Editing DNS Information in cPanel

cPanel boasts one of the easiest to use interfaces in the web hosting industry. This is one of the main reasons for its continued popularity. Therefore, it is simple to edit DNS zones without the hassle normally associated with manually editing the files. Manual editing is typically prevalent with other web hosting control panels. However, cPanel automates this task making it much easier for the user.

Editing DNS Zones        

The first step to editing a DNS zone is to log in to cPanel. Next, navigate to the “Domains” section which provides two options: “Simple DNS Zone” and “Advanced DNS Zone”. Then select a specific domain name from the drop-down menu and enter the name and address for an A-record or CNAME record.

A-records are primary records that link to the server’s IP address thus translating the numeric address to an alphabetic user-friendly domain name. For instance, www.cpanel.com will have its own A-record. CNAME records are the aliases for subdomains. For example, mail.cpanel.com could also point to www.cpanel.com. Once you are finished entering the information click “Add a Record” or “Add CNAME Record.”

Editing Advanced DNS Zones

For the Advanced DNS Zone features there are three types of records that can be added: A, CNAME and TXT. The last record is specifically used with miscellaneous entries such as SPF records. To add a record here, enter the Name Type (A, CNAME, TXT), TTL (Time to Live) and address. To complete the desired changes simply click “Add a Record”.

Creating MX Records

cPanel also allows users to create MX (mail) records. These are located in the mail settings. For instance, if you are configuring a cloud email, you must add the MX records and CNAME records to be successful.

To add an MX record you must first navigate to the “Mail” section and click “MX Entry.” Next, select your domain and then “Local” (you mail server), “Backup”, or “Remote” (cloud mail server) mail exchange. To add the record, input the order in which the servers will be used beginning with “0” and the destination of the remote server or domain. Finally, click “Add New Record” to make the desired changes.

The process of configuring DNS information is much easier in cPanel than in other web hosting control panels. Once you become comfortable with the interface and system functionality, this procedure should be a breeze.

Does Cheap Web Hosting Really Exist?

Perhaps it’s the million dollar question attached to a thrifty price tag. The short and sweet answer is yes: cheap web hosting really does exist. Website owners looking for a hosting provider may follow the initial question up with an inquiry was to whether or not the services are watered down due to the inexpensive monthly hosting fees. The answer is absolutely not. The secret to finding reliable cheap hosting providers, however, is opting for a host with a proven track record of delivering affordable and quality hosting services depending on your needs. Continue Reading »

eCommerce Affiliate Tax Law War

There is currently an ongoing state-by-state battle over tax collection by state governments with regards to purchases made on affiliate websites. Recently Amazon warned thousands of affiliates that their revenue streams would be eliminated if a tax bill passes. A few short hours following the announcement, Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into a law. This indicates there will be tough times ahead for online business owners.

Amazon Released California-based Affiliates

Immediately following the signing of the bill, Amazon dropped affiliates. On the other hand, the American Bookseller’s Association saw this as a victory against companies like Overstock.com and Amazon to ensure fairness across the Internet. This bill simply indicates that U.S. states are extending the bill to include areas of eCommerce that it did not previously address.

States Scrambling for Money

The bill was clearly enacted because states are scrambling for any extra cash they can acquire. As a result, brick-and-more websites that did not clutch the many affiliate opportunities Amazon created have less online competition than ever. Also recently, specific states have passed laws that expand the definition of physical presence which includes eCommerce websites with many affiliates such as Amazon as Affiliates.

Amazon Following the Rules

Amazon is not attempting to avoid paying sales tax. Amazon obeys the state laws that specifically require companies to collect sales tax in the states they have physical locations. The company has locations in Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota and Washington. Therefore, they collect sales tax from those states.

Fighting Irrational Laws

Amazon is fighting individual states who are attempting to enforce irrational legislation. For instance, in North Carolina the company fought in conjunction with the ACLU to keep customer records private when tax collectors demanded private client information.

