Archives 2017

While the data centre as we know it was perfected during the dot com boom of the late 1990s, data centres actually have their roots in the earliest beginnings of the computer era. Early computer systems, which were huge, room-sized machines, required a lot of space and a controlled environment. The complexity of operating and maintaining these machines also led to the practice of secluding them in dedicated rooms.

Computer security became a consideration during this era. These early computers were incredibly expensive, and many of them were used for military purposes or important civilian business ventures. A dedicated room allowed businesses and organizations to control access to the machine.

Another factor influencing the trend toward separate computer rooms was the need to keep systems cool. Early computer systems used a great deal of power and were prone to overheating. Dedicated rooms could be climate controlled to compensate for the tendency to overheat.

These early computers required a multitude of component-connecting cables, and these cables needed to be organized. This led to the creation of some of the data center standards we know today. Racks were devised to mount equipment, and cable trays were created. Also, floors were elevated to accommodate these early computers.

The Advent of Microcomputers

During the 1980s, the computer industry experienced the boom of the microcomputer era. In the excitement accompanying this boom, computers were installed everywhere, and little thought was given to the specific environmental and operating requirements of the machines.

Organization of information was difficult to achieve, and lost data became a major concern. Information technology teams were developed to maintain and install these early microcomputers, but clearly, the industry needed a solution.

The “Data Center” is Created

Soon the complexity of information technology systems demanded a more controlled environment for IT systems. In the 1990s, client-server networking became an established standard. The servers for these systems began to find a home in the old dedicated computer rooms left from the early computers.

In addition to putting servers in a dedicated room, this time period saw the invention of the hierarchical design. This design came about through the easy accessibility of inexpensive networking equipment and industry standards for network cabling.

The term “data center” first gained popularity during this era. Data centres referenced rooms which were specially designed to house computers and were dedicated to that purpose.

The Internet Data Centre

As the dot com bubble grew, companies began to understand the importance of having an Internet presence. Establishing this presence required that companies have fast and reliable Internet connectivity. They also had to have the capability to operate 24 hours a day in order to deploy new systems.

Soon, these new requirements resulted in the construction of extremely large data facilities. These facilities, called “Internet data centres” were responsible for the operation of computer systems within a company and the deployment of new systems. These large data centres revolutionized technologies and operating practices within the industry.

However, not all companies could afford to operate a huge Internet data centre. The physical space, equipment requirements, and highly-trained staff made these large data centres extremely expensive and sometimes impractical.

Now – Private Data Centres, Improved Standards

Private data centres were born out of this need for an affordable Internet data centre solution. Today’s private data centres allow small businesses to have access to the benefits of the large Internet data centres without the expense of upkeep and the sacrifice of valuable physical space.

These days, operating and constructing data centres is a widely-recognized industry. New standards for documentation and system requirements add a high level of consistency to data centre design. Disaster recovery plans and operational availability metrics ensure the reliability of today’s data centre systems.

What the Future Holds

The future of data centre design is likely to reflect today’s emphasis on green practices. Environmentally responsible computer and networking systems, as well as refined operation practice, are likely to shape the data centres of the future.

Source by Amy Nutt

To define working procedure of web hosting company, you have to understand it is simply a service that provides a good web hosting solution to small, mid-sized, and large organizations who have the online business network. Web hosting solution is really good for them, because with the help of this anyone can manage their web applications and data more securely. So as simple we can say it can manage web hosting business requirements and can tackles even the most demanding needs.

Specially designed data center services for web hosting will be the best platform for business Website. These days, web hosting services are common thing, but many people still unaware. Actually there are lot of hosting plans available in different formats which are so popular so you can easily sort out one them as per your business requirements. It also offers data recovery, scalability, flexibility, and reliability, which is continuous and uninterrupted. But make sure, you always choose a service provider who can quickly respond to your queries and helps to managing your Website applications and solve your any kinds of technical problems.

Many web hosting service providers offer fully managed hosting platforms that are developed with the ongoing global network. If you have a good business hosting solution, you will not have to worry about network problems. With this service, you can do smooth online transaction and constant monitoring services give you the detail reports of server performance. Sometimes, when downtime occurs, the service is armed and ready to restore your business applications in no time. This could come in quite handy.

One aspect of this service is to obtain best data center infrastructure. Even many web hosting providers have their own data center premises. This is by far the most effective ways. So you can always be secure of quality security with the web host company. You will get the best combined facilities and services and direct access to customer support with reliable and qualified staff. Every user can really enjoy the features, benefits and smooth online transaction with web hosting service without any interruption.

