Security issues
DNS was not originally designed with security in mind, and thus has a number of security issues.
One class of vulnerabilities is DNS cache poisoning, which tricks a DNS server into believing it has received authentic information when, in reality, it has not.
DNS responses are traditionally not cryptographically signed, leading to many attack possibilities; The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) modifies DNS to add support for cryptographically signed responses. There are various extensions to support securing zone transfer information as well.
Even with encryption, a DNS server could become compromised by a virus (or for that matter a disgruntled employee) that would cause IP addresses of that server to be redirected to a malicious address with a long TTL. This could have far-reaching impact to potentially millions of Internet users if busy DNS servers cache the bad IP data. This would require manual purging of all affected DNS caches as required by the long TTL (up to 68 years).
Some domain names can spoof other, similar-looking domain names. For example, "paypal.com" and "paypa1.com" are different names, yet users may be unable to tell the difference when the user's typeface (font) does not clearly differentiate the letter l and the numeral 1. This problem is much more serious in systems that support internationalized domain names, since many characters that are different, from the point of view of ISO 10646, appear identical on typical computer screens. This vulnerability is often exploited in phishing.
Techniques such as Forward Confirmed reverse DNS can also be used to help validate DNS results.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Service scope
Service scope
The scope of hosting services varies widely. The most basic is web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.
Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, ColdFusion, and ASP.NET). These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is also highly recommended.
The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other services like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are commonly used by larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company.
[edit] Hosting reliability and uptime
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Multiple racks of servers.
Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim for at least 99.9% uptime (roughly equivalent to 45 minutes of downtime a month, or less), but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment, which may or may not be considered part of the official uptime promise.
Many providers tie uptime and accessibility into their own service level agreement (SLA). SLAs sometimes include refunds or reduced costs if performance goals are not met.
The scope of hosting services varies widely. The most basic is web page and small-scale file hosting, where files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free, advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.
Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, ColdFusion, and ASP.NET). These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For e-commerce, SSL is also highly recommended.
The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other services like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are commonly used by larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company.
[edit] Hosting reliability and uptime
Question book-new.svg
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)
Multiple racks of servers.
Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim for at least 99.9% uptime (roughly equivalent to 45 minutes of downtime a month, or less), but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment, which may or may not be considered part of the official uptime promise.
Many providers tie uptime and accessibility into their own service level agreement (SLA). SLAs sometimes include refunds or reduced costs if performance goals are not met.
Domain name registration
Domain name registration
Some domain name registries, often called network information centers (NIC), also function as registrars to end-users. The major generic top-level domain registries, such as for the COM, NET, ORG, INFO domains and others, use a registry-registrar model consisting of hundreds of domain name registrars (see lists at ICANN or VeriSign). In this method of management, the registry only manages the domain name database and the relationship with the registrars. The registrants (users of a domain name) are customers of the registrar, in some cases through additional layers of resellers.
In the process of registering a domain name and maintaining authority over the new name space created, registrars use several key pieces of information connected with a domain:
* Administrative contact. A registrant usually designates an administrative contact to manage the domain name. The administrative contact usually has the highest level of control over a domain. Management functions delegated to the administrative contacts may include management of all business information, such as name of record, postal address, and contact information of the official registrant of the domain and the obligation to conform to the requirements of the domain registry in order to retain the right to use a domain name. Furthermore the administrative contact installs additional contact information for technical and billing functions.
* Technical contact. The technical contact manages the name servers of a domain name. The functions of a technical contact include assuring conformance of the configurations of the domain name with the requirements of the domain registry, maintaining the domain zone records, and providing continuous functionality of the name servers (that leads to the accessibility of the domain name).
* Billing contact. The party responsible for receiving billing invoices from the domain name registrar and paying applicable fees.
* Name servers. Most registrars provide two or more name servers as part of the registration service. However, a registrant may specify its own authoritative name servers to host a domain's resource records. The registrar's policies govern the number of servers and the type of server information required. Some providers require a hostname and the corresponding IP address or just the hostname, which must be resolvable either in the new domain, or exist elsewhere. Based on traditional requirements (RFC 1034), typically a minimum of two servers is required.
Some domain name registries, often called network information centers (NIC), also function as registrars to end-users. The major generic top-level domain registries, such as for the COM, NET, ORG, INFO domains and others, use a registry-registrar model consisting of hundreds of domain name registrars (see lists at ICANN or VeriSign). In this method of management, the registry only manages the domain name database and the relationship with the registrars. The registrants (users of a domain name) are customers of the registrar, in some cases through additional layers of resellers.
