overlook this.  Not only do hackers target websites, but entire web servers.  If the server your site resides on is compromised, you could possibly lose everything you worked so hard to build.  Regular backups give you the assurance that your website data can be restored should a disaster occur.  Be sure to keep a copy of your backup in a location other than your hard drive just in case ill fate happens to strike your computer.

Five Steps to Owning a Thriving E-business

If you want to have your very own e-business, take note that there are several things that must be done in order to get up and running online.  Not to worry,  we have listed the five simple steps you can take to do just that.

Register a Domain Name

A domain name is simply a URL that acts as the name for your website.  You can register one with registrars such as Dotster, GoDaddy or Yahoo.  Registration is good for a year, but you typically have the option to register for up five years depending on the registrar.  A domain name doesn’t cost much these days as you can easily find them for under $10 per year.  When registering the name, think of something that will be easy for people to remember and one that perfectly suits your business.

Find a Web Host

If you intend to run your e-business through a website, then you will need to sign up with a web host.  Web hosting companies offer the service you need to create and maintain a website.  They offer the server that will serve your content and the connectivity that allows your site to be accessible by internet users.  There are thousands of companies that can provide you with this type of service.  What you have to do is perform the necessary reach to ensure you land a reliable service provider.

Site Design

Once you have registered a domain name and signed up with a web host, the next step is to create your website.  For this step, you essentially have two choices: hire a professional web designer, or build the site yourself.  Hiring a professional designer can be very expensive depending on the requirements of your website.  And while creating a website can be difficult for someone with no experience, many tools exist to simply the process.  There are a number of special programs that make it easy to create a website through a variety of templates and pre-built components.

Payment Method

If you plan to sell products or services from your website, then you will need to find a way to accept payments from your customers.  In order to accomplish this, three key components are required: a shopping cart, merchant account and payment gateway.  These components may be obtained separately or together in a bundled service.  For example, PayPal is a service that can provide you with a shopping cart, merchant account and payment gateway, everything you need to accept and process payments in a secure, and efficient manner.

Promote Your Site

Once your site has been created and integrated with the necessary features, it’s time to promote it to drum up some business. There are many ways you can go about promoting your site, including online advertising, PPC campaigning, and search engine optimization.  Everyone has their own preferred method, so it is up to you to find out what works best for your site.  Just remember that site promotion is critical, because without traffic, your e-business can’t survive.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Web Host

With so many hosting services available online today, it can be very difficult to decide on one. Even worse than the sheer number of hosting providers is the fact that all of them promise to be the best, making the process daunting and confusing. With that said, it is obviously not very easy to choose a web hosting provider, however it can be with the right guide by your side. Here we will discuss the most important features of a web hosting service, giving you something to base your decision on other than propaganda.

Stability

Professionalism and stability are extremely important attributes for a web hosting service to have. You want to make sure you are giving your money to a company that is going to be reliable and offer you all of the services you need without a hassle. The fist step in determining the stability and professionalism of a web hosting service is by contacting their customer support. If it takes longer than 24 hours for you to receive a response email then you know you are dealing with a company that doe snot pride themselves on their reliability.

Try calling your prospective hosting services one at a time and inquire about features such as bandwidth, uptime, and quality assurance. Ask them questions like: “What is done to ensure the security of my website?” Or “ Do you offer a money back guarantee?” If a company does not offer a money back guarantee then you can rest assured that their service is not really the “best.”  Also it is a good idea to find out how many employees they have and also if their customer support center is available 24 hours out of the day.

Performance

Performance is also an extremely important factor when considering a potential web hosting provider, especially if you run a large business website. Find out what kind of bandwidth they offer, how many domains you are allowed to register with them, what kind of server disk space are you allocated, how many email accounts you can have, and anything else that you think would be crucial to the success of your business. If you are going to be running an e-commerce then you may want to consider web hosting services that specialize in this field. Make sure they offer basic features such as shopping carts, SSL certificates, PayPal integration and merchant accounts. Without these essential features, your e-commerce site will be a complete failure and you will be susceptible to hacker attacks.

