Is Your Website Secure On A Shared Server? Part 2

SSL certificates The secured socket layer (SSL) technology provides strong encryption of HTTP packets during their transfer through the World Wide Web. However, in order to encrypt; a SSL certificate from a trusted certification authority like Verisign or Twate is necessary.

Shared hosting and SSL certificates SSL can undoubtedly provide a lot of security on the server side. Most of the encryption done is on the 128 bit level, which in its own right is very secure. But, when it comes to securing websites on shared hosts the real problems surface as the SSL technology requires an IP address ( with port number) and most shared websites don?t have one!

To overcome this problem many ISP?s have come-up with shared SSL certificates. But, this quick fix solution actually undermines the importance of SSL certificates as, with a shares SSL certificate the credibility and trustworthiness of a certificate comes under the scanner.

However new methods are being developed at a rapid pace whereby Genuine SSL certificates would be provided to websites operating on shared hosts and with the evolution of IPv6 (The new generation of Internet Protocol) the scarcity of public IP?s would also be addressed to a certain extent).

Other practical methods to ensure security on shared servers

• You should have complete information about the types of scripts and software installed on the server. As applying unproven or substandard codes by others using the server might affect you too.
• Enquire about the security audit procedure employed by your host. That?s because the frequency of review can be the deciding factor between succumbing to a security threat and overcoming it.
• The most important action you can take on your part is to use very strong password for your website. As using easy to crack password would make your website as open as a stadium in front of hackers.

When we talk of the World Wide Web and its secure nature, we have to understand that nothing is fool-proof. Recent times have seen hackers breaking in to some of the most secure websites. That?s why, the trick here lies in keeping up with the times and heeding to the latest of security updates. A web hosting provider who does that can provide a great deal of security to your website even if it?s hosted on a shared server.

The Author Search Engine marketing expert, Tarun Gupta is one of the most prolific writers in the internet marketing domain with his articles being published in numerous search related websites and newsletters.

He is the founder director of web development and web hosting services company BrainPulse.com.

Learning ASP Series - Installing Personal Web Server

Welcome to the first chapter of your Basic ASP Learning Series.

I mostly communicate on a personal level, so it's better we acquaint ourselves in the beginning. My name is Amrit Hallan and I'm a web developer. I work through my web site - http://www.bytesworth.com. I'm not a nerd (and don't want to be) and most of my knowledge has come to me piecemeal through lots of hard work and interaction with my other developer friends. I don' t think it'd be fair to say that I'm an authority on ASP but yes, I have a few satisfied clients in my portfolio and I know enough to get you started. By the time you are through with these daily chapters, you'll have learnt enough to make a small shopping cart in ASP.

Most of the chapters will be organized in a linear fashion, so that you always have to work according to your previously acquired knowledge. Sometimes I'll sound like writing the entire chapter in a bulleted form, but that'll be just to keep the unnecessary (I mean that is out of the scope of this reference) stuff out.

I wish I could know your name too. But I don't know how many people are going to read this. If you want to let me know that YOU are the one at the moment reading this, you are welcome to send me a friendly message at mailto:amrit@bytesworth.com. I love to hear from people (ok, the word "people" excludes Spammers - they are not people).

Enough of my warming up. Here we go with the first chapter.

Installing Personal Web Server

==> Beginning of Chapter One From there, install the PWS on your computer. The installation
program creates a folder, inetpub in the directly you specify during the installation. This inetpub, further has a folder, wwwroot. So if you install your PWS on your C drive, the wwwroot path should be

C:INETPUBWWWROOT

All the files that you create, you store under wwwroot. What we generally do is, we create separate folders for separate projects under the wwwroot folder. So if I created bytesworth folder in wwwroot folder, the full path should be

C:INETPUBWWWROOTBYTESWORTH

And when I have to view the page on my browser, I'll have to type

http://localhost/bytesworth

as the URL.

After you've installed the PWS, it's icon appears on your desktop, and at the bottom right of your screen. Click or double-click on the icon. On the main window, you should see the message:

Web publishing is on. Your Home page is available at http://servername

The servername is the name you use instead of localhost. But if you are confused about this name game, just use localhost and it should always work if you haven't been naughty and messing around with your computer's basic setup.

Before you proceed further, open the Windows Explorer, go to c:inetpubwwwroot and create a new folder here by the name of "learnASP" (how boringly predictable! So you can name it something else). We'll be storing ALL our files in this folder.

Hence, whenever we want to run a newly created file, we'd type in the location bar:

http://localhost/learnASP/newfile.asp and press Enter.

Ok, next, click on the Advanced tab. Select Enable Default Document

In the Default Document(s) box, type the list of file names you would like to use as your default file once the name of your site is type in the browser.