In the process of registering a domain name and maintaining authority over the new name space created, registrars use several key pieces of information connected with a domain:
* Administrative contact. A registrant usually designates an administrative contact to manage the domain name. The administrative contact usually has the highest level of control over a domain. Management functions delegated to the administrative contacts may include management of all business information, such as name of record, postal address, and contact information of the official registrant of the domain and the obligation to conform to the requirements of the domain registry in order to retain the right to use a domain name. Furthermore the administrative contact installs additional contact information for technical and billing functions.
* Technical contact. The technical contact manages the name servers of a domain name. The functions of a technical contact include assuring conformance of the configurations of the domain name with the requirements of the domain registry, maintaining the domain zone records, and providing continuous functionality of the name servers (that leads to the accessibility of the domain name).
* Billing contact. The party responsible for receiving billing invoices from the domain name registrar and paying applicable fees.
* Name servers. Most registrars provide two or more name servers as part of the registration service. However, a registrant may specify its own authoritative name servers to host a domain's resource records. The registrar's policies govern the number of servers and the type of server information required. Some providers require a hostname and the corresponding IP address or just the hostname, which must be resolvable either in the new domain, or exist elsewhere. Based on traditional requirements (RFC 1034), typically a minimum of two servers is required.
Domain name
Domain name
The right to use a domain name is delegated by domain name registrars which are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the name and number systems of the Internet. In addition to ICANN, each top-level domain (TLD) is maintained and serviced technically by an administrative organization, operating a registry. A registry is responsible for maintaining the database of names registered within the TLD it administers. The registry receives registration information from each domain name registrar authorized to assign names in the corresponding TLD and publishes the information using a special service, the whois protocol.
Registries and registrars usually charge an annual fee for the service of delegating a domain name to a user and providing a default set of name servers. Often this transaction is termed a sale or lease of the domain name, and the registrant may sometimes be called an "owner", but no such legal relationship is actually associated with the transaction, only the exclusive right to use the domain name. More correctly, authorized users are known as "registrants" or as "domain holders".
ICANN publishes a complete list of TLD registries and domain name registrars in the world. One can obtain information about the registrant of a domain name by looking in the WHOIS database held by many domain registries.
For most of the more than 240 country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), the domain registries hold the authoritative WHOIS (Registrant, name servers, expiration dates, etc.). For instance, DENIC, Germany NIC, holds the authoritative WHOIS to a .DE domain name. Since about 2001, most gTLD registries (.ORG, .BIZ, .INFO) have adopted this so-called "thick" registry approach, i.e. keeping the authoritative WHOIS in the central registries instead of the registrars.
For COM and NET domain names, a "thin" registry is used: the domain registry (e.g. VeriSign) holds a basic WHOIS (registrar and name servers, etc.). One can find the detailed WHOIS (registrant, name servers, expiry dates, etc.) at the registrars.
Some domain name registries, often called network information centers (NIC), also function as registrars to end-users. The major generic top-level domain registries, such as for the COM, NET, ORG, INFO domains and others, use a registry-registrar model consisting of hundreds of domain name registrars (see lists at ICANN or VeriSign). In this method of management, the registry only manages the domain name database and the relationship with the registrars. The registrants (users of a domain name) are customers of the registrar, in some cases through additional layers of resellers.
The right to use a domain name is delegated by domain name registrars which are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the name and number systems of the Internet. In addition to ICANN, each top-level domain (TLD) is maintained and serviced technically by an administrative organization, operating a registry. A registry is responsible for maintaining the database of names registered within the TLD it administers. The registry receives registration information from each domain name registrar authorized to assign names in the corresponding TLD and publishes the information using a special service, the whois protocol.
Registries and registrars usually charge an annual fee for the service of delegating a domain name to a user and providing a default set of name servers. Often this transaction is termed a sale or lease of the domain name, and the registrant may sometimes be called an "owner", but no such legal relationship is actually associated with the transaction, only the exclusive right to use the domain name. More correctly, authorized users are known as "registrants" or as "domain holders".
ICANN publishes a complete list of TLD registries and domain name registrars in the world. One can obtain information about the registrant of a domain name by looking in the WHOIS database held by many domain registries.
