web hosting

Plesk: The Multipurpose Control Panel

Although cPanel is highly praised, Parallel’s Plesk is regarded as one of the most widely used and efficient control panels on the web hosting market.  The major advantage it has over cPanel is the power to operate on both Windows and Linux platforms.  In addition, Plesk is one of few control panels that makes an ideal solution for shared, dedicated and virtual private server environments.  It is said to be the most secure and stable platform available for web hosting companies and their customers.  The software is being increasingly used by hosting providers who want to enhance performance and boost per-server profitability.  Plesk makes a great choice in almost any hosting arrangement and this article will discuss some of the specific benefits.

Dedicated Hosting

The RPM installation and modular design of Plesk allows dedicated hosting providers to cater to the needs of the technically inclined.  The software can be set up in an instant and deployed in no time.  Many companies have taken a liking to Plesk because it offers such an excellent value by delivering a high level of performance at a reasonable price.  System administrators have access to several unique features including the XML-API, a built-in interface that automates the provisioning process.  It also facilitates the implementation of the numerous third-party applications built into the control panel.  With fully integrated software development kits and a number of back-end utilities, Plesk gives hosting providers and end-users the ability to dramatically enhance their operations.

Shared Hosting

Tiered self administration and a unified multi-platform design makes Plesk a perfect administrative tool in the shared hosting environment as well.  This control panel makes it easier for providers to mange multiple domains on a highly scalable architecture optimized for demanding tasks.  An administrator with little to no technical background can easily create and manage user accounts on the server.  In addition, customers can manage their own domains without direct support of the server administrator.  The power of Plesk covers the needs of the simple and complex side of the traditional web hosting service, enabling full customization that benefits both the host and the end-user.

VPS Hosting

The Plesk control panel is also becoming more common in the virtual private server environment, mainly because it delivers exceptional management power and has a small footprint that ensures great performance.  When used in conjunction with the Virtuozzo software, Plesk allows system administrators to quickly deploy templates of multiple control panel systems.  This is made possible a VPS’s ability to create several isolated server environments on a single machine.  On a virtualized platform, Plesk and Virtuzzo are unparalleled in their ability to increase ROI and revenues for professional web hosting providers while meeting the demanding needs of customers.

Conclusion

Plesk has so many beneficial uses that going wrong with this control panel is almost impossible. The software offers power that allows you to administrator a single machine, a cluster of servers or a simple shared hosting account.  If you’re still looking for a control panel, Plesk could be the solution.

Choosing a Hosting Platform for Your Business

If you are looking to make your mark as an online business owner, one of the first things you need to do is find yourself a web hosting solution.  The web has grown tremendously over the years and so have your choices.  Web hosting services are not hard to find as companies have the industry covered from every angle of the market.  While there are many critical factors involved in choosing a service, one of the most important is the platform your business site is hosted on.

What is a Platform?

In web hosting terms, a platform refers to an operating system like Mac OS X or even an something older like DOS.  This type of software stores critical files, gives basic commands, tells the server how to interact with applications.  In the early days of the internet and World Wide Web, most servers ran on the Unix platform, a very powerful system that while flexible, has always required a considerable amount of technical skill to administer.  Though still a popular choice, hosting customers now have a greater variety to choose from in platforms such as Linux, Windows and FreeBSD.

Linux

Linux is a newer version of Unix and perhaps the most popular variation.  This platform is incredibly versatile and made to perform in the server environment.  It is makes an ideal solution for demanding tasks and activities such as messaging and multimedia streaming. Unlike Unix, Linux is an open-source system under the GNU General Public License, making it a cost effective solution for both web hosting providers and their customers.  Perhaps the greatest advantage of this platform is its compatibility with various open-source technologies.  A Linux hosting package typically means you also get the benefit of tools like Apache, PHP and MySQL.

Windows

Often regarded as the main competitor to Linux, Windows is the server version of the popular Microsoft desktop operating system.  Upon first entering the server environment, these platforms were powered by systems like Windows NT and 2000.  Most plans now are based on either Windows 2003 or 2008.  What makes this system so popular is the user-friendly interface that gives IT teams a familiar environment to work with.  Not only is it supported by a large number of applications, but also Microsoft technologies that were specifically designed to work with the platform.  Some of the main selling points of Windows hosting include ASP or ASP.NET programing, the SQL Server and other services like Exchange and SharePoint.

