Virtual Private Server (VPS)

One choice of web hosting that has gained a lot of ground in recent times is the Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting.  That is because it presents you with the flexibility, versatility and speeds of devoted and committed servers at a cost that is very much comparable to that of shared servers.  This kind of web hosting is ideal for those who cannot afford the cost of a wholly committed server and are into the reseller hosting activity.  They are also ideal for those who are owners of many websites and desire to provide each one with sufficient bandwidth so that they can be accessed speedily and without any of the problems associated with that of shared servers, notorious for slow speeds.  VPS, all said and done is a very attractive option for most website owners.

But what exactly is a VPS?

This is a standalone server or mega computer, which is hosted on something called the VPS Node or another name for a physical server.  The advantage with these VPS nodes is that they possess huge RAM and hard disk space which makes it possible to divide them into many VPS systems.  As a consequence, every VPS has its own RAM along with sufficient hard disk space and can therefore function like an independent server, though it is deriving its resources from the mother VPS Node.  The drive responses are quicker and there is no danger of any data loss.  This method of operation enables you to load software that you require, including any operating system, without compromising on the performance of any of the other VPS systems on that particular mother Node.

The customer thus partakes of the hardware, power supply, network facilities of that Node and shares the same with other customers linked to that Node.  This however, in no way compromises on the benefits of a VPS hosting system such as:

·    Dedicated RAM and disk space
·    Flexibility to load own operating system or other files
·    Control of administrative jobs like modifying server settings, freedom to load software
·    Running and maintaining the VPS like your own system, including booting and rebooting of the system

A VPS system is one which allows you the flexibility of something in between a shared and a dedicated kind of web hosting.  This is therefore ideal for those who are at the moment enjoying services of a shared host, but wish to upgrade to an environment which gives them a dedicated facility without having to pay a great deal extra.

The security system of a VPS is another advantage.  Since your VPS will have its own file system that is unique, there is no danger of anybody else getting access to your data and that provides for adequate peace of mind. Setting up a VPS is easy as well, thanks to the excellent start up support and tutorials presented by most service providers.

To summarize, hosting on a VPS is highly advocated for anybody wishing control, efficiency, speed and affordability.  It is easy to avail of and many hosting companies include VPS in their service offering.

Review your web hosting provider and get $5

Rate your hosting company for Webmaster Serve

Webmaster Serve a growing webmaster forum is expanding it web hosting review section. A spokes person for webmaster serve was quoted as saying “we want to develop a web hosting review section that will help people looking for web hosting company to read feedback about their host before making a decision”. There are quite a lot of web hosting review sites online so what will Webmaster Serve review section be doing differently?  The spokes person responded by saying that “most web hosting review sites do not offer impartial reviews, they tend to be funded by affiliate payment from the hosting company they claim to be reviewing  with the best paying hosting company rated top and the least paying at the bottom, you can not really call this a web hosting review, more like a web hosting review affiliate listings” he added further “out hosting section is not funded by affiliate, adverts or any 3rd party, its a genuine review to help potential web hosting consumer make informed decision.

The hosting review is divided into two sections, the UK web hosting reviews and the US web hosting review, with each section focusing on reviewing hosting companies from UK or USA.

A fiver for each site you rate

Webmaster Serve is paying $5 to the first five people to review their web hosting company using the hosting review template found below.
Size matters, what is the size of the hosting company?
- Small
- Medium
- Large
- How long has your hosting company been online?

Domain Registration
- Offered free with hosting?
- Price
- TLD and ccTLD offered
- DNS control
- Advanced DNS Control (can you do stuff like point you MX records to another host

Hosting Services
- Share Hosting
- Virtual Private Server
- Windows Hosting
- Linux/Unix
- Reseller Option
- Additional IP address
- Cloud/Grid hosting

Speed
Uptime
Server setup

Admin Control Panels
-cPanel
- Ensim
- Plesk
- Others

Email Option
- webmail
- IMAP
- POP3
- SMTP

Support
- Telephone support
- Support hours (24-7?)
- Email support
- Support desk response time
- Skills of support staff

Limitations?

Unmanaged dedicated servers - basic security to make it secure

Once you outgrow shared hosting or you want to move from your reseller hosting account to having your own dedicated server, you have two options, you can get a managed dedicated server (the server company or a third party manages security, applying patches, updates and the general wellbeing of your server) or you can get unmanaged dedicated server which you have to manage yourself. The going rate for third party managing a dedicated server seem to to start from about £100 per month.
If you prefer to save money and manage the server by yourself, you can certainly do this, all you have to do is apply some tried and tested setup to update and secure your dedicated server. The list below gives some of the most important things you need to do on your unmanaged server to ensure its secure.
Disable direct root login - By default you can login directly to the root of Linux/Unix servers, add an extra layer of security by disabling this so that you need to login as admin first before you can login as root. Naturally you should set two different passwords for root and admin users.

Difficult complex password - Set hard password that includes alphanumeric numbers, upper and lowercase letters for both root and admin account.
Install a firewall
Spam protection - Setup rule import rfxn.com, spamhause.org and dshield.org
Setup the spam assassin
Set up “logwatch” to monitor logs and send email to you should a security related even take place.
Install automatically root kit scanner - This scans your server every day to see if root kit is installed on your server. (Set cron to run this and send report to you).
Set minimum password strength for accounts on your server to 10
Enable brute force protection
Enable open base dir protection for PHP to prevents users from opening files outside of their home directory with PHP
Create a custom/changed sendmail script to log spammers whose want to use form found on your server to send spam.
Enable secure FTP (anonymous ftp should be disabled.
To reduced server resources use change your mail server to Dovecot if it comes with Courier, have very high memory usage.
Setup the log rotation to delete or store old log files
Recompile Apache and PHP with the options SuPHP, and all security related modules.
Install GD for image manipulation, openSSL, mod auth, mod bandwidth
Install Ion Cube and Zend.
Setup Hardened PHP (Suhosin). Is the same PHP version 5.2.8 just with enhanced security (http://www.hardened-php.net/)
Setup and enable automatic updates for the server.
Update the server and system software.

Please not that the above should not necessarily be done in the order listed above and you may not even need to all especially if you are not reselleing hosting space on the server.

Green web hosting - How to start a green hosting company

Environment concern is not a fad that would fade any more. A lot of consumers are demanding that their hosting company are socially responsible if not they will vote with their wallets and move their hosting elsewhere. Data centres are notoriously power hungry. Servers tends to consume a lot of electricity because they are running day and night. Temperature in the data centre needs to be kept at a cool constant temperature so its no surprise that data centres are said to consume 4% of the electricity used in the world.

Web hosting companies and data centres that has switched to powering their operation in ecofriendly manner tends to use some of the following me methods: [Read more]

Simple tweeks to make cPanel more secure

Having used Plesk and cPanel as web hosting software manager for a few years I am finally getting rid of the last of our Plesk servers. With very few tweaks like the one below you can make a cPanel server more secure.
1. enable phpsuexec, this will deal with many security problems. it helps you find out which or your hosting clients is doing what on your server. It also disabled CHMOD 777 which usually leave many a script vulnerable.

2. Enable cPHulk Brute Force Protection, this will prevent the most
hackings as will block any IP that enters wrong password on your server incorrectly after x number of tries.
3. enable PHP open_basedir Tweak, this prevents scripts from accessing
files outside of its own public_html folder.
4. enable SMTP Tweak, this will prevent users from bypassing the mail
server to send mail, so spammers can send messages from a servers
using other SMTP servers.
5. Disable open relay, to stop spammers using your server to spam.

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