For most of the more than 240 country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), the domain registries hold the authoritative WHOIS (Registrant, name servers, expiration dates, etc.). For instance, DENIC, Germany NIC, holds the authoritative WHOIS to a .DE domain name. Since about 2001, most gTLD registries (.ORG, .BIZ, .INFO) have adopted this so-called "thick" registry approach, i.e. keeping the authoritative WHOIS in the central registries instead of the registrars.
For COM and NET domain names, a "thin" registry is used: the domain registry (e.g. VeriSign) holds a basic WHOIS (registrar and name servers, etc.). One can find the detailed WHOIS (registrant, name servers, expiry dates, etc.) at the registrars.
Some domain name registries, often called network information centers (NIC), also function as registrars to end-users. The major generic top-level domain registries, such as for the COM, NET, ORG, INFO domains and others, use a registry-registrar model consisting of hundreds of domain name registrars (see lists at ICANN or VeriSign). In this method of management, the registry only manages the domain name database and the relationship with the registrars. The registrants (users of a domain name) are customers of the registrar, in some cases through additional layers of resellers.
Profiting from free webhosting
Profiting from free webhosting
The majority of the hosting companies use free hosting to introduce their services, and as an entry point to their more expensive offerings. Generally they recoup their costs in one of a few ways:
* Advertising - Selling online advertising on the customer sites is generally considered a fair trade - the reasoning is that high traffic sites are more expensive to host, but the additional traffic allows for additional ad impressions therefore covering the cost. For the web master, it can be a good trade if the advertising is of good quality and non-competitive. This is one of the main reasons that businesses do not use free hosting for their website. The majority of free hosting companies use this method.
* Referrals - Using a simple form of viral marketing, these providers rely on the users to spread the offer. The ratio of free to paid accounts is known, and by having each free user refer a number of friends, the hosting provider is able to get enough paid accounts to cover the cost.
* Resell Hosting - This is where someone starts up a hosting company, attracts lots of visitors, then sells the hosting company to someone else once it can no longer support itself. Once sold, this individual uses the money to start up multiple hosting ventures and sells each in turn.
Some hosting companies are using hybrid approaches that mix these tactics.
The majority of the hosting companies use free hosting to introduce their services, and as an entry point to their more expensive offerings. Generally they recoup their costs in one of a few ways:
* Advertising - Selling online advertising on the customer sites is generally considered a fair trade - the reasoning is that high traffic sites are more expensive to host, but the additional traffic allows for additional ad impressions therefore covering the cost. For the web master, it can be a good trade if the advertising is of good quality and non-competitive. This is one of the main reasons that businesses do not use free hosting for their website. The majority of free hosting companies use this method.
* Referrals - Using a simple form of viral marketing, these providers rely on the users to spread the offer. The ratio of free to paid accounts is known, and by having each free user refer a number of friends, the hosting provider is able to get enough paid accounts to cover the cost.
* Resell Hosting - This is where someone starts up a hosting company, attracts lots of visitors, then sells the hosting company to someone else once it can no longer support itself. Once sold, this individual uses the money to start up multiple hosting ventures and sells each in turn.
Some hosting companies are using hybrid approaches that mix these tactics.
FFmpeg hosting
FFmpeg hosting
FFmpeg hosting is a term that is used to refer to any "assortment of software which is available free, which helps in recording, converting and streaming a digital video or an audio", and to those domain registrars and web hosting companies which provide the above assortment of software to video hosting services. It is known as FFmpeg hosting due to the usage by several video hosting services of the FFmpeg software library in the server-side conversion of files with variously-encoded video and audio formats into a single preferred video or audio format that is both playable from the video hosting service and embeddable into any offsite webpage. As of 2010, the preferred format for the presentation of converted video is the .mp4 format.
While there are thousands of web hosting services on the World Wide Web, only a tiny, but growing minority of these webhosts are willing to allow or accommodate video and audio hosting services, due to the rapid takeup of both bandwidth and disk space by user-uploaded video . The creation of video hosting services which sprung up in the years since the 2005 founding of YouTube, however, has created a demand for video-hosting friendly web hosts.
Most video hosting services need a dedicated or semi-dedicated server from the FFmpeg host, with shared bandwidth and virtual servers being sub-optimal solutions.
FFmpeg hosting is a term that is used to refer to any "assortment of software which is available free, which helps in recording, converting and streaming a digital video or an audio", and to those domain registrars and web hosting companies which provide the above assortment of software to video hosting services. It is known as FFmpeg hosting due to the usage by several video hosting services of the FFmpeg software library in the server-side conversion of files with variously-encoded video and audio formats into a single preferred video or audio format that is both playable from the video hosting service and embeddable into any offsite webpage. As of 2010, the preferred format for the presentation of converted video is the .mp4 format.
