Select a Web Server Dedicated to Your Success

If you have a successful online business, you might want to consider looking for dedicated web hosting. The dedicated web hosting gives you the opportunity of having an entire server at your disposal, and that server is not shared with anybody else.

Even for a person who doesn't know too much about servers, the advantages are clear right from the start: you, as the webmaster, have full control over YOUR OWN server, including options of what operating system to use, the type of hardware, etc. You can customize everything according to your own personal desires, while the administration is handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using an online dedicated web hosting is that your website performance (like loading time, which is an important factor for your visitors) will not be affected by the traffic of the other websites with which you would have been sharing your server's bandwidth.

The online dedicated web hosting environment provides you with an exclusive server or servers devoted to the sole purpose of serving yourself and your business only. You do not share hard disk space with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Before dedicated web hosting existed, a web site developer used to have two hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated web hosting. A person who bought space on a shared host would get a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company, in its' attempt to increase the popularity of their products, would provide a wide range of options for the web site developer. But, limitations would still be there. For example, if a customer needed a non-standard program installed or maybe wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run, he would be completely not be able to achieve these goals.

A good example would be a web site which required a database to store the precious information in. Many hosting companies provide the standard MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account. And trust me, databases are a very important element in the success of your internet business.

A dedicated web server can be customized anyway you want. But, there's also a catch. Because it can handle much more traffic than a shared hosting account, the far better performance doesn't come cheap. On average, dedicated web hosting can cost the savvy webmaster hundreds of dollars per month depending on the size of the server, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting company.

Webmasters who don't quite fit into the standard shared hosting model and find that it doesn't work for them, or whose sites grow very popular and require a large amount of resources have the alternative of dedicated web hosting.

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Web-Based SMTP Server Monitoring

Web-based monitoring of SMTP email servers is normally conducted using one of two different approaches. The first uses a socket level connection to verify whether or not the target server is operational. The second more comprehensive method involves sending round-robin messages to your email system and its subcomponents. Depending on your needs, hardware, and company size both have validity and a rightful place. To determine what is best for your company, let's examine both in more detail and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Socket connection is the most prevalent method used by web-based monitoring companies due to its simplicity. A DNS check is normally conducted, then a socket level connection to port 25 of your email server is attempted. If DNS is ok and SMTP port 25 handshaking occurs, the server is viewed as operational. If not, the appropriate notification methods are triggered. The socket connection method advantages are: speed, low bandwidth, and no agent or server changes are required. Because of its simplistic design, socket connection monitoring can be used to monitor SMTP servers your company does not own or manage. The disadvantage to this approach is accuracy. Just because DNS is operational and handshaking occurs, it does not mean the server or subcomponents are actually processing messages.

The second, less used, method involves a round-robin process that actually sends test messages to your email systems and waits for the message to be returned. As with the socket connection method, a DNS check is normally performed first. A test message is then sent by the monitoring company to your email system. The message travels through your gateways, any subcomponents such as antivirus and content/spam filters, through the firewall to the designated internal server. The internal server, based on a pre-established server-based rule, returns the message back to the monitoring company. If the message is received by the monitoring company within the preset time, 15 or 30 minutes for example, the email system and subcomponents are viewed as operational. If not, the appropriate notification methods are triggered.

If you are using Microsoft Outlook & Exchange, a server-based rule would look something like this: Apply this rule after the message arrives from EmailVerify@SiteRecon.com and with "Email Verification for" in the subject forward it to "Webmaster@SiteRecon.com

The advantage of this approach includes the ability to check the complete message process for failures. For example, a gateway checked using the socket connection method could be fully operational, yet a connected spam filtering appliance or antivirus process could be hung halting message processing. Depending on the monitoring company, the ability to include a specific type of attachment to the round-robin process is also available. Including an attachment such as the Eicar.Txt text pattern for example, permits subcomponents such as antivirus to be fully tested. The disadvantages to this approach are: increased processing by your servers as this testing method sends 96 messages per day using a 15 minute monitoring interval; creation of an email account to receive the test message; and establishment of a server based rule.

The diagram outlines the process for both round-robin and socket connect monitoring methods.

Clearly, the round-robin method offers a more comprehensive testing process than the socket connection method. However, depending upon your needs both process have a rightful place in verifying your email systems are up and operational.

If you do not have the ability to establish server based rules, your only choice is to use monitoring based on the socket connection method. If you have the ability to establish rules, the round robin process offers a much more comprehensive testing method.

Socket connection type monitoring is offered by a wide range of companies and prices vary widely. Round-robin processing is offered by SiteRecon and Websitepulse and range from $11 to $29 per month depending on the monitoring frequency.

