So as we already know, website speed is crucial thing for getting more professional website. More, every website owner should be worried about this fact and know the essential things to improve website speed. Getting straight to the point, we need to define what is involved in speeding up website. The first factor is web hosting. It’s important to chose hosting provider that meets all your requirements. There is plenty web hosting company’s keeps saying their servers is ultra fast and you can be sure about uptime. It is recommended to avoid such words and chose well known and tested hosting provider. Moreover, it’s even better if it’s powered by cloud technologies as it is leading technology in today’s hosting market. Mostly important to get your website placed in that hosting server, which is not overloaded with heavy, not optimized websites.

Next big player in this thing is website optimization. Don’t get confused, there we will not speak about optimization for search engines even it’s important for gaining higher rankings in searches. In this part take a look at your website from  scratch. What scripts, plugins, addons, themes and content itself you have prepared for the visitors. The more operations your scripts is executing, more plugins you have installed, more time it takes for server to handle them. This leads to the slower loading time. Unless you have super fast dedicated server which takes lots of money. Probably it’s not a good idea, so you should take most unused things from website and move them away.

When you think that you have done everything in boosting your website, unfortunately, this is just a small part of this job. If you have come up with an idea what else can be done regarding website speed, do it and check the performance. Making tests is important. In this way you know how well you are doing, what’s more can be done. Now to make test you might simply load up website and count the time till it will be fully loaded. But keep in mind that website is not only for you, visitors is coming from different world places with different web browsers. In this case we need smarter way to check the performance. You might search for website performance testing tools where you could make tests with all browsers and from different world places. In this blog post I will reveal one tool – webpagetest.org. This website can be useful for both sides, web developers and hosting providers. There you will be able not only to test website loading time, but mostly important, it gives you detailed information about what parts of website takes more time to load. Once you have optimized that parts, re-run test to see how it goes then.

Well thank you for reading another blog post and I hope you will achieve as best results as you can. If there is any question about optimizing website, feel free to leave a comment or write in the community forum. There is lots of members that might help you or give an advice.

Things to consider when choosing CMS

When it comes to chose what CMS you would like to use, think about what kind of website you are going to create. It really depends on the purpose of the website as every CMS gives different features. As an example, if you want to make a blog, probably you won’t be looking at software that is designed to run a forum. In this case you should find CMS which gives you ability to write articles, get comments and share your content in a fast and easy way.

On the other hand, if you are tired with standard look of the website, you’ll be surprised what websites you can create using CMS. All those content management systems gives different style and by customizing the layout website can be changed significantly. Even with a blog system you can make amazing commercial website.

Also, you should pay attention at the requirements of each CMS. The thing is that if you want to use most advanced CMS features, you will need web hosting which is able to handle those systems. Probably all of those systems requires PHP and MySQL that major hosting providers is able to provide. Some CMS needs more memory to execute scripts, some less. So it is recommended to investigate what are the features of hosting provider and do they meet with your CMS requirements.

Get started with blog

Thinking about creating a blog ? I guess there is no need to mention what CMS is the leader in blogging. But if you haven’t heard about it anything, here it is – WordPress. With this software you can run hundreds of blogs easy and fast. It’s so easy to use it that every beginner will be able to create good looking blog without any knowledge of web programming. As I already mentioned, probably there is no better system to run blog than WordPress. This software became so popular in the internet that it’s started to use not only for blogs, but also for personal and company’s websites. For example, Host1Free.com is also running in WordPress, but it’s not look like a blog.

Well I can write about this CMS more and more and I really suggest to try it. Installation is very simple. Upload WordPress files to your hosting account, create MySQL database and fill required details in the configuration file. That’s it, you are ready to go with new blog. Once it is installed, you can go to find nice looking theme and change it for your own needs. The best thing is that all those things themes, plugins can be added through admin panel. Yes, you don’t need to go somewhere and search for things to customize your blog.

Creating big websites with simple software

Lets say we need to create some kind of news website. The content in this website would be updated every day and obviously every few hours. So it means lots of text, categories, graphic elements, forms, advertising, etc. For such website we need CMS which is capable to organize huge content in the first and all other pages. There is two options, develop your own system based on your requirements or use free open source software.