While there are thousands of web hosting services on the World Wide Web, only a tiny, but growing minority of these webhosts are willing to allow or accommodate video and audio hosting services, due to the rapid takeup of both bandwidth and disk space by user-uploaded video . The creation of video hosting services which sprung up in the years since the 2005 founding of YouTube, however, has created a demand for video-hosting friendly web hosts.
Most video hosting services need a dedicated or semi-dedicated server from the FFmpeg host, with shared bandwidth and virtual servers being sub-optimal solutions.
Domain Name System
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.
The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user's physical location. Because of this, World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks and Internet contact information can remain consistent and constant even if the current Internet routing arrangements change or the participant uses a mobile device. Internet domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses such as 208.77.188.166 (IPv4) or 2001:db8:1f70::999:de8:7648:6e8 (IPv6). People take advantage of this when they recite meaningful URLs and e-mail addresses without having to know how the machine will actually locate them.
The Domain Name System distributes the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to IP addresses by designating authoritative name servers for each domain. Authoritative name servers are assigned to be responsible for their particular domains, and in turn can assign other authoritative name servers for their sub-domains. This mechanism has made the DNS distributed, fault tolerant, and helped avoid the need for a single central register to be continually consulted and updated.
In general, the Domain Name System also stores other types of information, such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given Internet domain. By providing a worldwide, distributed keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.
Other identifiers such as RFID tags, UPC codes, International characters in email addresses and host names, and a variety of other identifiers could all potentially utilize DNS.[1]
The Domain Name System also defines the technical underpinnings of the functionality of this database service. For this purpose it defines the DNS protocol, a detailed specification of the data structures and communication exchanges used in DNS, as part of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). The DNS protocol was developed and defined in the early 1980s and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (cf. History).
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.
The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user's physical location. Because of this, World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks and Internet contact information can remain consistent and constant even if the current Internet routing arrangements change or the participant uses a mobile device. Internet domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses such as 208.77.188.166 (IPv4) or 2001:db8:1f70::999:de8:7648:6e8 (IPv6). People take advantage of this when they recite meaningful URLs and e-mail addresses without having to know how the machine will actually locate them.
The Domain Name System distributes the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to IP addresses by designating authoritative name servers for each domain. Authoritative name servers are assigned to be responsible for their particular domains, and in turn can assign other authoritative name servers for their sub-domains. This mechanism has made the DNS distributed, fault tolerant, and helped avoid the need for a single central register to be continually consulted and updated.
In general, the Domain Name System also stores other types of information, such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given Internet domain. By providing a worldwide, distributed keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.
Other identifiers such as RFID tags, UPC codes, International characters in email addresses and host names, and a variety of other identifiers could all potentially utilize DNS.[1]
The Domain Name System also defines the technical underpinnings of the functionality of this database service. For this purpose it defines the DNS protocol, a detailed specification of the data structures and communication exchanges used in DNS, as part of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). The DNS protocol was developed and defined in the early 1980s and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (cf. History).
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Clustered hosting
Clustered hosting
Clustered hosting is a type of web hosting that spreads the load of hosting across multiple physical machines ("nodes"), increasing availability and decreasing the chances of one service (for example FTP, or email) affecting another - for example web or database (e.g. MySQL). Many large websites run on clustered hosting solutions, for example, large discussion forums will tend to run using multiple front-end webservers with multiple back-end database servers.
Typically, most hosting infrastructures are based on the paradigm of using a single physical machine to host multiple hosted services, including web, database, email, FTP and others. A single physical machine is not only a single point of failure, but also has finite capacity for traffic, that in practice can be troublesome for a busy website or for a website that is experiencing transient bursts in traffic.
By clustering services across multiple hardware machines, and using load balancing you can eliminate single points of failure increasing availability of your website and other web services beyond that of ordinary single server hosting. A single server can require periodic reboots for software upgrades and the like, whereas in a clustered platform you can stagger the restarts such that the service is still available whilst still upgrading all necessary machines in the cluster.
Clustered hosting is similar to cloud hosting, in that the resources of many machines are available for a website to utilize on demand, making scalability a large advantage to a clustered hosting solution.
