Advantages and Disadvantages of Shared Website Hosting

Shared website hosting is the most basic type of web hosting, in which you share the server on which you are hosted with a number of other users and websites; one thing which sets shared website hosting apart from other types is the fact that users who are hosted on the server are not allowed root or administrator access to the server, thus meaning that you are limited as to what you are able to do with your shared website hosting account.

Almost everyone starts off with shared website hosting, since it is cheap and affordable for many, and the fact that you don’t have to worry about the administration of the server on which you are hosted is one factor which attracts many people who are new to website hosting to shared hosting plans; most shared web hosting plans also come with easy to use and feature rich control panels that allow users to administrate almost any part of their domain or website without the need for any intervention from their web host or anyone else for that matter.

The support available for shared hosting is also much better than that of higher up plans in most cases; this is because the web host that you are using is able to give you more direct support if you are using their control panel, and if they are providing you with a third party control panel then it is easier for them to provide you with support still, and the official documentation is also there if you still need extra help after your web host’s support team has intervened. Shared web hosting accounts come with many different features that you can use to help build your website from the bottom, meaning that if you are completely new to web hosting and web design in general, then you can easily get a website started up under your new web hosting account without having to have any technical knowledge; in this case, you could use an included script auto-installer for example, to install a CMS system within your hosting environment so that you can start adding content to your new website.

In some cases you are able to host multiple domains under your shared website hosting account, meaning that if you are new to website hosting then you can easily expand your use of your website hosting account by gradually building up the amount of domains that you host within it; this means that if you do want to host more websites under your account, then you can with the only limit being the amount of disk space that you have available and the amount of bandwidth that you have available to assign to each new website or domain that you are adding - in some cases web hosts only allow you to host one domain per shared website hosting account, meaning that if you want to host more than one website within your account you will have to purchase another shared website hosting account or upgrade your existing account to a reseller one. Shared website hosting allows you to easily expand your possibilities, allowing you to start at the bottom of the web hosting ‘ladder’ and work your way up to a dedicated server, in the case that your website becomes too resourceful for reseller or VPS hosting; this means that if you are wanting to start a new website and anticipate that over time the visitor numbers will increase, then you can easily start off with a shared website hosting package to get your new website based on, then as your website expands and your visitor numbers increase you can easily upgrade to a VPS server and then onto a dedicated server with ease and ensuring that your website will be fast and available at all times.

Compared to other types of web hosting, shared hosting can be particularly slow at some times, which could effect your website in a negative way meaning that if you receive a lot of visitors, shared web hosting is not something that you want; this is because shared web hosting servers are shared amongst many users meaning that it can take only one user on the same server as you to slow it down or to even make it shut down completely.

Advantages of Shared Website Hosting

Shared website hosting is something that is perfect for people who are new to website hosting, since the support provided is more than enough to get most people started, and the reliability is normally high enough to satisfy most people. One main factor that attracts most to it is the fact that you don’t have to worry about the administration of the hosting server, since that is taken care of by the web host from which you have purchased your website hosting plan; this allows you to effectively run your website without the need to worry about any type of server upkeep or administration.

Support and Maintenance

The good thing with shared website hosting when compared to other types of hosting is that you don’t have to worry about the maintenance of the server on which you are hosted; the money that you pay your web hosting company pays the support staff that they employ to look after the servers which people like yourself are hosted on, and to make sure that they have the latest updates and are as secure as possible to ensure that no hackers or other malicious attackers are able to gain unauthorized access to the shared web hosting server.

Another factor related to the maintenance and general up keep of the server is the support that is provided to you as the customer, in the event that you need help with a certain aspect of your shared website hosting account; support staff are able to provide you with more assistance when on a shared website hosting package rather than on an upper level one, since the your account is normally fully managed enabling you to request support for almost any issue. Most support staff will be able to help you out with issues ranging from a slow server, to installing a new program under your web hosting account which you might not be able to if you don’t have the necessary knowledge; support with upper level packages such as VPS and dedicated server hosting is normally limited, for example most web hosts only provide reboots and rebuilds of VPS and dedicated servers leaving customers to sort out their own issues if they happen to have a problem with their VPS or dedicated server - something which turns many people who don’t have much knowledge regarding the subject away from VPS and dedicated servers.

