Hey everyone, I’m a ‘little’ new to webhosting, but I just have a quick question about having a domain name, ie: (www.)aol.com resolve to one host and ns1.aol.com/ns2.aol.com resolve to another host. could this potentially work?

Well, as I said in a response to this post, it is possible, but some DNS entries have to be changed. In theory there is no problem with such a set up as your NS1.domain.com/NS2.domain.com  are in fact name servers, you could use to resolve the IP address of your web site and thus they could be hosted anywhere. And best practise would be to have them hosted on a different server than your web site is hosted on.

On the shared hosting level this is done directly by your web host, but you can still manage your DNS entries trough a control panel like Cpanel and you can still direct the different records to different IP’s and thus hosts One example that pop’s up in my mind would be using Google Apps for email and a sub domain of your domain with another web host which would both require to use and set-up new DNS entries And it is the same with name servers – just adding and pointing names to IP addresses

At firts it might seem a little confusing, but it is nothing to be afraid of. At some point in time you will most probably want to have your own name servers at one host and your web site at another. It adds security, redundancy and peace of mind Have a  nice day and see you next time.

The catch here is, that as soon as you use a proxy service like hidemyass.com you are able to read your web site. It loads just perfectly and so you try it once again from home, but nothing there… Well, there are couple of possibilities here and a few more I don’t even know about Thus it is only logical I will cover some basic steps I would try if I would have this problem.

The basic steps in troubleshooting inaccesible website issues [VPS]

1. The very first thing I would do is to SSH to my server and perform an iptables -L, as root user, to see if there is no odd firewall rule blocking my access. If there is no real firewall issue, than I would move to the next point, but these can be easily interchanged
2. I would definitely try to ping my_ip_address as this will tell me if I am able to get to the server or not. If the ping dies, than something on the network just does not allow me to reach my server
   • The ISP blocked my server’s IP  [I would ask them [by mail] why  they are doing so..]
   • A firewall on a  router blocks my server’s IP [maybe I am on a campus and the campus admin just doesn't like my web site ]
   • Some DNS related problem on my ISP’s side
   • Some kind of network problem I am not able to troubleshoot and I would ask on the Internet
3. If the ping dies I could still try the tracert or traceroute my_ipaddress as this would give me some idea where is the problem located [e.g. the tracert stops at my router... something is wrong there etc. ]

If everything fails than there is really no need to wait and you should ask around on the Internet. Maybe contacting your VPS provider or your ISP to find  a solution, but do not stay silent for a long period of time as this does not help to solve the problem.

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Have a nice day ans see you next time here at Icethunder.net by some new kind of web hosting issue I will try to tackle.

There are many places on the Internet offering you good prices for certificates, but I did not need one until now as I am happy with a self signed certificate. It is enough for my needs, but there are certainly times when you really need one. It’s when you are trying to sell something online and the Law and your customers require one At times like these it is a good idea to have at least a shallow knowledge where to get one, or at least know a place where you can ask about it

Where to get a cheap SSL certificate?

Well, I know there are many places you might look at, but I have found the easiest way to get one is with your domain name registration. It is a nice way of getting two things at the same time. You do not even have to use it right after you register the domain name! What am I talking about?

Well, I am talking about namecheap.com as they are not only a reputable domain name registrar and now also a web host, but they are also selling SSL certificates for reasonable prices. In fact one SSL certificate is bundled with your first domain registration or domain name transfer. It’s a nice feature and add-on I like. I did not use it ’till now, but I know it sits there if I need it at some point in the future.

Another way how to get an SSL certificate is to visit a home page of a trusted authority like VeriSign or Thawte and get one form there. Or you could try an easy Google search with keywords “cheap ssl certificate” and go to one of the results and try your luck there…

Always keep in mind that you need to research before you buy anything . You should make sure it is the right one and it fits your bill. There is nothing worse than buying a certificate and find out later it is not the right solution…

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Have a nice day and see you next time here at Icethunder.net!

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• The network could brake down
• The datacenter could encounter problems
• A hard drive might get broken
• You site might get hacked
• Your host could stop operating
• etc.

And do you know the best way to react to such problems? Well, I know a few of them, but first of all I will mention have it should not be done

The bad way of responding to hosting problems

This first part talks about “How it should not be done” and thus do not perform anything mentioned in this part as it only makes the whole “problem” worse. I think, that encountering problems with your web site hosted by a company is a hge problem as you might start loosing money immediately, but never do any of the following:

1. Never go to hosting forums and complain there about your problem before contacting your web host. The reason is, that only your web host can really help you!
2. Never call them bad names and talk badly about their service as long as you do not have valid grounds and evidance they were not willing to help you! But understand, that not every problem can be solved in the way you would most like.
3. Never in your life make threats to the stuff of the company and tell them you will give them bad reviews [etc.], because I can tell you they will not be more willing to help you You will just piss them off and they will start to be rude to you, too.

