Dominant Web Hosting Control Panels in 2009

Back in the early days of the World Wide Web, there was no such thing as a control panel.  This meant that it took a highly skilled developer and system administrator to maintain a simple website.  Trivial tasks such as setting up an email account, creating a database and running cron jobs all qualified as tedious processes that called for advanced OS commands to configure.   With Unix and Linux being the major platforms, these were tasks many administrators did not look forward to.  Thanks to advancements in web hosting technology, control panels now exist, allowing the above processes and several more to be handled by experienced and novice users alike.  Rather than taking an hour to set up a single email address, the entire process can be done in a matter of minutes with the few clicks of the mouse.

cPanel and Plesk are respectively the oldest and most popular control panels on the market.  These two applications are in high demand for several reasons, but mainly because of their features and efficiency in the server environment.  In this article we will talk about these two rivals along with DirectAdmin, another control panel ascending the ranks of popularity.

cPanel

cPanel is the leading control panel and a particular favorite among beginners.  Though it began as a Linux-only control panel, a beta version of the software is now compatible with the Windows operating system as well.  Users prefer cPanel because of its user-friendly interface that offers a simple design while placing all the features you need on a single page.  It won’t take you long to become comfortable with how to upload files, turn on your FrontPage extensions or access the site builder as everything is easily accessible.  Another benefit is the inclusion of Fantastico, which allows end-users to quickly install add-on scripts like blogs, forums, content management systems and other software programs with ease.  The simplicity of cPanel makes it ideal for end-users and system administrator familiar with the Linux operating system.

Plesk

Though very capable, Plesk is often viewed as being more complex than cPanel.  With that said, it has more administrator-friendly features and better clustering capabilities, able to function seamlessly in environments where multiple server applications are involved.  It also has a longer reputation of being a cross-platform solution as it is one of the first control panels to support Linux and Windows system.  Though it strives to meet the same goals, Plesk has a steeper learning curve for both system administrators and end-users.

DirectAdmin

The lesser known of the three, DirectAdmin is quickly becoming a popular choice for web hosting control panels.  This software presents a simple interface that makes it incredibly easy to use for beginners.  While it has does not have all the bells and whistles like the control panels above, less in more is the case of DirectAdim and the major reason behind its growing popularity.

There are several control panels on the market but only a select few are making noise in 2009.  The three programs mentioned in this article are leading the way because of their superior design and ability to automate a number of would-be complex tasks

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Jun 12, 2009 : Control Panels No responses yet

Common Misconceptions About Reseller Hosting

Reseller web hosting is becoming an increasingly popular option for people looking to profit online.  Many enter into this business as they have learned of the paramount success of others before them.  While some have achieved success, others have failed before their reseller business even got off the ground.  If this is the game you’re looking to play, it is important to first make yourself familiar with the common misconceptions centered around reseller hosting.

Managing a Reseller Account is Easy

The purpose of the control panel is to make your life as a reseller much easier.  Instead of performing administrative tasks through a more complex command line, most control panels allow you to manage your account through a graphical user interface or simply, GUI.  cPanel’s WHM (Web Host Manager) is a perfect example of a control panel that simplifies the process of maintaining a reseller account.  With that said, even the user-friendly WHM requires you to have some technical knowledge.  For instance, the software allows you to add more functionality to your environment by installing Perl modules.  However, if you have no ideal what Perl is or how to install the modules, such a luxury is essentially useless.  In fact, a GUI control panel can actually prevent you from performing certain tasks and make others more difficult than they should be.  So, even though the software is designed to add simplicity to the reseller environment, it is still good to have a working knowledge of Windows or Linux to get the most out of your control panel and reseller account.

The Math is To Your Advantage

When it comes to reseller hosting, everything on the surface isn’t necessarily what it seems.  Let’s say you find yourself a hosting plan for $100 per month.  Included in the package is 80 GB of disk storage and you decide to resell this space in 25 MB bundles at $5 per month.  With each gigabyte equaling 1024 MB, let’s round things off and assume you can sell 40 plans for each gigabyte of storage you have.  40 x 80 equals $3,200.  Multiply that by $5 and you have $16,000.  Deduct your $100 monthly hosting fee and you have $15,000 in pure profits.  Not bad for a simple reseller account, right?  Unfortunately, this is a very unlikely scenario.