Support staff are also there to help you configure your website once you have uploaded it into your new shared website hosting space, meaning that if you have had a technical website designed on your behalf, you can easily have it uploaded and configured with the help of the support staff at your web host; this also means that the most technical of websites can be uploaded and configured without the need for any prior knowledge about the environment in which you are hosted.

It is important that the server on which you are hosted has the latest updates and is kept secure from hackers since if malicious attackers do manage to gain access to the server on which you are hosted, not only the data that is hosted under your hosting account but all the data that is hosted on the server is then vulnerable meaning that a hacker can easily steal the contents of a database and sell it on if the information fits the right category - it is for this reason that it is important to encrypt any data that you store either in your web space or databases that you have hosted within your shared website hosting account, because at the end of the day if a malicious attacker does happen to gain access to any of your website’s information, the consequences could prove to be very serious

Reliability and Security

Depending on the specifications of the server that your shared web hosting account resides on, shared website hosting can be more reliable than both VPS and dedicated server hosting in some cases; however, the reliability of a shared web hosting server is dependent on the hardware specifications of it as well as the other users who are hosted on the same server as you.

Most shared web hosting servers these days are of high specification, for example most now have quad core processors meaning that the odds of the hosting server crashing because of a CPU overload are incredibly low; most are also stacked up with RAM, again meaning that the odds of a shared web hosting server crashing because there is no memory left are incredibly low. However, the reliability of a shared web hosting server can depend on the other people who are hosted on the same server as you; for example, someone might be hosting a rather resource intensive PHP application which is regularly accessing a database to get the required information - this type of application is something which is bound to have an effect on the server’s performance, meaning that if it carries on to be resource intensive then the hosting account in which it resides might end up being suspended or terminated.

Since shared web hosting server contain many users, most web hosts try their hardest to ensure that their shared web hosting servers are as secure as possible to ensure that no malicious attackers are able to gain entry to the server in any way; for example, most web hosts have RootKit Hunter installed on their Linux shared hosting servers to ensure that no hackers are able to gain entry to the server and install malicious programs without being detected. You will also find that nearly every web host employs some sort of anti-virus on their shared website hosting server to ensure that the server itself contains no viruses, and to scan incoming and outgoing email to ensure that your email accounts don’t receive any virus emails and to ensure that no emails that contain viruses are sent from the server; this itself will ensure that the server and your data are secure to an extent.

At the end of the day, you want to make sure that you choose a web host who uses shared hosting servers with high specification hardware, since this increases the chances of your website and the services related to it being more stable, which is one that that you want to achieve. You also want to make sure that the shared web hosting provider that you choose to utilizes some type of anti-virus and firewall softwares within their shared website hosting servers, since you want to ensure that the data contained in your website hosting account is secure in the event that a malicious attacker manages to gain access to the server.

Disadvantages of Shared Website Hosting

Although shared website hosting provides many advantages for people who are new to the world of website hosting, for those who have websites which expect more of a web hosting server, shared website hosting does prove to have some disadvantages which can affect how some websites work and how some people are able to utilize their shared website hosting account. The following are disadvantages which might prove that shared hosting is not for you or your website, meaning that upper level packages such as VPS servers and dedicated servers are what you might need to ensure that you are able to provide your website visitors with a stable level of service and so that they are able to access your website with ease and when they need to.

The Sharing of the Server

One factor which many people don’t take into consideration when searching for shared hosting for their important website is the fact that the server on which they will be hosting their website will be shared with other people, meaning that the actions and usage of the other websites that are hosted on the same server as you have the ability to impact on the performance of your own website, which in some cases is something that can effect your website in a negative way. If resource intensive websites are hosted on the same server as you, then they can easily impact on the other sites that are hosted on the same server if they happen to be using up too much CPU or physical memory (RAM) of the server; in this case you would notice the impact of the other website on yours since you will experience slower response times to certain requests, such as those which include your website or web page having to access a database to gather the required data - you would probably see your website timing out when loading in this case.