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The right way of responding to hosting problems

Well, we have covered the most important points of how to stay out of trouble and now let’s draw a few basic rules how to react to problems like e.g. downtime, data loss etc.

1. First thing to do is to contact your hosting company as soon as you realize there is some kind of problem! This is very essential and should never be skipped. You should try to contact your web host, but realize, that if they are experiencing a huge problem than they will probably concentrating on solving it, than answering your email.
2. Always use all possible means of contact, but never think you will get [or should get] a response within 30 seconds Leave the support stuff enough time to investigate and respond. it might take 1- 2  hour to solve and respond and thus, although you are loosing money, but they know that and writing them emails every 15 seconds does not help the situation as you just bother them with duplicit mail
3. Always describe your problem as much as it only gets and in a lot of details. If you are able to get some Screenshots they might be very helpfull
4. Always try to stay polite!!! You would be surprised how people react when you treat them in a good manner

Hopefully this article has been informative and helfull to you. See you next time and have  a nice and trouble free day!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

hosting for your web site needs. It is not only about choosing part of choosing, but about a whole philosophy. You need to know what you need even before you make the choice itself.

The art of determining your real needs

It does not matter whether you are trying to launch a small or a huge website, but you always need to know what it will need from the point of view of the system. You should know at least raw numbers. Well, I do not say, you should know the exact number of visitors,but you should be able to come up with some approximate numbers and use these to determine what you need.

The numbers you will come up with in the preparation phase give you an image of what you need when you start your search for the right web host. And at the time of your search you will apprecitae a lot that you have some check poits to guide your search.

Do not underestimate, but also don’t overestimate!

I know it is not so easy to stay aways from over or under estimation, but your estimations should definitely stay away from science fiction. If you are starting a pottery web site and other pottery web sites on the Internet don’t get 1million visitors a day there is a good chance yours will not get them as well. The number of visitors and many more statistics can be found on the Internet [e.g. alexa.com for # of visitors and site ranking, or Google for everything else ].

The start of this article

The specific problem, that lead me to write this article can be found here [webhostingtalk.com]. The clear thing is, that the guy has a great web site project, but he started it and founded the whole project on a  free web hosting account. It is not bad as long as you are on a tight budget, but free web host can offer you only a very limited hosting experience. And thus as soon as you see your web site rise you should start to look for a paid solution.

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I know, that many times the budget is the limit, but if you really have a web site with a good momentum and able to pay for itself, than it is good to invest into the web site at the beginning to keep and accelerate the momentum. After a period of time you will be rewarded with revenue from the web site and maybe you will get back even more, than you initially put into the project.

Regular user point of view

A regular user just log’s into his account from whatever Internet connection and computer he may have at his disposal and does not care that much about security. He just wants to log in to his accounts and check whatever he needs to check. He does not care, but the same regular user is very unhappy when someone has stolen his credit card information or misused his personal data.

After something bad happens to his personal data he blames everyone, but not himself most of the time, but security online starts right where you sit. It’s your responsibility to thoroughly check if your computer does not have any virus, trojans and other kinds of malware. I would say a firewall is a must and regularly updates of the operating system should not be underestimated!

There is a difference between having an anti-virus installed and actually using it for scanning for malware. You should perform at least weekly scans and I would highly suggest at least a “smart scan”, before you perform any financial transaction on the web.

At first it might look like a waste of time, but you never know when this could save you a lot of time, money and nerves!

The security point of view

Everything you are sending over the Internet is sent in  the form of so called “packets”. These packets carry lots of information, and I will not go into the details, but I have to tell you, that they are formatted in a certain way. For the purpose of this blog I just need to show you one important thing.

There are two widely used protocols to access web pages. The first one is HTTP. It’s an insecure protocol and all you send trough HTTP is send in plain text. You log in trough a web site like “http://www.domain_name.com”, which does not use SSL, and you’re sending your data in plain text. Password and username are easily intercepted by a possible attacker!

The second one is HTTPS and the last “S” stands for  “Secure”. What this protocol does before actually sending your data over the wire is, that it encrypts the data and only the other side intended to receive this data is able to decrypt it and to read it. The HTTPS is widely used while communicating with your bank, or wherever you enter your personal information and credit card info.

