The Importance of Web Hosting Security

What do you look for in a web host? A low price? Reliability and good support I hope. If you’re anything like today’s ambitious webmaster, you’re on the hunt for the best features. There’s a lot of programs and management tools available to make your site standout but I bet there are some features you pay no mind at all. Often overlooked but one should never forget about critical security features as they will help to keep your web hosting environment protected from an array of threats. Security features are abundant but here some you simply can’t do without:

SFTP

Short for Secure File Transfer Protocol, SFTP is more efficient and secure variation of FTP. In its purest form, FTP only has the ability to transfer files, leaving them vulnerable to a range of security breaches such as eavesdropping, tampering and even interception of the entire file. A web hosting company offering SFTP provides you with the ability to secure your files in transit with SSH (Secure Shell Host), a protocol that protects data with government recommended 128-bit encryption.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer or SSL, should be incorporated on any website that sells products or services. SSL is a standard encryption protocol designed to keep internet communications secure. If a web hosting company doesn’t support a shared or private SSL certificate, you need to turn in the opposite direction and find yourself another provider.

Data Backups

Data backup and restoration is not only something that should be practiced with the files on your hard drive, but those on the web host’s server as well. All it takes is one technical difficulty or natural disaster for the web hosting company to lose a server and all of your website data. The good thing is that most providers perform redundant backups to ensure that your data can be restored in the event of a failure. To be on the safe side, I recommend looking into a web host that offers a utility that allows you to backup your own data.

Network Security

Aside from protecting your files and website transactions, you also need to keep an eye out for security features that protect the web hosting company’s network. Do a little research to learn how the web host is protecting their infrastructure, keeping in mind that intrusion detection systems, firewalls, DDoS protection, virus and spam filtering are common features. Servers are prime targets of hackers and malicious code writers so if the hardware is breached or goes down, your website will suffer right along with it.

These are just a few of numerous security features a web hosting company should offer to ensure the safety of your website data. Hackers are constantly trying to crack into web servers while malware writers are releasing new infectious strains everyday. A web host that doesn’t take this into mind is essentially leaving you wide open for exploitation.

Web Hosting With Multiple Servers - Impact on a Website?s Uptime

By this article one can get to know about the technology used in multiple server hosting as well as how to utilize it to maximize one’s site and security and uptime

Now the hosting of site has converted into a commodity where competition has raised to a very higher level and it’s very difficult to discriminate among the hosting plans on the basis of core plans, features and prices. Moreover choosing a host based on the cheapest price is not a better idea rather it thereafter proves to be very expensive in terms of reliability as well as possible loss of sales as a result of website downtime.

Choosing a best out of thousands of providers and resellers is a very scary task, which is rather based on hit and trial method. Even if hosting has become a commodity still while choosing for new host one should look for reliability.

Now at the heart of any hosting company’s reliability is redundancy. Redundancy offers an alternative remedy in case any problem occurs. This is to ensure continuity of work as seamlessly and transparently as possible.

There are several hosts, which employ redundant network connections. These are the high-speed pipes that route data from the server to one’s web browser. As against this, redundant ‘multiple web servers’ are quite rare and expensive and so are rarely used. They are expensive due to use of costly routing equipment, which has previously been used, only in mission critical applications of Fortune 500 companies.

There is yet another very neat but little known Domain Name Server (DNS) feature called ’round robin’ which allows the selection and provision of a particular IP address from a ‘pool’ of addresses when a DNS request arrives.

The Domain Name Server (DNS) database maps a host name to their IP address. Thus instead of remembering a vast series of numbers (IP address) one can just type in his/her web browser www.mydomain.com, to get to one’s website.

Now in order to publicize DNS info throughout the market it will typically take minimum 2 to 3 days. That is the reason when one registers or transfer a domain name it isn’t immediately available to the person browsing the web.

This delay has foiled the security benefits of hosting one’s site on multiple servers, as the site would be down for a couple of days in case of any problem with one server. As a remedy one has to change his/her DNS to reflect the second server and has to wait for several days before the change was picked up in routers on the Internet.

There is yet another solution for the above problem i.e. the round robin DNS strategy that solves this quandary, by mapping one’s domain name to more than one IP address.

