Website and Network Stress Monitoring

Website and Network Stress Monitoring

by: Vadim Mazo and David Leonhardt

In today’s world, organizations are fast accepting the web and related applications as part of their overall business strategies. They understand that the Internet provides them with the potential to target a very focused set of customers spread across a very diverse geography.

For a successful Internet presence, it is important that the web server and web applications are reliable, scalable and always available, irrespective of traffic volumes to the site.

To achieve this, you must test all your hardware and software using tools to check your website, usually called web stress tools. These tools should ideally be used even before the site is on the World Wide Web. They can provide a reasonably good estimate about the performance of your website and a company can identify issues before they arise.

Such issues might include slow response times while opening the website, a limited number of users able to simultaneously browse the website, or a cap on the number of requests that can be handled by a processing application. Based on the results, a webmaster can identify the bottlenecks and take corrective actions before they result in lost sales.

What does Website stress testing do?

Web stress testing provides performance reports for varying elements. For example, users might be complaining that your shopping site is taking ages to load and most search results are showing errors message. Using a web stress tool, you can check the performance of your web server. To your surprise, the CPU utilization on the Server may be just 20%. But if you are also monitoring the database application, you might find that it is already running at 100% and is the most likely reason for poor performance.

Stress tools can be deployed as software solutions where you can monitor the key components of your servers such as the CPU, memory and hard disk utilizations. They are built with userdefined alerts that can be triggered if a particular parameter crosses a threshold set by the user. As an example, you can configure an alert that must be generated whenever the CPU utilization crosses the 80% mark. Although this is helpful in identifying system bottlenecks, the results are limited to web servers that are connected to your internal network.

If the target audience is across the globe, or even across the country, a company needs to monitor its website and applications stress loads from different locations across the globe. The web server must provide reasonable performance from wherever customers are located. In such a situation the software solution is unlikely to meet the companyกs requirements.

Organizations must use external website stress monitoring tools, which provide detailed performance reports on servers that are tested from different locations. The outcome of these tests can help in finetuning the settings at their ISPs and in optimizing performance of the servers. Besides this, external stress testing also include monitoring of other network infrastructures that connect to the web server, such as routers, firewalls and leased lines that provide the backend connectivity.

This is why DotcomMonitorกs stress test tool (http://www.dotcommonitor.com/webloadstresstest.asp) offers its clients stress test agents located in various countries such as the USA, UK and Germany. This service provides performance data about the website from these and other locations spread across the globe.

So if you run a business on the Internet, it is important that your website and all associated web applications perform to their optimum levels. They handle transactions quickly and in turn offer faster response times to your user requests. Using web stress services you can get information you need to ensure superior throughputs and gain a reputation for highperformance dependability among your customers.

About The Author

Vadim Mazo is CTO of DotcomMonitor

http://www.dotcommonitor.com

http://www.dotcommonitor.com/websitemonitoring.asp

http://www.dotcommonitor.com/networkmonitoring.asp

David Leonhardt is a website marketing consultant:

http://www.seowriter.net/freelance/marketingconsultant.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 08

by Vadim Mazo and David Leonhardt

Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider

Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider

by: Ant Onaf

Are you disgusted or disappointed with your current web host? Have you switched web hosting companies too many times? Have you thought of hosting your own website(s)? Do you have the ambition to control and manage your own web server?

If you answered กyesก to the questions above, then you may be ready to host your own sites. This article will give you things to consider while making the switch.

When being your own web host you should be technically inclined and have basic knowledge of operating systems, understand technical terms, understand how to setup a server environment (such as: DNS, IIS, Apache, etc.) have basic knowledge of scripting languages and databases (PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.), be familiar with current technologies, and have a basic understanding of hardware and server components.

You should realize the pros & cons. It is one thing to say, you want to host your own web server and it is another thing to actually do it.

Pros:

Own sense of responsibility

Awareness level raised (you are at the frontline of all server happenings)

No monthly hosting fees/accounts

Incompetence no longer exist

Nonshared environment (dedicated server)

Unlimited websites, databases, content, storage, etc.

