Web hosting provides a great deal of benefits for website owners looking for an affordable, easy way to maintain their website. But less technical users are more apt to make the mistake of looking for a web hosting provider without knowing what to look for to keep their site secure, or even if the hosting provider in question is reputable.

It is vitally important to make sure that your hosting provider offers security features and damage control options that are right for your needs. For instance, if you use collaboration software such as SharePoint 2010 you can feel confident about its powerful security architecture but- you have to make sure that your hosting provider deploys the software securely.

When it comes to hosting security, one of the biggest threats to watch for is an SQL server that you cannot manage directly. Many web hosting companies will not allow users to directly manage database permissions and this runs the risk of another user configuring a web facing application incorrectly and leaving a vulnerability open that may get your data compromised.

Another very common risk is improperly configured VPS software. There could be as many as 50 virtual machines on a single physical server, and if the software managing these servers is not configured properly it could leave all of the machines vulnerable without the user themselves doing anything wrong.

However even the best security and prevention measures cannot protect your data from problems such as natural disasters, application errors, and the occasional zero day vulnerability. In these situations prevention and mitigation are necessary to protect and restore your data in the event of a loss.

Solutions

One of the simplest, and most overlooked security steps that can be taken is to ensure that there is an encrypted communication method between the user and the server, and between servers. Common and freely available technologies such as secure shell (SSH), secure socket layer (SSL), secure file transfer protocol (SFTP), and secure copy (SCP) ensure that data communications between machines are encrypted in a way that makes it difficult for attackers to obtain the data while it is being transferred.

It is also very important to never store passwords in plain text format, and you need to make sure your hosting provider does not do this.

Finally, the importance of good offsite backups cannot be overstated. If despite all your precautions your data is lost or destroyed, you can mitigate the damage by ensuring that your data can be restored quickly and completely.

Secure hosting providers will generally provide one click offsite backups so that if anything happens, even if the data center housing the data itself is destroyed, your data is secure and can be restored quickly and easily.

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Anyone who owns a website, personal or business,  is always looking for ways to get more traffic. If it’s a business website, you also want to be able to actively market to your potential customers and visitors. While words and text on a page are great for their SEO value, visual and audio support help engage your audience in an all-encompassing way. So, here we’ll look at some of the basics of web streaming so you can add video to your website.

What you’ll need:

-  Video camera. As an alternative, simply use the video option on your camera or phone  or  the camera on your computer to record direct messages.

-  Firewire connection & port. This is to connect the camera to the computer. Modern cameras have a firewire connection just as modern computers have a firewire port.

- Video Server

- Appropriate location. You’ll need a space that offers good lighting and sound to record.

Streaming Basics:

1. Make Sure You Have the Right Web Hosting Package

Video demands space. If you want to have enough storage space for your website and all of the streaming files you’ll be uploading, you’ll need to choose the appropriate web hosting package for your needs.

You’ll also want enough bandwidth to properly stream the media files you upload. Media files are much larger than simple graphics or web pages, so you’ll need to purchase a premium web hosting hosting package like a virtual private server (VPS) to help stream the files without interruptions.

Domain Name Considerations

If you’re going to use your current domain for streaming the media files, you can skip the next step. If you do need a new domain, after you’ve registered that domain name and have chosen the website host and hosting package, you’ll need a basic design for your site.

You can choose a simple template. Less is more, especially in design and you don’t want to distract users. I recommend you place a contact page or some other way for your website visitors to contact you if they find problems with your website.

File Formats

You should save the video files in a common file format. The most commonly used video players are Real Media, QuickTime, Windows Media and MPEG files. If you choose one of these file types the majority of your website visitors will be able to view the streaming files.

After you’ve chosen the file format you want and have saved the files, you’ll want to upload each video file to your website. It’s also a good idea to embed each video on its own page.

If you’re using a site builder program from your website host, you should easily be able to embed the files. Once you’ve saved each page of your website, you can visit your site through a browser to ensure that everything loads properly.

These are some of the necessary logistics to cover if you’re planning to stream video. Video is a great way to broadcast announcements, news and other intersting media that is relevant to your users. And, the great thing about streaming is that the end user can start watching the file almost as soon as it begins downloading. The faster you can offer them content, the more they will want to return to your site.

