Dedicated Servers for Ecommerce Websites

If you are currently engaged in any facet of ecommerce, even service sectors, a website makes up a great deal of your business. Therefore, it is a safe assumption that you pay for hosting your website in some fashion. If you do not already have a dedicated server, perhaps you should revisit the decision for the best hosting options for your business.

What is a Dedicated Server?

Most web hosting companies set up accounts on a shared server. You essentially share the total hard drive and bandwidth allowance with many others. This may not be the best hosting option and can present many problems such as security and traffic bottlenecks. On a dedicated server, the server is completely yours, and there are not other websites utilizing the same machine. The server is dedicated completely to you and your business.

Advantages of a Dedicated Server

Several advantages can make a dedicated server the best hosting choice for you. These include:

Server Security – Dedicated servers increase the security of your website tremendously. There are no other webmasters using the same workspace, and simple mistakes or user error that might occur due to shared machines simply no longer existent.

Storage Space – As the entire server is dedicated to a single customer, there is tremendously more storage space available for website pages, images, and features.

Data Transfer – As with storage space, there is a great deal more bandwidth available for data transfer. Traffic to your site no longer competes with traffic for other websites reducing bottlenecks and slow server response time.

Control Panel – Having your own server offers additional opportunities for control. Sharing a server indicates that you have only limited control of server features and functions, but with a dedicated server, webmasters have greater control and access to the day-to-day functions of the host.

Software Options – Dedicated servers also allow more software and script options. The server has greater storage capacity for this information, and there is no need to align coding or features with other users of the same machine.

Disadvantages of a Dedicated Server

The sole disadvantage of a dedicated server is the cost. It is only logical that obtaining an entire server versus a piece of a shared server would be more expensive, but the rate often makes webmasters baulk. It is important to consider the fee as related to the total cost of shared server space when determining if a dedicated server is the best hosting option for you business, despite cost. A single credit card safety incident or an exorbitant bill for bandwidth overage should level the playing field almost immediately.

Am I ready for a Dedicated Server?

Websites grow at different rates, but as the success of a business grows, so does the need for additional hosting capacity. If you are approaching the limits of your current hosting company or have concerns about safety, such as storing credit card information on the same server as others or simply if your current company is the best hosting company for your needs, it is definitely time for a dedicated server.

Web Hosting Guide

Looking for and buying a reliable web hosting solution is an imperative decision. Whether you are doing online business, providing important information or sharing views online on a common interest, you need a reliable web hosting service that will allow online visitors to browse through your site effortlessly. It is only powerful web hosting that allows your website to be downloaded, browsed and updated in minimal time.

Trying to identify a web host can be a very daunting task especially when there are so many available nowadays and all of them promise one thing or another. Hence, it is crucial that before you jump in, you do your own homework or research for selecting the most appropriate web hosting company for your website.

With the changing trend of technology, web hosts are also changing. Most of them provide various services in addition to their basic ones. Say if you are running an e-commerce website, then of course you need high end security and a medium through which you can manage your web content efficiently. There are many tools that facilitate this, however if your web hosting service is not reliable then you can miss out on serious revenues and prospective clients.

Once you have determined and identified what web hosting services you require for your online business, it is then time to enlist certain web hosting features and options you must consider. You can find below some of the most important aspects of web hosting:

Disk space and bandwidth

You should know how much space your website would need and approximate data it will generate. When we talk about disk space, well, it’s actually the amount of storage assigned to you by the web hosting provider. The bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. In case your website has a lot of graphics then you would require higher storage area and greater bandwidth.

Programming tools and the OS

You need to be sure that your website is uploaded through secure servers using the latest Operating System. Most web hosts run on a UNIX based operating system, usually Linux or BSD. For the running of various web applications you would require ASP, .NET, MS SQL, SBS and for these you need a Window based host.