If your web host happens to setup a ‘spam‘ user on the same server as you by accident, then you might also find that the server will crash because the user is using up too many server resources; for example, most spammers exploit shared website hosting accounts so that they can send out their spam, in most cases by the gigbyte (GB). If a spammer is exploiting your server then you might find that your website is slow to load either because it is timing out because their is not enough CPU left to process the request, or because the actual internet uplink on the server has been jammed up with all the spam which is being sent out. By sharing a server with other people, you’re website is still prone to attack through the means of another website or hosting account on the same web hosting server as you; this is because another website on the same server as you, or hosting account might be compromised meaning that a hacker or other sort of malicious attacker can easily gain access to the entire server due to that one compromised website hosting account.

Limitations

Although with VPS and dedicated server hosting packages you are limited by the amount of bandwidth and disk space that you have assigned to your server, with shared hosting you are limited by a larger amount of factors including the number of email accounts that you are able to create as well as the number of databases, amongst other things; this means that if you are wanting to only be limited by disk space and bandwidth, you will have to think again since in some cases you will only be able to create a certain amount of email accounts and databases under your website hosting account.

In most cases you are also limited as to what you are able to do with your web hosting account technically, meaning that you can be limited as to how your website can run, for example you might not be allowed to set file permissions under your web hosting account which means that certain scripts and programs won’t be able to run within your shared website hosting environment; in this case you would have to find a web host who provided a shared website hosting package that did allow you to set file permissions otherwise you are limiting yourself to only being able to use certain scripts and programs under your web hosting account.

Conclusion

In conclusion, shared website hosting is a type of web hosting which is perfect for those who are new to the world of web hosting, and don’t have much knowledge when it comes to the management and administration of a web hosting account; it is also fine for those who just wish to host a couple of small websites, since the features provided will allow for you to effectively manage small websites without the need for any intervention from your web host, although they will probably be more than happy to help you out if you happen to run into any problems regarding your shared hosting account. For those who are wanting to host resource intensive websites, or dynamic websites which will be using databases and will wanting to be accessing them often, shared website hosting may not be for them; this is because your website might end up using too many server resources, which in the eyes of most web hosts will lead to the suspension of your hosting account, especially if your website or account is impacting on the performance of other websites and domains hosted on the same server as you.

If your website handles important data, such as credit card numbers and other personal information, then you might want to consider a VPS or dedicated server solution since shared website hosting might be a little insecure for hosting such important information; with a more higher level solution, you are able to configure the server security the way you want it to be meaning that if you have a certain security infrastructure to ensure that the information you host isn’t compromised, you can easily deploy it giving your customer ultimate assurance when it comes to data security.

Every now and then you might experience a period of slowness with your shared website hosting account, which might be being caused by a ‘rogue’ user who was accidentally setup on the server by your web host and is actually a spammer using the server to send out all their spam; in this case your account’s information is not compromised, but spammers do have the ability to slow down servers by using up a lot of the available CPU and RAM meaning that the server is more vulnerable to crashing. So basically, if you are hosting a website which isn’t mission critical and you are able to deal with the occasional occurence of downtime, then shared website hosting is for you; if you are wanting to host an important website which is handling important information then you might want to consider a more higher level web hosting solution.

Creating a Database in Plesk Control Panel

Plesk gives you the ability to create MySQL databases in both its Linux and Windows forms; if you purchase the necessary add-ons then it can also connect to PostgreSQL and MSSQL servers to create both types of database; PostgreSQL is only normally found on Linux, and MSSQL is for Windows hosting only. Third party web based database control panels are built into Plesk and Plesk automatically logs you in to the relevant one when you want to administrate a database over the internet from a location that might happen to not be your own computer; in the case of MySQL databases, PHPMyAdmin is supplied to allow you to manage any MySQL databases that you might have hosted within your shared Plesk website hosting account - if you are hosted on the Windows platform and are utilizing Microsoft SQL databases then ASP.NET Enterprise Manager is supplied to allow you to view and manage any MSSQL databases that you have hosted under your account.

