Learn Web Hosting

Shopping cart software is software used in e-commerce to assist people making purchases online, analogous to the American English term 'shopping cart'. In British English it is generally known as a shopping basket, almost exclusively shortened on websites to 'basket'.

The software allows online shopping customers to place items in the cart. Upon checkout, the software typically calculates a total for the order, including shipping and handling (i.e. postage and packing) charges and the associated taxes, as applicable.
Technical definition

These applications typically provide a means of capturing a client's payment information, but in the case of a credit card they rely on the software module of the secure gateway provider, in conjunction with the secure payment gateway, in order to conduct secure credit card transactions online.

Some setup must be done in the HTML code of the website, and the shopping cart software must be installed on the server which hosts the site, or on the secure server which accepts sensitive ordering information. E-shopping carts are usually implemented using HTTP cookies or query strings. In most server based implementations however, data related to the shopping cart is kept in the Session object and is accessed and manipulated on the fly, as the user selects different items from the cart. Later at the process of commit, the information is accessed and an order is generated against the selected item thus clearing the shopping cart.

Although the most simple shopping carts strictly allow for an item to be added to a basket to start a checkout process (e.g. the free PayPal shopping cart), most shopping cart software actually provides additional features that an Internet merchant uses to fully manage an online store. Data (products, categories, discounts, orders, customers, etc.) is normally stored in a database and accessed in real time by the software.


Components

Shopping cart software typically consists of two components:

Storefront: the area of the Web store that is accessed by visitors to the online shop. Category, product, and other pages (e.g. search, best sellers, etc.) are dynamically generated by the software based on the information saved in the store database.

Administration: the area of the Web store that is accessed by the merchant to manage the online shop. The amount of store management features changes depending on the sophistication of the shopping cart software, but in general a store manager is able to add and edit products, categories, discounts, shipping and payment settings, etc. Order management features are also included in many shopping cart programs.


Licensed vs. Hosted options

Shopping cart software can be generally categorized into two categories.

Licensed software: The software is downloaded and then installed on a Web server. This is most often associated with a one-time fee, although there are many free products available as well. The main advantages of this option are that the merchant owns a license and therefore can host it on any Web server that meets the server requirements, and that the source code can often be accessed and edited to customize the application.

Hosted service: The software is never downloaded, but rather is provided by a hosted service provider and is generally paid for on a monthly/annual basis; also known as the application service provider (ASP) software model. Some of these services also charge a percentage of sales in addition to the monthly fee. This model often has predefined templates that a user can choose from to customize their look and feel. In this model users typically have less ability to modify or customize the software with the advantage of having the vendor continuously keep the software up to date for security patches as well as adding new features added.


See also
Shopping cart
Credit card
Online shopping


External links
Shopping Cart Software at the Open Directory Project

Having an online presence is imperative for any business owner or service provider. In fact, in the existing online retail scenario if you are looking for your business expansion, and have not yet tapped the advantages of online retailing, then it is the right time to encash.

Now, when you consider going online, it could be a possibility that you already own a Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS) and actually require affordable and customizable eCommerce software that works with the RMS. Well, in that case, you need not look any further. An eCommerce company SIM Retail offers the perfect product, RMS cart, to meet all your online retailing needs. The RMScart (Microsoft RMS integrated eCommerce solution), is a powerful Web store solution that seamlessly integrates with the Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS).

When you look for RMS shopping cart the first features that you take into consideration are affordability, convenience and that it should meet all your needs. With RMS integrated cart (i.e., RMS shopping cart) you can rest assured that these features are taken care off. In fact, with our Microsoft RMS e-commerce solution i.e, RMS integrated Shopping cart you can easily and conveniently create product pages of your RMS inventory and publish them on your website. This helps in eliminating the need for double data entry. Further there are numerous other benefits that we offer. Visit: http://www.simretail.com/content.asp?id=24.

A brief insight for Microsoft RMS ecommerce cart: The RMScart i.e, RMS cart Solution offers numerous features. In terms of the front end functionality, it offers easy and intuitive navigation for your customers, they can carry out product searches based on various criteria, customers can check the current stock available at any point, the same product can be assigned to several categories and this makes it easier for customers to find it, amongst other things. Further, in terms of the display for Microsoft RMS shopping cart, you can easily display Special Products on the home page.

Considering the administration & backend facilities, RMS Integrated eCommerce Shopping Cart offers fast automatic synchronization between the RMS database and the web store on demand or as per schedule, it also allows you to create multiple categories and sub-categories, assign retail and wholesale prices, define key words for each product, password protected secure Administration area, and so on.

In terms of the product page functionality, the RMS Store Integration offers RMS Extended Description matches with Product Name in RMScart and you can also upload product images directly into RMScart. In fact when it comes to display for RMS eCommerce Online Shopping Cart, you can easily display Products on Sale. Besides this, there are various other features that our product offers in terms of product page functionality.

In order to find out more about what the Microsoft RMS Shopping Cart Integration offers, including the administration/backend functionality, product functionality, shipping functionality, tax functionality, search engine compatibility, sales analysis and tracking and the customer service, you can log on to www.simretail.com.

Another advantage that our Microsoft RMS ecommerce cart offers is that you hardly require any training to use it. Also, over and above the features that it already offers, we can also customize it further to better address your needs. So when it comes to the perfect RMS cart, all you need to do is contact us at SIM Retail Solutions and we would take care of the rest.

Our RMScart can also be referred as: Integrated eCommerce, Microsoft retail software, RMS cart software, Microsoft pos cart software, Microsoft Dynamics RMS Cart, Microsoft RMS customization, Online retail software, Microsoft RMS store, eCommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System, eCommerce RMS, RMS shopping cart, RMS eCommerce Online Shopping Cart, eCommerce for Microsoft RMS, Microsoft eCommerce, ecommerce Microsoft, Microsoft RMS Shopping Cart Integration, ecommerce Microsoft RMS, Microsoft RMS ecommerce, ecommerce cart Microsoft RMS, Microsoft RMS ecommerce cart, Microsoft RMS ecommerce solution, ecommerce solution Microsoft RMS, Microsoft RMS shopping cart solution, Microsoft RMS shopping cart, Microsoft RMS integrated shopping cart solution, Microsoft RMS supported ecommerce solution, Microsoft RMS integration, RMS shopping cart, RMS Store Integration, RMS Integrated eCommerce Shopping Cart.

Continue reading...

One-click hosting generally describes web services that allows internet users to easily upload one or more files from their hard drives onto the one-click host's server free of charge.

Most such services simply return a URL which can be given to other people, who can then fetch the file later on. As of 2005 these sites have drastically increased in popularity, and subsequently, many of the smaller, less efficient sites have failed. Many internet forums exist in order to share such links; this type of file sharing has, to a degree, taken over from P2P filesharing services[1].

The sites make money through advertising or charging for premium services such as increased downloading capacity, removing any wait restrictions the site may have or prolonging how long uploaded files remain on the site. Many sites implement a CAPTCHA to prevent automated downloading.

Continue reading...

