DNS Works

Typically, as with all client-server systems, a client issues a request for data to a DNS server and the DNS server responds with data. Information the DNS server responds with can originate from the same DNS server or it can be obtained from another DNS server. (This property explains why DNS is "distributed". To avoid being too technical, we will not go into specifics here)

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Web Hosting

Shared hosting allows thousands of people to host their own sites at a very reasonable cost. It has some drawbacks, however. Since hundreds of sites can be hosted on a single server resources such as CPU, disk space, and bandwidth have to be shared with your virtual neighbours.Shared resources are usually not a problem for small to medium sized sites. Your main limitation is the lack of control over system level software – http servers, mail servers etc. You don’t have any choice of operating system and you cannot compile programs or do administrative tasks such as setting up Spam filters or firewalls.Many people would say ‘So what? I don’t want to do that stuff anyway!’ It’s true that the majority of website owners have no interest or ability to handle this kind of work and are happy to leave it to the hosting company. Those who desire more control over their server environment or wish to experiment with new software, however, can get access to this level of management with a Virtual Private Server.

A virtual private server (VPS) is a physical server that has been divided (using software) into several virtual machines, each acting as an independent dedicated server. The physical resources such as RAM, CPU and disk space are still shared, but each VPS acts independently of the others. Each VPS can have a different operating system and can be configured in any way possible.The key advantage of VPS is allowing each VPS administrator access to the root level of his virtual server. This kind of access allows the administrator to install and delete software, set permissions, create accounts – in short, do everything that the administrator of a ‘real’ sever can.As well as providing more control over your hosting environment, a VPS Web Hosting is more secure than shared hosting. Websites on a shared server all have the same operating system, so if a hacker were to find access to the root of the server he could damage any or all of the websites on that server. A VPS, on the other hand, is divided in such a way that even if a hacker were to gain entry through one account, there is no way to access the others. Each VPS is invisible to the others and there is no way to set up root level access from one VPS to another.

Virtual Private Servers can be set up in various ways so be sure to understand how the hosting company has allocated resources. The most common configuration is to divide all the physical resources evenly by the number of accounts. Thus, if there are 10 virtual servers, each would receive 10% of the total bandwidth, CPU, memory and disk space.The disadvantages of VPS are almost the same as the advantages. The control that a VPS account provides can be dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. You have the ability to delete files, set permissions improperly, allow virus-laden software on the system and, in general, really screw things up. If you don’t have the knowledge to administer a server, or are not willing to learn, VPS is not for you.If your website has outgrown shared hosting, however, VPS offers an affordable alternative to dedicated hosting. When shopping for a VPS host, be sure to find out how system resources are divided up, the number of VPS accounts on each physical server, the method for upgrading, and the choices of operating systems.

WEB HOSTING WITH SSL

In many web applications the use of the secure socket layer (SSL) protocol is required. If you are a frequent user of e-commerce sites, you are undoubtedly familiar with the concept - basically, the URL of the page will start with https:// (as opposed to the "normal" http://) and the browser will encrypt all information sent to the site.

But not only! SSL also plays an important role as a mechanism for authenticating your data's destination. When you enter your credit card number while buying books, for example, you want to make sure not only that the information is encrypted, but also that you are submitting your card to a real bookstore (let's say, Amazon.com) and not to some illicit web site which imitates it.

PHP Hosting

Before you can begin attempting to define and search for the best PHP hosting, it's essential for you to under the mean of PHP and its relativity to website function. During its design and implementation, PHP was intended as a scripting language that would allow the creation of dynamic web pages. In order to allow PHP to interact with HTML it will usually run on a web server thus allowing the creation of functional web pages. The good thing is PHP is not difficult to use, has the ability to function with most web servers (even free ones) and is compatible with most operating systems. If you want to create forms and have interactive web pages within your website, you definitely want to learn how to use PHP to perform those functions.

