Have you ever heard about DNS ? Domain Name System also abbrevated as DNS is one of the most crucial element of a dedicated web server. Even the Internet itself cannot operate properly without a DNS, that is why DNS has a much importance. Do you think that DNS is so significant that you would allow a professional to handle it for you, or is it so much important that you won’t allow any other person to handle it.

There are two different types of DNS Local DNS and the other is Hosted DNS.

The local DNS provides you a absolute hold, flexibility over the functioning of the records. You can decide how your records will be managed and distributed. By hosting your own DNS, you are the only one who knows what is required and your are the only person who can make sure the correct functioning of it.

If a DNS provider is used, you will not get the flexibility to have additional set of rich features and the redundancy may be a bit expensive which you may not afford. Also, it needs a little bit technical knowledge and get rid of the requirement to manage a DNS server, which may become a hassle sometimes. The main drawback of using a third part DNS service or any other service is that you  completely depend on them. Although, if you are planning to go with the third party provider just make sure the provider is reliable and fully secure.

Finally, all depends on your choice and technical capabilities. If you are well equipped with technical knowledge and knows how to manage and run a DNS on your own dedicated server, probably you would like to host your own DNS. However, if you need set of rich features but don’t know how to get it, then the third part providers are always there for your need.

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You may have come across some system administrators saying that their web servers delivers high performance than others. The only reason behind this is that they have taken efforts in building their own kernel from source.

They might be using a Linux distribution that allows customized kernels. Probably, if you are having a dedicated server, running an operating system that utilizes a pre-rolled binary of the kernel, however, even those can also provide you the ability to customize your own kernel.

Advantages of Customizing Your Own Kernel:

• Whenever a program is customized for a specific architecture, usually the level of performance increases and becomes more stable version. Generic binaries need to function on various processors, which makes it inferior to your system.

• Another advantage is that you are able to eliminate the unnecessary modules and components from it. Removing excess modules and components will reduce the size of the compiled kernel and helps it to boot quickly.

• Building your own kernel allows you to add various features and optimize it for better performance.

Disadvantages of Customizing Your Own Kernel:

• When you build your own kernel, you need to maintain the updates, security patches.

• Its better to know how to customize the kernel, if you do things wrong, it could lead in stopping of the server.

• Possibly, customizing a kernel is very time consuming and can take a lot of time. Building a kernel requires good technical skills and knowledge as well as it consumes a lot of CPU power.

Consider the above discussed advantages and disadvantages and decide which kernel to choose for your dedicated server, pre-compiled or a customized one. People using the customized kernels are satisfied with it and people using the ready kernels are pleased as well. Now, its up to you, which kernel is best for your server that will offer optimum performance.

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Password is the only thing that restricts a hacker to enter your web server and damage your data. In simple words, your server root password is your safeguard. Without the root password, you will not be able to log into your own server, and by mistake if your password goes into wrong hands, it may lead to extreme damage you can’t even imagine.

You can take all the possible measures to make sure your server root password is fully secure and safe.

• Always create an easy to remember password, but something that is hard to remember or guess for others. It simply means that you should not use things such as your birthday date or your dog, cat names, the information which anyone can find on your Facebook profile.

• Use more than 8 character to create your password. Some of the authentication systems will ask for entire pass phrases, however, at least 8 characters is normally sufficient.

• Always use numerical digits, alphabets, uppercase, lowercase and even a symbol is fine when creating a root password.

• Never use the dictionary words, because most of the brute force attacks are programmed to guess such passwords. Avoid using any dictionary words.

• Create an unique password for your server access. Keep it unique, and never use it on another places.

• Never share your password. Even, if you want to provide access for your partner, create a new one and limit the access to a particular environment on the server. Remove the user, once the work is done.

• Every user, client or even you should have a strong password. Its your responsibility to ensure that the passwords are strong.

Following the above points will ensure that your dedicated server will be completey secure and can be accessed by others as well.

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Most server administrators and security specialists must be aware about the outages faced by users of Amazon Web Services and the security breach in the Sony’s PlayStation Network. This indicates that even the network and the servers of big players aren’t 100% secure nor stable.

At certain occasions, there is hardly anything that can be done for avoiding the outages that are caused due to natural environmental reasons, nor can anything much be done to avoid security breach due to large DDoS attacks. The only controllable factor is to take precautionary measures to tackle such instances. The information given below would help oneself with preparing you with unplanned server outages which ultimately causes downtime for your websites.

