What is Secure Web Hosting and SSL and what are their benefits:

With people having the ability to read the information of other folk, the Internet is not as safe as it once was. Hackers are people who are able to uncover the information that people pass on websites. It is also possible for them to get hold of confidential data like credit card details or passwords. Many hackers also have the ability to offer their own version of another person’s website and this can be hosted on their own server. This is done to fool customers who may be unaware of these issues. The majority of hackers act to obtain information that is of value and interest about people. One way of combating these hackers is by using the Secure Sockets Layer or SSL.

The Secure Sockets Layer or SSL is a world wide standard security technology, which is developed by Netscape in 1994. It facilitates to establish an encrypted link between a browser and a web server. This link makes it certain that all the data, which passed between the web server and browser remains secure and private. It is recognized by a secured padlock that appears in the browser of the consumers. This protocol is used by a huge number of e-Business providers in order to shield their customer’s important information as well as to ensure that the online transactions remain confidential.

The Certificate for SSL:

If a web server wants to use the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, it will require an SSL Certificates provided by the Certification Authorities (CA). You will have to complete several questions about the identity of your company and website, while you choose to trigger SSL on your web server. The web server then constructs two cryptographic keys i.e. a Public Key and a Private Key. The Public Key is not a furtive. It is placed in a Certificate Signing Request or CSR, which is a data file that contains your details. You then require to submit the CSR. The Certification Authority validates all the details that you have provided in the CSR throughout the SSL Certificate application process. It further allocates an SSL Certificate that contains all your details and thus allows you to use SSL. The issued SSL Certificate is matched to the Private Key by your web server. This will enable your web server to establish an encrypted link between your website and the customer’s web browser.

However, all these complex procedures of the SSL protocol remain undetectable to the customers. What their browser provides to them is a key indicator that helps to let them know they are well protected by an SSL encrypted session. There is a lock icon in the lower right hand corner of your customer’s browser by clicking which, your SSL Certificate and all other details are displayed. Generally, all these SSL Certificates are allotted to registered companies and to legally accountable individuals.

The usual information contained within an SSL Certificate will usually provide country, state, city, and address, name of the company and the domain name of the site. The expiration date of the certificate will also be included as will further information about the Certification Authority that holds the responsibility for issuing the certificates. If the browser of the visitor connects to the secured site, the SSL certificate will be unable to retrieve the SSL certificate from the site. A quick search in the veracity of the sites SSL certificate will be undertaken and that it has been allocated to the website claiming it is for. Another check will also be undertaken on the date of expiry for the certificate. If for any reason the certificate does not pass all the questions asked of it, there will be a warning displayed to the final user.

There is no doubt that the golden padlock has been accepted by many customers. It is viewed as a symbol of trust for the site. There is little doubt that the e-Business company can use this as an ideal opportunity to encourage trust and additional expenditure from customers and also turn visitors into customers. There are numerous shopping carts or sites that take information from customers and a large percentage utilize the SLL certificates. Nevertheless, users should recall that if confidential information is sent by email, this information is not naturally secured.

The new functions:

The SSL v3 has been recently introduced and is an improved version of upon SSL v2. It has been added with SHA-1 based ciphers and provides support for certificate authentication. There were certain flaws in the SSL v2, where indistinguishable cryptographic keys were used for encryption as well as for message authentication. Moreover, the former version had no protection for the handshake, which implies a “Man-in-the-middle downgrade attack” could even go unnoticed.

Another improvement has come with the Transport Layer Security taking over from the Secure Sockets Layer. The TSL has been clearly influenced by SSL and has taken many uses and styles that are synonymous with Microsoft and Netscape browsers in addition to a great number of products utilizing Web server capabilities. Today, it is common for SSL to utilize public and private key encryption that is able to provide a digital certificate.

SSL Certificate, do you need one:

* If privacy of others and yourself as well as a need to have trust in your site is important, then the purchase of the SSL certificate is vital.

There is a need for offices that have intranet usage where information is being distributed to obtain an SSL certificate.

If you have a need to process information such as telephone numbers, ID numbers, license numbers, date of births or addresses then an SSL certificate can aid this process.