Weblog software (also called blog software or blogware) is a category of software which consists of a specialised form of Content Management Systems specifically designed for creating and maintaining weblogs.
Server models

Many weblog applications are available for users to download and install on their own systems. A wide variety of licenses are used by user hosted weblog software. Some of these are free and open-source that can be used, modified, and redistributed freely under free-software and open-source licenses. Others are proprietary software that may be licensed for a fee or have versions available free of charge.

Other weblog applications are offered only through their developers' hosts, either free of charge or for a fee. These typically include hosting service for the published blog itself, but some offer the option of using this hosted software to update a blog published


Clients

Maintenance through the Internet is a nearly universal feature of weblog software. This is usually done through a browser-based interface, enabling authors to create and update content on the site. Most software supports the use of external client software to update content using common APIs such as the MetaWeblog API and the Atom Publishing Protocol. Third party developers have created such clients, allowing bloggers to publish entries using desktop software rather than the web-based interface. Examples include ecto and MarsEdit.


Features
Title, the main title, or headline, of the post.
Body, main content of the post.
Permalink, the URL of the full, individual article.
Post Date, date and time the post was published.

A blog entry optionally includes the following:
Comments -
Main article: Feedback comment system

Comments are a way to provide discussion on blog entries. Readers can leave a comment on a post, which can correct errors or contain their opinion on the post or the post's subject. Services like coComment aim to ease discussion through comments, by allowing tracking of them.
Categories (or tags) - subjects that the entry discusses
Trackback and or pingback - links to other sites that refer to the entry


Other applications

Most weblogs have features such as facilitating authoring and editing of blog posts or articles, various linking and web syndication features, and the ability to easily publish the blog to the world wide web. Some services or organizations are also creating weblog applications with extended features to aid communication, such as the wiki capabilities in Socialtext and Traction TeamPage.

Many weblog applications allow the user to define static pages of content which can often be placed into a hierarchy or tree. Pages differ from blog posts in that the content is largely static and not time related. Pages are often used to present information about the blog and its authors. Extensive use of pages can result in a blog that looks more like a website. [1]

Most weblog applications support English and many other languages. The user selects a language during installation.

Weblog applications usually offer web syndication service either in the form of RSS or Atom. This allows for other software such as feed aggregators to maintain a current summary of the blog's content.

Post moderation requires the people who want to comment on articles that are posted on a blog to be approved before the comments are visible to the world. It could also mean in some cases where multiple people have accounts and the ability to post new items to the blog that new content must be approved by a moderator or administrator before it shows up on the main page. Weblog applications use various user account systems that allow readers to post comments to a particular blog. For instance, users with Blogger accounts may comment on any Blogger blog. Other weblog applications allow users to post content or comments only to blogs where they have an account.

The Post API can vary greatly depending on the system that you are using. Some types of blogware have plugins for Firefox that integrate into the browser's menus so that right-clicking on selected text on any given webpage will bring up a small window that allows the user to post to their blog. Other types of blogware that do not have this type of interface require a person to fill out a form online. The form that is required for posting material to a blog depends on the type of blogware. Some types such as Movable Type contain a greater number of form fields and choices than ones such as Blogger.

Most types of blogware support adding thumbnail images within blog posts. Photo blogging is a separate genre of blogging that deals primarily with images.


Documentation and support

Different blogware packages feature varying levels of community support and documentation. Because the installation of some types of software requires an advanced knowledge of computer administration, community support and documentation can be very helpful. The web servers and database software can be more difficult to install than the blogware itself. Also a strong and active community surrounding the blogware gives advice on integrating the blogware into a personal site.


Examples

A partial list of notable weblog software follows:


User-hosted

Software packages installed by weblog authors to run on their own systems:


Free and open source software

These software packages are offered as free and open source software
Apache Roller (Java-based)
b2evolution (PHP/MySQL)
bitsyblog (Python)
blosxom (Perl)
byteflow (Python/Django)
DasBlog (C#/ASP.NET)
DotNetNuke (C#/ASP.NET)
Dotclear (PHP/MySQL)
Drupal (PHP/MySQL)
Frog CMS (PHP/MySQL)
Elgg (Apache, MySQL, and PHP)
Habari (PHP/MySQL,SQLite)
InkType (MySQL and PHP)
Livejournal (Perl) (Also available, developer hosted)
LifeType (PHP/MySQL)
Movable Type (also offered in developer-hosted form as TypePad)
Nouz (PHP/MySQL)
Nucleus CMS (PHP/MySQL)
PHPSlash
phsBlog (PHP/MySQL)
Pebble (Java-based)
Picoplog (PHP) (photoblog)
Pixelpost (PHP/MySQL) (photoblog)
PyBlosxom (Python)
Serendipity (PHP/MySQL,PostgreSQL,SQLite)
SimplePHPBlog (PHP/TXT)
SimpleLog (Ruby on Rails)
Slash (Perl/MySQL)
Subtext (C#/ASP.NET)
Textpattern (PHP/MySQL)
Thingamablog
Typo (Ruby on Rails)
WordPress (PHP/MySQL) - also offered in developer-hosted form as Wordpress.com
CELLblog (ASP/ASP.NET) - Community Environment Live Life -webblog 2.0 compatible. ASP soon to be ASP.NET


Proprietary software

These packages are under a proprietary software license. They may require the purchase of a license key to use them. The specific licensing terms vary but some are free of charge for personal or non-commercial use.
Community Server (also offered in developer-hosted form as CommunityServer.com)
ExpressionEngine
Radio UserLand
Traction TeamPage
Windows Live Writer (Free of charge)
XCAP Community Platform


Unknown license
Battle Blog
Blogsphere


Developer-hosted

Software services operated by the developer, requiring no software installation for the weblog author:
blog-author.com
Battle Blog
Blog.com
Blogabond
Blogger
Blogging Systems
Blogonize
BlogSavy
Blue Kaffee
LiveJournal and many other sites using the same open source codebase
IdeaFry (using MU version of WordPress)
Bloglite (hosted version of wordpress)
LivingDot
MySpace
Open Diary
Quillpill
Square Space
Tabulas
TypePad
Typo
Windows Live Spaces
Wordpress.com (hosted version of WordPress)
Xanga
Vox
Blogg-host.co.cc (hosted version of WordPress)
siggie.net (using version of Wordpress)
See also: Category:Blog hosting services

Continue reading...

A video hosting service, also called a video sharing service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video. Because many users do not have personal web space, either as a paid service, or through an ISP offering, video hosting services are becoming increasingly popular, especially with the explosion in popularity of blogs, forums, and other interactive pages. The website, mainly used as the video hosting service, is usually called the video sharing website (see List of video sharing websites).

The mass market for camera phones has increased the supply of user-generated video. Traditional methods of personal video distribution, such as making a DVD to show to friends at home, are unsuited to the low resolution and high volume of camera phone clips. In contrast, current broadband Internet connections are well suited to serving the quality of video shot on mobile phones. Most people do not own web servers, and this has created demand for user-generated video content hosting, which the likes of YouTube are catering to.

Wikipedia hosts around 200 videos in the Ogg format on its servers. Wikipedia actively discourages non-free videos and formats: videos added to Wikipedia are supposed to be freely available for reuse. This contrasts with video hosting services such as YouTube, which can hold copyrighted material, though some rights must be given up to such companies in return for the hosting.

