All posts by DigitalNetHosting

What is Cloud computing?

Cloud computing is getting extremely popular these days. Especially if you have a high traffic website / web based application and you don’t want to spend too much into hosting high end dedicated servers – cloud computing / cloud hosting is what you are looking for,.

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. Basically a cloud is a virtualization of resources that manages and maintains itself. Broadly classified under the three categories:

1. IaaS: Infrastructure as a service.
2. PasS: Platform as a service.
3. SaaS: Software as a service.

So how does a cloud hosting differentiate with other hosting? The most important diffence is that cloud computing is sold “on demand”. This also means that there is no binding on you to buy heavy duty hosting servers and be worried about how to manage, maintain and keep on paying for the extra resources where you don’t need any. This on demand service is typically sold by hour or minute and has no load on the customer to worry about the maintenance or paying for extra space or bandwidth. Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated interest in cloud computing.

Typically there are two types of clouds – Public and Private. A public cloud as the name says – sells services to anyone on the Internet where as a Private cloud is more like a proprietary network or a data center that caters to a limited number of people for hosting services.

Infrastructure as a Service (IasS):

A successful example of cloud computing providers would be Amazon Web services that provides virtual server instances with unique IP address and blocks of storage on demand. An Amazon web service is extremely popular and apart from Amazon there are other reliable and efficient providers such as GoGrid and Rackspace. As the service involves users to pay as they need – its often highly beneficial and can be translated to other ulitity services used such as telephone, electricity and often this model is also called as utility computing. Benefits to the clients:

1. Stop worrying about heavy traffic and bandwidth requirements.
2. Pay as you go.
3. No need to buy high configuration servers from day one.
4. Low maintenance.

Platform as a Service (PaaS):

Platform-as-a-service in the cloud is defined as a set of software and product development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructure. Developers create applications on the provider’s platform over the Internet. PaaS providers may use APIs, website portals or gateway software installed on the customer’s computer. Force.com, (an outgrowth of Salesforce.com) and GoogleApps are examples of PaaS. Developers need to know that currently, there are not standards for interoperability or data portability in the cloud. Some providers will not allow software created by their customers to be moved off the provider’s platform.

Software as a Service (SaaS):

In the software-as-a-service cloud model, the vendor supplies the hardware infrastructure, the software product and interacts with the user through a front-end portal. SaaS is a very broad market. Services can be anything from Web-based email to inventory control and database processing. Because the service provider hosts both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from anywhere. There are several successful SaaS model running all over the web.

Agile Technosys: Cloud computing

Agile Technosys has indepth expertise with Cloud computing especially with models of IaaS (cloud hosting) and SaaS (Software as a Service). Agile Technosys has been vital in creating some very complex SaaS models including some very niche domain areas.

With Cloud hosting – Agile Technosys has terrific experience with Amazon and GoGrid. As a matter of fact we recommend cloud hosting to every of our customers – which helps in lowering the overall project implementation costs.

Source by Poonam Narkhede

Salient Features of QuickBooks Hosting Services-

There are many salient features of QuickBooks Cloud Hosting Services and following are some of these features:

• Collaboration is the key to the existence of business, in today’s competitive world. Collaboration is accelerated with anytime accessibility, through the assured uptime of the server in QuickBooks Cloud Hosting services. There is an elimination of physical barriers, while integrating the mobile devices with applications.
• All changes made are updated real-time with QuickBooks in Cloud. This enables the necessity of sharing files with the clients and the colleagues. This in turn provides unlimited flexibility for your business.
• The QuickBooks Hosting services ensure immaculate levels of security and data protection. The data security is maintained in cloud, with such features such as fully-clustered multi-tier structure and round-the-clock monitoring of the data as well as 128-bit encryption of data, through highly secure, state-of-the-art data centres.
• QuickBooks hosting services allows the users to go with innumerable deployments, as needed by an individual.  One can pick the right size of the hosted server and get fitted with the add-on requirements, through the scalable plans and solutions.
• QuickBooks Hosting providers generally offer cost-effective services. These services are aimed at cutting down the network and other infrastructure costs. These service providers support 24 x 7, running the QuickBooks software.
• QuickBooks Hosting services allow you not to worry about your distributed data. These Cloud hosting services comes with automated backup recovery solutions. These backup services ensure that data is available, even for accidental file deletion or any disaster that is caused. 

QuickBooks Cloud Hosting for Mac

QuickBooks for Mac works well in cloud with the hosting service. A hosted version of QuickBooks in cloud resolves such issues such as sharing of company file and integration of data, between PC and a Mac. There is an increase in performance when QuickBooks for Mac is run on a hosted version. This service will eradicate such issues such as security updates and frequent data backup.

