Web Hosting Blog

cPanel 11 and Plesk 9 are the latest control panels available for the web hosting service providers. These panels enable them to provide their web hosting services to their clients. With the help of these control panels provided by the hosting firms, clients can manage different tasks involved in the web hosting accounts, these panels simplifies the tasks for the support staff as clients are able to carry out majority of the tasks themselves. There are many different tasks that can be simplified with the use of these control panels, it involves the management of web services, E-mail, DNS and Database on both half’s i.e. client and administrator. Normally most of the web hosting service providers provide control panel access as a standard feature for the web hosting accounts. These control panels are simple to use, a person with no knowledge of web hosting too can operate it and hence this is one of the major reasons why these control panels have gained popularity in the web hosting industry.

Until now cPanel is compatible with Linux Servers only. Which means cPanel can be provided by web hosting firms only to the clients that choose Linux Servers for hosting their web sites. Which is not the case with Plesk, Plesk control panel is compatible with Linux as well as with Windows web hosting platforms. Plesk is majorly used by web hosts due to its stability.

cPanel and Plesk have their own advantages when used by customers and administrators of Web hosting services. Usually Plesk is provided with Windows Web Hosting service and cPanel with Linux Web Hosting solutions.

Below one can find the advantages of Plesk control panel.

>> Windows Support : Plesk works on Windows Web hosting service allowing web hosting service providers to provide Windows based web hosting packages to the customers. Customers ASP and ASP.NET websites can only work on Windows servers, so Windows Web Hosting service needs to be opted. Customers usually prefer Plesk with Windows Web Hosting.

>> Windows Service Support : As Plesk can be used on Windows based servers it has the capability to integrate to integrate with multiple Windows based programs. It has an advanced feature support for some Windows programs such as Microsoft SQL Server which can be managed by Plesk 9.0 by server administrators and clients with their own databases which makes it an ideal control panel solution for Windows.

>> Cross Platform Compatibility : From a system administrator’s point of view,  one may find it more beneficial having a single control panel on all the servers. Mastering a single control panel is much simpler than mastering two. As a customer one may find it easy since it means that one should be able to get the same sort of features from both Linux as well as from Windows web hosting solutions.

Though Plesk seems to be perfect for Windows web hosting packages, it can also be used for Linux packages.

cPanel is a preferred control panel for Linux web hosting services. Benefits of cPanel are as follows.

>> More Features of Linux : cPanel encompasses more features for Linux web hosting solutions than Plesk control panel. cPanel can be used in combination with different add-ons such as Fantastico script installer and CFS firewall to provide customers a wide range of services which can be used from their web hosting accounts control panel, such features can’t be used on Plesk Linux Web Hosting servers.

>> Reseller Support : Apart from Plesk 9.0 version, other versions does not provide support for reseller web hosting accounts whereas cPanel offers good support for resellers. cPanel is available with the Web Host Manager (WHM) panel which allows resellers to control all different aspects of their reseller accounts including the configuring of their own packages and the setting up of client web hosting accounts.

>> Faster Loading : cPanel’s internal pages load more faster than those of Plesk and certain tasks are carried out quicker than they would be with the Plesk control panel. cPanel does not rely on external databases in much cases, this is one of the reasons of the smooth functioning. cPanel has proven to be more reliable than Plesk on Linux.

To sum it up, both the control panels cPanel and Plesk provide web hosting service provider firms a reliable control panel service but come with their own advantages and disadvantages. But, Plesk for Windows and cPanel for Linux is the perfect solution offered by web hosting firms.

Application Service Providers or ASP had grown onto the web hosting business in a very short span of time. ASP was developed in effort to provide businesses with innovated and new services.

The number of applications provided through the ASP model started growing rapidly. And so was the growth seen in the business of companies that developed softwares for ASP model. Now we all are aware of the remotely hosted applications, they can provide cost effective access for businesses to unique softwares, many applications were designed for occasional usage in terms of use. A few others were geared towards using group connectivity which was offered through the Internet to provide flexible applications.

Now ASP’s have managed to create software programs for handling various business functions as material management, financial management, human resources and e-commerce transaction services. ASP have successfully managed to provide vast variety of solutions.