Pricing Aspect

You need to compare pricing before you finalize a web hosting service. Some may provide you better services but at low pricing. It’s not always true that the best hosting services are always the most expensive. Do your research and then finalize.

Support, Security, Guaranteed uptime and Backups

Security and backups are two very important aspects that you need to consider. You should always choose a web hosting service with reliable telephone support. Some also offer 24/7 support through local or toll-free numbers. In case you are running an ecommerce website then security is one aspect that you just cannot discard. Your web hosting service provider should be such that they can monitor things round the clock and ensure no unwanted intruder can hack your site. After all it’s your website and it is really worth looking into this aspect of web hosting.

Web Hosting Instructions

Web domains. Hosting. Content. These are the three top priorities for any webmaster, regardless of how experienced they are. Unfortunately, these three essentials often leave people in the dark, as there are dozens of companies offering the “same” packages for different prices. With an overflow of routes you could take, it can get mind boggling to figure out the appropriate steps. For this reason, instructions are essential if you are looking for a smooth path.

The first thing you should do is make a list of what your current goals are. If you are making a professional site, you’ll need a secure and reliable host. For instance, if you know that your website will reach thousands of people within a few months, perhaps you should find a web hosting package that includes extra bandwidth. You need additional space, especially if visitors are constantly going to be accessing your website. On the other hand, if you are just experimenting, you should stick to the free hosting packages. Geocities or Angel Fire certainly provides a basic package, which will leave you satisfied. After all, you do not need bells and whistles if you aren’t serious about the website in the long run. If you do end up changing your mind, you can always switch services and transfer your website.

Once you have made your decision, you need to find a reputable service. While searching for hosting companies on Google may seem appropriate, it often stems bad results. It is important to remember that just because it is listed on a search engine, doesn’t mean it is 100% safe and legit. Therefore, if you do find a potential company, you should get a second opinion. It is usually smart to join a webmaster related forum like SitePoint to discuss such matters. This way you can hear about other people’s experiences and what companies to avoid. Additional references from friends or family would also be ideal.

After picking a host, you will need to provide your credit card information. For many users, 3ix.org is a favorite, as it rarely charges you much. Surprisingly, there are discount coupon codes you can acquire through the internet, to also help you with your initial fee. Due to the fact that you have to include your private information, it is absolutely crucial to make sure you find a legit business. The last thing you want is to lose any money. Therefore, you should google their name and check out the reviews from fellow users. This will most definitely make all of the difference, especially if you find out that they are a fraud.

For website beginners, web hosting doesn’t have to be difficult or even too time consuming. As long as you find reputable sources, second opinions, and a great easy to use package, you are well on your way to website success. With these instructions in mind, there should be no frustrations or year long debates on what company to use. It is quite simple, once you get in the webmaster’s frame of mind.

Simple cPanel Tutorial – Backing up your Website

Anyone with a cPanel hosting account will need to learn how to get the most out of their control panel. cPanel is one of the most popular hosting control panels which is why it is utilized by many hosting companies. This is because it’s very easy to use to control and adjust your hosting package.

This tutorial will show you how to back up your website using cPanel. Backing up the site is important as it protects it. Even if the server crashes, you will be able to recover your website. In addition, it is important that regular backups are taken whenever you change your website.

Why Backup?

No matter how old your site is, it’s important that you back it up. Websites are very time consuming to develop which is why you need to ensure that it is backed up regularly. Before making any changes to your website be sure to perform a new back up just in case the updates do not go as planned.

Logging into cPanel

The first step is to log into your cPanel account. This is normally a case of visiting www.yoursite.com/cpanel if this is set up to take you to the cPanel hosting page. When you visit your cPanel URL you will need to enter your username and password to log in. This will normally be given to you when registering and could be the same as your ftp information.

If you have lost or don’t have your login details then you should contact your host. They should be able to email these to you very quickly.

When you have logged into cPanel a new window will appear. This will have a plethora of icons.