* An SSL Certificate helps you to process several sensitive data including date of birth, ID numbers, address, telephone number or license number safely.

* If anyone in your firm utilizes an extranet, the SSL certificate is an additional layer of security from those wanting to hack your site.

Some helpful information about purchasing SSL Certificates:

* The Certificate Authority market is quite diverse, but it is better to purchase an SSL Certificate that meets your requirements as well as budget. You can find a number of Secure Sockets Layer Certificate in different price range. The Open Directory Project identifies 22 third parties and offers over 20 root certificates that are included into Firefox and Internet Explorer. However, due to its price, it is dominated only by a few major firms.

* A survey undertaken in June of 2005 by Netcraft set out to find the names of the biggest providers of SSL certificates. This was backed up in 2007 when Security Space attempted a similar search. The top ranker was found to be Equifax, through its Geotrust arm (www.equifax.com), the next was VeriSign plus which utilized their Thawte subsidiary (www.verisign.com) as well as GoDaddy/Starfield (www.godaddy.com),, Comodo (www.comodo.com) and Digicert (www.digicert.com).

It can be seen that depending on what form of measurement is used, these six providers cover 95% of the market in this industry. The largest market share is held by Verisign with about 72% market share with Comodo coming next with around 18%. Geotrust has around 3.4% market share and GoDaddy and Entrust contain about 1% and 2.5% of the market share. The remaining providers comprise about 3 or 4% on average of the market.

About author: Gregory Trune is a professional writer in the web hosting industry. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to follow his search for the best hosting companies each month.

Website hosting and hosting server products are just some of the biggest services on the World Wide Web. Obtaining a reliable hosting account to assist anyone to handle website traffic is crucial for a great number of consumers. To some, free website hosting may not appear to be the ideal choice to provide website hosting services but a free web host service is ideal for a great number of consumers. With so many cheap website hosting providers supplying microsoft web hosting services or dedicated server cheap prices, it is possible for all consumers to have their own domain name service. It is hard to select a best website hosting site however a provision of free web hosting domain name is perfect for some whilst a corporate website may be great for companies and there is the option to be a host reseller for those who need to make a little extra money along the way.

Equally, a corporate website is of benefit to many consumers and there is the opportunity to make some income from using a host reseller. Being able to find domain name registration and hosting is becoming easier and much of this is because a good host provider will help out and also make it easier to obtain affordable business web hosting. Consumers can obtain services like colocation service, free web hosting asp, dedicated servers cheap, cpanel reseller hosting, cheap asp net hosting and colocation facility if this is what they need to make their life easier. The importance of having this sort of service certifies that the ability and capabilities of any online web enthusiast can be overly improved and made available to any willing business.

For your perusal, one shopper may have a necessity for a linux shared hosting system but many other users may not understand what a linux shared hosting system is.

The mass choice of dedicated hosting services should ensure that every purchaser that would like to obtain trustworthy web site hosting should be treated well. This ensures any business which needs to obtain information about reseller web hosting products; it should be easy to evaluate the knowledge that they need. One proven way to capture the greatest sort of offer is to undertake a website hosting comparison search to capture firm deals and offers, which will aid the selection process.

Having the ability to obtain domain name registration and hosting can come from a good host provider who should also offer affordable business web hosting. The range of packages should include services like colocation service, free web hosting asp, dedicated servers cheap, cpanel reseller hosting, cheap asp net hosting and colocation facility if required. Deliberation has to be given to what is integrally needed by a buyer and this will easily differ for every businesswoman or man. Personal choice is one of the most important aspects in the internet age and this is open to all consumers with freedom of choice being vital. It makes no difference whether you need colocation facilities, com website hosting or unix Webhosting, you can guarantee there is 1 website hosting firm which is right for your needs and understanding the benefits of the relative website hostings makes the decision easier.

Matt Ewing is a staff writer for webhostingmadness.com and web hosting industry analyst. Visit webhostingmadness.com to join him on his search for the top web hosting companies each month.