FreeBSD

The FreeBSD platform is based on the BSD system, which is one of the many Unix variants.  Similar to Linux, FreeBDS offer cost efficiency as an open-source system.  Extremely well integrated, this platform is well known for its speed and stability, making it an excellent choice for mission-critical operations.  FreeBSD is becoming increasingly popular and offers support for a growing number of technologies.

Choosing a Platform

All the platforms mentioned in this article are great for business hosting, Windows especially.  The key is finding a web host that delivers a reliable infrastructure and enables the chosen system to effectively meet your needs.

Novella Reveals Plans for New IT Solutions

Last week, IT solutions provider Novell, unveiled a marketing strategy for what it is calling a “Service-Driven Data Center”.  The plan includes a line of integrated products the company says is custom designed to help clients enhance their agility while reducing complexity, risks and costs.  This concept is Novell’s latest move towards delivering more service-driven and business-centric IT solutions.

According to Novell, the new solutions will provide services designed to create, manage and effectively measure an advanced data center that enables IT executives to deliver flexible, cost efficient business services to their customers.  The plan is said to couple the SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Server platform with the recently acquired ManagedObjects and PlatSpin in the company’s portfolio of integrated products.

The Service Driven Data Center has been set to function in a heterogeneous environment.  It utilizes management and automation tools to measure the performance of complete IT services against their business objectives.  Novell’s concept is based on the following core values:

Build

Build is the company’s dedication to creating a flexible, highly efficient data center using SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 as its platform.

Manage

The manage characteristic relates to a holistic approach to virtualization and workload management.  This is made possible by using PlateSpin Workload Management solutions to leverage the company’s assets.

Measure

Lastly, the Measure aspect refers to the utilization of ManagedObjects, which provides business service management across multiple platforms and hardware types.

Released in March, 2009, Novell’s SUSE platform offers open-source benefits of the Linux environment along with enterprise features such as support for Xen virtual machines and Microsoft Management Tools.  It also offers a level of scalability that allows customers to run an unlimited amount of virtual machines.  This past February, SoftLayer Technologies made a similar move by adding SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to its line of server operating systems.

Reps at Novell say the solutions allow customers to maximize the utilization of their IT assets within a compliant and secure framework, enabling those who have plans of running a server farm, building an internal cloud or leveraging an external cloud.   Jeff Jaffe, Novell chief technology office and executive VP of business units, says that the company has received helpful feedback from a number of customers and partners.  The one thing they heard the most is that IT exists to deliver services to meet business demands.  Jaffe says Novella is confident that the new solutions are what IT teams need to meet those demands.

The news of Novell’s vision for its data center comes at a time when several of the industry’s key players are making announcement to gain a competitive edge in the very lucrative data center market.  Just last month, Cisco revealed Unified Computing System, a new data center strategy that unifies server, network, storage and virtualization resources into one energy efficient system.  Ironically, Sun Microsystems recently turned down a $7 billion acquisition offer from computer giant IBM.  It is reported that the move would have improved Sun’s infrastructure to compete with market rivals like Hewlett Packard.

Introduction to Webmin

The number of control panels on the market keeps expanding into an even greater variety.  Almost everyone is familiar with cPanel along with rivals such as Plesk and H-Sphere.  One control panel you may not be familiar with is Webmin, a super-functional application that certainly warrants a closer look.

What is Webmin?

Webmin is a software tool designed to simply the process of managing Unix and Linux platforms.  The program is compatible with virtually any web browser, permitting various administrative tasks through a cleanly designed, user-friendly interface.  Webmin provides the ability to manage various aspects of the web hosting environment from setting up a web server and creating accounts to maintaining FTP and mail servers.