Today, many ASP’s are doing awesome business in meeting operational needs of different companies and organizations across the globe. The biggest advantage for businesses in seeking ASP services is, they provide opportunities for reducing the costs but not compromising on the efficiencies, rather they have managed to grow in terms of efficiencies. With ASP the companies are offered a much wider range of software products with fewer prices to be paid. This offers companies or businesses to gain access to applications that can service particular business requirements. With this companies are free to focus on its core operations. Previously ASP provided business solution through PC based softwares but now it provides operating issues. Web Hosting companies prefer ASP as it has eliminated many administrative and technical issues which was associated with the provision of real time upgrades, remote hosting, remote dial in the customer support and overall software management.

Web hosting companies are involved in the development of applications – however, many of the hosting companies serve to provide network management and serve the application remotely to users. In providing ASP-related services, these companies are essentially AIP’s (Application Infrastructure Providers.)

Why it is termed as Windows Web Hosting service?

The Web Hosting service providers provide Microsoft’s Windows software on the server for the website to be hosted, hence the Web Hosting service is called as Windows Web Hosting service.

There are basically two types of operating systems namely Windows and Linux, that are provided by the Web Hosting service providers. Windows website hosting is more user friendly interface than Linux web hosting. Windows hosting is more popular and preferred because it provides support for all the popular windows web services that is used in development. One more added advantage is that Windows has its own products and services.

Windows web hosting has more benefits which is also one of the major reasons for its worldwide popularity. Both the operating systems have its individual features and have their own advantages and disadvantages. One major advantage is the .NET such as ASP.net technologies are supported in Windows Web Hosting services. If a website is already built using Microsoft’s .NET technology then the benefits of using this service can be experienced better. Windows web hosting can be the best possible solution if a website is designed with Microsoft Frontpage or web application with the use of Active Server Page (ASP).

Windows website hosting is considered to be slower than Unix web hosting solution in terms of performance, but in terms of hardware efficiency Windows hosting solution is considered to be much more cost effective option. There is no denial to the fact that Linux website hosting is extremely efficient and offers cheap web hosting but it does not support applications like ASP or ASP.net applications that use windows platform.

There is a misconception in the web hosting industry about the selection of an operating system for hosting a website on a particular web-hosting account. Users think that if they use particular operating system on the personal computer, the same OS is necessary on the hosting account/servers, which isn’t true.

There isn’t any compulsion of using the same operating system as that of the desktop. The hosted server can have different operating system.

Both the technologies i.e. Windows Web Hosting and Linux Web Hosting are suitable for beginners, web developer professionals etc. Every technology amongst the two have distinct advantages for the users.

Incase users are using Active Server pages or other Microsoft applications for designing the web pages, then Windows Hosting can be useful. The Windows platform offers reduced development time and better functionality for its databases. The major advantage of choosing a Microsoft Windows platform is the ability to use ASP, ASP.net and Access database in the web pages. The ASP.net and ASP offer rapid, scalable and efficient development environment for building the web-site. Along with MS Access these tools allows users to make website dynamic and more interactive.

Windows Web Hosting platform is suitable for developing a static HTML based website that has Macro Media Flash or other scripting technologies. The Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 are suitable web hosting platforms for such usage.

A common application that can be used on both the platforms is Microsoft Frontpage.

The Linux Web Hosting solution is widely considered as the best operating system for the web hosting servers. Recently Linux has gained popularity due to its reliability, stability and its efficiency. It provides some of the best web and mail server environments.

It offers PHP, Perl and My SQL. Linux functions well for brochure-ware websites which offer interaction through enquiry forms, e-commerce functions and online purchasing.

The users who have hosted their websites on a Windows server do not get access to the operating system. Yet the operating system plays a crucial part in the web hosting account. It enables direct control, operation and administration of the server on which the website is installed. There are two types of operating system platforms to choose for hosting a website: Linux and Windows platforms. Below is a quick introduction of benefits of hosting a website on a Windows OS platform.

Advantages of Windows Hosting for hosting a website on a Windows Server

One major benefit of Windows Web Hosting is the ability to easily incorporate the number of Windows compatible technologies in the website. As we all are aware that Microsoft products are widely used across the world, the vendors constantly develop solutions to support the Windows platform. Alongwith ASP, one can make use of the programming languages like JavaScript, Cold Fusion, PHP and VB Scripts. Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) can be decided when choosing a Windows Web hosting solution on a dedicated server. This feature is not supported on most of the Unix and Linux systems.

Understanding the Windows Technology

Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 are powerful softwares that take the responsibility of serving the web pages on a Windows platform. These systems are capable, offer dynamic back end management and simple accessibility features. The Windows system supports variety of Microsoft technologies which can be used effectively as development tools.

