What is Linux webhosting, and what is LAMP?

LINUX Webhosting

Linux webhosting is hosting websites on the powerful and very popular Linux-based web server. Linux webhosting usually uses the highest quality web applications LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) collectively. Linux webhosting is also very affordable because Linux itself is an open source application and is distributed free, thus avoiding the high licensing fees.

There are major advantages to using the Linux webhosting because a Linux based webhosting plan included various very powerful and useful web applications that can be easily mastered by the novices and professionals alike. Linux provides the best stable conditions to its users; a fact that has made the Linux webhosting plans the most sought-after hosting plans. Linux web hosting servers can handle the major tasks of websites quite effectively and are very much cheaper than the expensive Windows or other types of Unix-based webhosting servers.

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP)

As seen above, LAMP is the popular name of the web development applications containing the four major web applications, Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Each of these web applications is extremely powerful and their uses are adapted in webhosting quite effectively. These applications can be used separately or collectively.

A Linux webhosting service uses these web applications collectively to form the world’s greatest hosting system. Due to the reliability, stability, usability, and other powerful features, the Linux webhosting plan has become the most popular and widely used hosting plan. The MySQL database and the PHP scripting language are used by majority of the users because they are inexpensive, very powerful, have a lot of useful features, can be easily mastered, and are stable and extremely dependable.

LINUX

Linux is an operating system that is similar to UNIX. It is an open-source application and is free to use. The source code of Linux can be modified and the modifications given away without charging any fees. Linux operating systems are found to be used in personal computers, super computers, web servers, and even the mobile phones.

Linux based systems and web servers are extremely reliable and strong systems that can handle a lot of applications and user’s needs. Linux, being freely available are effectively modified by the best programmers, voluntarily, to make it more powerful and filled with great features. The Linux operating system is constantly upgraded and the latest technology is implemented. The users get all these new features free too as there is no need to pay any license fees.

APACHE

Apache is also well known as Apache HTTP Server, and it was instrumental in the growth of World Wide Web (WWW). Apache is the most used HTTP server used for internet applications. Apache also is used by almost half the websites on the internet, knowingly or unknowingly by the webmasters and the surfers.

Apache supports most of the common language interfaces like:

• PHP
• mod perl
• mod phython
• Tool Command language (Tcl), and so on.

There are also the popular authentication modules that are supported by Apache, like:

• mod_access
• mod_auth
• mod_digest
• mod_auth_digest

Other widely popular features supported by Apache are:

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
• Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• Proxy modules

• A URL re-writer (otherwise known as rewrite engine)
• Custom log files (mod_log_config), etc.

The logs generated by apache can be viewed using the free web scripts like AWStats, W3Perl, or Visitor.

Another nice feature of Apache is that it can do Virtual hosting. Virtual hosting is the type of web hosting where an Apache installation is used to serve a lot of websites simultaneously.

Apache is also used by Google! The operating system used by Google is the Red Hat Linux, and uses a variant of Apache, Google Web Server (GWS), as its web server. Google is a very powerful web service and it is practically used by almost all the web surfers. No wonder, the Google web servers need to be more that capable and powerful to handle those billions of searches conducted everyday without failing entirely. Linux and Apache are the power engines that have created the most successful site in the world, Google.

Linux Webhosting Plans

The Linux webhosting plans also include a lot of features that can make the website quite professional. The development and management of a Linux–based website reduces the need to employ expert technicians and web developers to design or modify a website, because the Linux-based websites are quite easy to manage by its users, irrespective of their expertise, or the non-expertise for that matter!

Thus, Linux webhosting plan that uses the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) has become the most preferred plan by people who need extremely secure, dependable or reliable, robust, easily upgradeable, and the most affordable solutions to their website’s hosting that are also easy to master.

error error : [notice] child pid x exit signal File size limit exceeded (25.)

You are getting above error when any file get exceeded the limit of 2GB so to get it resolved you need to emptied that file.

check the files from /var/log or /usr/local/apache/logs/

Virtual Hosting

Virtual hosting normally comes in the form of virtual private server hosting, in which you are provided with your own server which has its own dedicated hosting environment although it is virtual since it is hosted on a physical server with many other virtual private servers. Virtual hosting allows those with large corporate websites or who want to have their own web hosting environment to easily manage their own web hosting server if they have the correct knowledge, since access to a virtual hosting server is normally provided via SSH in the case of Linux virtual hosting and via Remote Desktop for Windows virtual server hosting. Virtual web hosting is seen as a form of reliable web hosting since although you are sharing the dedicated hosting node with other users, you aren’t affected by the actions of other users who change settings or install their own custom programs in their virtual web hosting environments.

Virtual hosting is normally provided in the form of virtual private hosting servers, which are widely seen as the fill in for the large pricing gap between reseller web hosting for those who need to host multiple websites and dedicated hosting servers. Although like shared and reseller web hosting accounts you have to share the physical web hosting node with other VPS hosting servers, you are provided with access to your own dedicated hosting environment with your own guaranteed resources meaning that you are normally allowed to installed any programs that you wish to on a VPS hosting server. Virtual private hosting servers are the best web hosting solution for you if you wish to start your own web hosting company or are looking to host the websites that you build for your web design clients; this is because if you wish to install your own server side components, or if you wish to install your own software then this can be easily done without affecting other web hosting users.

