What are the differences between Linux and Windows Hosting?

What are Linux and Windows?

Linux and Windows are operating systems that are used by the servers to do their intended purpose. There are several different flavors of Linux including traditional Un ix operating systems, and Windows also come in several different versions such as NT, 2000 and 2003 Servers. To decide on the right hosting plan, you might want to use this guideline to better understand the differences and benefits of each platform. Many of us use Windows desktop PCs, but that has little to do with which server platf orm you should decide on. The real decision criteria should be what you want your website to do, and what type of programming tools you'll use to build your website.

Linux Hosting - what are advantages and disadvantages?

Linux is an open source version of Unix, which has been a defacto standard for providing reliable and stable operating platform to corporate environments for over 3 dec ades. Linux has been widely used in the hosting industry for providing web server, email hosting, database and DNS services. It is very reliable, stable and cost-effec tive.

The important question about using Linux is what type of applications, programming languages, and databases are you planning to use on your hosting account. There are h undreds of thousand publicly available open source applications and utilities that you can use without paying a single dime, if you choose to use Linux plan. Some of th e most popular scripting languages include PHP, Perl, and Python; and Linux also supports MySQL and Postgres databases.

If you do not require Windows specific application, choosing a Linux platform will work out well in terms of site reliability and costs. Most web hosts spend less money on software licenses when providing services on the Linux machines than on the Windows machines. To compensate for this additional cost incurring on Windows hosting, m ost web hosts charge more for Windows hosting.

A web site designed to be hosted on a Linux server can be easily moved to a Windows server, whereas reverse is not always true. One subtle difference in how filenames a nd directories are used on Linux servers is that the names are case sensitive whereas Windows is case-insensitive. Also, most scripting tools available on Linux are now supported on Windows, so moving some of the dynamic contents are also possible when moved from Linux to Windows. This is true because most open source tools are design ed to support multiple platform, and are also available free of charge. For this reason and historical reasons, Linux/Unix based web hosting is most widely used compare d to Windows based hosting.

Windows Hosting - what are advantages and disadvantages?

Windows operating system is a proprietary solution designed by Microsoft, and there are cost associated with a software license. Not only operating system, but also other applications designed to run on Windows have price tags, and there aren't too many open source (free) alternatives. This leads web hosts to spend more money on supporting Windows hosting than Linux counterpart, and likely have higher hosting price.

Linux (or Unix) operating system has been around for 40 years, where Windows has been around for only 10 years. The Unix operating systems have known to be very stable and robust, and have very high up-time. Windows having lesser user base and shorter history, it has not yet proven to be stable and reliable in early years. However, with gaining user base especially in corporate users has improved its reliability significantly over the recent years, and so it is believed to be equally stable as the Linux servers nowadays.

Windows being a commercial product, the applications developed to run on Windows are tied to its operating system. The .NET infrastructure, ASP and SQL Databases are designed to only run on Windows platform. The architecture provides a very user friendly development platform, and offers users to develop applications in less time. If you are Windows developer or happens to use one or more applications designed to run on Windows, you do not have much choice but to choose Windows platform.

Due to its commercial state, it's hard to move a website designed to run on Windows to a Linux based hosting plan. The tools available on Windows such as .NET and ASP are simply not available on Linux -- although there is an exception, but for the sake of this discussion I think it's not worthwhile discussing MONO. One additional thing to note is that Windows filenames are case-insensitive, so when moving files from Windows to Linux, an attention has to be given to retain case sensitivity on the Linux server. Otherwise, some of the images and links may not resolve correctly on Linux server after moved from Windows based hosting.

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Magento Hosting Advantages and Disadvantages

Key Advantages of using Magento software

Widget comprehensiveness – product suite has the entire range of product features in a one-stop package. You can start simply and build up the complexity and functionality of your site. The shopping features are endless with customisable storefronts, loyalty products such as gift cards, customer and time specific banners, wish lists and product comparisons. For anything else the user needs they can go to MagentoConnect. Here they can find a wide range of extensions enabling additional store applications.

Coding (ability to re-use code), share code (in Magento Community product aimed at e-Commerce programmers).

Open source – free to download and there is a range of further extensions for the advanced user or programmer.

Debugging- Once again the sharing of knowledge in the Community product enables programmers to debug.