With the services of experts like this, your application needs of business are easily managed, so you can more effectively targeted in the operation of your business, various resources and quality support is available to you. Whatever your concerns, you can easily access help. They offer cost effective solutions that your company can benefit directly from. You will have an everything you would expect from a supplier of good solutions. They keep the lines of communication so that client can express their concerns.

Usually, web hosting companies offers various services and products to ensure that their all customers get best services and get fully satisfied with their company.

Source by Neelesh C

The type of web hosting you choose is dependent upon exactly what you are wanting for your site. Both hosting options have their benefits and their downfalls and you must decide what is most important for you.

If you are planning on having a small website, whether business or personal, shared hosting might be a good choice, particularly if you are looking to save money. Shared hosting costs less because you are sharing a server with other websites and the cost for running the site is divided between the website owners. The prices for shared hosting can vary from just a few dollars a month or more. This is usually dependent upon how many others are sharing the site. There are some downsides however to using shared hosting. Most shared hosting sites offer you a limited amount of disk space and bandwidth for your website. Some will even charge more if you use more bandwidth than you are alloted. Additionally, you may have to deal with other websites on the server using too much bandwidth, which can cause your website to run slowly and even freeze up.

Dedicated servers on the other hand, mean that your website has it’s own dedicated server that is not shared with any other websites. This is the best choice of hosting service, particularly if you are planning on having a large website or will have a website that will have a high level of traffic. A dedicated host offers a higher level of service to it’s website owners. They generally have more features available to users and make the sites easier to build. Many people feel the downside to a dedicated server is that they are generally very expensive. They can range anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars a year. But, if you have a large website, whether business or personal, it is definitely worth the money. Dedicated hosting offers a much more reliable service to you and ensures that you will have a higher amount of uptime on your website.

Choosing the right web hosting services is one of the most important thing you can do when building your website. If you feel that you can’t afford a dedicated host right now, you can either attempt to use shared hosting or save up the money until you can afford dedicated hosting. If your website is small and you think you will not have any problems using a shared host, than you should start looking into companies that offer quality shared hosting. However, if you know you are going to have a large website, and fear shared hosting may not work for you, then you would be better off choosing a dedicated host. It’s best to with a host that can provide for your needs from the start, rather than having to switch hosts at a later date.

Source by Chris Narfundle

If you’re not all that familiar with the many faces of web hosting, shared hosting is the most common form you will find. Companies like BlueHost, WebHostingPad, Fatcow – they all offer shared web hosting services. Shared hosting is the first choice for many individuals and small business owners.  In fact, most of the sites you run across thrive off this type of platform. While there are many benefits to such a solution, there are disadvantages you need to be aware of as well.

Advantages of Shared Web Hosting

Cost-efficiency – The cost benefits of shared hosting are all in the name. Because you are literally sharing server space with other web hosting customers, the provider is able to save money and offer a cheaper service. Combine this with a highly competitive market, and you can easily find yourself a shared hosting plan for less than $10 a month. When considering all the features you can get nowadays, these affordable web hosting packages offer excellent value.

Simplicity – Shared web hosting actually describes the basic concept of managed hosting, which is generally refers to dedicated servers. What this means is that the host maintains the server and associated hardware in their data center. They provide you with connectivity and handle all the complex server administrative tasks. This is an ideal solution for anyone that doesn’t have the know-how or manpower to run a server or simply needs to focus on the vital aspects of their business. In addition to that, comprehensive tools such as control panel software and website builders also make the shared hosting environment much easier to grasp. Even the most technically challenged can succeed thanks to the rapid evolution of web hosting technology.

Disadvantages of Shared Web Hosting

System Crashes – I’m gonna give you the cold hard facts – although you can find yourself a respectable provider, the reliability of shared hosting will always be questionable. Even with proactive measures such as loading balancing, placing thousands of websites on a single server makes the machine susceptible to failure.

Performance Issues – Performance can also be an issue. Let’s say you’re experiencing moderate traffic while Joe Blow who is sharing the server with you gets a sudden burst of traffic. A neighborhood’s traffic can have a direct impact on your site, causing it to lag with pages that take forever to load. We’ve all experienced it so you know that slow web pages are a real drag.

Security – Security is another critical element that isn’t guaranteed in a shared hosting environment. Web hosting companies provide customers with a lot of power these days – way too much if you ask me. All it takes is one amateur webmaster to misuse .htaccess or another sensitive component and stir up all kinds of chaos on the server. If you’re not as proficient as once thought with development languages, your PHP-based web applications can be left insecure, providing intruders with a gateway to your data. Then there is always the threat of sharing server space with a hacker looking to compromising unknowing users like yourself. The worst part of all, you might not have a clue what’s going on until its too late.