QuickBooks Cloud Hosting Companies and the Prices

There are various QuickBooks Hosting companies, who help to save time and money and lowers your expenses. They ensure that remote access is possible through the cloud.

QuickBooks Cloud Hosting prices generally do not have any hidden costs. QuickBooks hosting cost includes zero startup cost and zero maintenance charges. Sometimes, you get such services at minimal monthly fees per user. Get more information on the QuickBooks Hosting Services on Cloud from the following number: +1-844-763-5794.

Source by qboffers

Cloud management proves to be very helpful in securing your confidential data. They always meet your desired need. Here you get the best cloud hosting services.

If you are developing a commercial website or some web application, then your cloud hosting services help you a lot. They are characterized with a range of services. Cloud hosting is also known as cloud computing. In this service a large number of computers can be connected to a system. The server in the system process different task, this always takes care of your confidential data. This is very important to you because you are a website visitor. The connected computer can transfer file from one to another, thus act as a supercomputer.

Cloud hosting services are completely based on latest hosting technology. Your website can be browse from a number of computers. You can integrate the additional resources to your cloud hosting program. With some few clicks, you can add a number of computer accessories. This service is scalable according to the need of the customer. You can also customize these services. These services are available at a cost effective price. Many software companies offer the facility of cloud hosting and cloud computing services all across the world. There are huge benefits of these services. Cloud computing is the major demand of new age group. They always confess the challenges and put forward best services. They provide quality services to their customer. Their experienced staffs have a high ability in offering services to their clients. They have a million of satisfied customers all over the globe.

Get the best cloud services
For the security of your private data, cloud services are very vital. These services provide proper care to your data and no one can steal your data. There are large numbers of companies which offer the different Cloud computing services. They give the total IT clarification and give better security to your data universally. They always employ the high quality services. They have their large role in cloud services. They are working since a decade. They have a vast team of expert who has information about various cloud services. Cloud computing services are accounting software that is hosted on distant servers. They provide accounting capability to your account. Data is sent into the cloud for processing, after a fraction of time the complete data returned to the client. All applications are performer in a cloud computing system and this is not done on the user computer. Hence cloud computing and cloud hosting is very useful for the security of your confidential data. These all services are available at a cost effective price. If you want the benefit of these services, then you have to get in contact with a best cloud service provider.

Source by Rojer Martin

A free hosted SharePoint application to manage the Request for Proposal process is usually included with SharePoint hosting plans for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hosting. Such hosted SharePoint application sites capture common functionalities, roles, and requirements of specific business processes or sets of tasks in groups and organizations. They can be applied to common business tasks, such as competitive analysis, planning product and marketing requirements, or tracking marketing campaigns, or managing manufacturing processes, or organizing new store openings, setting up a discussion group, or for scheduling employee training, to easily creating useful web-based applications. You can get basic Microsoft SharePoint hosting for less than $9 per month for unlimited users and with that package forty free SharePoint hosting templates for business that were developed by Microsoft.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) hosted SharePoint application template helps to manage the process of developing and releasing an RFP, soliciting and collecting submissions of proposal responses and formally accepting the selected proposal from amongst those submitted. The SharePoint hosting site also helps simplify the process of informing individuals about the status of the RFP and submitted proposals.
The online SharePoint hosting templates are easy to activate and are free when one signs up for a basic hosted SharePoint plan. One can select SharePoint hosting site and workspace templates when setting up a new hosted SharePoint site via the Create page. The default templates that are included with SharePoint WSS 3.0 hosting are arranged under two tabs in the Template Section area of the new hosted SharePoint Site. The SharePoint hosting templates can be modified and saved under a different name. Thus, instant and free hosted SharePoint applications for your organization are available easily.

Keywords: free hosted SharePoint application site, hosted SharePoint application, free hosted SharePoint application, free hosted SharePoint site, free hosted application site, SharePoint application site, hosted SharePoint site, hosted SharePoint site, free SharePoint Hosting site, SharePoint Hosting site

Source by Adrian Gates

SAS 70 auditing was put into force by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1992 and is something that has become especially popular in recent years. This has a lot to do with the incredible growth of legislation regarding compliance. An example of a piece of regulation that is focused on compliance is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

You will also find that there are other pieces of legislation such as HIPAA that have been put into place to protect individuals from being violated in some way, particularly in the area of privacy. SAS 70 does the same thing. It keeps individuals from being violated in some way. One way in particular is some sort of private information being released that could be used by others for malicious purposes.

But what does all of this mean and how does an SAS 70 audit protect consumers?