With more and more costs involved in getting a web presence started, and those costs rising rapidly, clients are looking to saving money in more ways than ever before. There are many types of fees involved in creating a website. With web hosting space, software to create the sites, email costs, and other recurring monthly and annual costs more companies now look for ways to save money on domain names and registration services. This is a small yearly fee but it adds up when considering the other costs involved even for a small company. Large companies are often faced with the need for multiple domain names and that only serves to compound the yearly cost of operating their online site. Free domain names can be found, but it is wise to study the pros and cons of these services and what they imply.

There are a few methods of obtaining a free domain name registration. Finding out what they are is not difficult. With the use of a few strategies a business or organization can by-pass the difficulties and extra fees charged for registering a domain name. There are many online and also local companies that offer domain name registration along with a hosting service for a website. The features of both are very similar.

Here are few useful tips to get a free domain name:

* Always do plenty of research when looking into companies that offer free domain name registration. You will get the best deal for your company if you chose a web host with the provisions you require that offer free domain name registration. Large companies often get this given to them even with large hosting companies for the volume of business.

* The easiest way of obtaining a domain name is to use the web host’s services for hosting your website. Many web hosts offer free domain name registration if you sign up for one of their packages, and also include email and web design as well.

* Don’t neglect looking to your local area for web hosting companies. There are many advantages to using a local company. The ability to communicate issues and concerns face-to-face, or deal with problems in person is just some of those advantages. Many small local companies also offer free domain name registration.

* Check if the web hosting company provides free domain name registration with a private plan. This feature helps to protect the important personal information of the business organization from the inquiry of the general public. In fact, there are a number of people who try to abuse the privilege provided by a website. In such a case the web hosting company alerts the website owner and thus helps to protect the online business.

* There are some free TLD domains which you can obtain for viewing a provider’s offers and signing up for what you can use thereby gaining points. The more points you earn the more likely you are of obtaining more free TLD domains.

There are many online domain name providers where you can find free domain names. These types of services offer sub domain names for free when you use their sites to build your website. There are some disadvantages to these programs and they are not top-level domain names. They include:

Freedomain.co.nr

This domain name provider has a lot of great features for the website owner. They offer no-cost redirection that are more commonly known as Domain Forwarding services. They also provide URL masking, URL cloaking, and the ability to use Path Forwarding and some other services. One of the many other cool features of this host is their offer help with Meta Tags, and Favicon. The only requirement for the free services is a link back directed at their main site. That is a small price to pay for all of the free options.

Dot.tk:

Dot.tk is a commonly used domain name service. It is one of the better free sub domain name providers and gives its clients .tk domains. The drawback to this company is the free service expires if certain conditions are not met by the user. If you obtain one of these names your site must receive at least 25 visitors inside of a 90 day period. It is your responsibility to keep up the traffic to your site or you will lose the use of it.

Uni.cc

This company provides terrific tools for site building and TLD domains as well as their free domain names. The also offer redirection and other options. The only drawback to Uni.cc is that they do not provide hosing, ftp, or email hosting at this time. They are a great source of domain names and redirection for free if you already have website space.

GeoCities

It is one of the most popular free domain name provider site. The for-fee premium web hosting service is introduced by Yahoo! and it provides 3 GB monthly bandwidth limit. However, there are banner or popup advertisements on every page. The services provided by this site include manual for creating a web page, PageBuilder, design tools, PageWizards, File Manager and several other great add-on options.

Google Page Creator

Google’s page creator is a wonderful new availability for a fast, free website. It is still in development but offers a great many tools for site creation and is very easy to use. There are some severe limitations to the free service and still some kinks to work out but it is effective. Remember that services like this and Yahoo’s above free sites do not give unique domain names for free, but sub-domain names. This is less impressive for business and commercial sites.

Fadlan.com

This domain name provider offers .fadlan.com domains. They give clients free URL redirecton and domain forwarding as well. They have other great features such as DNS that allows a site owner to put their own web server on a sub domain if they have a static IP address. There are a few drawbacks to this service but it is reliable.

