Advantages and Disadvantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated servers are seen as the best type of web hosting for people who are running large resource intensive websites that receive many visitors, as well as for people and businesses who need to be guaranteed a stable service that is more reliable than other types of web hosting, such as shared website hosting and VPS hosting; this is because a dedicated server is yours only, meaning that you are not sharing it with anyone else, thus meaning that all the resources on the server are for your use only and can’t be used by anyone else, allowing you to ensure that you are able to provide a reliable and stable service. However, dedicated server hosting is out of most people’s price range for the main reason that dedicated servers are relatively expensive to get hold of, since they are physical machines, unlike VPS hosting for example where the servers are actually virtualized on a physical hosting node that is shared; this means that dedicated servers are only mainly used by businesses who have a large budget and want to ensure that their servers are stable, or by people who are running large websites that provide them with enough revenue to be able to justify and cover the cost of a dedicated hosting server.

The dedicated server hosting market has seen a boom in recent years, meaning that the overall costs of dedicated servers has been reduced, allowing people who couldn’t previously afford one to purchase one to cover their needs; this means that the overall number of dedicated servers being taken out with web hosts has increased, thus increasing the amount that web hosts have been earning, but also increasing the number of web hosts there are to choose from since many people have seen the advantages of starting a web host and have decided to do so. In order to use a dedicated server, you will need to ensure that you have the necessary knowledge to be able to administrate one with ease, this means that you should choose an operating system for your dedicated server that you are comfortable with during the order process, since getting used to the dedicated hosting environment will be much easier if you are using a familiar interface or system; it is important that you know what you are doing with a dedicated server since in most cases it is up to you to keep the server up to date and secure, to ensure that hackers and other malicious attackers aren’t able to gain access to it and exploit it.

You should also be familiar with the relevant dedicated server terms before purchasing one, so that you know if you are running out of a certain resource or so that you know what a problem is if something happens to go wrong with your server; this is because in some cases the support team of the web host from which you have purchased your dedicated server might only provide you with limited support, meaning that you should know the ins and outs of your server as to avoid any problems with it. You should ensure that what you want to use your dedicated server for is in line with your web host’s AUP (acceptable usage policy), since if any activities or actions that you carry on your dedicated server aren’t in line with it or are affecting the performance of other servers on the same network as yours, then your web host might suspend your dedicated server in order to sort out the issues; in most cases you aren’t allowed to use dedicated servers for free web hosting because of the high risk of system abuse that is involved, and you aren’t allowed to host warez or IRC servers either since warez are deemed as illegal, and in most cases IRC chats are used to discuss illegal activities which is why web hosts don’t allow them in most cases.

Dedicated servers have many advantages over other types of web hosting, meaning that if you need the utmost reliability then you should consider a dedicated server for your needs, since it is something that should fit the needs of most people; the main advantage is that you aren’t sharing the server or resources with anyone else which is most people’s main reason for choosing dedicated server hosting.

Advantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting has to be the best type of web hosting for anyone, since you are not sharing your server with anyone else meaning that you have complete use of all the server resources; this means that you can allow for your large traffic website to flurish in a dedicated hosting environment. If you run your own small hosting business, then you are also able to ensure your clients a high level of reliability and uptime, meaning that their websites will also be up and available; with other types of hosting you aren’t able to guarantee either of these factors since other websites and accounts could easily affect you.

Dedicated Resources

The main advantage of having a dedicated server is the fact that the server is all yours, meaning that you have complete use and control of the server’s resources since there is no one else on the same server to use them as well; this means that if you run a resource intensive website, or an application or service that requires high specification hardware, you are able to without disrupting anyone else and without anyone else disrupting you meaning that you are able to ensure that your website or server is reliable and always available.

Although with the lower end equivalent of dedicated server hosting, VPS hosting, you are given guaranteed resources that will always be available for your use, but the CPU of the main host node isn’t split between the VPS on the server equally in some cases, meaning that it is a resource which isn’t always guaranteed for your use; however, with a dedicated server you have your own CPU meaning that it is always available for use by you - you also have a choice of CPUs in most cases, meaning that you could have up to 8 CPU cores available for your own use at any time. Like VPS hosting, you have your own dedicated amounts of RAM and bandwidth which you are able to utilize on your dedicated server; however, with a dedicated server, the amount of RAM that you have is actually physical meaning that you can easily have it upgraded - bandwidth is the same as a VPS server though, meaning that you can only transfer as much bandwidth you have each month - once you have used all your bandwidth up you will have to upgrade your dedicated server by purchasing more bandwidth.

Since your dedicated server is yours, no one else is sharing it with you meaning that the performance and reliability of it isn’t able to be affected by anyone else; the only way that your dedicated server can be affected by other people is if someone attacks the network which your dedicated server is connected to - for example, another server that is connected to the same network as yours might get DDOS’d, which can slow down the entire network, this will affect your dedicated server directly since any external connections to it will be very slow. In most cases, you aren’t provided with any sort of control panel to allow you to remotely manage your dedicated server, meaning that if it crashes you will have to get your web host’s support team to bring it back up again; it is for this reason that it is suggested that you use some sort of external monitoring system so that you are alerted when your server goes down, or when too much of a certain resource has been used.

Root/Administrator Access

Unlike other types of web hosting, except VPS hosting, with dedicated server hosting you are able to have root/administrator access to your dedicated server meaning that you are able to install and do anything you want within your dedicated server, allowing you to customize it to the way that you want it to be; this means that if you want to host a website or application on your server that requires you to have a certain component installed or for the server to be configured in a certain way which isn’t possible on other types of hosting, you are able to do so and at the same time are enabling your website to be more reliable by hosting it on a dedicated server.

Root/administrator access is needed on a dedicated server since it allows you to installed the programs that you need to ensure that your dedicated server is secure, and so that you are able to run what you want and use your dedicated server for what you want; you can also carry out custom configurations of certain programs with root/administrator access, meaning that you can easily change the configuration of a certain program if needs be. With root/administrator access, you are also able to easily manage and view the server resources, allowing you to monitor them so that you can take the necessary action if a resource was to get overloaded which could cause the server to crash, which is not something you want since you might not have the ability to restart it yourself; you could also deploy an internal monitoring system so that you easily view and manage your server’s resources without having to be constantly logged into it - this would also mean that you have the ability to view and manage your server’s resources over the internet from any location in the world.

In the case of a Linux dedicated server, you will be given ‘root’ access to it meaning that you will be able to manage it using the ‘root’ account, normally via the means of SSH meaning that you should be aware of the main Linux commands prior to purchase a Linux dedicated server; Linux server administration via the means of SSH is carried out through the use of unique commands, meaning that in most cases a GUI isn’t provided for administration access - however, in some cases a GUI via the means of VNC might be available for your use.

In the case of Windows dedicated server hosting, you will be given ‘administrator‘ access to your dedicated server meaning that you will be able to manage it via the means of remote desktop, for which a client comes pre-installed with the most recent Microsoft Windows versions; this means that if you have the Microsoft Windows operating system installed on your desktop computer, you will be able to interact with your Windows dedicated server via the means of remote desktop, meaning that you can easily manage your dedicated server using the Windows GUI.

Priority Support

As dedicated server customers are the highest paying for most web hosts, you will find that you receive priority support for your dedicated server, just as long as your web host provides a certain level of support for dedicated server customers, since some don’t provide any support at all for dedicated server customers since they take it for granted that they have the necessary knowledge to be able to administrate their dedicated hosting server effectively; this means that if you choose a web host that provides support for dedicated server customers, you will be able to get support for almost anything quicker than you would be able to with other types of web hosting.

If you are already on a lower end web hosting package, such as a shared hosting package or VPS server, then you should notice that your support requests will be replied to quicker than they were on lower end hosting packages; this means that priority support is one reason that many people choose to move over to dedicated server hosting, since most aren’t happy with the level of support that they are receiving on the lower end package that they are currently on.

Most web hosts also give priority support to dedicated server customers since most dedicated hosting customers are using their servers to host important websites, meaning that it is important for the server to always be up and stable so that the hosted websites can always be accessed; if a dedicated server was to crash, then it could cause a considerable loss to the business that has taken it out, meaning that most individuals and businesses alike try to go with a web hosts that provides priority support where possible, since at the end of the day maximum uptime is what is wanted by the dedicated server clients.

