Tag cloud hosting

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

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

Too Big for a Small Business

As businesses began to increase their focus on having reliable and available data centers, data centers began to grow in size and complexity. No longer a single room housing a comparatively simple computer system, businesses now required very large Internet data centers. These large data centers are expensive to run, expensive to maintain, and expensive to staff.

These huge data facilities were out of the reach of many small businesses. These smaller organizations also needed the high speed Internet connectivity and high availability of data, but they did not have the resources to build such physically large and expense data centers. Even the equipment required for such an endeavor was often out of the financial reach of a small business.

The Advent of Data Center Outsourcing

Private data centers became the go-to solution for small to medium business information technology needs. Data center outsourcing grew in popularity, largely because it was a practical and financially more viable solution to the problems created by huge, on-site data centers.

Not only are outsourced data centers more affordable, they also lift much of the heavy responsibility from the business. Disaster recovery, adhering to industry standards, ensuring a secure and hospitable environment for information storage and management, and many other practical concerns can make in-house data centers a logistical nightmare. When organizations place their trust in an off-site data center, they do not need to shoulder this burden alone.

What to Look For in Outsourcing Data Storage

When you outsource your data center responsibilities, you want to be selective in your choice of a data storage partner. Every moment that you network is not up and running, your business is being affected. A high availability data center will place a great deal of emphasis on the following:

– Skilled IT Professionals: A data center is only as good as its staff. Security and networking teams need to be well-trained, skilled, and experienced. Network technicians need to be trained to the highest industry standards.

– Proper Environment: The environment of a data center is of the utmost importance. There must be an uninterruptible power supply or backup generator, a highly sensitive HVAC system to filter air, a fire suppression system, and proper installation of equipment.

– High Level of Security: Your data needs to be protected, and the first level of defense is the physical security of the building. There should be controlled access, video surveillance, and extensive employee background checks.

– Top of the Line Equipment: Network infrastructure is one of the most important aspects of data center planning. When selecting a data center, make sure equipment selection and infrastructure set-up receive the emphasis they deserve.

– Strict Adherence to Standards: Industry standards are around for a reason. They help make sure data centers provide high quality service, maximum availability, and top-shelf security measures.

The Advantage of Outsourcing

In house data centers simply cannot offer the same kind of reliability and economic viability as off-site data centers. An organization must allow its focus to remain on the health of its business operations, rather than getting bogged down in the details of managing data. Outsourcing your data center allows you to keep your focus where it should be: on your own organization.

The complicated and expensive nature of today’s data center needs make it impractical for a company to expend huge amounts of resources on an in-house data center. It just doesn’t make good financial sense. Instead, outsourcing your data center allows you to put those resources back into your company, further strengthening your organization.

Source by A. Nutt

Are you a web designer and have a number of websites that you have created for your clients?
The easiest and most effective way of managing multiple websites is to host them in one place.

I would advise that you sign up with a web hosting company if you are unable to host the websites on your own. This requires infrastructure like servers and substantial bandwidth. It is also time consuming maintaining this infrastructure like making updates, providing data and power backup. Ensure that you research the web host before signing up. Inquire about the reliability,
customer support among other factors. Choose a web host that allows you host multiple domains and sub-domains with unlimited web space and gives you good bandwidth. Better still you could sign up for a reseller account that allows you easily manage multiple websites. There are web hosts that allow you setup a reseller account and create and manage multiple domains or websites. You create control panels for these accounts where the user can manage their domain or website with very little help from you. The control panel allows them change passwords, create email accounts, etc.

Some web hosts even offer reseller accounts that have a billing manager to manage payments. You can even acquire extra domains at discounted prices. The reseller accounts also have Private Name Servers that you could use to customize your reseller account.

There are web hosting companies that give you dedicated IP addresses from say 1 – 16. Take note of extra features that may be given like free domain name registration.

Source by Ken Kachope

There are five main methods for a company to host a website; in-house, co-location, shared, dedicated and ‘dedicated and managed’. The choice regarding which method will be used depends upon the technical skills of the in-house staff and the requirements of the business.

