cPanel Hosting Blog || Linux Web Hosting Articles

Remember when just businesses had web sites and web hosting accounts? Those days are long gone. As we bundle more and more easy-to-use features into our affordable web hosting plan, personal use continues to grow. Here’s some reasons you should have your personal web hosting account.

SiteStudio
Anyone with a web connection and browser can build a great looking and smart functioning web site for business or personal use using SiteStudio, an online website building service.

Domain and Email
Get yourself a domain that reflects you and that can remain with you for life, no matter what your job, business, ISP or your physical address may be. Even if you choose to changes hosts, your domain name goes with you! Friends and family can easily keep in touch for life.

Web Mail
Your hosting account offers a web mail service similar to a hotmail service. It’s easy to use and allows you to check emails from anywhere. You can even give friends and family their own email address to enjoy the same convenience.

Personal Web Site / Resume or Bio
Whether it’s through a casual personal site or a better-job seeking resume, you can impress others sending them to a professionally hosted site. Your hosting account puts powerful site tools at your fingertips - easy for even beginning webmasters.

Share Photos and Files
Your hosting account makes it easy to share photos and all sorts of other files. Just upload your files and send them a link. Unlike free hosting, a basic plan has no file type limits.

Run Your Own Web Forums
With just a few clicks you can have your own professional grade web forums. Create a forum to chat with friends, family, colleagues - anyone you want!

Storing Your Ebay Photos
Do you Ebay? Lots of our members do. Your hosting account makes it easy for you to upload and store your photos to save money on posting your ebay ads.

WebHost Manager is an extensive web application that provides a complete range of web hosting functionality. The following areas of functionality are provided:

• Server Setup - The Server Setup area enables you to control the main setup of your server, including nameservers, changing passwords, and enabling and disabling services and resellers.
• Support - The Support area contains the Interactive Knowledgebase, a database of common problems and solutions. All of the fixes can be activated from the Knowledgebase area itself.
• Languages - The Languages area enables you to create, alter, and upload/download language configuration files for CPanel.
• Backup - The Backup area deals with configuring and restoring backup files and versions of key files (such as httpd.conf).
• System Reboot - The System Reboot area enables you to reboot your server in two separate ways.
• Server Status - The Server Status area displays a wide variety of server information, from your server’s Apache status to CPU usage.
• Account Functions - The Account Functions area deals with all of the functions necessary to create and manage web hosting accounts, from creating and editing accounts to mailing all user and listing all subdomains.
• Transfers - The Transfers area enables you to transfer web accounts from other server to your own server.
• Themes - The Themes area deals with all aspects of the CPanel and WebHost Manager user interface, from branding current themes to creating your own.
• Packages - The Packages area enables you to create your own custom web hosting packages.
• DNS Functions - The DNS Functions area manages all aspects of DNS, from parking a domain to adding a DNS zone.
• FrontPage - The FrontPage area allows you to install and uninstall FrontPage extensions for your Microsoft customers.
• MySQL - The MySQL area enables you to repair a database, change passwords, and show what MySQL processes are in use.
• IP Functions - The IP Functions area enables you to add and manage IP addresses, including adding and reserving addresses and displaying IP usage.
• Disk Drives - The Disk Drives area deals with formatting and mounting new hard drives and optimizing hard drives for superior performance.
• Software - The Software area deals with installing and updating server and system software on your server.
• Security - The Security area deals with security issues, from scanning for security beaches and Trojan Horses to modifying Apache’s memory usage limit.
• Email - The Email area allows you troubleshoot problematic e-mail addresses and manage your mail queue.
• System Health - The System Health area displays a variety of information that indicates the health of your system, including current disk and CPU usage.
• CPanel 6 - The CPanel 6 area contains a variety of miscellaneous features that help you to manage CPanel accounts.
• SSL/TLS - The SSL/TLS area enables you to manage all areas of SSL certificates, from generating new certificates to installing and changing them.
• Restart Services - The Restart Services area allows you to restart various system services.