One should now select that hosting companies which employs the DNS round robin technique in conjunction with’failover monitoring’.

The DNS round robin fail over monitoring process starts by a web hosting company setting up one’s site on two or more independent web servers. Thus one’s domain name will therefore have 2 or more IP Addresses assigned to it.

Thereafter the fail over monitor watches one’s web server(s) by dispatching data to a URL one specifies and looks for particular text in the results. Now when an error is returned from one of an IP address, it pulls that IP address out of the list. The DNS thereafter points one’s domain name to the working IP address/s

In case any of the user’s IP’s come back online they are restored to the IP pool. This helps in effectively and safely keeping one’s site online even if one of the web servers is down.

In this case an average failure detection and recovery time with a system is very low with just 15 minutes. However this time varies depending on site’s speed as well as the nature of the failure and also how long other ISP’s cache (save) one’s DNS information.

The time taken for other ISP’s caching one’s information can be manipulated in the fail over monitor by lowering the “time to live” (TTL) cache settings. These are the settings used by other ISP’s in order to determine how long to cache one’s DNS information.

One must also keep in mind the matter of how frequently data is synchronized between his/her website’s servers. Now this comes under the hosting company’s responsibility, and this becomes complicated where databases and user sessions are involved.

The most elegant solution to multi server hosting is very expensive hardware based fail over monitoring systems that point a virtual IP address to other ISP’s, while behind the scenes juggling a number of unique IP addresses on different servers.

This way, the whole issue of ISP’s caching one’s information does not come into play.

Thus in order to get 99.99995% uptime, without spending big amount of money, the technology is readily available and certain proprietary failure monitoring systems are now relatively cheap to apply.

Clustered Web Hosting

is structured to eradicate the intrinsic errors, which are usually found in shared hosting systems. It means grouping of numerous servers and networking them together to share the work stack. A site which caters this service is called as . The resources of websites are drawn so accurately that a particular website is not confined to only one server. In this case, all websites have their own service redundancy which helps in maximizing the consistency of their server.

It involves sharing of the processed power of numerous servers, their programs and distributing it during active time. It also means using huge amount of power from the entire pool of server. When account of client gets changed, then this information gets transmitted speedily to each and every server present in the cluster.

Advantages Of :

In usual hosting situations, the security tiers are not generally incorporated in the platforms. Hence, many hosts implement firewall method to combat the weakness. But, clustered hosting platform has many levels of security. The network of a typical Clustered hosting has intellectual routing, superfluous switching structure, in built firewall and one proxy tool. This renders high benefits than other traditional hosting techniques.

It helps to overcome the network attacks, which get spread to other servers and corrupt the hardware. This type of webhosting is available at competitive prices. This technique enables the clients to handle the security options, load balance and various other web factors in

Choose Wisely: Charlotte Web Hosting Company

A Charlotte Web Hosting Company should be committed to staying above the rest when it comes to ensuring the most advantageous of performance, security and progression of a client’s online presence. Those who are seeking web hosting want a service which dynamically manages all aspects of their hosted infrastructure with an emphasis on the online benefits worthy of helping their business and its needs.

When a company is researching different web hosting companies, they should choose the one that delivers the best web tools available. Many businesses select a specific Charlotte Web Hosting Company that offers them affordable plans while also delivering top-notch assistance. Who wouldn’t want that?

Charlotte Web Hosting services usually cover the following phases:

An aerodynamic Colocation center can help a small or large business seek faster and more economically ways of effective arranging their networks. Most Charlotte Web Hosting Companies are state-of-the-art data facilities, which offer compliant and scalable area options for all Colocation needs. These data centers have been designed with several layers of power, safety, and support.Charlotte Web Hosting Colocation Centers Deliver

Providing clients with their own operating system or applications is made possible due to Charlotte Web Managed Hosting solutions. Companies which specialize in business hosting require top-quality network configurations, resources, complete redundancy, and robust features.About CODANK Charlotte Web DesignCODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development. For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Web Host: Basics to Know

A web hosting is a service that offers individuals, organizations and users with online systems for storing information, images, video, or other content on a web server. These informations can be accessed by World Wide Web and allows the public to view them.