Microsoft Office Suite’s popular application “The Front Page” is a building tool that allows creating pages without any necessity of experience. This can also be done online with the associated server side extension. ASP (Active Server Pages) is another common technology offered by Windows, it is a Microsoft patented server side scripting language. Dynamic web pages can be created with the use of this programming language. While Unix or Linux platforms usually makes the use of of open source database systems such as the Postgre SQL and My SQL. Windows Web Hosting offers Microsoft Access or SQL Server. The different technologies are valuable features which offers many advantages to the website.

Price Difference

Previously Windows Web Hosting seemed to be more expensive hosting solution due to the exclusive use of Microsoft based servers and commercial products that require providers to pay licensing fees for its usage. But recently after the introduction of Linux Servers to the web hosting industry Windows Servers faced competition. Hence Windows packages can now be affordable though not as cheap as Linux packages.

Summarizing everything and coming to a conclusion, Windows hosting no doubt yet remains a better option specially if user believes in Microsoft technologies.

Windows Web hosting is able to support variety of scripts just like Linux. Windows offers two common options are ASP and PHP. In the Web Hosting Industry ASP is exclusively used for Windows Web Hosting and Web Hosting platforms also use PHP. SQL server and My SQL databases are relational in nature allowing communication with customers websites for quick retrieval of information through the Internet.

The major benefit of Windows web hosting is that it also comes with many pre-installed applications specifically written for Windows Servers. Some of these programs are free small in size whereas some are expensive and have the ability to power prominent corporations. Web Hosting with Windows as a platform can be a unique experience.

There are few factors that make Windows a better choice for Web Hosting of a site on Windows Server.

Use of ASP for Windows Web Hosting

Windows hosting has the advantage of the use of ASP scripts where Linux lags behind in this feature. But a Linux server can make the transition of hosting a site running on Windows operating system, it is not designed for compatibility with ASP. Because of the popularity of ASP, it has its own web hosting platform. Most of the hosts implement Windows operating system, not to forget the fact that this often is expensive than the open source Linux Hosting. The common web hosting platforms users often find for this scripts are ASP.net and ASP4 as it supports VB and Java scripts. ASP is an abbreviation of Active Server Pages. When the ASP pages are sent to the user they are dynamic in nature.

ASP Dynamics

PHP and ASP are designed to perform the similar functions but Windows based scripts are bit more advanced. Internet web pages can be distinguished between: static pages and dynamic pages. Static web pages show simple contents which do not change throughout, whereas Dynamic web pages get modified when they reach the users computer. Java Script has the capability of automatically changing page appearance, a process known as the client side scripting. Scripts written in ASP can modify a page before it gets loaded in the web browser. This is known as the server-side scripting. The Dynamic web pages that are created in ASP are embedded in the base language and the URL.

ASP enables web programmers create a web site and produce dynamic content based on commands. The powerful commands give users more control over the web pages and hence the complete web-site. Integration with MS SQL provides strength to ASP and also allows users to build a phenomenal website without self scripting the design, other contents and background for each page. Database is an essential element in the appearance of a website. ASP pages do not necessarily need the aid of a database for loading the dynamic content.

ASP’s role in Enhancing Web Hosting

There are multiple reasons to reside with Windows web host, ASP scripts is one of them. Like PHP, ASP too is easy to translate. ASP.net is a user friendly language. ASP.net takes very less load time. ASP language is capable and compatible.

ASP Features

Due to the popularity of ASP, users search for a Windows Web host that uses ASP. For such seekers users need to check for: frequent updates, scripting support and add-ons.

• Add-Ons: The add-on application for Windows have the capability to make a website prosper in performance and presentation. ASP is bundled with programs that are pre-installed on the server. Apart from the initial payment and agreement of terms, these applications mostly are free and easily available on demand.

• Scripting Support:

If a user intends to implement dynamic web pages in the web-site the scripting support prove to be very important. The Scripting support from the web host assists the users with all the programming issues. Most of the Windows Web Hosting providers provide support through phone calls, e-mails or support tickets, interactive applications such as blogs and message forms. By seeking help on ASP through such services can offer most from the Windows hosting.

To summarize, ASP is an absolutely solid script which has earned reputation in a short span of time. The Dynamic web language usage causes Windows Web hosting grow and make the best websites over the internet. The ASP feature can be helpful for users who wish to publish their websites on the Windows Server.