Colorado Affiliate Legislation

In 2010, Colorado also passed a law that required online retailers such as Amazon to bill Colorado residents on the amount they owe in sales tax from web purchases. The company provided summaries of purchases to state financial offices. Like in California, Amazon eliminated Colorado affiliates.

Many eCommerce and online legal experts feel this law is unconstitutional and therefore should be resolved at the federal level. Amazon has stated that it would support a national sales tax system that is much more organized and can be enforced. The current system of state-by-state implementation is going to cripple major economic powerhouses like Amazon and other online retailers.

Amazon Hosting added Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Amazon recently announced on their Web Services blog that users of the Electric Computer Cloud (EC2) infrastructure will be adding a service that has the ability to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux featuring support from Amazon and Red Hat. This is further proof that Amazon continues to expand its AWS offerings.

Compatible Software

The EC2 service was primarily based on the Windows operating system with a limited number of Linux distributors such as SUSE, OpenSolaris and Oracle. The implementation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is only the beginning. Amazon has plans to run Red Hat’s Fedora, Ubuntu, Gentoo and Debian in the near future. This will greatly expand their products and services.

Version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

According to the Amazon blog post, users will be able to launch 32 and 64-bit versions in all AWS regions of the infrastructure. This task will be accomplished using versions 5.5, 5.6, 6.0 and 6.1 of the software program RHEL. Additionally, Amazon’s Quick Start Wizard now includes a variety of images that clients can utilize and launch immediately.

Members of Red Hat’s Cloud Access Program

Current and future members of Red Hat’s Cloud Access program will be able to use their existing licenses to utilize the numerous cloud versions. Other clients will have access to RHEL On-Demand version immediately with Reserved and Spot instances to be available in the near future.

Cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

The price for RHEL instances has been set at 14.5 cents per hour with an increase as the number of hours and the size of the instance rises. Clients running RHEL on the EC2 platform will be able to access a continuously updated repository operated and supported by Red Hat. Also, customers of the AWS Premium Support program will be able to utilize customer support from Amazon and Red Hat.

Advantages of the Integration

Amazon running Red Hat Enterprise Linux gives users a reliable cloud-based Linux infrastructure to deploy a variety of applications. RHEL on EC2 offers the flexibility, scalability and cost effectiveness of Amazon EC2 combined with the reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and support from AWS Premium services. The two programs present seamless integration and are compatible with most Amazon web products.

Linux has always been a secure, reliable form of web hosting. Amazon provides innovative web hosting programs that utilize the best technology in the business. Therefore, the marriage between these two programs will produce successful results.

Australian Hosting Provider Sells after Crippling Hack

Australian-based web hosting provider Distribute.IT and its subsidiary Click n Go have recently been acquired by the Netregistry Group, a much larger competitor. The acquisition occurred only a shot time following a massive systematic attack that completely crippled the company’s operations.

Sale Price not released

Neither firm has confirmed the financial agreements or customer numbers but it is clear that Distribute.IT desired to continue its services following the attack. Distribute.IT’s customer base will be given the choice of moving their current services and plans to the Netregistry Group.

Statement from the CEO of Netregistry

The CEO of Netregistry expressed his sympathy to the employees of this incident. He further stated that it is of the utmost importance to Netregistry that Distribute.IT’s customers are aware of the extent of effort Distribute has gone to rectify the damage and be operational as quickly as possible. Distribute.IT has maintained an excellent reputation over the years which is the result of being reliable and secure.

Billing and Payment

While assessing the billing and payment history of Distribute.IT, NetRegistry further announced that it will honor all payments for previous hosting and give all Distribute customers a free hosting service in the near future. This would allow current customers to make the transition to NetRegistry servers and ensure all email accounts are working correctly.

auDa Support

The transaction between the two firms is supported by domain administration agency auDA which has been working closely with both parties throughout this incident. The sale was quickly negotiated. Up until the night before the sale, the Distribute.IT group was working closely with support companies who will assist with the migration of its colocation clients to the NetRegistry facilities.

auDA also released a statement confirming that Distribute advised that its hosting services were the target of the mayhem and not its domain name services. Luckily, Distribute does not store customer credit card information in its databases so no sensitive client data has been compromised.’