Virtual hosting normally comes with some sort of control panel so that you are able to control the different aspects of your virtual hosting account, whether it be in the form of a web hosting account or a VPS web hosting server. Control panels are available for different purposes, for example there are control panels that have been designed with web hosting in mind whilst others have been designed solely for administration of Windows and Linux web hosting servers.

For standard virtual web hosting accounts, you will find that your web host has provided you with access to the cPanel control panel for Linux virtual hosting, and Plesk for Windows virtual hosting. Both control panels have been designed with web hosting in mind since they allow web hosting providers to manage their web hosting accounts with ease, and also allow web hosting clients to manage their web hosting plan with ease.

Read the rest of this entry »

Discussion boards or “Forums” play an important role for most successful websites. This provides regular visitors for a website as it covers different topics which are discussed online. It adds a community to the forum which automatically increases traffic and asks visitors to come again and again. Forums have a lot of features for members which include posting, voting, private messaging and lots more.

Forum Web Hosting

Choosing Forum Hosting service for your forum can be a quite a hard experience. Forums have become more popular these days with the advancement of internet technology. One of the most important factors in running  forums is quality of web hosting service. You will need enough disk space and bandwidth for your web hosting account so that huge traffic is supported for your website. Another most important factor is server uptime of the web hosting company. Many web hosting companies claim 99% uptime but thats not always true.

Therefore, always choose a right web host for your Forum hosting needs.

Also along with good web hosting service for your forum there is a need to check the database management system. The web hosting servers should have good database management systems. The availability of MySQL Database and phpmyAdmin is essential to manage your forum properly and with ease. Server Security also plays an important role which helps to run the forum or discussion board smoothly.

Following are the most used Forum softwares. Each one is reviewed below:-

Vbulletin Forum Hosting

vBulletin is one of the best software for creating a web forum produced by Jelsoft Enterprises. All you need to have is a license for using vBulletin. Vbulletin Forum hosting is supported on Linux web hosting and Windows web hosting plans. It is a powerful forum software written in PHP and built with strong back end database MySQL. Many companies choose Vbulletin over other software because of its innovations, security and exceptional performance

Read the rest of this entry »

Dedicated Server Host

There are now many different dedicated server host around, meaning that there is more rivalry in the dedicated server hosting business, ensuring that you are able to get the best dedicated server deal at the lowest price possible. The price of bandwidth in general has dropped, allowing more dedicated server hosting providers to sell dedicated servers with larger amounts of bandwidth than was previously possible, meaning that you can now get more bandwidth for your money than previously. You can now get more dedicated server for your money now as well, since the expectations of most server operating systems are high meaning that you will need a reasonably high specification dedicated server. For example, you can now get a dedicated server with a 250GB hard drive and around 1GB RAM at an average price of $99/month in most cases.

Dedicated server hosting provider normally have their own private cages located in a data centre that is connected to multiple bandwidth providers, ensuring that your dedicated server will have the fastest connection possible. As well as the server itself, you will normally receive many different benefits in the monthly, quarterly, half-year or full year dedicated server rental fee; for example, the price you pay includes what it costs a web hosting provider to buy dedicated server, bandwidth that you need for your dedicated server as well as the electricity that your dedicated server will use up. In some cases, you may receive optional extras in your dedicated server rental fee such as a control panel to allow you to control your server with ease or free extras if a special offer is running such as expanded hard drive capacity for a free premium server operating system such as Windows Dedicated Server 2003.

In a standard data centre, a dedicated server hosting provider will be using racks to keep dedicated servers in, since they are a cost effective and space saving method for hosting large amounts of private servers in a secure environment. Rack mountable servers are the most popular solution for web hosting providers since they can fit more into a set space than they would be able to with older tower servers, and at the end of the day their main aim is to make a profit on what they sell. There is also no form of secure storage solution for web hosts to use for older tower servers, where as with a standard rack cage, they can be easily locked with a key that only the necessary people have access to.

A dedicated server host is able to provide dedicated server customers with an array of different server operating systems, meaning that finding one that fits your needs shouldn’t be a task in itself. Although at heart there are only two mainstream dedicated server operating systems, Linux and Windows, there are different versions of each. Linux has many different versions, that are also known as ‘distributions’ or ‘flavours’ designed for different purposes; i.e. Xandros Linux is designed as a desktop distribution whilst CentOS has been designed and built with the purpose of being a server operating system. Windows Server 2003 comes in Standard, Enterprise and Datacentre Editions; there is also a ‘Web’ edition available that comes with very basic web services and tailors the operating systems towards general internet usage as a web server or mail server, for example.