Reseller web hosting is a type of web hosting in which the web hosting service provider offers services of Web hosting to third party companies which acts as web hosts. Then these third party web hosts inturn provides services of web hosting to clients. If a customer buys a hosting plan from a reseller, then their website gets stored on the parent web hosts server. The reseller only does the task of interaction between the client and the parent web hosting provider. Though the payments are done to the reseller but the technical support can be offered by the parent hosting company on demand from the reseller. But generally the reseller takes care of the technical support.

Resellers get benefitted as they do not need to purchase the hardware, IT staff or bandwidth for running the services. Reseller Web Hosting proves to be the ideal solution for people hosting many domain names, each requiring a customized hosting plan at a low price.

Some reseller hosting service providers offer much better services to the customers than the parent hosting company. This might be because they can host limited number of domains hence enabling them to concentrate on the limited customers yet making good profit.

The Reseller hosting business is quite a profit making business online, but it is necessary to have a complete knowledge of using the reseller business in the most effective way. Creating optimal web space for sale to sell and make profit each time is essential. Sales must have a strong backing of extra ordinary customer support service alongwith an eye on the bandwidth and connectivity to keep everything in exact place about the business.

The Reseller hosting is offered on Windows Servers as well As Linux Servers. No doubt that Linux is a popular choice for hosting because of its flexibility and stability yet resellers finds Windows reseller more advantageous as it offers more viable solutions.

Windows Resellers Features

Flexibility and Power

If compared with Linux, Windows based control panel offers clustered solution as it is powered by Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) technology. The Windows platform is designed for an Enterprise level hosting. It offers ample flexibility which is able to meet the demands of growing business.

Simple Management

Reseller providers might offer all in one solutions on the Windows platform. The task of administration of multiple accounts for keeping track of their clients. The operation is generally spread amongst various control panels with Linux. Through a centralized interface accounts of the clients can be managed making it easy and quick. Windows reseller hosting supports a wide range applications scripted in various languages and development tools.  This gives you the ability to run a site scripted in PHP and driven by MySQL databases right beside your Microsoft technologies.

Programming Tools

The use of ASP and ASP.NET is the biggest advantage that Windows offers to the resellers. With the use of these tools which are powerful than the other helps the creation of dynamic web pages easy. Such technology is not available on the Linux Server.

In Windows Reseller hosting users generally have access to the latest technology. The latest additional services can provide more efficient means of marketing the professional Windows Web hosting service.

SQL server, Microsoft’s database management is another reason why web hosts prefer Windows Reseller. MS SQL is one of the fastest growing solutions on the database market, able to give you the competitive edge needed with a reseller account.

Windows Web Hosting means Internet hosting providers make the use of Microsoft’s Windows software to host the web server for the customers websites. Depending on the Windows Web hosting service providers offers the customers an environment to run ASP.net web applications. Microsoft’s Windows and Linux are the two majorly used platforms in Web hosting industry. If compared with the Linux Web hosting, Windows hosting offers a much better user friendly interface as Microsoft owns almost all of the products and services. In the field of web development, Windows hosting supports all the popular web services. It enables users to create a website or web based application in any of the preferred language.This is quite understood about newbies getting confused in choosing the web hosting platforms among Linux web hosting and Windows web hosting. Windows could always be a better option to go for, as todays web hosts offer PHP and My SQL which is a sort of Linux server feature in their web hosting plans of Windows 2008 and Windows 2003 server. Web hosting providers install PHP and MySQL as an add-on on their servers enabling users to get some most important features of the Linux Servers within the same package of Windows web hosting without any extra payment.

Windows hosting is more user friendly and has more benefits which is the major reason for its wide usage. Though both the operating systems has its own unique features and encompasses different Advantages and Disadvantages. The .NET and .ASP technologies are not supported on Linux  platform, which means if a website owner has designed their websites using Microsofts .NET technology then the benefits of Windows hosting service.

Windows web hosting is cost effective as it make an effective use of the hardware whereas even though Linux too is highly efficient and offers some cheap hosting packages but it fails in supporting the applications such as ASP and ASP.net.

Web Hosting Package details as per Users Requirements.

Personal Web Hosting : Personal Web Hosting is cheap, reliable and affordable.

Who should go for such web hosting package?

• New WebMasters.
• Users that intend to build a web site using few simple steps.
• Users that want to host multiple domains.
• Users who want to migrate to a better web hosting service provider.

In this kind of a web hosting package the website building tools are provided free of cost.