Afraid.org

Afraid.org offers the options of several domain names available to choose a suitable sub domain. After signing up at Afraid.org, they provide ample services including a tool to update the IP redirection. The limitation is 50 sub domains for a single user account. This free domain name service can be used for Domain Hosting, free DNS Hosting, Dynamic/ Static DNS Hosting etc.

C-o.in

This is another cost free as well as very effective online free domain name service provider. Their services include free URL Redirection service and free sub domain forwarding services, which is available in four different formats.

About the author: Tired of hyped up web hosting companies that have terrible uptime? Find the tools and real user reviews you need to locate the best hosting companies at www.webhostingmadness.com.

The history of we hosting started in 1990 when the first web program was written by Tim Berners Lee. A great number of programs followed with companies creating their own form of services to offer web hosting which has resulted in the modern scenario. Today there is a huge increase in the web hosting industry. Although the term web hosting is very common today, it meant nothing before 1991 and similarly, there no ideas of the internet at that time either. However, to get the best from modern web hosting it can be worthwhile to research the development of the internet and it has developed a lot. Aside from television and radio, the internet is probably the largest technological development and there are over 50 million websites, making up the platform of the modern internet. If you did not have websites to visit, what would you do online?

A look back at earlier days

The concept of the Internet had been brought forward in August, 1962, by J.C.R. Licklider, at the MIT. He wrote many articles where he saw a vision of the concept of Galactic Network, which connected millions of computers with each other, where the resources were common for everybody to use. Licklider was then supposed to visit the Advanced Research Project Agency [ARPA], which was the program of Computer Science at MIT. He would try to impress the successors of the need to develop the concept of computer networking.

It is always interesting to be aware of the political background at the time and ARPA was developed at the same time as NASA. After the Russians launched Sputnik, their artificial satellite, there was a huge need for the Americans to keep pace with their Soviet counterparts. The first form of computer networking came through packet switching, which enabled data to be transferred as tiny packages through telephone lines which was a huge improvement over the previous form of utilizing circuit lines that were solid. A great benefit was that this connection was busy only when information was passing through and this helped to free up room to allow the computer to undertake additional tasks. Paul Baran invented the Hot Potato network design when he was trying to create a package that would ensure telecommunication data to be passed in the event of a nuclear war. This design was to play a major role in the development of the internet.

The progress of the internet continued apace and was benefited by computers being able to communicate with each other. It is fair to say that 1991 is a key year in internet history and although it was already around, its development was going to get much bigger. The National Science Foundation [NSF] played a massive role in this when they judged that there should be a lowering of the commercial limits placed on the web. This changed the internet and brought many new possibilities and advantages. E-commerce developed from this point and the rush of companies looking to be ready for the boom period was signing up in droves. It was near the end of 1991 when staff at CERN brought the WWW, World Wide Web to users and this system used HTML, otherwise known as Hyper Text Markup Language. HMTL was also the brainchild of Tim Berner Lee and he used the same technique to create URL, the uniform resource locator. That may just seem like the last in a long line of abbreviations but it has quickly became the frequently used term for finding the addresses of websites.

Although its early use may have been mainly benefited by computer and technologically minded people, the internet was soon to spread to the general public, greatly assisted by its simplistic methods. Of course, as the internet grew, complexities followed but it was offering many new benefits and the business world was not slow in predicting a positive future nor was it slow in cashing in on it.

Hosting a web site was not cheap in the formative years but the price is now affordable, even if understanding everything may be a bit tricky for some users. One of the business developments has come about by firms renting server space and this has grown from humble beginnings. Nowadays, it is fair to say that there are a similar number of companies offering internet access as there are providing services for hosting web sites. As computer and technology has grown, so has the internet. Business too has dramatically changed and more use of computers and web hosts has brought about these changes.

Today there are over 35,000 businesses that play host to in excess of 100 websites through their server. This industry is growing due to healthy competition and in the time it takes you to read this article, there are probably hundreds more companies who have joined up. The WWW has had many programs but the first was a hypertext editor which made its debut in the NeXt machine. This progress was brought about by Nicola Pellow, a student, who brought about the line mode browser. Its main purpose was to provide a platform for discussion by people looking to research certain areas and this was made possible by the server publishing details of HTTP, HTML and UDI. Further progress was enabled when internet browsers such as Mosaic or Cello were created which allowed people to operate and search on machines which were not the NeXT model. The next notable landmark year was 1994 which heralded the start of the World Wide Consortium when firms came together to develop similar practices for web usage and which became the basis for a world of web sites.