Hosting Options: The in-house solution involves the company itself purchasing all necessary software and hardware together with the leasing of a high speed internet connection. One of the main considerations of in-house hosting is that the company is required to employ system administrators to maintain all aspects of running the site such as; security, monitoring site responsiveness, reliability and backups. The costs involved in running an in house server are considerable. The largest cost by far is the expense of employing trained and experienced personnel to deal with all aspects of running the server.

Co-location allows companies to locate their server hardware in a location owned by the hosting company. The hosting company provides the bandwidth, an IP address and the electrical power to the server. The advantages of co-location include; a low cost for the bandwidth provided, control over what hardware is used and a UPS in the form of independent generators. Disadvantages include not having immediate physical access to the hardware and the difficulties associated with finding a provider that offers this service which is local to the business.

One common method of hosting a web site is through a shared web server provided by a hosting company. Multiple web sites from various companies are located on one server with the hardware resources and internet connection being shared between all sites. Shared web server services are only suitable for sites which generate a small amount of traffic and are available at a fairly low cost. The main drawbacks are; limitations on bandwidth, no control over the operating system software and security breaches on another site which is hosted on the same server could affect the site.

The term dedicated web-server refers to the rental and exclusive use of a computer that includes a Web server, related software, and connection to the

Internet, housed in the Web hosting company’s premises. With the dedicated approach a server is leased from a hosting company which is responsible for maintaining the hardware and internet connection while the company that owns the web site has unlimited access to the operating system, software applications, and database applications through the ‘control panel’ provided by the hosting company. Upon further investigation, dedicated hosting companies – such as Donhost Ltd – often supply the server with the necessary software and employ technicians to take care of configuration, security updates and provide advice. Dedicated hosting can cost from around £1,000 to £5,000 per year depending on the requirements of the web site. Most dedicated web hosting companies now offer servers with a pre-installed operating system and server/security software in addition to offering some level of technical support and backup procedures.
There is usually a need to use a dedicated web server when the use of a web site produces a considerable amount of traffic. The main advantages of using a dedicated server are a high level of reliability, a high bandwidth and efficient user response times.

‘Dedicated and Managed Hosting’ refers to a service similar to the dedicated web-server approach with the added advantage of being able to choose from a variety of technical services from the hosting company such as; monitoring, advice, administration, support, security, updates and upgrades, testing and troubleshooting.

In conclusion the main factors surrounding the choice between the various hosting methods are cost, in-house expertise, expected bandwidth/traffic and the level of service. Sites with highly sensitive information, high volume, or special software requirements will probably need a dedicated server.

Source by Mark Jones

Managed hosting services are not only beneficial for the web owners but to web hosting companies as well. First, we will see how managed hosting services are beneficial to the clients.

A good web designing and development company these days provide customers with managed hosting services with the help of dedicated servers. Their web hosting plans have various features like scripts and support, bandwidth allowance, hosting space, etc. If you hire them for your services then you have to share the hosting space and bandwidth with other clients.

To manage your website there is a complete team of professionals who work 24X7 and see that your site faces no problem. Hence, your website is completely administered by them. Henceforth, you can concentrate more on strategies to improve your business.

The managed hosting are cost effective solutions as on regular basis their site is being upgraded to new platform at economical prices. Beside this in case of disaster, they have data backup systems, which help in protecting the data. So you don’t require extra It staff for keeping a vigilance over your website.

In addition to this, they protect the website from attack of viruses and other network related issues.

From the point of view of the companies who are providing these services, they can make better use of time and achieve cost efficiencies.

Some of you might be thinking, whether my small business would benefit from these services. The answer is yes. The managed hosting service providers render clients with different attractive packages. So depending on your business you can opt for the one, which is most beneficial for your business.

If you are maintaining your site on your own or independently getting it managed, then use the services of a hosting server, now.

Source by Mohita Bhargava

Are you in the process of choosing the right web host for yourself? If that is the case then there would come the time when you would need you decide what sort of web host you want. One such option that you have is managed hosting. For those who are unfamiliar with it, this refers to the kind of web hosting wherein your website would be fully managed by your chosen hosting company. This means that you wouldn’t have to worry about any technical issues because they would handle all of that for you.