Linux enjoys a widespread popularity among those seeking a UNIX based solution. Some of the facilities included in Linux are true multi-tasking, virtual memory, the world’s fastest TCP/IP drivers, shared libraries and multi-user capabilities. The Apache web server is also the fastest and most reliable web server in the world. At minimal cost, we provide advanced features, and a stable as well as scalable hosting solution to meet your growing needs

With Linux Virtual hosting you can run your websites and enjoy the performance and security of the Linux-platform. Our Linux Hosting solutions are the most economical, reliable form of web hosting. Utilizing cPanel control panel We have combined a robust Software platform for a reliable Linux operating system

Following are the distinctive features:

Software Features

* CentOS 5.0
* cPanel/WHM control panel
* Apache Web Server

Hardware Features

* Dual Quad Core Xeon Processor
* 99.95% Uptime
* Intel Based Server
* 12 GB RAM

E-Mail Solutions

* Mailbox Control Panel
* Web-based Messaging
* Mail List Server
* Catch-All Facility
* Mailing Rules

Programming Features

* PHP 5.x
* CGI-Bin
* SSI (Server Side Include)
* Perl

Statistics Features

* Hits on website
* Pages views of website
* Search String
* Referrers
* Countries
* Access to Raw Log Files

Database Features

* MySQL Database
* PostGRE SQL Database
* PHP MyAdmin

PHP, the HTML-embedded scripting language, and MySQL, the leading open-source database, are the ideal combination for web hosting. They are both powerful platforms that allow you to develop virtually any web-based application. Both programs, when running under the Apache web server on a Unix-like operating system such as FreeBSD, are both stable and secure. Most web hosting providers offer at least PHP with their web hosting accounts, and may allow the user to create a limited number of MySQL databases on their account.

Many other web hosting providers, offer PHP on all of web hosting accounts. You can use it to build your own web-based applications, simplify content management on your site, or use one of the hundreds of pre-built PHP software programs.

Of course, the true potential for PHP can be realized when you begin serving content from, or adding content to, a MySQL database. In SQL terminology, a table contains rows of data and columns, or fields, to identify that data, similar to a single spreadsheet in Excel. A database is a collection of tables with their indexes, and it is stored physically on the hard drive as an individual folder.

Most of Basic Web Hosting accounts include at least one MySQL database, which works well if you are operating only one domain. However, when you begin to expand your site, or you begin servicing other sub-accounts under your main account, you will want to group database resources into distinct databases. This enables you to distribute access control and quota levels between users or projects. Many web hosting providers will increase the number of databases you are allowed to create, but very few can offer unlimited databases.

One of the most valuable features of the dedicated operating system used in our Virtual Dedicated and Root Server plans is the ability to create an unlimited number of databases. Most web hosting providers can only offer this on expensive dedicated servers.

Since both PHP and MySQL are open-source projects, development continues on each of them at a fairly consistent rate. PHP in particular boasts a wide array of functions that enable dynamic image generation, sophisticated encryption, and more. Not all of these functions are available in the standard distribution, and they must be installed and compiled directly into the PHP code. You must have root access to perform these updates, and a virtual private server plan gives you that ability at a surprisingly affordable rate. You can also use root access to change ownership of the MySQL databases, which allows you to include the database size in one of your user’s quotas. And, because you have exclusive access to your operating system, you can upgrade to the latest versions at any time, as long as you are prepared to reverse your changes or seek professional support if something unexpected occurs.

cPanel Control Panel Features. Powerful. Easy-to-use.

At the heart of our Linux Web Hosting is our advanced, easy to use and extremely powerful control panel cPanel. Below is a list of some of the key features incorporated in this amazing web control panel:-

Some of the options it offers you are:

Add, remove and modify E-mail accounts on the fly.
Add and remove domain pointers and sub-domains on the fly.
View your account quota and see how much space you have used.
Install, and setup message boards, chat forums, and a wide range of third party scripts included with your software.
Add and remove E-commerce features such as Agora Shopping Card and OSO Commerce package (in short, you can sell products online using this inclusive software.)

And, much, much more..!

Unlike many other providers which offer you complex, hard to use and often inferior control panels, we feature cPanel technology. cPanel is one of the most tested, and oldest control panels. It is installed on tens of thousands of web servers world wide.

Hosts should provide SSH access, but to only those clients who demonstrate a genuine need. A control panel should do most of the work they need. SSH can sometimes be helpful than FTP. For example, it takes longer to upload a list of files whereas you can simply untar a file containing the list of files using SSH ~ SSH is convenient for editing text files whereas you have to overwrite the files every time you make changes to them with FTP.

