The reason why to choose someone else to care about these roles…

1. ‘Redundancy’

   • With redundancy I do not  mean using two mail servers instead of one…What I mean under this term in this situation is using multiple providers for different parts of your web site life. Most of the time you see people to host everything on one single server and than complaining about slow performance, downtime or other kinds of trouble. But as soon as you start to use multiple companies this problem is gone.
   • You can use one company to take care of your email [e.g. Google Apps or a specialized email hosting solution] a second company to take care of your DNS server [e.g.  your domain name registrar] and you could host only the web server yourself on your VPS This way your server has more resources available to handle the web traffic

2. Security

   • I do not know if you see it in the first point. By using multiple companies for different server roles you are building a more secure ‘system’. If one of your servers gets compromised = no problem as the rest of the data [all anything else] is still safe at another company… But if you would use just one server to host all of them yourself = once your server is compromised all data is lost…
   • These companies specialize in most cases and thus have a well tested, configured and secured system to host exactly the type of server roles you need.  e.g Google Apps – Do you think you are better at securing your server then hundreds of Google’s employees?

3. Price

• • It might seem at first that the scenario of using multiple companies for different server roles will cost you a fortune and not give you anything back. This is a wrong assumption, because for you to run all these server roles yourself on a very good level you would need a high end VPS or server + someone to configure it in the right way And this could cost you a lot more [!!!] whilst using Google Apps and some free DNS service would cost you $0

Conclusion

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This is only a short list of why to choose using multiple companies and their products instead of hosting it all yourself at a VPS server. It might differ from case to case and thus always look at your VPS specs and what your web hosting provider offers and than decide if it is worth it to host it all yourself or use at least some of the possibilties Have a nice day and see you next time!

Pre-requisities

Before I even start the tutorial I need to make sure we are at the same starting point. To do anything described in this tutorial you will need to have these things and you need to know where they are:

1. You need to own a domain name
   • Without a second level domain name there is no chance anything from this tutorial might work
2. You need to go to your domain name registrar and find whether they allow you full DNS management
3. If they do allow full DNS management then find the “DNS control panel” or something similar where you are able to set-up [configure] your DNS records
4. If they do not allow you full DNS management and only function as a registrar then you can use one of the free DNS options or a paid DNS hosting option. These are described in the first three parts of this series [click]

That’s pretty everything you will need.

There are two possible scenarious here:

1. You host your web site on a  VPS or dedicated and you want to get rid of some of the server services to make your life easier.
2. You host your web site on a shared hosting plan [at this stage I am only able to give you Cpanel instructions, but it is similar to other control panels you just need to understand the concept...]

Step by step to less worries

I will brake down this whole tutorial into three main parts. The first one will be on the Google set-up process and than I will cover both – the VPS way of doing things and the Cpanel way of performing this process. They differ in some ways and are not absolutely identical, but the concept stays the same. you just do some things different while on a Cpanel

1. Google Apps set-up

The first thing we will do in this tutorial is to visit Google Apps registration web site. You will need to regsiter for the service before you will be able to use it. It is a very easy and quick process. The default web site for Google Apps is located at this link google.com/a/. Don’t forget it is the default landing page, but not the one we will use to register. The registration page can be found under APPS EDITIONS and we will choose the STANDARD or click on this link.

Click on the get started icon and you will be taken to the actual registration screen. Here you are able to choose from two options, but as we are the owner of this domain we will choose the first one labeled “Administrator: I own or control this domain”

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You will be asked to fill out your personal information and you can still read the Term of Use at the bottom of the page [but you will be able to do so on the next screen as well...]. Than hit CONTINUE and on the next screen you are asked for the Administrator’s user name and password. Choose them carefully and do not use something easy to guess At this stage you are required to read the Terms of Use and agree with them.

After accepting and filing in the required info you need to proof it is really your web page. There are two otpions provided and you can choose either of them. The thoery behind the whole process is that you need to verify you own the domain and are able to manage the DNS settings.

I have choosen the Change CNAME option as it is easier and faster for my case right now, but you can choose the “Upload html” option as well. I think, that at this point Google’s How to and FAQ’s are good enough and do not need to be repeated here. Just read them and you should be OK.