Prior to this, there had been publications of various TCP/IP related features which enabled networking without even knowing the potential that this protocol had for the future. In the past couple of years, most of the discussions at the IETF meeting gave a lot of importance to topics related to the TCP/IP protocols and the manner in which it could be expanded. For this purpose, some tools were required, and discussion was also done on its features. Some basic products meant for networking were developed for this purpose, which provided an internet connection. These were the limits to which commercial efforts went. But when the users of the internet grew substantially, it became an essential service and the internet captured the imagination of the common man. Technology developments had a big role to play in making this possible.

This is why many Information Technology firms and trend setters, such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, IBM and many more have got into the internet industry and provides services, products and tools to better the service of web applications. People dont want to think about too much on the internet, they mainly just want to get to a specific site and this is the way that web servers have been created to perform.

In order to facilitate this growing demand, there has been a need for hardware manufacturers to manufacture bigger and better working servers to continue the rate of growth of the web hosting industry. The internet and how it works has changed dramatically over time and it is now viewed as a Peer to Peer [P2P] network, which has developed from the previous Personal Computer [PS] and client server states. There are a multitude of features that can be undertaken on the internet and they include distributing data and information, contacting others by email, logging remotely and much more. If you can think of it, it has probably already been done, yet there are still many more transformations to come from the internet. Concepts like internet telephony and television are very recent additions and who can say what form the internet will be in when it comes to a decade or so from now.

About the author: Tired of hyped up web hosting companies that don’t deliver? Compare uptime ratings and read real user reviews for the best hosting companies at www.webhostingmadness.com.

Selecting the right host for the forum can be a difficult time selecting the perfect host for you online forum, many adverts would indicate they provide the best service but do they? Quite often a host provides good service at first only for things to become poor. This may come from servers being sold to too many people, quality of service becoming poorer or having to wait a while for answers. These occurrences can cause a person to look for a new hosting provider.

The way to avoid this predicament is to get quality information and to know the basics about web hosting clearly. This guide will attempt to take you through the paces so that choosing the right web host for your forum becomes an easy proposition for you.

Web hosting and simple facts

An online presence has never been more important and this makes having the right web host vital as a poor choice can ruin some sites. There are many reasons that will impact on your choice such as selling items on your site, having an individual site or passing data efficiently amongst work colleagues around the globe. Making the right choice is very important and price and value can’t be your only choices, you need to evaluate quality and links and connections too.

Now that you have a little bit of idea about the basics, we can move on to the methods and strategies you can use to identify the best web host for your requirements.

What follows next is a list of companies who can provide forum hosting help. All of these companies provide forums and can do so very well with regards to cost and efficiency.

Leading Web Hosting Companies that support Forums (Arranged alphabetically)

1. Hostgator – www.hostgator.com

2. Hostpapa – www.hostpapa.com

3. Powweb – www.powweb.com

4. Hostpapa – www.hostpapa.com

5. Hostpapa – www.hostpapa.com

6. Powweb – www.powweb.com

7. ServerPronto – www.serverpronto.com

8. Hostmonster – www.hostmonster.com

Even when you have a list of best web hosts (for your particular purpose) to choose from, you still may need answers to a number of questions so that you can make the final call. These would mostly be questions relating to your own requirements e.g., the amount of storage space that you would need, or the bandwidth amount that would be just right for you.

For forums, there is a rule of thumb. You generally need about 50 GB bandwidth monthly and around 10 GB of storage space. Again, these figures are for average sized forums and may vary on a case by case basis. If you have a forum where users discuss software problems, you would not need too much space, since they would use only a limited number of images. The situation would change dramatically if the forum in question is one where the users discuss the latest car models. Here, images would consume a lot of space and your requirements would thus increase significantly. Generally, your web hosting provider would guide you based on your needs, and you can choose a hosting plan accordingly.