Web hosting is directly related with domain names. The World Wide Web is a huge collection of web site where all the sites are hosted on computers called web servers all over the world. A web site is available 24×7 where one can pay to have 24×7 keen internet connection to an in-house web server. Many people choose to host their sites with a web hosting provider. Web hosting clients simply upload their web sites to a shared or dedicated web server, which ISP maintains to ensure a steady fast connection to the Internet. A server is a unique computer where web sites are hosted, and stored and makes them available to rest of the world.

Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server for hosting a website. They own huge space on the server, which they assign it to their customers offering Internet connectivity, usually in a data center.

The most basic is webpage and small-scale file hosting service, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are regularly delivered to the Web. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer this service for free to their subscribers and also get such hosting cheaply. Web page hosting is usually enough only for personal homepages. Complex website uses more wide-ranging package to offer database support and forum’s etc. These facilities permit the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is also necessary. The host also offers a Web interface control panel (e.g. cPanel, Hosting Controller, Plesk) for running the web server and installing scripts as well as other facilities like e-mail.Types of Web Hosting:-

Tips on Finding a Web Host

t spent a lot of time considering what they want their web host to be like. Here are some critical things you should know about finding a web host that will save you time and headaches down the road so you can spend your time enjoying the finer things in life rather than worrying about web hosting. 1) Cost Issues Free hosting: There are 3 things to consider when looking at free hosting. The first is can you accept not having your own domain name, i.e. if the website is http://WebHostName.com/YourSiteName instead of http://YourSiteName is that going to bother you? Second, can you accept the web host advertising on your web page? Third, there are a lot of free web hosts out there that will promise you your own domain name and no advertising but when you read the fine print what they are offering is a free trial offer. Free really is free but make sure you find out the terms free hosting service is being offered on. Shared/Dedicated hosting: Here are a few important cost factors you should check on before you sign with a host. Find out if your host offers a money back guarantee and what their refund policies are, whether there is a requirement to sign up for a minimum period and if your package is scalable. That is, if your site grows will you be able to expand the amount of bandwidth, disk drive space, and email accounts that you are using at a reasonable price. If you are locked in to a year contract with a host and you start running over your transfer limit you can really get killed on over-run charges. Watch out for unlimited bandwidth or space offers. The bandwidth offers usually come with an escalating price scale and the space offers usually don’t include file types like .jpg and .gif files and other large media file types. Sure, it’s unlimited, as long as you’re only storing text! 2) Customer Service It’s a good idea to find out about a web host’s customer service before you sign with them. Make sure they offer 24-7 phone support if you need it. Test their email support as well before you sign up to see what kind of response time they give you compared with what their advertising says. This is a good way to test a web host’s integrity as well. If they promise email response within 1 hour and you wait 3 days to hear back from them you can bet their 100% uptime guarantee isn’t any good either. 3) Registering a domain name A host should offer the ability to register domain names for you. Ideally your web host will be an ICANN certified domain registrar or be able to tell you which domain registrar they use. Make sure your name, not the host company’s name, is listed as the administrative contact with InterNIC for your domain name. This way you can transfer your domain name to another host more easily. If your host doesn’t provide you with the services they promise and you withhold payment they can hold on to your domain name when you try to transfer it. If the company goes out of business you may also run into problems trying to move your domain name if you aren’t the one registered with InterNIC. 4) Security Ask the web host about your security if you plan to be involved in ecommerce. Their security should be multi-layered to protect you from today’s hackers. With DNS poisoning, cross-site scripting, URL hijacking, spam, phishing, and DDoS attacks to worry about they should be able to tell you what they will do to protect you from the network side although it’s not the web host’s job to make sure the code on your site is secure. 5) Long term contract Many web hosts offer a much reduced monthly rate if you sign a long-term contract with them. You are better off signing a short term contract and upgrading before you make a long term commitment. If you sign a long-term deal and come to find out the host is frequently down you will need to buy out the remainder of the contract before they’ll let you switch to another host. It’s better to take a test-drive and buy the long term deal only once you’re satisfied with your host’s service. 6) Server access Make sure to check out what kind of server access you’ll have and how you will be controlling your site. If you have a web-driven control panel it may not allow you to do everything you need if you are running a complex site or conversely if you just want a simple site with low/no hassle then virtual access to the server and an FTP account may require more technical research than you care to do to get your site going. 7) Figuring out how much Bandwidth you will need Before you sign on with a new host run some numbers on what bandwidth and other services are going to cost you. The key here is planning ahead and making sure your agreement with your hosting provider is flexible enough to allow you to expand in terms of space, email and especially bandwidth. As a rough index to figuring out how much bandwidth you’ll need use 10 gigs of monthly bandwidth per 500 daily users you expect. Check out how much bandwidth or speed will cost and think about how much it will cost if your site really takes off. Flat monthly rates are better than usage rates. If you suddenly get an influx of users because of a new product, advertising campaign, or sudden coincidental flood of Google searchers and your usage exceeds your bandwidth usage agreement you may be in for a nasty shock when you get your hosting bill.