If you choose to go with a web host that doesn’t provide any support for dedicated server customers, then you will need to ensure that you have the necessary knowledge to allow you to administrate your dedicated server effectively.

Disadvantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

There aren’t really any disadvantages that you can directly apply to dedicated server hosting, which is one of the reasons why it is so popular with both businesses and individuals alike. The only factor nearest to a disadvantage that you could apply to dedicated server hosting is the cost of it; this is because dedicated servers cost quite a lot, compared to lower range hosting packages such as shared hosting packages an VPS hosting packages; the cost is only high because the server physically exists, and the original cost of the server for your provider was probably hundreds of pounds, and they need to make that money back in the short term, especially if they are providing many dedicated servers, otherwise they won’t be making any profit on each server. The arrangement that your web host has with their data centre can also affect the price of dedicated servers; this is because data centres charge a certain amount of each individual server that is hosted with them, to cover the cost of electricity, bandwidth and the rack space that has been filled - your web host has to deduct this amount from the cost of your dedicated server since they still want to maintain a profit from your server, but at the same time it needs to be located within a data centre so that it is connected to the internet.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if your website receives a large amount of visitors or is mission critical then dedicated server hosting is for you, for the main reason of the added stability which isn’t provided with lower range hosting packages such as shared website hosting and VPS hosting; this means that you are able to ensure that your important website is always available for your visitors, when with lower range packages it might not always be. The fact that your website will be more reliable is because you have your own server with its own resources that are not shared with anyone else, thus meaning that there isn’t anyone else or any other server that will be able to affect the performance of yours in any way; as mentioned previously, you have your own CPU unlike VPS hosting which doesn’t, meaning that your programs and services will always be able to process what they need to without the threat of not being able to because there isn’t enough CPU space available.

Although VPS hosting does provide you with your own guaranteed RAM and bandwidth, the physical CPU isn’t evenly shared between all the VPS that are hosted on the server concerned, meaning that it only takes one greedy VPS to take the whole hosting node down by using up all the available CPU space; in the case of dedicated server hosting, the CPU is all yours meaning that it can’t be used by anyone else or by any other server - you also have the option to choose from dual or quad core CPUs meaning that you have the ability to give your dedicated server extra reliability.

As mentioned previously, the only way that another server is able to affect the performance of your dedicated server is if another server on the same network as yours was to be DDOS’d, meaning that you have that extra level or reliability and security when compared to other types of hosting; a DDOS would slow the entire network down meaning that all servers would be affected and no-one externally would be able to connect to the servers.

With a dedicated server, you are also given root/administrator access, allowing you to install any programs or services that you want, just as long as they are in line with your web hosts acceptable usage policy - you are also able to carry out custom configurations with root/administrator access, since your dedicated server is your own dedicated environment; with a Linux dedicated server you will be given root access via the means of SSH, and with a Windows dedicated server you will be given administrator access via the means of remote desktop - although the use of remote desktop requires that you have the Windows operating system in order to use the remote desktop client.

Using PHPMyAdmin MySQL Database Manager

PHPMyAdmin is the third party web based MySQL database management panel that is provided and installed as standard with both the cPanel and Plesk control panels, and in the case with Plesk it is provided with both versions (Linux and Windows); if you run your own server without a control panel, then it is also available for download and manual installation since it is open source software meaning that anyone is able to download it for use as many times and on as many machines as they want. With the use of PHPMyAdmin, you are able to manage any databases that you have created from either your cPanel or Plesk web hosting account on the fly, since it is an application that is accessible from your control panel’s homepage and can be used through your web browser, which means that you are able to manage your databases from any internet connected location where you are able to use a computer that has a web browser installed on it.

The main features of PHPMyAdmin allow you to create new tables in your database, as well as to edit and delete others which you have created previously in your database; you can also view and modify the data that has been entered into each individual table, which means that you can easily delete a row for example if you think it might be a fraudulent sign up, in the case that you are running an online shop or some sort of membership system for your website or online community. If you have decided to go with your own install of PHPMyAdmin on your control panel-less server, then you are also given the ability to create new databases on the fly through the system if you are logged into it as the server administrator, or if you are running it on a Linux machine - ‘root’; this makes PHPMyAdmin an all in one solution for someone who wants to be able to manage their stand-alone MySQL databases server on the fly without having to use a desktop database management system.

With the use of PHPMyAdmin in conjunction with a hosting control panel, such as cPanel or Plesk, you are able to manage all the MySQL databases that you have created without the need to open a new window or new program session each time you want to administer a different database; this means that if you are wanting to mange multiple databases that you have created for different purposes throughout your website, you are able to do so without having to use a complicated desktop database management system that might not even let you administer multiple databases, forcing you to open a new session to the server that you are wanting to use each time you want to manage a different databases, even if all the databases that you want to manage are hosted on the same server.

If you are using a control panel in conjunction with PHPMyAdmin, then you will not be able to use it to create new databases for your hosting account, since it is a limit that most web hosts choose to put on the web based administration program since it easily allows customers to create more databases than they are allowed to limited by the amount that has been assigned to their web hosting account; in this case you will have to use your web hosting control panel to add, edit and delete MySQL databases for your web hosting account.

In most cases, you will be using PHPMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases that you have created to be used in conjunction with your PHP based website or application that you are hosting within your web hosting account, which in most cases should be either Plesk or cPanel based to give you the most functionality; this is because PHP and MySQL are known to be the best combination when it comes to databases and scripting languages, since both are open source and can run on either the Linux operating system or on Windows based systems, meaning that PHP and MySQL based websites and applications can be hosted in almost any environment - other combinations are only able to run in certain environments, for example MSSQL and ASP.NET based applications will only run on Windows based servers.

As previously mentioned, MySQL is a database technology that is commonly used in conjunction with the PHP server side scripting language to give developers maximum flexibility when it comes to building their websites and what functionality they are able to achieve with the use of MySQL as the database engine to drive the backends of their websites and projects.

Launching PHPMyAdmin From cPanel

PHPMyAdmin comes installed as default with any cPanel installation, meaning that once you have cPanel installed and configured correctly, you can quickly and easily setup a web hosting account and start adding the databases that you want or need; once you have done that, you can then start using PHPMyAdmin to administer your MySQL databases. Launching PHPMyAdmin from cPanel is a relatively easy task, and is one that can be carried out from any internet connected location, just so long that you can access cPanel from the web browser that you are using; in order to launch PHPMyAdmin from cPanel, you will need to select the icon labeled ‘PHPMyAdmin’ from the ‘databases’ section of cPanel:

One thing to note is that through PHPMyAdmin in cPanel, you are able to administer all the MySQL databases that you have created under your web hosting account, meaning that you don’t have to launch a new window of PHPMyAdmin each time you want to administer a different MySQL database that you have under your web hosting account. Once you have selected the appropriate icon, you should be directed to a page notifying you that PHPMyAdmin is loading, then after that to the PHPMyAdmin homepage:

Launching PHPMyAdmin From Plesk

PHPMyAdmin is also available with both the Linux and Windows versions of the Plesk control panel to allow you to manage any MySQL databases that you have created or want to create within your Plesk based website hosting account; this means that you are able to host your PHP based website or application in a Windows or Linux based environment just so long as the Plesk control panel is installed and that the web server has been appropriately configured to allow this. In order to launch PHPMyAdmin for a MySQL database that you have created through Plesk, you will first need to select the ‘databases’ icon from the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to manage the database for:

You will then be presented with a list of databases that you have previously created in your Plesk website hosting account, the following features are displayed along with the databases name:

• database type (circled red) - this is shown as an image: if the database is a MySQL database then a dolphin will appear in the column concerned, and if it is a Microsoft SQL database then the Microsoft Windows logo will be displayed within this column
• name (circled green) - this is the name of the actual database which you chosen when you were creating it, this is the name that you will need to use in your server side scripts if you are wanting to use them in conjunction with a database that you have created
• server (circled blue) - this is the server that the database is hosted on, in most cases this is the local server on which your website is hosted, although the name of the external database hosting server will be displayed if different
• web admin (circled purple) - if you click on the image in this column, it will load the necessary web administration panel for the database that you have selected it for.