Aim for stability

It is not a good experience to move your website from host to host. This can cause downtime and a number of detrimental effects to your business. This is why stability is vital. Finding a reliable and established host is a must. Ensure you do a lot of research and know the industry well. If something seems not right, then leave it alone.

Cost

This is of course a deciding factor for a number of people. How much money you need to pay primarily depends on your storage space and bandwidth requirements. Hosting is usually sold in packages based on a combination of these three options:

Hosting that is shared

Dedicated Hosting

Having a virtual server that is private to you

The choice you make should be based on budget and key requirements.

Some of these options are discussed in more depth here:

Shared Hosting – In this option, the server is owned by the web host and is rented out in parts to a number of people. This is the most economical option if budget is your primary concern. But your performance may suffer since the various sites on the server keep competing for the server’s resources on a continuous basis. This may result in your site running slow and you may also suffer outages.

Shared Hosting – The host owns the server and rents the service out to many people. This is the cheapest option but quality can suffer if too many people make demands on the server. This can see sites running slowly or note that are out a lot of the time.

Virtual Private Server – this is like a combination of the two options above. Although you share a Virtual Private Server (VPS), the server resources are divided up in such a manner that you get dedicated resources and do not have to compete for them continuously. This option gives you the best of both worlds.

Service

Service should always be a key issue in choosing which host to work with. A reliable hosting service will always offer reliable service and strong technical support. Many people prefer to work with a popular host but this may have drawbacks. A popular host will have many clients and this may make a huge drain on their time or server. If the host has too many customers, your website may be slow through no fault of your

Always find out what level of support is on offer from your host. Perhaps you can find existing or previous clients for an opinion on the firm. The following questions may help you make a better choice.

Will they provide a speedy solution to problems?

How good are the solutions provided?

Are the technicians always on call?

Are holiday periods and out-of-work hours catered for?

How responsive are they on email?

Is fixing problems a priority or do they offer excuses as to why they have not offered a solution?

Solutions offered to these questions will give you a better idea of what host is right for you.

Conclusion

Searching for a good web hosting provider can be quite a daunting task, but the above guide will help you in your efforts considerably. Just remember one thing – choosing a web hosting provider is like getting married divorce is a messy affair you’d rather not go through! Look around, do your research well, and then take a final decision after weighing all the pros and cons.

About the author: William MacMahon is a professional blogger and server admin in the web hosting industry. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to join him on his search for the top hosting companies each month.

Your web host provider will offer you a control panel and this will enable you to better manage your site. The control panel is where a user can look after their entire site and holds information on statistics, traffic, hosting functions, access to FTP, email account access, domain issues and the ability to manage files, amongst much more.

There are a number of different control panels available in the market. These include Cpanel which is among the most popular, Hostopia, Sphera, Ensim, VDeck, NextGenCP etc. They all differ in their look and feel as well as functions. Web hosts usually have their own control panel preferences, which depend upon the platforms they use. The control panels are selected according to their features and ability to perform on a particular platform.

These are features you need on a control panel:

Parked Domains

Mail Manager

Addon Domains

MIME Types

File Manager

PostgreSQL Database Manager

SSL Manager

Password Protect Directories

File Manager

MySQL Database Manager

FTP Manager

Subdomain

MS SQL Manager(Windows only)

Frontpage Extensions

Index Manager

Raw Access Logs

MySQL Database Manager

PostgreSQL Database Manager

Subdomain Stats

CGI Center

Frontpage Extensions

Cron Jobs

Web/FTP Stats

Network Tools

Hot Link Protection

SSL Manager

Among the differences that ditinguish various control panels, is the ease of use. Some control panels like Plesk are relatively more user friendly. While others like cPanel, are well regarded for their functionality. Before you can appreciate which is the best control panel that can serve your needs satisfactorily, you will need to have an idea of what is on offer in the market. Towards that end, an overview of various control panels follows:

cPanel:

This is found on Linux systems, it does not provide Windows or OSX support but it does cater for more than 10 versions of Linux. cPanel enables users to take control of their site and is useful for using MySQL databases and organizing email account management.

cPanel has more features and options than most of the control panels available in the market at present. This is one of the reasons for its popularity, along with the fact that it is quite inexpensive.