If you are good at web programming, there wouldn’t be a big problem to develop such system on your own or hire a programmer if you can afford it. But what we can chose within free software ? I would say Joomla and Drupal is the best for such websites. They are specifically designed to create and manage websites with lots of pages, complex forms, content and all the rest stuff that we see in the news or classified ads websites. Also, those CMS can help you to create website for the company that needs to provide information about itself. Doesn’t matter if there wouldn’t be lots of content , just simple pages about company’s services, products, etc. But you would be able to implement most advanced features in a solid looking design.

Terms of Service

• Space—At wordpress.com you get 3 gigabytes (GB) of storage for a free blog. At blogspot.com, the amount of space you can use is not disclosed.

• Termination—Blogger has the right to terminate and suspend your account or service for any reason, at any time. WordPress.com may also terminate your access to the website with or without cause at any time, unless you have a paid account, in which case your account may only be terminated if you have a) breached the terms of agreement; b) been informed of the breach; and c) failed to address the problem. In addition, if the company shuts down their services, the service necessarily terminates.

• Your License to the Blog Site—Blogger belongs to Google, and the Google terms of service give Google license to your material (perpetual license). The TOS states: “By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.”

The TOS for wordpress.com is similar to that of Google in claiming a license for your work: “By submitting Content to Automattic for inclusion on your Website, you grant Automattic a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting your blog.”

What Are the Features of the Blog?

• Set-up Time—Blogger claims to allow you to set up in “a matter of minutes.” WordPress.com claims you can get set up in “less time than it takes you to read this sentence.
• Template Layouts—Blogger lets you edit them; the free WordPress doesn’t (but if you use WordPress.org, you have a much wider choice and much greater flexibility – check out some WordPress tips)
• Variety—WordPress.com makes more templates available than Blogger does.
• Static Pages—WordPress.com has them; Blogger does, too, but they’re harder to manage because menus and links must be manually created.
• Statistics—Wordpress.com has built-in statistics; Blogger allows for integration with Google Analytics.
• Names—Both services give you a subdomain on their domain. So a Blogger blog has the domain name http://www.<myblog>.blogspot.com and a WordPress.com blog has the domain name <myblog>.wordpress.com.
• Features/Ease of Use—Like WordPress.org, wordpress.com has more features than Blogger, which gives it greater flexibility, but also makes it more demanding to use. That said, wordpress.com is much more comparable to Blogger in its ease of use.
• Hosting Location—While Blogger provides the capability to publish your blog to your own server, WordPress.com allows your blog to be redirected to a domain that you choose. In either case, the website will be published with your own address. (N.B. You will have to register your own domain name.)
• Trackbacks—WordPress.com has internal support for trackbacks. Blogger has backlinks.
• File Upload—Allowable file types is broader with wordpress.com than with Blogger.
• File Import—Wordpress.com support file import; Blogger doesn’t.
• The Google Connection—Being part of Google, Blogger allows you to integrate Google Adsense with your blog. At WordPress.com, on the other hand, you cannot currently show your own ads. In addition Google text ads chosen by wordpress.com may be shown on your site.

Reviews let you get the knowledge about different web hosting companies and how well they are currently managing their clients. They also give ratings about reliability, uptime, server speed, connection speed, technical support, billing, customer service and value for money. Thus, you can compare between different web hosting companies and then select the best possible option for yourself which fulfils your entire requirement about web hosting and its services.
- Show quoted text -

There are many websites which you can find over the internet, which lets you know more about different types of web hosting services which you can choose in order to make your business and website grow faster. There are many different types of services and servers which are provided by these amazing service providers hence one can easily choose these services if you want to launch your website in future.

The Self Managed VPS option is only available for the customers who need to have total control over the server. This actually means that the customer is responsible for all that is related to the server. This includes even updating the server and customer support too. When compared with the dedicated servers, the self-managed VPS will offer a wide selection of options. The resources and utilities can be controlled based on the type of plans opted by the customers.

Most of the VPS services that are self-managed posses a dedicated IP. Adding more IPs can be done by paying additional fees as per the plan you have opted for. Server access to the databases will be normally included by taking the operating system used into consideration. Software titles as well as the additional tools will also cost extra money. The operating systems that are of low cost or open source will be available and can be installed. Some among the operating systems in the class mentioned above are Unix, Linux and derivatives like Centos, SUSE and Debian.

Management of VPS is done with the help of a control panel. Such options can be made use of with the aid of control panel software like Plesk, cPanel and other available options. The process also makes the customers who are making use of self-managed VPS responsible of updating and taking proper care of the software used in their control panel. The fact that customer service will be absent means that the hosting company will not be able do anything even when something goes wrong terribly. The maximum, the support offered by hosting company can do is to restore factory setting in the hosting.