In order to launch PHPMyAdmin for a MySQL database that you have hosted within your website hosting account, you will need to select the web administration icon for a MySQL database that you have hosted within your web hosting account; PHPMyAdmin should then load for the database that you have selected to administrate. One thing to note is that unlike the cPanel version of PHPMyAdmin, the Plesk version will only administer one database at a time meaning that you will have to go back to the Plesk control panel and launch a new session of PHPMyAdmin for each individual database that you want to administer.

The PHPMyAdmin Homepage

Once you have launched PHPMyAdmin from either Plesk or cPanel, you should be taken to the homepage where you can then start to administer the database or databases concerned, with ease. PHPMyAdmin is able to provide you with many different details about the server on which you are hosted, and specifically the MySQL installation that is hosted on the same server as your website, these details might be needed when you are developing your PHP based website or application; the main details that the PHPMyAdmin homepage is able to provide you with include:

• MySQL server version (circled red) - this piece of information is important when developing PHP based websites and applications, since newer versions of PHP might not be compatible with older versions of MySQL and newer versions of MySQL might notbe compatible with older versions of PHP, which is normally the case in most situations
• server and username (circled green) - these two pieces of information are important since you will need them when developing server side PHP based scripts and applications which are going to be utilizing the MySQL database that you are administrating - the server name is the server on which the database is hosted, and the username is what you will need to gain access to the database concerned along with the password that you have specified for the username
• MySQL character set (circled blue) - this piece of information might be important to you when you are developing language related applications, which might be using a range of different languages and characters.

If you have decided to go with a stand-alone MySQL server with a manual PHPMyAdmin installation, then you will also be given the ability to create new MySQL databases through the PHPMyAdmin control panel, although this isn’t possible if you are using a cPanel or Plesk installation meaning that you will have to use your hosting control panel if you want to create new databases for use with your dynamic websites or applications. Links are also provided on the homepage to take you to different parts of the control panel to allow you to manage and administer different features of your MySQL databases, these will be discussed further on.

Administrating a Database

To administrate a MySQL database that you have hosted within your web hosting account, you will need to select one that you have created from within PHPMyAdmin. You will see that all the MySQL databases you have created under your hosting account are listed down on the left hand side of PHPMyAdmin if you are using the cPanel version, and if you are using the Plesk version you should notice that the MySQL database that you have chosen to administrate is listed down on the left hand panel as well:

Once you have clicked on the name of the database that you want to administrate, you should be redirected to the following management page for the database that you want to administrate:

From the management page for the database that you have chosen to create, you are able to carry out the following actions to help administrate your MySQL database effectively:

• create new tables - you will probably find that you will need to create new tables for your database every so often if you are looking to expand the functionality of your PHP based website or application, and new tables will be needed to hold the data so that the new parts of your website or application are able to function dynamically like the rest of the website or application
• management of existing tables - if you already have tables created in the MySQL database that you are managing, then you are able to edit and delete them from the same screen where you can create them from - this means that you can manage your tables easily and effectively through your web browser with the help of PHPMyAdmin.

The above options are available under the ’structure’ tab of the database management panel, other available options include:

• SQL (circled red) - you can use this part of the database management panel to execute SQL queries on your database, for example to create a mass of a new tables without doing it manually, or to do a lookup on your database so that you can search and pull up a specific record that you might have stored within your MySQL database
• search (circled green) - you can use this feature of the database management panel to search through all the records which you have stored in your database, and pull up a specific one for modification or deletion if needed
• query (circled blue) - this feature works in the same way as the SQL feature does, although it is much more manual an better for beginners since it allows you to specify the actual search parameters yourself, meaning that PHPMyAdmin will automatically create the necessary SQL query - basically it works in the same way but without the need for you to enter your own complete SQL query
• export (circled purple) - the export feature of PHPMyAdmin creates a ‘dump’ of your database which is basically an SQL file which you can download and use as a backup of your database, meaning that if your database does happen to get deleted for any reason then all you have to do is run the SQL query contained within the dump file which will then automatically recreate your original database for you
• import (circled yellow) - the import feature of PHPMyAdmin is the opposite to the export feature, meaning that it allows you to import any dumps that you have taken of your database.

Creating a New Table

As mentioned previously, you may want to be creating new tables for your database from time to time so that you are able expand the functionality of your PHP based website or application that is interacting with the MySQL database that you are currently managing through PHPMyAdmin. With expanded functionality, you might be able to bring in more visitors to your website if you are expanding it by increasing the number of services that you are able to provide your customers with, for example. In order to create a new table, you will first need to select the structures tab from the database management panel of the database that you are managing:

Once on the structure page, you will then need to scroll down to the section labeled ‘create a new table on database x’, and will need to enter the following details to aid in the creation of your new table:

• name (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give your table, you should make the name relevant to what the table is going to be used for - i.e. you should call it ‘members’ if it is going to be holding information related to the members of your website
• number of fields (circled green) - this is the number of different rows of data that you want your new table to have, a field is individual meaning that one field is dedicated to one piece of information i.e. a telephone number.

You will then be redirected to the management screen for the table that you have just created, where you will be able to create and manage the fields that you want your new table to contain and in order to help manage and organize the data that you want to store in your new MySQL database efficiently. You should create new tables for each different section of your website to help keep the stored data as segregated as possible to ensure maximum ease when administrating your MySQL database in the future. You should also use as many fields as possible to help keep the stored data segregated, just as you would with tables; if you keep your data organized then will be easier to view and find through the PHPMyAdmin MySQL database management system, and it will be much easier for your scripts and web pages to find the data that you want.

Creating a Field

Fields are the individual table rows in which MySQL stores your data, whether it be the data that you have entered into it through PHPMyAdmin or the data that has been added when visitors sign up to your website. Fields are needed to ensure that your database can be used properly, to store data; without fields in tables, data can’t be stored in your database since there isn’t any way that the data can be categorized and stored in the correct place as would be possible with the use of fields. In order to create a new field under the table that you have previously created, you will need to select a table from the ’structure’ tab of the management panel for the database that you are administrating; you will then be prompted to enter the following data in order to create a new field for the table concerned:

• field (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give your new field, you should make the name relevant to the data that is going to be stored within it - you need to give a field a name since it needs to be identifiable so that it can be used in conjunction with your PHP based websites and applications
• type (circled green) - this is the type of data that you are going to be storing in your new field - the two main types of data are varchar and int, a varchar being just regular words including numbers and int being short for ‘integer’ which in other words is a number which means that this would be the type if you are storing phone numbers under your new field
• length/values (circled blue) - this is what you want to limit the length of the data in the field to - if you are going to be using your database in conjunction with a PHP based website or application then you needn’t worry about this option since you can use your own code in your scripts to limit the length of certain fields
• null (circled purple) - if you choose to make the field null, then you are allowing for the field to be empty when used, meaning that you could end up having many blank fields - if you choose to make it not null then there will have to be data in the field for it to be entered into the MySQL database properly
• extra/auto-increment (circled orange) - if you want to make this the primary field which will be the id field for each separate database record, then you might want to turn on auto increment to ensure that each individual record receives an individual id when it is created or entered into the MySQL database that you are managing
• primary key (circled pink) - if you choose to make the field that you are creating the primary key field, then it will be the one which holds the individual key to identify each different record if needed, it is recommended that you make this field auto-increment as well to ensure that each record receives an individual id.

Once you click ‘create’, you should then be redirected to a page hopefully telling you that your new field has been successfully created and that you can start adding data using it. In most cases you are able to create as many different fields in your database tables as you want, although it is recommended that you only create the ones which you need, since too many can start to affect the performance of your database as well as MySQL in general. One thing to note is that every table needs a primary key field which should auto increment to ensure that each individual record which is created within the table receives a unique id so that they can easily distinguished between and sorted easily.

With the use of MySQL databases, you can easily expand the possibilities and functionality of your PHP based website or application since you are able to make use of the dynamics of having a database and using server side components to make the most out of your web hosting account. For example, you could start a membership system for your website to allow visitors to sign up and view premium content, and in this case a MySQL database would come in handy since you would need somewhere to centrally store the details of all the people who have signed up to your website.