I would recommend you to always make sure your hosting company uses HTTPS during your sign up, sign in and while you are entering any sensitive information. This way you and your data stay secure while on the Internet

Have a nice day and good luck!

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. Always check your VPS and perform daily updates

It’s because you never know what could go wrong!!! Some time ago it hit even me. I performed daily updates, tried to secure my VPS as good as I only could, but then I had to go out for work for a few days and in this short time my VPS got hacked. It’s not a very pleasant feeling when you can’t log in to your server

The only solution I was able to think about is to reinstall the whole operating system as quickly as possible and perform even better security measures. Make sure you do not leave your server without a guardian who watches it whether it’s OK if you know you will not be able to care about it for a few days.  Daily back up are a must I think, but I will mention i here as well. The damage the attack had on me was not big as I use the server only for testing purposes, but it could  be bad. The worst thing is, that you are responsible for the server and if it’s used in an unlawful way, than it’s a problem you could possible face

Why did I reinstall the whole thing?

If you even get hacked and you are not an admin of a production system, than it’s a pretty good thing to reinstall the whole VPS server. If you have back ups than it’s no problem at all By only scanning the PC and checking the firewall you could miss something and it could lead to even more problems. It’s only good to don’t touch anything if you know what you are doing and you are a very experienced administrator!

That’s all for today! Have a nice day and see you next time here at Icethunder.net!

Use Content Management Systems [CMS]

When you are starting to build your online web site you are standing before a decision. You need to decide whether you will code the whole thing yourself and use plain html/css/php for your web site. But this route is not very funny. It’s because you are not able to use the advantages of databases and the data stored in them!

It is good, if you are trying to only host a static web site, but if you are trying to host a real web site. A web site with dynamic content. A web site with users and their input, than you need to find a solution which best fits your needs. You could build your own database driven solution, or you could use an already existing system. You might think, that this costs a lot of money, bu the opposite is true! you can use  a CMS and only then you will see the difference.

CMS systems are a very popular choice, because they make the administration of content, whole web sites, users and data  very easy. They give you a back-end and you are able to manage the whol eweb site from it with ease! All you need is to install the chosen CMS on your server and start to feel the difference. One thing to note here is, that you will need to follow the developpers and their “security” announcement as CMS [as all database driven systems] are less secure, than a static html and thus they are a good goal for hackers and crackers and security updates are release now and then.

To use a CMS is a great thing as you are not limited only by static web pages, but you can make your web site very creative and full of life. You can use widgets, add-ons or other extensions offered with your CMS

Free and paid CMS’s

If you think, that the CMS way is the way to go, than you should know, that there are two options. You can either go the free route and enjoy the free life, or you can buy a CMS solution, but the pure fact, that it’s paid does not mean it’s better [!!!]. Many free CMS systems are far better then the majority of paid solutions and the only advantage is, that you might get support from the company which developed the product and you bought it from, but there are huge communities behind free projects And a big community is sometimes better then a company support!!!

Do your homework and decide what better fits your bill! Have a nice day and see you next time!

The video web site plan – or the big breaktrough plan

I know, there is Hulu, Youtube and some other video sharing and streaming web sites around the world and they make a good living of what they offer. They attract lots of visitors and thus this business segment is a very attractive one. It attracts. because it’s great to offer such a service. the service is loved by the masses, but it is not for everyone. To be able to offer such a service on a good level you will definitely need some serious hardware and lots of dedicated people and knowledge

Although, it might seem, that this post is about video and streaming media web site, but it’s not true. It’s about what all you need to know before starting any project online.

The start of an online project

You have this great idea for a small community based web site with lots of video, audio, images and lots of other useful and funny stuff. This is great, so far. You need to have one more thing beside an idea You need to know what you need from the hardware point of view to make these plans and ideas a reality.

You need to know what server will be needed, what type of hosting is right for your project. You need to seriously think about what you need right after you get the great idea, else your idea will not get too far. It’s called strategic planning. You need to move the great idea of a new product to the next level and think about what is needed to really get it going.

You can really trust me, that a shared hosting environment is not for a big project and even small community based web sites with streaming video or audio are not well suited for shared hosting. To offer a good level of service you really need to think hard about what you want to offer and what you  need to be able to offer the service on an acceptable level.

Hopefully I gave you some stuff you think about Have a nice day and see you next time here at Icethunder.net!

What more back up strategies could be used?

We all know, that data are very valuable to use. We own a web site and users leave interactions on the sites, web sites change every day, we update them from time to time and thus data is valuable, but there is one more thing we could consider as very important. It’s our email messages!!!