If you have the misconception that being a successful reseller is a simple matter of favorable math, you just might find yourself out of business in no time.  Putting 3,200 accounts on a single server is next to impossible, unless your host is begging for you to regularly crash the machine that is.  Apart from disk space, you must also consider another vital aspect of the equation - bandwidth.  Just as a server comes with a certain amount of space, it also has a limited amount of bandwidth, which entails how much traffic you can support.  Although most customers will not require all the bandwidth allocated to them, some might.  For this reason, it is advisable to never oversell your resources just to make a few extra bucks.

Conclusion

There are many disadvantages to running your own business.  It doesn’t matter whether you run a restaurant, shipping company or reseller hosting business.  The best approach is to first weigh all the pros and cons to make sure it is the right move for you.  If so, treat your reseller account like a real business and steer clear of the misconceptions.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

May 28, 2009 : Reseller Web Hosting No responses yet

Four Key Points on Multiple Domain Hosting

Multiple domain hosting has been a popular trend for sometime now.  The advancement of the internet and web technologies have attracted the attention of the world, drawing new customers to the hosting market at a rapid rate.  With so many opportunities available in the way of business prospects, networking, entertainment and e-commerce, newcomers are trying to garner success by covering as many angles as possible.

The concept of multiple domains allows hosting customers to broaden their horizons by running numerous websites from a single account.  In theory, this is a seamless process where you manage all of your domains with convenience and efficiency.  Because these solutions are increasing in popularity, finding a host that offers this service shouldn’t be a problem.  However, you should know that a special set of features are required to embark upon your run with multiple domain hosting.   Following these simple guidelines should help you towards that finding that solution.

Disk Space

It is imperative that you select a hosting plan that offers enough storage space to effectively run multiple domains.  While you may not need a tremendous amount that comes with a hefty price tag, you don’t want to be in a situation where the host doesn’t provide enough.  Not only must you think about the number of sites you plan to run, but also the type of content those sites will consist of.  For example, a website with large high-resolution digital pictures or streaming videos will require far more disk space than one that simply contains text and small thumbnails.

Bandwidth

Similar to disk storage, bandwidth all depends on the type of content you plan to host.  If your site is to consist of audio and video content, you will need an appropriate supply of bandwidth in order to allow visitors to download your files.  Without it, your visitors will suffer from slow page loads and service interruptions.  A site that performs sluggishly is guaranteed to send frustrated visitors packing to the exit.  Just think if you have two or three websites experiencing  this problem.  Having an adequate amount of bandwidth is critical because of if you exceed the monthly quota, your sites will be completely inaccessible. 

Email Support

There are a number of features that add to the experience of multiple domains and email is something you may want to consider.  The web has become highly sophisticated over the years but email communications remain prevalent.  You just might need separate accounts to allocate to employees, customer service and other departments.  A multiple domain hosting solution is incomplete without enough email accounts to satisfy your website needs.

Comprehensive Management Tools

One of the most important keys to a smooth multiple domain hosting ride is the control panel software.  The control panel should be user-friendly and provide you with easy access to all the vital management functions.  You should have easy and convenient access to administering your domains from a central area, even if you aren’t necessarily an expert webmaster.  When it comes to maintaining a network of websites, the management tool at your side can either make the venture an absolute breeze or a terrible nightmare.

Share this article:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

May 21, 2009 : Domain Names No responses yet

Getting to Know Web Hosting Terms

When you are hunting for a service to host your website, you are likely to encounter a language that is unfamiliar and just plain old confusing.  Aside from the all the different types of hosting and servers, you have a host of words and phrases used to describe all the underlying technologies.  The purpose of this article is to arm you with a little knowledge about the most common web hosting terms.

Web Server

A web server can refer to one of two things: a web server application, or the computer that application is running on.  An open-source program, Apache is the most widely installed web server and usually accompanies the Linux platform.  Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) is designed to run on the Windows platform.  The major difference between the two is the technologies they support.  Apaches is naturally compatible with open-source technologies such as PHP and MySQL and IIS utilizes Microsoft products like ASP and MS SQL.

