Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » scripts

What’s a Preinstalled Script, And Do I Need It?

Art — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:47:55 +0000

When setting up your next website, you will inevitably come across a need for dynamic web applications. These are things that your users can work with, adding their own content, viewing yours in a quick manner, and even manipulating it to a fine-edge. From a server-side perspective, having dynamic web apps allows you to create media in a speedy way, and then get it out to all of your various end-game sites in a pinch.

With this in mind, many current web hosts provide preinstalled scripts of varying types. These are applications that are often times built into the cPanel, or can be installed with a mere click of a button. Think of how many hosts you’ve seen offering WordPress at the get-go: Seems like most of them, right? In fact, everything from Joomla to Magento to MediaWiki can be yours, depending on the provider.

Long story short, when creating a new website, should you be taking advantage of these preinstalled script offerings to flesh out your site with dynamic content?

Short answer in long form: Yes! Here’s why, too!

These Scripts Are Safe

Because your provider knows its servers, and because they’ve become intimately acquainted with the software they’re looking to install, you can be almost absolutely positive they’ll have the thing locked down. This doesn’t mean your new system will be hacker-proof, but it’s certainly better off than if you had installed it yourself on an unfamiliar server you don’t even have direct access too. All in all, it’s their basket, and they have an eye on it. If you’re looking to keep your server as secure as possible, leave the app installation to the provider, and use what they’re offering.

It’s Easy Like Apple Pie

Even better, relying on preinstalled dynamic web apps takes a huge load off of you. You don’t have to worry about uploading code to the server, installing it properly, locking it down with better security protection, and managing it as problems arise. Better yet, when problems do occur—and trust us, they will—it’s up to your provider to help you sort them out. With an automatically installed script, the host takes care of the installation, manages the script once placed, and brings the content to you hassle free. It’s like being given a Christmas gift that unwraps itself, plays without stopping, and fixes any tears that appear.

If that’s not a win, we don’t know what is!

Enkompass: A Windows Control Panel For The Masses

Art — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:22:04 +0000

So, you finally bit the bullet: You gave in and used a Windows-based web host, contrary to the popular, Linux-oriented hosting. Before we say good for you, though, we just want to point out one sad fact—there aren’t many quality, Windows-ready control panels out there for managing your new content. At least, there aren’t many as easy to use or as user friendly as you might like. Thankfully, though, there are a few, and one of our favorites (Enkompass) is even the brainchild of the same developers that brought you cPanel/WHM.

Enkompass is easily one of the best control panels around for your Windows-based server. If you’re looking for a fresh face to add to your account, you could certainly do a lot worse. We aren’t here to sell you the software, but we will tell you what we like about it. Starting with the following:

It Looks Like cPanel, Smells Like cPanel: Like we said, Enkompass comes straight from the guys that made cPanel, one of the easiest to use and most familiar control panels around for UNIX-based servers. With that in mind, if you’re use to cPaneling your servers, you’ll instantly be at home with Enkompass. It looks and behaves about the same, making it an easy transition from one to the other.

Plays Well With Others: Reason number two is simple—Enkompass works well with other utilities. For instance, it plays like a good kid with Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft IIS7 Server. Not to mention full support for MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server 2005-2008. It also takes full advantage of Active Directory, providing enhanced scalability.

Scripting? We Got Loads Of It! Another reason we like Enkompass is its compatibility with a wide variety of scripting platforms. This puppy can handle .NET, ASP, PHP, Perl, AJAX, Silverlight, XML, and others, making it an all-one resource for the coder in you.

You Get The Literature: The last reason we think Enkompass is just wonderful has to do with its documentation. As a cPanel port for Windows (more or less, don’t shoot us Windows server geeks!) you still get access to the wealth of troubleshooting literature available for the Linux edition. Because both services behave more or less the same, the communities are entirely integrated, allowing you to take full advantage of already existent resources.

How to Keep Your Server Safe From Common Security Problems

Art — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:45:02 +0000

It’s a wild, wild world out there. There’s all kinds of culprits just waiting to hack your website, trash all those gorgeous lines of code, and then steal your information from here to Sunday. Thankfully, though, we as web hosters have had plenty of time to study the most common forms of cyber attack: And we’ve come up with quality ways to deter them, too.

Use the following bits of information and tactic to keep your server safe from cyber hacking.

The Dreaded Denial-Of-Service Attack

This one’s a common one, and sadly, it’s pretty hard to avoid. The best method of defense against this is a good relationship with your hosting provider. This is where it’s a good idea to have a quality web host, instead of that cheap Chinese derivative you found for next-to-nothing in Shadyville, Internet Land.