More bandwidth

No more waiting on someone else time

Complete control

Cons:

Exhausting at times

Faced with server/hardware problems

ISP business account (monthly business/broadband expense)

If server goes down then the website is offline

No technical support team

Software, hardware, and network expenses

There could be many more pros & cons but I’ve pointed out some of the major ones. Managing a web server starts as a full time job, you must constantly monitor its performance and security. This can sometimes be an exhausting task, especially if you currently have other responsibilities. Though, the control you will have over your website and its performance is rewarding enough. You no longer have to wait for technical support or approval to install a script onto the server. You can have as many websites and databases you want, as long as your hardware can handle it. You no longer have to go into the discussion forums and search for the best web host or rant about how much you hate your current host. You can even begin hosting family & friends personal websites.

Ask yourself, how technically advanced are you? Many times you do not have to be a tech guru or anything of the sort, but you must be very resourceful. You must know how to find resolutions and answers to problems, quickly and efficiently. This means you must be internet savvy. Not just the average surfer, who surfs aimlessly, but you must be the surfer who can always find what they are looking for. This is key, because with any server environment you are going to run into problems and finding the answers are most accomplished online, using multiple resources, search techniques, and engines. Sure you can hire someone to fix your problems, but as we should have learned from the กweb hostingก, having someone do it for you isn’t always the best option. Here is a test to see if you are ready to find solutions. I need a solution to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Event Error กEvent ID: 1056ข it’s a DHCP Server Error. How would you search? Go ahead find the solution.

Did you first go to Google? If you did, that was a nice effort and common for most, plus a good place to start, but usually it is best to start at the developersก website. In this case กmicrosoft.comก would have been the first option. Why? Google would more than likely provide you with the answer from Microsoft and other sources, but you don’t want to get inaccurate information from other sources. It is common to get information from Microsoft that would not specifically resolve your problem, but the developer should always be your first place to search for the answers. Now search the error again and go to the Microsoft site and find the solution.

You should had found this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;enus;282001 (Event ID 1056 is Logged after installing DHCP)

What search phrase did you use? It should have been Event ID: 1056, because the Event ID is the exact error, it pinpoints your exact problem without broadening your search. Sometimes the error description is also appropriate to search, just the error description by itself or in combination with the Event ID. It depends on your error, your search feedback, your ability, and technique. For this example I did not include the error description.

Google or Yahoo! should have been your second option (the two largest search engines). Then search other smaller and niche search engines. A good search site which makes use of Google’s operator tags is www.soople.com. Next you should search within forums and discussion groups. If you are pretty internet savvy and have a plentiful or few forums and discussion groups which you frequent then you might actually visit those places before visiting Google or Yahoo!. You can even visit those before visiting the developer site since it is a trusted source, but I wouldn’t recommend it, I still would go to the developersก site first. Okay, so now we have planted our feet and have familiarized ourselves with being internet (search) savvy. We are ready to purchase a server!

When making a server purchase you need to consider a few things before doing so. What to buy? A top of the line, quadruple processor, and super fast turbo server is always ideal, but many times it is not logical or affordable. Therefore, you need to weigh your options (sensibly).

What to buy?

First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least $2,500 for a lowend server. For a lowend, quality server with other needed equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily.

Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration when choosing your ISP.

A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install. The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually for safekeeping, in event of a theft or disaster.

Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to see within 1 year – be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number of GB space you need.

Example:

Daily Traffic Goal: 10,000 (Divided by) Current Daily Traffic: 500 (Times X) 5 = 100GB

In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional).

Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000 then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server, meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters.

Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server. It is best to get a router which has a builtin firewall (commonly known as a ขhardware firewallข). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network. Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP. The hardware firewall is simply a router with a builtin firewall, which means it shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security, this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and patching your system on a scheduled routine.

Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this writing the 64bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64bit compatible processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or deliver on that platform. That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also, remember the power of the 64bit platform and the greater the processor speed the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently. At this time a dual 32bit, 2.8GHz – 3.2GHz processor will suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared. Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes.

Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you need to install a driver from a different location…like a ethernet driver. An external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple machines.

Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not relearn a whole new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons: Microsoft is the userfriendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of them all; Linux is the opensource/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know.

You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache, IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array) Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates, security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be considered the unsecure method, especially if you don’t have a hardware firewall already in place.

Next, there are a few things to consider before installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be made.

Where to put it?