Micron21’s Involvement

Micron21 will be the largest support company during the migration. Distribute.IT recommended to its users that they move to Micron21 for the resumption of services for colocation and email hosting. Micron21 representatives noted that they may hire some of Distribute.IT’s staff once the acquisition of the company is complete.

This attack hit the company so hard that they are working tirelessly to ensure clients can utilize their services. The acquisition of Distribute.IT by NetRegistry sounds like it will be a successful move for all parties.

A Bundle of Content Management System, Cloud Computing and eCommerce

Three of the hottest current topics on the Internet are content management systems (CMS), cloud computing and eCommerce. Each week a variety of new products are released delivering an increased level of selection while many companies are prospering in these areas of expertise.

Unfortunately, when attempting to create a website, the number of choices can become an issue. Once the site is functional, most webmasters have used a CMS and third party payment vendor. In many instances, some additional functionality is ignored.

Luckily, a new system has been developed to combine the many different aspects of a website. Entitled, “INZU”, the software is acomprehensive solution that will easily meet the changing requirements of small/medium businesses. Also, INZU is cloud-based so developers are not required to learn a CMS templating language. The information is accessed through an easy-to-use API that makes code for all developers easy to understand.

First established as a payment provider for digital downloads almost four years ago, the system has developed to regularly incorporate new features. Toward the end of 2008, the first attempts to create a cloud system were introduced through the availability of production information. Next, mail orders were available through the basic API. The success of the initial system proved that INZU customers with their own shop had great success.

In 2010, beta testing on the system was complete and the CMS was introduced in 2011 to a wide audience. Along with the CMS were new features and add-ons for the software. The concept of a cloud-based CMS is new to the industry but offers several advantages over installed systems including:

• No updating
• No installation
• No programmatic templating
• Availability of multiple access points for information
• Works well with current CMS systems
• Small site footprint

The site owner can easily make changes by logging into the CMS Admin Suite on inzu.net. From here, the owner can add new products, manipulate galleries and images, create site templates and so much more. Additional features included in the CMS software include the tagging of entries, SQL style calls and a versatile articles section.

The development of this software is going to greatly assist website owners and eCommerce retailers by providing a high level of convenience at a low cost. Stop by the INZU website today to learn more about this content management system bundle.

Integration between MailChimp and Orchard CMS

MailChimp recently announced the integration of its system with the Orchard content management system as a method to provide a simple path for website owners to track email signups and continue building distribution lists. Emails naturally tie in with all CMS’s creating a strong path for web publishers to forgo a conversation with readers and potential customers.

Pinaola’s Involvement

Pianola, which is based out of the United Kingdom, created the MailChimp signup form and released it to the Orchard supporting community. Developed by Microsoft to utilize ASP.NET MVC, Orchard is a newly released open-source content management system with a large community of followers, developers and publishers.

A Statement from Pianola

Pianola lead developer for the project released a statement relaying how easy it was working with ASP.NET MVC and the knowledgeable individuals from the community. By contributing the MailChimp module to the Orchard community other developers will have the opportunity to use it in the future. Pianola enjoyed the content management system so much that they are building other sites using the platform.

Signup Development

The signup was much easier to create because there was no need for hard coding directly to the website. Instead, the content management system allowed for the development of a reusable module that was released to the community for integration upon completion.

Pianola Application

Pianola is a newly launched application that provides tools for bridge club managers and players. The software allows managers to maintain their members list which is located in a single place, publish results, upload play data to the national bridge organization, manage accounts and issue new memberships.

Players can use the application to search for partners, track, analyze and record their own performance and view personal history. Other features include, sharing, comparing and discussing their game with additional players online.

MailChimp Company Information

Currently supporting over 825,000 subscribers worldwide, MailChimp integrates with a variety of third party applications such as Facebook, Eventbrite, SurveyGizmo, WordPress, Salesforce, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, Google Analytics and Twitter. The company sends out 1.75 billion emails per month. The integration of the platform with Orchard will allow for seamless email marketing and publishing.