A denial-of-service attack (or DDOS) is nothing more than putting your servers into hyper-mode. This is accomplished by sending too many requests through to your software, effectively crippling your website with much more load than it can handle.

This seems like a real brute force way to do things, and it is. So why is it still a problem, if it’s so basic a method? Well, the issue is in the way a DDOS is deflected: It’s incredibly hard to defend a site against what is, essentially, just extreme use. To safeguard your website against a DDOS, you’ll need to either shut down flow entirely (very undesirable for any business site) or locate the exact IP of the perpetrator and block it out. To do so, you’ll need a good connection with your host, as well as their willingness to help you out. Remember, a good host cares, and will always try their best.

Script Overload via Buffer Overflow

Your URL is essential for uploading new data to your site, as behind that glorious front page, there’s a collection of packaging scripts that interpret your information into HTML eye-candy. Sadly, these scripts can be hijacked by sending a super-long URL to your server, potentially creating new code or rewriting that which is already in place.

To guard against this, just make sure your scripts are locked down against unwanted intrusion. Keep a strong password, and ensure with your provider that only you or your associates have access to these vital, background daemons.

Control Panels – What are Their Limits?

Art — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 10:38:55 +0000

When something is too user-friendly there is an instinctual felling that there must be some nuances of use that you are sacrificing to obtain use an un-intimidating product or service. This is a good general rule, but one that doesn’t quite have the bite that it used to. Modern web hosting control panels, for example cPanel hosting do more than simply let you more files around and setup spam filters. They are full-service suites that at times seem to encompass just about anything that you might ever want to do with your web site.

Again, though, your presumption may be that this couldn’t possibly be all that is needed. In this case, you’d be right. Web hosting control panels are a fantastic way for the beginner-to-intermediate user to focus more on their web site and less on learning tech tricks. But the more experienced you get, the more you are going to wonder where their limitations lie and when you should be using other ways of accessing and manipulating your account.

Command line interfaces: not quite the dark side.

If you’ve never done so before, the notion of learning any kind of scripting might seem like jumping to the dark side and liking it. Those who have experience with this type of scripting may be chuckling at the thought. Knowledge of the basics of how to use a command-line interface can quickly provide you with access to a world of functionality that you may not have even considered.

DOS, Unix, and for that matter, just about any operating system comes with a command line interface with some syntactical basics that are quickly picked up, never forgotten, and which have a plethora of uses. Let us take the wildcard, for example. The asterisk (“*”) is a long-running “match anything” standard. Do you have a directory with 5000 files, and you only want to move files with a certain word in it to a new directory? In a control panel this could take hours. From a command line this can be done in 10 seconds.

Countless tools

While control panels are continually adding new features to them, they are catching up to operating systems that have been around for decades and have ridiculous amounts of add-ins and small scripts that are often forgotten about, yet still included. Some of them admittedly today now seem silly and quaint, but many of them, if you can make basic use of them, can provide fantastic time saving techniques. Let’s say, for example, that you are looking for a file, but all you know about is the rough 3-month period in which it was made, about how big it is, and one or two words that you are sure are found within the file. Again, with most graphical systems this is a nearly impossible task. With an “ancient” interface this can be done in a few lines and at most a minute of your time.

Remember when you complained about learning Latin?

Like Latin, it may seem like few people still use it. But when you start using command-line interfaces, you start to see that by learning them you are equipping yourself with tools that will have more uses than you can hypothesize about. So the answer to the question of what the limitations of control panels are is simple: it’s somewhere… and you are only going to know where when you see what else you are capable of by stepping outside their world a bit.

Technique of Web Hosting

Dmitry — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:16:48 +0000

The technique that allows computers or servers to host web sites is known as web hosting. The facility of web hosting is provided by various service providers. Web hosting is important as it enables a user to access any site in the world. Also, it allows one to store textual and visual information, apart from other Internet matter on the website mediums.

There are various kinds of website hosting services from which you can choose from. Some companies provide you web hosting services for free, while some charge the user. There are certain drawbacks of using free web hosts. This is because there are certain limitations regarding the services they provide. Moreover, a user is not provided with customer service, and is not provided uptime guarantee. The limitations on bandwidth, advertising and edit sites may hamper the growth plans of a company.

Thus, it is advisable that you pay for the web hosting service. However, a user should take into consideration his needs before selecting a web hosting service provider. Depending on a users data transfer, disk space and other necessities, the service can cost him anything between $1 to $5000 per month according to his usage is extensive. Also, the payment can be done on monthly, annually or semi-annually basis.

