Advantages of Colocation Services for your Critical Data

One idea that has come to the forefront in light of recent disasters is that of the colocation centre: a secure site where several companies base their data centres. It is often the technical hub of a business where key applications and critical data are stored, as well as the area that manages incoming and outgoing electronic communication between the company, its clients, and its workers.

-Data centres that are located in-house are increasingly expensive, and in the case of many small or medium sized businesses prohibitively so. By using a colocation centre, which securely houses the data centres for many different companies, business owners can cut costs significantly, both in terms of carrying capacity and personnel.

-Because colocation centres concentrate only on IT aspects of business, they are always supplied with the latest in terms of worker ability, safety, and in-service provision.

-The data stored in colocation centres are always protected by the very latest in firewall and other hacking proof technology. In-house servers frequently run behind the times, as security services need to be constantly monitored for any changes to protect against new threats. Business owners either get behind, or can’t pay the properly qualified personnel to monitor and update their systems. A colocation centre has a dedicated group of certified technicians monitoring the data centres in the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As the costs are shared amongst the businesses using the facility, it is much more efficient than paying in-house staff.

-Colocation centres can also take a lot of the headache out of customer relations. Internet presence is an increasingly important factor in creating and maintaining relationships between customers and businesses, and a fault with a connection can mean lost dollars. Colocation centres are serviced with the latest fool proof systems and wiring, allowing constant connectivity.

-In the event of a disaster, colocation centres also include backup servers which kick in immediately if trouble occurs. This allows much more streamlined and efficient recovery in case data centres are compromised in any event. In-house data recovery is always much more costly, if in fact it is a possibility at all.

-In short, colocation centres offer a lot of advantages to the business owner. Safety and continuity are two considerations when it comes time to decide if you want to outsource the storage of your critical data

The term “hosting”

The word “hosting” refers to Internet lexicon and derives from the word “host”, which has several meanings: the owner, the device, the main computer.

-Why you need hosting? You create a website on your computer. After this your next question: “How to put this website to Internet for users from all over the world?” Of course, you can make this page accessible by Internet from your own computer. But this means that:

1). your computer must constantly work;

2). your computer must constantly be connected to the Internet;

3). connection with Internet should be on great speed;

4). you must install on your сomputer fairly complicated software.

Obviously that placement of the website on your personal computer has many problems and expensive. But there is a simple and inexpensive way that allows to get rid of them. This is “hosting”.

What is domain Name?

A domain name is the address of your website on the Internet, where anybody can find your site. Domain name is a part of website’s URL (Uniform Resource Locator). All domain names are unique.

-Domain Name System (DNS) was invented because it was very hard for Internet-users to remember IP-addresses, that consist of a set of numbers. Domain names are associated to specific IP-addresses and can be used instead of those IP-addresses. DNS convert domain name to equivalent numeric IP-address. List that links IP-addresses with domain names are stored on DNS servers. If database on DNS server not contain specific domain name, it send query to the next DNS server and so on, until the desired bundle “domain name/IP-address” not found.

Examples of domain names:google.commicrosoft.com

URLs for this domain names:http://www.google.com/http://www.microsoft.com/
URL always includes a domain name.
Domain name have hierarchical structure and it divided into levels. Each level is separated by point.

-For example: earth.google.comcom - top-level domain (TLD) or first-level domain,google.com - second-level domain,earth.google.com - third-level domain.

-The number of top-level domains are limited. There are generic top-level domains - gTLD (.com, .org, .edu, .net and others) and country code top-level domains - ccTLD (.us, .fr, .de, .ru and others).
You can register top-level domain name with one of the registrars for term of 1 year or more.

Disadvantages of cheap Web Hosting

1. The amount of disk space is usually very limited.

2. Bandwidth (traffic or monthly data transfer) is also very limited.

3. You get a limited number of Email Accounts.

4. You get a limited number and volume of MySQL (MS SQL) databases.

5. The possibility of using various scripting languages (ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion) or software (various scripts, CMS, pre-installed website creation software) very limited.

6. Companies offering cheap hosting often can not provide an adequate level of security and safety of data (physical security, daily backups).