Popularity and Price

They say that the most popular services are not always the best, however in the web hosting industry this is not necessarily true. The more popular a web hosting company is, the more you can be assured of it’s ability to satisfy it’s customers. Signing up with new web hosting companies is very risky, and doing so should be done with caution. Most of the time, the most popular web hosting services will offer the best prices for the most feature-rich packages. The reason why this is possible should be obvious, as they are making a lot more money then the smaller web hosting companies and so therefore they can afford to offer lower priced packages for their users.

An Overview of Xoops CMS

Content management systems allow a webmaster to expand their website considerably, without the added stress of organizing the process manually. The greatest aspect of these content management systems is that they are user-friendly to the extent that even the most novice webmaster can master them within a few short hours.  One content management system that is particularly user-friendly is the Xoops (eXtensible Object Orientated Portal System).

Xoops is a free and open-source content management system.  It’s ease of use and feature-rich interface make it highly suitable for novice webmasters looking to enhance their website’s content quickly and easily. Xoops is also used by professionals to create corporate business websites and blogs. All that is needed to enjoy the power of Xoops is an Apache web server, MySQL and PHP. There are so many features that come with Xoops, it is hard to pin-point all of them within one article, but nonetheless the following overview will give you an idea of what you can expect when using this robust content management system.

The Control of Xoops

Xoops provides complete control of every administrative element, giving you the ability to set limits and grant access rights with certain users. This will allow you to keep bothersome users from posting irrelevant or obscene content. With Xoops you are the boss of your domain. Xoops also provides theme-based template systems that give users the ability to enhance their websites overall design. One extremely impressive and unique feature of Xopps is that it allows you and your users to change the design of web pages, depending upon the permissions granted to that user.

The Freedom of Xoops

As Xoops is an open-source software, it can be enhanced with as many add-ons and modules as you’d like, and over time a good programmer can turn this already incredible software into an unbelievable content management system. All modules and add-ons can be enabled, disabled, installed, and uninstalled through the extremely user-friendly module administration system. Xoops also offers extensive user management, allowing webmasters to locate certain groups of users via a wide array  search criteria. Webmasters can also let users send private messages and email through an easy-to-use template based messaging module.

The Flexibility of Xoops

Xoops is also supported by many users and developers worldwide. With programmers and developers that span across the  globe and countless supportive websites in just about ever major language, it is easy to see why the popularity of Xoops has exploded so quickly. Not only is their multi-lingual  support groups, but the program itself is also multi-lingual supporting many languages including Korean, Chinese, and Japanese among others. Xoops is also ideal for the webmaster looking to enhance their search engine optimization, as there are numerous compatible SEO enhancing plugins available. Using these add-ons will have your site indexed at a higher page ranking with ease, and it will make the process of search engine optimization extremely simple. Xoops has already won multiple CMS awards due to it’s amazing features, ease of use and extensive multi- lingual support.

Understanding Permission Types for Website Security

If you are running a website on a Unix or Linux server, it is important to know that many of your files and directories must be provided with the right permissions in order to function properly.   In the world of Unix-like platforms, the process of giving permissions is known as change mode or simply, CHMOD.  While you definitely want the files and directories of your website to work properly, it is also imperative to set the right permissions for security purposes.

CHMOD Permission Types

There are three types of permission in the Unix environment: Read, Write and Execute.  Below is an explanation on what each type of access means:

Read – This permission provides access that allows files to be read.  When applied to directory, it allows the names of files in a particular directory to read.  However, it does not disclose the type, size, permissions or any other information about the files.

Write - This permission provides access that allows a file to be modified.  When applied to a directory, it allows files in a particular directory to be modified.  This includes creating, renaming and deleting files.

Execute – This permission provides access that allows a file to be executed.  The execute permission must be set for shell scripts and executable binaries in order for them to be run on the underlying operating system. When applied to a directory, it provides access that allows files and subdirectories to be accessed, but not read.  Files and subdirectories can only be viewed if the directory that contains them is set to read.

CHMOD User Types

The above permissions apply to three types of users: the User, Group and Other. The User is the owner of the file and the one that has complete control.  The Group is the group of users that own the file.  This permission can be useful for a website that has group of people working on a project.  In this instance, you could give access to those users and restrict it from others.  Other refers to anyone that does not own in a file or belong in a group of users associated with the file.   So if you set a file to this permission, it will automatically affect everyone else.  For this reason, Other is often referred to as “the rest of the world”.