Platform

The platform refers to the operating system installed on the server.  There are numerous platforms but Windows and Linux are the most popular.  The differences between these systems varies greatly depending on the type of hosting involved.  For example, you won’t necessarily feel the impact of Windows or Linux when hosting on a shared server, but that all changes when using a dedicated server.  In this environment, you need to get more hands on and therefore, choose the system you are the most comfortable with.

Control Panel

A control panel is a software application that allows you to manage your website.  Capabilities are only limited by the features of your account but the basics including setting up emails accounts, creating databases and viewing website statistics.  The control panel is one of the most important features as it acts as the administrative office for your hosting account.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a critical resource relied on by web surfers, hosting companies and internet service providers.  On the web hosting market, it is often called data transfer because it refers to the amount of data transferred from your site.  Without enough of it, your site can’t function.   You will find that some companies offer fixed bandwidth allotments while others advertise “unlimited”.

Disk Storage

Disk storage or disk space, refers to the capacity on a computer hard drive.  In regard to web hosting, it describes the amount of space that has been allocated to you on the server.  This space is what you need in order to store your files, documents and applications.   Similar to bandwidth, disk storage is either offered in fixed allotments or as unlimited.

Uptime

Uptime essentially refers to the availability of your site.  Most hosting providers offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which is typically calculated over a monthly period.   The keyword here is “guarantee” so you want to find out how you are compensated should your site be down longer than advertised.

This is just some of the technical jargon frequently used in the world of web hosting.  It all may sound foreign now, but you will get to know these terms quite well after becoming more familiar with your hosting account.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

May 18, 2009 : General No responses yet

Getting HotLink Protection from cPanel

After putting significant time and effort into building your website, you check your web stats and come to find that an unscrupulous webmaster has made you the latest victim of hotlinking.  A perfect example of hotlinking would be another site using HTML to display images from your site.  Not only are they stealing your data, but precious bandwidth as well.  While preventing the theft of your website data is difficult, there is a way to stop people from leaching off your monthly bandwidth.

HotLink Protection

The cPanel control panel is equipped with a useful feature called HotLink protection.  As the name implies, this feature prevents other webmasters from directly linking to the files on your site, thus allowing you to save preserve precious bandwidth.  This tutorial will show you how to use the HotLink protection feature within cPanel.

Enabling and Configuring HotLink Protection

- From the main page of cPanel, locate and click on the “HotLink Protection” icon under the “Security” category.

On the next page, you will see that the HotLink Protection feature is disabled.  Before enabling it, you should review the domains underneath “URLs to Allow Access”.  You should see URLs for all the domains you are hosting on the server.  Specify the ones you want to have access and move onto the next step.

- In the “Block direct access for these extensions (separate by commas)”, enter the extensions you want to block direct access from.  These could be extensions such as jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, etc.

- To allow direct requests to the image URL from your browser, check the “Allow direct requests” option.  This option must be checked when enabling HotLink Protection for files you want to be viewed in QuickTime by your visitors.

- In the “Redirect request to this URL” box, enter the URL you want request for your images to be redirected to.

- Lastly, click the “Enable” tab at the top of the screen or the “Submit tab at the bottom of the screen.  Both will provide the same results by enabling the HotLink Protection.

cPanel will give notification that HotLink Protection has been enabled for the specified URLs.

Give it a Try

After making the configurations, you can perform a test to see if the HotLink Protection feature is working.  If you don’t have a website located on another server, use MySpace or a similar site that allows you to add images.  When trying to hotlink one of your images from another site, you should be greeted by an error message either denying the request or redirected to the URL that you specified in the configuration steps.

Conclusion

Working with the HotLink Protection feature in cPanel is fairly easy.  The entire process should take you no longer than a couple of minutes to complete.  Keep in mind that this will not prevent people from copying your text or images and uploading them to their server.  However, it will protect you from the lazier thieves and most importantly, stop them from stealing your bandwidth.

Share this article:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Apr 29, 2009 : cPanel Tutorials No responses yet