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Posts Tagged ‘control panel’

A Review of JustHost

November 23rd, 2010 No comments

JustHost is a fairly new web hosting provider that has become one of the biggest players in the hosting industry, almost overnight. This is because they have one of the most robust and fastest networks utilized by many servers which almost eliminates downtime. This reliability and performance mixed with a low price package with many features is a winner in any computer user’s book.

There are four primary areas where JustHost excels including:

  • Control panel
  • Customer service
  • Price value
  • Reliability

JustHost utilizes industry-leader cPanel software to allow users to create and manage their website in an easy-to-use environment. The program is simple yet powerful as you can manage domains, databases and provide added security all within a few clicks of the mouse. Other easy functions are configuring email accounts, viewing website statistics and implementing scripts.

Another excellent feature of JustHost is their customer service. The company provides users with around the clock support via email and phone. There is also a detailed help center that provides answers on almost any topic related to their system. JustHost has become one of the best resources in the marketplace. This is one area where the company takes pride as the customer comes first.

Also, the price value blows most web hosting providers out of the water. At only $3.95 per month and packed with numerous features, JustHost is providing an excellent service at an extremely low price. The best feature is unlimited storage, bandwidth, databases and domain hosting. Almost sounds too good to be true! There is also a great deal of e-commerce support for those looking to create a product or service website.

Finally, JustHost is one of the most reliable web hosting providers available due to their load balancing technology and speedy backbone connection. Your site is available on multiple servers due to load balancing so if one becomes unavailable your site will not go down. This almost eliminates downtime completely and gives you a small piece of mind.

JustHost is one of the greatest things to happen to the web hosting industry since the invention of the server. At the same time it is also one of the worst things to happen. All in all the company is excellent for users but bad for the competition. With the growing popularity of JustHost, they certainly are making the competition rethink their business model.

cPanel’s Expansion below the Equator

November 17th, 2010 No comments

Due to the strong financial performance of cPanel in North America, they have decided to expand to South America. This will be accomplished through their Fast Update service in conjunction with HostDime’s data center located in Brazil. This area has grown significantly over the past few years so cPanel has decided to take action toward these new and emerging markets.

HostDime’s Success

According to HostDime representatives, they have seen tremendous growth in South American regions over the past four years. They have worked with cPanel in the past but not on a project of this magnitude.

HostDime is an industry-leading web hosting provider with many services available. Founded in 2001, they have pioneered the industry by providing many features at an affordable cost. HostDime has continually expanded since conception due to their highly popular products. They are currently a global company with six offices worldwide.

The Fast Update Service

cPanel’s Fast Update Service is a feature offered by many partners of the company. They also consider this to be of the most important building blocks in assisting data centers in South America because it increases the speed of installations and updates.        The old method is finding connections to mirror servers. The new technology involves connecting to locally-housed servers that provides updates to cPanel servers.

The Fast Update service utilizes cPanel proprietary technology to find the closest mirror along with an algorithm that chooses the most efficient mirror for quick and reliable information transmission.

Advantages of the Expansion

This growth is expected to increase speeds of installation by 400 percent which lowers transit costs for cPanel and its customers. Also, these improvements translate to a decrease in the number of service interruptions, a reduction in bandwidth costs for data centers and the option for customers to relocate their resources to other web hosting areas of the world.

Once the expansion is complete, cPanel plans to add Spanish-speaking technical support, website efforts and product translations for these countries. Although most of the world speaks English, this will be a nice addition for those countries whose first language is Spanish.

This expansion is excellent progress for both companies and South American regions. Since they are considered an emerging market, it is important to lay the groundwork early for the explosion of commerce that will inevitably follow. There are many advantages for all parties as a result of cPanel’s product and HostDime’s service growth.

Web-cp – Free and Open Source Control Panel for Developers

November 4th, 2010 No comments

If you’re a web developer than you’re probably aspiring to make a significant contribution to the online community. One of the easiest ways to build a custom software without having to devote an exuberant amount of temporal dedication to the project is to use a pre-designed open source platform as your starting point.

Control panels are great projects for novice and intermediate web developers because they provide a productive and useful service to the developer and their clients. Although many people have heard of cPanel, vDeck and other popular control panels, there are many custom solutions currently being implemented by independent developers and their clients. Web-cp provides the perfect base platform for such a custom solution, and the following review outlines the reasons why.

Open Source/Full Featured

One of the most appealing aspects about the Web-cp control panel is the fact that it already includes all of the basic features one would expect from a quality control panel, and it comes in various ‘flavors’.

The Web-cp selection actually consists of 4 different control panels – personal, reseller, domain, and server. Each of these solutions is geared towards a different type of user, and therefore provides a different level of functionality. By providing access to personalized and customizable control panel solutions, Web-cp offers the perfect starting platform for any control panel developer. Each version of the software is specifically designed to create the ideal user interface for the targeted user.

Web-cp Versions

The ‘personal’ control panel lets users perform tasks like editing personal information, changing passwords, and adjust spam control settings. The ‘domain’ version of Web-cp is geared towards domain owners, and lets webmasters add new users, sub domains, domains, aliases, databases, and domain pointers. The ‘resellers’ control panel lets hosting resellers efficiently control the domain accounts of their clients, and the ‘server’ control panel, lets server administrators add and/or modify resellers, monitor and control server usage, edit DNS and VirtualHost templates, and restarts server services. Having this diverse functionality at your fingertips will help you create a perfect control panel solution for your clients, without having to start from scratch.