Another option which host providers can use is provide SSH (Jailed shell) temporarily, however the customer MUST prove that the task that he needs to do, can ONLY be done thru SSH & nothing else. If this is the case, then the host should provide a jailed SSH access for an hour or so. And then after a time limit say for example. 60 minutes they can disable SSH for the client.

Providing SSH is configured properly (provided in a jailed environment etc.) and the server is secure there is no added security risk of offering the service. Don’t enable SSH access by default and require all customers who request it to show a competent level of command line knowledge before enabling it. This will protect customers from messing their accounts up more than anything else though.

Some tips if you did/do offer it…

1. Do not make it public that you offer it.
2. Make sure you have a firewall above the server level for connection restrictions.
3. Make it static ip access only to that ip.
4. Jail your shells

CPanel remains the most popular web hosting administration panel for users, due to a number of important reasons.

It’s clear and speedy ability to navigate the options makes it an attractive interface for newer users to administrate their website. It has often been a preference of SME web hosting companies precisely because of this.

Also, extensive development has created a strong cross-platform solution, which makes it especially attractive for use on servers using the most common Unix/Linux operating systems on the internet.

Additionally, continued development by third-parties has seen an explosion in the number of attactive user tools.

The first stage of development was the jump from a clumsy frames-based interface, to a sleek and attractive CPanel X interface.

There have since been a number of significant “skin” options developed since to change appearance in various forms.

There has also been a big improvement with the scripts library development, none more so than the Fantastico version of CPanel, which offers an extensive library of one-click software install solutions, from bulletin boards and blogs, to link directories and ticket support packages.

Another worthy point to note about Cpanel is that it has a feature which allows the direct transfer of the content from one admin panel to be transferred to another - so if you change hosting providers, it is easy to transfer all of your data to the new data.

However, such a complex software solution comes at a price, and this is in the form of a range of known bugs and potential security exploits.

Although there are various complaints about these within the web hosting industry itself, the end-user will rarely notice any of these issues in the hands of a competent hosting company.

Outside of a shared hosting environment, CPanel also comes with WebHostManager, which is a very simple interface for administrating hosting accounts under your control.

Again, simple to use and with many features, it is a generally very user-friendly system, though system admins can disable/enable a range of features according to the hosting environment, such as whether it is used for reseller hosting or dedicated hosting, for example.

The dedicated hosting form of WHM comes with the ability to automatically check for patches and even auto-install them.

Overall, CPanel is a very flexible and feature-packed tool, easy to use, and friendly on the end-user webmaster.

Shared web hosting - also known as Virtual Web hosting - is a basic form of web hosting, that involves lots of different websites all sharing the same server.

This is effectively entry level web hosting, and also the most common form for most webmasters, as many websites have remarkably little resource usage.

What to expect from Shared Hosting

Even though Shared Hosting is the cheapest form of web hosting, you should still expect your web hosting company to provide support services. These support services will be focused on simply ensuring that the server is running fine and operational, and for your website to function as properly as can be expected with the server configuration used.

This means that while a webhost may be expected to provide support - such as helping move databases, help with FTP, or to help troubleshoot if your website appears to be down, disabled, or otherwise compromised - you should not expect your webhost to provide support for software issues. You will, in most such instances, simply be directed to inquire at the the relevant support forums of the software developer.

You should also expect that your website be available and accessible online, from any reasonable part of the world, at any time. Many hosts have some form of uptime guarantee, which is usually based on the guarantees provided to them by the datacenter that the hosting company uses to house their servers.

So if a webhost manages their servers in a datacenter that claims a 99.9% uptime guarantee, then the host will probably offer that same guarantee to you. It is also likely that the hosting company would offer some degree of financial compensation in the event of your website being offline for longer than reasonably expected due to problems with the hosting company’s server or datacenter (known as an outage, or downtime).

Please note that routine scheduled maintenance may result in the temporary loss of your website from being accessible on the internet, but planned downtime is almost never classed as an outage. Most webhosts will provide prior warning of planned maintenance, so that you can ensure that yo can plan around such periods, should you need to.