Locate a location within your home that is staticfree, we do not want to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit.

The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server hanging and then eventually crashing. Itกs the same result of when a car overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an option.

It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house (midfloor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server could overheat. Midfloor level is usually the cooler place within the home, but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines.

Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near any liquids, or near a window ขespecially openข). We all know what can happen when electrical components get wet.

The server should sit at least 4ข inches from the ground

Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage, as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other electrical attached devices.

Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the server for any dialup services). It is not recommended to use your web service with a dialup connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a router with a builtin firewall).

Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom.

Those are all some basic things to consider before hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host unlimited websites, databases, services, etc.

If your web traffic becomes too great for your server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance, applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more overhead.

The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and doesn’t experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs, then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web hosting for a small fee, I haven’t found one that is reliable yet. Or you could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your server outside your home on a larger network.

Hosting your own server usually is not a moneysaving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when you total the up keep and maintenance. The benefit of hosting your own server is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. then it would be best if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. – 10 a.m. You know how your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a web business, this helps you and your customers.

About The Author

Ant Onaf is an online internet marketer, web advertiser, and IT consultant. Having several years of experience within the IT field Ant Onaf has managed to successfully advertise and market several prominent clients. His ingenuity, dedication, and passion for technology have made him a monumental icon in the World Wide Web. His public blog can be visited at JournalHome.com: http://www.journalhome.com/?u=anthonyon

This article was posted on February 27, 2005

by Ant Onaf

Cookies Aren’t Just For Eating Anymore

Cookies Aren’t Just For Eating Anymore

by: Lia Spithas

Confused about cookies? Not the chocolate chip variety; the computerrelated kind. Here is some information thatกll help you understand what cookies do, why they do it, and how to control them.

First, a definition. Cookies are tiny text files which are placed on your computerกs hard drive by a Web server, ready for future access. They have many applications, but are mainly used to personalize your Internet search engine by storing information like passwords, Web addresses, and virtual shopping carts. Cookies are important when you personalize a Web page, register for products or services, or shop, because information becomes easy to access each time you revisit a specific Web site.

Cookies are based on a twostep process. During the first step, after visiting a Web site, a Web server creates text which contains your personalized information and then transmits that information, in a text file, to your hard drive. The second step is for your computer to transfer the text file (cookie) back to the Web server. Whenever you direct your browser to display a Web site, the browser transmits the cookie back to the Web server. This is why you see local weather on your personal Yahoo page or กWelcome Bobก when visiting Amazon.com.

กWe use cookies in our programming so that users have a better online experience,ก says IdeaStar Software Developer Doug Hayes. กCookies are especially important for consumer Web sites like the health insurance and performing arts sites that IdeaStar develops. And they are vital to larger consumer and password protected sites.ก

Some people assume that tracking Web activity and storing information with cookies is a problem, because information is being silently gathered and transferred without any notification. However, for the average Internet user, information contained in cookies only improves the Internet experience. Still, knowing that cookies are working behind the scenes doesn’t hurt.

Generally, Web browsers are set to automatically delete cookies after a set amount of time, eliminating the need to manually remove them. Similarly, your browser may be set to automatically replace older cookies with newer ones, so that they are constantly adjusting. However, Doug says กIt is a good idea to delete cookies if you are using a shared computer. If you don’t, there is a chance that the next person could log on and pick up right where you left off. The main thing to remember is that almost everything will be stored (at least temporarily), so be cautious of what information you are sharing.ก

Although there are some variations, cookies may be controlled in many browsers in the following way:

1. Select Tools, then

2. Options or Internet Options

3. Click the Privacy or Security tab

4. Then follow the instructions for cookies.

Or, you can go to GetNetWise ( http://privacy.getnetwise.org/browsing/tools/ ) and read the instructions on how to change your browserกs setting to customize how it manages cookies.(Thereกs even a link to help determine which Web browser you are using.) Keep in mind disabling all cookies, could limit your use of some sites and can prevent you from accessing others.