This is not a knock on shared hosting, just a warning. The mere structure of this environment makes it vulnerable under a wide range of conditions.  The good is that with a little research, you can find yourself a reliable company with the knowledge and technology to ensure as few issues as possible.

Source by Web Hosting Ghostwriter

Load balancing, by definition, is the process of spreading the amount of work that is conducted by a computer system between a number of different computer systems to increase the speed that the work is completed in. There are several different methods in which load balancing can be accomplished by and the technique can use many different types of computer components, including both hardware and software applications. Load balancing is typically completed using a cluster of computer servers that may or may not be located in the same location. Some load balancers provide a mechanism for doing something special in the event that all backend servers are unavailable. This might include forwarding to a backup load balancer, or displaying a message regarding the outage. Load balancing can be useful when dealing with redundant communications links.

There are many different companies that see the benefits of using load balancing and implement the procedure for their companies. Companies that conduct business transactions in large numbers using the internet are prime candidates to use load balancing to ensure that all of their clients and customers will be able to conduct their transactions in a quickly and accurately manner. Companies that need to network a great deal of computers for individual users also typically use load balancing to ensure that all computers will work properly and have the right amount of power to be able to perform the functions that they are intended to perform. It also ensures that the company will still be able to do business if one server becomes corrupted or goes down for an extended period of time.

There are several different methods that are widely used for load balancing. One of the most popular methods of load balancing is Global Server Load Balancing. This technique distributes the incoming tasks to a group of servers in a particular geographic location. This technique is widely used by companies that have a global presence and have a need to satisfy customers or employees in many different geographical locations. Using Global Server Load Balancing ensures that the work load is distributed throughout the entire server system in an easy to manage manner and ensures that all geographical locations are obtaining the correct information from the correct set of servers.

Another load balancing technique that is commonly used is called Persistence Load Balancing. This technique assigns each new client to a different server in a round robin (distributed page requests evenly to one of three Squid cache servers) type of allocation. This client is then assigned to this specific server for the future of their relationship with the business. This ensures that no one server is overloaded with a particular type of client, such as those in a certain geographical area or use a specific type of service and ensures that the clients are distributed evenly through out all of the servers that the business possesses. These server assignments are typically monitored by using the customers IP address as the customer’s unique identification code.

Source by Amy Nutt

Despite increasingly heightened security by merchants and service providers, credit and debit card fraud is still on the rise. Perpetrators are using even more sophisticated methods of infiltration to access sensitive payment card information. The financial cost of fraud to any sized corporation can be huge and the price of preventing it is vast.

Any company which stores, processes or transmits payment card data bearing the logo of the five major payment companies has to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). These five companies include American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard and Visa. These standards were devised in 2004 to provide a common set of industry tools for the storage of payment card data in order to prevent, detect, and react to security incidents.

As well as merchants or banking institutions, compliance is required by any third party who accepts or processes payment cards. This includes call centres who receive cardholder data which they are unable to delete. If merchants use payment gateways to process transactions on their behalf, compliance is not required but they must ensure contractual obligation from the third party that they comply with PCI DSS and are responsible for the security of cardholder data.

Fines for non-compliance or security breaches can be huge, reaching $500,000. High profile cases involving huge corporations have hit the headlines. Some card brands have threatened huge fines against larger merchants of up to $25,000 per month until compliance is obtained. In severe cases, they have even threatened to remove the ability to process credit card payments, which could be economically fatal for any merchant.

While Visa reports that the majority of security breaches occur in small enterprises, any company that stores, processes, or transmits card information has to comply with a strict set of guidelines. Although intended to create a global standard which protects both consumers and corporations alike, these guidelines can be time consuming, costly, and complex to implement. Corporations that require PCI DSS compliance are prevented from storing sensitive credit card information, including security codes, track data from the magnetic strip, and PIN numbers. Information which can be stored includes credit card numbers, expiration dates and customer details, but the method of storage needs to meet certain requirements.

How to obtain PCI DSS compliance

The recommended first step to obtaining compliance is to hire the services of a Quality Security Assessor, who can advise on steps needed to reach compliance as well as completing the official assessments required. Smaller companies that process less than 80,000 transactions per year are permitted to complete a self-assessment questionnaire.