In most cases you will be using a database along with a dynamic web page language within your website so that your website is able to communicate with the database so it can pull data to be displayed, as well as store it within the database so that it can be easily accessed again. Plesk also gives you the ability to create users so that the databases you create can be accessed by the scripts that you have created within your web space; without these database users, scripts and other programs that you want to use to access your database or databases won’t be usable since they won’t be able to access the database.

Since Plesk gives you the ability to create multiple databases under many different database platforms, it gives you the ability to host many different web applications in a number of dynamic server side scripting languages so that the applications that you do create can easily interact with the databases that you have created within your shared Plesk website hosting account.

Creating a MySQL Database

In order to create a MySQL database from within Plesk, you will first need to navigate to the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create the new MySQL database for. If you don’t know how to find your way to the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create a new MySQL database for them you should take a look at this article; in the article noted you will also find other Plesk related tutorials which will help you get your new website off the ground in your new Plesk website hosting account. Once you have reached the hosting control panel for the domain which the MySQL database is going to be created for, you will need to select the ‘databases’ icon:

You should then be presented with the following screen, which also provides you with options to manage the databases that you might have already created using the Plesk control panel:

You will then need to select the ‘add new database’ icon, which will then redirect you into the database creation wizard. Once redirected, you will be asked to enter the following details:

• database name (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give the actual database, Plesk suggests that you begin the database name with your Plesk login followed by an underscore, it is after the underscore that you should enter the desired database alias
• database type (circled green) - this is where you select what database program you want the new database to be created in, if there is no more than one option then this field will not be shown - in the cases of Windows based Plesk website hosting, you are able to choose between MySQL and MSSQL databases, although the options are dependent on what database engines your web host has installed on your hosting server and what options they have enabled within their Plesk license. In our case we want to be creating a MySQL database.

One you have clicked the ‘ok’ button after entering the relevant details to aid in the creation of your database, you will be redirected to the management screen for the database that you have just created. In order to make your database usable from within your web pages and server side scripts that you have hosted within your hosting account, you will need to select the ‘add new user’ option:

You will then be prompted to enter the following details to aid in the creation of your database user:

• database username (circled red) - this is the username that you will use to gain access to your newly created database externally, for example from a script or web page that you are hosting within your Plesk hosting account or from your desktop database management browser if you have chosen not to use the supplied third party web based database management system
• password (circled green) - it is highly important that you password protect your newly created database user, since hackers might be able to gain access to your database and steal the data contained if the user account concerned doesn’t have a password on it.

Once you have done that, you should then be able to use the provided details to gain access to your new MySQL database from your PHP and ASP based scripts and web pages that you are hosting within your web space, you will also be able to use a desktop database management program to manage the contents of your new MySQL database.

One thing to note is that the ability to create MSSQL or PostgreSQL databases in the Windows and Linux versions of Plesk, respectively, is dictated by the Plesk license that your web host has installed on your web hosting server. For example, it costs extra for a web host to purchase a Plesk license that enables them and their clients to have access to MSSQL database creation and management facilities, and the same can be applied to PostgreSQL even though it isn’t a database engine that is widely used these days. Also, the third party management programs for databases that have been created in Plesk are dependent on what your web host has installed on your hosting server, which means that if you don’t want to use a certain program then you might have to resort to using a desktop based database management system, and these tend to have more features than web based systems meaning that you will have more control over your databases.

Creating a Subdomain in Plesk Control Panel

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 Plesk 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 Plesk 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 Plesk 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.