Scalability in ecommerce applications – the software can be used from a small number of customers to a very large number of users. This means the software is great for small companies that expect to eventually become large. Often companies have to start with one software solution and then change to a new system as the company evolves and expands to a large corporation. There is no need with customers of Magento.

Industry scope – Magento can be used across many different industries so don’t have to have different software packages to meet each industry’s e-commerce needs.

Social media functionality – the merchants using Magento have the option to place automatic social media links on their shopping site. This drives further traffic to their site and increases sales.

Popular with retailers – Magento is now number 3 for the American and Canadian top 500 e-commerce traders. This alone provides evidence of its application to a wide range of stores but also as a recognisable brand with strong support to back it. Magento is a medium to large range e-commerce solution but can still be used for the smaller retailer.

It is truly universal enabling all international currencies to be handles as well as real time exchange rates for overseas buyers.

Level of sophistication – Magento comes in three levels of usage: Enterprise, Community and MagentoGo. Megento Enterprise is for the largest of e-commerce retailers. The scalability and ability to add new features and attract new buyers is strong.

Magento Community is great for tech-savvy e-commerce geeks and programmers who do the code. Essentially users can re-use codes and apply them to their unique e-commerce platforms, meeting their specific business requirements. Users can share knowledge, extensions and codes too to increase their ability to take maximum advantage of this powerful e-commerce platform.

Branding MagentoGo is for the newbies to e-commerce and marketing, targeting the small business owner. It still has the useful features of the larger scale Enterprise system. The product is off the shelf software, ready to go, highly customisable in terms of design, look and feel and the ability to quickly launch a branded site complete with full site functionality.

SEO-ready -One of the major distinguishing features of MagentoGo for small business owners is that is comes with SEO built into the software. It is able to auto generate site maps, to assist with selecting Meta tags and key terms for any industry. As a business owner you need not know anything about SEO to be found by your customers or rank high on Google searches. MagentoGo assists to quickly set up landing pages so that you can rate high in SEO rankings, using the key terms that will drive traffic to your site.

Mobile ready – in these days of e-mobility, the software has the capacity for apps on IOS and Android, on smart phones and tablets. This is the future of e-commerce and any software for e-retailers needs this built-in functionality.

Key Disadvantages of using the Magento platform

As with any software product there are some downsides to product.The disadvantages of Magento are fewer than its advantages. However some of its downsides are quite major.

Runs on PHP, Enterprise style Java code – this means it takes up a lot of memory during processes. This means strong hardware is required to run the software, many companies using cloud services but even these can struggle.

Complex to the novice – like many software systems that have advanced capability and mass customisation, this brings with it a real challenge to the novice user. Yes there are a lot of great options but the sheer choice and how to implement the choices; especially the design aspect can be daunting at first. It may indeed appear slightly ironic that the very boast that there is a lot of code that can be used re-used, apparently some 400,000 lines of code to be exact. Now surely that is a bit much choice!
This downside is magnified in that Magento does not follow the rules of other e-Commerce systems like OsCommerce. This means you have no prior knowledge advantage you might have with other systems.

Slow – the system can be slow if the server is not up to the demands made by Magento, mainly due to its reliance on Enterprise Java/PHP coding. This means the system requires a lot of memory usage.  Thus the ultimate boast of extreme usefulness is tempered slightly by this “sluggishness”. This tends to mean that a small, single server encounters considerable sluggishness in running the software. The software requires a strong, capable hosting set up. Otherwise the full optimal advantage of the software will not be achieved.

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Why a Unmanaged Service Might Make Your Life Difficult

What is the difference between a managed vps server VS an unmanaged vps hosting package? What is the best option for bloggers and online business owners and which one should you choose.

VPS hosting is a very popular choice for many web site owners since it offers the advantages of a dedicated server but at an affordable cost. When choosing vps hosting you can choose between a managed or unmanaged vps server. Let’s see below the difference between the two.

Managed VPS Hosting

Managed vps hosting is the ideal solution for both non-technical but also technically savvy people since the hosting provider takes care of any technical tasks related to the server. In other words the web hosting provider is responsible for managing the server including system upgrades and configuration and your job is to do what you are supposed to do i.e. run your website or online business.

