web hosting

Seven Basic Ingredients of Unix Hosting

Though often overshadowed by the market dominated Windows and Linux platform, Unix remains a widely used platform and a popular option for web hosting.  This article will introduce you to seven features commonly found in Unix hosting plans.  Though basic, these features are very important and should not be underestimated.

1.) POP3 Email Accounts – An example of a POP3 email account would be “mailto:yourname@yoursite.comyourname@yoursite.com“.  Most hosting companies will provide you with a large number of email accounts to use for yourself or distribute to your employees.

2.) Webmail and SMTP – As soon as your website goes live, email will likely become your main source of communication.  The tool you need to make this an easy process is a webmail program such as Horde or Squirrelmail.  This process can be even faster when downloading your messages to email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Eudora.  However, in order for this to work, you need a Unix hosting solution that supports messaging protocols such as IMAP and SMTP.

3.) Spam Filter - It doesn’t matter who you are, no email user is immune to spam messages.  In this day and age of the internet, having a reliable spam filter is a must.  These applications are installed on the web server where your site resides and typically offer features such as blacklisting, whitelisting and greylisting to mitigate spam.  The more flexible filters will allow you to make configurations to tag spam and have it delivered straight to a quarantine folder to keep it from cluttering your inbox.

4.) FTP Accounts - FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a method that allows you to upload your files and maintain them on the server.  A Unix host that supports this protocol usually provides the ability to create a certain number of FTP sub-accounts.  This allows you to provide your clients and users with access to password-protected directories, which is very useful for sharing files in a more efficient and secure manner.

5.) Backup Utility - While most web hosts perform automated backups on a regular basis, you should never put the fate of your website in their hands.  There are many ways to backup your website data, but the easiest way is with a utility specifically designed for this task.  Most of today’s control panels come included with built-in utilities that allow you to easily backup your site in minutes.

6.) Web Stats – Analyzing your visitors and traffic can play a crucial role in the success of your site.  Popular web stat software such as AwStats and Webalizer run on the back-end of the server and can provide you with detailed reports on your statistics.  This can give you the knowledge to make the needed adjustments or additions that increase traffic and boost sales.

7.) PHP and MySQL – Similar to Linux, almost all Unix plans come with support for PHP server-side programming and the MySQL database server.  These features are generally provided for no extra costs and can give you the power to create a dynamic, data-driven website.

Introduction to Exchange Hosting

Exchange hosting revolves around a popular server software application that facilitates the sending and receiving of electronic messages and the sharing of other business critical data via online or wireless devices.  The Exchange software is specifically designed to work with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and other mail clients typically used in the business setting.  The goal of this technology is to provide companies of all sizes with access to their data while increasing productivity in their respective environments.

The Exchange Server

The Microsoft Exchange Server is the major component of Exchange hosting.  This software is comprised of a mobile email and collaboration suite equipped with email messaging capabilities, calenders, shared folders, contact lists and to do lists.  Unlike traditional POP3 email accounts where messages are deleted from the server upon retrieval, a hosted Exchange service stores messages on a remote third-party server.  This type of service allows users to access shared or private files at any time on any mobile device equipped with a web browser or PC with a compatible mail client.

Supported Devices and Protocols

With Exchange hosting, emails and other business data stored on the server can be accessed through various client devices such as personal computers and PDAs.  Some of the devices commonly used with the service include the Blackberry, Motorola Qpocket, Nokia Smartphone and Treo.  The Exchange server enables the synchronization of inboxes, contacts, calenders and task lists along with mobile browsers that support HTML, compressed HTML and WAP-based devices.  The software runs on Windows Server operating systems and supports various messaging protocols including MAPI, POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP.

The Exchange Advantage

Microsoft Exchange is easily the most widely used messaging solution of its kind.  With a hosted service, small and medium sized businesses can enjoy benefits that were previously only available to bigger companies with more resources.  Exchange hosting is very cost effective as there is no investing in expensive hardware or software.  In addition, outsourcing the service allows for an easy, secure deployment that can be scaled up or down according to your needs.

The seamless integration of messaging services offers numerous advantages to business users that rely on Exchange.  With shared calenders, employees can view the availability of their colleagues to schedule and manage meetings, shared task lists can be created and assigned for sharing with team members, and shared contacts help to ensure the accuracy of information while ensuring that data is secure and not lost or misplaced.  These features and more make Exchange a solution that can truly maximize the efficiency of your business communications.

Before the prevalence of Exchange hosting, mobile functionality was virtually non existent for businesses that lacked the time or resources needs to house and maintain a server.  With hosted services now available, businesses can outsource their messaging needs in exchange for a feature-rich package at a low cost.  The best thing about Exchange hosting is that you get the benefit of a fully equipped data center to house the equipment along with technical support.  This results in a managed enterprise-level collaborative communication system handled in a secure and cost-efficient manner.