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By:  Archivo Ospite
AB Web Hosting

If you own a server and want to connect to the Internet, there are companies that will handle the connection for you. This service is known as colocation. Companies that want to have complete control over their server configuration often choose the colocation route.  The difference between a colocated server and a dedicated server is that in a dedicated environment the web hosting company owns the server.

If you are colocating a server, there are a number of factors to consider that don't apply to dedicated servers. A major difference is that both rental fees and connection fees apply to a colocated server. Rental fees are the charges for physically locating your server in the web host's data center. The server is measured by its height, usually from 1U to a full rack. Most servers are either 1U or 2U configurations. However, servers with a large number of hard drives could be as large as 3U or 4U.

Colocation providers base connection charges o­n averages instead of the total number of gigabytes transferred during the month. A connection of 1 mbp/s, for example, indicates an average transfer of megabyte per second over the month. Transfers can be measured in two ways. The first is to divide the amount of bandwidth used by the number of seconds in the month. The second method looks at the 95th percentile. To determine transfers using this method, bandwidth is measured every five minutes. At the end of the month, the highest five percent of the readings are dropped. The highest remaining reading, the 95th percentile, is used as the transfer billing rate.

Security, Speed and Service: The physical safety of your server and the security of your data are two primary considerations. Before you select a colocation host, find out what plans they have to protect servers during a flood, fire or other disaster. Ask about the security of the building and find out who will have access to your server.

How fast will your server be able to connect to the Internet? That depends o­n the bandwidth offered by the hosting company. You will need to determine how important speed is. Some companies offer amazingly high speeds and equally high prices. You can often save a few bucks by opting to go with a provider that uses a slightly slower bandwidth. Check out the bandwidth of potential hosts by perusing their web page. How fast does the page load? Is it slow and cumbersome? A slow-loading page can indicate the company's Internet connection is already overloaded.

Discuss any special features you use with the colocation provider. Can the host handle such features such as private nameservers, anonymous FTP or game servers? Can the company provide multiple IP addresses?

Look closely at the company's technical support services. Find out who handles tech support and what kind of IT credentials and experience they have. What do the company's current customer's say about their support? Ask for references.

You'll also want to ensure that acceptable guarantees are in place with regards to the level of uptime.

When you are ready to sign a contract for colocation services, negotiate and review all of the terms carefully. In addition to an uptime guarantee the contract should include the terms of service, the length of contract, the level of service and payment terms.

Archivo Ospite is the owner of ABWebHosting.com, a site that provides useful information about web hosting. Visit  AB Web Hosting to find all of his articles and web hosting tips.

Copyright © 2004
The Trii-Zine Ezine
www.ezines1.com

Have you ever been infected with a web nasty? If you spend any time at all, o­n the Internet, chances are you have, whether you know it, or not. If you've never bothered to check, assuming that your virus protection is keeping tabs o­n things for you, had better read this article to its end.

You could be in for a surprise.

No o­ne is safe from viruses, trojans, worms and other nasties o­n the net. If you are o­nline, you are a target. Even if you think you're protected, you're not immune. If you were truly safe, all of the software companies, producing anti-virus protection would no longer exist. Remember, anti-virus creators are racing to keep up with the hackers, not the other way around.

Practicing safe surfing is more difficult that practicing safe sex. (If o­nly you could wrap your system with a condom.) o­ne form of protection is not enough to keep you safe.

Recently, I had the misfortune of contracting a bug, from God knows where, that was very nasty indeed. It is called RemAdm-RemoteAdmin expiorer.exe. This bug is a Win32 virus, which allows a remote user access to your computer; a backdoor kind of thing. It is also not an easy o­ne to get rid of, because it really packs a powerful payload. It infiltrates many systems within your computer, hiding itself among multiple processes, making it difficult to fight off.

This o­ne requires the use of many software applications to get clean, not just a single o­ne. I know this, because I spent a small fortune buying software to regain my health.

Some applications can detect certain viruses, but cannot remove them. There's a paradox for you. Yet others can remove parts of an infection, but not the whole thing. So, every computer user must build a toolbox, devoted to the detection and removal of these critters, lest your $2000 investment becomes a useless pile of plastic and metal.

Email attachments and downloads are not the o­nly source of infection any more. You can catch these nasties through image files, toolbar applications, and of course, the sneek attack of adware/ spyware programs.

If you run Windows, and use Internet Explorer for browsing, you'd better scoot over to Windows Update, and get the SP2 download right away. As we all know, Windows Internet Explorer has terrible security issues, and this SP2 download addresses some of them. That is the first step. (This update is a huge file (92MB), and will take some time to download.)

Next, make sure that whatever anti-virus software you are using is up to date. Never fall behind in DAT file updates. This is critical. And, don't forget to back up your files!

If you haven't got a firewall in place, get off your bum and get o­ne! Firewalls help keep your system safer by closing the ports commonly exposed to attacks. After that, you should invest some money in anti-adware/ spyware programs.

There are some good freeware programs available, like Smart Cop, and Spybot Search & Destroy, but no o­ne program can detect everything. (There are more than 63,000 nasties loose out there.) This is why you will have to spend some money o­n other programs as well.

Since I have recently acquired several different programs, I will be reviewing and making recommendations over the next couple of weeks.

Now, after building your anti-bug box, use it. All of this armor won't amount to much unless you use it. Scan your system at least o­nce a week.

Copyright © 2004
The Trii-Zine Ezine
www.ezines1.com
Keywords: anti-virus, adware, spyware, trojans, worms, viruses, anti-virus software, Internet marketing resources, Internet marketing resource, Internet marketing resource tip, Internet marketing resource tool