web hosting

Common E-commerce Hosting Terminology

Choosing an e-commerce hosting plan can be extremely difficult for two reasons.  One is because there are so many options available to you.  The second is all the confusing terminology and technical jargon a hosting provider will throw at you.  This article will aim to clear up some of that confusion.

Affiliate Program – An affiliate program refers to a revenue sharing program where webmasters can earn commission by generating leads, traffic or sales of a web hosting service.  If you feel that have signed up with a respectable hosting provider, you may be interested in their affiliate program to earn some extra cash.

ASP - Active Server Pages is a technology that allows developers to create dynamic, database-driven websites.  The web server processes the ASP code and then translates it into HTML for your visitors to view.

Auto Responder – An auto responder is an automated program that can be configured to acknowledge the receipt of an email, and automatically sends a reply to the sender.  This is an effective tool for keeping base with clients when you’re away from the desk or on vacation.

Backbone - A backbone refers to a single high-speed line or a series of connections that enable a pathway to a network such as the internet.  The more backbones or the higher the capacity, the higher level of availability your site will enjoy.

CGI Scripts - Common Gateway Interface scripts are small programs installed into a web server.  They are designed to perform specific tasks and enable functionality that a simple HTML document cannot.

Control Panel – A control panel is a software package that allows hosting providers and customers to simplify various web server tasks.  This type of application gives you the ability to easily maintain your mailboxes, files, manage domains and more even if you have little to no experience.

Dedicated Server – Also called dedicated hosting, a dedicated server describes a situation where you lease service from a hosting provider and get the entire server to yourself.  This in contrast to shared hosting, which hence, calls for you to share the server with other customers.

IP Address – An IP address is a unique numerical code used to specify hosts (computers) and networks.  Every machine connected to the internet has its own IP address.

Reseller Hosting – Reseller hosting is a type of hosting where a customer purchases service from a provider and then sells hosting package to customers of their own.  This has become a popular and affordable way for entrepreneurs and small businesses to profit from the web hosting market.

Shared Hosting - Shared hosting refers to a hosting arrangement where multiple websites are stored on a single server.  This is the most affordable and common type of web hosting there is.

Web Host – The web host is the company who provides you with the e-commerce hosting solution.  They run computers known as severs that have dedicated lines to the internet.  The purpose of a web host is to serve your pages to internet users and assure its availability.

Choosing Between a Dedicated Server and Managed Hosting

The more popular your website becomes and the bigger it grows, thus, the more likely you will get to the point where you want to automate as many as the essential management processes as possible.  With success comes more complications, something that definitely holds true for a thriving website.  When you reach this point, it is critical that you start to seek out products and solutions that can be dedicated to performing the tasks you can no longer afford to handle in order to expand your web presence.  For most, this comes down to making a decision between a dedicated server or managed hosting plan.

The Cost Aspect

While it is true that managed web hosting has traditionally been more expensive than leasing a dedicated server, if you look a little closer, you will see that there are tremendous cost savings to be obtained.  The cost benefits of managed service can be observed from the ability it provides to dramatically cut down on the resources needed to power your website or business.  With this type of solution, you can start saving by subtracting from your staffing requirements as you will not need anywhere near the amount of physical resources.  In addition, you can pocket substantial savings on operating costs, office space requirements and all the expenses needed to ensure that your business continues to run smoothly on a day-to-day basis.  Aside from saving money, a managed hosting service also spares you valuable time.  All the time-consuming tasks will be shifted the shoulders of the hosting provider while you set your focus on the less technical aspects.

Less Control, More Freedom

Indeed, a dedicated server provides you with added flexibility and complete control of your entire web-based operation.  However, with this option, maintaining your presence can become a full-time job in its own right.  For those who do not have the time or expertise to deal with the hassles that come along with a dedicated server, managed hosting providers step in to lift the burden, allowing you to expand and grow your website.  Over the years, these services have gained a reputation for being hassle free and rather cost efficient when compared to trying to maintain the same systems in-house.  In addition, there are many companies that will allow you to choose only the services you need, providing you with a comfortable level of control and the freedom to focus your efforts in other areas.

Conclusion

In theory, your job as a website or business owner should be to continuously develop new ways to increase your visibility and bottom line.  However, this is much more difficult when you are scrambling to hire a competent IT staff and trying to ensure that the systems remain available.  By opting for managed hosting service, you will have the time and freedom needed to focus on the tasks necessary to ensure the growth and stability of your web presence.  Sometimes it takes a little help to truly succeed online and a reliable managed hosting service can be that assisting crutch.

What is Database Hosting?

Database hosting providers deliver services that enable you to run data and database-intensive applications.  The underlying server can either be exclusively used for databases or other applications such as a website, all of which depend on your requirements.  This type of hosting is particularly useful for clients with a need to run programs such as CRM (Customer Relation Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software or custom-built applications.  Because they typically require more memory, customers often turn to database hosting solutions to increase the speed and reliability of their applications.

The Benefits of Database Hosting

A database server is an intriguing piece of software as it has the ability to store tons of information.  Unlike the average web server application, this type of server stores information in tables, which consists of columns and rows.  Through the use of a database, users can get the information they need in a matter of minutes.  For example, Google aims to keep its online searches below a half a second, all made possible by the more 3 trillion pages in its extensive database.  What makes a database such a good source of retrieval is that it mainly pulls data out of memory opposed to a hard disk drive, something it does up to 10 times faster.  Since the database is the core of the entire application, it tends to have more RAM and therefore, functions much faster than the typical web server.