Purpose of Video Hosts (for users)
Save on bandwidth costs, often eliminating costs entirely
Creating a common place
Make a hassle-free experience, where uploading a video and streaming or embedding would normally require advanced programming knowledge. It is now commonly achieved through a web browser, with little or no programming experience.

Continue reading...

An image hosting service allows individuals to upload images to an Internet website. The image host will then store the image onto its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view that image.
How it works

Typically image hosting websites provide an upload interface; a form in which you specify the location of an image file on your local computer file system (using a browse button). After pressing a “Submit” button the file is uploaded to the image host’s server. Some image hosts allow you to specify multiple files at once, in this form, or the ability to upload one ZIP file containing multiple images. Additionally, some hosts allow FTP access, where single or multiple files can be uploaded in one session using FTP software or an FTP-capable browser.

After this process, your image is hosted on their server. Typically this means it is available on the web (to the public). You may also be allowed to make inline links to the hosted image, to embed it on other websites e.g.
Linking with HTML code
Linking with BBcode
A clickable thumbnail that is linked to the full image

Usually, the image host will put restrictions on the maximum image size allowed, or the maximum space or bandwidth allowed per user. Due to bandwidth costs, free services usually offer relatively modest size limits per image when compared to paid services, but allow users hotlinking their images. Individuals needing to host large images should consider purchasing image hosting services or purchasing webhosting services, so that they may operate their own website.

[edit]
Tools

Image hosts also allow tools such as the ability to create photoblogs/galleries with your images, or add them to a slideshow for easier viewing. Some offer more advanced tools such as the ability for an individual to add notes to an image they uploaded, sideloaders, or browser sidebars. Other hosts have introduced novel features such as the ability to automatically resize images down to a user-selected size. A Flickr tool allows you to upload photos using a camera phone with email capability.[1]

[edit]
Cost

Many image hosts are free. Of the free image hosts, the vast majority are supported by advertisement, mostly on their top pages, thumbnail pages, or 'not found' pages. Showing advertisements to users has enabled image size and bandwidth limits to increase.

Some free hosts have optional paid image hosting functions, while other hosts offer only paid services. Features and storage available are generally better for paid services, while cost is still much less than the cost of purchasing webhosting to operate a website. Paid services often allow you to have password protected photo albums, customizable skins, and customized subdomains. There are many other paid services available that offer different packages of features, options, and costs.

Continue reading...

A file hosting service, online file storage service, or online media center is an Internet hosting service specifically designed to host static content, typically large files that are not web pages. Typically they allow web and FTP access. They can be optimized for serving many users (as is implied by the term "hosting") or be optimized for single-user storage (as is implied by the term "storage"). Related services are video sharing, virtual storage and remote backup.

Continue reading...

Grid computing is a form of distributed computing whereby a "super and virtual computer" is composed of a cluster of networked, loosely-coupled computers, acting in concert to perform very large tasks. This technology has been applied to computationally-intensive scientific, mathematical, and academic problems through volunteer computing, and it is used in commercial enterprises for such diverse applications as drug discovery, economic forecasting, seismic analysis, and back-office data processing in support of e-commerce and web services.

What distinguishes grid computing from typical cluster computing systems is that grids tend to be more loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed. Also, while a computing grid may be dedicated to a specialized application, it is often constructed with the aid of general purpose grid software libraries and middleware.
Operating systems

Home servers can run any operating system; some can run without graphical user interfaces (which makes more resources available for other tasks), and can be administered remotely through a command shell, or graphically through programs such as VNC, Webmin, or many others.

Users of Microsoft Windows may purchase additional copies (around US$85 to ~$400 and beyond) to use on a home server, or opt for free, open source solutions such as Linux or BSD UNIX that can be installed on any number of machines with minimal (if any) license restrictions.


Home server scenarios

Most home networks do not have or need servers, but hobbyists find good use for them. Most of the home servers today do not offer any services to the public internet, and operate as simple media-oriented devices. Many are simply glorified Network Attached Storage devices and other consumer devices to integrate TVs and gaming consoles with the PC and sometimes the internet.


Centralized storage

Home servers often act as network-attached storage providing the major benefit that all users' files can be centrally and securely stored, with flexible permissions applied to them. Such files can be easily accessed 24/7 from any other system on the network, provided the correct credentials are supplied. This also applies to shared printers.

Such files can also be shared over the internet to be accessible from anywhere in the world using services such as FTP.


Media serving

Home servers are often used to serve multi-media content, including photos, music, and video to other devices in the household (and even to the Internet; see Place Shifting and Orb). Using standard protocols such as DLNA or proprietary systems such as iTunes users can access their media stored on the home server from any room in the house. Windows XP Media Center Edition and Windows Vista can act as a home server, supporting a particular type of media serving that streams the interactive user experience to Media Center Extenders including the Xbox 360.
A typical MythTV menu.

On a Linux server, there are many free, open-source, fully-functional, all-in-one software solutions for media serving available. One such program is LinuxMCE, which allows other devices to boot off a hard drive image on the server, allowing them to become appliances such as set-top boxes. Asterisk, Xine, MythTV (another media serving solution), VideoLAN, SlimServer, and many other open-source projects are fully integrated for a seamless home theater/automation/telephony experience. Such services, if offered in a proprietary package, would cost around $100,000 (including hardware and tailored household programming)[1].

Because a server is typically always on, it is often a more logical choice to put a TV tuner or radio tuner for recording broadcasts into a server, than it is to use e.g. a desktop for recording, as it allows recording to be scheduled at any time.

On an Apple Macintosh server (or peer-to-peer node), Front Row may be used.

Remote access
The Webmin Interface as it would appear in a standard browser.

A home server can be used to provide remote access into the home from devices on the Internet, using remote desktop software and other remote administration software. For example, Windows Home Server provides access to files stored on the home server via a web interface as well as access to Remote Desktop sessions on PCs in the house. Enthusiasts often use VPN technologies as well.

On a Linux server, two popular tools are (among many) VNC and Webmin. VNC allows clients to remotely view a server GUI desktop as if the user was physically sitting in front of the server. A GUI need not be running on the server console for this to occur; there can be multiple 'virtual' desktop environments open at the same time. Webmin allows users to control many aspects of server configuration and maintenance all from a simple web interface. Both can be configured to be accessed from anywhere on the internet.

Servers can also be accessed remotely using the command line-based Telnet and SSH protocols.


Web serving

Some users choose to run a web server in order to share files easily and publicly (or privately, on the home network). Others set up web pages and serve them straight from their home, although this may be in violation of some ISPs terms of service[2]. Sometimes these webservers are run on a nonstandard port in order to avoid the ISP's port blocking. The most widely used web server is the open source Apache daemon. It is easily configured, flexible, free, and runs on most recent operating systems.

Many other webservers are available; see Comparison of web servers.


Web proxy

Some networks have a HTTP proxy which can be used to speed up web access when multiple users visit the same websites, and to get past blocking software while the owner is using the network of some institution that might block certain sites. Public proxies are often slow and unreliable and so it is worth the trouble of setting up one's own private proxy.