Creating a Dump/Backup

You should regularly backup the contents of your database to ensure that if it does happen to get deleted or corrupted for some reason or another, you can easily restore it without experiencing too much unneeded downtime allowing you to get your website up and running again quicker than others who don’t have any sort of database backup might be able to. In most cases, the database is the centre or heart of your website and without it your website wouldn’t be able to run since all the website’s content is stored within it, and if your website has no content or is broken then you ight find your visitors going elsewhere - it is because of this that you should always take regular backups of your database to ensure that you don’t loose any website critical data or information that can’t get deleted. In order to create your dump/backup, you will first need to navigate to the ‘export’ tab of the database that you want to backup:

You will then be asked to select which tables you want to backup in the case that you are backing up an entire database, by default all the tables that your database contains are selected. You are given a number of different formats that your dump or backup can be downloaded as, some of these different formats being:

• CSV - comma separated values - this is a common file format that is usable on almost any operating system because of its age, dating back to the early days of business computing - is normally used with tabular data, such as that which you are trying to backup from your MySQL database
• CSV for MS Excel 2000 - comma separated values for Microsoft Excel 2000 - see above, the only difference being that this one is designed for use with Excel 2000
• Microsoft Word 2000
• PDF - portable document format - created by Adobe to allow easy exchange of documents, in most cases it is a read-only format meaning that you will be unable to modify the data contained within the backup
• SQL - structured query language - this will create an SQL file which will contain the code which you can easily run as an SQL query on another database or on a new one if the database that you happen to be administrating gets deleted or lost for some reason or another - will restore all original data in seconds, although the timescale does depend on the amount of data being backed up or restored
• XML - extensible markup language - this is normally used by developers since it allows them to specify and create their own tags when they are coding websites or applications - with a backup it utilizes custom tags to arrange the data efficiently within the file that you will be able to download.

Conclusion

In conclusion, PHPMyAdmin is a powerful third party web based database administration tool that will allow you to effectively manage all of your MySQL databases with ease from any internet connected location in the world, thus allowing you to manage your MySQL databases whilst you are on the move. With its management features you are given the ability to create and manage both tables and fields within your MySQL databases so that you can effectively manage and organize the data which you want them to hold; this means that can easily access the information held by your database from your PHP based websites and applications, giving your website maximum flexibility when it comes to expanding the functionality of it. You are given many different expansion options for your PHP based website or application when it comes to MySQL since you can easily create different features that utilize a database to hold your data in either the short term or the long term.

PHPMyAdmin is also an industry leader when it comes to open source database management systems, since it is bundled with both the cPanel and Plesk web hosting control panels, meaning that you are given a large amount of freedom to configure your MySQL databases the way you want them to be when it comes down to being hosting on a shared hosting package utilizes either Plesk or cPanel to manage your website as well as the other on the server as well as the server itself on which you are hosted. If you choose to use PHPMyAdmin on a stand-alone MySQL server then you are given even more advanced functionalities, such as the ability to use it to create new databases if you are logged into it as the root or administrator user thus meaning that you don’t need a third party control panel if you just want to administrate the databases that you are hosting on your server.

PHPMyAdmin is the right solution for you if you are looking to administrate your databases whether you are on the fly, at home or in your office; it contains features that make it superior to may desktop database management systems which gives one advantage, but the best advantage has to be the fact that it is web based meaning that you can access it from any internet connected location, and use any of its features - meaning that for example you could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a wifi laptop and be creating new tables for your database so that at the same time you are able to expand the functionality of your PHP website or application - although thats the last thing almost anyone would be doing! PHPMyAdmin is an open source application, meaning that it is freely available for download and use by anyone and can be used as many times as one wants to, meaning that you aren’t restricted by any license terms as you would be with a commercial application of the same type.

As mentioned previously, PHP and MySQL make the best programming and database combination since they are both open source and come with a range of tools and add-ons that allow you to make the most out of both. If you are looking to learn a dynamic server side language which you can use in conjunction with a database system, then you should look no further than PHP and MySQL - there are also a wide range of tutorials available in this blog and on the internet that you can use to aid you in the learning process. You can also buy a wide range of commercial books based around teaching you PHP and MySQL.

Getting Started With cPanel Control Panel

cPanel is the control panel of choice for many web hosts to allow them to provide their customers with Linux based website hosting solutions, and with the launch of the Windows version, Windows based website hosting solutions. cPanel is well known for its loading speeds, since it is very fast when compared to other control panels that are in the same market as it is; the key to its loading speeds is down to it system architecture - for example unlike other control panels, cPanel doesn’t rely on any databases meaning that it has no database application to slow down it down. cPanel provides many features that can be confusing for people who are new to the concept of web hosting, and who have never used a control panel before to manage any aspect of a website or website hosting package; the main aim which most people have is to get their website online and to get the email services for their website configured to that they can start using their new domain and website hosting package - this might be confusing for some at first since there are several different purposes involved with setting up both features, although on further inspection it can be easy for someone with little technical knowledge to achieve their main aim.

If you are an advanced user with a respectable amount of technical knowledge, then you might want to consider customizing your shared hosting environment as to ensure that your custom applications can run without the need for a more expensive hosting solution such as a VPS Server or a Dedicated Server, both of which carry price tags that can be substantially different than those for basic shared website hosting packages. cPanel provides tools and features that you can utilize to manage your hosting account effectively, since it gives you the ability to manage the contents of your web space online which means that you can easily upload and download files that you host from any internet connected location that allows you to connect to cPanel via the cPanel port.

You are also given the ability to view the amount of visitors that your website has received in any period of time; this can be done via the use of a third party program known as ‘AWStats’ which most web hosts provide as standard with their shared cpanel website hosting accounts, this means that if you want to see if an advertising campaign that you have put into practice is working or not since if it was you should be able to notice an increase the amount of visitors to your website.

Other management tools include ‘PHPMyAdmin’ which you can use to manage the MySQL databases that you have created in your cPanel hosting account; PHPMyAdmin is a web interface that is accessible through cPanel which means that you are able to administer your MySQL databases from any internet connected location without the need for any type of desktop database management program. As standard with most control panels, webmail applications are included to allow you to view and manage your emails from any internet connected location; however, unlike other control panels, cPanel give you a choice since both the Horde and SquirrelMail webmail applications are included to allow you to remotely check your email. Other advanced features of cPanel allow you to create and manage custom email filter rules, meaning that you can easily keep out spam that is being specifically targeted at you and your website; this type of configuration is not normally achievable with other control panels, and cPanel also allows you to create custom SpamAssassin rules to ensure that you receive as little spam as possible.

If you are new to using cPanel, then with the use of this article you will be able to upload your new website and configure it so that visitors can start coming, and will also be able to create and configure email accounts for yourself and your colleagues so that you can start communicating electronically; if you have a dynamic website that is based on PHP, then you will also be able to create a MySQL database from scratch - screenshots have been provided to make the learning process even easier.

The Main cPanel Homepage

When you first login to cPanel, you will reach the main homepage for the control panel that will provide you with all the information that you might need to know about the server for your dynamic applications, as well as with all the different options and categories that you might need to make the most of your new website, domain and hosting package. In most cases, you will be using the new cPanel 11, where the main homepage looks like this:

The main cPanel categories that all the different options have been grouped into to ensure maximum ease are:

• preferences - options in this category are mainly to do with the administration of your actual hosting account, such as the password for it and the main contact email address that you want to use with it
• mail - options in this category are related to the email services for your domain name and website
• files - options grouped under this category are related to the management of files that you have hosted within your web space, as well as the management of FTP accounts
• logs - this group of options is related to visitor statistics for your website
• security - options under this category are related to the security of your website, and allow you to password protect any directories that you have as well as the management of any SSL certificates that you might have
• domains - options under this category are related to the management of domain features for your domain
• databases - these options are related to the creation and management of databases under your hosting account
• software/services - items under this category are related to the advanced customization of your hosting environment
• advanced - these features are related to advanced aspects of your hosting environment, and should only be touched if you know what you are doing.

