Domain

A domain name is what you enter into your web browser’s address bar when you want to visit a website if you are not entering the web server’s IP address. Domain names can be alphanumerical meaning that they can contain both letters and numbers as well as a few very limited symbols. Domain names are seen as an easy to allow people to visit websites since in most cases they are easily remembered when compared to their alternative, IP addresses. Those wishing to start their own websites can purchase a domain of their choice from a domain registrar for a fee, and can then move on to purchase web hosting services from a web hosting provider if they are unable to source their own method of website hosting. Domain names can normally be anything that you want them to be since there is no governing body to say that you aren’t able to have any specific domain; however, you may find that the governing body of the TLD that you want to purchase your domain name under may have specific restrictions in place on what you can name domains.

A domain is normally used in conjunction with a website hosting package so that you can use your domain to host a proper website under your account, and not just be stuck using the basic tools such as holding pages that accompany many basic domain registrations. A web hosting package is needed for the web hosting of websites small and large, meaning that if you purchase a domain with the intent of hosting any form of website then a web hosting package is a necessary add-on. Most web hosting providers double up as domain registrars and vice versa which is the main reason for many professional web hosting companies offering a free domain with their website hosting packages. On the other hand, there are companies that are solely domain registrars who in most cases are able to offer you a more dedicated domain support service when compare to a web hosting provider selling domains who solely focuses on its web hosting packages and customers.

Domain hosting customers are normally provided with access to a web hosting control panel so that they are able to manage the web hosting package that they have purchased for their new domain that has just been registered. For example, if you choose a Linux domain hosting package then you will probably find that you are provided with access to the cPanel control panel to enable you to manage your domain hosting package with ease. If you have decided to purchase a Windows domain hosting package then you will probably be provided with access to the Plesk control panel so that you are able to manage the different aspects of your domain hosting package. Hosting control panels are important for those with a domain since they want to be able to control the different aspects of their web hosting account using a web based interface that they are able to access as they need. At the end of the day, a domain is more or less useless if you don’t have a website prepared or hosted for it since there won’t be any content for you to show off to your domain visitors.

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MySQL Web Hosting

MySQL web hosting is a form of web hosting designed for those who wish to host a website that has been designed and built around the MySQL database server system. The MySQL database server is a free database server meaning that many MySQL web hosting solutions are examples of cheap web hosting, ensuring that you don’t have to pay a high price for building your website based on open source tools that are freely available. MySQL databases are normally seen as a reliable form of central storage for website information, since dynamic web pages that can access a MySQL database are able to do so and display the information that you want to be shown on the web page concerned. MySQL databases can be hosted on a server along with other services such as the Apache web server and Exim mail server, or if you feel that having all services located on one server will put too much stress on the server itself, you can opt to have a completely separate MySQL web hosting database server for your needs.

MySQL web hosting packages are traditionally hosted on Linux web hosting servers since MySQL runs better on a Linux hosting platform. If you choose a web hosting provider that is able to offer you Linux based MySQL web hosting then you will probably find that you are receiving a fairly reliable web hosting service when compared to other forms of web hosting. Linux is seen as MySQL’s native hosting platform, meaning that the two go together better than the MySQL server would on a Windows web hosting server for example. MySQL web hosting needs to be reliable for a majority of users since only larger websites are normally based on a dynamic system with a database backend to allow it to be updated on a regular basis. Professional web hosting companies go as far as ensuring that all MySQL web hosting servers are constantly monitored to ensure the websites of corporate customers using their MySQL web hosting services aren’t affected if there is a network problem or server problem for example. Other web hosting providers also have clustered servers in place for MySQL web hosting servers so that it allows them to offer clients a 100% MySQL web hosting uptime guarantee.