Some proxies can be configured to block websites on the local network from being viewed if it is set up as a transparent proxy.


E-mail

Many home servers also run e-mail servers that handle e-mail for the owner's domain name. The advantages are having much bigger mailboxes and maximum message size than most commercial e-mail services. Access to the server, since it is on the local network is much faster than using an external service. This is also good for privacy as e-mails don't reside on an off-site server where they could possibly be viewed by disgruntled administrators.


BitTorrent

Home servers are ideal for utilizing the BitTorrent protocol for downloading and seeding files as some torrents can take days, or even weeks to complete and perform better on an uninterrupted connection. There are many command-line based clients such as rTorrent and web-based ones such as TorrentFlux available for this purpose. BitTorrent also makes it easier for those with limited bandwidth to distribute large files over the internet.


Gopher

An uncommon and outdated service is the Gopher protocol that came about in the early 1990s before HTTP. Many of the remaining gopher servers are run off home servers utilizing PyGopherd and the Bucktooth gopher server.


Home automation

Home automation requires a device in the home that is available 24/7. Often such home automation controllers are run on a home server.


Security monitoring

Relatively low cost CCTV DVR solutions are available that allow recording of video cameras to a home server for security purposes. The video can then be viewed on PCs or other devices in the house.

A series of cheap Universal serial bus-based webcams can be connected to a home server as a makeshift CCTV system. Optionally these images and video streams can be made available over the internet using standard protocols. This solution is usually cheaper, although not as compact as stand-alone IP cameras.


Family applications

Home servers can act as a host to family oriented applications such as a family calendar, to-do lists, and message boards.


IRC and instant messaging

Because a server is always on, an IRC client or IM client running on it will be highly available to the Internet. This way, the chat client will be able to record activity that occurs even while the user is not at the computer, e.g. asleep or at work or school. Textual clients such as Irssi and tmsnc can be detached using GNU Screen for example, and graphical clients such as Pidgin can be detached using xmove. Home servers can also be used to run personal jabber servers and IRC servers as these protocols can support a large number of users on very little bandwidth


Online gaming

Some MMORPGs such as Continuum, Tremulous and World of Warcraft have server software available which users may download and use to run their own private game server. Some of these servers are password protected, so only a selected group of people such as guild members can gain access to the server. Others are open for public use and may move to colocation or other forms of paid hosting if they gain a large number of players.


See also


Operating systems
BSD UNIX
Various Linux distributions - some are specifically made for home servers
Mac OS X
Windows Home Server and other variants of Microsoft Windows

Generally, Windows Operating Systems are the most commonly used for Home Servers. They provide a platform that can provide access to the network, upload and download files, host websites, share media files and data. Since the Home Server is on 24/7, there is the risk that the system can be hacked. This is why third party firewall software is required as the built-in Windows one-way firewall was not designed for Home Server use.


Technologies
Client-server architecture
File server
Home computer
Home network
Network-attached storage
Residential gateway


Media serving software
Front Row - Mac OS X
LinuxMCE
MythTV


Server software
Comparison of web servers
List of mail servers
List of FTP server software
List of Jabber server software
Samba (software)

Continue reading...

Clustered hosting technology is designed to eliminate the problems inherent with typical shared hosting infrastructures. This technology provides customers with a “clustered” handling of security, load balancing, and necessary website resources.

A clustered hosting platform is data-driven, which means that no human interaction is needed to provision a new account to the platform.

Clustered hosting "virtualizes" the resources beyond the limits of one physical server, and as a result, a website is not limited to one server. They share the processing power of many servers and their applications are distributed in real-time. This means that they can purchase as much computing power as they want from a virtually inexhaustible source, since even the largest customer never consumes more than a fraction of a percent of the total server pool. Customer account changes (to add new resources or change settings) are propagated immediately to every server in the cluster. This is different from typical shared hosting architectures that usually require changes to a configuration file that becomes live after the server is rebooted during off hours, or are pushed on a cyclic basis every few hours.

Multiple tiers of security are integrated into the clustered hosting platform. In a typical hosting environment, the security layer is usually not integrated in the platform. The stock solutions used for shared hosting do not solve core issues around integrating security between the application and the operating system. At best, most typical hosts will implement a firewall solution, and weaknesses inherent with the operating system will remain exploitable to those that penetrate the firewall.

Clustered hosting network layer protections employ intelligent routing, redundant switching fabric and built in firewall and proxy technology. Clustered hosting provides considerable advantages over traditional hosting architectures in mitigating denial-of-service attacks and other network attacks because such attacks can be dispersed over a large pool of servers, and if individual hardware components are impacted by such attacks, they automatically fall out of traffic handling during the attack.

Continue reading...

A colocation centre (collocation center) ("colo") or carrier hotel is a type of data center where multiple customers locate network, server and storage gear and interconnect to a variety of telecommunications and other network service provider(s) with a minimum of cost and complexity.

Increasingly organizations are recognizing the benefits of colocating their mission-critical equipment within a data centre. Colocation is becoming popular because of the time and cost savings a company can realize as result of using shared data centre infrastructure. Significant benefits of scale (large power and mechanical systems) result in large colocation facilities, typically 4500 to 9500 square metres (roughly 50000 to 100000 square feet). With IT and communications facilities in safe, secure hands, telecommunications, internet, ASP and content providers, as well as enterprises, enjoy less latency and the freedom to focus on their core business.

Additionally, customers reduce their traffic back-haul costs and free up their internal networks for other uses. Moreover, by outsourcing network traffic to a colocation service provider with greater bandwidth capacity, web site access speeds should improve considerably.

Major types of colocation customers are:
Web commerce companies, who use the facilities for a safe environment and cost-effective, redundant connections to the Internet
Major enterprises, who use the facility for disaster avoidance, offsite data backup and business continuity
Telecommunication companies, who use the facilities to interexchange traffic with other telecommunications companies and access to potential clients

Most network access point facilities provide colocation.
Building
A typical server rack, commonly seen in colocation.
Fire protection systems, including passive and active design elements, as well as implementation of fire prevention programs in operations. Smoke detectors are usually installed to provide early warning of a developing fire by detecting particles generated by smoldering components prior to the development of flame. This allows investigation, interruption of power, and manual fire suppression using hand held fire extinguishers before the fire grows to a large size. A fire sprinkler system is often provided to control a full scale fire if it develops. Clean agent fire suppression gaseous systems are sometimes installed to suppress a fire earlier than the fire sprinkler system. Passive fire protection elements include the installation of fire walls around the space, so a fire can be restricted to a portion of the facility for a limited time in the event of the failure of the active fire protection systems, or if they are not installed.
19-inch racks for data equipment and servers, 23-inch racks for telecom equipment.
Cabinets and cages for physical access control over tenants' equipment.
Overhead cable rack (tray) and fiberguide, power cables usually on separate rack from data.
Air conditioning is used to control the temperature and humidity in the space. ASHRAE recommends a temperature range of 20–25 °C and humidity range of 40–60% as optimal for electronic equipment conditions.[citation needed] The electrical power used by the electronic equipment is converted to heat, which is rejected to the ambient air in the data center space. Unless the heat is removed, the ambient temperature will rise, resulting in electronic equipment malfunction. By controlling the space air temperature, the server components at the board level are kept within the manufacturer's specified temperature/humidity range. Air conditioning systems help control space humidity within acceptable parameters by cooling the return space air below the dew point. Too much humidity and water may begin to condense on internal components. In case of a dry atmosphere, ancillary humidification systems may add water vapor to the space if the space humidy is too low, which can result in static electricity discharge problems which may damage components.
Low-impedance electrical ground.
Few, if any, windows.