Backing up

To start the backup process you should select the backup icon from the maintenance section of the cPanel. By clicking on this a new backup window will appear. Enter your email address and click on the “Generate Backup File” button. Do not navigate to a new screen while the backup file is generated on the web server.

When the backup is complete you will then be alerted by email. Click the link on the site to download the backup file to your computer.

You should store all of these backup files on your computer. Try to keep three previous backup files on hand so that you always have something to go back to even if you have a problem with one of the files.

Restoring Backup

If you want to restore a backup, this can also be performed through the cPanel. Restoring is simply a process of following the instructions and waiting patiently.

VPS Enterprise Hosting vs. Reseller Enterprise Hosting

If you are a dedicated online business owner, then you know that expansion is the key to continued success in any niche. The moment your business falls victim to inertia is the moment that all progress comes to a halt, and in most cases profits begin to regress. The expansion of an online business directly correlates to the expansion of their web hosting capabilities and the size of their hosting plan.

The largest companies typically utilize a dedicated hosted plan, however for the budding entrepreneur with a decently sized domain portfolio, an enterprise VPS or reseller hosting plan will do just fine. If you’re having trouble deciding which plan type would be best for your business model, you may want to consider the following information.

Server Stability

In terms of server capabilities and sheer performance, the most robust VPS hosting plan offered by a hosting provider will usually outdo the most powerful reseller plan offered by the same company. This is because VPS hosting plans are design to accommodate a seemingly infinite level of expansion, especially in the cloud environment. Web hosts understand that VPS plans are used by business owners that need the resource for their own sites, whereas reseller plans are used as a means to obtain wholesale server resources in order to resell them for a profit. Nonetheless, some webmasters do utilize their reseller hosting plan for their own needs, and if you’re planning on doing so it is important to ensure there is enough left for your clients. The VPS hosting environment is generally more conducive to uninterrupted server power than reseller hosting because of the way the server resources are pooled from various server partitions simultaneously.

Price and Performance

Unless you own and operate an exuberant amount of sites, or several extremely large sites, you probably won’t notice a significant difference between the performance of an enterprise VPS and an enterprise reseller hosting plan. However, once you reach a certain point, the VPS will eventually outperform the reseller plan as it is overloaded with bandwidth and data. This is because the capabilities of a reseller hosting plan are usually capped at about 1500 GB bandwidth and 200 GB disk space, while VPS enterprise plans provide up to 3200 GB bandwidth and 250 GB disk space. Also, it is important to note that the server hosting the reseller hosting plan may tend to slow down more because of the various control panels and client accounts that may be utilizing the server’s resources.

Reliability and Ratings

In terms of  reliability, although there is no conclusive evidence to support this, it seems as if the VPS environment would fair better in the face of massive traffic spikes. This is because the server hosting the reseller hosting plan is more likely to be congested with segmented partitions for each of the reseller’s clients. However, this may not be true f the reseller account is being used solely for the benefit of the webmaster. As far as ratings are concerned, VPS pans ins general are more popular and more desirable.

The 4 D’s of Purchasing a Web Host Plan

Whether you’re a seasoned professional with an expanding online business or an entrepreneur launching an e-commerce venture, understanding your web hosting needs is essential for success.  There are numerous factors to take into consideration before opting to agree to the terms of a web host’s contract, however, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when assessing your web needs.

Do Your Research

As any successful businessperson can testify, doing your homework is the fundamental foundation to making wise business decisions.  Before deciding on a final web hosting service, read both industry and personal reviews for a collective unbiased opinion.  Also, perform a quick search for a Wiki company profile entry.   Once you’ve narrowed your choices, thoroughly browse the web host’s website, review basic tutorials provided and make mental notes of customer service support options available when troubleshooting issues arise.  The cliché is true; time is money.  Perhaps no more evident when your website is down for only a couple of hours – valuable resources are quickly swindled!