Lew Newlin?is CTO of Information Solutions, Inc. that operates SiteRecon.com. SiteRecon specializes in email monitoring?and web site monitoring?for Internet service providers and businesses

Web Sites, Domain Names, And Name Servers (What's DNS All About?)...

I explain Domain Name Servers and Name Servers to a friend of mine all the time. He builds web sites part time. I know he's not alone; DNS confuses a lot of people.

The internet works by assigning an address to each device attached to it. This address is called an Internet Protocol Address or IP Address for short. It's a 32 bit number that's commonly written as 4 segments or octets (called an octet because each 4th is 8 bits) such as 10.10.1.1 or 216.54.217.22. Each octet can range between 0 and 255. This address works just like your street address: a packet (a chunk of communication between two devices) leaving your computer and heading for Google moves through devices call routers that route traffic on the internet. The router looks at the destination IP Address and knows which way to send the packet. Just like a letter moves through various post offices and delivery vehicles (mail man, mail trucks, airplanes, etc.) your little packet of internet traffic moves across various communication channels (phone lines, cable lines, fiber, etc.) and providers (UUNet, Cogent, Level3, Time-Warner, AT&T, Sprint, AboveNet, etc.). It finally arrives at its destination and is processed and a return packet is sent back... in just the same way, it finds its way back based on your IP Address.

The Internet would be pretty hard to use if you had to remember all those IP Addresses when you wanted to visit a web page, so a naming scheme is used that allows you to enter a name that is easy to remember instead of a sequence of numbers. So, how does your computer get the IP Address of a web site when you type in the name? That's where Domain Name Servers do their job.

Name Servers. A Name Server holds the information that relates the IP Addresses for a web site to the names used to access that web site. If you want to have a web site with a domain name, you have to register or purchase (more like rent) the domain name from a service call a registrar. When I registered the domain name for my web site, I told the registrar what Name Server I was using, Most people will use the Name Servers provided by their hosting facility (where they rent the server space for their web site). That Name Server is configured to have a "zone" for my domain and that zone contains records that relate a name to an IP address, this is called an "A Record". An "MX Record" is used to identify the mail server for that zone, for example, I have an "A Record" for my domain that points to the IP address of the web server, and the "MX Record" points to the mail server for my domain. These may or may not be on the same server. When someone sends me email, their mail server will request the Name Server for my domain and will get it's IP Address, then it can request the MX Record and get it's IP Address, and then it can send packets of mail to the mail server for my domain.

Domain Name Servers. A Domain Name Server stores the domain names and associated IP Addresses for a period of time.

This is stored or cached on a server called a Domain Name Server, or DNS server for short. If the time specified for caching a domain name / IP Address relationship has passed the DNS server will remove it from its cache. When a request for an IP Address is made, and the DNS server does not have that address in its cache, the DNS Server will make a request to a set of special servers on the internet that hold the addresses for all the Name Servers and which domain names each one controls. It can then send a request to the name server for that domain to get the IP Address for the domain name and return it to the computer or device making the original request. All Internet Providers have several DNS servers and as you browse the internet your computer is constantly sending requests to these DNS servers to get (or resolve) IP Addresses for the domain names you type in or links you click on.

A web site's name to address relationships are stored on Name Servers, as you browse the Internet, DNS servers either provide the address back to your computer from cache, or, look up the Name Server for your domain and then gets the correct Name Server to get the IP Address.

Now you too understand DNS and Name Servers!

Fred Black is an experienced web developer offering instructional videos at www.WebSiteTrainingOnline.com, An Introduction to Creating Web Sites.

Dedicated server is better than shared server

Web host company offers two options such as shared server space or dedicated server at the time of leasing server. Dedicated server is a single web server within a network of computers that is dedicated only to one customer. Mostly large businesses use dedicated servers because it satisfies the requirements of large businesses due to several reasons.

Dedicated server is best option instead of shared server because it enables you to install data applications. It offers full control over server operating system and enables the customers to customize hardware as well as software setup to meet exact requirements. Web host provides hardware of the computer, network connectivity and routing equipment with dedicated server whereas client controls and maintains server software.

Dedicated server is the best option for the people who want huge amount of data space and bandwidth. These servers offer complete control on entire network. Major advantage of dedicated servers is that it provides each and every service at the small cost. Sometimes it enables the clients to install desired software with superior flexibility and administrative options. The clients don?t share resources in dedicated server.

These servers offer ability to manage firewalls and password access due to security purposes. Basic requirement to have a dedicated server is technical skill. A person with a great technical knowledge can easily handle all problems of dedicated servers. Dedicated servers are costlier than shared servers.

Dedicated servers are categorized as managed dedicated servers and unmanaged dedicated servers. Several things such as operating system, hardware options, space and bandwidth are such options that should be considered while selecting dedicated servers .