MySQL web hosting services are normally provided with two sorts of control panel to allow you to manage both your web hosting package and the MySQL databases that you have created for use in your MySQL web hosting account. If your web hosting providers offers you Linux based MySQL web hosting then you will most likely be provided with access to the cPanel control panel since this is seen as the most reliable and popular control panel for Linux based web hosting. If your web hosting provider uses Windows for MySQL web hosting services then you will find that you are provided with access to the Plesk control panel, since this is probably the only reliable control panel that is available for Windows web hosting. In either case you will be provided access to PHPMyAdmin to allow you to manage the MySQL databases that you have hosted in your account with ease. PHPMyAdmin provides users with an easy to use web based interface, meaning that you can manage your MySQL databases from any computer that is connected to the internet.

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Cheap Domain Hosting

Cheap domain hosting is used by those who wish to have a cheap web hosting account that they can use to a website for their domain or domains. Cheap domain hosting is not cheap and nasty as is the nature of things that are labeled ‘cheap’, and in fact offers many great value for money just as long as you choose to go with the right cheap domain hosting provider. Cheap domain hosting is now offered by many web hosting providers looking to cash on the cheap web hosting market which is gradually growing as more people are requiring cheap domain hosting packages in order to host small websites that don’t require higher end web hosting packages. Web hosting providers normally provide cheap domain hosting packages with low amounts of disk space and bandwidth since in most cases they are only meant for the hosting of small websites or for website holding pages; in the case that someone runs out of resources in their cheap domain hosting account, they are normally required by their web hosting provider to upgrade to a higher end web hosting package.

Cheap domain hosting is normally cheap because web hosting providers US based web hosting servers to supply cheap domain hosting packages since the cost of server hardware and bandwidth is less in the USA than it is in the UK. Cheap domain hosting in the UK is rare, although some web hosting providers can offer UK based cheap domain hosting packages at a higher cost than their American counterparts. If you are wanting to focus your domain or website on a worldwide audience, then by all means USA based cheap domain hosting will be the best solution for you cost wise, but in the case that you want to target your domain or website at a UK based audience then UK based web hosting services will provide you with a better ranking in UK search results. If you do host your website that has a UK target audience with a US based cheap domain hosting provider, you may not necessarily receive a lowe ranking in UK search results if you use other SEO techniques such as gaining backlinks to your website to increase the number of visitors you receive.

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Secure PHP Hosting

Security is the utmost importance to us but sometimes security is relied solely on you, the Customer. If you create your own PHP applications; maybe you’re a new PHP developer, you’ll need to take into consideration security of your PHP applications. Some of them include:
• SQL Injections
• HTML & Javascript vulnerabilities in MySQL database values.

Note that all of these vulnerabilities are caused by the programmers themselves in their PHP applications and are not vulnerabilities with the PHP software itself. These vulnerabilities could be prevented in modifications to the PHP configuration but that would mean that 90% of all PHP scripts would probably stop working properly. This is because the 90% of scripts that keep their code secure without the PHP config modification would do the complete reverse and stop working if the config was changed. So this really is an unviable solution for us so therefore it is down to the programmer themself to keep their applications secure. Below we’ll explain about the many vulnerabilities that especiially affect forms used in conjuction with PHP interactivity.
• SQL Injections
This is a big issue and is probably the most lovable thing about PHP to hackers - and it can do disasterous effects to your scripts. SQL injections are where hackers compromise MySQL features in your SQL statements which change the way statements look when executed with a MySQL query. An example being a MySQL comment in a form. Let’s say you had a member system - a hacker could add a MySQL comment to the password field and they’d not need a password at all! If you think logically the SQL statement would be like just SELECTing the username, right? Well the SQL comment does add an AND clause for the password but the value is actually commented out, therefore MySQL accepts it as correct login credentials. To prevent this happening you’d use the mysql_real_escape_string() function which slashes single or double quotations therefore preventing a SQL injection altogether. If you think about it, if the query is like this:

SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE `username` = ‘$value’ AND `password` = ‘$value’