Databases

Understanding the product or service you provide to customers is important, however, it’s also essential to identify with your web host in order to efficiently accommodate visitors’ needs.  When shopping for a web hosting package, select an option that offers the tools you need without all the unnecessary add-ons tagged with a ridiculously expensive price tag.   If your site is dependent upon blogging, forums, or virtually every Web application in demand, ensure your web hosting package offers a sufficient number of available databases.  Many entrepreneurs soon discover creative juices are stifled and expansion capabilities are thwarted once reading the small print to find the standard server packages usually doesn’t include more than five databases.

Domain Names

Another similar issue is a limit on domain names available on a shared server.  Although perhaps not a large obstacle if you’re launching a new website or testing the waters in a specific market niche, however, chances are your domains will be maxed out once you decide to demonstrate your company’s flexibility attempting to use a standard shared server plan.   When browsing for an effective web host, opt for one with at least 20 domains.  Ideally, the more you can add, the better!

Developer Support

After doing your homework, you should be able to determine if a specific web host offers advanced developer support to keep your website ahead of the fierce competition in today’s global economy.   Long since the days of FrontPage extensions, advancements in developer tools seem to currently travel at the speed of light.  With that in mind, you should never settle for a web host plan that offers less than the following developer tools:  PHP, MySQL, CGI, .htaccess and Python.

A little time initially invested into assessing your web host’s needs proves to be a worthwhile return on investment!

Website Makeover for HostWay

HostWay is one of the world’s largest web hosting and web-service providers who recently released a new website showcasing their cloud offerings. The site also details their new hosting plans for small businesses. The new website presents numerous changes including:

• New products
• Product categories
• Easy navigation
• New design scheme

The new website presents fresh products and services offered by HostWay. These products are grouped into specific categories for easy navigation so customers will be able to quickly identify features and make a purchasing decision. Finally, the new design scheme presents HostWay’s focus on a more mature and professional customer base that demands flexibility, reliability and value.

Hostway was founded in 1998 and has worked its way to being the world’s largest web hosting provider. With a presence in 14 countries and more than 700 employees, HostWay offers many services including, domain name registration, ecommerce solutions, shared hosting solutions and colocation hosting. The company serves 1.4 million websites consisting of 600,000 customers across the globe.

HostWay recently also recreated their portfolio of products with the most impressive being FlexCloud sites. FlexCloud sites offer scalable, flexible and reliable services for small businesses and ecommerce stores. Furthermore, FlexCloud Servers provide clients with a higher level of service with enterprise-grade solutions that utilize a global infrastructure mixed with cloud technology.

In the future, the company will continue to be dedicated to innovation and product alignment with customer needs. With the recent emergence and advancement in cloud technology, the company is keeping stride with customer necessity and the competition. This technology should allow them to grad an additional large chunk of the internet market.

The FlexCloud Sites and Servers are going to be scalable and on-demand for customers anywhere at any time. Add reliability, performance and the flexibility of a public cloud and you have a winner. Furthermore, this technology offers resource availability and optimal allocation while customizing all solutions to that specific business. These excellent features will be paired with state of the art data centers.

HostWay has not only greatly improved their website, but they have added next generation products that will be utilized by customers for many years to come. The addition of flexibility, performance, reliability and expansion will result in many more clients choosing HostWay as their primary provider. In the future other web hosting providers will add this technology to keep pace with HostWay’ fantastic technological advancements.

The Unique Uses of Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is one of the most expensive high-performance hosting types you can purchase, and has a reputation for being an ideal solution for small and large online businesses alike. The flexibility and power that you receive with a dedicated hosting plan is unprecedented by other hosting types, and even though the costs is significantly higher, hosting companies do not require you to pay for the service in advance, unlike shared hosting plans which require annual payments. Thus, contrary to popular misconception, the startup cost for a dedicated hosting plan is often only slightly more than that of shared hosting (the least powerful hosting type), depending on whether or not there are setup fees involved.