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Cloud hosting services are becoming increasing popular amongst entrepreneurs and small web-based sites. And as this trend picks up more steam we become increasingly aware of the pros and cons that this option presents.  First, a little background:

Source: clixsnap.blogspot.com

Cloud hosting is a type of hosting service that runs on a series of networked servers that transfer your data through each other at the same time. Think of it like a spider web. Each strand connects to the main center to hold the web together. The cluster of strings (networks) all transfer the information to one main spider center.  Cloud hosting has only been around for a few years, so it is still fairly new, and while it does offer a faster set-up and works in unison, there are financial elements that need to be considered.

So, let’s get started. Here are the pros and cons of cloud hosting:

Pros

• Rubber band: A cloud hosting service is like a rubber band when it comes to what you need for your computing needs – you can expand and adjust the services and space you need as your business/website grows or decreases. This great when your business rapidly expands and you need to make quick changes to meet the needs of visitors.
• It’s ready now: One of the best things about a cloud server is it’s ready to go as soon as you order it. Sounds great, right? The way cloud servers are created and their nature, you don’t have to worry about the set-up process that is usually required with other hosting packages.
• Savings: If you plan properly a cloud server can save you money because it allows you to remove the cost of having extra staff/people to help you manage your website. Also in most cases, there is no extra cost for software reduces the need for extra staff to manage your IT problems, you usually do not have to purchase (or have) collaboration software or amongst other software programs.
• Small Staff oriented: Due to their nature, cloud servers are great for small staffed business (3 to 5 people) or websites because they adjust to the changes of your needs, are ready to go ASAP and allow you to keep the payroll costs down from not having to hire an IT technician.

Cons

• When it’s down, it’s really, really down: Cloud severs have a bad reputation for spontaneously going offline. Meaning, if you’re a web-based business if the cloud is offline or not working, you are completely helpless. No access. Nothing.  This centralization creates some risk.
• File storage: Because cloud hosting is run with a various networks online, your information can only really be accessed where internet is available. So, if you can’t access the internet, you can’t access any of your files.
• Too much or too little: While it’s great to be able to adapt your cloud to what you need, it can also cause you to overestimate or under estimate. If you overestimate or under estimate you could end up with a painful looking bill that you didn’t expect.

It’s always good to assess what you need and want before jumping into hosting package. Make sure to do your research and ask around as your final decision will dictate how your website is managed in the future.

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Everyone wants web traffic. Web traffic means you’re popular and opens opportunities for revenue. Of course there are certain factors that come into play in order to get the web traffic you want in the world of websites.

But increasing traffic is risky if not done properly. You run the chance of crashing your server, increasing your hosting costs and being hacked – all things you don’t want! So, here are some things to keep in mind to increase your traffic safely and improve your website’s performance:

The Right Hosting Package

Knowing what hosting package best suits your website needs is essential. If you’re looking to have a revenue generating site (which means lots of traffic) you’d want to go with a Dedicated Server to help carry the load of all your visitors. If it’s a personal website, you might want to go with a Shared Hosting package.

The hosting package you choose is also a determining factor for site speed. For example, a large website that houses copious amounts of content, images and etc, needs a more secure and manageable operating system to ensure everything loads properly and one time.

A hosting solution like hosted exchange 2010 from SherWebprotects and houses your website while allowing you to collaborate and share documents, calendars, contacts, tasks etc.

So, keep in mind what you need, because it will give you what you want.

Everyone Likes Fast

The load time of your site is crucial for getting traffic. There is no such thing as a virtual waiting room when it comes to websites. No one has the patience or time to sit in front of their screen and wait for something to work – it’s got to work now.

It’s not just your visitors who care either. Search engines also track the load time of your site and give it a ranking. The longer your site takes to load the more likely it will be removed. Yes, it sounds harsh, but in website world, it’s all about what the visitors want.

In order to prevent this from happening to you, take these tips into consideration:

• Make sure your computer doesn’t contain any viruses or malware. Do a monthly scan with anti-spyware.
• Free up space by only keeping the temporary internet files you need.
• Use multimedia and graphics only when needed!
• When sending files, zip and compress them to lower sending time.
• Close any useless web browser tabs – they take up memory (and time)!
• Select only important internet access site add-ons (think about pop-ups).

Those six steps will help increase the internet connection and load time for any site! And seeing as your site runs via your internet connect it is very important that it’s clean and smooth for you and your visitors.