Webmin Features and Capabilities

The Webmin control panel allows you to do the following:

• Use NFS protocol to exports files and directories to other systems
• Set up quotas to control how much disk space is allocated to users
• Install, manage and delete software packages in formats such as RPM
• Modify the systems’ DNS settings, IP address and routing configuration
• Set up firewalls for added security or to provide LAN access to the internet
• Create and configure virtual servers on Apache
• Manage databases, tables and fields on MySQL or PostgreSQL database servers

These are just some of the capabilities offered by the Webmin software.  Because it is accessed via a browser, you can login from any system connected to your own through a network.  There is no difference between running Webmin locally or remotely.  The software is built on a modular design, meaning each of its functions are contained in a module that can be installed or uninstalled independent of the rest of the application.  This structure alone makes Webmin very distinctive of your average control panel.

Although Webmin is primarily used on the Linux platform, it also integrates with Unix flavors such as FreeBSD, HP/UX and Solaris.  One of its greatest strengths is the ability to adjust its behavior and interface in accordance to the underlying platform.  For example, Webmin can conceal the obvious differences between Linux and other Unix variants by presenting an interface that is either identical or quite similar regardless of what system you are using.

Webmin Disadvantages

Webmin offers many advantages but is not very useful on its own accord.  This is because unlike cPanel which acts as a server, Webmin is merely a configuration tool and therefore, it depends on other applications to perform.  For instance, in order to user the Apache module, the actual Apache web server application must be installed on the system.  The good thing is that all of these servers and services it relies on are included standard with Unix-like distributions or can be freely downloaded and implemented.

Who Needs Webmin?

The Webmin control panel is designed for users with a familiarity of Linux commands but are not all that familiar with the intricacies of server administration.  This software assumes that the user is familiar with basic networking concepts such as DNS servers, IP addresses and hostnames as well as the layout of the Unix file system.   Those who possess these capabilities can enjoy everything from the power to set up FTP accounts and simple website management to root privileges and custom software installations.

phpWCMS for Easy Content Management

When equipped with the right CMS, you can build a website that is fast, feature-rich, easy to deploy and manage.  A user-friendly system will help you effectively separate content from the website layout and allow inexperienced community users to publish their own material.  If you have a site that requires frequent updates but do not want to spend hours upon hours making the necessary changes, a CMS like phpWCMS can make your life much easier.

What is phpWCMS?

phpWCMS is an open-source, web-based CMS scripted in the widely used PHP server-side programming language.  Like many open-source software applications, it uses a MySQL database to store all website data with the exception of converted images and uploaded files.  phpWCMS is divided into a frontend and backend.  The frontend is for presenting the site while the backend is only accessible to registered administrators and users.  With backend access, members of your community can login and modify template settings, manage their own content and much more.  The learning curve for phpWCMS is much shorter in comparison to other systems, making this software ideal for beginner and intermediate users.  Ease of use and user-friendly features often make it the preferred choice over comparable systems like Typo3.

As a cross-platform application, phpWCMS runs efficiently on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems.  In addition, the backend translates into 13 different languages including English, Danish, Dutch, Italian and Swedish.

phpWCMS Features

The phpWCMS software is extremely rich in terms of features.  Below we have listed some of the most notable:

Unlimited page layouts - The built-in, customizable Page Layout Wizard allows you to mix and match elements to create as many page layouts as you want.

Unlimited templates – The Template Editor features support for custom HTML headers,  JavaScript onload functions and CSS stylesheets that enable the creation of unlimited themes.

Simple content management - Building your site is made easy with numerous content parts.  You articles and blog posts can have summaries, redirections and other parts that distinguish it from the layout.

Multiple WYSIWYG editors – The phpWCMS HTML editors give you the ability to build your site with little to no programming knowledge.  In addition, such a wide variety ensures that your creation looks good in popular web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.

Multiple content parts - Content comes in many different variations and phpWCMS is able to support many.  The software handles images, articles, multimedia files, newsletters, custom search forms, sitemaps, guestbooks and more.

Although phpWCMS is loaded with an array of useful features, it does not support a great number of add-on modules and therefore, it is not as flexible as more robust content management systems.  For this reason, it is recommended for small to medium sized websites.

Where to find phpWCMS

As an open-source application, phpWCMS is free to use and can be downloaded from the official project website.  In order to enjoy the benefits, you will need a web host that supports the software.  Because the system has become extremely popular, it is becoming easier to find.  phpWCMS is now offered in many web hosting packages as a one-click installation through control panels like cPanel and Plesk.