If you’re having a hard time deciding whether dedicated hosting is worthy of the additional monthly expense, the following unique uses of dedicated hosting may help you make your decision.

Software Development and Utilization

Many web developers and webmasters use dedicated hosting specifically for the control and flexibility of the server resources,  because unlike other hosting plans, dedicated plans give you the freedom to adjust the software configuration of the server. This means you can install proprietary software that helps you automate tasks as aw webmaster, including those pertaining to search engine optimization. While VPS hosting also gives you this freedom in some cases, Virtual Private Server partitions are not as powerful as an entire dedicated server. Because of this freedom and flexibility, dedicated servers are the hosting type of choice for software developers and SEO specialists.

Building Massive Site Portfolios

If you’re planning on building a massive empire of web sites that can be operated within the same hosting control panel then you may want to consider the benefits of dedicated hosting. Dedicated servers are capable of hosting hundreds of sites simultaneously without problems, especially if you select a premium plan. Although cloud VPS hosting can give dedicated hosting competition in this regards, dedicated hosting gives you a more stable expense each month hat can be factored into a budget, whereas cloud hosting bills on a per-usage basis that can be very difficult to predict. If you want infinite expandability and a flexible payment  structure then go with cloud hosting, but if you want reliable monthly expenditure and predictable server capabilities then choose dedicated hosting.

Storing Databases

Dedicated hosting gives you an unprecedented amount of storage space for storing databases that can be the life of your web sites, even if you already have other hosting plans you can utilize dedicated hosting to store your backups, and even back up your computer’s hard drive to the server.

Why Hosting Companies are No Longer Offering eCommerce Hosting Plans

Although hosting types like VPS and dedicated hosting are amongst the most commonly used by online businesses, many online storefront owners have utilized eCommerce hosting in the past because it provided features that were specifically designed for online retail business. For example, eCommerce hosting plans often advertised the inclusion of shopping cart and payment processing utilities that made it easier for your customers to place orders, and gave you the ability to accept a wide range of payment types for greater profits.

If you’ve recently been shopping around online for an eCommerce hosting solution, then you’ve probably noticed that virtually all hosting providers have stopped offering what are known as ‘eCommerce’ hosting plans, and instead are now providing ‘business class’ plans instead. This industry change has come as a surprise to some, and has caused confusion in others. The following information attempts to explain why hosting companies are no longer offering eCommerce hosting plans, and what is replacing eCommerce hosting.

Marketing Mindset

In actuality eCommerce hosting plans, as they were called, were actually geared towards novice webmasters that needed an all-in-one solution for their online storefront aspirations. However,as major booms in the hosting market have declined slightly, and hosting companies have amassed a more steady and experienced client base, many people have stop purchasing eCommerce hosting plans. In essence, all of the features offered with eCommerce hosting plans can also now be found in business class, VPS and dedicated hosting plans. These features include shopping carts, payment processing capabilities, SSL certificates and store builders, all of which are being offered with conventional premium hosting plans. In fact, there is no discernible difference between eCommerce hosting plans and business class plans.

Concept of Competition

One of the reasons why few are offering eCommerce hosting plans anymore is because of the concept of competition. When one hosting provider makes a change to their marketing and sales material, it is not uncommon to see all of the other major players in the industry follow suite. This is because hosting companies have to maintain certain similarities in order to compete. The term eCommerce is not as appealing to some as the term ‘business class’, hence the change. Likewise, when a company changes their prices, their competitor must also change their pricing in order to compete on an even level. It is not clear which company decided to eliminate eCommerce hosting plans first, but it is evident that the change was initiated by one pioneering hosting provider at the top of the chain, which inspired the competition to do the same.