Defaults and Warnings

Files on a Unix server are usually set to 644 by default.  This simply means that the owner of the file has the ability to read and write to it, while everyone else only have read access.  Directories in the Unix environment are usually set to 755.  This means that the owner has complete authority over the directory while every else can only read and execute the files it contains.  One permission you definitely want to be careful with is CHMOD 777.  When applying this setting, anyone will have the ability to read, write and execute your files or directories.  This is equivalent to leaving your website open to the world and making it easy for hackers to compromise.

CHMOD Tools

While a shell prompt can be used to set permissions, many website owners choose to take the easy route by using an FTP client.  The CHMOD option can usually be accessed through menus or by hovering the mouse over a file or directory and choosing the correct option.  How you access it all depends on the FTP software.  In most cases, you simply check the properties, or enter the corresponding permission numbers in the provided text box to set permissions.

How to Choose Your E-commerce Software

Efficient e-commerce software is a must for the business who wants to sell products and services online.  Without the right tools in your possession, succeeding with your business endeavors will be difficult at best.  However, one must know what to look for in a software solution in order to obtain favorable results.

Types of Software

First and foremost, you should know that there are many different types of e-commerce software.  Recognizing this is important so you do not group them all into a single category.  What you want to do is choose a solution based on the specific needs of your business.  More than likely, your business has several requirements, so try not to limit yourself to a single application.  The good aspect is that most products on the market are quite diverse and allow you to accomplish a wide variety of goals.  For example, you have e-commerce software that comes equipped with a shopping cart, billing system, and other features needed to run an e-business with efficiency.

Cost of Product

You definitely want to consider the cost of any product before purchasing e-commerce software.  Some of these programs are free and inexpensive, while others are very costly.  Keep in mind that the most expensive product isn’t always the best solution.  Don’t make the mistake of believing something is better just because it costs more than what else is on the market.  Many vendors are counting on this and looking to bait you with their marketing ploys.  Establish a budget, find a few products that fall within that range, and stick to it.

Support Your Growth

The key to choosing e-commerce software is finding something that does exactly what you need it to do.  Also keep scalability in mind when making your decision.  You want your business to enjoy positive growth, so it would be ideal if you could find something that grows right along with it.  You could end up wasting a lot of money if you have to upgrade to new software every time your business experiences notable growth.  Purchase software that supports your in business in the presence, and can be scaled to support it in the future as well.

Finding the Right Solution

It would behoove you to devote quality research to finding e-commerce software for your business.  Learn about the warranty that comes with the product and most importantly, check the reputation of the software vendor.  If there is a free demo version available, give it a spin to see if the program lives up to your expectations.  This way, you can have an ideal whether the product is any good before spending your money on it.  You wouldn’t hire people to work for your company without first learning if they are qualified, right?  So why choose an e-commerce software without learning if it is suitable for your needs?

Conclusion

When taking the time to thoroughly evaluate the available products, you have a much better chance of coming out with e-commerce software that makes a perfect match for your business.  So determine your needs, establish a budget and get out there to find the ideal solution your business needs to thrive online.

Free Alternatives to cPanel

cPanel is clearly the leading control panel for server administration, resellers, and general website management.  However, this software is not perfect, and its shortcomings may warrant users to seek alternatives.  The two biggest drawbacks to cPanel is its status as a closed product that limits extendability and a license that is not very cost effective for smaller companies.  If you find the limitations or costs of this award-winning control panel to be a bit much, here are some free alternatives that may pique your interests.

Web-cp

An open-source solution, Web-cp is a derivative of Web://cp and picks up right where that project left off.  It utilizes a four layer module system that supports server, reseller, domain and email management, which is becoming standard functionality in many premium control panels.  And just like the original project, Web-cp is written in the PHP language so it should not put much, if any, additional stress on the server.  This control panel makes it a great option for the server that lacks power but still needs to run a great deal of add-on software components.