7. When using low-cost hosting, as a rule, there is no good technical support (24/7 support by phone or email).

8. You have no opportunity to place multiple sites on one hosting or create subdomains.

9. Companies that provide cheap web hosting could not guarantee 99.9% server uptime.

10. You can not use SSL protocol (Secure Sockets Layer - cryptographic protocol that provide secure data transfer).

11. You do not have complete control over the server (complete root access).

Types of Web Hosting

There are several types of web hosting, that differs by provided opportunities. Selecting a specific type of web hosting is based on your website requirements and it is very important decision.

-The main types of web hosting: free web hosting, shared web hosting (virtual web hosting), dedicated web hosting. Less common types of web hosting: colocation Web hosting, reseller web hosting, managed web hosting, clustered web hosting, grid web hosting, image hosting, file hosting, video hosting, blog hosting and others.

-Free Web Hosting. Suitable for personal websites. Not recommended for business websites. Because it’s free often on your website will display advertisement. Free web hosting alwayslimited in comparison to paid web hosting.

-Shared Web Hosting. Your website is hosted on a single server with other websites (number of websites can be several hundreds).

-Dedicated Web Hosting. Your website is hosted on a separate server, and you get complete control over the server (root access for Linux or administrator access for Windows). The server belongs to web hosting provider.

-Managed Web Hosting. Your website is hosted on a separate server, but you do not have full control over it. You can manage configuration via special management tools. The server belongs to web hosting provider.

-Colocation Web Hosting. Have the same opportunities as dedicated web hosting, but server belongs to you.

Web Hosting, PHP vs ASP

Web pages used to be simple affairs, where everything you needed to do could be done in HTML, there was really one set of rules and one set of expectations. Today’s world is far more complex.
Web pages can be more complex and customers expect more from web pages. Terms like PHP and ASP now compete with HTML when starting a web page and it can be hard to figure out what option best suits your needs.

-If you’ve ever driven an import car, you can appreciate the importance of being able to find support that meet your needs, if you’re going to kick the tires with your website and turn it into something exception, having a large community that can support you is critical.
PHP, Personal Home Pages has more support on the internet than ASP - Active Server Pages. The larger user base gives you more allies; more people who can help you develop your own talents and your website.

-Another advantage of PHP is that it’s based on unix, giving it more cross platform capability than ASP as increasing demands of Microsoft’s operating systems level the cost playing field between Microsoft products and Apple, this is ever more important.

-And did we mention that in the grand tradition of unix, PHP is free, while ASP needs support software that isn’t? For add-ons and additional tools, PHP’s open source has a strong base of free tools, whereas ASP demands that you purchase these tools.

-You can find help for your PHP programming from free to paid. Most professional ASP support is very expensive by comparison.

-Also, you have to consider the costs associated with a web hosting on Windows Server compared to Linux Servers. For most cases, you will notice a substantial difference in prices.
Not only that, but Windows severs do tend to be unstable and prone to failures, are more likely to be attacked by viruses, Trojans and exploits. Linux servers on the other hand are much more stable and the attacks windows servers suffer in a daily basis are non-existent in Linux.
If you are considering either a dedicated server or a shared hosting, your fist choice should be Linux. I’ve yet to find a problem that can’t be solved using PHP and Linux.

-With all this, you might wonder why ASP still is out there at all. Part of it stems from ASP being based on the same methodology that’s used to make macros in other Microsoft products.
People that have invested the time learning how to use macros in Word or Excel will be more comfortable using ASP. PHP is based on C++, a robust computer programming language.

-Before this intimidates you, the free tools that exist out there allow for a lot of this to be hidden, until you’re ready to take advantage of the power behind PHP.

-Putting it all together, the power, the cost, flexibility, stability and support of PHP is far superior to that of ASP. If you’re going to commit to building the best web page you can, commit to using the best tools you can.

-Investing in learning PHP will pay off when you’re able to pop the hood, invite your friends over and transform your web page from a normal, average, page to a sophisticated and highly toned performance page

Choosing a Shared Web Host

Nowadays, cheap services do not necessarily mean poor quality. In the area of web hosting, for example, consumers can avail of the services of a shared web host without having to pay a considerable amount in fees. But how can one determine a good web host? Here are some of the qualities you should look for in a shared web host.