What this means is that there is corporate governance over business practices, especially those practices that could result in a consumer being harmed. The audit ensures that there are no violations taking place and, if there are, those issues can be fixed so that consumers are protected.

Who needs to have an SAS 70 Audit?

If you are required to have an SAS 70 audit, then you probably work in some sort of service organization. You may provide outsourcing services to user organizations. You could be a payroll company that deals with people’s payment information. You could even be a data center providing services to a company. No matter what, you are working in an industry that handles sensitive information. If that information is released in some way, it can find its way into the wrong hands and be used to hurt a company or the consumers who entrust their information to that company.

Where SAS 70 Begins

First of all, if you are an organization that is required to be SAS 70 compliant, you will be asked to do so. You have to ask why it is you need to be compliant and what the long-term expectations are. You have to find out if you are being checked just once, if you have to be evaluated on a yearly basis, and if you need Type II compliance or Type I compliance.

The difference between Type I compliance and Type II is that the Type II audit is more extensive than Type I. Whether or not you need to have a Type II audit depends on what the entity requiring your compliance tells you. They may find that you need a more extensive audit to check the various parts of your business.

What’s audited?

Your logical security, network security, physical security, executive tone, human resources, the life cycle of your systems development, environmental security, incident management, and so much more are checked for compliance. These are all components that contribute to the safety of those who work for your company and of those who are customers of your company.

So it is fair to say that if you work in the services industry, you may be asked to be SAS 70 compliant, especially if you handle consumer information such as credit card information, social security numbers, and other personal information. If you hold personal internal information that belongs to another company, you will be asked to be SAS 70 compliant. Not being compliant repeatedly could result in the closure of your operation because that is putting consumer information at risk. So it is better to find out what needs to be done to become compliant from the very beginning so that there is nothing to have to worry about if a future audit is to take place.

Source by S. Kate Hobbs

If you have been online for an extended amount of time, then you probably know a thing or two about blogs and websites. You might also know that blogs are hosted on a web server, which is simply a computer that holds your sites files and is connected to the internet. When someone wants to access your site, they simply type the url into the browser address bar.

Lets say you want to start your own blog about stamp collecting but am unsure what you need to get that blog live. Well there are a couple of routes that you can go with depending on what your needs are.

We need to ask a few questions first.

* Is my site going to use a lot of media?
* How many visitors do you think will visit your site in a month?

Its pretty tough to judge site visitors at the get go because this depends a lot on your marketing efforts and the quality of your content on the site. Its important to know how much media your planning on using because if your site uses lots of video and pictures you’ll have to get hosting that has a lot of memory and bandwidth per month. The next consideration is whether you need dedicated managed server hosting or non-managed dedicated server hosting. Basically, the only difference is whether you take care of the servers or if the hosting company takes care of the servers.

If you elect to go the non-managed route, then you will need to be a little more tech savvy then your newbie computer person. For those of us that don’t have much experience running servers it is best to choose the managed dedicated server hosting. This way if anything goes wrong with the server or there are technical difficulties, they will get taken care of quickly.

Alright, so you know what kind of hosting you need. Now its time to find the best managed dedicated server hosting for the best price. This is not really one of the easiest things to do because there are a lot of choices out there for hosting. A lot of hosting companies give similar packages and comparable rates. However, I have come down to really three hosting companies that have a good reputation for delivering a quality service.

* Bluehost
* Hostgator
* Lunarpages

I personally am using Bluehost right now and have for almost two years now. What I like about Bluehost is that when I have a problem I can call up their customer service department and get support at anytime of the day. Finding a company with excellent customer service is definitely a major selling point especially considering how it is being out sourced to other countries more and more these days. This is not the case with Bluehost or the other two companies.

I highly recommend these three companies if you are looking for the best managed dedicated server hosting on the net right now. For more information on these hosts visit Managed Dedicated Server Hosting

Source by Joe Kirin

After designing of website next important thing is to get it hosted on the internet. The task is not at easy as there are so many companies offering various types of web hosting packages like shared web hosting, dedicated web hosting, managed web hosting etc. Now the problem is which one to use?

In general it is considered a good idea to go for shared web hosting if the user is in a small business and wants to save cost. However before finalizing the deal it is good to know what is shared web hosting service and what are the merits and demerits of shared web hosting.

Defining shared hosting:

If extremely high performance and high bandwidth are not the points in question, then shared web hosting service can be a most convenient and economic way of hosting web sites.. As name implies, in case of shared web hosting service, the web server that hosts the web pages is shared by several other websites. Talking about number of websites on a shared hosting server, they can be in thousands. Now due to the fact that just one server is fulfilling the requirements of many other websites, the plus point is they can offer cheap prices for their server.