If you have no idea what's the default file, it is the file that answers your call when you type a specific URL without a specific file. For instance, if I type http://www.bytesworth.com the file that actually gets loaded by default is DEFAULT.ASP. This depends on the setting. Some servers use INDEX.ASP or INDEX.HTML or INDEX.SHTML. It all depends on the file parsing set up on your web-hosting server.

Then click on the Edit Properties button, after selecting the Home folder. There are three select boxes, viz., "Read", "Execute", "Script". Select all of them. The selections tell the server that we want to execute server side scripts in our ASP pages. ASP pages won't run if the server can't read and execute them.

Close the window, and your PWS is running. Of course do not run two servers simultaneously. So if you installed the Apache Web Server and left it running, and then loaded PWS, there is going to be some problem for you to sort out.

Amrit Hallan is a freelance web designer. For all web site development and web promotion needs, you can get in touch with him at http://www.bytesworth.com. For more such articles, visit http://www.bytesworth.com/articles and http://www.bytesworth.com/learn.

Virtual Dedicated Server-When Dedicated is Still Too Much for Your Wallet

A virtual dedicated or private server is a pseudo server running on a dedicated server. Virtual servers typically have their own dedicated operating system that can sometimes vary from the operating system of the server they are on. To a virtual server the rest of the server does not exist. Ten virtual servers on one dedicated server cannot see each other or the server they're on.

Because of this encapsulation or insulation from other hosting accounts on the server, virtual accounts offer a great deal of flexibility where configuration is concerned. A typical VPS or VDS account might come with a certain control panel for example. If you wish to use a different control panel you can simply install one through root access. If PHP, MySQL or other modules are behind the times then you simply upgrade them.

Note also that you are the server admin. With a shared hosting account the server is upgraded by the company and security is maintained by them as well. The same can be said about the server that your virtual dedicated server runs on but not about your virtual dedicated server. Software and security are all your responsibilities making you a miniature server admin.

One way of looking at this is that there are things you just have to learn some times. A good virtual server account does usually come with software installed and a certain level of stock security. As long as you do not need to upgrade many times you will be just fine working from a control panel to create new web sites.

One can easily pay $120 to $300 a month USD for a dedicated server. If your site is just starting out many times you won't even come close to using those resources for a bit. If you have the budget for a dedicated server than it's the way to go but if you need a price break then consider virtual server hosting. You can find a decent virtual server account for just under $35 a month USD. If your coming from a typical shared hosting account you will appreciate the difference in performance and flexibility

Advantages Of A Dedicated Server

 

Many websites are hosted on a shared web hosting server. The main reason is the cost. A shared web hosting server costs a great deal less than a dedicated server. The number of sites on a shared web hosting server can be anywhere from 1500 to 2000 sites. The number of sites on the shared web hosting server will vary due to availability of disk space, allowed bandwidth per site and overall speed. Although shared web hosting is reliable and has minimal problems, there are advantages to host your site(s) on a dedicated server.

A dedicated server for your web hosting allows you to have a server solely dedicated to your site(s). In addition, a dedicated server will allow you complete authority to control and administer your server. When and if you decide on a dedicated server for your web hosting, you should have a fair understanding of dedicated servers. Although most dedicated server web hosting providers will provide technical support, you will find it a lot easier if you have the technical expertise to manage the server yourself. However, if you find that you will not be able to manage your server by yourself, opt for a managed dedicated server hosting. This option is especially for those who want to have dedicated web hosting but do not have the required expertise to manage it. This service allows you to have an entire server managed by a specialized hosting company. The cost of a managed dedicated server is quite expensive. Therefore, if you think that you can run and manage your website server by yourself, you should opt for an unmanaged dedicated server web hosting rather than a managed dedicated server.

You should consider a dedicated server web hosting when you find that the traffic to your site has increased substantially and your site is taking too much time to load. An analysis of the traffic to your site will tell you whether you should go to a dedicated server. The main thing to understand is that when you have many users working concurrently on your website, you should replace your shared web hosting with a dedicated server web hosting.

Since a dedicated server web hosting does not share its server with other websites (like shared web hosting), you will find that you have a lot more command over your server operation and its bandwidth. One of the advantageous features of dedicated server web hosting is that it can also be remotely configured and operated. The only obstacle is the cost. You are required to pay a lot more for your dedicated server web hosting as compared to your shared web hosting. Nevertheless, the facilities more than compensate for the cost.

When you choose a dedicated server web hosting provider, you should keep in mind that it should provide you good network stability, reliable operation, and the ease of operation of sophisticated applications. A dedicated server web hosting provider can be the perfect solution for anyone who is serious about his online presence.: For more information about a dedicated server and web hosting, visit http://www.dedicatedserveranswers.com and http://www.webhostinginfoguide.com