Creating a Subdomain

In order to create a subdomain for any domain that you have hosted under your shared Plesk website hosting account, you will navigate to the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create a subdomain for. If you don’t know how to navigate to your hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create a subdomain, then you should refer to this article since it contains the information on how to reach the section of Plesk in question and many other tutorials related to Plesk that you might find helpful. Once you have reached the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create the subdomain for, you will need to select the ’subdomain’ icon:

You should then reach the following screen:

As you can see, from the subdomain section of Plesk you are able to utilize the following subdomain related features which ensures that you are able to make the most of them:

• tools - using the option in this section, you are able to create subdomains under the domain that you have chosen when entering the hosting control panel, which means that you can make the most of this Plesk feature, for example to split your website up into different sections
• subdomains - under this section you can manage any subdomains that you have previously created under the chosen domain name, allowing you to delete them and sort them alphabetically in ascending and descending orders if you have many to manage.

In order to enter the subdomain creation process, you will need to select the following icon from the ‘tools’ section of the page that you are on:

Once you have clicked that icon, you should then be presented with the following page:

You will need to choose the type of file hosting that you want to use for your new subdomain, and you have two different options that you are able to choose from dependent on what you want:

• physcial hosting - if you choose physical hosting for your new subdomain, then the contents of the subdomain will be contained in a folder that is separate from the main website root, which also means that you are able to customize the hosting environment for the new subdomain that you are creating
• subdomain subfolder - although you are able to customize the hosting environment with this type of subdomain, the contents are hosted in folder that is located in the root of your main website, which does have the ability to create some problems to an extent.

The main components that you are able to customize are:

• subdomain (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give the actual new subdomain
• site home directory (circled green) - this is the directory in which you want the contents of the new subdomain to reside
• services (circled blue) - you are able to configure the individual services that you want to use with your new subdomain.

Once you click the ok button, you should be presented with a screen hopefully confirming that your new subdomain has been successfully created and is ready for use! One thing to note is that subdomains can take a while to work globally since the DNS has be updated so that they can actually be accessed publicly from the internet.

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.

Getting Started with Plesk Control Panel

Plesk is the control panel that many web hosts use to provide their clients with both Linux based website hosting and Windows based website hosting. Plesk is complicated control panel, since it incorporates many different features that you are able to use to administer nearly any aspect of your website and website hosting package that you have purchased from your web host. In order for you to be able to make the most of your web hosting package, and to be able to administer your website with ease, you will need to be able to find your way around the Plesk control panel and must know how to use certain features in ways that will be able to benefit you and your website. If you are unable to use Plesk correctly to ensure that you can administer your website correctly, you might find that you are unable to get your website back online in the case that you have changed web hosts, and if you are uploading your website for the first time then you might find that you are unable to setup any aspect of your website such as email accounts and FTP accounts that are needed to allow you to upload your website into your web space. For those who are new to Plesk, this article shall help you setup the most important aspects of your website including FTP accounts to allow you to upload your website to your web space; screenshots have been included as well to make the learning process for Plesk as easy for you as possible, meaning that you should be able to have your website running on your new Plesk website hosting account in no time.

First Logging Into Plesk - The Desktop

When you first log into Plesk, you will be presented with the ‘desktop’ screen which was first introduced into the control panel in version 8, and is a place where you are able to place links to your most used parts of Plesk which means that you can access the sections that are most important to you with ease. The ‘desktop’ screen that you are presented with should look like this:

The ‘desktop’ feature of Plesk also provides you with counters that tell you how much space you have left for use in your web hosting account out of the space that was assigned to your account on sign up. The amount of bandwidth that you have left for use with your website or websites is also shown, which means that you are able to see how long your website will be online until you have to purchase more bandwidth. Other tools are provided so that you are able to manage your package without having to investigate each domain that you have hosted to ensure that you have enough space and bandwidth left for use with your account.

