Danab Web Hosting Service

DNS Hosting

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:21:56 +0000

A DNS hosting service is a service that runs Domain Name System servers. Most, but not all, domain name registrars include DNS hosting service with registration. Free DNS hosting services also exist. Almost all DNS hosting services are “shared”; except for the most popular Internet sites, there is no need to dedicate a server to hosting DNS for a single website. Many third-party DNS hosting services provide Dynamic DNS.

DNS hosting service is better when the provider has multiple servers in various geographic locations that minimize latency for clients around the world.

DNS can also be self-hosted by running DNS software on generic Internet hosting services.

Clustered hosting

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:21:21 +0000

Clustered hosting technology is designed to eliminate the problems inherent with typical shared hosting infrastructures. This technology provides customers with a “clustered” handling of security, load balancing, and necessary website resources.

A clustered hosting platform is data-driven, which means that no human interaction is needed to a new account to the platform.

Clustered hosting “virtualizes” the resources beyond the limits of one physical server, and as a result, a website is not limited to one server. They share the processing power of many servers and their applications are distributed in real-time. This means that they can purchase as much computing power as they want from a virtually inexhaustible source, since even the largest customer never consumes more than a fraction of a percent of the total server pdr. Customer account changes (to add new resources or change settings) are propagated immediately to every server in the cluster. This is different from typical shared hosting architectures that usually require changes to a configuration file that becomes live after the server is rebooted during off hours, or are pushed on a cyclic basis every few hours.

Multiple tiers of security are integrated into the clustered hosting platform. In a typical hosting environment, the security layer is usually not integrated in the platform. The stock solutions used for shared hosting do not solve core issues around integrating security between the application and the operating system. At best, most typical hosts will implement a firewall solution, and weaknesses inherent with the operating system will remain exploitable to those that penetrate the firewall.

Clustered hosting network layer protections employ intelligent routing, redundant switching fabric and built in firewall and proxy technology. Clustered hosting provides considerable advantages over traditional hosting architectures in mitigating denial-of-service attacks and other network attacks because such attacks can be dispersed over a large pool of servers, and if individual hardware components are impacted by such attacks, they automatically fall out of traffic handling during the attack.

Dedicated hosting

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:20:58 +0000

dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.

Uses

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:20:26 +0000

Virtual private servers bridge the gap between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, giving independence from other customers of the VPS service in software terms but at less cost than a physical dedicated server. As a VPS runs its own copy of its operating system, customers have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, and can install almost any software that runs on the OS. Certain software does not run well in a virtualized environment, including firewalls, anti-virus clients, and indeed virtualizers themselves; some VPS providers place further restrictions, but they are generally lax compared to those in shared hosting environments. Due to the number of virtualization clients typically run on a single machine, a VPS generally has limited processor time, RAM, and disk space.

Due to their isolated nature, VPSes have become common sandboxes for possibly-insecure public services or update testing. For example, a single physical server might have two virtual private servers running: one hosting the production-level (live) website, and a second which houses a copy of it. When updates to crucial parts of software need to be made, they can be tested in the second VPS, allowing for detailed testing to be conducted without requiring several physical servers.

Virtual private servers are also sometimes employed as honeypots, allowing a machine to deliberately run software with known security flaws without endangering the rest of the server. Multiple honeypots can be quickly set up via VPSes in this fashion

Overview

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:20:09 +0000

The physical server boots normally. It then runs a program that boots each virtual server within a virtualization environment (similar to an emulator). The virtual servers have no direct access to hardware and are usually booted from a disk image.

There are two kinds of virtualizations: software based and hardware based. In a software based virtualization environment, the virtual machines share the same kernel and actually require the main node’s resources. This kind of virtualization normally has many benefits in a web hosting environment because of quota incrementing and decrementing in real time with no need to restart the node. The main examples are Virtuozzo (a product of swsoft.com), HyperVM (a product of lxlabs.com), Vserver, and OpenVZ which is the core kernel of both virtuozzo and hypervm.

Virtual private server

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:19:48 +0000

A virtual private server (VPS, also referred to as Virtual Dedicated Server or VDS) is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers 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.