If you slash ‘ it would prevent the value being escaped therefore preventing injections.
• Code in Forms
Imagine you’ve got a form and that form will be submitted to a database and later on retrieved from. If the user adds HTML or even Javascript (which is worst) the user may be able to add redirects or even cause worser attacks using the POST method of the form. If you think about it, a user could be happily submitting data via a form but doesn’t realise there’s a silent Javascript redirect that has a PHP file that’s holding the same POST variables of that page (such as $_POST, $_GET or simply $_REQUEST) and therefore the user’s data is captured quite easily on the external site. To prevent this you can use a variety of options, such as:
• htmlspecialchars() function that turns opening and closing brackets into HTML entities (so it would actually display the brackets and code on the page, instead of parsing it).
• strip_tags() function is a more less-user-friendly option which strips the brackets and HTML/JS code completely.
• preg_match() function is where you can see if the form values have brackets in them and if so refuse the post.

htmlspecialchars syntax: htmlspecialchars($_POST['message'])
strip_tags syntax: strip_tags($_POST['message'])
preg_match syntax:
$str=$_POST['message'];
$look=”/ $look1="/>/”;
if(preg_match($look,$str) || preg_match($look1,$str)) {
echo “Match found!”;
}

For more information you should check out the PHP documentation for list of functions and their uses and explanations at php.net.

SQL Web Hosting

SQL web hosting can come in the form of either MySQL database hosting or Microsoft SQL Server database hosting since both are examples of high end SQL servers used by large corporations and individuals alike to run database driven websites. SQL database servers are used for the storage of large volumes of data since basic desktop database systems such as Microsoft Access are unable to cope with the demand that large websites and applications can put on them in terms of work load. SQL web hosting is designed for those who want to host large corporate websites that need to store dynamic content in one central location in the form of an SQL database. SQL databases can be integrated into a variety of websites, just as long as the website concerned has been coded in a server side language that support the use of a server side SQL database hosting technology; you will also need to ensure that the web hosting server on which you are hosting is able to cope with hosting an SQL database server, and that the necessary server side sofrware components are installed to allow the interaction.

The average desktop database system, such as Microsoft access is only file based, meaning that it is strictly limited to the amount of data that it is able to store. Also, since a Microsoft Access database is seen as a file when being used in conjunction with a website and isn’t run through a service like Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL databases are, meaning that SQL based database servers are much more scalable than your average desktop database system. This means that if you are planning on running a large website on a Microsoft Access database, you may want to think again; SQL database hosting services are also able to offer you other benefits such as web administration and remote access using freely available database administration programs. Desktop database systems require that you have their software installed on your local computer to allow you to manage the database remotely, meaning that you have to pay for the program before you can even think about setting up a database. In the case of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express hosting and MySQL server hosting, you don’t have to pay for the right to use either service since they are both free.

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Image Hosting

Image hosting is used by those who want to host images for their websites or other websites such as forums in a public place that allows them to be accessed by all. Those who use images hosting for their website that they have hosted on a web hosting package may be doing so since they don’t have large amounts of bandwidth or disk space assigned to their web hosting package to cope with the demand of image hosting. Image hosting is seen as an easy way to host large amounts of images for your website or for your forum posts without the need to pay any extra for large amounts of bandwidth or disk space since many image hosting providers make their money through the use of online adverts that they display on their websites. Although image hosting services normally require you to register in order for you to be able to upload your images, there are some free image hosting services available that allow you to upload your pictures that you can then hotlink to without the need for registration.

Image hosting is mainly used by people who want to include large images in their forum or blog posts since the forum itself won’t let them upload large pictures. Image hosting providers normally make their money through adverts that are placed on their website, and each time someone visits an image that they host the image hosting provider makes money on the advert displayed; because of this, image hosting providers are more than happy to allow the hosting of large images. Since more and more people are now discovering the use of forums if they need help for example, more and more are starting to use image hosting services so that they can add images that may of use to their forum post. Since there are many different image hosting providers to choose from, many forums will only allow users to use one specific image hosting service on the forum concerned. However, some forums do allow users to upload their own images onto the forum’s web hosting server, meaning that in this case an external image hosting service isn’t required.
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