About The Author

Lia Spithas works for IdeaStar Inc., which designs, develops, manages, and promotes leading edge Web sites. Read more about us at:

http://www.ideastar.com

http://www.insurancetechnologies.com

http://insuratech.blogspot.com/

http://ideastar.blogspot.com/

This article was posted on March 07

by Lia Spithas

Creating Datadriven pages in Macromedia Dreamweav

Creating Datadriven pages in Macromedia Dreamweaver MX

by: Kay Zetkin

With the Macromedia’s release of the new version of Dreamweaver, the Dreamweaver MX 2004, creating data – driven pages have several requirements before you can begin making them. Unlike Dreamweaver 4, a previous version of Dreamweaver, wherein you can just dive in and everything you need are there in the application already, Dreamweaver MX requires some bits and bobs that should be in order and set up your environment.

There are three things you need. Here are they:

1. A Web Server – now, don’t panic with this! You can run some free web server software in your computer, for development purposes. Yes, when we say it’s free, you won’t have to spend a dime on any more equipment and you won’t even have to learn much about it.

You need the a web server because Dreamweaver MX creates sites using five main technologies – these are the ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP and ColdFusion. All these systems require processing of the pages which have to be done using a server. This is the main feature that makes Dreamweaver MX different from previous versions. For you to see your pages working, a server is needed to do the processing for you.

If you are a beginner, you might find it best to start working with ASP, since itกs the most common choice. There are also lots of people around whoกll know how to help you out once you get stuck. For ASP, the web server you need comes free with Windows but itกs not installed by default. If you have NT (with latest Service Packs), Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP Pro, then youกll have IIS (Internet Information Server) on your Windows CD. To add it, go to Add and Remove Programs.

Apache web server is on your machine if you’re running OS X. And if you’re on Mac, things can be more complicated but reachable still. You can use PHP as an advisable option in order to keep your costs low. But if you have plenty of budget to spare then, ColdFusion is best. Chili!Soft makes ASP servers for many different platforms, including Linux, in addition to the Microsoft servers.

Its good news if you already have a web server on your network. Still, if you want to run using JSP or ColdFusion, then you’ll need to set up the appropriate servers for those. Once you have a web server running, we have a method of viewing dynamic pages. Now we need to pay attention to the source of our data.

2: A Database – it’s very basic for you to need a database with information to put into your pages. A database can be a very simple CSV file, or a complex SQL Server database. But to generate a small database, it’s alright to use Microsoft Access. Remember that whatever system you use, you’ll need to know at least something about it. Lots of good books can help you with this.

3: A System Connection to Your Database – you need to set up a kind of ‘connection’ to your system so that the web server on your machine can relate with the database. This is just a definition of where the database is and a few simple rules on how it should be treated.

There are different ways of making connection but the easiest might be through defining a system DSN (Data Source Name). Make sure, though that you have a latest version of MDAC from Microsoft’s site. To get Dreamweaver MX working correctly with your system, you might need this.

That’s it folks! Prepare these things and make lots of Datadriven pages on Dreamweaver MX! 30

About The Author

Kay Zetkin discovered the pleasure of writing through her daily journals as a teenager. Writing in it helped sort out her thoughts, relieve her feelings and record what she observes of the world.

For her, writing is an effective tool to express your viewpoints… To write is already to choose, thus, writing should be done along with a critical mind and a caring soul. She hopes to become more professional, skilled and mature in her craft.

Aside from writing Kay likes to spend her time reading. Reading lets her travel to faroff imagined places and situations. She also learns a lot from books, especially from the sociopolitical and historical ones.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 25

by Kay Zetkin

Windows vs Linux : Hosting

Windows vs Linux : Hosting

by: Teeyes Siva

The Basics of Linux & Windows :

Linux (and its close relation Unix) and Windows 2000 (and its close cousin Windows NT) are types of software (known as operating systems) that web servers use to do the kind of things that web servers do. You do not need to know any real detail of either to make a decision as to which you need but here a few guidelines.

Just because you use a windows desktop PC doesn’t mean you have to opt for Windows web hosting (and the reverse is true as well). The operating system you use on your desktop has little to do with your choice of web hosts. As long as you understand how to use your FTP or web publishing software, your can use either operating system.

But what is important is that you know what you want your website to do and what you want to offer on it. This is what will ultimately help determine the type of web hosting that will work best for you. As mentioned earlier, interactive websites usually rely on ASP, PHP, or Perl type languages.

Linux Web Hosting or Windows 2000 Web Hosting ? Make your Choice !