The practice of partitioning a single server so that it appears as multiple servers has long been common practice in mainframe computers, but has seen a resurgence lately with the development of virtualization software and technologies for other architectures.

Reseller web hosting

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:17:56 +0000

Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has the ability to use his/her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites on behalf of third parties. The reseller purchases the host’s services wholesale and then sells them to his customers for a profit. The certain portion of hard drive and bandwidth is allocated to reseller account. In order to achieve this the reseller may rent a dedicated server from a hosting company or resell shared hosting services. If the latter is the case the reseller is simply given the permission to sell a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth to his own customers without renting a server from a web hosting company he signed for a reseller account with.

The typical web hosting reseller might be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to create their own service plans and choose their own pricing structure. In many cases, resellers are able to establish their own branding via customized control panels and name servers.

Reseller hosting does not require extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of web hosting. Usually, the data center operator is responsible for maintaining network infrastructure and hardware, and the dedicated server owner configures/secures/updates the server. A reseller is responsible for interfacing with his/her own customer base, but any hardware, software and connectivity problems are typically forwarded to the server provider from whom the reseller plan was purchased.

Through point and click “Control Panels” (as listed below), resellers can set up and manage customer accounts via a web interface. In addition, the ModernBill software is popular among resellers, as it automates account creation and billing. Most of the reseller hosting companies offers different reseller hosting plans.

Well-known Control Panels List:

WHM/cPanel (Unix)(Windows version coming soon)
Plesk (Windows/Unix)
DirectAdmin (Unix)
Webmin (Unix)
Ensim Pro (Windows/Unix)
Helm (Windows)

Monetizing free webhosting

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:17:13 +0000

The majority of the the hosting companies use free hosting to introduce their services, and as an entry point to their more expensive offerings. Generally they recoup their costs in one of two ways:

Advertising - Selling online advertising on the customer sites is generally considered a fair trade - the reasoning is that high traffic sites are more expensive to host, but the additional traffic allows for additional ad impressions therefore covering the cost. For the web master, it can be a good trade if the advertising is of good quality and non-competitive. This is one of the main reasons that businesses do not use free hosting for their website. The majority of free hosting companies use this method.
Referrals - Using a simple form of viral marketing, these providers rely on the users to spread the offer. The ratio of free to paid accounts is known, and by having each free user refer a number of friends, the hosting provider is able to get enough paid accounts to cover the cost.
Resell Hosting - This is where someone starts up a hosting company, attracts lots of visitors, then sells the hosting company to someone else once it can no longer support itself. Once sold, this individual uses the money to start up multiple hosting ventures and sells each in turn.
Some hosting companies are using hybrid approaches that mix both tactics.

Features and limitations

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:16:47 +0000

A few free web hosts offer basic package for free and enhanced packages (with more features) for a cost. This allows users to try the service for an initial trial (see how it performs compared to other hosts), and then upgrade when (and if) needed.

Free hosting may have the following limitations:

Limitation on the size of each hosted file
Very small bandwidth per month compared to paid hosting
Disabling on hotlinking of files
File type restrictions (for example MP3, MPEG, ZIP etc.)
Compulsory placement of the Webhosts’ Banner or Popup ads into all web pages
No provided uptime guarantee

Some free host may provide these extra features:

A web based control panel
Free email accounts for the domain or subdomain hosted (e.g. Netfirms)
File transfer via FTP
Scripting languages: PHP, ASP, Perl etc.
Relational databases such as MySQL
Scheduled processes, known as cronjobs
Other features such as guestbooks
Forums and community resources not typical of paid hosts
Reward systems which provide extra free products and services

Free web hosting

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:15:50 +0000

A free web hosting service is a web hosting service that is free, usually advertisement-supported and of limited functionality. Free web hosts will either provide a subdomain (yoursite.example.com) or a directory (www.example.com/~yourname). In contrast, paid web hosts will usually provide a second-level domain along with the hosting (www.yourname.com). Some free hosts do allow use of separately-purchased domains. Rarely, a free host may also operate as a domain name registrar, but their registry services are usually more expensive than others.