The cPanel homepage allows you to access all the different features that you have been provided with to manage your new hosting account, meaning that you are able to carry out the actions that you need to without any intervention from your hosting company, although you are normally able to turn to them if you require some sort of support for any cPanel feature. Like most control panels, the homepage is able to provide you with detailed technical information regarding your account such as the amount of disk space you are using out of the total amount that has been assigned to you, as well as the amount of bandwidth that has been used up by your visitors in relation to the amount that has been assigned to your hosting package; you are also able to see how many email accounts you have created out of the number you are allowed to create for your new domain.

Creating a Subdomain

You might want to create new domains under your existing domains to split your website up into more manageable areas; these subs are known as ’subdomains’. They can be easily created through cPanel, and allow you to easily upload content to their folders so that you can start serving content from them as soon as the necessary content has been uploading into your web space. In order to create and manage subdomains through cPanel, you will need to choose the subdomains icon from under the domains category:

You will then be taken to the following screen:

To create a subdomain, you will need to enter the following information into the required text boxes:

• subdomain (circled red) - this is where you enter the actual identity of the subdomain that you want to create
• domain (drop down box - circled green) - you will be required to select the domain that you want the sub to be created under, in the case that you are hosting multiple domains under your cPanel hosting account
• document root (circled blue) - this is where any files that you want to be accessible under the new subdomain will be held, it can be anything you want just as long as it is under your account’s ‘home’ directory - cPanel will automatically make this ‘/public_html/chosensubdomain’ when you place your cursor in the text field.

Once you have clicked ‘Create Subdomain’, you will be redirected to a screen which should hopefully confirm that you have successfully created a new subdomain:

Once you have created your new subdomain, you can then move on to uploading your content into the folder that you have pointed the new subdomain towards so that visitors can start accessing it. In most cases subdomains are used to give products their own unique identity in terms of domains, and search engines will normally favour a website that has used subdomains over one which has uses ordinary directories to order their content; this is because it is easier for a search engine to crawl a subdomain website rather than once which uses directories since in most cases the content is much easier for them to find and use, meaning that it would probably be easy for a human to find and use a website which is utilizing subdomains when compared to one which is using directories.

Creating an Email Account

If you want to start communicating with others electronically using emails, then you will need to create email accounts under your hosting account that you and your colleagues can use to communicate with each other as well as with clients and others. cPanel provides you with many different features in order to help you manage your email accounts and to stop any spam from reaching your account, however the management of these features is very complicated and is for advanced users only really; on the other hand, creating an email account is a very simple task which can be achieved by almost anyone. In order to create an email account, you will need to select the ‘email accounts’ option from the mail category:

You will then be taken to the management panel where you will be able to create and manage any email accounts that you want under your hosting account. In order to create an email account, you will need to provide the following information:

• email (circled red) - this is the identity that you want to give the email address - for example the identity in ‘email@domain.com’ would be ‘email
• domain (circled green) - you will need to choose the domain for which you want the email account to be created for in the case that you are hosting more than one domain in your cPanel web hosting account
• password (circled blue) - you will need to choose a password that you will have to use to gain access to the email account, if you are unable to think of one then cPanel will automatically generate one for you
• quota (circled purple) - if you want to limit the amount of space that is used by an email account, then you should enter the amount which you want to limit the account to - just ensure that you have enough space left in your hosting account.

Once you click ‘create’, you will then be taken to a screen that should hopefully confirm that the email account which you want has been successfully created. You will also notice that on the email management panel that there is a table that contains the email accounts which you have already created; this means that you can easily manage the email account which you have just created, as well as others which you might have already created.

Emails are being increasingly used in todays internet connected society to allow people to communicate with each other almost instantly, this means that you can allow you and your colleagues to communicate with each other and clients electronically almost instantly. cPanel also provides webmail applications to allow you to access your email accounts from any internet connected location, enabling you to check your email from almost anywhere in the world; an automatic Outlook configuration file generator is also provided to allow you to configure your Outlook installation to work with your email account if you don’t have the necessary knowledge or information to do it yourself.

Creating a MySQL Database and MySQL User

If you run a PHP based dynamic website which needs to utilize a database, then you will most likely consider using a MySQL database to store the data which your PHP based application will need to access and use to ensure that it is able to run effectively and efficiently. MySQL is an open source database platform, which means it is free and is one reason why you will find it as part of almost any Linux based website hosting package; it is installed as part of cPanel which means that you will find it included with almost any cPanel based website hosting package.

If you create a MySQL database, then you will need to create a MySQL user so that your PHP applications are able to access your MySQL database so that they are able to delete and add new data to the database. In order to create a MySQL database, you will need to choose the ‘MySQL Databases’ option from the databases category. You will then be taken to the following page:

The only piece of information that you will be required to enter is the name of the database that you want to create. Once you click ‘create’, you will be taken to a page which should confirm that the database has been successfully created. However, once you have created a database, you will want to create a MySQL user to allow your PHP and dynamic web applications to access the database.

In order to create a MySQL database user, you will need to return to the MySQL databases homepage. You will then need to scroll down to the MySQL users section:

You will then be required to enter the following information in order to create the user account:

• username (circled red) - this is the login that will be used in order for your scripts to access the database
• password (circled green) - you should apply a password to the user account, otherwise hackers might be able to find a way into your database.

Once you click ‘create’, you should then be redirected to a page which should hopefully confirm that the user account has been successfully created. In order for the user account to be functional with the MySQL database that you have just created, you will need to scroll down to the section labeled ‘Add User to Database’:

You will need to select the user account that you want to assign, then the database to which you want to assign the user account. Once you have done that, you should then be redirected to a page confirming that the user has been successfully assigned to the database.

With the use of MySQL databases, you should be able to make your website more dynamic in the way that it functions since you will be able to store the content and data that it requires in one central location; this means that users will be able to have a more interactive experience with your website - this means that you are able to provide your website’s visitors with a range of new services based around a database. cPanel allows you to manage any MySQL databases that you create with ease; you can use the web based third party PHPMyAdmin application in order for you to manage your databases via an online interface from any internet connected location, meaning that you are able to manage your cPanel MySQL databases from almost anywhere in the world.

Uploading Your Website

One of the main things that you will be wanting to achieve with your new cpanel website hosting package is the ability to host your website under the domain that you have purchased for your new hosting account. With a website you will be able to show off your business to prospective clients, or provide existing clients with a place where they can manage the account that they have with you; this means that you could easily gain your business an extra source of income with the use of a website to sell your products online.

When uploading your website to your web space, you have the choice to make of how to upload it - you can use the classic method of FTP which means that you connect to your web space via FTP using an FTP account that you have created through cPanel, or you can use the cPanel file manager to upload all your files into your web space although it could take considerably longer.

If you want to upload your website via FTP, you will first need to go to the FTP account manager by select the ‘FTP accounts’ option located under the files category on the cPanel homepage:

To create an FTP account, you should look at the first section of the page which is titled ‘add FTP account’; in this section, you will need to enter the following information:

• login (circled red) - this is the name of the actual FTP account and is what you will use to login into your web space via FTP
• password (circled green) - it is highly recommended that you password your new FTP account for maximum security
• home directory (circled blue) - this is the highest level directory to which you want the account to have access.

You should then be directed to a page which should hopefully confirm that the FTP account has been successfully created. You can then proceed to use your favourite FTP client to upload your website’s files to your web space using the FTP account that you have just created.

If you want to upload your website’s files using the cPanel file manager, then you will need to select the option labeled ‘file manager’ from the file category of the cPanel homepage:

The following box will pop up, and you will need to select ‘web root’ (circled red):

You will then need to navigate to the folder where you want to upload your website’s files to if necessary. You will then need to select the ‘upload’ option from the toolbar of the file manager:

You will then be taken to the following page:

As you can see, you are given three boxes in which you are able to upload files. You are given the option to add additional boxes if needed.

In theory, it is much easier for you as a beginner to upload your files to your cPanel web space via the means of FTP, since you can get more files placed into your web space in one go than is possible with the web based file manager. However, in terms of ease it can be sometimes easier to use the web based file manager since you are able to upload files using it from any internet connected location so long as you have a reasonable connection speed and are able to access your cPanel account. So in practice, if you want to upload your files conveniently and efficiently then you should use FTP to upload your files, but if you don’t have much time on your hands and are in a public place such as an internet cafe that might block the FTP port then you should use the web based file manager.