Offers Scalable Solutions

-An ideal shared web host should be able to cater to the growing demands of your business or site. It should offer features that allow you to upgrade and accommodate increases in bandwidth. Of course, as your site becomes more complex, your shared web host should be able to provide multimedia streaming, database support and server-side scripting.

Provides Excellent Tech Support

-The most important feature of a shared web host is being able to provide excellent technical support services. The web host should be available day and night to address technical problems. In addition to this, experience and expertise should be evident especially among the system administrators. They should be able to address issues promptly and accurately.

Boasts of Quality Server Technology

-Make sure you choose a shared web host that is up to speed when it comes to server technology. Having excellent quality technology is very crucial if the web host needs to accommodate a large number of users.

-There are a lot of shared web hosting providers in the market today, all claiming that they can provide excellent web hosting services. But if you want a great shared web host, you should only trust The Magic Host (www.themagichost.com). Considered to be one of the leading web host providers in the United States, The Magic Host can provide individuals and businesses with excellent quality web hosting services. Users will be delighted with the wide range of web hosting packages, with prices ranging from as low as $4.50 to as much as $174 a month.

-Customers can choose from Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting and Dedicated Hosting packages. There is also several available datacenters located in Central/West/East USA, Japan and Germany. Of course, among the three packages, users with tight budgets will be delighted with the Shared hosting package. As a shared web host, The Magic Host offers its clients with free setup and domain name. The shared web hosting package also includes shared SSL as well as full management features. Choices of operating system include Windows, Linux, Oracle and FreeBSD.

-And because The Magic Host knows how important excellent customer service is, customers will also be provided with round-the-clock technical support by certified engineers. There is also a dedicated Personal Account Manager that will ensure that your account is managed and well-taken cared of.

-A shared web host should be able to provide you with all these services at an affordable cost. You can choose to compare prices but it would be difficult to find a provider that guarantees these features. If you want more information about the services that The Magic Host offers, simply visit their website

Blog Hosting - Do’s and Don’ts

Every webmaster knows that hosting is just one of the services which can’t be avoided (just like taxes). Anyone who wishes to publish content whether it is for business or personal reasons has to place it within a special computer called a “Server”. These special type of computers are designed to be always on and provide always-accessible content.

-A hosting service can be free or paid. Paid hosting has several subdivisions according the the user’s storage and bandwidth needs. Free hosting is most of the time not recommended, specially for content management systems such as blogs. Many free hosting providers do not provide necessary tools needed for a blog to function properly.

-Blog users will need hosting tools such as: at least one MySQL database to store all the dynamic content, posts, etc. There are several MySQL database versions but the most commonly used are 4.0 and 5.0. Luckily enough, installing a blog is quite easy and doesn’t require extensive technical knowledge of MySQL database management, some blogging platforms offer a 2-3 step installation process and others can be hosted within the CMS provider’s machines under a sub-domain, Such is the case of Google’s Blogger and Wordpress.

-Depending on the type of Blog, users will need to tweak the settings a little bit to optimize the content, design and accessibility so FTP access or a web based management system is needed. Modifications to the blogging platform include design (CSS, images), format, publicly available areas, admin areas as well as restricted and member only areas through the use of CHMOD or permission settings as well as robot files ( robots.txt)

-On top of all of the “free host” disadvantages users often find that advertisements which are not always suited to the site’s topic, are placed in critical areas for visitors to see. This is a major disadvantage for business owners as well as individual bloggers, that is why it is always recommended to use paid hosts. These type of hosting service is very cheap and the most popular type of account is called “virtual or shared”, meaning that one server will store several web sites in its hard drive, which is not a bad thing since the site will be indexed and ranked by Google the same way sites located in dedicated servers are. Businesses often need to upgrade from virtual accounts to dedicated accounts according to the amount of content being stored dynamically (managed through the blogging platform) and the site’s popularity or bandwidth usage.