When purchasing a managed vps package the web hosting provider will manage the server and while you will have administrative access through a control panel to do whatever you want with your server, they will still make sure that it is available, has up-to-date system software, it is secured and has the available hardware resources to run according to the vps package specification.

Unmanaged VPS Hosting

Unmanaged VPS hosting is different from managed vps hosting in a number of ways. First and foremost the hosting provider is responsible for providing you with the VPS server but everything else is up to you to handle.

It’s like buying a new physical server and you bring it home, pull in the plug and switch the server on. This is the responsibility of the unmanaged hosting provider to make sure that the server is available and accessible online. Everything else is your responsibility including the configuration of the server and its services.

You can imagine that this is not the job for the average user and even if you have the technical knowledge to do it, it’s always better to leave the technical stuff to the datacentre people and concentrate on how to grow your business.

Managed VPS hosting VS unmanaged VPS hosting

Comparing the two is easy since managed vps hosting has a lot more advantages than unmanaged hosting.

Cost: In the past there was a considerable difference between managed and unmanaged vps packages but this is not the case today. Managed VPS hosting is as low as $25 per month which is very low if you take into account the number of hours you save from having to manage your server.

Time: When you order a managed vps server, it only takes a couple of hours to have your server up and running in a properly configured manner but this is not the case with the unmanaged server.  It may take hours to manually install and configure the required services.

Technical knowledge: No technical knowledge is required for running a managed server. When you need to do something technical all you have to do is contact support and let the skilled technical support operators handle the rest. With an unmanaged server you need to have server administration skills and love working in the command line otherwise it will be very difficult to administer your server efficiently.

Security:  Website security starts from the server security and if you don’t follow best practices then most probably your website will be exposed to security risks. A server that is managed by the hosting provider will have a better level of security since security is an important chapter for modern datacenters.

Which package is better for you?

We want to offer our customers the best possible experience and add real value to their online businesses by leveraging our modern and up-to-date infrastructure as well as the years of experience in the market. For this reason we offer fully managed services on all control panel VPS and dedicated servers.

This means that we take care of your server including guaranteed availability (we offer 99.9% uptime), security hardening, operating system configuration and upgrades.

Your job is to take care of your business and if you ever need support our experienced personnel is more than glad to help you 24X7 ,365 days a year.

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Does a Dedicated IP Address Offer More SEO Advantages?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is both an art and a science. Obviously, the higher up Google's search rank you are, the more opportunity there is for people to see your listing and therefore visit you site, and then purchase you products and/or services. To facilitate a higher ranking, legions of SEO experts live and breathe experimenting with every aspect of websites and their hosting to establish exactly what benefits a sites and ranks them higher, and what to do to avoid ranking diminishing. One area of intense speculation is whether websites benefit from a Dedicated IP address rather that a Shared IP address.

What's an IP address?

Any device which is connected to the Internet, whether it is a PC, a laptop, a mobile device, or your web host's server, has a unique IP address. It is a 4 number string which starts at 0 and goes up to 255. So it can look like this:

1.25.255.255

This 'code' is what identifies the machine you are using. Being identified, the Internet can send data to it, meaning you can access the multitude of websites the Internet has to offer. 

What's a Shared IP address?

As mentioned previously, the server which your web host uses to host your website is a single machine with a single IP address. However, in shared web hosting, one server can host thousands of websites at any given time, and all of these websites are recognized by the single IP address allocated to the web host's server. 

What's a Dedicated IP address?

If you have your own server, and that server only has one website on it, then by default, your IP address is dedicated. However, usually more than one site reside on a specific server. A Dedicated IP address is, as you might imagine, an IP address that is allocated to a single website on a server rather than a machine itself. 

What's are Dedicated IP addresses for?

Dedicated IP addresses are more often used on larger, typically ecommerce websites that are encrypted to be secure. This means they might store sensitive data such as credit card numbers, etc. However, some people suggest that rather than having hundreds of sites sharing the same IP address, it is more beneficial as far as SEO is concerned for a site to have its own IP address.

What's the current thinking? Is it more beneficial as far as SEO is concerned for a site to have its own IP address?