Information Direction Providers

Once you’ve got the right hosting package and a clear computer, and still want more traffic maybe it’s time you considered connecting with an information direction provider, such as Akamai. What companies like Akamai do is help direct information from a provider’s server to a user’s desktop. The benefit of this is: content appears faster and better. These services also usually have firewall web applications that prevent virus attacks before they can even get a chance to nest inside a user’s hardware! It’s a great way to keep your visitors safe, which means they’ll return more often.

Caching Helps Catching

Okay, the next step is caching. Caching helps save you a visit to a main web server every time you need something. What caching does is help restore your files from a local system browser cache or proxy cache. It’s a great shortcut for making sure your site gets crawled by search engines properly. A great way to do this is set caching polices. This way you have a target and deadline for site developments, and work towards them in order to improve site performance. If you’re already swamped with site maintenance work ask (if you have one) the web developer to make these policies.

Optimize Your Graphics

Images are key component to any site, but they also take up a lot of space, which means they reduce load time. A great way to optimize all your images is by resizing them in Photoshop. Make sure when you do this you don’t alter the settings of the image because this could make it appear blurry and unclear. If you’re site is WordPress based you already have the option to optimize your graphics directly without having to download any extra applications. Again, make sure to choose the right package to house all your graphics!

Following these suggestions will help speed up the number of components that affect the amount of traffic to your site. Remember that the right hosting package does wonders for your project(s) and will ultimately be the guiding force to how your website operates! Reaching out to information directors like Akamai, helps take a large amount of work off your plate, making traffic that much easier to get. Also, the design of your site will greatly impact load time and visitors. Most sites today are taking the minimalist approach and going easy on the graphics. Traffic is an easy thing to get if you know how to keep your site fast, clean and simple!

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In June 2009, a study conducted by VersionOne found that 41% of senior IT professionals didn’t know what cloud computing was and two-thirds of senior finance professionals were confused by the concept. In this post, I’ll try and clear up any ambiguity about the buzz word that everyone seems to have a different definition for.

What is the Cloud?

Think of the cloud as the Internet. Cloud computing is basically a bunch of services and applications that are hosted on servers that must be accessed through the Internet. It’s basically a shift from traditional desktop applications to modern web applications.

Cloud Hosting can be broken down into 2 main categories:

- Public: like shared hosting
- Private/ Enterprise: unlimited amount of bandwidth, storage and processing power

What’s interesting about cloud hosting is that depending which services you’re using you can your own hybrid of public and private cloud hosting that will provide additional options and flexibility.

Benefits of Cloud Hosting:

Fast: Traditional business applications had the downside of having to be installed, configured, tested, run, secured and then updated regularly. With cloud hosting you need only open a browser, login and use the app directly.

Don’t need servers: All you need is an Internet connection

Don’t need storage: Everything is stored in the cloud (i.e. the Internet)

No upgrades: Upgrades are automatic

Lowered IT costs: An Aberdeen Group study found that disciplined companies achieved on average an 18% reduction in their IT budget from cloud computing and a 16% reduction in data center power costs.

Pay as you go : Subscription-based or pay-per-use service so you’re only paying for what you use.

Is it safe?

With the high-profile hacking of Google’s Gmail service and Sony’s Playstation network there have been many heated debates about the safety of storing information on the cloud. Intel has been working since the end of last year with software and computer vendors including Fujitsu, Huawei, Cisco, Dell, IBM and Hewlett Packard on a cross-industry initiative aimed at making cloud infrastructure more simplified, secure and efficient.

One of the biggest problems is the fragmented Cloud market. Intel has one cloud system, secured in its own way, Advanced Micro Devices (ARM) has another and now Apple’s iCloud will bring yet another competitor to the mix.

According to experts, there should be an open standard to follow. This would help the cloud industry to build a much securer cloud system.

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Welcome back! In the last part of Hackbusting we talked about what a hack was, what to look for and the first step to take once you’re sure you’ve been hacked. Today, the second part of Hackbusting, we’re going to address recovery steps, how to get your site back online, and what you can do to prevent it from being hacked, again.

You’ve been Hacked

Once you have figured out where the hacker came from, and you have successfully removed any malware/badware it’s time to move forward and get into recovery site mode.

Here are the four recommended recovery steps:

Step 1: Have all your users and yourself change their passwords. Send out an email, give them a call – do whatever you have to do, just change those passwords! We also suggest if you have a general admin account you delete it. It’s always safer to have individual accounts that you can keep track of for situations like this.