Clustered hosting is a type of web hosting that spreads the load of hosting across multiple physical machines ("nodes"), increasing availability and decreasing the chances of one service (for example FTP, or email) affecting another - for example web or database (e.g. MySQL). Many large websites run on clustered hosting solutions, for example, large discussion forums will tend to run using multiple front-end webservers with multiple back-end database servers.
Typically, most hosting infrastructures are based on the paradigm of using a single physical machine to host multiple hosted services, including web, database, email, FTP and others. A single physical machine is not only a single point of failure, but also has finite capacity for traffic, that in practice can be troublesome for a busy website or for a website that is experiencing transient bursts in traffic.
By clustering services across multiple hardware machines, and using load balancing you can eliminate single points of failure increasing availability of your website and other web services beyond that of ordinary single server hosting. A single server can require periodic reboots for software upgrades and the like, whereas in a clustered platform you can stagger the restarts such that the service is still available whilst still upgrading all necessary machines in the cluster.
Clustered hosting is similar to cloud hosting, in that the resources of many machines are available for a website to utilize on demand, making scalability a large advantage to a clustered hosting solution.
Methods of giving out web hosting
Methods of giving out web hosting
A few methods of giving out Free Webhosting to people by Webhosts
[edit] Instant Activation
Due to the risks of illegal, inappropriate and abusive websites, many free web host services have switched from instant activation to mail confirmation or other means of verifying the account details prior to actually providing service to the user. Some services which have opted to stay with instant activation usually provide lower storage limits and bandwidth allowance among other limitations such as features available due to the risks associated with instant activation.
Free web hosts which provide instant activation are usually the primary targets of link spaming sites, phishing sites and other malicious activity due in part to the ease of account creation.
[edit] Post for Hosting
Some free hosts require posting in a forum. Forum-based free hosting requires users to either reach a certain amount of posts before getting a free hosting account, or be an active contributor in the forum. Forum-based free hosting often work on a system of points where posts give points to a user and can be used as credits toward getting a hosting account or more resources. Typically, the forum where users have to post contains advertising as the hosts way of making a profit.
[edit] Forum applications
This method is popular, as the hosts can decide which applications to deny and allow. This is common when a popular forum has free hosting as an add-on service, rather than the other way around.
A few methods of giving out Free Webhosting to people by Webhosts
[edit] Instant Activation
Due to the risks of illegal, inappropriate and abusive websites, many free web host services have switched from instant activation to mail confirmation or other means of verifying the account details prior to actually providing service to the user. Some services which have opted to stay with instant activation usually provide lower storage limits and bandwidth allowance among other limitations such as features available due to the risks associated with instant activation.
Free web hosts which provide instant activation are usually the primary targets of link spaming sites, phishing sites and other malicious activity due in part to the ease of account creation.
[edit] Post for Hosting
Some free hosts require posting in a forum. Forum-based free hosting requires users to either reach a certain amount of posts before getting a free hosting account, or be an active contributor in the forum. Forum-based free hosting often work on a system of points where posts give points to a user and can be used as credits toward getting a hosting account or more resources. Typically, the forum where users have to post contains advertising as the hosts way of making a profit.
[edit] Forum applications
This method is popular, as the hosts can decide which applications to deny and allow. This is common when a popular forum has free hosting as an add-on service, rather than the other way around.
Reseller hosting
Reseller hosting
Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller purchases the host's services wholesale and then sells them to customers for a profit. A certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to the reseller account. The reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company, or resell shared hosting services. In the latter case, the reseller is simply given the permission to sell a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth to his own customers without renting a server from a web hosting company he signed for a reseller account with.
The typical web hosting reseller might be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to create their own service plans and choose their own pricing structure. In many cases, resellers are able to establish their own branding via customized control panels and name servers.
Reseller hosting does not require extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of web hosting. Usually, the data center operator is responsible for maintaining network infrastructure and hardware, and the dedicated server owner configures, secures, and updates the server. A reseller is responsible for interfacing with his/her own customer base, but any hardware, software and connectivity problems are typically forwarded to the server provider from whom the reseller plan was purchased. It should be noted that being a profitable reseller firm usually involves extensive advertising to get customers. While the monthly fees with major hosts are only a few dollars a month, it's a low margin business, and resellers must devote large advertising budgets to compete with established competitors. However, web hosting is one of the biggest online businesses, because every website needs hosting.
Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller purchases the host's services wholesale and then sells them to customers for a profit. A certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to the reseller account. The reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company, or resell shared hosting services. In the latter case, the reseller is simply given the permission to sell a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth to his own customers without renting a server from a web hosting company he signed for a reseller account with.
The typical web hosting reseller might be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to create their own service plans and choose their own pricing structure. In many cases, resellers are able to establish their own branding via customized control panels and name servers.
Reseller hosting does not require extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of web hosting. Usually, the data center operator is responsible for maintaining network infrastructure and hardware, and the dedicated server owner configures, secures, and updates the server. A reseller is responsible for interfacing with his/her own customer base, but any hardware, software and connectivity problems are typically forwarded to the server provider from whom the reseller plan was purchased. It should be noted that being a profitable reseller firm usually involves extensive advertising to get customers. While the monthly fees with major hosts are only a few dollars a month, it's a low margin business, and resellers must devote large advertising budgets to compete with established competitors. However, web hosting is one of the biggest online businesses, because every website needs hosting.
Quality and reliability
Quality and reliability
Compare us to the competition --
* Most web hosting providers utilize one backbone provider so they can give you more bandwidth at a cheaper cost.
* Most web hosting providers rent their equipment (usually refurbished - not new).
* Most providers rent their IP addresses from their data center provider (this means they are re-cycled and in some cases, the IPs have been blacklisted in the past after some spammer used it to generate thousands of emails). Can you afford to have your website penalized by the major search engines because of your IP's past?
* Most web hosting providers out-source their technical support with some company located in a third-world country. The corporate culture is not maintained and the support staff has no interest in providing quality.
The cost of those providers? Quality and reliability.
Website Source is different. Website Source has gone beyond what most providers offer. Our company is here for the long-haul. We are not one of those here today, gone tomorrow web hosting companies that advertises cheap prices, accumulates mass numbers, then sells to the highest bidder. We are privately owned and operated and value our uptime record - 99.9% (one of the highest in the industry).
* We maintain four redundant backbone providers so your bandwidth is high-quality.
* We purchase new (not refurbished) equipment. We maintain our equipment and value it as an investment.
* We maintain our own IP addresses. We preserve them and work to keep them off any ban list. We are proud of our "clean IPs".
* We don't outsource our customer support. Indeed, we hire, train, and re-train the highest quality technical support in the industry. Read more about our company's high-quality data center.
Compare us to the competition --
* Most web hosting providers utilize one backbone provider so they can give you more bandwidth at a cheaper cost.
* Most web hosting providers rent their equipment (usually refurbished - not new).
* Most providers rent their IP addresses from their data center provider (this means they are re-cycled and in some cases, the IPs have been blacklisted in the past after some spammer used it to generate thousands of emails). Can you afford to have your website penalized by the major search engines because of your IP's past?
* Most web hosting providers out-source their technical support with some company located in a third-world country. The corporate culture is not maintained and the support staff has no interest in providing quality.
The cost of those providers? Quality and reliability.
Website Source is different. Website Source has gone beyond what most providers offer. Our company is here for the long-haul. We are not one of those here today, gone tomorrow web hosting companies that advertises cheap prices, accumulates mass numbers, then sells to the highest bidder. We are privately owned and operated and value our uptime record - 99.9% (one of the highest in the industry).
* We maintain four redundant backbone providers so your bandwidth is high-quality.
* We purchase new (not refurbished) equipment. We maintain our equipment and value it as an investment.
* We maintain our own IP addresses. We preserve them and work to keep them off any ban list. We are proud of our "clean IPs".
* We don't outsource our customer support. Indeed, we hire, train, and re-train the highest quality technical support in the industry. Read more about our company's high-quality data center.
Domain Name System
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.
The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user's physical location. Because of this, World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks and Internet contact information can remain consistent and constant even if the current Internet routing arrangements change or the participant uses a mobile device. Internet domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses such as 208.77.188.166 (IPv4) or 2001:db8:1f70::999:de8:7648:6e8 (IPv6). People take advantage of this when they recite meaningful URLs and e-mail addresses without having to know how the machine will actually locate them.
The Domain Name System distributes the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to IP addresses by designating authoritative name servers for each domain. Authoritative name servers are assigned to be responsible for their particular domains, and in turn can assign other authoritative name servers for their sub-domains. This mechanism has made the DNS distributed, fault tolerant, and helped avoid the need for a single central register to be continually consulted and updated.