Speed

There are a number of situations where a dedicated IP address might be beneficial for SEO. As we have said, shared hosting adds thousands of websites to a single server. This means that your website might be sharing resources with sites that are more successful than your own. As a result, those sites might be slowing your site down. The slower your site, the further down Google's rankings it goes. Adding a unique IP address to your site does not mean it loads faster, but migrating to a Dedicated Server which has a Dedicated IP address will. So, rather than adding a Dedicated IP address to your site on a shared server, moving your site to a machine that only hosts your site by definition gives your site a dedicated IP address, and this will certainly pay dividends. You site will be faster, more reliable, and more secure. 

SSL

Mid-2014 Google started giving preference to websites that have added an SSL 2048-bit key certificate. This makes a site URL change from HTTP to HTTPS. Usually (but not always), SSL sites utilize unique IP addresses. Although Google has suggested their change regarding SSL has impacts less than 1% of search, it is still there - it is a genuine SEO benefit. SSL encrypts visits to your site, and again, it is more usually utilized by sites that store sensitive information. SSL can make your website more visible through public networks and can make websites operate marginally faster, meaning more visitors might hit your site and it might operate more quickly - both triggers for higher placements as far as Google is concerned.

Malware

As we have said, a server utilized for shared hosting can harbor thousands of websites and some of these sites could contain malware. Some say that as those sites share your site's IP address, so your website is sullied and recognized as a residing in a 'bad neighborhood' and therefore penalized as far as search ranking is concerned. In such a case, a Dedicated IP address might prove beneficial, but then again, so would moving your site to a reliable web host and reliable server. 

I want to be safe - how do I get a dedicated IP address?

Your web host will usually be able to provide you with a dedicated IP address and often they are not that expensive - usually around the $5-$6 region. The host will set up the IP for you. 

It would appear from current thinking that there is little benefit of a dedicated IP address beyond keeping you out of trouble that could negatively impact your Google search ranking. If your business is making money and you are on a shared server, for the amount of money it costs, a Dedicated IP address just might be worth the investment, at least to be on the safe side. 

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Do I Need a Dedicated Server?

The bulk of the websites available to us on the Internet are hosted on shared servers. Shared web hosting these days packs a real punch - servers are fast and have masses of resources available to them, and for the average website, shared hosting is always going to be enough. However, if you have aspirations towards your website becoming a real success, sharing resources with other websites just isn't going to cut it.

What is a dedicated server?

Although shared web hosting is adequate enough for most websites, if your website is going to be a success, you might, at some stage, need a dedicated server. As the name suggests, shared hosting shares resources (CPU, memory and other processes) between the websites stored on a particular server. Some shared web hosting has usage limits meaning every site gets equal access to resources. Others, however, do not, meaning resource hungry sites prevail. If you want to ensure your website can utilize all of the resources a server has available, then you need dedicated hosting.

Dedicated hosting is as the name implies, a server with all the resources dedicated to a specific user - CPUs, memory, etc., they are there for you to use exactly as you wish. You rent the machine and you add as many (or as few) websites as you wish.

Resources

How many websites do you have? What type of sites are they? How much traffic do they get? If you have a lot of websites that use a lot resources (for instance, sites that need a lot of graphics or videos) have a lot of users, you might well need a dedicated server. Do you need a dedicated server for a single site? Again, it depends on the type of site it is and the number of visitors you receive. It might prove that a Virtual Private Server (VPS) account that limits the number of websites that can go on a server and shares resources equally among accounts might well be enough for a moderately successful site.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

However, sharing server resources with other websites might be holding your website(s) back. You might even get suspended by a host for using too much of the available resources, and that's bad for SEO. If you want your website to be a success, it also has to be seen on Google, and to be seen on Google, it has to be fast.

In 2010 Google introduced the speed of a website as a ranking factor in its algorithm. This means that websites that have slow loading pages languish in the low ranks, while websites with pages that load quickly are at the top of the listings. With a dedicated server and masses of resources at your disposal, pages should (if designed well) load quickly and your website might (depending on a huge number of factors that change on a regular basis) move into the top spots. People moving from shared to dedicated hosting often note an increase in the number of visitors they receive immediately after.

Security

If your website is making money, then it's going to attract people's attention. Especially if you are storing credit card numbers, your site could be attacked by hackers. Shared hosting isn't the place for this type of website - you need a safe, secure dedicated server, whatever the cost. Make sure there is an ongoing regimen of backups taking place to safeguard your and other people's data.

When do I need a dedicated server?