In this age of malicious programs, there are many different threats which are able to compromise the security of either your VPS or dedicated server, which could leave the information that you host within your dedicated environment open to abuse; this means that you should always take pride in the security of your VPS or dedicated server which means that you should maximize the security of your dedicated environment. One such threat which is common within the Linux world and is able to effect the security of your Linux based VPS or dedicated server are rootkits.

Although it is widely though that root kits are a type of security threat which is specific to Linux based servers only, they are also able to affect the performance of Windows based VPS and dedicated servers. The main aim of rootkits is to enter the target machine via a hole which has been found in either a website or other application which is hosted on the machine or via a database without detection by any type of anti-virus software, and some are created to resist removal and are normally create with one malicious intention.

Rootkits go undetected since most hide themselves within the kernel of a Linux server, which means that they are run as the ‘root’ or administrator user which means that they are able to run without being detected by the administrator or owner of the affected server, and that they are able to run without question by the operating system that is installed on the VPS or dedicated server that has been invaded. You can prevent rootkits from invading your VPS or dedicated server by ensuring that your server is as secure as possible, which means that you should have anti-virus and rootkit hunting software installed to try and prevent your server from being affected by malicious programs. Most malicious attackers use rootkits to install certain programs on your VPS or dedicated server so that they can use it for their own purposes; for example a hacker might install a rootkit on your dedicated server so that they can run their illegal IRC channel which might be used for discussing illegal activities, this in itself might land you in trouble - it is for this reason that you should try and keep your VPS or dedicated server as secure as possible.

One of the most important things to consider with rootkits is that once a rootkit has installed itself on your VPS or dedicated server, you will be unable to remove it since it will be embedded within the kernel or root of the operating system that you have installed on your VPS or dedicated server; in order to be able to utilize your VPS or dedicated server, you will have to reinstall the operating system that your VPS or dedicated server uses.

Getting Started with Web Hosting Business

Platform and Control Panel Choice

The platform on which you are going to base your first reseller hosting package or server is an important choice, since it can affect the final choice of prospective customers because of their needs; the control panel which you choose to provide your customers with can also affect your ability to gain customers - this is because some might be more familiar with one control panel which they have used in the past rather than the one that you have chosen to provide them with. In terms of the platform which you choose to base your web hosting packages on, you are limited to two options which are used by most of the main players within the website hosting industry - these are Windows and Linux; Windows is a commercial operating system which you can only use upon the purchase of a license from its manufacturer, Microsoft - Linux on the other hand is an open source operating system which requires no paid for license to allow you to run it, which means you are able to install it on as many computer as you want without the need to pay for any licenses what-so-ever. Platforms and operating systems you should check out include:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 - http://www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx
• CentOS Linux - http://www.centos.org/
• Ubuntu Linux - http://www.ubuntu.org/

There are many different web hosting control panels out there on the market for you to choose from, although your final choice normally boils down to what your web host is able to provide you with since their prices are normally a lot cheaper than if you were to buy a license for a piece of control panel software direct from the supplier; this means that although there may be many different control panels for you to choose from, you are in a sense limited by your web host since they will most likely be unable to provide you with every control panel. When choosing a control panel on which you are going to base your web hosting packages, you should check out all features of the control panels which you are testing - this means that you should always check out the client and reseller panels as well as the administration panel to ensure that you get a good idea of how easy the control panel will be for your customers to use, as well as for the customers of customers to use in terms of resellers; you should also get other people who aren’t so computer ’savvy’ to test out the same control panels as you, since this ensures that the control panel which you choose to base your web hosting packages on is usable for all people. In most cases, the control panel which you choose to base your web hosting packages upon is chosen in relation to the operating system on which you want to base your web hosting packages, since some control panels are only able to work with one operating system whereas others come in multiple versions so that they can be run on most well known operating systems; for example cPanel has been designed for use on Linux distributions only, although a version for Microsoft Windows 2008 is currently in development, and Plesk is a control panel that has been designed for use on both Microsoft Windows and Linux website hosting platforms - this means that you can use the control panel for either operating system. There are many different web hosting control panels on the market, although the main ones which you should take a look at include:

• cPanel - http://www.cpanel.net/
• Parallels (Formally SWSoft) Plesk - http://www.parallels.com/en/products/plesk/
• LXAdmin - http://lxlabs.com/software/lxadmin-sse/

The actual choice of operating system on which you are going to base your web hosting packages can be affected by the skills which you have to administrate a server, in the case that you have opted to go for either a virtual private server or a dedicated server; this is because administering a server can be a complicated task at the best of times, which means that if you don’t have the necessary skills to administrate the server which you have purchased, you might not be able to provide your customers with good service, since it means that if a problem does occur with the server, you won’t be able to fix it. Although your web host might provide support for their virtual private server and dedicated server hosting packages, the support provided might not cover all issues - this might be because it is limited to upgrading third party software that is provided, and that the support staff are not obliged to fix any internal problems with the server; this means that you should try and get your server administration skills up to scratch before embarking on purchasing a hosting package which would provide you with a dedicated environment.

Billing Systems

One of the main components of a successful web hosting business is a web based billing and account management system, so that your customers are able to pay their web hosting bills online and so that you are able to manage and view your customers details as well as packages that they have purchased through a web interface with ease; this means that if you have a numerous amount of customers, you can easily manage them online and contact them quickly and easily as appropriate, if needs be.

Most web host billing systems are not just billing systems, for example some have help desk systems built into them, and as mentioned before, you can also use them to easily manage your customers - even if you happen to have millions of them; this means that you can have an all in one system where you can meet your customers needs in both the areas of support and management. A support help desk system within a billing system allows your customers to open ‘support tickets‘ which are then assigned a unique id so that you are able to manage them easily, and are able to refer to tickets quickly if a customer was to quote you the ticket’s unique id via some other method of communication, such as over the telephone. Most support ticket systems allow correspondence for any ticket via 2 methods - email and a web interface; most systems employ a technology known as ‘email piping‘ which collects the emails from a specified email inbox and them processes them to be displayed within the web interface which should be provided - ticket replies from staff members are emailed back to the email address of the person who opened the ticket and replies from the customer are piped through to the web interface, the web interface itself shows the correspondence between the two parties in order so that you can quickly read through the correspondence if you have the need to.

All good web host billing systems incorporate a large range of payment gateways, so that you can are able to use the payment gateway of your choice to receive payments from your customers for the web hosting services that they have purchased from you - this process is a lot quicker than having to process old fashioned types of payment such as personal cheque; when looking for billing systems, you might also discover API systems for third part fraud detection systems - these are in place to safe guard the security of both your business, and the potential victims - these systems normally mark certain orders as fraud if they are believed to be fraud.

If you are starting out in the web hosting market, then you should always consider buying a license for a piece of billing software that you are able to pay for on a monthly lease, since this means that you are not loosing any money on your billing system if your web hosting business was to fail for some reason or another - if funds do not allow for a monthly lease then you can easily consider a free alternative, although the features of these can be relatively limited when compared to those of their commercial counterparts. As is the case with control panels, you and others should always test both the client and administration side of any web host billing system before you purchase anything; this is because it will allow you to gain the feedback of others apart from yourself which you can then use to help you make your final decision about which web hosting billing system you are going to use for your new web hosting company. You should also consider the installation service for your chosen application which is most probably provided by the company from which you purchased the application; this is because you can ensure that a full and secure installation of the application concerned has been done, to give you peace of mind - it also means that you can have the application installed for you in the situation that you don’t have the necessary knowledge to carry out the task. Although there are many different web hosting billing systems, the main ones which one should have a look at include:

• WHMCS - http://www.whmcs.com/
• ModernBill - http://www.modernbill.com/
• PHPCoin - http://www.phpcoin.com/

Marketing Your Web Hosting Business

Once you have the basics of your new web hosting business laid out and operational, you need to start promoting it where possible so that you can start receiving new customer sign ups, which in turn will help boost your business’s income and customer base. There are many different ways in which you can market and promote your new business in the beginning - some of these options being ones which you have to pay for, and others which are free but require your hard work and will power to ensure that they produce the results that you want; an example of a paid for method which you could use to help promote and market your new web hosting business would be you buying an SEO package from either your web host or from another specialist to ensure that your business’s website gets listed and indexed by all the major search engines on the internet, an example of a free method would be you optimizing your own website so that search engines will give it a higher page rank, and in turn send more visitors to your website through the use of key word searches.