Server Back-ups – Most web hosting UK providers would strongly recommend users to maintain an updated copy of backups of the server and the content within. Few outages may be such that the data can be impossible to recover due to hardware failure. This is something that is beyond the control of anyone, but if you have a backup, it can be restored to the new server and within no-time, your website hence the business can be brought back on track within minimum downtime. Though, the hosts do take backups, but they are either on a weekly or monthly basis, which may even defer with your web hosting package. Still having an updated backup of your own can help you avoid any loss of data.

Redundancy – With the ever growing requirement of power, there may be instances when it could potentially go down. While incase the issue is with a single hardware instead of wide spectrum of intrusion, it can be instantly replaced with an identical hardware holding the same data.

Having a Mitigation strategy in place – One must avoid being over-confident by thinking that your server cannot be compromised. Even if you are confident about the safety precautions you have taken with server security hardening, it is always better to have a back-up plan that should help you tackle such situations.

Laying an effective Public Relation Strategy – As you are trying to rectify the issues caused due to the unexpected disaster, it is equally important for your business to maintain the track record among your customers. Hence laying an effective public relations strategy can help you rise well through the disaster and retain the trust among customers.

One of the simplest means to recover fast from any disaster is to have a latest backup of your server. Following are some pointers about the benefits of backups.

You must realise that having a backup of your server should be a very crucial and routine task for you. You must not just rely on automated backups but do a manual check ensuring that the backups taken are appropriate and can be used if required. If, you are still taking the back-ups thing lightly, then below are few reasons for maintaining an updated copy of backups at any point of time.

If you are running an online business that offers services to customers, for example you offer affordable web hosting services to customers, wherein individuals and businesses depend on you for maintaining their data safe and secure, then it is your utmost responsibility of delivering a high standard of data and information security. Hence, taking backup on a regular basis can help you serve your role well which would not just help you with retaining the customers trust, but would also help you with growing your business.

There are various Backup plans offered by hosting providers which costs little. These backup servers are located at distant locations hence ensuring that the data is secured and safe. You may opt for such an add-on service, even if you are required to pay for them, yet in the event of data loss, you will be able to keep your business safe. It doesn’t matter, what type of hosting package you have it may be a Linux based server or Windows or even a free BSD one installed over a dedicated, cloud hosting, virtual private server or even a shared server, you can opt for a backup solution.

Most web masters and server administrators would agree to the fact that nothing can be predicted when working online. If something which is in control, is to take precautions against the possible threats that encircle the Industry.

Moreover, having a backup can simplify the task of migrating to a new hardware. This would not help you save your business, but would save you money and time as well.

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After deciding to opt for a dedicated server, you may think, what should be the next step ? There are lot of things to do, but not all of the tasks are necessary to implement immediately. Following is a list of actions you need to perform in first few hours on your new dedicated server.

1) There are some possibilities that your new server may not have the latest operating system updates.  You may also need to install a preferred operating system by yourself if you have purchased the server, which will require necessary updates. If you have leased a managed dedicated server from a uk web hosting provider, then your provider may have install the updates as well. But, sometimes they may imagine that you need a server with standard install, without any latest updates. So, check for latest OS updates.

2) Before adding any data on your server, make sure you have applied correct security measures such as installing a good firewall, malware software, etc… For more information about securing your server, go through this article: How to prevent and secure your server against attacks ?

3) Determining various networking settings is important as well. The settings includes nameserver settings, default DNS settings, server hostname settings, etc…

4) Though you are the whole sole owner of the server, but you may change your mind in future and allow other users to access your server. Assuming that, you need to set user policies so that the access to server is limited accordingly.

5) Ensure that you server is completely scalable, so that in future even if you plan to host resource intensive applications, you have enough space to host it. Also, you need to plan your hosting resources according to your website future growth. In future, you may wanted to host multiple mission-critical websites, so be ready and planned for it.

6) Make sure you choose a good control panel to manage your server. The control panel should be able to install the most compatible software’s such as Apache and MySQL. Choose a control panel that has a user-friendly interface.

7) One of the most important things you should always do is to backup your data all the time either on daily or weekly basis. Even if you it won’t need it, still backup everything on your server. For better data security, investing in offsite backup plans is worth. The offsite backup hosting plan ensures that your data is always secure on an offsite server.

8 ) Don’t forget to setup system, port and website monitors. Setup email alerts that can be sent to your email or cell phone if something goes wrong in your server.

9) Keep updating yourself with latest server technology and tips, which will help you to optimize your server for better performance.

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