Step 2: Do a complete reinstall of your operating system (OS) from a source you trust, such as another household computer or your computer (make sure you’ve done a virus scan ahead of time, and removed any potential problems). Doing a reinstall is the only 100% way to make sure you’ve completely rid your site(s) of the hack.

Step 3: Use your clean back-up. There’s a reason we back up things, and this is a perfect example why! Once you’ve searched through your back and are completely sure it’s hack-free, replace all existing files with the backup files and restore your site.

Step 4: Update all or any of your software. Go through your weblogs, platforms, content management systems, and/or any software from a third party, and make the necessary updates. This will help increase the security of the site and smooth out the online re-installation process.

Get Back Online

Alright! The hack has been removed, you’re ready to be back in action, and you’ve learned a valuable lesson that you can now share with your family, friends and co-workers. First off, give yourself a pat on the back for addressing the problem right away, and figuring out how to better manage your site! Now, let’s get you back online.

Here are the three re-installation steps:

Step 1: Get your site back online. Remember in the beginning when you took it offline, use the same steps to restore its online presence. If you used the 503 return code, remove it. If you used the URL removal tool, request to have the URL re-included in your content again and cancel the removal request.

Step 2: Request a site review. In order to be 100% certain that your site has removed the hack from all pages, ask Google to run a site review and get the site completely re-crawled. This will also help Google stay on top of on-going hacks on the internet.

Step3: Keep your eyes open. Now that you have an idea of what to look for and expect, keep your eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. If you have other users helping you manage your site, talk with them about what happened and make sure they are always on lookout too.

You’re Back! Now Let’s Prevent…

Glad to see you’re back in action and have successfully made it through one little bump in the road of website popularity! It’s now time to evaluate what went wrong and prevent any opportunity for a future hack.

Here’s what we suggest:

- Review records and stay updated! Review your records from the damage assessment. Use your hack record as a hack report to help you if it happens again. This shows you where to look first!

- Make sure all your OS software is completely updated, all the time. It’s crucial to be extremely diligent when it comes to software and plug-in updates – they help improve security.

- Think about your hosting package, like Microsoft’s Hosted Exchange. If you were unlucky enough to have many sites infected under one server it might be time to upgrade to a better package that offers a high level of security. For example, if you’re using a shared hosting package and are managing a larger website, it is probably a good idea to move towards to a VP hosting package.

Not sure what you need? Do some research, compare and contrast and assess your site’s needs and wants (as well as goals).

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Choosing a hosting provider can be as confusing as choosing an insurance company – you want to make sure you’re covered in all the right places. This is why it’s so important that you compare and contrast the three hosting services available (VPS, shared and dedicated), in regards to your needs and wants.

In our last hosting post, Mary explained the difference between VPS versus Shared hosting – two choices that work for many people, for different reasons but if you are trying to run a lucrative business online, it may not be right for you. Today we’re going to take a look at VPS versus dedicated hosting, and hopefully help you narrow down the option for your web services!

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is when you lease an entire server to yourself – no sharing at all! This option is more flexible and manageable for those who prefer to privately oversee all their personal and professional website(s) and content. While it is a little more expensive than VPS and shared hosting, the benefits of choosing dedicated hosting are worth every penny.

What are the advantages of a Dedicated Hosting? Control, Security and ROI

Dedicated hosting offers you 100% control over your server (which equals better performing websites). VPS allows you some control, but with dedicated you literally have control of everything – software, resource allocation, virtual modules and more. Being in control of these hosting elements also means you get to customize the hardware and operating system, allowing you to get exactly what you were looking for. Dedicated hosting can also handle larger amounts of content, and utilizes extreme security measures to make sure your data is always protected. It’s also known to have a larger return of investment. Your virtual server can earn you handsome profits with SherWeb’s high quality hosting reseller program.

Should you be Dedicated?

While shared hosting is a popular choice amongst many people with small sites and VPS may suit your current business needs, dedicated hosting is the best option if you have a high traffic website(s) and are looking to move forward and monetize on it (them). It’s also a great alternative from VPS for existing and potential business owners whose business is largely e-commerce based – whether at home or in a small office. Always remember to research these three options to figure out which solution is best for you.

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Having an online presence is an important tool for businesses operating in the modern, technologically savvy society of today. However, running a website is not restricted to businesses and entrepreneurs. It is also a good way for creative people to showcase their talents, to provide information for educational purposes; or for the average person to make his/her voice heard through a personal blog.