I will add step-by-step pictures to my flickr account pretty soon and hopefully add them here as well as a standalone article.

]]> http://www.icethunder.net/2010/the-art-of-shifting-responsibility-in-web-hosting-vi-1/feed/ 0 http://www.icethunder.net/2010/the-art-of-shifting-responsibility-in-web-hosting-v/ http://www.icethunder.net/2010/the-art-of-shifting-responsibility-in-web-hosting-v/#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:15:17 +0000 Icethunder http://www.icethunder.net/?p=555 Now we know it is a big advantage to have our domain’s “fate” divided between more than just one company and on one service. We are able to change the DNS to fit our needs and so there is no problem to point visitors to our web site and the emails they send to an absolutely different location. Everything you need to do is to set your domain’s DNS right.

Mail server options

Every wbe host offers you the option to manage and create a certain number of email accounts for your domain name. This does not mean you do not have any other options and you have to stick with this solution. You might not be satisfied with your host’s level of email service or you are just cautious and want to make your website and domain name more robust and trouble free. You have n option to either:

• search for a specialized email hosting service [e.g. Godaddy or 1and1]
• use a free service from a third party [e.g Google Apps]
• use a standard email service [e.g Yahoo mail or AOL mail...]

I will talk about all of them and try to give some opinions about them. I am using only two of them and am satisfied with the state of things.

Email hosting service

This is a somehow limited type of package. I do not mean it is limited in some bad way. No, it is limited in the fact that all it does is provide you with an email account and nothing else. You can create a set limit of email accounts and there is a quota you are able to use. The quota determines how much email can be stored at all accounts.

The good thing is that you have the redundancy and if something happens to your web site your visitors or customers are able to reach you trough email without any trouble. The downside of this solution is the price you have to pay. It’s a paid service and you can own a domain name or buy one during your sign-up process. The principle is to point your DNS entries to your email host [MX records] and your web site [NS records] to your web site host.

It’s a paid service and thus you can expect a certain level of service you will get and you can ask the host for assistance. But always check their Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. I would suggest to use only reputable services to stay away from trouble.

Examples of such a service are Godaddy and 1and1, but there are tons of other hosts out there and you  only need to perform a quick search by using your favorite search engine to find more of them.

Free & paid Third party services

Another option is to use the Google Apps service. It is available in two different flavours. The first one is a standard one and it is for free. Well, it is free but there are some limits you can not cross. But the limits are much better than using a paid email hosting in many ways. You get some 7GB of storage and you are able to create 50 accounts per one domain.Tthis is pretty enough if you are not running a social network and feel like you need 150 accounts

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To set-up a Google Apps account is a very easy process and numerous tutorials exist on the web. I will post one in a short  here at Icethunder.net as well just to make your life a little bit easier.Until then here and here are just two of them. Google also provides a tutorial [help page] itself and there are automatic set-ups available for some web hosts

I would recommend this service for those who need a safe and secure way for email. You don’t need to worry about anything as Google takes care of everything. You only set the DNS right and all is done by Google. One thing to note here is the loss of a certain degree of privacy, but it’s Google right… This service is like using Gmail, but you are using your very own domain name

Standard email service

I think this one is the least desirable option you could use for your companie’s email solution. If you are just an individual and want to provide people some way of accessing you trough email than it is an OK solution. If you are a web company or a business in general than it is a very unprofessionally looking solution and you should most definitely look somewhere else [point 1. and 2. ]

I don’t think I need to talk a lot about this service. You subscribe with Yahoo, Gmail, AOL or Hotmail [the list could continue...] and use their service. Your email is secure but as I mentioned it just does not look very professional if you are doing business.

One thing to mention here is using your own your_name@your_domain.com is a very secure thing, because the customer exactly knows who he is talking too. But if you use e.g your_name@yahoo.com – he could be talking to anyone as anyone can sign up for such an account

Well, in the next part I will tell you how to set up the Google Apps right and get it going. Until than have a nice day and see you next time!