Physical security

Most colocation centres have high levels of physical security, and may be guarded continuously. They may employ closed-circuit television camera.

Some colocation facilities require that employees escort customers, especially if there are not individual locked cages/cabinets for each customer. In other facilities, a card access system may allow customers access into the building, and individual cages/cabinets have locks.


Power

Colocation facilities generally have generators that start automatically when utility power fails, usually running on diesel fuel. These generators may have varying levels of redundancy, depending on how the facility is built.

Generators do not start instantaneously, so colocation facilities usually have battery backup systems. In many facilities, the operator of the facility provides large inverters to provide AC power from the batteries. In other cases, the customers may install smaller UPSes in their racks.

Some customers choose to use equipment that is powered directly by 48VDC (nominal) battery banks. This may provide better energy efficiency, and may reduce the number of parts that can fail.

An alternative to batteries is a motor generator connected to a flywheel and diesel engine.

Many colocation facilities can provide A and B power feeds to customer equipment, and high end servers and telecommunications equipment often can have two power supplies installed.

Colocation facilities are sometimes connected to multiple sections of the utility power grid for additional reliability.


Cooling

The operator of a colocation facility generally provides air conditioning for the computer and telecommunications equipment in the building. The cooling system generally includes some degree of redundancy

In older facilities, the cooling system capacity often limits the amount of equipment that can operate in the building, more so than the available square footage.


Internal connections

Colocation facility owners have differing rules regarding cross connects between their customers. These rules may allow customers to run such connections at no charge, or allow customers to order such connections for a significant monthly fee. They may allow customers to order cross connects to carriers, but not to other customers.

Some colocation centres feature a "meet-me-room" where the different carriers housed in the centre can efficiently exchange data.

Most peering points sit in colocation centres.

Because of the high concentration of servers inside larger colocation centres, most carriers will be interested in bringing direct connections to such buildings.

In many cases there will be a larger Internet Exchange hosted inside a colocation centre, where customers can connect for peering.


External connections

Colocation facilities generally have multiple locations for fiber optic cables to enter the building, to provide redundancy so that communications can continue if one bundle of cables is damaged.

Continue reading...

A virtual private server (VPS, also referred to as Virtual Dedicated Server or VDS) is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers such that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and each server can be independently rebooted.

The practice of partitioning a single server so that it appears as multiple servers has long been common practice in mainframe computers, but has seen a resurgence lately with the development of virtualization software and technologies for other architectures.
The physical server boots normally. It then runs a program that boots each virtual server within a virtualization environment (similar to an emulator). The virtual servers have no direct access to hardware and are usually booted from a disk image.

There are two kinds of virtualizations: software based and hardware based. In a software based virtualization environment, the virtual machines share the same kernel and actually require the main node's resources. This kind of virtualization normally has many benefits in a web hosting environment because of quota incrementing and decrementing in real time with no need to restart the node. The main examples are Xen,Virtuozzo, HyperVM, Vserver, and OpenVZ which is the core kernel of both Virtuozzo and HyperVM.

In a hardware based virtualization, the virtualization mechanism partitions the real hardware resources. In typical implementations, no burst and/or realtime quota modification is possible; the limits are hard and can only be modified by restarting a virtual machine instance[citation needed]. This kind of environment is potentially more secure in the sense that it is less subject to "Quality of Service crosstalk" between VM instances[citation needed]; on the other hand, its security is typically dependent on the correctness of a larger and more complicated Trusted Computing Base[citation needed]. It is more commonly used in enterprise/commercial deployments[citation needed]. Examples include Microsoft Virtual Server, VMware ESX Server, and Xen.


Uses

Virtual private servers bridge the gap between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, giving independence from other customers of the VPS service in software terms but at less cost than a physical dedicated server. As a VPS runs its own copy of its operating system, customers have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, and can install almost any software that runs on the OS. Certain software does not run well in a virtualized environment, including firewalls, anti-virus clients, and indeed virtualizers themselves; some VPS providers place further restrictions, but they are generally lax compared to those in shared hosting environments. Due to the number of virtualization clients typically run on a single machine, a VPS generally has limited processor time, RAM, and disk space.

Due to their isolated nature, VPSes have become common sandboxes for possibly-insecure public services or update testing. For example, a single physical server might have two virtual private servers running: one hosting the production-level (live) website, and a second which houses a copy of it. When updates to crucial parts of software need to be made, they can be tested in the second VPS, allowing for detailed testing to be conducted without requiring several physical servers.

Virtual private servers are also sometimes employed as honeypots, allowing a machine to deliberately run software with known security flaws without endangering the rest of the server. Multiple honeypots can be quickly set up via VPSes in this fashion.[citation needed]


Virtual private server hosting

A growing number of companies offer virtual private server hosting, or virtual dedicated server hosting as an extension for Web hosting services. Some web hosting companies call a Virtual Private Server a Virtual Dedicated Server/Dynamic Dedicated Server or the other way around.


Managed Hosting

Tools are provided to monitor and control the virtual machine.

Unmanaged Hosting

Typically only minimal services are provided, such as ssh console and reboot. Unmanaged VPS hosting is generally less expensive than managed VPS hosting.


Unmetered Hosting

Similar to unmanaged hosting but a fixed bitrate is offered so that it is not possible to exceed a monthly budget.


Virtualization software

For some of the software packages commonly used to provide virtualization, see comparison of virtual machines.

Continue reading...

A dedicated server is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications. Examples of dedicated servers are DOTA, SATA, PATA and etc.
Operating system support

Availability, price and employee familiarity often determines which operating systems are offered on dedicated servers. Such operating systems are useful for daily usage. Examples of these operating systems are PUKIMAK engkau!, BUTOH, MACHOWHAI and so on. Variations of Linux (open source operating systems) are often included at no charge to the customer. Commercial operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server, provided through a special program called Microsoft SPLA. Red Hat Enterprise is a commercial version of Linux offered to hosting providers on a monthly fee basis. The monthly fee provides OS updates through the Red Hat Network using an application called up2date. Other operating systems are available from the open source community at no charge. These include CentOS, Fedora Core, Debian, and many other Linux distributions or BSD systems FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.

Support for any of the operating systems above typically depends on the level of management offered with a particular dedicated server plan. Operating system support may include updates to the core system in order to acquire the latest security fixes, patches, and system-wide vulnerability resolutions. Updates to core operating systems include kernel upgrades, service packs, application updates, and security patches that keep server secure and safe. Operating system updates and support relieves the burden of server management from the dedicated server owner.