In general, the Domain Name System also stores other types of information, such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given Internet domain. By providing a worldwide, distributed keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.
Other identifiers such as RFID tags, UPC codes, International characters in email addresses and host names, and a variety of other identifiers could all potentially utilize DNS.[1]
The Domain Name System also defines the technical underpinnings of the functionality of this database service. For this purpose it defines the DNS protocol, a detailed specification of the data structures and communication exchanges used in DNS, as part of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). The DNS protocol was developed and defined in the early 1980s and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (cf. History).
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, www.example.com translates to 208.77.188.166.
The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user's physical location. Because of this, World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinks and Internet contact information can remain consistent and constant even if the current Internet routing arrangements change or the participant uses a mobile device. Internet domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses such as 208.77.188.166 (IPv4) or 2001:db8:1f70::999:de8:7648:6e8 (IPv6). People take advantage of this when they recite meaningful URLs and e-mail addresses without having to know how the machine will actually locate them.
The Domain Name System distributes the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to IP addresses by designating authoritative name servers for each domain. Authoritative name servers are assigned to be responsible for their particular domains, and in turn can assign other authoritative name servers for their sub-domains. This mechanism has made the DNS distributed, fault tolerant, and helped avoid the need for a single central register to be continually consulted and updated.
In general, the Domain Name System also stores other types of information, such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given Internet domain. By providing a worldwide, distributed keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.
Other identifiers such as RFID tags, UPC codes, International characters in email addresses and host names, and a variety of other identifiers could all potentially utilize DNS.[1]
The Domain Name System also defines the technical underpinnings of the functionality of this database service. For this purpose it defines the DNS protocol, a detailed specification of the data structures and communication exchanges used in DNS, as part of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). The DNS protocol was developed and defined in the early 1980s and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (cf. History).
FatCow Web Hosting Deal
FatCow Web Hosting Deal
FatCow Web Hosting offers 15,000 MB diskspace with 150 GB bandwidth for $8.25. The offerings may be modest compared to other hosting plans but FatCow Web Hosting offers very good e-commerce features with their hosting accounts. Setup is free.
With every $8.25 FatCow Web Hosting account, customers get everything they need to get their online business up and running on the web. FatCow Web Hosting provides ShopSite Starter, a shopping cart to help you with your online store.
In addition, FatCow Web Hosting allows you to host up to 4 web sites per hosting account. This could bring substantial savings if you have several sites hosted on different plans now. You could consolidate them together for substantial savings.
FatCow Web Hosting Features
In addition to standard hosting features, your FatCow Web Hosting account comes with Site Studio tool which allows webmasters to design a professional looking web site without needing Frontpage or Dreamweaver. You don't even need to know HTML.
With the Site Studio feature, you can setup your Web site from your web browser. Choose from over 450 templates, add your own text and company information and your site is ready to go.
FatCow Web Hosting also provides Frontpage 98/2000/2002 extensions for those of you who use Frontpage to add interactivity and functions to your site. You also get Website Chat to organize text chat rooms on your site.
FatCow Web Hosting provides 20 mailing lists with each hosting account. Mailing lists are useful for sending out newsletters, product updates and special promotions. Rather than emailing from your Outlook Express, mailing lists help you to do bulk mailing better.
The multimedia features that come with your FatCow Web Hosting account allow you to stream Real Video and Audio, Windows Media, Flash, Shockwave and Quicktime to web site visitors.
To help new webmasters get started marketing their sites, FatCow Web Hosting provides marketing tools like seach engine submission, internet marketing course and free sticky web content.
FatCow Web Hosting Datacenter
FatCow Web Hosting datacenter has direct fiber optic connections with Frontier GlobalCenter, Qwest Communications, and Genuity (division of GTE). These tier 1 providers also service such giants as Yahoo!, Netscape, Ebay and USA TODAY. With these three carriers, FatCow Web Hosting's router has up to 150,000 possible routes to send each packet of data!
They are also connected to Qwest Communication's OC192 line which provides redundancy and increased routes to Europe, Latin America and Asia.
FatCow Web Hosting uses Intel P4 servers with 1 GB RAM, Redhat and Apache. One of the most common factor contributing to downtime is hard disk failures. FatCow Web Hosting backs up their servers nightly and if any hard drive fails, they would copy the backup (never more than 24 hours old) onto a standby machine which is already online. The customer's site would be back up and running within a matter of minutes.