There are many advantages to use Google Apps:

• you do not have to worry about email servers and their uptime – Google takes care
• spam is no more a problem for you – Google takes care of it
• you can use some of the features normally associated only with Gmail accounts [Calendar etc.] – You would not be able to use them on a Cpanel email account
• There are virtually no limits on the email account space side as Gmail gives you 7GB+ of space [Cpanel and web hosts limit email space to 2GB maximum for all accounts [not per account!] !!!]

As you can see there are some very good reasons why to use Google Apps with your domain and host your web pages on a shared hosting or VPS/Dedicated…

My experience with Google Apps…

So far I am using Google Apps always when there is an opportunity to. It gives me much more freedom and I can stop to worry about things like – my email account quota being passed, spam and much more. It just feel so much more secure. And you can even use mail.your_domain.com to log in to your webmail But I will talk about the way how to set up Google Apps another time here at Icethunder.net. Now I would like to jump a little bit forward and shared with you my today’s experience with the password recovery process of your administrator account.

A bad start of my day

I really started today in a very bad way. I just jumped of the my bed and turned on my PC after breakfast and I could not log in to one of my Google Apps powered domain names. Now I know what was the reason but it was not so easy and funny in the beginning. I thought about account compromise and ore serious things, but at the end it was only a bad user name – password combination as I did not have to log into this particular account  trough a web browser for a long time – my mail client takes care of this.

Today it was special and tried and tried but with no luck. Finally I just wanted to reset my password, but I suddenly realized that even my administrator password is not working. I tried various options, but nothing worked. Than I tried to search for an answer on how to reset the admin password, but nothing seemed to work.

Here is the way which to go if you fall into this kind of trouble with Google Apps:

1. Go to https://www.google.com/a/your_domain.com
2. Choose the Forgotten password option ['I cannot access my account']
3. Choose the only option available at this screen ['Reset your administrators password']
4. Fill in the Captcha image
5. And wait ’till your password is delivered to your secondary address
6. Than click on the link provided in the email and choose  a new password

It really took me about 25 minutes to come from a point of chaos and despair to the right solution. I could easily make it in 5 minutes, but did not  and I tried to guess the password instead…

The moral of this story

If you have the option to reset a password then do it and do not try to guess a password as many times the problem might be the user name. It solves time and nerves to reset the password than to try and guess Have a nice and funny day

Looking professional

The answer to the question is basically about how you want to be seen. Do you want to have a professionally looking image, or it’s not that important for you? This is the basic question you need to ask yourself. If you are trying to sell some kind of product, or service, than the image is an important thing for you and I think, it would make much more sense to go with your own email address. It adds the professional look and feel. You can always direct your customers to a third party mail address afterwards.

An own email address is not only about the image. It also helps to identify you on the Internet. Many people could register with your name at third party email services, but only you can create an email account based on your domain name! It is adds security and trustworthiness !!!

You don’t need to worry about how many mail accounts you will need and it’s good to start with just one, or two and add more if you will need them. Many hosts offer you the option to create hundreds of accounts, but you need to know, that they can share the same web space. This means you could be able to create 1000 accounts, but they would all share the same 2GB of storage

Looking secure, but less professional and trustworthy

I would like to take back this headline, namely the part, that this is looking less trustworthy. It’s very trustworthy, but only as long as your clients really know you and know that you are using a third party service. Else it is not very trustworthy as virtually anyone could create an e-mail account with Yahoo! Mail or Lycos and they could start to pretend they are you!

Use this very carefully and be sure to advertise to your clients what address is yours and what service you are using!!! To use third party services is a good thing if you are trying to get more out of your email as they tend to offer far more things and add-ons, than you could use with your own e-mail account based on your domain name.

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Imagine you have a web site. You get tons of traffic. In fact you get more traffic, than your package is able to accommodate. And than, one day your site is down. How does your poor visitor [me] knows, what has happened? Well, you can make a customer “error page” and inform them about a certain problem and include an email link for “emergency” contact.