Business Web Hosting : The business web hosting package is hosted on powerful shared hosting platform. Business hosting can be suggested for users who already own a website but because of increase in the sites web traffic require maximum stability, performance and best uptime is essential.

Who should go for Business Web Hosting Package?

• Users who are Business owners.
• Owners of E-commerce web sites.
• Programmers and Webmasters.

Windows Web Hosting : Users have an option to opt between two control panels : Plesk and Hosting controller. Windows hosting can be chosen if users require special server side scripting support for .ASP, .Net, MS SQL and MS access based applications.

Who should opt for Windows Web Hosting?

• Users that require Windows 2003 environment.
• Users who are Webmasters and Programmers.
• Users that require support for .ASP, .NET, MS SQL, MS Access.

Reseller Web Hosting : This type of web hosting provides both cPanel hosting and Windows reseller hosting. Reseller hosting can be opted for either Linux (cPanel) and Windows (Plesk) platforms. Reseller hosting is suitable for the users who want to start their small web hosting service, web designers or for the users who intend to manage many websites with separate control panels. This type of web hosting is also known as affordable web hosting.

Who should select a Reseller Web Hosting Package?

• Web hosting resellers.
• Web designers.
• The users who want to manage multiple domains in an affordable manner.

VPS Web Hosting : VPS means Virtual Private Servers. VPS hosting includes Windows VPS and Linux VPS hosting services. Such hosting service is ideal for the web sites that has heavy traffic may it be in the form of downloading or number of visitors. The VPS web hosting is a cheaper alternative to dedicated web hosting with the same server resources as that of the dedicated server hosting.

Who should select a VPS web hosting service?

• Web hosting resellers and designers
• Websites that have heavy traffic.

Dedicated Server Hosting : Dedicated server hosting is best suited for the users that require full power, control and complete accessibility. In this type of web hosting web server can be customized to its complete power.

Who should opt for Dedicated Server Hosting?

• Online stores and e-Commerce companies.
• Large and heavily loaded websites.
• ISP’s and web hosting service providers.
• Mid to large sized companies.

Programmers of the world have been in a debate right after the launch of ASP.net which was launched in 2001 long time after PHP which has been in use since 1984.Both ASP.net and PHP are programming languages. PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor and ASP.net stand for Active Server Pages. ASP.net is a programming language built by Microsoft and it is based on another language called classic ASP and Microsoft owns both of these languages. Classic ASP is also known as the forefather of ASP.net as Classic

ASP was created in mid-1990s and it is the base on which ASP.net is created. PHP is an ‘open source’ language and the source code is available for download at no cost so it is free software available. ASP.net is also a free language but you will not be able to view the source code of it which does not make it an open source language. As ASP.net is not an open source language you will not be able to edit its source, but this is not the case with PHP as it is a open source language and you can run PHP as per your requirements by editing the source of the language which will speed it up or enable you to install custom modifications.

You will be able to create feature rich applications with both of them as they provide you with classic features and also the add-ons which will enable you to extend their framework and this will surely help you out to create feature rich applications. As Microsoft has created and owns ASP.net there is no problem to get the necessary support as enough support is available for it through online documentation and also by other community forums. Support for PHP is also available easily for users of the language as there is a large active community which provides the support.

PHP has been used for programming websites from a long time and still it is used by many of the programmers around the world for programming many of the websites on the internet and it also involves the benefit that Along with the use of MySQL database engine, it can also be used with SQLite and Oracle as well. There are many types of database that you will be able to connect to when you use PHP. Some of them are MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL. You can also use Microsoft SQL Server but in some cases only. As it is possible to connect to several databases with PHP, it is considered as a dynamic language. Whereas in comparison to PHP, you can only use Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server databases with ASP.net as it was created by Microsoft to work with these two databases only.

However, it is possible for you to use it with MySQL databases but you will need third party components for this purpose. You will get a number of applications based on PHP which are available for free as PHP is open source language. As it is an open source language you will find a number of community forums and blogs which will provide you with the information you need about PHP and this is not the same case with ASP.net as it is not an open source language. But PHP does not include built-in AJAX functions which are included in ASP.net. Also many of the users of ASP.net are not happy with Microsoft as it keeps on releasing the updates of the language at regular intervals which is not in the favor of the users as they have to learn the changes in the language and also the codes which are modified or changed along with the functions or the new components which have been or are being added. There are some of the web hosting companies which support PHP and ASP.net and also provide you servers which have PHP and ASP.net already installed on them.