VHCS

VHCS is another free open-source control panel that makes a viable alternative to cPanel.  The feature list for this panel is impressive, consisting of support for server and domain management as well as extensive reseller capabilities.  VHCS is compatible with a nice selection of Linux distributions, including Debian, CentOS, SUSE and Fedora.  Perhaps the most unique aspect of this control panel is the fact that the software is written in a collection of compiled and interpreted languages, which gives it common capabilities and a little edge as well.  Its graphical user interface is written in PHP for web page support, its back-end daemon is written in C, and the engine is written in Perl to enable streamlined system management.  On the surface, VHCS seems to be a worthy free alternative to the mighty cPanel.

Webmin

Webmin is a free control panel distributed under an open-source license.  It is heavy on Perl programming and Spam Assassin in addition to several other applications one would expect from a good cPanel competitor.  Webmin also has additional counterparts that are also free, most notably, Usermin and Virtualmin.  Usermin is a more stripped down version that allows users to manage their webmail while Virtual Min, which comes in a free and paid version, is the control panel designed for resellers.  Boasting robust features such as cluster server management, Webmin is currently one of the most popular free alternatives to cPanel.

Considerations

When looking for a cPanel alternative, keep in mind that price is not necessarily the most important factor.  Whether you are out for something that is open or closed source, the product should be easy to use, well supported, and most importantly, efficient for your needs.  And while cPanel may not be able to suit every requirement, remember that it is number one for a reason.

A Closer Look into APS Hosting

APS is a unique hosting solution that offers some very unique features to the domain owner. APS (Active Server Pages) technology allows the design and creation of an interactive website to be completed via server-side scripting. Examples of interactive websites and/or features would be: forums, blogs, search bars, calendars, newsletters, email, surveys, polls, and hit counters.  Unlike HTML scripting, APS scripting will allow your website to be displayed equally on any web browser. The overall compatibility of APS hosting stems from the fact that the APS server decodes and translates the .aps info into .html info before it is received by the browser. This is the primary reason why it is called APS hosting, as it is more than just a type of scripting. In order to use .aps scripts, your hosting company must have APS servers available.

Finding an APS Web Hosting Service Provider

Even though most web hosts claim to support the majority of scripts out there, this doesn’t mean that they all support ASP scripting. ASP scripting is relatively new so it is important that you find a web hosting company that specializes in this area of expertise. Many times you can find out all you need to know form a companies FAQ page, however if you still have questions it may be best to call their customer support number for further inquiries.

ASP Server Details

ASP servers are Windows based virtual servers, much like  Microsoft’s Personal Web Server. While Windows Vista carries support for ASP servers,  XP Home Edition and Windows ME unfortunately do not support ASP scripts. However if your operating system does not support ASP hosting then it is still possible to take advantages of this kind of hosting, thanks to a program known as “Chili” made by Sun Microsystems. Chili allows users to enjoy the benefits of  ASP hosting even if they are using operating systems like Linux, AIX or Solaris, or even if you are using an incompatible server such as Secure Server, Red Hat, and Apache.

The Ease of Transition to ASP Hosting

ASP scripting is also strikingly similar to HTML scripting, so anyone who is familiar with writing code in HTML will have no problem making the transition to ASP scripting. In fact, ASP hosting is just as easy to learn as HTML, so even if you have no experience in scripting, ASP is still an option for you as long as you have a little bit of motivation and the right guide.  In fact there are many tools available online that will help even the most inexperienced programmers in building interactive web pages for their website. If your web hosting company does not currently offer support for ASP hosting, then you can rest assured that they will within the next few years, possibly even months. Due to it’s seemingly unlimited compatibility with web browsers, ASP hosting is quickly becoming the industry standard in web hosting. Switching to an ASP hosting service as soon as possible will ensure that your website is viewable to more users, and more enjoyable to your visitors.

The Power of Cube Panel

Cube Panel is a unique control panel application that makes managing your domain and server functions an extremely easy process.  While there are many control panels available, some of them being extremely popular like cPanel, Cube Panel carries all of the same features of the other more popular control panels. In fact, Cube Panel is better than most of these control panels in some areas.  Here we will discuss just how capable Cube Panel is by highlighting some of it’s key features and attributes.