Viewing the Domains That You’re Hosting and Other Domain Features

Like anyone who has a Plesk website hosting account, you will want to be viewing the domains that you have hosted on your hosting account and will want to be able to access them for easy management. At some point, you might also consider adding new domains to your web hosting account so that you can make use of any spare web space or bandwidth that you might have, although you might want to reserve a small amount for other websites since you can easily find that your other websites are running out of bandwidth or space for a reason such as an increased visitor count. In order for you to view domains that you have hosted, and to create new domains, you will want to access the domain section of Plesk which can be found in the left panel of Plesk (circled red):

The domains page in Plesk should provide you with the following options for domains:

• add new domain - this option allows you to add more domains to your Plesk website hosting package so that you can host their email and websites, as well as other relevant services that might be provided by your web host
• domain templates - you can use domain templates as bases for hosting packages for domains which you want to host within your account, since multiple options are provided to allow you to create different templates with different specifications
• summary report - this will show you all the domains that you are hosting and will provide you with data on how much disk space they are using and how much bandwidth they have used for the current month, you will also be able to see data such as the amount of mailboxes each domain has setup
• traffic - this Plesk feature will provide you with a report showing you how much bandwidth each domain that you have hosted is using, as well as the bandwidth cap which has been placed on the domain - a graphical counter for each domain should be displayed as well.

Creating a Domain

You should already be in the domains section of Plesk, meaning that you are in the right place if you want to add your domain to your website hosting package so that you can host the email addresses and website that are related to it. When creating domains within Plesk, you have the option to create one using one of two formats - with the use of a domain template, and without the use of a domain template. If you choose to create a domain using a domain template, then you need to ensure that you have at least one domain template created within your web hosting account; with the use of a domain template, you are creating your domain based on a set of parameters that you specified when creating the template. If you are creating a domain without a template, then you will need to specify the necessary configuration settings in the process of setting up the domain concerned. To enter the domain creation wizard, you will need to select ‘add domain’ from the domains screen (circled red):

You will then be directed to a screen (below) where you will need to enter the following variables regarding your domain:

• domain name (circled red) - it is highly suggested that you check the box labeled ‘WWW’ which precedes the domain name box, since if people try and type in ‘www.yourdomain.com’, they will be unable to reach your website
• domain template (circled green) - if you have your own custom rules set out, then you should choose a template for use with the new domain.

You will then be asked to choose which type of hosting (below) you want your new domain to have, and the different types of hosting come in the following three forms:

• physical hosting (circled red) - this means that the website and domain for the domain will be hosted on the server hard drive physically, and that anything else relating to the domain such as the DNS will also be hosted off the server concerned
• standard forwarding (circled green) - this means that anyone who enters your domain name into their web browser will be automatically redirected to another website of your choice - the URL of the destination website will be displayed within the visitor’s browser address bar
• framed forwarding (circled blue) - this means that anyone who enters your domain will be redirected to another website of your choice, but unlike standard forwarding your domain, the one which is entered is retained within the visitor’s browser address bar.

If you choose the physical hosting option (below), then you will be asked to select and enter a range of parameters related to the domain that you want to host within your Plesk website hosting account. The main parameters which you should set out for your domain include:

• FTP/Microsoft Frontpage password
• amount of disk space to be assigned
• which scripting languages will be supported within the domain’s hosting environment.

If you choose the standard forwarding option (below), then you will be asked to enter the domain (destination URL) which you want your website’s visitors to be sent to; the same is applicable for the framed forwarding option.

After Domain Creation

Once you have completed the necessary steps to create your domain in Plesk, and have assigned it to have either physical hosting, or some type of forwarding (either standard or framed) you will be redirected to the management panel where you will be able to start configuring other aspects of your domain’s hosting if you have chosen for it to have physical hosting, and where you will be able to change the destination URL if you have chosen to use some type of forwarding to forward your website’s visitors to another website of your choice. The management panel for a domain with physical hosting should look like this:

As you can see from the above picture, the management panel allows you to take control of the following main features related to your domains hosting:

• mail - this includes the management of email accounts as well as the link to the webmail panel
• DNS settings - this area allows you to manage the DNS settings that are hosted for your domain
• databases - you can manage the databases for your domain through Plesk, and access the necessary web administration panel (PHPMyAdmin for MySQL databases and ASP.NET enterprise manager for MSSQL databases) to enable you to remotely manage your website’s databases
• certificates - you are given the ability to install SSL certificates within your web space without the need for any intervention from your web host, just as long as you have a dedicated IP address that you are able to use for the certificate
• ODBC data sources - in the case of Windows based Plesk hosting, you are given the option to create DSN connections to databases that you can then integrate into your classic ASP and ASP.NET based web pages and scripts.