Compliance covers 6 areas of security:

1. Construction and maintenance of a secure network – including installation of a firewall to protect cardholder data

2. Protection of cardholder data – including encryption during data transmission

3. Vulnerability management – with regular updates of anti-virus software

4. Access control – to prevent and restrict access to sensitive data

5. Regular monitoring and testing of networks

6. Maintenance of an information security policy

The latest updated guidelines for PCI DSS are due for release in October 2008.

The benefits of PCI DSS compliance

? Protection from PCI related fines if compliant at the time of breach

? Increased customer confidence in data protection

? Advice on how to remediate any data security risks

? Advice on how to prevent service providers from putting your business at risk from data security

? Increased protection from fraudsters

? Protection from unwanted negative media attention

With this said, there is no question as to why PCI DSS compliance is as important as it is. It both protects the consumer and the merchant, making transactions considerably safer than they would be otherwise.

Source by Amy Nutt

There are different types of hosting available in the hosting industry and Managed Dedicated Server Hosting is one of it. This type of hosting is generally in demand when a business need more private caution to be taken for their online presence. In the managed dedicated hosting the service provider monitors the server performance round the clock, covers all the server management responsibilities and removes all the burden from customers shoulder so that they can focus on their business to achieve the goals. Some of the most important characteristics of Managed Dedicated Hosting are explained below:

Easy Management

The managed hosting offers you a greater level of support that you can’t expect from typical hosting. It includes a wide range of server management services such as security monitoring, daily, weekly or monthly backups, Server Setup, Firewall configuration and regular updates of softwares. The server management includes much more than listed tasks.

Cheap Solution

Though, its known as the most costly hosting solution, however as it free ups your time and helps you business to produce more profit.

Better and Superior Security

Most of the businesses that are dependent on their web presence will always look for a hosting solution that takes the essential precautions to make sure their website is secured properly. The Managed Dedicated Server Hosting offers you Disaster recovery and Server backup restoration service in case if your hardware fails.

24x7x365 Monitoring

In this service your server is monitored 24x7x365 to ensure that your server is performing well. The managed hosting ensures that you get high-performance and availability as issues will be fixed as soon as it occurs.

High-Performance

This is one of our most important aspects of managed dedicated hosting. As the hardware provided by your web hosting company is never shared with any other customers. Hence, you will be the only user that will use that hardware, thus your server delivers high performance.

High-Reliability

Most of the new clients that switches to a dedicated server has to deal with a major amount of downtime, due to the technical problems. The managed hosting team is responsible to provide you a full support for all the technical queries and are always available whenever you need them.

100% Resources and Features

Managed Dedicated Server offers you a complete range of features various programming language support, different types of web applications and services and a large amount of disk space and bandwidth to host your mission critical websites.

Saves your Money

If you go opt for an unmanaged dedicated server, you need to pay someone to monitor and maintain your server. The managed hosting help you to get rid of the full time administrator as your web hosting provider will cover all the administration work.

Customer Support

Most of the Managed Hosting solutions provide round the clock customer support through Live Chat, Phone Support and Email Support (Tickets).

You have a complete freedom to use your Managed Dedicated Server Hosting to host your own business website or for reselling purpose, its all yours.

Source by Anup M

Managed IT Services are becoming an attractive proposition for companies looking to cut costs while increasing productivity.

By outsourcing IT services companies can be reassured that there IT Infrastructure is being monitored 24/7.

Remote Support

The remote desktop solution is a great way for an IT company who only wishes software updates, maintenance at a scheduled time or in case of software failure, a quick response time. Repair technicians can literally log on remotely to any clients machine and run patches, diagnose problems and upgrade software when needed. This has the added bonus of saving of a quick express turnaround, and the client can be safely reassured and get on with business.

Remote Desktop

Remote desktop or Terminal Services is a great solution for those with many offices or who wish to hold data on a central location. The user desktops are hosted across the Internet, and therefore software deploys or upgrades can easily be distributed regardless of the location of the employees.

Hosted Exchange

A great IT service which until a couple of years ago was only available to enterprise size business. Now this is available to most business. Email is hosted on a dedicated server at the managed IT provider premises, and this avoids costs of installing a maintaining complex hardware and software solutions.

When looking for a provider for the above IT services here are things to bear in mind.

Over-selling/Flooding servers – This is where the provider, over sells the servers capacity. This can cause slow response times or over saturation of the network.

24/7 monitoring – Your server information should be monitored 24/7

Data Centers – Find out where the information (data) will be held and what contingency plans there are in case of failure.

