Virtual Private Servers (VPS) aren't adequate for most website owners.
A lot of shared web hosting customers, who exceed their stay on a shared platform are often being forced onto what is called a Virtual Private Server or VPS for short. What is a VPS? As defined by Wikipedia, VPS is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers such that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and each server can be independently rebooted.
Virtualization is a great thing, but attached with it is a huge learning curve for the average website owner. They are sold on the fact that something called a "VPS" will solve their issues, which isn't entirely true -- it often leads to confusion, frustration and doesn't always solve the issue.
On a traditional web hosting platform, you have a single server (web, email, mysql, etc all on one machine) that hosts hundreds of web sites. What often happens is that there is a sudden surge of traffic to one or a few web sites and the server starts to come to a crawl, affecting service to hundreds of other customers. So what you'll find is the web hosting company will set out to find these "abusers" and will either upgrade them or ultimately terminate them -- all for the best interest of their "non-abusive" users.
The abusers are often classified as "resource intensive web sites" -- and those websites absolutely NEED virtual private servers!
I'll touch on a few common issues that I've seen from direct exposure in the VPS market and from frustrated users of the virtual private server platforms.
Ease of Use & Comprehension of the Technology.
What VPS lacks is the ease-of-use and easy to understand workings that shared hosting provides. The notion that "I just upload my site and it just works" with shared hosting is not necessarily there with virtual private servers. There are companies who have tried to battle this with throwing in a "fully managed" feature (some extra charge for this, some don't). This adds an extra layer that doesn't have to be there and doesn't always work well.
Doesn't always solve performance & reliability issues.
Most that get virtual private servers are under the false sense that it will resolve their performance and reliability issues. This isn't true. While the hardware node is virtualized and you are allocated dedicated resources, it still is a single physical machine. You're sharing all aspects of that machine. Issues such as overselling of the hardware node or a single user monopolizing on the disk I/O will cause considerable performance & reliability issues.
Added complications & worries.
Now that you're on a "virtualized" environment you have your own sets of security vulnerabilities along with other complications, such as data backup, regular system maintenance, etc. As the provider grows, it will become increasingly difficult for them to manage and you run the risk of them not getting to your VPS. Overall, just a lot more things to worry about versus just running your web site. You're also sold the fact that you can install your own server software, 9 out of 10 customers (based on my experience) never needed to.
After operating several hundred virtual private servers at previous hosting companies, and learning from the challenges that were faced, I am so glad that we do not have to put Uptimehost customers through this type of burden. Whether they've started with us or they've moved over from somewhere else. We've managed to maintain the easy to use and understand concept of shared web hosting and have applied a better than VPS/Dedicated hosting environment due to our clustered cloud platform.
Just another way our years of experience is working to benefit our customers. Until next time...
Kaumil Patel / Co-founder / Uptimehost.com
Lots of Good Reviews from Uptimehost Customers!
I've been in the hosting industry for quite some time and have seen my share of positive reviews for the companies I have ran, but never have I seen the type of reviews that we're getting these days with Uptimehost. Our customers are appreciating what we have built and it's giving all of us here at Uptimehost that funny feeling in the stomach!
Here are some quotes directly from customers regarding the Clustered Cloud!
"I've been testing the cloud against the VPS that I am on now and it is performing great at almost half the price! When the page views start flowing in, the cloud stays fast while my VPS runs out of CPU allocation and slows to a crawl. You and your team have done a great job on the infrastructure."
"I feel like we just got off the special needs internet and on to the advanced placement net. I (and some of our readers who have ALREADY sent us emails that they've noticed the zippier site) now have a deep, geek-fueled love for UptimeHost."
"I had been searching for almost 8 months to find a solid hosting solution for my blog. Uptimehost provides a level of professional and personal service while delivering a quality of hosting that is second to none"
"When the VPS Node with FH was under a 6-7 load, it would literally slow to a crawl. The Cloud has far out-performed the VPS, hand-down, no questions about it."
We know that we can't make everyone happy, but we sure do try. Instead of receiving pure hatred type of reviews when running regular hosting companies, we're receiving constructive criticism, stuff that actually benefits everyone!
"Some of your wording was obviously written by a programmer. For example, I recommend you change the form button Abort to Cancel."
It's a breath of fresh air and we're loving it! These types of reviews only make us love what we do more and help us be a lot more productive! (Thanks for the grammar check Vern!)
Keep 'em coming 
Kaumil Patel / Co-founder / Uptimehost
Looking for FFMPEG Hosting? We've got it!