In addition to your needs, web hosting reviews must also be taken into account before selecting a web hosting service provider. The reviews or ratings of the service providers are available on the Internet. Various service providers can be compared on the basis of price, traffic and space. One should also take into account the bonus or additional features provided by the web hosting providers. It is advisable that one should read the blogs regarding the web hosting service providers. They help you get a realistic feedback and thereby help you in selecting the best web hosting service provider.

Some of the other points that must be considered while choosing a top web hosting service are,

1. Bandwidth
2. Server Space
3. Control Panel
4. Support
5. Script access

The bandwidth capacity should be more than of 10 GB. However, it does not make sense to pay for capacity which you will not use. For people who run small businesses, bandwidth of one gigabyte is enough. The same holds true for server space. For personal use, 50 megabyte capacity is sufficient. Select the web hosting service provider that offers a user 24/7 customer service. This is because, in case of a problem, the customer centers will solve your problem. One can also visit their site and read the FAQ’s, since they add to the knowledge of a person.

The control panel provided by the service providers should be a simple version as will be easy to use. Make sure that the web hosting service providers facilitate you with script access. It may not be required at that moment but, may be useful for future purposes.

Since the best web hosting service adds efficiency and success to the business, due consideration must be given in selecting a service provider.

Know How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Company

Dmitry — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:52:42 +0000

Before actually beginning your quest to find the top web hosting company, it will be a good idea to first know and understand what a good web host is so that you can make the right choice. The web host is really a service provider who will place your website on a server that connects to the Internet. Thus, when you think about finding the best web hosting company you need to be sure that its server is fast and that the company provides near total uptime since you don’t want your website to be inaccessible to visitors because the server is down.

The web host usually has thousands of websites and may use more than one web server for that purpose, and so you will need to rent out space on the server to have your website have a presence on the World Wide Web. Thus, the key to choosing the best web hosting service is to find the web host who manages things well so that you are not taken up with bothering about what the latest server technology is and how to maintain your website. So, before you go reading up on all the different web hosting reviews, you should be clear that it is the web host who will deal with the technical side of things and you only need to focus on building your online business.

Today, you will find that the top web hosting companies are more or less having standardized features and among the more common ones are Control Panel, Diskspace, Bandwidth, Email Account, Scripting language and the ability to directly have customer support either through phone, email or through the web.

Next, you will need to consider what price you are paying for disk space and also the price to Bandwidth ratio. The best web hosting companies are those that will not over charge you for their Web Hosting Plans and a rule of thumb in this regard is that the greater the disk space as well as bandwidth that the web hosting company offers, the more you will end up paying per month to them.

Therefore, you need to know which the most competitive priced is for you which will depend on popularity which can be judged by looking at awards won by the web host, good web hosting reviews about it and whether it gets a lot of traffic or not. Next, you should look at reliability, speed as well as guarantee of uptime which means that the web host must guarantee a minimum of 99% uptime. Thus, you should enquire whether the web hosting company has redundant back up systems or not, which if it is affirmative, will allow alternative internet connections to kick in should the main connection get interrupted.

Furthermore, you need to look at the speed at which your site functions and this will depend on the different network connection types used. It is quite usual for service providers to choose to connect through T1 or even T3 lines. However, the better option is to use Optical Carrier lines because T1 lines give speeds of 1.5 mega bits per second, while T3 lines have speeds of 43 mega bits per second. In the case of Optical Carrier lines the minimum speed would be 51.85 mega bits per second and top speeds can touch as much as 155 to even 622 mega bits per second and this can go up to nearly five thousand mega bits per second.

So, the parameters you need to look for in the best web hosting company are proper management and reliable equipment and speedy service, which should help you decide on choosing one service provider over the other.

A Closer Look into APS Hosting

Art — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:27:42 +0000

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.

Fantastico: cPanel’s Best Kept Secret

Art — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:59:45 +0000

It is clear to see why cPanel is the leading control panel software. The intuitive GUI results in ease of use while the rich set of features offers functionality that extends benefits to server administrators, resellers and end-users alike. Indeed, cPanel has many qualities and one of its greatest attributes is Fantastico.

What is Fantastico?

Fantastico is an extremely useful application that usually comes free in web hosting accounts powered by the cPanel control panel. Designed to run on Unix-like platforms, its purpose is to facilitate the simple installation of a wide range of popular scripts. These add-on programs are totally free and can literally be installed in a matter of minutes. The Fantastico advantage is all in the software and below are some of the categories you will find.