Downside of Database Hosting

Similar to the software application side of a dedicated server, a database server calls for heavy administration.  For this reason, it may be a good idea to go with a managed service if you lack the experience this type of hosting requires.  A managed service will get you a package where the hosting provider handles some or even all of the database server administration on your behalf.  These services generally range from simple management operations to more demanding tasks such as system security patching.  If your plans call for a complete database server but you do not have time or skill needed to maintain it, you might be interested in a managed solution or at least one that allows you to purchase some sort of service upgrades to ease the pain of administration.

Do You Really Need Database Hosting?

While there are tremendous benefits involved, database hosting is not made for everyone.  For example, if you simply have a need to run a small online business with shopping carts and other e-commerce features, you can probably get by with a normal web hosting package that provides you with access to multiple databases opposed to the entire server.  It is imperative to keep in mind that there are significant differences between database hosting and simply having access to one, or even multiple databases.  In this type of arrangement, the database system is the most essential element of the entire application as this is where all the processing is handled.   True, there are similarities, but the MySQL database server is an entirely different animal than the Apache web server.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Unlimited Domains

The more popular the web hosting business becomes, the most difficult it becomes to distinguish a quality provider from an inferior imposter.  It takes far more than a few testimonials and a professional website design to identify a reliable host.  The search becomes even more difficult when running across companies that offer “unlimited” domain hosting plans.  Unlike the multiple variation, this form doesn’t limit you to a measly two or three domains – you have the freedom to run as many websites as your heart desires.  With these capabilities you can scratch that expensive dedicated server off your list.  Virtualization is no longer worth looking into, right?  Hold on before you put off your plans.  There is a lot you should know about unlimited domain hosting.

Uncovering the Truth

As a customer, it is important to understand that web hosting is a major industry with a terminology all its own.  What a particular term means to you can have an entirely different meaning in this environment, as is the case with unlimited in regard to domains.  Although several companies will lead you to believe that you can launch websites until your heart is content, you can probably host up to 5 domains before things go haywire.  Anything more increases the likelihood of draining critical resources such as bandwidth, memory and CPU.  When this happens, you might not have a single website available let alone 5 of them.  Therefore, you should look at unlimited domain hosting as another clever tactic similar to the incredible disk space and transfer offerings used to entice unknowing customers.

Instead of allowing you to broaden your web presence, an unlimited domain hosting solution could end up creating unlimited ways to get your sites shut down.  Despite the advertisements, some of these plans come attached with complex stipulations and restrictions that typically don’t work in your favor.  Beneath the technical jargon and fine print you will discover limitations on CPU and RAM usage, file size, FTP uploads and the list goes on.  All these complications in an arrangement that is supposed to offer the freedom of unlimited.  Go out of bounds and you could find yourself trapped at the mercy of an unruly web host.

Save Yourself

It may not be fair, but it is pretty easy to understand why companies heavily promote unlimited domain hosting packages.  It is just another way to sell a service to customers who simply don’t know enough about how the technology works to realize the ploy.  In most cases, no harm, no foul.  Others however, turn out be disastrous.  The truth is that some of the industry’s leading providers are making their names off of these misleading yet ingenuous marketing gimmicks.  It is up to you to know the game and read between the lines.  There is a great chance that unlimited domain hosting will continue or eventually be replaced by offerings promising even more irresistible capabilities.  While you can’t change the hosting market, you can prevent yourself from getting stuck in a jam.

Free Control Panel Software for Your Server

If you need a control panel program for your server, it is important to know that the options span much further than commercial versions such as cPanel and Plesk.  In fact, there are some free control panels on the market that make excellent choices for a dedicated server.  The options discussed in this article will be GNUPanel, SysCP and Webmin.

GNUPanel

A relatively new option, the GNUPanel is an application scripted in the PHP5 programming language and designed to run on the Debian distribution of Linux.  The standout features of this software include domain and FTP management, mail management and database administration.  This control panel lets you control popular applications such as the Apache web server as well packages like PHP and MySQL among others.  The software also enables the automatic installation of various third-party programs including Joomla, phpBB, osCommerce and Wordpress among others.  Hence the name, GNUPanel has an open-source license under the GPL.  Although this control panel is currently restricted to the Debian platform, its developers say the application is currently being designed to support other operating systems.

SysCP

The SysCP control panel allows you to manage your web space, mail, CGI scripts, DNS settings, create custom error pages, view statistics and more.  The features integrated into the software provide you with the ability to control a wide variety of applications including Apache, BIND, Courier and ProFTPD.  While there are numerous modules built-in into the control panel, there are even more extensions available for download that enable you to administer other aspects of the server.  Some of the third-party modules for SysCP include tools that allow you to manage applications such as Fetchmail and SpamAssassin, perform backups of your critical data and more.  This control panel supports five major Unix-like distributions with the most notable being Debian, Gentoo, FreeBSD, OpenSuSe and Ubuntu.  Under the GNU GPL, SysCP can be freely distributed and modified.  Before installing SysCP, be sure to check for compatibility as it supports certain versions of the afore mentioned operating systems.

Webmin

The Webmin control panel is becoming an increasingly popular option for dedicated server customers.  This software is incredibly easy to use and loaded with a number of features, which are primarily modules that provide the ability to administer the server.  It comes standard with modules for Apache and BIND, a BSD firewall, bandwidth monitoring, a cron job manager and much more.  Aside from the built-in modules, Webmin  supports a variety of third-party extensions that can be downloaded from the web.  It also gives you the option to develop your modules.  Webmin currently supports more than 80 different operating systems including Unix, FreeBDS and several variations of Linux.   Because it is under the GNU GPL as open-source software, many developers from all over the world have contributed to the code and improved the software.  The most recent versions of Webmin have been released under a license similar to that of BSD, basically meaning that it can be freely distributed and modified for both commercial and non-commercial use.