When it comes to Web hosting, Linux has, for some time, been widely considered the best OS for Web servers. Itกs typically found to be the most reliable, stable and efficient system and, as such, itกs commonly used for the demanding environment of Web and mail servers. Indeed,Most of the clients websites of aalpha NET runs on the Linux OS precisely because of this traditional stability.

The milliondollar question is what application are you looking to use for your hosting? Consider the tools and scripting languages you plan to use – if you use PHP, Perl or MySQL, Linux is the way forward. If apps are Microsoftspecific, then Windows is what you need.

If your site, like most web sites, is what might be termed กbrochurewareก then Linux servers are ideal. By brochureware I mean a site that offers the kind of information that in the past might have been provided on paper in the form of brochures, newsletters or data sheets. Brochureware sites will offer some interaction through enquiry forms and can certainly incorporate online purchasing and other routine ecommerce functions.

If however your site incorporates an online searchable database or interactive chat facilities then Windows 2000 or NT will be a better bet in most cases. It will cost a bit more but youกll get that back in reduced development time and simply better functionality.

The following are the advantages of using Linux based web server compared to Windows based web server :

Stable: Linux/Unix operating systems has traditionally been believed to be very stable and robust. A web site housed on a Linux operating system will have very high uptime (of the order of 99.9%). Of course, other factors such as power supply, network admin skills, and network load etc. also matter when it comes to maintaining the system uptime.

Low cost of ownership: The Linux OS comes free of cost (or at very insignificant cost, usually cost of distribution). Also, it has full fledged server, and desk top applications that comes free along with the OS. These server applications (such as FTP, Web Server, DNS Server, File Server etc.) being free, are also very stable.

Ease of use : When it comes to web hosting, it is easy to host on Linux web servers. The process of uploading and hosting is almost same for both Linux and Windows web servers. If you want to use a Windows based tool such as Front Page for uploading a web site on to a Linux based web server, make sure that the Front Page extensions are enabled. This is only required if you are uploading using HTTP feature (http://www.yourwebsite.com) of Front Page. Front Page also makes it possible to upload a web site using FTP. You need to select ftp://www.yourwebsite.com for up loading using front page FTP option. Note that if you select กFront Page Extensionsก during web site design, you must enable Front Page extensions on a Linux web server also. These days, all Linux web servers are coming with installable Front Page extensions, and this should pose no problem for hosting on a Linux platform.

You can use almost all types of file extensions (or scripts) when using Linux web server. Commonly, the following extensions are supported:

.cgi, .html, .htm, .pl, .php, .shtml, .xml, and others.

Basically it means that you can host web sites that use different types of server side scripts including .cgi, .pl, .php, and .asp (with plugin).

Easy to move between hosts : A web site designed to be hosted on a Linux based web server can be hosted on a Windows web server easily, where as the reverse is not always true.

Most widely used : Linux/Unix based web hosting is most widely used compared to Windows based web hosting.

Scalability : A web site is dynamic. Usually, a web site starts with a few pages of html and grows over a period of time to suit the customers requirements. It is preferable to design a web site keeping this requirements in mind. A web site designed for compatibility with a Linux/Unix based web server meets the scalability requirement easily without making any site wide design changes.

On the downside, Linux based web server is not fully compatible with Microsoft technologies. If you are using any specialized applications or VB for development of your web site, it is preferable to host with a Windows based web server.

However if you are not sure then email me or call Teeyes Siva on 00 91 452 3105858 and Iกll help you decide by talking through the issues.

About The Author

Teeyes Siva heads the Sales Operations @ aalpha NET. He can be reached @ [email protected] or 00 91 452 3105858. aalpha NET (http://www.aalphanet.com) is India’s leading domain name registration, web hosting service provider.

The above article can be reprinted as long as the bio lines stay in place.