FatCow Web Hosting Support
FatCow Web Hosting provides toll-free telephone support 7 days a week between 8am to 6pm CST. Online ticket support is available 24/7. In addition, there is the Live Chat support system available 24/7 for instant live human help.
FatCow Web Hosting customers also have access to video tutorials, knowledgebase and online support manuals. The video tutorials cover all aspects of using your hosting account.
FatCow Web Hosting has been awarded the following awards: "Top 25 Web Host April 2004", "Gold Performer" and "CNet User Recommended" by CNet, "100 Most Dynamic Web Hosting Companies", "Top Shared Hosting April 2004" and "Top 10 E-commerce Hosts" at CNet for 88 weeks!
FatCow Web Hosting also displays the BBBOnline Reliability Seal from the Better Business Bureau. A member of the BBBOnline Reliability program since 1999, they have remained "Free From Any Complaints" for the entire period of their membership.
FatCow Web Hosting customers are also protected by the 30-day money back guarantee.
FatCow Web Hosting offers 15,000 MB diskspace with 150 GB bandwidth for $8.25. The offerings may be modest compared to other hosting plans but FatCow Web Hosting offers very good e-commerce features with their hosting accounts. Setup is free.
With every $8.25 FatCow Web Hosting account, customers get everything they need to get their online business up and running on the web. FatCow Web Hosting provides ShopSite Starter, a shopping cart to help you with your online store.
In addition, FatCow Web Hosting allows you to host up to 4 web sites per hosting account. This could bring substantial savings if you have several sites hosted on different plans now. You could consolidate them together for substantial savings.
FatCow Web Hosting Features
In addition to standard hosting features, your FatCow Web Hosting account comes with Site Studio tool which allows webmasters to design a professional looking web site without needing Frontpage or Dreamweaver. You don't even need to know HTML.
With the Site Studio feature, you can setup your Web site from your web browser. Choose from over 450 templates, add your own text and company information and your site is ready to go.
FatCow Web Hosting also provides Frontpage 98/2000/2002 extensions for those of you who use Frontpage to add interactivity and functions to your site. You also get Website Chat to organize text chat rooms on your site.
FatCow Web Hosting provides 20 mailing lists with each hosting account. Mailing lists are useful for sending out newsletters, product updates and special promotions. Rather than emailing from your Outlook Express, mailing lists help you to do bulk mailing better.
The multimedia features that come with your FatCow Web Hosting account allow you to stream Real Video and Audio, Windows Media, Flash, Shockwave and Quicktime to web site visitors.
To help new webmasters get started marketing their sites, FatCow Web Hosting provides marketing tools like seach engine submission, internet marketing course and free sticky web content.
FatCow Web Hosting Datacenter
FatCow Web Hosting datacenter has direct fiber optic connections with Frontier GlobalCenter, Qwest Communications, and Genuity (division of GTE). These tier 1 providers also service such giants as Yahoo!, Netscape, Ebay and USA TODAY. With these three carriers, FatCow Web Hosting's router has up to 150,000 possible routes to send each packet of data!
They are also connected to Qwest Communication's OC192 line which provides redundancy and increased routes to Europe, Latin America and Asia.
FatCow Web Hosting uses Intel P4 servers with 1 GB RAM, Redhat and Apache. One of the most common factor contributing to downtime is hard disk failures. FatCow Web Hosting backs up their servers nightly and if any hard drive fails, they would copy the backup (never more than 24 hours old) onto a standby machine which is already online. The customer's site would be back up and running within a matter of minutes.
FatCow Web Hosting Support
FatCow Web Hosting provides toll-free telephone support 7 days a week between 8am to 6pm CST. Online ticket support is available 24/7. In addition, there is the Live Chat support system available 24/7 for instant live human help.
FatCow Web Hosting customers also have access to video tutorials, knowledgebase and online support manuals. The video tutorials cover all aspects of using your hosting account.
FatCow Web Hosting has been awarded the following awards: "Top 25 Web Host April 2004", "Gold Performer" and "CNet User Recommended" by CNet, "100 Most Dynamic Web Hosting Companies", "Top Shared Hosting April 2004" and "Top 10 E-commerce Hosts" at CNet for 88 weeks!
FatCow Web Hosting also displays the BBBOnline Reliability Seal from the Better Business Bureau. A member of the BBBOnline Reliability program since 1999, they have remained "Free From Any Complaints" for the entire period of their membership.
FatCow Web Hosting customers are also protected by the 30-day money back guarantee.
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