Advantages/Disadvantages of Shared Hosting

Pros

* Shared hosting is usually much cheaper than any other form of hosting, with reliable webhosting commonly costing as little as $8-10/month (£5-7/month)
* Most hosts offer a very flexible range of resource options, so you can usually find a shared hosting plan that works best for you
* Shared hosting accounts are usually very easy to manage, as there are no complicated root command to work with

Cons

* Not all requirements are covered by all shared hosting plans - for example, some budget plans may not allow use of databases or even PHP
* Because the server processor resources are shared, if any sites on the same server require more than usual processor requirements, then it may end up competing for resources with your own site, which may become slow or even unresponsive
* Some webhosts will fill a server with too many websites, leaving everybody’s sites fighting for the same processor resources anyway
* If a website on the same server is involved with e-mail spamming, you could find the internet address (IP) - which includes your website - blacklisted by e-mail filters
* You have no control over what happens to the server, or what software is installed - some software installed on the server may not work well, or at all, with software that you want to use on your website. Conversely, to properly run some software on your website, you may need software installed on your server that your host may refuse to install

Overall

Shared hosting offers a great environment to start and grow a site, but there can be risks involved.

Most hobby sites and basic e-commerce sites can probably enjoy a safe shared hosting experience.

However, if you are looking to host an e-commerce site for taking orders on a daily basis, then you may find that shared hosting environment may not offer the continued reliability and stability that you need.

CPanel is an easy user-interface site that lets you control your host account environment. The main peculiarity of this operating system is that it so simple to use that your below average computer user can’t mess it up. It’s got great features embedded into its panel and some of the features are listed below.

Site Tools

There are such tools available for your use, which are Web Protect (.htaccess editor), Custom error pages, Redirects, Ability to edit MIME types, Ability to edit Apache handlers, Install/Uninstall FrontPage Extensions, Search engine tool submitting and File Manager.

Email

The email program provides you with the possibility to add, remove, and change passwords while managing email accounts. CPanel is also provided by Webmail for the accounts, Auto responders, Forwarders, Mailing Lists, Spam filtering and some more.

Backup

Backup allows you to create copies of account files and databases. The backup menu also allows you to download any automatic backups that were downloaded by your CPanel administrator.

Stats

Here are different tools to survey your site popularity and efficiency. Those are Webalizer web stats, Webalizer FTP stats, Analog stats, AWStats, View latest visitors, View bandwidth usage and View error log modules.

FTP

There is a module that controls FTP accounts (add, remove, change password for its access), Anonymous FTP controls; Ability to change FTP login message and Ability to kill FTP sessions.

Advanced Stuff

You have an ability to add or remove subdomains, Subdomain Redirects and its Stats.

Advanced Tools

You are provided with tools of SSH access tools, Manage GPG keys and Cron jobs.

There are also Pre-Installed CGI Scripts. Those are Interchange Cart, Agora Cart, Bulletin Board, Java Chat, HTML Chat, phpMyChat, CGI Wrapper (for non-suexec installs), Random HTML generator, Advanced Guestbook, Counter Generator, Java Clock Generator, Java Countdown Generator, Secure FormMail clone, CGIEmail, Entropy Search, Entropy Banner. Network Tools are DNS Lookup and Traceroute. Database Management tools includes Managing MySQL databases and phpMyAdmin access.

For beginners, CPanel has a lot of options that are easy to use. CPanel works with most of browsers, such as IE, Opera, Firefox and others.

Inexpensive web hosting is the by-product of the commoditization of computer and networking hardware and it is making possible some amazingly cheap web hosting options for small and medium businesses as well as individuals.

Swim With The Big Fish

Inexpensive web hosting takes place on a shared server and is also known as “virtual hosting.” It allows small businesses to present themselves online in a manner virtually indistinguishable from the major online players.

The primary advantage of shared web hosting is that you don’t have to fork over big money to pay for a dedicated server, networking hardware, and web site development when you are just getting your business off the ground.

Instead, you can realize very inexpensive web hosting by sharing these resources with other small and medium sized web sites. You save money by spreading the infrastructure costs among them all.

Best of all, your visitors and customers won’t notice any difference between your site and a major high volume web site with its own dedicated servers and other resources.

Balanced Performance

The way this works is that your web host will monitor and balance the server loads and transaction volumes across all the sites using shared web hosting services to ensure optimal, balanced performance for everyone.

That is, if they know what they’re doing…

Server resource balancing is not rocket science and most well established web hosting companies do it well. However, because web hosting costs are continually falling, the web site hosting industry is booming and there are a lot of new, inexperienced players entering the field in the hope of becoming the next big web hosting company with TV commercials of Super Bowl proportions.