-The best way to find good hosts which offer all the tools needed for a blog to function properly, is by taking a good look at the features offered such as: databases, management system, email accounts, storage and bandwidth allowance as well as “one click” script installation system

Types and flavors of web hosting

On a cost basis, shared hosting is always the least expensive.

- Shared hosting is generally aimed at beginners and intermediate users (though if your specific application doesn't require CGI or database access advanced users can save tons of money with shared hosting). As the name implies, Shared hosting is "sharing" the hosting environment. Usually your web site lives in a folder along side many other folks web sites, and the same web server process serves up all of the those sites on request. This means any site in a shared that acts as a bandwidth hog will take CPU and disk access time away from other neighboring sites in the environment. Many shared hosting providers work to mitigate these circumstances by controlling the bandwidth, file sizes and overall resource usage available to any one site. Upgrades in a shared hosting generally consist of making additional bandwidth, file size and CGI access available... basically allowing you to take up a higher priority among your neighbors. All in all this is a very good balance of cost versus performance.

Continuing the cost analysis angle; Virtual private hosting is the next major step up.

- It's the stop gap between shared and dedicated hosting. Virtual hosting still shares a machine or disk, but the web server software and indeed the entire operating system environment is usually isolated for each site in a virtual hosting . So, you might have a computer or disk with 10 sites on it, 10 different web servers for those sites, and 10 isolated operating environments. The advantages include better control of resource allocation and more enforceable distribution (i.e. neighbors who hog CPU and disk time in a shared environment have a more tightly controlled allocation of CPU and disk time in a virtual private server environment, so the number of cycles available to your processes are not diminished... here folks don't have to compete for each second, the allotments are usually fixed). Another advantage is that you usually have robust CGI and database accessibility... and if you have a CGI that accidentally runs an infinite loop, it won't suck up your neighbors CPU bandwidth allocations since the operating system environment is isolated. Consider this same scenario in a shared hosting environment where your CGI experiencing an infinite loop might lock up the system and prevent any other site in that shared environment from being served either ...very bad!

At the top of the cost pyramid is dedicated hosting.

- This usually requires you have considerable technical skills at your disposal. Dedicated hosting basically means you have the whole machine or disk to yourself. It also can mean that when your web server falls down, you will have to restart it. Worse, it can mean if your site gets DDOS attacked that you might have to manage most if not all of the strategy to mitigate the attack. While shared hosting providers don't tend to highlight this facet, when one of their sites experiences a DoS attack, because it impacts the rest of the sites in their environment, they are highly motivated to mitigate the attack, and likely have highly skilled administrators available to do so. This is often a hidden advantage to hosting in a shared (or even a virtual private) environment. However, if your site is a frequent target of DOS attacks, your relationship with your hosting provider may be strained to the point of you being booted, or you being charged specifically to help offset the special costs associated with managing your site and it's impact on the rest of the shared users.

What is Web Hosting

What exactly is web hosting?

- In a nutshell, web hosting is a like a folder or directory on your computer, except it's on a computer that's connected to the Web 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And, anyone on the web can read what you put in it. To use a web host, you put your files in your space on the web host. Visitors can find your files by going to your web address (called a URL.) When a visitor makes a request to your URL, a web server "hears" that request and gets the files from the disk where your website lives, and shows them to the visitor. If you want to create a simple web page, or build a massive web store like Amazon's, you need web hosting. You build your pages using a web language like HTML, build your scripts (programs) using a server language like PERL or C#, and then you upload everything to your web host, tweak some values for your scripts (if you have scripts) and voila... your live. (That's a very, very simplified answer.)

Web hosting comes in different shapes and sizes. Which flavor is best for you depends on what you are trying to do; on what your "application" is. The major categories are: Shared Web Hosting, Virtual Private Hosting and Dedicated Hosting.

Within those categories you find subcategories such as e-commerce hosting and rich media hosting. At a basic level, the major category differences break down between cost and performance. Higher cost usually means higher performance, more tools and more resources. Higher performance often means increased maintenance on your part, though you can mitigate this by paying even more to have someone manage your hosting account