Well, you say, that sounds good and I will include my own e-mail address. And I will do more, I will use my own – personal – gmail.com or yahoo.com email address in the contact area of my web site just in case. That’s all WRONG! It’s maybe the stupidest thing ever. In under a hour you would be overwhelmed with spam messages. Why? Because your email address would quickly become not a private one, but a public one! Every spam bot would copy it and than try to distribute spam to it. In a few weeks you would decide to make a new personal email address and close this one.

But it is not so bad as it looks, because your host also provides you the ability to create a certain amount of e-mail addresses too! The number [how many addresses] you will be able to create vary greatly, but I do not think you will ever use all of them, but it’s good to have one admin, support and feedback address. You will get a lot of spam, but at least you will be able to sort your visitors and their desires.

What have I done… I started to talk about address before I even discussed what they are… . Well, an email address is an electronic mail account you are able to create and than use for your own purposes. An email address is used to send and receive electronic mail. It’s very important to say you should look at what features are supported before you decide for a certain host if you really think your email address will be an important thing for your online presence.

You can access your mail by one of many different ways. It’s like with FTP – there is a secure and an insecure way. And more there is an easier and harder way.

Before I will introduce what I mean under security I think I should first of all tell you what access methods there are. But remember this is not a tutorial about what is IMAP/POP3/SMTP. I will describe them only briefly and thus you should look at all of them more deeply if you want to know exactly how they work!

IMAP/POP3

I hope you know something about these two protocols. They are both responsible for getting your mail from your mail server to your mail client. The first one is the easier and better one [better - depends on your personal taste]. It allows you to access your email on the server, but it allows you to manage your email offline too. POP3 has the same ability, but it also downloads all your mail to your home computer and if you did not specify you want to leave your mail on the server you will be terribly surprised if you forget to back-up your mail and have a disk failure at home. All your mail is lost. If you would use IMAP you could work with your mail offline [download it to your desktop], but at the same time IMAP would leave all the messages at your mail server. This is a great thing to know! I did not use an IMAP once in my life and after my computer crashed I was horrified. All my mail has gone!

SMTP

This is the Simple Mail transfer protocol and as you might already know it is the protocol responsible for mail delivery. While trying to figure out how to configure it in your mail client it’s good to know you will need to supply your login name and password for the account you are trying to send mail trough. Some servers require you to use “secure connection [e.g. SSL, TLS]”.

The two methods to access your mail!

Mail Client

You know this way very good. You download Thunderbird, Lotus Notes or you just use Microsoft’s Outlook. It does not matter what option you use, because you will always use what’s called a Mail Client. It makes your life easy, because it downloads all your mail to your desktop and it also knows how to send it to the recipient. Of course you need to configure it first!

A very interesting thing to look at when you have decided for a host is whether or not it allows secure connection. If not all your data is visible to any potential sniffer between you and your host’s mail sever, but the most of hosts do not offer this feature, or it’s hard to determine if they do or not. And this is why it’s so good to use the second option [secure] at public places – Internet Cafe’s, at Airports or any kind of unsecured Wifi hot spot! The difference between a secure and unsecure way is in the port used for communication and the fact, that a secure session is encrypted – all the data passing between your PC and your mail server is encrypted!

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The other way is to use another feature of your web host. A so called “WebMail”. It’s an easy way access your email and it is more SECURE! Most of the time the WebMail option is encrypted and thus your whole session is secured. This does not work with Mail Client most of the time, because not many host do offer secure connection to your own email accounts trough mail clients. And do not forget – if they offer a secure way to connect to your mail client you have to configure it in your client first!

The second option works like Gmail or Yahoo, where you login to your mail account trough a secure (https) site and your session is than secured too – this varies from host to host, either your login will be secured by SSL or your whole session. Check with your host.

More about POP3, IMAP and SMTP can be found here:

More about POP3 @ wikipedia

More about IMAP@ wikipedia

More about SMTP @ wikipedia

I hope you found here what you were looking for. If not just try to ask in the comment area and I will try to add an explanation to anything I have forgotten about e-mails. Have a nice day and do not forget to check regularly or just Subscribe to my RSS feed to get all the new articles to your RSS Reader when they are published!