But what does your domain name say about you, your site and perhaps your business? A domain name has the potential to influence millions of potential viewers surfing the net. To emphasize just how important selecting the right domain name to register is, here are some of the strangest ones found in cyberspace. Perhaps the impression that you get from these will make you choose your online label with a little more care.

What’s In Name?

A domain name is essentially a label that is used on the Internet in order to define a realm of administrative authority or control. Domain names are also used as hostnames to identify Internet Protocol resources like websites.

Domain names are important since they are the easy-to-remember labels given to a numerically addressed Internet resource. The key element here is that they are in fact ‘easy-to-remember’. Therefore, the domain name is something that will stick in the minds of many of your viewers and potential viewers.

Think of it as a first impression. It has often been said that first impressions last a lifetime; so you may want to make a favourable one. This is why choosing the label for your unique identity on the Internet is just as important as securing a good web designer to create your website and finding an efficient and reliable web hosting resource to support your site. To emphasize the influence that domain names have, here are some of the most accidentally hilarious ones around.

whorepresents.com

At first glance this website appears to be one stop shop for ‘Johns’ whom are searching for a gift for their special ‘trick’. The site is actually called “Who Represents” and is meant to be a website where people can find out the name of the talent agent who represents a particular celebrity.

firstbaptistcumming.org

At first, this domain name may seem like a vulgar joke about John the Baptist. This is actually the official website of a Baptist Church; they are either unaware that their domain name choice can be misunderstood or they are just not worried about it.

expertsexchange.com

This website has nothing to do with hormones or undergoing life-altering surgery. The name of the site is “Experts Exchange”. It is an online community for programmers to exchange ideas, opinions and tips. It seems that after numerous emails related to sex-change operations the online community adopted a hyphen in their domain name.

therapistfinder.com

My first thought when I saw this domain name was that it was a humour website which took its name from the classic SNL “Celebrity Jeopardy” skit. This is really a website called “The Therapist Finder” that helps people to locate a local therapist.

penisland.net

It is possible to mistake this website for an X-rated site that displays nude male models. It is actually a company website for a business that offers custom made pens. The name of the company just happens to be “Pen Island”.

powergenitalia.com

This unfortunate domain name belonged to an Italian power generator company, Powergen Italia, who specializes in special battery products. However, the domain name gives the impression that this website hosts a company that specializes in manufacturing industrial-strength genitals.

speedofart.com

When you first read this unfortunately selected domain name you may get a disturbing image of bloated males, wearing nothing but Speedos and breaking wind. In reality this website hosts a group of artists who chose to name their online project is “Speed of Art”.

gotahoenorth.com

Your first impression of this domain name may be that it is for a Northern prostitution ring that is trying to duplicate the success of the “Got Milk” ad campaign. However, this is a website for a North Lake Tahoe ski resort called “Go Tahoe North”.

Hopefully this list of some of the most unfortunately named domain names will make you realize that first impressions count. Be careful when selecting the name for your online presence.

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Like any super-powerful information database that can connect billions of people anywhere from Kiribati to Bergen op Zoom, wait… the Internet IS the only super-powerful information database that can do that!

The Internet is woven so tightly into our social-political-economic-geographic quilt, that the very thought of someone or something trying to hurt our baby makes us rage, sweat and panic like Doomsday has arrived.

Here is how Internet panics have evolved over the course of time and where they are headed…

“It’s So Powerful! It Can Survive A Nuclear Attack”

Emerging out of World War II and treading right into the Cold War, the U.S. Department of Defense needed a communications network that would be immune to a nuclear attack. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, it pushed President Dwight D. Eisenhower to form the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to keep up with the Russians in the space race. Several years later ARPA began to focus on computer networking and communications technology. ARPANET became a network of computers that would purportedly carry on communication with each other, even after a nuclear attack.

Though it is very doubtful the Internet would survive ANY sort of large-scale nuclear attack, the need to protect this precious hub of information marked the beginning of Internet scares.

“The Internet Will Suffer A Catastrophic Collapse”

Bob Metcalfe & Blender

Bob Metcalfe, father of Ethernet and founder of 3com, is perhaps best known for his 1995 InfoWorld column where he predicted that the Internet would “go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.” So convinced that the Internet would overload to the point of collapse, he even promised to eat his words if it did not.