Are you looking to start up a video sharing web site or add some sort of video functionality to your web site? Lately, we've seen a lot of YouTube clone, social networking and dating web sites looking to use the cloud asking us if we fit the bill and will be able to provide them with FFMPEG with their hosting on our cloud! The answer is YES!
What's FFMPEG you ask?
"FFmpeg is a computer program that can record, convert and stream digital audio and video in numerous formats. FFmpeg is a command line tool that is composed of a collection of free software / open source libraries. " (Source: Wikipedia)
A list of modules that are supported: FFMPEG, FFMPEG-PHP, MPlayer, MEncoder, Flvtool2, Libogg + Libvorbis, Lame MP3 Encoder.
Scripts such as PHP Motion, Clipshare, Vidiscript, OSTube, AbleDating, etc will work on our cloud and because of our unique architecture, conversions of video are fast and load-balanced!
Experience the fastest ffmpeg hosting on the Clustered Cloud!
Uptimehost selects LiteSpeed Web Server for its Clustered Cloud
February 12, 2009 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada. -- Uptimehost, a cloud computing based web hosting services provider has announced today that it has chosen LiteSpeed Web Server for its Clustered Cloud.
The company claims that after vigorous testing of its Clustered Cloud platform, LiteSpeed's web server technology out performed the well-known Apache web server, resulting in the full deployment of LiteSpeed across the cloud.
"Our customers will experience improved performance, reliability along with improved security measures" said Kevin Moonlight, President of Uptimehost. "Not only will they see an improvement on multiple fronts, but as a company, we'll be able to reduce the amount of hardware required. Reducing operating costs while being environmentally friendly." added Kevin.
"I am so glad that LiteSpeed Web Server has being chosen by Uptimehost to power their high performance, highly available and scalable cloud computing based web hosting platform", said George Wang, President of LiteSpeed Technologies. "and that it allows them to improve their service while achieving cost reduction." added George.
About Uptimehost
Uptimehost is an industry leading white label clustered cloud based web hosting services provider catering to small to medium enterprises, web hosting resellers and to individual site owners. Located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Uptimehost was formed to deliver high-end managed clustered cloud web hosting that was able to adapt and scale to the growth of a customer on a single platform without the management complexity.
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Media Inquiries:
Rawlson O'Neil King
Principal, Rawlson King & Associates Public Relations
rawlsonk@rawlsonking.com
www.rawlsonking.com
613.868.1860
Using Akismet to stop comment/trackback spam on Wordpress!
I've been using Wordpress for many years now and one of the things that annoyed me most was the amount of spam that would appear on the comments section of blog posts. It got very annoying, one wordpress blog had 30,000 comments, all spam, waiting to be "verified".
I've come across this wordpress plug-in called Akismet and it's done a swell job at keeping those annoying comment/trackback spam at bay!
Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog's "Comments" admin screen.
I strongly suggest that bloggers using Wordpress install this plug-in! Click here for more information.
Kaumil Patel / Uptimehost.com
Do you let your customers know that you're reselling?
A lot of web hosting resellers face the difficult decision to tell their customers whether they are reselling or not. In my personal opinion, in today's cut throat web hosting market, it's always good to stand out -- and partnering up with a reseller hosting provider that gives you the cutting edge just may do that for your business.
Provided that you've partnered up with a reseller hosting provider that actually offers you something different than the others, for example Uptimehost (Sorry, I just had to), you should highlight the advantages that you gain against competitors by partnering with such a provider.
A lot of resellers don't have time to worry about infrastructure and other nuisances that come with managing servers, most just want to provide their customers with a service that actually benefits their customers. With that being said, you should tell your customers that you've partnered up with a web hosting provider that offers benefits that aren't seen at other providers and that your team is focused on providing quality customer service versus messing with servers/infrastructure.
Customers are looking for providers that can actually provide them with solutions that they need for their business. Creating strategic partnerships that create value for your customers grouped with your ability to provide quality support will have your customers impressed and ready to pay whatever you charge.
Kaumil Patel / Uptimehost.com
Do custom name servers really matter? We say no!
We often get asked the question "Do you offer custom name servers", the answer is no and for good reason too. We're very serious about our 100% uptime service level agreement. For example, if we ever decide to make any network level changes and need to make changes to our DNS IP's, your sites which use those "custom name servers" will face downtime. Even if we have given customers ample amount of notice, it still leaves enough room for error that we're not comfortable with the risk.