It’s the area of backing up our email communication. It might not look like a very important thing, but believe me sometimes t pays off a lot! When I started my first online web site I had to send mails to get some approval to use some pictures and I forgot to back up the emails the people send me back. Well, and thus  I had to go through he same process once again.

But imagine you would be operating a commercial web site and it goes down. You are receiving tons of important emails every day and you would possible loose all your email… You should not count on the hosting company, that they do have back ups! Maybe the back ups will not be available and thus you will loose all the important mails.

In cases like this it’s good to have a back up, or emergency, strategy in place. It can be as simple as downloading all your emails for OFFLINE use trough a mail client like Mozilla Thunderbird, or you could use a third party email service like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail. Third party email services might look less professional, but you do not have to worry so much, as you emails are in a safe place outside your host. Thus if the hosting company encounters any problems you are safe

It depends only on the level of professionalism you need and on your own judgement. If you regard your email messages as very valuable always back them up. It might help you one time in the future! Don’t forget, that your files and messages are hosted on hardware outside your reach by a web hosting company. Hardware can brake down and no back up could be available. It’s always better to be prepared

Have a nice day and good luck in the next week!

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What back-up strategies can be employed?

Basically, what this question tries to ask is what can be backed-up and what can not be. And it tries to ask what should be backed-up and for what reason. I think, that many of you will agree with me, that your data are very valuable to you and thus they deserve to be backed-up while hosted by a third party. But even when you host your data yourselves it’s a very good idea to back everything up!

Database back-up

You can back up different parts of your web site and the first thing I would perform is a very often database back up. It should be your first line of defense. To have a database back up is crucially important if something bad happens. But with a database back up you can get your data back very easily and quickly.

Database systems do have a back up feature build in, or there is another very easy way to back your whole database data up. you just need to read the documentation and figure out the best way.

Whole web space back-up

Another approach you could take i to back up your entire web space. This is performed by backing up the whole directory and all it’s contents. It requires a lot of additional disk space when performed, but this way you will not lose anything. Remember to back up the database as well, if it is not included and is hosted on a different server. This is very important, because the web files themselves are not that much valuable without the database

Always remember to download the back up to a different place and do not hold it on the same server as your web site! The server goes down and so doe your back up… .

Important files back up

In this scenario you just back up the most important files and folders your site needs and leave the rest of the site untouched. It’s good mostly when you really care only about the important parts of your web site and don’t regard other parts to be as important.

Once again, you should remember, that if you need the database data you need to perform a database back up as well….

I think, that many of you might come up with far better back up strategies. You are maybe even using a far better strategy. If you will like sharing your strategy with the rest of the world don’t hesitate to leave a comment and describe it  Have a nice day!

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s all about : why it’s not a good idea to have your domain name registered with your hosting company. There are many opinions, but so far I think, that the majority thinks it’s never a good thing to make such a move. Many people like safety and thus I do not understand why would anyone want to expose himself to possible trouble.

The trouble is linked with the fact, that if your hosting company gets into trouble and you will not act quickly, or you will not even have the chance to act, than not only your web site hosted with that company gets into trouble, but you will not be even able to move your domain elsehewre! And this is a big security and service problem.

Basically when buying a domain name you have two options. You can register your domain name with a special domain name registrar like name.com, namecheap.com or godaddy.com , or you can register your domain name trough your hosting company. The first option gives you the feeling of of safety. It’s because your domain is independent and you can change your name servers at any time. The second option is less safe and it let’s you exposed if something bad happens to our hosting company.

It might look like a waste of time to register a domain name with company X and buy your hosting at company Y, but it pays back a lot as soon as you hit any possible trouble!

I like to have an option to manage my domain independently of my hosting as it gives me the chance to quickly move the domain if  something bad happens. It is only a matter of 48hours [and less!] for the name servers to propagate and my web site is operational again.

Consider this:

• Name server propagation around the whole world less than 48hours [sometimes even much much less!]
• Back ups of your web site – you can instantly upload and pretend nothing happened
• A one month fee to a new host less $8…

On the other side: If you have a domain and hosting with the same company

• If the company is under an online attack – you are in trouble…
• If the company disappears – you are in trouble
• If there are long lasting technical problems – you are in trouble
• In all these cases you would have a hard time to quickly move to a new location!

I don’t say it’s a NO-NO, but it is a bad idea and it’s always more clever to divide the risk between two places  Think about this the next time you buy a domain name from/trough your hosting company. Is it worth it the time you save? Wouldn’t it be more secure to do it the other way and divide the risk? Have a nice day and a great weekend!

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What company would I choose?