When the customers using self-managed VPS need additional support, they can get it from the hosting company by paying premiums to them. However, the scope of such services will be limited. There are numerous additional responsibilities to the customers who have opted for self-managed VPS. Some among such responsibilities are handling the configuration of DNS, managing the website errors, troubleshooting and configuring the scripts, installing and the upkeep of security, controlling the backup requests and offering support to the third party applications that may not be originally supported by the VPS operating system selection. The self-managed VPS hosting should be left to the individuals, companies or the developments teams that have in-depth knowledge of the servers, their configurations and the skills that are necessary for managing the servers properly.

Web hosting is a service that provides you with a web server that you can store your files along with its own network connection, configuration and maintenance. As a website owner you just need to upload your site to the server and configure your email through the use of an online account control panel. Here are some hosting features:

Operating System (OS): Discuss with your web designer or web developer what you specifically need for your website
Storage: Measures in MB or GB, the size of your hard drive
Bandwidth: The amount of data transfer you are allowed. Choose a web host that provides plenty of these so that when traffic gets bigger on your site visitors will not have a hard time downloading your page
Multiple databases

You have two choices to choose from when you are looking for a web host either dedicated server hosting or shared hosting. Dedicated servers allow you to host your website by yourself and not sharing this to another website or several websites. Your server is allowed to function to its maximum best. A dedicated server gives you SSH/Shell/ Root access and allows you too customize too.

Shared Hosting as the name implies means you are sharing your services with other web sites thus it reduces the cost for everyone. Although you and other websites may share your resources this can still work extremely well because most websites do not generate that much traffic but if all the websites grows simultaneously then a problem will ensue.

A good move would be to look for web host providers that offer you free domain name when you purchase their service. To name a few: Bluehost, Hostmonster, iPage, FatCow, Justhost and a lot more. The usual price range for shared hosting is from $5 to $20; Virtual Private Servers (VPS) from $20 to $80 and $100 or more for dedicated servers. Before choosing from one of this it is best to know what your website needs.

So, what should you be paying for a web hosting company’s products and/or services?

Some really serious research is needed in order to sort the wheat from the chaff, as they say. As with any industry there are always going to be a handful of less than reputable firms selling substandard product and services in a pile it high sell it cheap bid to make money fast.

A good web hosting company like greengeeks will tailor their web hosting packages to suit the needs of the client. You should read reviews carefully before buying a webhosting and search for discounts like greengeeks coupon. Be very suspicious of any company that expects you to pay before the ins and outs of the package have been outlined. Really, they should ask as many questions as possible before even suggesting what the client’s needs might be. They need to know quote a lot about the sort of site and the purpose to which it will be put before the perfect set up can be devised.

After all, a site that’s loaded with graphics and videos is going to eat up a whole load of bandwidth whereas a more basic website that’s mostly made up of text will require less. So be wary of any webhosting company that suggests all packages suit all needs. While they may seem to be offering a good value service, the fact that it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for the client.

What should you expect for free, if anything?

This can vary, some web hosting companies offer free domain name registration and free trial periods. As the marketplace is so full of companies all vying for the same business it’s unusual to find one that doesn’t throw in a freebie or two here and there. If a company doesn’t advertise free product or services, ask… they’ll usually be happy to make a concession in order to gain you business, and your trust.

Most web hosting packages run for a period of a year so there are various ways you can pay for the term. Monthly payments can be made by direct debit, standing order or by Paypal. Likewise an upfront payment that covers the whole 12 month term can be made in the same way. Often there’ll be a considerably discount offered to any customers who choose to pay the whole of the annual charge up front.

Prices for web hosting vary, but it’s fairly standard to expect to pay around $100.00 for a year’s worth of premium service. What’s included in the price will vary from company to company, but bear in mind they are striving to do well, so will usually be happy to try to match price and service with other rival companies. For webhosting reviews visit tophostingreviewz.com.