When developing our clustered cloud, we've kept resellers in mind and how we could provide it in a white label fashion. We provide customers with two sets of name servers. For those who don't care can use our ns1.uptimehost.com and ns2.uptimehost.com name servers and those who want to stay anonymous can use our anonymous name servers found inside of the Cloud Manager -- both of which are fully covered under out 100% Uptime SLA.
A lot of resellers have the common notion that having custom name servers such as ns1.companyname.com and ns2.companyname.com protects them from customers identifying them as a reseller or that they are larger than they really are. The truth is that if a customer wishes to find out that you're a reseller, they can.
Even if you use a virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated servers with custom name servers, you're still reselling. A simple ping or whois on the ns1.companyname.com will reveal the IP address, in which you can turn around and whois the IP, which will give you information of the company you're using -- giving enough information to the customer where you're getting your hosting from and how you're providing it to them. Try it yourself, use the WHOIS search at ARIN.
To an extent, even we're reselling. We've built our clustered cloud, which we own and operate ourselves... however we do not own the data center or the network that we use. Does that make us any less competitive, I don't think so. Peer1 does a great job with their network and their co-location facilities that we don't have to constantly worry about maintaining -- leaving us with more time to come up with new features and provide excellent service, which benefit our customers.
In closing, the web hosting partner that you rely on should help you have a competitive edge. Instead of knit picking little details such as custom name servers, elaborate on why the web hosting partner coupled with your company together provide a service that cannot be matched.
Until next time,
Kaumil Patel / Co-founder / Uptimehost.com
Q&A: 10 Most Important Questions to Ask Your Web Host!
So I was browsing through the blogosphere and came across this blog post and thought that I'd save those who are interested in our services by answering them -- so you don't have to ask
Here are the questions that were on the blog post:
Q: How long has the web host been around?
A: Legally, we've been a business since January 2008. We've spent most of the last twelve month's developing and coming up with new innovative ways to differentiate us from the rest of the herd. We officially started providing a service to the general public In January 2009, 1 year after development started. Don't worry, our team has considerable amount of knowledge and experience in the hosting industry.
Q: Does the web host own its data center?
A: No, we do not own or operate our own data center -- nor do we want to. We've selected a great co-location provider here in Toronto and Miami allowing us to focus on development and maintenance of our Clustered Cloud. We don't want to be messing with BGP or if our data center is cold enough, the fine folks we've partnered with do a great job. Let them focus on what they are good at and we'll focus on what we're good at. It's a win-win for everyone.
Q: How many hard Internet providers does the web host have?
A: We use Peer1 Networks & Saavis for most of our connectivity. Problem yet to be seen (knock on wood).
Q: Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty - four hours per day? How?
A: Yes. We have several monitoring points across the globe. All of our guys are notified if there is an issue within 10 seconds.
Q: Does the web host provide 24 / 7 / 365 phone and email support?
A: Yes, we offer 24/7 e-mail support and offer 24/7 telephone support.
Q: What levels of redundancy does the web host’s architecture favor?
A: This is where we are superior to a lot of our competitors. We've developed a "Clustered Cloud", which is basically a bunch of servers working simultaneously to serve pages, images, mysql queries, etc. If one of our servers or several of them were to go down, crash and burn (knock on wood), your site would still be working as our redundant load balancers would direct traffic to the fastest available server in the Cloud. We use dedicated MySQL servers and purpose-built storage systems. We've done everything we can to weed out single-point of failures.
Q: Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of message loss? How often?
A: Our storage systems create snapshots of data every hour. We retain those backups every 2 hours, 2 days and 2 weeks for you to retrieve data in the event of data loss -- every customer has real-time access to their backups. You can read more about our backup system.
Q: What is the web host’s billing method?
A: We accept Visa, Mastercard and all major credit cards through PayPal as well as plain and simple PayPal. We'll also take cheques and money orders. We offer an anytime cancelation policy and also offer an anytime money back guarantee.
Q: Does the web host prepare the features that you need for your web site?
A: Our web hosting service is fully featured. I don't think we're missing anything. Which means, in most cases you're going to be able to deploy your site immediately without any intervention from us. If we are missing something that you need, contact us and our development team can look into it for inclusion. No promises though
Q: Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?
A: I most certainly think so! That's what we were built for. Our service allows you to start at the bottom (shared equivalent) and work your way up to the top (dedicated and beyond), without having to switch platforms.
The questions are basic, but fundamental when looking for a host. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to contact one of our specialists.