This article was posted on October 15, 2004

by Teeyes Siva

Beginner Guide to Web Hosting

Beginner Guide to Web Hosting

by: Andrew Loh

What is web hosting? Whenever you visit a website, what you see on your web browser is essentially just a web page that is downloaded from the web server onto your web browser. In general, a web site is made up of many web pages. And a web page is basically composed of texts and graphic images. All these web pages need to be stored on the web servers so that online users can visit your website.
Therefore, if you plan to own a new website, you will need to host your website on a web server. When your website goes live on the web server, online users can then browse your website on the Internet. Company that provides the web servers to host your website is called web hosting providers.
A wellestablished web hosting provider sometimes hosts up to thousands of websites. For example, the ‘Best Web Host of the Year 2003’ award winner, iPowerWeb, is a web hosting company that hosts more than 200,000 websites. For that reason, a web hosting company need many web servers (essentially, these are computers) to ‘store’ the website. And all these web servers are connected to the Internet through high speed Internet connection and housed in a physical building called ‘data center’. In order to guarantee all the web servers are safe, secure and fully operational all time, a data center is a physically secure 24/7 environment with fire protection, virus detections, computer data backup, redundant power backup and complete disaster recovery capabilities.
What are the different types of web hosting?
There are different kinds of web hosting companies out there with different characteristics. The main types of web hosts can be organized into the following categories:
a. Shared Hosting
In shared hosting (or virtual hosting), many websites are sharing the space on the same physical web servers. Depending on the web host, a physical web server can hosts a few hundred to even thousand of different websites at one time. Since a physical web server is shared (diskspace, computer processing power, bandwidth, memory) by many websites, the web hosting provider can therefore afford to offer a lower hosting price. For the same reason, websites on the shared hosting would have to accept slower server response time. Typically, shared hosting plans start at $5 $20 per month.
b. Dedicated Hosting
In contrast to shared hosting, dedicated hosting assigned a specific web server to be used only by one customer. Since a dedicated web server is allocated to only a single customer, the customer has the option to host single/multiple web sites, modify the software configuration, handle greater site traffic and scale the bandwidth as necessary. Therefore, dedicated hosting commands a higher premium and typically starts at $50 per month and can range up to $200 $500 per month. As a result, dedicated hosting is regularly used by high traffic and important website.
c. Colocation hosting
In dedicated hosting, the web server belongs to the web hosting providers and customers only rent the web server during the hosting period. While in colocation hosting, the customer owns the web server hardware and only housed their web server within the web hosting provider’s secure data center. In this way, the customer has full control over their web server and simultaneously benefit from the 24/7 server monitoring and maintenance provided by the secure data center. Depending on the monthly bandwidth and rack space required, typically colocation hosting range from $500 $1000 per month.
d. Reseller hosting
In reseller hosting, a web hosting provider offers web server storage to thirdparty (i.e. reseller) at a discount price, who then resell the web server storage to their customers. Typically, resellers are web consultants including web designers, web developers, or system integration company who resell the web hosting as a addon service to complement their other range of services.
Commonly, resellers can receive up to 50 percent discount on the price of a hosting account from the web hosting provider. And resellers are allowed to decide its own pricing structure and even establish its own branding (in other words, reseller setup its web hosting company on the Internet and start selling web hosting plans under its brand).
To the reseller’s customers, the reseller is the web host provider. In cases when technical problems such as server down and access problem arise, the resellers will have to correspond directly with the actual web host provider. Due to the communication process taken place between customer to reseller and from reseller to actual web host provider and back and forth, undoubtedly problems will take longer time to resolve. Unless you are running your own personal website or nonprofit website and willing to take the risks of poor support from the reseller, reseller hosting is generally not a good option.
However, the web hosting market today is filled with resellers that sell lowest price web hosting plans. So, how do you tell between a genuine web hosting provider from a reseller? You don’t judge by the availability of tollfree number alone because some web hosting providers even offer their resellers with their own tollfree number for cobranded technical support. When the reseller’s customer calls the number for technical support, the web host uses the reseller’s name so the customer thinks that the support is coming from the reseller directly. Likewise, don’t be fooled by the professional designed website alone because it is extremely easy to create a professional looked business website nowadays.
In general, resellers can be distinguished from their hosting price and company information. In most cases, a genuine web hosting provider has solid company information such as iPowerWeb.com where they publish its financial background, offices and data centers. In contrast, resellers usually do not have solid company background such as TinyHost.com. Moreover, the hosting price by resellers is generally below $5 per month. So, why settle for resellers when you can find genuine web hosting providers offering superb quality web hosting at the hosting price ranging between $7 $10.
Therefore, you should not strive to find the lowest price web hosting companies without first considering the quality of the service and support provided. Don’t expect to find any toplevel support if you choose to pay only $2 or $3 per months for your web hosting plan. On the other hand, by paying just slightly more for your hosting plan, you can now discover a list of low cost yet high quality web hosting plans to host your important website. You can look at our high quality and lowest price web hosting review and recommendation at http://www.lowestpricewebhosting.com

About The Author

Andrew Loh is the owner of the LowestPriceWebHosting.com that provides complete and detail lowest price web hosting review.