I talked mostly in general until now and I would like to give my own opinion. Maybe you are asking who I would go with if I would have the choice. Well, I am a comfortable person and I am not willing to sit behind the PC for 24/7 and watch if my site is operational and if there is no problem. And thus I am very concerned about the support level and service level.

I need to know, that the company I am with provides me with a great service and that their support is really prepared to help me out if there is some kind of problem. But I am not too careless and I am monitoring my web site trough third party services. I am monitoring my web sites up-time and other things to be assured, that everything is OK.

I would never decide after seeing tons of ad’s and I would always perform my own research. I would use “my big GBY”  engine [Google, Bing, Yahoo!] to search for everything regarding the company I would be considering to go with.

This kind of testing and researching is not an easy and short thing and thus I always spend at least one week on research and then I do my plans with confidence. If everything goes wrong even despite this hard procedure, than I can rest assured, that I have done the research I
could and sometimes it’s all about luck

Hopefully this helped you a little bit as not only providing you with technical things is important. Sometimes it’s good to hear what people who went trough a hosting search process for more than one time use as their strategy to don’t make the wrong move. Feel free to leave your experience in the comments area Have a nice day!

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The reason image matters

Image is a very important thing and marketers all around the world are trying their best to make the company they are working for look better. They are trying to make it look more professional, friendly, less costly and much more. It depends on what the company wants to show as their main advantage over the competition.

The reason why the image of a hosting company really matters is, that it is not important that you have the greatest products, but if no one really knows who you are you will sell nothing. The image makes the company “look” and appeal to customers. It’s like the difference between Nike and Hugo Boss – when you are buying one of them you are making a statement and you have some kind of expectation

And it’s the same with hosting. They need to develop some kind of image. They need to profile themselves in a ceratin direction to attract a certain group on the market.

What builds the image of a hosting company?

Well, there are of course differences between industries and thus what makes the difference between Nike and Hugo Boss does not apply to hosting. Hosting companies are very different and their product is a service. They provide their customers with a service and the customers are expect it to be on a very good level.

The image is build in many different directions:

• “Pre-sale” image – hosting companies are judged by their customers not only by their offers by also by the way they are able to communicate with potential customers. Each hosting company starts to build it’s image at the very beginning when I send them a “pre-sale” question and if they don’t answer it in a day, it makes a bad statement!
• Support image – there is nothing worse, than to have some kind of trouble while being hosted by a certain company. The best hosting companies know, that a satisfied customer is worth more, than an  angry one. There is no reason to underestimate the power of “word of mouth” marketing. It can many times be more effective and bring more cash to hosting companies than an expensive ad campaign.
• Service level - the pure fact f your site being down and with no explanation is a very bad sign and it absolutely destroys the image of a hosting company. A customer is paying for the service and thus he wants it to be delivered. If there are any problems, the host should definitely give reasons and not generic ones, but truly targeted at the customer with problems. It might seem like a waste of money, but believe it or not, it is much better to get an bad answer from a “human”, than a generic one

TO BE CONTINUED …

The difference between hostin forums and hosting review sites

The big difference I am talking about is, that while on a review site you see tons of ad’s. But in contrast while on a forum you usually see only 1 or 2 banners… I know its because of the lack of space, but it’s still great

Did you ever visit a hosting forum? There is no so much free space to post ad’s and thus the space is limited. Hosting forums are limited by the space they can use for ad’s and it’s fine, because the ad’s do not distract you. Hosting forums and review sites do need to generate some kind of revenue and thus placing ad’s is the perfect way and I agree with this, but every owner has to decide whether his site should turn into an ad mess or be a great resource for knowledge and opinion… .And this is the big difference between them. Even review sites could be of high value, but many times the ad’s just brake their image apart

Why to use hosting forums instead?

As I said previously, it’s mainly because there you can get so much more. You are able to speak to people with different levels of knowledge, experience and even more – you are able to ask your future hosting provider if there is a representative registered!

The second most important thing about using hosting forums is the pure fact, that there you can find lots of hosting reviews provided by individuals and checked by hosting forum admins. And this is just great. If someone talks badly about a company on a review site in the comment area no one really checks his version, but hosting forums [at least the one I am using the most] check if the review is a true one or not! That’s just so much better.

The third reason why to check hosting forums on a regular basis is, that they are the place where smaller, but not worse hosts promote their products. These hosts do not have the ad budget the big hosting companies have, but they have many times a much better image. they offer better service and price, but you have to choose carefully What if the next day a better offer pops up?

Try to leave your opinion in the comments area. What do you use usually more often? Review sites or hosting forums and what do you think about them? Have a nice day and see you next time!