[edit]
Bandwidth and connectivity

Bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate or the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second) and is often represented in bits (of data) per second (bit/s). For example, visitors to your server, web site, or applications utilize bandwidth as the traffic moves from your server to the Internet and vice versa. Connectivity refers to the “access providers” that supply bandwidth, or data transfer rate, through various connection points across a network or footprint to one or multiple data centers where dedicated servers are housed.

Bandwidth measurements are defined (per telecom standards) as the following:
First – 95th (measured using average bits and speed of transfer)
Second – Unmetered (measured in speed or bits)
Third – Total Transfer (measured in bytes transferred)

95th Method: Line Speed, billed on the 95th percentile, average or peak usage, refers to the speed in which data flows from the server or device. The measurement can be compared to mph (Miles Per Hour), or how fast something travels. Line Speed is measured using bits per second, kilobits per second, megabits per second, and gigabits per second.

Unmetered Method: The second bandwidth measurement is Unmetered service where providers cap or control the “top line” speed for a server. Top line speed in Unmetered bandwidth is the total Mbit/s allocated to the server and configured on the switch level. For example, if you purchase 10 Mbit/s Unmetered bandwidth, the top line speed would be 10 Mbit/s. 10 Mbit/s would result in the provider controlling the speed transfers take place while providing the ability for the dedicated server owner to not be charged with bandwidth overages. Unmetered bandwidth services usually incur an additional charge.

Total Transfer Method: Some providers will calculate the Total Transfer, the measurement of actual data leaving and coming from the server, measured in bytes. Measurement between providers varies and includes one of the following equations:
Method 1: IN TRAFFIC + OUT TRAFFIC = TOTAL TRANSFER
Method 2: IN TRAFFIC = TOTAL TRANSFER
Method 3: OUT TRAFFIC = TOTAL TRANSFER

One of the reasons people choose to outsource dedicated servers is the availability of high powered networks from multiple providers. As dedicated server providers utilize massive amounts of bandwidth, they are able to secure lower volume based pricing to include a multi-provider blend of bandwidth. To achieve the same type of network without a multi-provider blend of bandwidth, a large investment in core routers, long term contracts, and expensive monthly bills would need to be in place. The expenses needed to develop a network without a multi-provider blend of bandwidth does not make sense economically for hosting providers.

Many dedicated server providers include a service level agreement based on network uptime. Some dedicated server hosting providers offer a 100% uptime guarantee on their network. By securing multiple vendors for connectivity and using redundant hardware, providers are able to guarantee higher uptimes; usually between 99-100% uptime if they are a higher quality provider. One aspect of higher quality providers is they are mostly likely multi-homed across multiple quality uplink providers, which in turn, provides significant redundancy in the event one goes down in addition to potentially improved routes to destinations.

Bandwidth consumption over the last several years has shifted from a per megabit usage model to a per gigabyte usage model. Bandwidth was traditionally measured in line speed access that included the ability to purchase needed megabits at a given monthly cost. As the shared hosting model developed, the trend towards gigabyte or total bytes transferred, replaced the megabit line speed model so dedicated server providers started offering per gigabyte.

Prominent players in the dedicated server market offer large amounts of bandwidth ranging from 500 gigabytes to 3000 gigabytes using the “overselling” model. It is not uncommon for major players to provide dedicated servers with 1Terabyte (TB) of bandwidth or higher. Usage models based on the byte level measurement usually include a given amount of bandwidth with each server and a price per gigabyte after a certain threshold has been reached. Expect to pay additional fees for bandwidth overage usage. For example, if a dedicated server has been given 3000 gigabytes of bandwidth per month and the customer uses 5000 gigabytes of bandwidth within the billing period, the additional 2000 gigabytes of bandwidth will be invoiced as bandwidth overage. Each provider has a different model for billing. As of yet, no industry standards have been set.

[edit]
Management

To date, no industry standards have been set to clearly define the management role of dedicated server providers. What this means is that each provider will use industry standard terms, but each provider will define them differently. For some dedicated server providers, fully managed is defined as having a web based control panel while other providers define it as having dedicated system engineers readily available to handle all server and network related functions of the dedicated server provider.

Server management can include some or all of the following:
Operating system updates
Application updates
Server monitoring
Simple Network Management Protocol hardware monitoring
Application monitoring
Technical support
Firewall services
Antivirus updates
Security audits
DDoS protection and mitigation
Intrusion detection
Backups and restoration
Disaster recovery
DNS hosting service
Load balancing
Database administration
Performance tuning
Software installation and configuration
User management
Programming consultation

Dedicated hosting server providers define their level of management based on the services they provide. In comparison, fully managed could equal self managed from provider to provider.

Administrative maintenance of the operating system, often including upgrades, security patches, and sometimes even daemon updates are included. Differing levels of management may include adding users, domains, daemon configuration, or even custom programming.

Dedicated server hosting providers may provide the following types of server managed support:
Fully Managed - Includes monitoring, software updates, reboots, security patches and operating system upgrades. Customers are completely hands-off.
Managed - Includes medium level of management, monitoring, updates, and a limited amount of support. Customers may perform specific tasks.
Self Managed - Includes regular monitoring and some maintenance. Customers provide most operations and tasks on dedicated server.
Unmanaged - Little to no involvement from service provider. Customers provide all maintenance, upgrades, patches, and security.

Note: The provider will continue to maintain security on the network regardless of support level.

[edit]
Security

Dedicated hosting server providers utilize extreme security measures to ensure the safety of data stored on their network of servers. Providers will often deploy various software programs for scanning systems and networks for obtrusive invaders, spammers, hackers, and other harmful problems such as Trojans, worms, eggdrops and crashers (Sending multiple connections). Linux and Windows use different software for security protection.

[edit]
Software

Providers often bill for dedicated servers on a fixed monthly price to include specific software packages. Over the years, software vendors realized the significant market opportunity to bundle their software with dedicated servers. They have since started introducing pricing models that allow dedicated hosting providers the ability to purchase and resell software based on reduced monthly fees.

Microsoft offers software licenses through a program called the Service Provider License Agreement. The SPLA model provides use of Microsoft products through a monthly user or processor based fee. SPLA software includes the Windows Operating System, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint and shoutcast hosting, and many other server based products.

Dedicated Server Providers usually offer the ability to select the software you want installed on a dedicated server. Depending on the overall usage of the server, this will include your choice of operating system, database, and specific applications. Servers can be customized and tailored specific to the customer’s needs and requirements.

Other software applications available are specialized web hosting specific programs called control panels. Control panel software is an all inclusive set of software applications, server applications, and automation tools that can be installed on a dedicated server. Control panels include integration into web servers, database applications, programming languages, application deployment, server administration tasks, and include the ability to automate tasks via a web based front end.

Most dedicated servers are packaged with a control panel. Control panels are often confused with management tools, but these control panels are actually web based automation tools created to help automate the process of web site creation and server management. Control panels should not be confused with a full server management solution by a dedicated hosting provider.

[edit]
Limitations

Many providers do not allow IRC (bots, clients or daemons). This is due to rogue IRC users triggering DDoS attacks against the provider, which may overwhelm their networks, lowering service quality for all customers.