Other features provided allow you to control and configure certain settings to enable you to customize your hosting environment; for example you are able to customize certain settings related to the running of the ASP.NET scripting language through the section labeled ‘ASP.NET’. If you want to view the website that you have uploaded for your new domain, but the necessary DNS has still not taken effect then you can use the site preview function to fully interact with the content that you have uploaded into your web space.

Uploading Your Website Into Your Web Space

There are two ways in which you can put the files related to your web space, these are via a simple FTP session and via the file manager that is built into Plesk to allow you to manage the files that you have hosted within your web space.

In order to upload your website via FTP, you will need to an FTP account so that you are able to login to your web space through your chosen FTP program; to create an FTP account, you will need to go to the FTP account manager which is reachable through the hosting management panel (circled in red):

If you have no FTP accounts created for your web space, then you will need to select ‘add new FTP account’ (circled green):

Once you have reached the page where you are able to create new FTP accounts, you will be asked to enter the following data to ensure that an FTP account can be created successfully:

• FTP account name (circled red) - the chosen FTP account name will be the name which is used to login to your FTP space along with the chosen password
• home directory (circled green) - this is the highest level directory that the account being created will have access to, for example if you enter ‘httpdocs’ then the account will only be able to access any folder under the directory ‘httpdocs’
• disk space (circled blue) - you are able to set the amount of disk space that one FTP account is able to use up
• read and write permissions (circled purple) - if you give an account read permissions, then it is able to view the contents of all directories to which it is allowed access, and if you give it write permissions then it is able to paste and upload files into any directories to which it has access.

Once you have create an FTP account for use with your website, you can proceed to accessing your web space via FTP using your chosen FTP explorer with the login details that you provided when creating the FTP account that you are going to use.

You can also upload your websites files using the built in Plesk file manager if you feel that you don’t want to use FTP to transfer the files from your computer to your web space so that they are viewable by your website’s visitors. In order to do this, you will need to select the file manager option from the hosting management screen:

Once you have done that, you should then navigate your way to the directory in which you want to upload the file - one thing to note is that you are unable to upload files into your ‘home’ directory, since this is where all the important directories related to your website reside. Once you have reached your chosen directory, you should choose the ‘add new file’ button located near the top of the screen:

Once you have reached this screen, you will be presented with three upload boxes in which you can click the ‘browse’ button (circled red) to navigate to a file on your computer that you want to upload to your web space. You should ensure that you have the upload radio button checked near the top of the screen (circled green):

Once you have clicked the ‘ok’ button near the bottom of the screen, the chosen file should then proceed to be uploaded.

Adding an Email Account in Plesk Control Panel

Plesk is a control panel which is used by many web hosts to provide their customers with Windows and Linux based hosting solutions so that they can easily serve their websites to their audiences, but at the same time provide their employees and colleagues with email solutions so that they are able to communicate with each other effectively and conveniently without the need for memos or any other type of paper based communications. Email is being increasingly used by people in today’s internet connected society to allow them to communicate almost instantly, and share other things such as computer files without the need for having to be face to face, which without emails people would have to be since there is no other electronic way to transfer computer files almost instantly; this means that you can communicate with someone on the other side of the world to you almost instantly without the need for having to be close to them, although something of this scenario is achievable with phone conversations.

Many companies are increasingly using electronic based communications such as emails to allow them to communicate with customers in many different areas; for example many companies are now providing customer support with the use of emails, and you are now also able to receive invoices for any purchases you have made whether they have been face to face or over the internet to your email address which means that you only have to print the invoice off if you need to, which means that the company from which you have received the invoice is saving in paper because in most cases people would throw the invoice away.