You will want to ensure that you use a dedicated server host that uses multiple bandwidth providers, since you want your dedicated server or servers to have the fastest connection to the internet possible so that your websites will load quickly. By using multiple connection providers, your dedicated server hosting provider is able to ensure that in the event that one of the providers fails, there are multiple providers to fall back on to retain the connection. Your dedicated server hosting provider will also most probably use different providers to peer with different locations around the world, since this will ensure that your dedicated server is accessible from any internet connected location on the planet, and that your website will load as fast as the local internet connection will allow. Examples of bandwidth providers for UK dedicated server hosting may include Tiscali, Euro Connex and and Level3.

Your dedicated server hosting provider should also be able to provide you with a control panel to allow you to manage your server with ease, and if the correct control panel is used, allow you to provide people with shared and reseller web hosting packages on your dedicated server. A control panel that is normally provided with Linux dedicated servers is cPanel, and is one of the most popular web hosting control panels available at this moment in time. Another control panel that is provided with both Linux and Windows dedicated servers is Plesk; like cPanel, it gives you full management of all your servers resources and services, and also allows you to setup hosting accounts so that you can resell web hosting on your dedicated server.

Dedicated servers are normally aimed at business and individuals who require reliable web hosting, and you will find that most dedicated server hosts only provide dedicated servers to those who actually need dedicated hosting. Dedicated servers are normally a breeding ground for spammers, since once they have their own server to use they can easily send out as many emails as they want per hour, which in itself could have an adverse affect on the network of the dedicated server host involved.

So, in conclusion a dedicated server is a type of web hosting that is expandable both in hardware and software terms, and is the most reliable form available. In most cases, you will find that you can get optional extras such as a control panel included in the price of your dedicated server; this will ensure that you are getting value for money. You can use a dedicated server for a variety of uses, some of which will allow you to make a return on your investment; for example you could resell hosting on your dedicated server.

Podcasting

Podcasting is a novel way of bringing in amazing traffic to your website or blog. The iPod and portable MP3 players have made it possible for students, internet users, and millions of people to listen to your messages and sales talks while they are on the drive, away from their homes and PCs.

So, what is Podcasting?

Podcasting is a way of delivering your audio programs and music files, usually in the MP3 format, to millions of listeners and viewers over the internet to personal computers and mobiles. The podcast is distributed by using Simple Syndication format. The creator of the podcast is called the podcaster.

Podcasting: The MP3 files are published to your website, and are made available to the listeners through subscription, RSS, or through direct download to them to their personal computers or the portable MP3 players. Podcasts can be created in the audio and video formats. The video format is also called “vodcasting”.

The podcaster can make these podcasts available through his websites through easy downloads and streaming of these files. Still, the podcasts can also be easily downloaded using the RSS feeds.

The various top search engines are amazingly fast in picking up the audio files than the normal text files. As an internet marketer, this can help you immensely to establish yourself as an expert in your niche as the audios and the videos are becoming a huge craze now-a-days. Your expert advices to the niche market can quickly become hits as audios are more intensely followed by the masses than the text files. The easy adaptation of the audios on the mobile devices can be an added advantage to spread your messages and sales talks to a new advertising media that is growing very fast. If you are able to establish your market lead in this growing field, it would generate a massive flow of visitors to your website and blog, because this field of Podcasting is still untapped by internet marketers.

The podcasts are best presented as a series of connected episodes of your presentation to the people. The audios, videos, and even the texts can be combined in an effective way and presented as attractive episodes or “shows”. People love interesting and thrilling episodes, and you can use very popular topics, especially in your niche market, to really build top quality podcasts in a serial format. The content in these podcasts can generate huge fan following as they are able to listen and watch these podcasts anywhere and any time.

Purpose of Podcasting

There are unlimited applications where you can use podcasts effectively:

The podcasts can be a revolution in the education field. Millions of students and related people to the education field are now using mobiles and iPods and their derivatives. Learning new language is fast becoming a craze and also a necessity.

The education and job markets requirements are proficiency in learning the English, Spanish, French, and other “business” languages. You can use these niche fields like producing orientation materials, conference-seminars-forums-lectures-feedbacks to the students and your clients, and research tips and techniques. Podcasting is quickly becoming popular as m-learning (mobile learning), enabling anyone to use their mobile sets or their portable MP3 players to learn while on the move. Podcasting is enabling the students and their instructors or teachers to expand the borders of the class-rooms. The podcasts can help them perform their learning and teaching activities anywhere and anytime.

There are plenty of new business opportunities in the business and commerce-related fields like training of the customers and even company staffs, demonstrations, promotion of products and services, advertisements, entertainment, news, and other types of video podcasts that you may think of to build your brand image. The widely followed travel and entertainment industries can be best tapped through effective Podcasting.

Podcasts can be created by any person having a laptop with microphone, internet connection, and some audio formatting software, while a professional quality podcast creation will, of course, require high-end equipment to deliver professional quality.

Of course, you need lot of planning and resources to produce quality podcasts, but once you have created top quality podcasts and marketed those effectively, there can be generation of massive interest in your podcasts and bring your site immense popularity and profits.

To be continued…