If you have the necessary funds to do so, then you can consider using certain PPC (pay per click) programs to help get adverts for your new business placed on participating publisher websites; most PPC programs deploy adverts on publisher websites based on keywords which you enter when creating the advert, as well as the category which the webmaster of the publishing site has decided to place their website in - this means that your advert will be targeted at people who are on websites most likely looking for web hosting, which ensures that the right people will be sent to your website and will hopefully in turn purchase a web hosting package off you. SEO can play a big roll in the amount of visitors which you receive to your website, this is because the more SEO friendly your website is, the higher the page rank search engines will give you. A higher page rank means in the terms of most search engines that your website will appear higher in the results for certain key word searches. Main different companies run PPC programs, although the main ones which are used by many include:

• Google Adwords - http://www.google.com/adwords/
• Yahoo Overture - http://www.overture.com/
• AdBrite - http://www.adbrite.com/

Basic SEO involves the editing of content on your website to ensure that it is as keyword rich as possible - the more common key words which you decide to use within your content, the more subjects and searches that search engines will link your website to; other basic SEO techniques including the building up of back links to your website from other websites of a similar subject - this will help since it will mean that people who are looking at web hosting related websites might actually be looking for web hosting - and when they see a link to your website, they will most likely click and if they like the look of your packages and prices, will buy their web hosting off you. In some cases you can also do link exchanging with websites of a similar subject to yours; this process involves the placing of a link to your website on that of another website, and then you will link back to the other website involved. Although you might be tempted to purchase a program or plan from another web host which claims to increase the amount of traffic to your website, you should always be cautious when looking at these plans and should never spend too much money on things such as this; this is because all these plans do in most cases is submit your website to other search engines which it might not already be in - although this may sound good at first, it might not give the increased amount in visitors which it claims to provide. If you don’t have the necessary knowledge for SEO, nor the funds to splash out on a special package then you could always hire a professional who might be able to do it for you at a cut rate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with the use of the correct domain name you can help make your business’s name memorable for your customers; this in itself can help you out since it means that if your name is memorable, then it will be easier for your customers to refer their friends and colleagues who need web hosting to your business. You should also now know to consider the client side of a control panel when you are testing it and deciding whether to use as part of your web hosting business or not; by putting yourself in the customer’s shoes and getting the opinions of others on certain things can help produce the best results for your business, and can make your customers happier with the service which they are receiving.

Even though you might be putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, you should still consider how usable the administration side of an application or control panel is for you; this is because you will be using the administration panels day in and day out if your business is to be successful, and it is because of this that you should ensure that you can easily familiarize yourself with the applications and control panels which you will be using. Marketing your web hosting business is one of the most important tasks that you will ever carry out; this is because the amount of customer which you receive to your business will depend on how well you market your website, and whether you carry out a good level of SEO - this will mean making sure that your content is keyword rich, and that you have a large amount of back links so that people can find your business from other websites, and so that search engines give you a higher page rank.

cPanel provides you with many different features based around domains which you can use to expand the capabilities of your cPanel shared website hosting account in the form of being able to host more websites as well as features that you can use to expand the corporate identity of your website and products that you might market on it. The domain that you use for your website is the main identity that is given to it, and it is of the utmost importance that the domain which you use for your website relates both to the content that the site contains as well as the main subject of the website; this is because search engines normally relate the title of a domain name to the content that it contains, as well in reference to the main subject of the website - domains and content which relate more to each other normally receive a higher page ranking when search engines come down to scoring the pages of websites once they have been indexed. Your domain is also the most important factor of your website since it is what people will type in to the address bar of their browser when they want to visit your website, or what they will see when they visit your website through the means of a search from an ordinary search engine. The fact that you can have any domain you want is brilliant for both marketing and general branding; this is because you can create a brandable identity which you can then create a business around, or purchase domains entitled for special offers which you might be offering since this would ensure that if you have created a separate mini site for such offers, people are able to access them without having to type in any long confusing addresses and will only have to enter a standard domain name address. If you are unable to afford a new domain then you can use certain features within cPanel to gives the affect of a separate domain to the user or visitor without having to purchase a new domain; you can use this type of feature to aid with corporate branding when creating a new sub or mini-site for a new product or area of your website which might still be in the development stages. Other domains features within cPanel allow you to just attach your domains to your hosting account, but not necessarily use them - this is perfect for you if you are just planning to buy domains to sell them on at a later date at a higher cost.

The domain features within cPanel allow you to use it to help build your business portfolio if you are in a business such as the selling of high quality domains which people might be willing to pay a high price for; you can also use the built-in features to aid you in the creation of separate ‘mini-sites’ for your business as well as to create separate corporate identities for services and products which you might be wanting to promote and sell via the means of the internet which means you won’t have to pay the high costs to have them in shops. You can also use another feature to help shorten down the length of long URLs within your website which might confuse users then they are trying to navigate or search your website for content; you can also use this feature to send users to another web page on the internet when they try to access a specific one which you have stored within your shared cPanel website hosting space. With the use of the domain features within cPanel you can ensure that you can create separate corporate identities under your main corporate identity without the need to invest extra cash into new domains every time you want to market or promote one of your new products or services on the internet under your main identity. One thing to remember with domains is that they are the most important necessity of your website; this is because they are what your visitors see or type in when they want to visit your website - apart from content, a domain defines your website as well as your brand, for example if you are creating a company website then you should always try and get the branding of the domain as close as is possible to your real company if the main domain that you wanted has already been bought for use by somebody else - however, if it has been bought then it might just have been bought for parking which means you might be able to negotiate a purchase price with the owner of it. With the use of this article you should be able to understand what sub-domains, parked domains, add-on domains and redirects are as well as what their uses are; you should then also be able to apply their uses across your website appropriately in order to help boost your website’s search engine score as well as how visitors come across products and services as well as how the different types of domains can be used for the branding and promotion of products and services which you might want to sell through your website. You will also be given the ability to expand the use of your shared cPanel website hosting account by being able to host a number of domains on your account, if possible, and how you can use this to manage all the domains which you own effectively. All this put together means that you will discover how powerful cPanel is when it comes to managing multiple domains as well as how you are able to strategically market and promote your internet based products and services with the use of domains through cPanel; this should all help you increase your overall search engine ranking/score as well as the amount of visitors and products that you sell through your website.

Sub-Domains

Subdomains are domains that you can create under your hosted domain name; they take on the form of a new name as the forename, and then the second part of the address is your main domain name. Subdomains are a good way to section your website off into different parts if you are providing many different services, or if you want to give different parts of your website their own identity without the need for directories which can easily become very messy. Search engines can also favour subdomains in some situations because they see them as separate domain names, and will rate them above directories in most situations. If you are wanting to sell different products or services under the same company name, but don’t want the websites for each product to be collectively dumped under one domain name, then you should try and utilize subdomains within your website setup where possible. Subdomains are basically address DNS records that have been automatically setup by CPanel to point back to the same server that your website is hosted on; however, you can also utilize the advance DNS settings feature if you wish to use subdomains but want to have the content that they are going to display or the service that they are going to be used for hosted on another server - this will be done via the setup of advanced address records and with the use of IP addresses of other servers through the CPanel control panel. However, most people rarely use subdomains since they are seen as ‘tacky’ by some and others prefer to just use the simple structure of directories when they are designing and building their website which they will then host within their CPanel shared website hosting account. The good thing with subdomains though, is that like directories you can choose what you want the name of the subdomain that you are setting up to be - this means that you can use subdomains for hosting absolutely any content you want. Sub-domains can aid in the marketing and promotion of products or services that you might be selling through your website, and can even help increase on your current amount of sales through your website; this is because they can aid in the creation of ‘mini-sites’ for products and services which you might sell which inturn can help promote and increase products since it allows a product or service to have its own corporate identity under your main corporate identity - it is also much easier for a visitor to type in a subdomain address rather than a very long ‘directory’ address which could consist of many forward slashes before a user actually reaches the final destination of the product or service which they want to purchase. You can also use sub-domains if you wish to segment your website off into smaller parts if you feel that it is too large to be hosted under just one domain; this again can help aid in giving the separate areas of your website their own identities since they will more or less be ‘minis’ of your main website since you have made your main website much smaller, and the subdomains will be relatively small.