There are three different types of managed website hosting available. These would be the fully managed, standard managed and under self-managed options. Fully managed web hosting basically means that you turnover hosting responsibilities to the company itself, this would be a good option for beginners who don’t know much website hosting. Standard management includes a similar kind of support but at a lower level. Monitoring, administering and updating would be the company’s responsibilities but this could also change depending upon the package that you choose. Lastly, we have the most basic type of managed web hosting which is under self-management. Any technical support provided for by the web hosting company would be very limited and as such, it would require a certain level of expertise.

So, what are the advantages of using managed web hosting? Well, some would say that having nothing to worry about is the biggest advantage. This is true for many people who have tried this kind of web hosting before. After all, not everybody has enough time in a day to deal with all the problems that may arise with regards to their website and as such, having someone else handle the hosting aspect of the equation is certainly a welcome relief. Then there’s also the security in knowing that your website is in capable hands. After all, if you’re new to websites and hosting in general, you would need the expertise of those working in the hosting company to help get your website up and running. Of course, for this purpose, you would also need to choose a reliable managed web hosting company.

Any disadvantages? Yes, just like most things, there are disadvantages when it comes to using managed web hosting. One of the most discouraging things about it would be its price. It can be very expensive when compared to other types of web hosting options. However, the benefits often outweigh the price. Think about it this way, through managed web hosting, you need not hire an extra set of people to handle all your hosting needs because it would be provided for by the hosting company themselves. You are already paying for the extra set of hands. Such a thing would be useful for the bigger businesses and websites but it could be a bit too much for the average website owner. So do choose accordingly.

And there you have it, a quick overview of some of the important things that every website owner must know about managed hosting and the benefits they may derive from it.

Source by Adrian D. Strauss

To many, the cloud server is the “next big thing” in networking.The concept is simple, and now that there are hosting companies dedicated to cloud server hosting, the possibilities for the use of cloud servers for business and individuals alike, begins to really shine through.These technologies are truly innovative, as they give you the ability to “virtualize” a lot of the things you now do using only the resources of your computer, or you limited network. An incredibly attractive feature, making this the perfect networking and server solution for many, is the ability to add more resources to your cloud servers if the resources you currently have don’t cut it.

You can save money, overall, on the costs of your networking solutions through the subscription to a cloud hosting server. With the ability to handle advanced functionality and maintenance activities remotely, as well as the need for fewer hardware inputs, these services are often less expensive than competing alternatives on the marketplace. There are tons of different options for cloud servers in the UK, which gives you the freedom to find the solution that works best for you – even if you only own one computer!

Many businesses, for a long time, feared about the safety and security of cloud servers, but technology has advanced to a point where a cloud server host can truly offer you the same, or higher, level of security as any other type of server option. There are many benefit to cloud server technology such as the ability to handle, even automate, many of the applications and programs you must run on a daily basis, in a virtual environment, saving you valuable time. Taking the market by storm, cloud server technology is proving that the claims made by early proponents have come to light – now resulting in a safe and secure cloud that has an almost endless amount of resources at its disposal.

Without the need for tons of different hardware solutions, but the same, if not better, functionality and available add-ons to optimize your server to be tailored to your businesses specific needs, has started to draw many away from the dedicated server and begin the transition to the cloud server. Many who have switched to this simple technology – that doesn’t require advanced IT knowledge to operate – are sold by the cloud server solution and would never go back.

More and more places are starting to realize the benefits – both in terms of cost, and capabilities as well – of using virtual solutions for our server and networking needs.

The use of a cloud server, in the UK, or elsewhere, is a great way to save a bit on your hosting costs, and also be on the cutting edge of the technology that many say is the future of networking.With the ability to provide high quality, secure, and affordable service, cloud server hosting companies make a great alternative to traditional dedicated server hosting. Giving you the ability to stay ahead of the curve, and saving yourself a little money in the process, the cloud gives you access to all the features that made dedicated services so popular, without all the hassle.

Source by Dirik Hameed