Plesk:

Plex is available for Linux and Windows web hosting servers where cPanel is not. Many users find it helpful that Plex has an interface similar to Windows XP. The control panel looks good and offers many features available in cPanel. It can enable any user to build their own site with easy to sue tool. It offers many features but it may be viewed as more expensive than other products, especially cPanel.

H-Sphere:

H-Sphere is also a popular control panel used by web hosts. Just like Plesk, it is also available for Windows, as well as Linux based web hosting servers. It offers a good range of features ranging from complete automation to key functionalities. However when compared with cPanel and Plesk it has less features.

DirectAdmin

If you want options that many control panels do not offer then DirectAdmin is for you. It has a wider range but it lacks some features that make Plesk or cPanel so popular. It is also purely for a small number of Linux varieties but it is considerably cheaper than cPanel.

Ensim

Available for Windows and Linux, Ensim doesn’t have a lot of features but it has an interface that is adequate.

Interworx

Interworx is purely for Linux web hosts but it has a simple interface and features like usage snapshot which are impressive.

Hosting Accelerator

This service is only for Windows and it can feel a bit cluttered which may overwhelm a number of users who are new to this style or technique.

Helm

A key feature of Helm is the ability to view bills within the control panel but it is only available on Windows.

CWIPanel

The CWIPanel aims for Windows server management. It is an average product.

InsPanel

Again, InsPanel is Windwos based and has little to stand itself out from the crowd.

There are a lot of control panels to choose from but cPanel usually ends up on top due to its price, features and ease of use.

Among the recently developed control panels, Pandela.com has come out with its NectGenCP control panel. It has been in development, since a few years and one must say that it is really impressive.

The most up to date internet technologies have assisted the creation of NextGenCP. It is a speedy and simple product that is perfect for web hosts. The quality of the service is shown by the fact that beginners can get to grips with it very easily. The design of NextGenCP is so strong that all features can be found within three clicks of the mouse. Do not be fooled by this simplicity though as there is a whole range of features available. And if this wasn’t enough, Pandela.com has said that if any user can think of any feature that isn’t included in the current model, it will be implemented in the next version of NextGenCP.

An overview of the features of NextGenCP:

Gain control over your domain:

All users have full control of any domain and sub-domain and the registration process is very simple. Users have full control over their domain as well as sub-domain. They can also register and host their own domain names easily and quickly.

Learn how to manage your own database:

NextGenCP provides everything you need to manage your own website database in just a few clicks of the mouse. All of the management of the database is controlled by phpMyAdmin and Database Backup Manager provides the management of data.

Mail Accounts:

NextGenCP can be used to add and manage mail accounts very efficiently. Pandela.com provides an advanced SPAM filtering system, that ensures that the users will not be bombarded with junk mails, or viruses. It also includes mail filters, helps in organizing the mail accounts, as well as filter unwanted mails.

Use tools to improve your site:

NextGenCP offers many tools to improve the site and managing a website has never been simpler. Script Installer, Hotlink protection and IP Access Manager are just some of the tools on offer.

Find the statistics behind your site:

This information will provide total knowledge of visitors and show how much bandwidth is being used and the usage of email accounts per day.

Feel the benefit of the support system:

Every user of this product will be granted full support assistance. By sending off a support ticket, the matter will be considered by a staff member very quickly. It is said that the average time for response is 15 minutes.

With so many impressive features, there is no doubt that NextGenCP looks one of the best web host control panels ever created. It is also good to hear that Pandela.com is promising to continually improve the service each and every day.

About the author:Tired of hyped up web hosting companies that don’t deliver? Get the tools and real user reviews you need to find the best hosting companies for you at www.webhostingmadness.com.

The massive business of web hosting is a world-wide endeavor practiced by many companies large and small. There are specific needs in equipment in order to compete in the competitive field of web hosting. Web hosts are not limited to simple service provisions and client web site hosting. They often provide many other ways to make money for its clients. Being the highly competitive business it is they are always looking for more ways to utilize services to make money.