In summary, managed IT services can provide a great solution for companies who are looking to concentrate on doing business and leave the technical stuff for the technicians. With a range of services, from email and web hosting, remote desktop services, and remote support, a company can save money while increasing productivity by keeping there IT Infrastructure constantly monitored. Staffing levels can also be managed as there is no longer a need to have one or two inhouse individuals who are responsible for the IT support. Also with a managed service budgeting support is made easier as this can be scaled back or improved as the business grows or in case of downturn.

Source by Neil Maycock

In this day’s websites normally requires simple web hosting plans for smooth performance of the website and email transfer that is essential. There are two modes of hosting planes are generally available, first is Linux hosting and second one is Windows hosting. Both have several advantages and disadvantages respectively but Depending upon small business owner’s requirements suitable managed hosting plan can be selected for a specific website.

Well in most of the normal situations, the general preference of small business owners for choosing web hosting plan moves towards the Linux server hosting plans rather than window server hosting, because there are numerous optimistic factor that influence people to choose it.

Expenditure Factor

The truth is that Linux hosting plans are much economical than Windows servers plans. For all small business people the web hosting price matters vastly. They wish to receive many options or you can say facilities at a tiny expenditure. Most of them not required supreme type of security and they also do not bother whether it is MS-SQL database server or some thing else to develop their database. Thus Linux server is the best option for them at really least cost with several kinds of features.

Open Source Factor

Linux is an Open Source code and enables people from all around the world to promote their own knowledge for its development. This is one of the main reasons where Linux servers have the power to eject Windows servers far away form competitive hosting industry. Now a day’s, due to its farthest adaptability Linux becomes a unique platform for lots of fresh technologies that are mostly used in competitive hosting industry. This means that a Linux server gives you numerous features than Windows servers can does.

Scripting Language Factor

There are many scripting language available on the Internet like Perl, Python, Java, and PHP to build your site. All these scripting languages and have been developed on Linux / UNIX web servers and they do not required Microsoft support to run them. But when you use those scripting languages which can be run on windows servers like ASP.Net then you require MS-SQL to develop the database and other supports of Microsoft. Now it is easily understandable that for small business owners Linux hosting is best to host their website into the internet.

Dependability Factor

Now a day’s Linux is vastly known as really steady and dependable. This means that Linux servers are little faster, easy to use and reputed as non crushable than a Windows server. Thus, Linux servers will provide more upgraded facilities for your website at a minimum outlay.

Familiarity and Executing Speed Factor

Linux servers have years of experience for providing services than Windows servers in hosting industry. There is no such recommendable difference in executing speed between Linux servers and Windows servers, but it is viewed that Linux servers are slightly quicker in processing normal website pages.

Efficiency Factor

Windows support ASP which is a programming language supported by Microsoft, which allows people to fabricate dynamic database motivated website pages by connecting with a MS-SQL server or Access server. It increase the production cost as well. Linux neither requires ASP language nor MS-SQL databases to build dynamic database driven website pages, because it simply uses MySQL database which is freely available.

Source by Joanna Gadel

Why Dedicated Servers?

A dedicated server includes an operating system (mostly some variants of Linux or Windows) a Web server, related software (such as a MYSQL server, Control Panel and much more) and connection to the Internet, housed in the Web hosting company’s premises. It is typically required for a Web site or a group of related company sites that may develop a substantial amount of traffic. The server can usually be configured and operated remotely from the client company and you can customize the server to your own needs. It can be assigned to function only as a resource server and cannot be used as a client. The server is owned by the web host and you don’t have physical access to the server.

A dedicated web hosting is beneficial while developing a complex business or a high-end e-commerce site as you will need more space and security – a web server dedicated to your business. It is purchased by a company when they want more control of their server. They purchase or rent the hardware from the hosting company who then normally support and manage it. Internet connectivity is provided to the server, in many cases over 10 or 100 Mbit/s Ethernet. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to co-location facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. You do not need a large initial investment to set it up.

Commonly, unmanaged hosting plans include hardware, operating system, web server and Internet connection. Managed plans however include the basics and pretty much everything else that the only thing you need to worry about is your web site and content.

A dedicated server could also be a computer that manages printer resources. However, it is important to note that not all servers are dedicated. In some networks, it is possible for a computer to act as a server and perform other functions as well.

If you are looking for cheaper dedicated servers, you should be careful while choosing the right specification and package. Things to consider are operating system, data backup and monitoring service, hardware options, space, bandwidth and technical support. Ask the hosting providers to give you a few websites for references, read hosting reviews before you sign up and be sure that the price is affordable. We know that the dedicated servers on this site are the one that will give you the most reliability and flexibility for your money.

Source by Shawn Burgy