Adult content is disallowed by many providers as it may either be of questionable legality or consume large amounts of bandwidth.

Spam is usually prohibited by the provider's Acceptable Use Policy.

[edit]
Extra features

Useful features for dedicated servers may be included, or cost additional monthly fees:
Serial Console or KVM/IP - this is used to gain access to a server if for some reason the user is unable to get in via normal means (e.g. ssh), and permits a server to be recovered from boot-time configuration faults, such as filesystem recovery.
Automated restore of OS - an automated system can be used to restore the server to its original configuration.
Remote Backup Space - ssh/FTP space to backup data stored on the server.
ColdFusion (MX) - ColdFusion is the rapid server scripting environment for creating Rich Internet Applications.
SQL Server - Server dedicated to hosting Microsoft SQL databases and typically incur additional hosting fees.
Oracle - Server dedicated to hosting Oracle databases and typically incur additional hosting fees.

Continue reading...

Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller purchases the host's services wholesale and then sells them to his customers for a profit. The certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to reseller account. In order to achieve this the reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company or resell shared hosting services. If the latter is the case the reseller is simply given the permission to sell a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth to his own customers without renting a server from a web hosting company he signed for a reseller account with.

The typical web hosting reseller might be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to create their own service plans and choose their own pricing structure. In many cases, resellers are able to establish their own branding via customized control panels and name servers.

Reseller hosting does not require extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of web hosting. Usually, the data center operator is responsible for maintaining network infrastructure and hardware, and the dedicated server owner configures/secures/updates the server. A reseller is responsible for interfacing with his/her own customer base, but any hardware, software and connectivity problems are typically forwarded to the server provider from whom the reseller plan was purchased.

Through point and click "Control Panels" (as listed below), resellers can set up and manage customer accounts via a web interface. In addition, ModernBill and ClientExec software are popular among resellers, as it automates account creation and billing. Most of the reseller hosting companies offers different reseller hosting plans. For running the web hosting company control panel is must, we can name it as cpwebhosting(control panel webhosting).

Well-known Control Panels List:
Cortex Provisioning System (Windows)
WHM/cPanel (Unix)(Windows version coming soon)
Plesk (Windows/Unix)
DirectAdmin (Unix)
Webmin (Unix)
Ensim Pro (Windows/Unix)
Helm (Windows)

Continue reading...

A shared web hosting service or virtual hosting service or derive host refers to a web hosting service where many websites reside on one web server connected to the Internet. Each site "sits" on its own partition, or section/place on the server to keep it separate from other sites.[1] This is generally the most economical option for hosting as many people share the overall cost of server maintenance.
Description

The hosting service must include system administration since it is shared by many users; this is a benefit for users who do not want to deal with it, but a hindrance to power users who want more control. In general shared hosting will be inappropriate for users who require extensive software development outside what the hosting provider supports. But on the other hand, shared hosting is cheaper than other types of hosting such as dedicated server hosting.

Shared hosting typically uses a web-based control panel system, such as cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk, InterWorx, Helm, H-sphere, Ensim, Sphera or one of many other control panel products. Most of the large hosting companies use their own custom developed control panel. Control panels and web interfaces have been causing some controversy lately as Web.com claims that it holds patent rights to the hosting technology with its 19 patents. Hostopia, a large wholesale host, recently purchased the rights to use that technology from web.com for 10% of retail revenues.[2] Web.com recently sued abtinfo.net as well for similar patent infringement.[3]

In shared hosting, the provider is generally responsible for managing servers, installing server software, security updates, technical support, and other aspects of the service. Most servers are based on the Linux operating system and LAMP (software bundle), which is driven by the low cost of open source software. But some providers offer Microsoft Windows-based or FreeBSD-based solutions. For example, the Plesk and Ensim control panels are both available for two operating systems, Linux and Windows. Versions for either OS have very similar interfaces and functionality, with the exception of OS-specific differences (for example, ASP.NET or Microsoft SQL Server support under Windows, and typically greater security and stability under Linux).

There are thousands of shared hosting providers in the United States alone. They range from mom-and-pop shops and small design firms to multi-million-dollar providers with hundreds of thousands of customers. A large portion of the shared web hosting market is driven through pay per click (PPC) advertising or Affiliate programs.

Shared web hosting can also be done privately by sharing the cost of running a server in a colocation centre; this is called cooperative hosting.


Implementation

Shared web hosting can be accomplished in two ways: name-based and IP-based, although some control panels allow a mix of name-based and IP-based on the one server.


Name-based

In name-based virtual hosting, also called shared IP hosting, the virtual hosts serve multiple hostnames on a single machine with a single IP address.

When a web browser requests a resource from a web server using HTTP/1.1 it includes the requested hostname as part of the request. The server uses this information to determine which web site to show the user.


IP-based

In IP-based virtual hosting, also called dedicated IP hosting, each virtual host has a different IP address. The web server is configured with multiple physical network interfaces, or virtual network interfaces on the same physical interface. The web server software uses the IP address the client connects to in order to determine which web site to show the user. The primary reason for a site to use a dedicated IP is to be able to use its own SSL certificate rather than a shared certificate.


Disadvantages

Name-based virtual hosts have some disadvantages:
They do not properly support secure websites (HTTPS). All name-based virtual hosts using the same IP address must share the same digital certificate. This is because the SSL/TLS handshake takes place before the hostname is sent to the server. Thus the server doesn't know which encryption key to use when the connection is made. An extension to the TLS protocol, part of RFC 3546 - Transport Layer Security (TLS) Extensions, specifies a way for the client to provide the requested host name as part of the handshake, but it is not yet widely implemented. Some of the shared hosting providers require their customers to get Unique IP in order to properly set up HTTPS.
If the Domain Name System is malfunctioning, it is harder to use a name-based virtually-hosted website. Ordinarily, in this case, the user could fall back to using the IP address to contact the system, as in http://127.0.0.1/ (invalid IP for example only). However, the web browser doesn't know what hostname to send to the server, but a name-based virtual host requires it. In this case, the default web host is sent back to the browser for that IP address. Therefore most hosters offer an alternative access method like http://127.0.0.1/~virtualhostname to provide access in such cases.
They will not work with browsers that do not send the hostname as part of requests. This is true for older HTTP/1.0 browsers that have not retrofitted the host field feature from the HTTP/1.1 protocol. (The "Host" header that distinguishes between various DNS names sharing a single IP address was optional in HTTP/1.0; it is mandatory in HTTP/1.1, issued in 1999 as RFC 2616.) Since nearly every webbrowser that is currently used supports the HTTP/1.1 protocol and thus also virtual hosting, this is not a real issue.

Continue reading...

A free web hosting service is a web hosting service that is free, usually advertisement-supported. Free web hosts will usually provide a subdomain (yoursite.example.com) or a directory (www.example.com/~yourname). In contrast, paid web hosts will usually provide a second-level domain along with the hosting (www.yourname.com). Many free hosts do allow use of separately-purchased domains. Rarely, a free host may also operate as a domain name registrar.