Protect your web site from being hacked!
In recent years, I've seen quite a few customers get their web sites hacked, deleted or tampered with, who then come back to the web host and say "what the hell". They end up getting furious, and furious at the wrong people.
At UptimeHost, Jonathan, our security expert takes great steps to ensure that our servers are secure and there are no system level hacks that can affect our customers. However, most, if not all the hacks that I have experienced are the result of the lack of protection by the customer themselves!
For example: You've got the latest and greatest home security system, but you've been robbed because you didn't bother turning the system on before leaving. You can't turn around and then blame the security company claiming they didn't secure your home.
Bottom Line: You are responsible for your own web site.
Before I rush into the different steps to take to protecting your web site from being hacked, without going into too much detail, I'll share the basics of different types of hacks, their purpose and how they affect you. Most commonly, hacks include some sort of exploitation of bugs in a script or a web site, for example XSS, defacing or SQL injections. It's important to stay up to date, and being prepared is the best form of protection.
So, here are some tips on how you can protect your web site from being hacked!
1) Keep your scripts & software up to date!
The installation of many web scripts have become relatively one-click and easy to do. What most people fail to understand is that it's not just a 1-click, one time install and forget about it thing. The developers of these scripts are constantly working on fixing bugs, patching security holes, etc. Running older versions of the scripts opens you up to a liability, ensure you're running the latest version of the script. If the script is no longer supported, re-consider your decision to using that script and try to find an alternative if you can.
2) Using secure passwords
You'll be surprised at how many people use such simple passwords. It's recommended that you use a combination of a letters, numbers and uppercase, lowercase characters. The longer and harder to type passwords are the strongest. Do not use dictionary words, family names and generally speaking... anything that someone can guess about you.
3) Third party scripts
Any code, such as plugins, widgets or custom codes that are found freely available on the internet are written by people under unknown variables. Depending on the programming skill of that programmer the code could be great or could be riddled with security holes. To be safe, research any code you want to use on the site that you haven't done yourself. Use google to help you with that.
4) On a regular basis, check your logs!
You'll be surprised at the amount of information you get by watching & reviewing your web site access / error logs. On a regular basis, look out for where traffic is coming from and what is being accessed. If you're seeing repetitive attempts or failures, take measures to prevent those attempts from re-occurring.
5) Are you practicing "Safe Surfing?"
One of the most common causes of Identity theft is your own stupidity, sorry for being blunt! A lot of the times, the vulnerabilities which give others access to your vital information starts right from your own desk. If your machine is not secure and you're not practicing "Safe Surfing", you're opening yourself up to hackers for both your web site and other more important things, such as Social Security/Insurance Numbers, Bank Accounts, etc.
Use virus scanners, clear histories, try not to store passwords in clear text files. Use public wifi hot spots with caution.
6) Back up your web site!
I can't recall how many times I have heard different people almost shedding tears when they lose their data or get hacked. Honestly, they are all excuses. If you worked so many hours and have had it cost you so many dollars to develop, keep or whatever... don't you think that you should have been backing it up? Bottom line, back up your work, back up your backups, you're never safe.
Even though we provide backups, we still encourage all of our users to create their own backups and keep them in their posession. You never know what will happen, and in the end you can either thank yourself or blame yourself.
That should keep you protected for the most part. It's always good to be a little cautious and ahead of the game... this guide should help you get started!
Tweets, Tweets... we're Tweenin'
After using Twitter for a couple of weeks, I've really fallen in love with the app. I couldn't find a reason to not put it into our arsenal of communication tools. We're now fully integrated into Twitter and have our own Twitter page (see http://www.twitter.com/uptimehost).
The main purpose of using Twitter was to enable us to have a off-network system status page in the event of an emergency. This will allow us to provide you with up-to-the-minute updates on any given issue. It also mirrors our blog posts every hour, which is pretty cool also.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? (from Twitters website)
Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
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- Virtual Private Servers (VPS) aren’t adequate for most website owners.
- Lots of Good Reviews from Uptimehost Customers!
- Looking for FFMPEG Hosting? We’ve got it!
- Uptimehost selects LiteSpeed Web Server for its Clustered Cloud
- Using Akismet to stop comment/trackback spam on Wordpress!
- Do you let your customers know that you’re reselling?
- Do custom name servers really matter? We say no!
- Q&A: 10 Most Important Questions to Ask Your Web Host!
- Protect your web site from being hacked!
- Tweets, Tweets… we’re Tweenin’
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