Blogs

The blog represents one of the very first social networking platforms and Fantastico gives you a wonderful variety to choose from. Both Nucleus and b2Evolution are included but the most notable of all has to be WordPress. Easily the most popular blogging application available, WordPress is widely supported by a large community and can be enhanced through a number of themes and templates. If you’re looking to delve into the Blogosphere, Fantastico has you covered.

Content Management

Content management systems provide webmasters with a more effective way to build and administer their websites. Even though most web hosting accounts come integrated site builders, these utilities fail in comparison to the power of a CMS. This type of software is ideal for running medium to large sized websites and has the ability to assign varying levels of administrative access and permissions. Some of today’s most popular community-based sites are running on content management systems. The CMS lineup you will find in Fantastico includes Drupal, Mambo, Tiki Wiki, XOOPS and Joomla among several others.

Customer Relations

Establishing trusting relationships with customers is vital to the success of any business. Fantastico betters the chance of keeping your customer base happy with applications like Help Center Live, osTicket, PHP Support Tickets, Support Services Manager and more. These programs give you the ability to create the ultimate support center where your customers can get assistance through support tickets, FAQs, video tutorials and downloadable documentation. Even if you can’t be around to answer the phone 24/7, such resources can assure that your customers are still able to get the help they need, when they need it.

E-commerce Tools

Fantastico has a little something for everyone, including those who desire to sell products and services online. You can set up a web-based storefront in no time with popular open-source programs such as Cube Cart, osCommerce and Zen Cart. Shopping cart software can get pretty expensive but these highly functional applications won’t cost you a thing with Fantastico.

These are just a few of numerous scripts that come bundled with Fantastico. Other programs include discussion boards, photo galleries, project management tools and website builders. Fantastico contorts to the novice, allowing those with little to no technical skills to instantly enhance their web presence. One could say that cPanel is a trendsetter as more control panels are being developed with application installers that mimic the abilities of Fantastico.

Fighting Back Against Website Attacks

Art — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:47:55 +0000

Despite all the advancements that have been made in information security, hacking attacks continue to be a major problem, inflicting damage on some of the biggest companies. Every year, it seems as if we hear a story where some major company has been hacked and thieved of invaluable information. Although large corporations make better targets, small businesses are not exempt from such attacks. You may feel that the data on your website is not all that confidential or mission-critical, but an ambitious hacker might think otherwise.

What Motivates a Hacker?

Hackers hack websites for a number of reasons. Some are after personal information while others merely do it for the thrill and gaining stripes in the hacker community. While every hacker has their own motivation, a successful attack boils down to one factor – the webmaster’s lack of knowledge. Even an intermediate hacker can break into your website, change your home page and steal sensitive information all by downloading readily available tools from the internet. Whether you are a beginner or seasoned webmaster, the best way to protect yourself against website hacking is knowing how a hacker operates.

A Two-step Approach

The first step a hacker will take is to scan your web applications for any known vulnerabilities. This can be done with a penetrating test process that is performed either manually are automated by certain programs or scripts. Finding an insecure application is the most crucial step in any website attack and translates to holes you can’t afford to leave open.

The next step in website hacking is coming up with an exploit able to take advantage of the vulnerabilities. There are many exploits but all share the similar goal of allowing an intruder to penetrate your website. Here is where you need to be aggressive and take steps to prevent an exploit rather than trying to bounce back after the attack. If you scripted your own applications, you need to go back carefully and look them over to process any modifications that may be needed to the source codes to close the gaps. When done correctly, you can dramatically reduce the probability of a website attack.

Practicing Website Security

Properly securing your applications is something that can be accomplished even if you are not an expert in the security field or simply do not have the money required to hire a thorough, experienced web developer. In fact, security knowledge comes at an inexpensive price and is worth looking into when considering that it can keep your website safe. Basic knowledge can be obtained by keeping yourself informed on the web applications you are using along with all known vulnerabilities that relate to them. Additionally, you can minimize vulnerabilities by applying the latest updates and patches to your applications and using the best security practices.

Aside from practicing website security, it also a good idea to have a basic understanding of common techniques attackers employ to hack websites. Some of the most popular methods include SQL injection and cross site scripting to name a few. The best way to deter the attempts of a savvy hacker is to defeat them with your own knowledge.

Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » scripts

What’s a Preinstalled Script, And Do I Need It?

Related posts:

Enkompass: A Windows Control Panel For The Masses

Related posts:

How to Keep Your Server Safe From Common Security Problems

Related posts:

Control Panels – What are Their Limits?

Related posts:

Technique of Web Hosting

Related posts:

Know How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Company

Related posts:

A Closer Look into APS Hosting

Related posts:

Fantastico: cPanel’s Best Kept Secret

Related posts:

Fighting Back Against Website Attacks

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