In 1997, when that prediction failed to come true, Metcalfe- in front of an audience of 2000 people at the Sixth WWW International Conference- took the column, put it in a blender, added some water, and proceeded to eat the pulpy mass with a spoon.

“Spam is Killing the Internet!”

Today, advanced anti-spam protection offered with a Hosted Exchange mailbox will repel most spam and malware threats. However, in the mid to late 90s spammers managed to hog search results pages through Black Hat SEO tactics so you would have to sift 5-10 pages in to find a relevant result to your query. Many speculated that the Internet would no longer be a useful resource due to all these spam sites.

“If you Type Google Into Google, You Will Break The Internet”

True? No. Hilarious?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Absolutely.

“Ahh! Y2K!”

January 1, 2000 aka the Millennium Bug created mass hysteria about potential problems that would arise for both digital and non-digital documentation as well as data storage. Because many computer programs stored years with only two decimal digits it was believed that systems would break down when the “…97, 98, 99, 00…” ascending numbering assumption suddenly became invalid.

Programs would not be able to distinguish between the year 2000 and the year 1900. Other programs would try to represent the year 2000 as 19100. John Hamre, the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense at the time claimed “The Y2K problem is the electronic equivalent of the El Niño and there will be nasty surprises around the globe.”

The United States Government passed the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act, by working with private sector counterparts in order to ensure readiness, and by creating internal continuity of operations plans in the event of problems.

An estimated $308 billion was injected worldwide in preparation for the Y2K disaster. But many critics claimed that there were no, or very few, critical problems to begin with, and that any minor mistakes that did occur could have easily been fixed in a much more cost effective way. An editorial from the Wall Street Journal called Y2K an “end-of-the-world cult” and the “hoax of the century”.

“Brownouts! Brownouts! Cyberspace Is Filling Up!”

In 2007, Nemertes Research, a research advisory firm that specializes in assessing the business value of emerging technologies, predicted that Internet access capacity would become insufficient to handle demand by 2010.

Here is an excerpt from their press release:

“Voice and bandwidth-intensive applications such as streaming and interactive video, peer-to-peer file transfer and music downloads and file sharing are redefining the Internet. Nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video in May and viewed more than 8.3 billion video streams, according to research by comScore. Additionally, wireless devices such as cell phones, Blackberrys and gaming accessories provide consumers ever-increasing access to the Internet, exponentially accelerating consumption of Internet bandwidth.”

Their findings indicated that by 2010, the Internet’s capacity would not be able to accommodate user demand resulting in Internet “brownouts” or interruptions. Videos from YouTube would take longer to download, applications we’re accustomed to using like Facebook or Gmail would run slower. They concluded that the overall impact of this inadequate infrastructure would primarily slow down the pace of innovation because the insufficient infrastructure would prevent new applications and web-based businesses from emerging.

Read the full press release here.

But could this all be a scare tactic to support metering?

The current issue at large, is that telephone companies want the ability to use deep packet searching to slow down certain users who are taking up more than their “fair share” of  bandwidth. They are pushing, rather successfully to increase prices for “net hogs” who use more than their share of capacity.

“We’ve Run Out of IP addresses!”

An IP address is the numerical label assigned to every device that connects to the Internet and allows those devices to communicate with other devices on the Internet .
Since the early 80s IP version 4 (IPv4) has been the most widely deployed standard – yet with the explosive rate of Internet users connecting through computers, tablets, gaming consoles and wireless devices, IPv4 addresses have seen their day.

Enter IPv6. It’s been around since the 90s but not many companies, ISPs, or other organizations have implemented it.

Some of the main concerns with the switch to IPv6 is that it will introduce a whole new set of applications and services that will be unusable to users on IPv4 networks.
An Infosec Island post highlights that:

“ IPv6 will also require a whole new rethink on how we plan to manage and address security in routers and switches. Most of the routers, switches and security appliances are not ready to make the jump or manage the transition. Some are too old, and others have never been updated to the new OS release. In the consumer space the situation is quite critical, just a few home routers are able to support IPv6 and most of ISPs are not even ready to provide support for it.”

Is there really a cause for concern? The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has developed an algorithm that will add an additional 26 letters to addresses, and add 3.8 undecillion new addresses.  (In the US- that’s a 1 followed by 36 zeros.) I think we should be good for a while.. Plus, Google has been supporting IPv6 since early 2008. Since then they have brought IPv6 support to YouTube and have been helping ISPs enable Google over IPv6 by default for their users.