This integration with an incredible content management system such as Orchard should significantly assist with organization and performance. The MailChimp module is expected to greatly improve with the use of this content management system and knowledgeable community of developers.

Why URLs Shouldn’t Be Shorten

Everyone at times becomes annoyed with the effort it takes to type in a mile-long URL address, however, shortening the website address may save time for some, yet it’s more perplexing and confusing to others and hampers marketing strategies. So, the question is:  When, if ever, is it appropriate to shorten a specific URL?

Although there are numerous free shortening URL services such as bit.ly, TinyUrl.com, and ow.ly that cut the length of elongated web addresses and even offer limited customizable URLs, mostly conveniently for micro-blogging such as posting Twitter updates due to the restrictions of a 140 character length.  While many tweets do include shorten versions of lengthier URLs, it’s always best to be resourceful with characters to convey a coherent message to avoid any confusion for followers.

Disadvantages of Shorter URLs

Just as one website owner argues the advantages of shortening a URL address, others adamantly oppose the position citing several very valid points.  Perhaps the greatest marketing drawback of a shorter URL is the potential of losing your company’s brand.  The majority of professional websites begin with a recognizable and unique domain name that customers quickly become familiar with after only a couple of visits.   If the URL is shorter, the uniqueness quality is lost as well as the potential for successful promoting and branding position in a specific niche.

Another disadvantage of shortening a URL is the simple fact it confuses new visitors, prospective sale leads and of course, existing customer base in terms of e-commerce ventures.  It’s important to remember when setting up your website to keep it as user-friendly as possible.  Visitors and customers want quick and easy access to information with the ability to bookmark favorite pages without digging through history files to retrace visited websites without valid URL indicators.

Website owners interested in shortening URLs should keep in mind a couple of other concerns.  The first being the fact that tweaking URLs make them more susceptible to hacker attacks and even click stealing.  Another con is that if the chosen shortening service used goes financially under, all associated website links also go permanently offline.  There can also be a short term issue with URL shortening services when the service goes temporarily goes off-line due to user overload or other server nuisances.

Conclusion

Although many web owners opt to shorten long URL addresses, others remain steadfast on the originality of long domain names.

Web Hosting Servers Seized by the FBI

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently seized several web hosting servers from a data center resulting in a large number of servers to go down or be transferred to another site. The agents confiscated three racks of servers from a data center facility in Maryland which is operated by DigitalOne, a provider headquartered in Switzerland.

Seized Servers

On the seized servers was the DigitalOne homepage, popular real estate blog Cubed and restaurant blog Eater in addition to many other smaller sites. These were all affected by the outage and are currently inaccessible. Another popular bookmarking site, Pinboard, was also affected but managed to transfer several pages to the backup sever and is still available.

Statement from Pinboard

Pinboard released a status update stating that their web hosting provider was raided by the FBI who seized several racks and other equipment. The company was unsure as to whether their server was confiscated or whether the equipment had just gone down. Pinboard further noted that they were running on a backup server with limited capabilities but all bookmarks remained in tact.

FBI’s Contact with DigitalOne

A representative from DigitalOne noted too many online sources that the FBI was interested in perusing the files of one specific client. DigitalOne is not happy that the bureau seized the servers of many clients. Instead they should have pinpointed the specific client and confiscated that server.

The CEO of DigitalOne provided the FBI with all necessary details as to how to find servers in their data center linked to the specific IP address they were tracking. Unfortunately, the agents also confiscated many other unrelated pieces of equipment. The identity of the actual DigitalOne target has not yet been released to the media.

Response from DigitalOne Representatives

DigitalOne believes the FBI’s work was extremely unprofessional and has resulted in the company being unable to restart many of their own servers hence the reason their website is down and the customer support is unavailable. Apparently the bureau was hot on the trail of LulzSec, an international hacking group that was said to be hosted by DigitalOne. Shortly after the equipment was seized, one man was taken into custody in Essex, United Kingdom.