If you do not currently use emails within your company, then you should try and deploy some sort of email solution for your employees as appropriate, since you could improve your sales and customer satisfaction if you are able to provide your customers with email based support and sales advise, since it is one thing which many companies fail to provide; you might also be able to improve your employee production if they are able to communicate with each other more conveniently in a much quick fashion.

Unlike other forms of communication, you are normally able to store emails for as long as you want meaning that you are able to refer back to them in the future if needs be; you can also access them whilst mobile if needed since most new mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs have some sort of built in email application that allows you to download your emails from your email server as well as allowing you the ability to create and send emails whilst on the move, just so long as you have the appropriate mobile signal.

One downside with emails when compared to other forms of communication is that you can be easily targeted by spammers, which means that you will receive many unwanted and useless emails in your email inbox which you might not necessarily have asked for - although these emails might not do any harm, they can be very annoying and their contents can prove very disgusting and in some cases worrying; for example some spam emails request that you provide certain details to someone since there is a cash reward awaiting you - if you provide details then they will most likely be used for identity fraud and the cash reward that you have been promised probably doesn’t even exist - at the end of the day, the same message has probably been sent to thousands or even millions of unsuspecting people.

Spam however can be easily stopped with the use of anti spam programs, such as those that are normally installed on Plesk based web hosting servers; for example SpamAssassin is one of the best known free server side spam solutions and is used by many web hosts to help stop spam on most Windows and Linux based web hosting servers. You can also consider downloading a third party spam application that should scan any emails which you download into your desktop email browser; in some cases these can prove to be more effective than server side ones since most are more specific with the rule sets that they use to catch spam emails.

Adding an Email Account

Creating an email account in the Plesk control panel is a fairly simple process, although there are certain options that you should try and custom configure when setting up the email account in question. As previously mentioned, most web hosts utilizing Plesk allow you to use the SpamAssassin installation on the server on which your website resides to scan your incoming and outgoing email to ensure that none of it is spam; in some cases you are also able to use the server’s anti-virus to scan your incoming emails to ensure that you aren’t receiving any emails that contain malicious threats which you damage your computer and even steal any data that it happens to hold. To start off with, you will need to navigate to the mail control panel for the domain that you want to alter by selecting the mail icon on the domain’s hosting control panel:

You should then reach the following screen:

If you are unable to navigate to the hosting control panel for your domain, then please refer to this article which will discuss how to reach there; once there, you will be able to create and manage email accounts.

Once you have reached the email control panel, you will need to select the ‘Add New Mail Name Option’:

You should then reach a screen where you will be asked to enter the following details to aide in the creation of the email account:

• mail name (circled red) - this is what you want the name of the email address to be, the domain for which you are creating the email account should follow the text box preceded by the ‘@’ email symbol
• password (circled green) - it is important to ensure that you password protect your email account as to make sure that no one is able to gain unauthorized access to your emails
• control panel access (circled blue) - this is something which doesn’t need to be set unless you want to enable the person for which the account has been made for to manage their email account, it is not a factor that affects the running of the email address
• mail box quota (circled purple) - you should only set this if you want to put a limit on the amount of space out of your overall web space that you want to allow an email account to use, if you select unlimited then the account will be able to use up as much web space as you have left.

Once the email account has been created, you should then be taken to the mail control panel where you are able to manage the following features and aspects of the new email account:

• add new alias (circled red) - using this option you can create more aliases for which you want to be used with the email account concerned, any emails sent to an alias will be received under the email account for which the alias has been created
• preferences (circled green) - you can use this option if you want to manage factors such as the actual name of the email account as well as the password that you want to be used to access it
• mailbox (circled blue) - if you disable this option then the email account will no longer have a physical presence on the server which it resides, in this case you could then only use it as forwarding address
• redirect (circled purple) - if you enable this option then you will make any emails that are sent to the email account concerned be redirected to another email address of your choice
• auto-responder (circled pink) - if you enable this option then any emails that are sent to the account concerned will receive an automatic reply which you decide on yourself when enabling the feature.

Congratulations - you have just created and configured your first email account through Plesk!