On June 8, 2011 you can celebrate World IPv6 day.

“Who’s Going To Run The Internet??”

Image source: Inquisitr

Many have proclaimed that 2011 will be the year that the net neutrality issue explodes. It seems telecom companies are destined to destroy one of the Internet’s founding principles: net neutrality. With net neutrality, everybody’s website gets the same speed and quality. However, if certain broadband providers get their way, which some already are, (ahem… Comcast) there would be a restricted fast lane on the Internet for their partners and services and sites who pay them a huge fee. Likewise, users will only be able to access more bandwidth by paying more money. As these corporations continue to thin out the competition, end users will have fewer and fewer options available to them.

If you’re interested we have a post that details the ongoing battles of how the Net is run.

Last Thoughts Before The Internet Apocalypse…

In a day and age where if you’re not online, you don’t exist- it’s legitimate to fear the demise of the tool that keeps “alive”. The Internet has gone from being a networking system for scientists and academics to share information, to the place where we run our virtual lives, from work, shopping, paying bills, chatting with friends, educating and entertaining ourselves, to even finding love.

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As the saying goes, knowledge is power and if you are embarking into the wild world of web than it’s practical to have a handle on common web hosting terms. It is not unusual that beginner webmasters sign up for the wrong web hosting packages because they are unsure of what features are useful to them (or what they even mean).

And so, I’ve compiled a helpful little lexicon of useful web hosting terms for your knowledge.

Active Server Pages (ASP)

Active Server Pages, which are now superseded by ASP.NET, are used to create and run dynamic, interactive Web server applications. This means you can combine HTML pages, script commands and COM components to create interactive web pages and web-based applications. Basically, ASP.NET is built on the Common Language Runtime (CLR), allowing programmers to write ASP.NET code using any supported .NET language.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

The most common application of a CSS is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but it can also be used with any kind of XML document. CSS is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content from document presentation, including elements such as the layout, colors, and fonts.

Cloud (Enterprise) Hosting

Cloud (enterprise) hosting is using a number of servers hosted elsewhere to create a large pool of server capability for server resources. It works on an as-needed basis. Cloud computing/hosting has grown from being a business concept to one of the fastest growing segments in the IT industry.

Database Management System

A DBMS is a system software package that helps the use of integrated collection of data records and files known as databases. It allows different user application programs to easily access the same database.

Dedicated Server

A dedicated server is when the client leases an entire server which is not shared with anyone else. This gives you full control over the server meaning you can choose the operating system, hardware… Loading times for your site are much faster because the entire computer is “dedicated” to running the server software. If performance is a key factor, or you’re running RAM-intensive programs, you may be better off with co-location or dedicated server hosting techniques.

Domain Name

The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Often a hosting company will offer to register your domain name at the time you sign up for a hosting plan.

Host Name Server

Basically a hostname is a domain name assigned to a host computer for example en.wikipedia.org consists of a local hostname (en) and the domain name wikipedia.org. A hostname server is where you house your site, and you usually have to pay a monthly or annual fee for this service.

Mailing List Software

Mailing list software is a very if you want to host a discussion group or plan on distributing newsletters on a frequent basis. Electronic mailing lists are usually fully or partially automated through the use of special mailing list software and a reflector address that are set up on a server capable of receiving email.

Microsoft Virtual Server

Microsoft Virtual Server facilitates the creation of virtual machines (a software implementation of a machine (i.e. a computer) that executes programs like a physical machine) on the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

Root Server

A machine that has the software and data needed to locate name servers that contain authoritative data for the top-level domains.

Site Monitoring

Site monitoring is a service that monitors a web server on a regular basis (like every few minutes) and alerts specified individuals of any problems that are encountered.

Top-level domain (TLD)

A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. The root zone is controlled by the United States Department of Commerce who must approve all changes to the root zone file requested by ICANN.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

VPSrefers to the virtual; machine used exclusively by an individual customer of a web hosting service. is essentially multiple isolated server environments on a single physical server. It uses its own disk space, RAM, CPU, IP addresses. A VPS account gives root access to the system, allowing for modifications of server configuration files and installation of applications.

Website Builders

Website builders are tools that allow the construction of websites without manual code-editing. .Many web hosts offer simple what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) site builders to help put up a simple website.

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