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 11, 2004

by Andrew Loh

Web Hosting Basics

Web Hosting Basics

by: Steve Ashton

So you’re about to embark on your first web project and you’re wondering where on earth to start? Well, one of the first things youกll need is a web hosting package. There are so many out there it can seem daunting to try and choose one. In this article weกll teach you the basics to help you make an informed decision.

What is Web Hosting?

For people to actually view your pages on the web, you must have your files located on a กweb serverก. When they visit your site, what they are actually doing is viewing those files. You can rent a little bit of space on the web server, or if your site is large, rent an entire server for your site. Each server is assigned an IP address. This is a four number address that is separated by dots. i.e. 127.0.0.1 Every domain name actually points to an IP address and this is how visitors access your files on the web server.

Once your site is hosted on a webserver, it can be viewed by any computer in the world through a web browser. All they need to do is type in your domain name to view your web pages. Your site must be hosted on a web server before it will be available to external visitors.

What is a Web Host

A Web Host is a company that owns and maintains webservers with the purpose of hosting web sites. You rent space from these companies and in return they will maintain and service the server. Part of this entails keeping the server software current, applying any security patches and ensuring the site is always available, known as กuptimeก. To achieve peak performance, these servers are normally housed in specialist กdatacentersก with dedicated high speed connections to ensure that website loading speeds are as high as possible. A lot of web hosting companies will rent space in a large datacenter to save costs.

Web Host companies come in all shapes and sizes, from large multinational telecommunications companies to joe bloggs down the street with a server in their office. A number of web hosting companies will include a lot of other services to make them a onestop shop to get yourself on the web. This could include domain name registration which ensures your domain name will point to the correct IP address as soon as the name is registered. If you register your domain name with a different company you will need to specify the IP address of your hosting server before anyone is able to view your files.

Types of Web Hosting

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting means your site will be hosted on a web server that is also hosting a number of other websites at the same time. The server disk space and server resources, i.e. RAM, data transfer is divided up between the various clients. Although your site is located on a shared server, your files are still secure and can not be viewed by anyone else who also has their site on that web server.

As well as sharing the server resources, all the websites also share the same IP. This can be important in some cases as some websites can get banned by search engines for improper behaviour such as SPAM or illegal activities. When a website is banned, the search engine will block the IP address which means all the other sites on the web server may also be affected. It is therefore important to ensure that the web hosting company careful monitors the activities of the websites they host or state what kind of sites are appropriate for that server.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) share some of the same characteristics as shared hosting but it provides you with a bit more control over your own destiny. Like shared hosting, a web server is divided up and the serverกs resources are split between the clients. What makes this different is that each partition is given its own IP address and generally, there are a very limited amount of users on each server, ensuring that you get a good share of the serverกs resources.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated Hosting means that the entire web server is กdedicatedก to one website, or one client. A client can host a number of their own websites if they choose to do so. The benefits of this are that you control the server, and can be assured that no one else is doing anything on their website that will affect your site. It also means that all the systems resources are geared to your site which will boost the speed and reliability of your site. On the downside, having your own dedicated server incurs a much bigger investment and you are responsible for ensuring that the server is always running.

This can be a great option if you run a large site that will cover these costs and you have the technical expertise to manage the server.

Summary

I hope that after reading this youกll have a better idea about what kind of web hosting plan best suits your particular needs. Remember to look around. There are lots of very good companies out there but there are also a lot of bad oneกs. It pays to do some research about the company you choose before purchasing your web hosting plan.

About The Author

Steve Ashton is a programmer and web developer. He runs two popular websites, http://www.abetterwebhost.com and http://www.domainnamescenter.com.

This article was posted on January 07

by Steve Ashton