As there are so many websites hosted on a single web server, still there is no pint of worry for the user as the web hosting providers will not compromise on any kind of security and performance issues in case of shared hosting servers. Not only that, shared hosting web servers are operated, monitored and look after around the clock by IT professionals, so as to minimize server downtimes.

Shared hosting servers run on UNIX or other multi-user operating system and each website hosted on the web server is provided a separate account in the operating system. These websites hosted on shared servers are provided unique shared IP addresses and are provided with a fix amount of web resources.

The following are some of the merits and demerits of shared web hosting:

Merits:

1. Cost effective: Due to the fact that many websites are hosted on a single web server, web hosting providers provide economic shared web hosting services. Generally, the cost is as low as $5-10 per month for shared web hosting services. Now-a-days due to cut throat competition in web hosting industry, one can find several web hosting companies offering huge web space and bandwidth with as high as 1000 MB disk space and 40 GB bandwidth.

2. Feasible: Due to the fact that shared hosting web servers are operated, monitored and look after around the clock by IT professionals, who are experts in their respective field, one can concentrate more effectively on his/her web business and the problem of downtime and maintenance will not bother him/her any more.

3. Utility options: In case of shared web hosting, though web resources are shared, utility options are provided by the hosting company so that user can manage his/her website using control panel or similar tools. User is having an option to upload files, modify /remove web pages, add database, check web statistic etc. Not only that, user is also provided facility to create domain name specific e-mails accounts.

4. Efficient: Now-a-days shared web hosting service usually comes with web space and bandwidth that are more than sufficient for small business websites. Efficiency lies in the fact, that in addition to above, one can add more resources and can even overrun the web space or bandwidth usage.

Demerits:

1. Problem with response time: As the web server is shared, websites in the shared web hosting have to face problem of slower server response time as compared to dedicate server hosting.

2. Problem of Reliability: In case of shared web hosting, problem of reliability remains as usually web hosting providers may take care of the security and performance of the shared server but it is also possible that some of websites hosted on the shared server run a nasty program or script or over-utilize the resources, resulting in bringing down the web server. Thus due to fault of one all websites have to suffer downtimes and inaccessibility in case of shared web hosting.

3. Problems related to sharing: As discussed above also, due to fault of one all users have to face the problem for example if there is any one “bad” website in shared web server, due to it all websites on the server can be banned altogether by ISP or search engine due to shared IP address. However it is worth to note that one can always pay extra to get a dedicated IP address to avoid the above problem.

4. Problems related to Security: As many websites shared one server, problem of security always remains in case of shared web hosting as it is quite easy to hack one’s sensitive datas by another on the same server.

Thus in conclusion it can be said that before deciding to deal with shared web hosting, one should consider all the merits and demerits of shared web hosting as highlighted above. One should not forget the success of his/her business depends upon his/her website which in turn depends upon good host provider.

Source by Web Hosting

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 many advantages to hosting a site on a server that is dedicated to your website. One advantage is that you have a greater degree of control. In addition having more web space as well as bandwidth dedicated to yourself means that you can handle a larger amount of traffic. Response times are faster and if you really are in a business where you are earning several thousand dollars on the internet in a year or if your offline business is very large, it makes sense to host your website on your own server.

When you host your site on a dedicated server, you can choose the OS, hardware and more. In addition if a significant spike in your site traffic has resulted in slow loading, it is time to go for a dedicated hosting server. Remote configuration is possible with dedicated servers. There are many reasons for websites with significant traffic and earnings to opt for dedicated servers. However it should be remembered that running your own dedicated servers requires knowledge. If you wish you can opt for managed dedicated servers.

The primary disadvantage of dedicated servers is the cost. The other disadvantage is as mentioned – the technical skills needed to manage your own server. When you decide to buy a dedicated server, it is important to check the credibility of the hosting company. Is it secure, safe from hackers and otherwise credible? Some of the larger hosting companies display logos like McAfee Secure, BBB Accredited, HACKERSAFE and TRUSTe. A website carrying these logos is judged or made trustworthy by the big names that spell trust.

Virtual Private Servers are like dedicated servers in that they run their own operating system and they offer the advantages of a Dedicated Server. However they are lower on cost. The reason is that there may be ten virtual private servers on one dedicated server. Although they are in close physical proximity, they do not exist for each other, so to speak. So if you are looking to upgrade your hosting, it may be a good idea to consider a VPS instead of dedicated hosting right away. The hosting market is competitive and it is not too difficult to find a good deal. Luck!

Source by Code 2 Infiniti

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