PHP usually runs with Apache, an interface program that is operates primarily on Windows NT thus making it more of business-oriented language. While it is possible for owners of home computers to use Windows NT or Windows Professional, that is not the usual case. It is a common thought that businesses are the largest creators of web pages, and though this may have been the case in the past, more individual users are beginning to create web pages for various reasons including home-based businesses. Thus the best PHP hosting provider is one that can accommodate the needs of large businesses, home based businesses and personal users.

Though all PHP hosting can work with your MySQL database, keep in mind the best PHP hosting does not have to cost money. In fact, when you are trying to compare PHP hosting services keep in mind that the best PHP hosting is not necessarily the most expensive and the majority will work will all web hosting services, even those that are free. The important aspect of PHP is having quality hosting that allows your website to operate effectively and efficiently. You want to generate traffic to your website, especially if you are operating an online business, so you need to make sure the software you use interfaces well with PHP in order to allow it to interface with the HTML so your website is functional and dynamic.

Now that you understand a little bit about PHP you will have an easier time choose the best PHP hosting. Whether you operate a business or personal website, you want a website with the ability to perform all the functions necessary including creation of forms and becoming interactive if that is what the website owner needs. It is essential to conduct research and make sure you choose the PHP hosting package that will provide everything you need for your website and its components. The best PHP hosting is not necessarily the most expensive one but the one that provides all he users with the support they need in order to maintain the functionality of their websites. One can even obtain this hosting quality from a free hosting service, so always look for the best PHP hosting in terms of the support and services it provides and not how much it charges its users for those services.

Web Statistics

Now that your web site is up and running you want to know how many people are visiting your site and how they are finding it. Most web hosts give you access to this information (and a lot more) in the form of web statistics.All visits to your site are logged by the server software. Log files contain information about the origin of the visitor (their IP address), the type of browser they were using, which pages they viewed, how long they stayed, whether or not they arrived from a search engine and if so, what keywords they used to locate your site. All very useful information.

The trouble is, raw log files are scary to look at and impossible to make any sense of. They are long lists of numbers and cryptic words that can only reveal their secrets with the aid of a statistics program. There are a few stats programs to choose from. They take the raw server logs and parse them into readable (and sometimes colourful) charts that are fairly easy to interpret.Most web hosts will include a stats program as part of their hosting package. You should be able to access it through the control panel which is used to make various settings on your account. Some of the popular web stat programs are AWStats, Analog, and WebAlizer. All three of these programs are free.Stats programs divide the information of the log files into useful categories. A summary of the data may be included at the top of the readout and tell you information such as ‘unique visitors’, ‘number of hits’, and ‘number of pages’.

Not all this information is important. The number of hits, for example, simply counts the total number of requests for any individual part of your site including graphics, script files and any other files that are part of a page. If your home page has 4 pictures and 2 other files the hit count is increased by 7 each time someone views that page.The number of page views is important because it tells you which pages are popular. This allows you to fine-tune your site by dropping or modifying unpopular pages and making sure that popular pages link to areas that you want to promote.

Popular entry and exit pages are also worth tweaking. Visitors will not always arrive at your site through the home page, especially if they’ve found your site through a search engine. Make sure that popular entry pages contain relevant information and adjust exit pages to be more appealing. Exit pages should provide one last chance for them to buy or bookmark your site for future reference.Referring sites show you where people are coming from. If they have found you from a search engine you will also see what keywords they used to find your site. This information tells you which keywords are important for optimizing your site. You can then design new content based on these keywords to attract even more visitors in the future.

Rather than rely on the stats produced by your server, you can hire a third party service to monitor your web site. These services range from basic ‘counter’ that usually offer less information than your server does, to comprehensive client-side stats collection.Stats services can be useful if you need more precise information about your visitors. For example, visitors from a large organization may all appear to be the same because they all have the same IP address. Stat services can break down IP addresses into individual users.These services can be useful for more precise monitoring of your website and for targeting specific niches. Most site owners, however, will find enough useful information in their server’s statistics.