Features

The Synology Disk station DS410 is aesthetically pleasing and is pretty compact for a network storage device supporting four 3.5 inch hard drives. Unlike the DS710+ the drive bays are easily accessible to install and replace the hard drives. It is a bit laborious work considering that it needs a screwdriver to install the drives.
The Dual-Ethernet feature is missing in the NAS server. The Network Storage Device has two USB 2.0 ports and one eSATA port on the back, although it does not have a USB on the front.
The NAS device runs cool thanks to the two efficient fans during heavy operation. Its also easy replaceable.
The Disk Station is available both with and without storage. The storage drives can be setup in various RAID configurations, including the efficient RAID 5 configuration.
The Synology “setup assistant” application is not as robust for the initial setup, but the server’s Web Interface is exquisite, elegant and provides flexibility to the network storage device. All advanced features and menus are well organized and neat.
The features of the DS410 are similar to the DS710+. Certain basic features include FTP/HTTP server, media streaming servers, user accounts and support for external hard drives and printer and many more.
The DS 410 NAS server includes advanced support for Windows Active Directory Services. The server supports excellent file sharing across several other OS like Mac and Linux. It also provides support for Apple’s Time Machine.as a backup solution.
The DS410 network storage device has several application stations like the surveillance station, Download station, File station and Photo station, which can be accessed even through the local network or the Internet.
Talking about the surveillance station, the DS410 supports 12 IP cameras, although only one license is provided. You have to pay $49 for each license. The surveillance system is quite comprehensive able to record based on scheduling and motion sensing.
The Photo station allows you to organize your photos into albums in a well-organized manner.
The Download station provides support for BitTorrent client and can also download files from authenticated websites like RapidShare.
Cost

The Synology Disk Station DS410 costs about $499 without storage and $1200 with 4TB storage.
Review

The Synology DS410 offers the highest throughputs in its RAID configurations. It topped the charts with about 279 Mbps for write test and 422.6 Mbps for read test.
The NAS server functioned very quietly and comparatively cooler compared to the DS710 even during heavy load conditions. Holistically the DS410 is worth the cost and does what it’s designed for.

Because cPanel is one of the most established control panels in the web hosting market, if a customer transfers to a new host, choosing a host with cPanel will make it easy for them to migrate their settings and will minimize the learning curve with the new host.

Of course there are other competitors (DirectAdmin, Plesk & H-Sphere to name a few), but cPanel is simply the most wide-spread.

cPanel has become a force in the market – they have easily past the critical mass of customers that they need to be a dominant market power and they can charge whatever price they want, they can be slow with bug fixes, they can be slow with new features and they cna be slow with updates.

There are many problems with cPanel… a very breif list would be:
* While some of cPanel is open-source, there are a lot of encoded, compiled routines that are vital to its functioning. If you find a bug (and believe me there are many), you have to wait for cPanel to decide that they want to fix it.
* A lot of the cPanel code is compiled Perl – this makes extremely large and extremely slow binaries that need to run each time or whm is called.
* cPanel offers no clustering support (I don’t call distributed name servers ‘clustering’)… scalable hosts need the ability to have separate email servers, MySQL servers, email list servers, etc). Because some vital routines are hard-coded into cPanel, it can’t even be ported, upgraded or patched to do distributed hosting without major problems
* cPanel tries to offer everything to everyone (and run on over a dozen Linux/Unix platforms [and windows!]) you wind up with an installation that is simply bloated well beyond what most hosts will need. Can you fathom cPanel + windows? It’s a sysadmin nightmare. What sane web hosting system administrator would want this burden on their shouldiers?

My advice to cPanel is simple: Stop trying to support dozens of operating environments, choose an OS, support it, fix it and maintain it.

There are simply so many bugs that are confirmed by cPanel but not fixed. For example this bug report was reported by us in November of 2005, confirmed by cPanel on Dec. 1st 2005 and it is still unresolved as of Today, Sept 14th, 2006.

Instead of spending their time fixing known (and confirmed) bugs and improving their software, cPanel decided to work on their own script-deployment system (cPAddons).. that’d be a very useful feature except that Fantastico for cPanel provides around 50 pre-installed scripts, blogs, message boards and more. *shock* – cPanel has wasted their time.

Reseller hosting customers have expectations from their providers: speed and reliability from the servers and quick resolution from the hosting company. cPanels compiled binaries & bloating have slowed our servers down, bloated them down with useless software and their (extremely) slow response times have simply forced us to give responses such as “this is a cPanel bug, our hands are tied until cPanel resolves this issue”.

The above is an excellent summary as to why our shared web hosting system runs on our own in-house developed control panel, SimpleCP. Running our own control panel on our shared hosting servers gives us power, flexibility, scalability & performance that we could never dream of with cPanel. It is for those reasons as well that we will be creating a fast, clustered/distributed and responsive replacement for cPanel for our reseller customers.