Development Support

Another aspect of Web-cp that makes it perfect for aspiring control panel developers is the extensive development support offered on the software’s web site. There users can find information about recent Web-cp releases, and research detailed documentation, including information about recently added features, software compatibility, and error reports. The site also provides access to discussion forums, live chat, commercial support, a regularly updated bug tracker, and of course a Frequently Asked Questions section. All of these resources help you create the best control panel solution possible, with minimal experience and web development skills.

Although Web-cp is not currently offered by major hosting providers, and its popularity pales in comparison to that of a cPanel’s, it provides the perfect learning and development environment for those looking to create the next big control panel that will be offered by web hosting companies

Helm Control Panel Review

October 30th, 2010 No comments

Control panels are an extremely important aspect of web hosting accounts because they give the webmaster complete control over all of their site’s administrative functions. Although the most popular control panel by far is cPanel, other control panels have been gaining popularity recently, with Plesk being a close second to cPanel in terms of popularity. One new control panel that closely resembles Plesk is the Helm control panel. Being that Plesk is so popular amongst webmaster, the creators of the Helm control panel wanted to take advantage of this popularity by designing a graphical user interface that is very similar to the Plesk control panel. The following information reviews some of the most important features and attributes of the Helm control panel.

User Account Navigation

One of the most appealing aspects of the Helm control panel is its simplified navigation within user accounts. In fact, the software is solely based on the usability and simplicity of the user interface. The Helm control panel strongly resembles Plesk in its banner and image design, which helps to give former Plesk users a familiar feel from the very beginning. There are three areas that can be easily accessed from the front page of the control panel, the Wizards, Settings and Preferences sections. The first section that a novice user should visit is the ‘Wizards’ section, which contains walk through tutorials and setup procedures to help you get started using the Helm control panel the right way with minimal effort and no learning curve involved.

Hidden Functionality

Perhaps one of the most notable flaws of the Helm control panel is the fact that much of the functionality is hidden within sub menus that are not readily visible from the main menu. Although it may appear that there are not a lot of features, the navigation of the software is actually incredibly organized and categorized, which makes it slightly difficult to find the exact feature you’re looking for when you first begin using the software. Even so, in comparison to other control panels, the user navigation is much more detailed, and therefore much more complicated for some individuals. To find the useful features, you first have to select one of your domains form the ‘My Domains’ section, after which you’ll be shown a list of features that can be used for that domain.

Domain Features

After accessing the ‘My Domains’ section of the control panel and choosing the right domain, the user will then be confronted with a list of options, including FTP, domain settings, traffic statistics, database management, email accounts, and backup utilities. Although these features are generally easy to use, some believe that they should be moved to an area of the control panel that is easier to find. While some people may find this ultra-organized control panel simple to use, others may find it to be unnecessarily complicated, and without the ability to install third-party applications easily and create your own blogs form scratch with blogging applications like WordPress, many still prefer Plesk over the Helm, control panel.

Using Web Hosting Tools for Search Engine Optimization

October 18th, 2010 No comments

Web hosting is a complex and extensive industry that encompasses nearly every aspect of site creation, management and organization. However most people overlook some of the tools and resources provided within their web hosting control panel. These tools can be sued to improve the design and functionality of your web sites, which will keep your visitors coming back routinely. If you have been struggling to find tools that can help you with search engine optimization then you may need to stop and survey your web hosting control panel for a moment.

Traffic Analysis Tools

One of the most important aspects of search engine optimization is traffic monitoring. Without an accurate depiction of your site’s daily, weekly and monthly traffic levels it is impossible to see what is working and what is wasting time. By using web hosting tools such as AwStats you can view the tangible results of your search engine optimization efforts, which will give you a good idea of what you should focus on.

For example, if you make an adjustment to your site and begin targeting a new keyword, and shortly after your traffic levels begin to climb, then you know that you should begin adding more content to your site that pertains to that keyword. It is important to carry out one change at a time and monitor the traffic levels of your site over several days in order to receive an accurate and thorough analysis of the results of each change individually.

Cron Jobs for SEO

Another section of your web hosting account that can help you improve you search engine optimization efforts is the cron job section. Cron jobs are scheduled tasks that can be completed automatically based on a set command and a specified date and time. If you have been practicing search engine optimization for an extended period of time then you’re probably familiar with the tedious nature of the repetitive tasks that are often involved with keeping your site fully optimized.

For example, you can create a cron job that will automatically populate the site with content from RSS feeds, which can help you improve the keyword density and overall theme of your site. If you want to save time whilst enhancing your SEO skills then you should definitely research SEO and cron jobs.

CMS Scripts for SEO

Although most people recognize the benefits of a content management system for site organization management and creation, most people do not realize how powerful these tools are for SEO. Using your web hosting control panel to install a CMS like WordPress will give you access to a massive library of plugins that are specifically designed to help you receive more traffic and optimize your site.

Plugins like the Platinum SEO pack and PingCrawl can help your site reach the top of the search engines by giving you more control over meta tags, outward linking and much more. If you want to see the full potential of your site then you may want to consider using a CMS that is included with your web hosting account.