Are you making money from your website(s)? If you are, you can't afford to be suspended by a host or experience downtime for any other reason. As a general rule of thumb, if your site is regularly making 10 times the cost of a dedicated server, switch to dedicated. If you are making less than that, stick with shared hosting (or VPS if you can afford it) - regardless of whether your resources are being eaten up and you need dedicated hosting, if you can't to pay for it, you can't use it.

Can you manage a dedicated server?

If you have the requisite skills to run a dedicated server, then it is a good option for you. If you are wondering whether you have the requisite skills to run a dedicated server or not, you probably don't, in which case you will need a managed dedicated server. With a pure dedicated server, you rent the hardware and the space at the data center, and that is it. You do everything else. Managed dedicated servers are operated by the person you rent the server from. If you need software adding, they do it. If you need to reboot the server, they do it. Obviously, this is going to be an expensive option - it's a bit like having a member of staff on hand to manage your server.

Software

If you can manage a dedicated server you might well have the skills to create your own scripts and programs. If you need to use such dedicated software, you need a dedicated server.

Bandwidth

You control the server and its network connection. But regardless of whether you share a server or if a server is dedicated, if it doesn't have good bandwidth available, then it is not going to be of much use. Good bandwidth is essential for visitors to be able to access your site. 1 TB can handle most content, including videos.

Price

An average $100 per month server would carry 2 TB of bandwidth. Prices can go up to $200 per month and beyond, depending on the server. You might need to talk to people about the best rates available.

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Email Hosting in 2018: What You Need to Know

Email hosting has been around for a long time. Not many may be aware of it, though, since most email users rely on free email services like Gmail, AOL Mail, and Yahoo! Mail. Businesses and professionals, however, may want to look into email hosting as it can possibly have some impact in the field of business. What changes are expected to affect email hosting in the year 2018? If you are planning to get email hosting in 2018, what do you need to be aware of? 

Why Get Paid Email Hosting?

Before anything else, it’s important to understand why there are those who want to have their own custom emails. Why would they want to abandon feature-rich and tested email services like Gmail? The reason mainly boils down to the following: credibility building, branding, and being in full control.

Businesses and professionals want to be taken seriously. Having an email address that bears the company’s domain name is one of the ways perceived to boost credibility. This is but logical considering that getting a domain name and a web host is not free. A business that invests in its own email hosting is most likely one that is seriously doing business.

On the other hand, having an email address with a suffix that is the URL used of your business website is a good way to make it easier for people to remember your business. It’s one way of subliminally promoting your brand name.

Moreover, having your own email system guarantees that you have full control of it. Running your own email server with your own domain may not be a simple process; but doing so gives you full control of your email. This means you get to decide on the amount of storage you allot for it and on what features to use. 

Advantages and Disadvantages

The advantage of email hosting, basically, are mostly summarized by the reasons for getting email hosting discussed above. It’s about establishing credibility, furthering your brand name, and being in full control.

When it comes to the disadvantages in running your own email server, there are also a number of them to bear in mind. For one, email servers are complex. The usual email server involves the use of several software components. The more functions you want, the more software you will have to deal with. These include the mail transfer agent, mail delivery agent, IMAP or POP3 server, as well as the antivirus and spam filter.

Additionally, maintaining an email server takes time. You need to continuously monitor the rules set for your spam filter and virus protection system. Also, you have to ascertain that all your software components to make sure that everything is working properly and that your system is adequately protected.

These advantages and disadvantages haven’t really changed that much over the years. In 2018, these will be the same advantages and disadvantages you have to weigh as you make your mind up on whether or not to get your own email system.

Things to Look for in an Email Hosting Service in 2018

If you decide that you really want to have your own email server, don’t forget to check for the following features. 

● The Necessary Protocols - To have email flexibility, the email hosting company you choose should be able to provide IMAP/POP and SMTP access. IMAP and POP (also POP3) are protocols needed in accessing emails. IMAP is generally regarded as the better protocol since it is great for accessing emails through multiple devices, something most email users are likely doing. As emphasized by UK email hosting provider LCN, “IMAP is the preferred way of getting mail across desktop, tablet and smartphones.” With POP, emails are downloaded to a device and the server copy is deleted, so only one device can access the emails received. SMTP, on the other hand, is required for the delivery of emails.