If a web host has the capabilities for it there are ample ways for them to utilize their existing service and maximize their potential. These services help to increase their income and their relationships with their clients.

Below are some of the methods that can help the web hosts to make money.

Tips to Make Money with Web Hosting

Reselling: This is a very popular method of creating extra income that does not require much effort. A web master buys a hosting package at a discount and resells it at a higher price. Sound simple? Both the web master, and the web host makes money on the proposition and everybody is happy. Large amounts of income are created with this method and some web masters make a great deal of money fast with this method. It isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, however. First, there is an initial investment to be made and the only return is if you are successful in reselling the service. Some space is required and that like is provided for a small business isn’t enough. A web master needs to acquire enough space and bandwidth to begin the service. After the acquisition of the space is acquired they can sell it to other users in broken up portions. Each new customer pays them on a monthly basis. The procedure then repeats over and over.

Using the original service resellers make their money just like that. The money from the monthly fees is pocketed by the reseller. The advantage to this method is the reseller doesn’t have to go through the trouble of buying the equipment or hiring IT staff. The pay they receive is for simply setting up the accounts of the new customer. Often the reseller purchases space from the original provider at a discount of about 10%. The resellers profit is determined by the amount of space the original server allows and the size of that space.

This is an advantageous position to be in as the reseller does not have to provide for assistance and support in their packages. With the development of this industry, and the heavy competition developing some resellers are beginning to realize the need to offer these services however, in order to remain competitive. Reselling has a low overhead since it can be operated largely from home. All that is needed is the initial investment of origin host space. Some reseller companies grow so fast, however that they end up needing outside office space to contain the business.

Advertisement: The host can also put ads on their free websites provided to clients thereby playing off the traffic they bring in. The disadvantage to the free site hosting is that most of the sites that use them are small business, or personal users that do not generate enough traffic to generate large incomes from the advertising.

Other Services to Generate Extra Income:

* Search engine optimization: A web hosts clients know they want traffic. They generally do not know how to get it. This is an advantage for an enterprising web host who can create a system for the clients wishing to have a popular website. By offering these techniques a client can gain information on the various search engines, and the host can, for a fee, submit the client’s URL to the searchers such as Yahoo, MSN, Google and any of the hundreds of engines.

Offer website templates: Those web hosts who are established in their fields can increase their monthly income from the profession by providing low price services to the clients. These incomes are more like top ups and can also increase the reputation of the company. The web hosts can offer clients to purchase their website templates. Companies can also provide clients TemplateMonster.Com and earn more per sale basis.

* Domain names: This is a lucrative service as all clients will need their own domain name. Any web host that isn’t supplying domain names for their clients is losing out on valuable income potential. Registration and transfer of domain names as well as domain parking earns consistent income for a hosting provider. There are various companies to work though to obtain this service such as Domain People, and e Nom.

* Providing Site Builders: Offering an expansive web creation wizard that is user friendly is a great way to expand a web host’s income. Clients want visually appealing sites that they can create themselves and this service will also lure them to the web host. By acting as a easy access, one stop service and offering all the items a customer needs to build a site they can create a big reputation quickly. Customers these days are very savvy and know what to look for in a good site builder so it must offer all of the common features.

Never Oversell:

Due to the massive number of possibilities for making extra money with a web hosting service there is a tendency to oversell. This can be particularly troublesome and even disastrous. This happens when a intermediary web host sells more space than it has available. Too many clients using a small space create bandwidth problems and slow downs and may even cause the system to crash, taking down the origin host as well. Great care must be taken to judge the space and bandwidth before hand and caution not to exceed that space taken. The web host’s reputation is at stake.

Web hosting is a legitimate and lucrative way to make money online. By nature it depends on the abilities of its operator as well as the quality of the equipment and services to which it has access. The most secure way to establish a web host service is to start small and grow with your expanding abilities over time.

About the author: William MacMahon is web hosting analyst for WebHostingMadness.com. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to join him on his search for the top web hosting companies each month.