Add-On Domains

Add-on domains are domains that you can attach to your main website hosting account; this feature allows you to extend the use of your hosting account since it allows you to host multiple domains, and a website for each domain if you feel that each domain does need to have its own website - if it doesn’t then you could simply create a parking page for each domain. Add-on domains can be linked back to subdomains which you have created within your shared cPanel website hosting account; this allows you to host more websites since in most cases you have an unlimited number of both add-on and sub domains, which means that you can host as many websites as you want under your hosting account with the only constraints against you being the amount of disk space that you are supplied with as well as the amount of bandwidth that your account has been assigned - in some cases you might be limited by either the number of sub of add-on domains which you can use in your website hosting account, which will mean that you are only able to host as many separate websites in your account as is stated by the amount of each. This feature of cPanel is perfect for you if you wish to make the most of your website hosting account without having to spend any extra money; this is because you can try and get the most value for money by utilizing both this and the sub-domain features to ensure that you can host as many websites on your account as is physically allowed by the specifications of the website hosting plan which you have purchased from your web host. One other thing which can affect how many domains you host in your shared cPanel website hosting account is the amount of money that you have available to spend on things such as domains; this is because the cost of domains is relatively high, and means that every time you want to buy a new domain, you have to spend money. Add-on domains can also help in providing a separate corporate identity for other products or services which you may be wanting to sell or provide through the use of the internet and your existing website; you can use the add-on domain feature to host individual domains for the products and services that you have chosen to provide - you can then specify an individual layout for each website to help provide that much needed unique corporate identity for each product or service. If you own a business such as a website design agency then you can make use of this feature to help you host all the websites that you design for clients if you don’t have the finances to pay for a higher end reseller package - however, this situation should only be used if your customers don’t require control panel access to control their website and domain name; this is because only reseller packages give you the abilities to create separate client accounts for each individual website or domain - this in turn means that with a standard shared website hosting account there is only one set of login details for all the websites which you host which means that you are the only one who can control all the details about client’s websites such as email addresses and the contents of their actual website.

Parked/Pointed Domains

The parked/pointed domain feature of cPanel allows you to point existing domains which you might own back to your existing shared cPanel website hosting account; this means that when a user or visitor enters a parked/pointed domain into their web browser, they will reach your existing website which you have already set up under the main domain which you have attached to your shared cPanel website account. Parked/pointed domains are handy for you if you are wanting to reserve one name under an array of different TLDs, they will all lead to your existing website which means that you don’t have to develop an individual website for each domain - meaning that you have to do less work; this can also mean that if you are developing a large website which is going to be used in many countries accross a range of TLDs, then you will only have to place one parking page under your main hosting account then attach all the needed domains to your account - this means that you don’t have to upload a parking page for each individual domain that you are planning to use for your finished website. Parked/pointed domains is also a feature which you can utilize if you are a domain purchaser who purchases domains purely for the reason of then selling them on at a higher price to help you make a profit on your purchases - in this case you could use the parked/pointed domains feature to attach all the domains that you own to your shared cPanel website hosting account; you can then proceed to create one holding page under the main domain for your hosting account which will be displayed on all the domains that you have hosted under your account - this can help you out since it means that you don’t have to place up a holding page for every domain which you own - which means that if you own many domains, you can save yourself a lot of time by using this relatively simple method. One thing to note is that when using or adding add-on domains to your website hosting account, you should always make sure that you point your domains to the DNS servers which you use for your shared cPanel website hosting account; this is because you will then be able to control all aspects of your domain from your shared cPanel website hosting account, and if you don’t or forget to change the DNS servers then your add-on domains might not work at all with your shared cPanel website hosting account - you can normally change your DNS servers for your domains yourself over at the registrar from which you purchased the domain, as long as you know the new DNS servers which you want your domain to point to, if you aren’t able to do it yourself then you can normally contact the support department of your registrar who should happily do it for you at no extra cost than what you have paid for the domain.

Redirects

The redirects feature of cPanel allows you to automatically redirect your website’s visitors to another part of your website when they try to access a certain file or folder which you have hosted under your shared cPanel website hosting account; the redirects section of cPanel allows you to use different method of redirecting - permanent and temporary, permanent redirections (sometimes referred to as 301 redirects) are ones which tell the visitor’s browser to update any bookmarked URLs which link to the file or directory on the website which is trying to be accessed and is in turn telling the browser that it is redirecting the visitor, temporary redirections (sometimes referred to as 302 redirects) work in a similar fashion to permanent redirects, apart from that they don’t tel the visitor’s browser to update any bookmarked URLs which link to the resource such as the file or directory located on the website which is trying to be accessed by the visitor. The redirects feature is popular among most blogging programs, such as Wordpress - although it is normally found in its more technical form via the use of the .htaccess file rather than a simple panel contained within cPanel; this is because it can be used to shorten down long URLs - most blogs normally produce posts with long URLs so that informative information such as the date it was published as well as the full title of the post - however, thy normally shorten the lengths down with the use of a 301 redirect to only leave the title of the post so that others can refer to it in their own blog posts or in their websites without the need of posting a confusing URL but with the ability to post a much shorter and much more understandable URL to the actual blog post. This feature is generally used within websites to help make their web pages much more accessible if they have long URLs as well as to help boost their search engine ranking since this feature can help improve the search engine friendliness of a website’s URL; with a boosted search engine ranking, your website will probably receive more visitors that have been sourced from a search engine keyword search. If you utilize the wild card feature of the redirects feature of cPanel then you can redirect any requests for any file within a directory to another directory with the ability to maintain the file name in the web page request; this means that you can move directories within your website as well as renaming then without the need to change any links in your main website since any requests for files within the old directory will be forwarded to the new directory with the file name being requested retained in the request for the file in the directory concerned - this also means that you can create much more search engine friendly URLs for less search engine friendly URLs that are being used in your website.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you are able to use the domain features of cPanel to help give your products and services their own individual corporate identities which you can then use to market and promote them; this use of a separate mini-site and corporate identity for each product or service that you supply or sell can also help you get an increased search engine score which in turn can increase the amount of visitors that you actually receive from search engine searches of particular keywords which link to your products and services in some way or another. You can also use the domain features provided by cPanel to increase the amount of domains and websites that you are able to host on your standard shared cPanel website hosting account; this feature can help you make the most out of what you have paid for your hosting account since you are able to host more websites than just one without the need to purchase any new website hosting packages - this feature is perfect for you if you feel the need that you want to host more websites or if you just want to separate your site more into different segments so that is much easier for both you to manage and for your visitors or customers to navigate. The ability to park and manage your many domains which you are not using effectively has also been discussed, this means that if you own many domains of the same subject and want them all to display the same website then you can do that at ease without having to upload the website or parking page for each website individually, which in turn can help save you a lot of time and fuss when it comes to both the management of the domains and the uploading of the necessary files; you can also use this feature if you have a large corporate website which you want to have shown under many domains which you have purchased for this purpose - in this case you might want to build some sort of language translation feature into your website so that the text for visitors from foreign countries using a separate TLD is displayed in their native language and not the English that you have most likely written the content of your website in. Other features discussed allow you to make the URLs and file paths in your website much more search engine friendly thus giving your website a much higher search engine ranking (sometimes referred to as search engine score); this is done in the way that the URLs for your website are made much more readable and keyword rich which means that search engines are more likely to like your web pages because of this since the content will most likely link back to the title or the URL of the web page which it might not have done originally - this feature is heavily involved in the design of software such as blogs and content management systems where the URL of the content must be easily readable as well as where the title and URL of the web page must link back to the content that is will display in some way or another, in the case of blogs you might also find this feature being used since the originally generated URL is much longer and confusing and is not appropr