Features and limitations

Only a few free web hosts offer basic package for free. Enhanced packages (with more features) are usually available for a cost. This allows users to try the service for an initial trial (see how it performs compared to other hosts), and then upgrade when (and if) needed.

Free hosting may have the following limitations:
Limitation on the size of each hosted file
Very small bandwidth per month compared to paid hosting
Disabling on hotlinking of files
File type restrictions (for example MP3, MPEG, ZIP etc.)
Compulsory placement of the Webhosts' Banner or Popup ads into all web pages
No provided uptime guarantee
No allowance of custom URLS, such as "http://www.domain.com". It has to be "http://www.provider.com/domain" or "http://domain.provider.com/".

Some free host may provide these extra features:
A web based control panel
Free email accounts for the domain or subdomain hosted
File transfer via FTP
Scripting languages: PHP, ASP, Perl etc.
Relational databases such as MySQL
Scheduled processes, known as cronjobs
Other features such as guestbooks
Forums and community resources not typical of paid hosts
Reward systems which provide extra free products and services
Have no data limitations offering unlimited space


Monetizing free webhosting

The majority of the hosting companies use free hosting to introduce their services, and as an entry point to their more expensive offerings. Generally they recoup their costs in one of two ways:
Advertising - Selling online advertising on the customer sites is generally considered a fair trade - the reasoning is that high traffic sites are more expensive to host, but the additional traffic allows for additional ad impressions therefore covering the cost. For the web master, it can be a good trade if the advertising is of good quality and non-competitive. This is one of the main reasons that businesses do not use free hosting for their website. The majority of free hosting companies use this method.
Referrals - Using a simple form of viral marketing, these providers rely on the users to spread the offer. The ratio of free to paid accounts is known, and by having each free user refer a number of friends, the hosting provider is able to get enough paid accounts to cover the cost.
Resell Hosting - This is where someone starts up a hosting company, attracts lots of visitors, then sells the hosting company to someone else once it can no longer support itself. Once sold, this individual uses the money to start up multiple hosting ventures and sells each in turn.

Some hosting companies are using hybrid approaches that mix these tactics.


Methods of giving out web hosting

A few methods of giving out Free Webhosting to people by Webhosts


Instant Activation

Due to the risks of illegal, inappropriate, and abusive website, hosts with instant activation usually give very little storage space and monthly bandwidth. Other restrictions will likely also be in effect. The webhosts usually either require the users' web pages to display their banner ads, textlink ads, or popups; or else the users' files to be uploaded through a web-based file manager that display ads to the user uploading files.

Hosts with instant activation are often abused, such as link spamming.


Approval Activation

It is important for a hosting company to have checks and balances in place to prevent the creation of illegal, inappropriate, or abusive websites. By individually validating each website, the hosting company can provide greater storage, bandwidth, and features for their clients.

Different hosts have different policies for approval and activation, and acceptance time can range from minutes to weeks. Generally, hosts will require personal information or information about your website. The more information you provide, the greater your chances of being accepted. The more information that is required, and the longer you have to wait, the greater the server security and stability because it is harder for illegal, inappropriate, or abusive websites to gain access. A shorter wait will generally mean there are more active support staff on hand to help you.


Post for Hosting

Some free hosts require posting in a forum. Forum-based free hosting requires users to either reach a certain amount of posts before getting a free hosting account, or be an active contributor in the forum. Forum-based free hosting often work on a system of points where posts give points to a user and can be used as credits toward getting a hosting account or more resources. Typically, the forum where users have to post contains advertising as the hosts way of making a profit.

Forum applications

This method is popular, as the hosts can decide which applications to deny and allow. This is common when a popular forum has free hosting as an add-on service, rather than the other way around.

[edit]
File hosting on webhosts

Most free web hosts discourage using their services for file or image hosting only, with no web page, since advertising is displayed on the web page. Because of this, hotlinking is usually disallowed on free hosts. Some free webhosts will also disallow files over a certain size (for example, 5 MB). However, there are free file hosting services which allow large files as well as hotlinking.


Co-branding and resellers

Some services offer co-branding services. These let you brand fixed plans with your own company. Other services, offer WHM or panel reselling. This allows the client to develop his or her own web hosting plans and business.

Continue reading...

A typical server "cage," commonly seen in colocation centres.

Internet hosting services can run Web servers; see Internet hosting services.

Hosting services limited to the Web:
Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.
Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. A shared website may be hosted with a reseller.
Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains, under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a provider. Resellers' accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server.
Virtual Dedicated Server: dividing a server into virtual servers, where each user feels like they're on their own dedicated server, but they're actually sharing a server with many other users. The users may have root access to their own virtual space. This is also known as a virtual private server or VPS.
Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. Another type of Dedicated hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full administrative access to the box, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated box.
Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The server is leased to the client.
Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and expensive type of the web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or changes.
Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization. Clustered Servers are a perfect solution for high-availability dedicated hosting, or creating a scalable web hosting solution.
Grid hosting : this form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple nodes.
Home server: usually a single machine placed in a private residence can be used to host one or more web sites from a usually consumer-grade broadband connection. These can be purpose-built machines or more commonly old PC's.

Some ISPs actively attempt to block home servers by disallowing incoming requests to TCP port 80 of the user's connection and by refusing to provide static IP addresses. A common way to attain a reliable DNS hostname is by creating an account with a dynamic DNS service. A dynamic DNS service will automatically change the IP address that a URL points to when the IP address changes.

Some specific types of hosting provided by web host service providers:
File hosting service: hosts files, not web pages
Image hosting service
Video hosting service
Blog hosting service
One-click hosting
Shopping cart software

[edit]
Obtaining hosting

Web hosting is often provided as part of a general Internet access plan; there are many free and paid providers offering these services.

A customer needs to evaluate the requirements of the application to choose what kind of hosting to use. Such considerations include database server software, scripting software, and operating system. Most hosting providers provide Linux-based web hosting which offers a wide range of different software. A typical configuration for a Linux server is the LAMP platform: Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. The webhosting client may want to have other services, such as email for their business domain, databases or multi-media services for streaming media. A customer may also choose Windows for its hosting platform. The customer still can choose from PHP, Perl, and Python but may also use ASP .Net or Classic ASP.

Web hosting packages often include a Web Content Management System, so the end-user doesn't have to worry about the more technical aspects. These Web Content Management systems are great for the average user, but for those who want more control over their website design, this feature may not be adequate.

Mac OS X has supported Apache since v10.4 "Tiger", and the Darwin (operating system) provides a Unix-like interface via Terminal.app. Such systems have complete Web hosting capabilities, including support for PHP, Perl and Shell scripts. Personal Web Sharing can be activated in the Sharing panel of System Preferences...[1].

One may also search the Internet to find active webhosting message boards and forums that may provide feedback on what type of webhosting company may suit his/her needs.

Continue reading...

The scope of hosting services varies widely. The most basic is web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.

Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, and ASP.NET). These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is also highly recommended.

The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other services like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are commonly used by larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company. To find a web hosting company, searchable directories can be used. One must be extremely careful when searching for a new company because many of the people promoting service providers are actually affiliates and the reviews are biased.

Continue reading...

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.

Continue reading...