The New eCommerce Hosting

Since web hosting providers realize that the majority of webmasters are actually engaging in eCommerce, it became counter-intuitive to market eCommerce plans, which appeared as gimmicks to the trained eye. As more people began to notice the benefits of dedicated servers and VPS hosting, it became obvious that eCommerce hosting was simply a hyped up version of shared hosting with a few added features. Now, since eCommerce hosting plans are no longer being marketed by the major companies, business owners are turning to more powerful solutions like cloud VPS and dedicated hosting.

Content Management Systems in Major Corporations

Content managements systems are taking over the business world. Content management systems look to accomplish many goals in the corporate world including:

• Faster updates for web pages
• Maintain standardization rules
• Easy-to-use interface
• Provide web access to web page content owners
• Creates accountability within the organization

To remain competitive in business, updates with new content, security patches and new features needs to be uploaded quickly with no issues. Content management systems help facilitates this within web pages. Content owners have the ability to make direct changes, completely bypassing a work order. Within many systems, the requestor can send a request through a tool for approval by the content owner.

Content management systems function by using a template. Therefore, specific areas of web pages cannot be changed by the content owner. Since these changes cannot be made, this standardizes the look and feel of all web pages on a specific site. If the content owner(s) could make changes, it may not fit with any other sites in the network thus looking unprofessional.

Additionally, a content management system features an easy-to-use graphical user interface. For instance, WordPress makes creating a website so easy, anyone that is able to turn on a computer can create content. As content management systems evolve, the technology becomes easier to use.

In most major companies, web developers do not write content for web pages. They create a format that is web ready while content owners create the information to fill in that format. Using a content management system, the content owner has the ability to access different areas of the site to publish the content they have created. For instance, directly onto a website or a staging server.

Finally, these systems can create user accounts with specific permissions which results in tracking and thus accountability. Therefore, only certain sections can be edited by certain individuals. All changes made to the system are tracked so the responsible party can be identified. Also, there are many change management tools that will allow the administrator to back out any errors.

Most major corporations feature their information on some type of content management system which streamlines content creation. Since they are easy to navigate and it is easy to create and publish content, most organizations opt for their implementation. Although there is always a group of information technology professionals monitoring the system, content management tools systems practically run themselves.

Following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 provides numerous parameters related to scripting. Unfortunately there are currently no tools that assist with the testing of how well a script adheres to these guidelines. However, there is one program currently in development that may overcome this issue: Snork.

The minimum requirements for using this software include Windows 95 or better and have at least Internet Explorer 5. Also, the installation of ScriptX (an ActiveX control) is mandatory. This gives scripts the ability to link to various events from different applications. For instance, it is possible to use JavaScript to monitor JavaScript.

To use the Snork tool, download it from the Internet and run Snork.wsf. This will open a copy of Internet Explorer at which point you must navigate to the specific URL you are looking to test. When you use a specific page, no links will be extracted. To view the actual report, enter “process:report” in the URL bar of your browser. If you are using an XML validator, enter “process:validate” in the bar. Each URL is added to a floating  bar at the top.

For additional assistance, there is an example page that comes with the Snork pack. Do not visit the page with scripts enabled. There is also a subsequent report example that can be generated. There are a few scripting issues the Snork program currently tests for including:

• Automatic location changes
• DoubleClick event handlers
• JavaScript protocol links
• Content in alerts
• Mailto forms
• Onchange in specific boxes
• The action being performed at specified time intervals
• Statusbar text changing
• onMouseOver devices
• Automated window opening
• No submit buttons on forms
• The writing of content through the document.write command

There are many additions that need to be made to Snork. For instance, there is no support for iFrames. Also, there is a sole reliance on the Internet Explorer  for JavaScript and HTML processing. However, some of these proprietary scripts may have temporarily been removed for testing purposes.

This is an extremely necessary scripting tool to provide an accurate measure of how well a script or website adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. As new builds and updates are released for Snork, additional useful features will be added to ensure consistency as the standards are upgraded and change. If you utilize scripting in your daily activities, this is an important tool to acquire to ensure compliance.