LulzSec Information

Emerging in early May 2011, the group instituted a rampage of network intrusions and DDoS attacks on corporate and governmental targets such as the CIA and Serious Organized Crime Agency. The Twitter account, LulzSec, noted that the arrested party was only mildly associated with the group, at best.

The Launch of the Savvis Markets Infrastructure

Savvis, an industry leading managed web hosting provider, recently announced the launch of the first phase of Savvis Markets Infrastructure which enables financial organizations to utilize customized information technology solutions. Savvis was recently acquired by CenturyLink, a telecommunications company, for stock and cash totaling $2.5 billion.

Creating a Flexible Commercial Model

The Savvis Markets Infrastructure will allow users to utilize flexible solutions from within a commercial model. As a result, clients will be able to tailor information technology needs by incorporating a range of capabilities such as colocation, managed and cloud-based hosting. This will provide enough storage, computing power, network services and a high-level of security.

Advantages of the Platform

The web hosting community will benefit from this launch because of the cost-effective connectivity directly to marketplace data, trading partners, execution venues and service providers throughout Savvis’ globally managed, high performing, low-latency network. The system is transparent allowing different parties to view various aspects of the financial organization thus improving communication.

Savvis’ Extensive Data Network

The recent launch will introduce a new commercial model for financial service providers. Future scheduled releases will deliver an enhancement of tools and features. Currently, Savvis boasts 32 data centers across the glove with low latency connectivity through over 200 exchange and liquidity venue feeds. This allows for some of he highest performing data centers available.

Experience with Financial Entities

Savvis has extensive experience with regards to traditional equities and derivatives exchanges, foreign exchange, alternative trading venues and fixed-income electronic communication networks. Therefore, the experts are well aware of the common hardships and limitations faced by modern financial firms from a systematic standpoint and have implemented them into the infrastructure.

Furthermore, Savvis Financial Systems was recently awarded a $9.8 million contract by the United States Federal Election Commission. In early June 2011, NYSE Technologies released a cloud-based platform for the financial industry, more specifically financial traders. This is further evidence of Savvis experience with the financial marketplace and how they can improve companies in the same industry.

The launch of this innovative software package should assist the financial industry with streamlining many processes while providing the other elements required for a successful company. Being that Savvis has experience in the financial market, this platform will cater to those needs and be implemented successfully. The first phase should eradicate the majority of bugs in the system allowing for a clean infrastructure to be implemented in the future.

The Solution to Web Content Management Systems

The most important aspect of a content management system is ease of use. The key for organizations is to be able to use the software that has been implemented in the most efficient manner possible. However, this presents the question, when selecting a content management system, what factors comprise ease of use?

Integration with Organizational Goals

The first consideration is that the web content management system must be a good fit for your organizational goals. For instance, engaging customers online and offline to reach out to them using the easiest possible method is critical to the success of the business. Knowing who exactly will be using the content management system, the tools necessary for success and the communication channels are a must.

Inducing Simplicity

Each of the aforementioned aspects is considered ease of use as they induce simplicity. These are also critical to the overall strategy of the business to create the best possible customer experience.

Areas to Consider

To select and implement a content management system, you must first consider the various individuals that will be using the system, their credentials and whether the user interface will resemble that. For example, using an interface similar to a familiar piece of software like Microsoft Office will be adopted much more quickly.

Consider the Users

Another aspect to deliberate is whether individuals are regular contributors or occasional users. As regular contributors, the employee may be behind a desk all day. For those on the move, a mobile version may be applicable. Occasional contributors may prefer using a familiar software program instead of the regular interface.

Integration with Tools

Another ease of use factor is the integration with existing tools. This is a requirement for a range of users, especially those who do not use web-based tools on a regular basis. Furthermore, the ability to see the final product as it would look in the content management system is an excellent integration of systematic resources.

Real-time Updating

The final ease of use characteristic is providing real-time updates to a variety of channels simultaneously. The content management system must be able to adapt to modern cross-channel marketing. This indicates the storage of digital files allowing for the re-purposing of content across many websites.

Content management systems are the best solution for large organizations with a countless number of files and other digital assets. Therefore, it is always critical to consider all options prior to selection.