● Security - Needless emphasizing, your email system should be secure. As such, you must find an email hosting service provider that comes with virus protection and firewall features. It’s also an advantage if the email hosting service provider provides TLS encryption.

● Spam Protection - This is a basic feature email hosting services should include. See to it that the spam protection system provided is reliable and efficient.

● Email Filtering - Different from spam filtering, email filtering is the ability to organize or segregate your emails according to rules you set. This feature lets you sort emails as you receive them or sort emails you have received as you deem fit.

● Customer Service - As mentioned, setting up and maintaining your email server can be a complicated and tedious process. You don’t want hiccups or glitches making things even more difficult especially if you are handling everything by yourself. You need to make sure that your questions, complaints, and concerns will be promptly addressed. 

● Other Features - Other features worth considering are autoresponders, email forwarding, and webmail. Autoresponders allow you to send automatic replies to emails you receive based on certain triggers. Email forwarding is a feature that lets you forward the emails you receive in one email address to another email address you own. This means you don’t have to switch to a new email account if you want to get emails using a different email address. Webmail, on the other hand, makes it possible to access your inbox using a web browser, which is basically what happens when you use the web-based interface of free email services.

Decent email hosting companies can provide most of these features. Regardless of your location or the location of the hosting company you choose, most companies provide similar services. You can find a UK email hosting service provider, for example, with a package that includes TLS encryption, autoresponders, email forwarding, spam filtering, a user-friendly control panel, webmail, and 24/7 support.

In 2018, the features mentioned above can be considered essential, especially if your intended email users are accustomed to the features being offered by popular free email services like Gmail. For the sake of comparison, here’s an enumeration of some of the top features of free Gmail: email forwarding, spam filtering, encryption, webmail, POP3 and IMAP, and the ability to install plugins. You can install an autoresponder plugin to Gmail as well as the ability to send emails according to a schedule (the Boomerang plugin, for example). Perhaps, the only thing it notably lacks is the ability to add your own domain name. It would be good to use these features as your guide as you evaluate the features of the email hosting service you are considering.

Is It Better to Just Use the Enterprise Versions of Free Email Services?

It can be said that if you want to avoid the complicated processes and tedious maintenance of maintaining your own email server, you can just use the enterprise/business version of free email services you have already been using. This way, you can change your email address to one that bears your domain name without having to go through the tedious tasks of setting the server up and doing maintenance.

There are some email hosting companies, though, that can help you set your email server up with ease. If you find a company that provides competent and accommodating technical support, along with a good range of features, it may not be that difficult to set things up and maintain your own email server.

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Finding the Right Web Host for an E-commerce Website

Reliability and customer satisfaction: two important things that every business owner should always keep in mind when it comes to selling online. With buyers being more careful in terms of online shopping, make sure that your online store provides a pleasurable experience to buyers and this will keep them coming back. The first step towards having a user friendly e-commerce website is finding the right web host provider for your site. There are a number of web host plans offered by different companies but it is better to go for one that specializes in the field of e-commerce since they can address your issues right away and work on improving the website if needed.

Here are some important features that must be included in a web host offer for an e-commerce website:

Secure Sockets Layer 

Website security builds the customers’ confidence especially since online shopping presents a risk for fraud and identity theft. Secure Sockets Layer or SSL is an important feature that should be included in a web host plan. This will allow a safe gateway for making payments online. It protects personal and credit card information by producing encrypted data as information is a passed along from one computer to another as part of the transaction process. Remember that in any sale transaction, order and payment processing are two different aspects wherein personal information are often included. Without SSL, there is a risk of having the data compromised during the process.

Web Design

Choosing a hosting package that already includes website design will not only save you time but money as well. Designing a website is a tedious task that involves a great deal of planning. This is to ensure that every detail is being considered and the final output will provide customers with a good shopping experience. A number of providers now offer web hosting packages to make it easier for business owners to launch their online stores with ease and in no time.

Shopping Cart

To make online shopping easier, a shopping cart feature must be present in an e-commerce website. Just like an actual cart, it allows customers to place their purchases in one place and proceed to check out once everything is all set. With a shopping cart, customers can browse through several pages of a website and just conveniently click the shopping cart button for items that they want to purchase. Upon check-out and payment all the items will be processed as one order rather than having to pay individually for each.