Good Quality - Cheap Web Hosting

vads.clvads« Tips on Finding a Web HostHow to Choose the Best Online Paralegal School »Good Quality & Cheap Web Hosting

If you plan to own a new website, you will need to host your website on a web server. When your website goes live on the web server, online users can then browse your website on the Internet. Company that provides the web servers to host your website is called web hosting providers.

A web hosting provider will typically have a fast connection to the Internet housed in a physical building called ‘data center’ and they may host thousands of web sites on many servers. The web host essentially rents out space to you so that you can get your website up on the world wide web.

With a well-managed web host, you can free yourself from worrying the up-keep of complicated server technology and proper technical maintenance. That’s the whole purpose of the web hosting companies. You should leave the technical work to web hosting professional while you focus on your own internet business.

There are thousands of web hosting providers on the internet and how do you decide which one you should use? Sites like betahosts.com can help you by comparing all best hosting providers.

The features that web hosting companies are offering are getting quite standard nowadays. There are basic features that you’ll need in a web host. You can find out more here.

To give a web host a competitive edge over others, more attractive features are very necessary. You’ll find that many hosts are willing to give away free stuff that used to cost over $10 per month.

These are some of the advanced features that our top hosts are offering.

Web Buider Many of our top 10 hosts offer powerful web builder program called SiteStudio. SiteStudio allows you to make sites without any html, FTP and HTTP knowledge. You can also build site on the fly while at home, school or even at work. Hostgator’s SiteStudio has over 500 ready-made templates for you to choose from.

Ecommerce Enabled If you are selling products on your site, you need a merchant account. A shopping cart is a useful tool if you have more than 1 product in different categories. SSL(Secured Sockets Layer) is a must-have if you need to receive valuable information such as your customers’ credit card information. PowWeb, Hostgator and Lunarpages provide osCommerce shopping cart and shared SSL for your ecommerce needs.

Marketing Package Most marketing package including search engine submission software, keyword generator and link checker. Some hosting companies like iPower have established partnership with Yahoo! Search (previously known as Overture) and Google Adwords to offer you pay-per-click credit to jump start your business.

Popularity

The best marketing method is by far from word of mouth. If you sign up for a web host and are satisfied with the performance, most likely you’ll recommend to anyone who is looking for a good host. Big web hosting companies know about this concept so well that they would go all out to retain their existing customer. The more satisfied customers they have, the more popularity they’ll get. We take this as an important indicator of how good a host is. # There are a few factors that we judge the popularity of a particular web hosting provider.Number of existing customers. # The satisfaction level of their existing customers: We manage to get hold of their existing customers from the positive reviews they submitted through our host comment form, their comment in the 3rd party web hosting and inhouse forums and the customers’ comment found on other hosting directories. # The amount of pretigious hosting awards they won # Their sites Alexa traffic ranking

Netfirms top the popularity among our top 10 hosts. Network Reliability, Speed and Uptime Guarantee

In terms of reliability, we are looking at how redundant is the server, how often the companies backup the server and how well they handle emergency. “Redundant” means that if any of the Internet connections get interrupted, the alternate Internet connection will take over. PowWeb Load Balancing Technology is one of the best that we found to ensure your site is up 99.9% all the time.