Compatibility

Cube Panel supports all three major operating systems; Windows, Linux and Unix. This is a very important feature because even the famed cPanel is not capable of this!  Even though Plesk is compatible with all three of these operating systems as well, it is not nearly as efficient as Cube Panel in it’s basic functions.  This attribute is listed first because it alone puts Cube Panel ahead of nearly every other control panel.

Simplicity Combined With Power

Even though Cube Panel is loaded with incredible features, it is also extremely easy to use, with a maximum learning curve of only a few hours. The user-interface is lined with simple navigational screens that make using this control panel a breeze even to the most novice users. Almost every feature you would need is located conveniently on the main page. You can also find crucial domain statistics to the left in a well designed statistic panel. Even though Cube Panel licenses cost $100, they are so confident in their control panel that they allow user to trial the Lite version for free. This free version is still highly capable of carrying out all of the basic functions of an efficient control panel.

Domain Statistics and Options

There are two main domain option categories; Domain Limits and Domain Permissions. The Domain Limits category concerns all of the options that regard your the limits placed on your domain at any given time. Here you’ll find information like how much free disk space you have, how many email accounts you can have, and how much bandwidth your account has been allotted.  On the other hand, the Domain Permissions area displays information concerning your hosting account, such as the kind of programming support available to you, and your FTP access details. Both of these features allow you to monitor the status of your hosting account, so it will be easy to recognize when an upgrade is needed.

Easy Backups

Of course backing up your data is very important to the existence of your website, and Cube Panel makes doing so very easy. Cube Panel contains an integrated backup utility that when used regularly will prevent you from ever having to worry about losing data due to unforeseen events. Backing up data in Cube Panel is as easy as clicking the “backup data” button.  After you have clicked the “backup data” button you can then select from a list of options that will allow you to make a one time backup or arrange for weekly/monthly backups to occur automatically.

The features above make Cube Panel a formidable contender for the best control panel on the market today, and it would not be surprising to see it competing with cPanel in the near future.

Should You Buy Domains in Bulk?

If you feel that you need more than one domain, you may want to consider purchasing them in bulk.  This is the case whether you are an investor, or just someone who wants a greater value for their dollar.  So what’s in it for you?  Many benefits, as we have outlined below:

Cost Savings

The most obvious advantage to buying domain names in bulk is the cost savings you will enjoy.  Okay, we all know that domain names are not very expensive these days, going for less than $10 at most registrars.  However, almost all services provide generous discounts to customers who make their purchases in bulk.  Even twenty or thirty cents can add up to a several dollars and result in a great value for your money.  Depending on your requirements, you may come out with a deal that is equivalent to a couple of free domain names.

Time Savings

What is the next best thing to saving money?  Saving time.  After all, registering each domain one by one can be very time consuming.  By choosing to purchase in bulk, you can simply register all of your domain names at one time and be done with it.  Not only will this help you save time on the registration process, but also on renewals.  Consumers are more pressed for time than ever these days.  If you run an online business or maintain a couple of websites, you probably know this all too well.

Reduced Maintenance

Far too many domains are lost because the owners simply do not know they are up for renewal.  Of course it is there responsibility, but a more efficient management system would make this far less likely to occur.  Domain registrars offer all sorts of features to make sure you can secure your web presence by renewing your registration on time.  No more creating a spreadsheet and performing tedious manual maintenance. You can now purchase bulk domains and rest easy by knowing that managing and renewing them is a piece of cake.

Important Factors to Consider

There are some things you need to know before purchasing domain names in bulk.  For example, how many domains do you have to purchase to qualify for a discount?  Is there a certain minimum or maximum required?  These factors and others must be considered before giving the registrar your hard earned money.  The overall value you obtain will largely depend on the company you sign up with.  Even bulk purchases can turn out to costly if the registrar can’t be relied on.

Conclusion

If you require multiple domains for any variety of reasons, you can save yourself a lot of money and grief by purchasing those names in bulk.  Take note that finding the best deals may require you to get a little investigative.  Sometimes these discounts are not advertised and therefore, you may not find out unless you inquire about them.  In the end, purchasing domain names in bulk could turn out to be something that not only helps you save time, but also helps boost your bottom line.