Since more and more people are finding it convenient to shop online as it eliminates the drive to a store and the products are delivered right at the doorstep, online stores should step up and ensure that its customer service is excellent and that the website is easy to navigate.

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Cloud Computing Security and Choosing a Provider

Although cloud computing is becoming a household phrase, uptake of this radical new paradigm is to some extent being restricted by security-related concerns. Enterprises especially are reluctant to rely on a solution they don’t fully understand, and one which just might pose security risks.

Regardless of how secure providers profess their systems and solutions to be, the fact is that high profile outages and security issues have dented confidence in cloud-based options, and cloud customers need an insight into the potential difficulties inherent in the cloud. Some basic strategies can though help safeguard companies against possible threats. Here are some ideas on knowing your provider and keeping your cloud-based data secure.

Background Checks

Trusting your provider is key, and key to trusting your provider is trust in the companies your cloud provider trusts. It is all very well doing a background check on a provider, but unless the same background check is done on the third-party providers that underpin a cloud provider’s service, then you really do not know exactly the nature of companies that just might have access to your sensitive data. In particular, establish whether there is a hosting company behind your provider’s cloud, and ensure they have been independently vetted for security.

Provider Performance

If your cloud provider’s basic performance is problematic, they are probably going to have security issues – if they can’t manage a basic cloud service, how much effort are they putting into keeping their cloud secure? Look at a provider’s reliability records. If there are holes, probably best to move on to another provider.

Basic Security Procedures

Beyond checking your provider, some of the basic procedures that companies employed with their more traditional hosting and IT solutions also pay dividends as far as cloud security is concerned. How companies assign passwords, and who to, is just as important in the cloud as it was when you had your own servers.

Updates 

It is great to have the latest and greatest software, but if your cloud provider is going to make changes without informing you, chances are this is going to impact your security settings. And that means the potential for security threats. Establish how your provider will manage updates and get assurances that changes won’t impact security.

Where is the Data?

Unless you know exactly where your data is going to be stored, you have no idea which data laws will apply as far as your data is concerned. Will the US Patriot Act mean the US government will be able to access your data? Or will it be located in the UK and under the jurisdiction of multiple European countries? Find out before you lose out!

Conclusion

So, as you can see, background checks are good - applying the same checks to your provider’s providers even better. Make sure that your provider can manage his/her business effectively, if not, security is probably way down his/her list of priorities. As far as the cloud is concerned, apply the same approach to security as you applied to your server – just who has your passwords anyway? Make sure that a provider’s updates aren’t going to leave you widen open to a range of threats, and most of all, ensure you know where your data is and who might be snooping on you! If you do all of the above, your visit to the cloud could be a pleasant one.

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Main Web Hosting Features That Give High Marks To Hosting Company And Service

If you are planning to establish your online business and looking for hosting services then this article may guild you to choose a better web host. First thing that take place for a website it’s the design, and development part however there is a lot of value of your host provider that ensure to host one sites online. Being online of website is not sufficient nowadays however there is some more support given by Host provider that could not be avoided while selecting hosting company. Hare we have listed some of them and should take look before hiring any service-

Secure Transaction – Online transaction is one of the most important factor considering today’s some of host may charge you separately for providing you SSL certificates for your website however it should be included with your ecommerce website.

Software Support – Every hosting provider do not support for all software so ask everything related to software support by company such as My SOL etc. The control panel should be user friendly so client may handle most things from itself. It may save huge time for

Full control – Ask for full control as some non experience host provider doesn’t give your whole control of your site. Another quality is the web hosts' security. Since you will be putting much information about yourself, your account and the information of your client's there, it is important that the website hosting provider is secure enough. With all the skilful hackers out there, robbing client information and using it in an illegal way is not too far fetch.

Secure Servers - As you will be putting much information about yourself such as your account information, it is important that the website hosting provider is secure enough and should not get passed anywhere. Shared hosting ever considered as an unsecured hosting and hackers may harm your personal and important data so ask for an secure server that may secure your data.

Reliable - You can research the background profile of company and the experience on related industry and look for client’s reviews on services. Website hosting company should also be trusted source in market as well know company for their products and services. Check for customer service, technical support, maintains that will give you an idea for getting best deal.

Affordable - On this competition environment one just ask for more affordable service without compromising on quality of services. So now you get the most import point that you can mark any hosting company for choosing them to run once website.

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