Category: Hosting Related

August 29, 2016

Hosting Related, SEO Related

Reading Time: 11 minutes

As a website owner, the impact of your website speed on traffic, conversions and revenue should not be underestimated. A report by Akaimi found that 46% of people on the internet expect a wesbite’s pages to load in less than 2 seconds and 40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Many other studies have been published on the impact of website speed, another study found that a 1 second delay in site loading time resulted in a 6% conversion decrease, and 12% decrease in page views and a 15% decrease in customer satisfaction. As you might already know Google uses website speed as a ranking factor. So, having a slow loading website will negatively impact the following: Brand image and perception in the mind of your visitors Traffic & page views Conversions Sales Before you start optimizing your website to load faster, there are two things you should consider: First, go and check your current website load-time via Pingdom or Google PageSpeed Insights. This helps you to compare the speed increases once you have tweaked your site. Secondly, make sure to back-up your site as some of the methods require tweaking/editing files that can mess up your site. Here’s how to back up WordPress website and here’s how to backup any other… Here are the tweaks, in no particular order. Just pick ones that you think can be easily performed first. 1) Remove Unnecessary Plugins & Add-ons Unnecessary plugins and add-ons can reduce your website speed by A LOT, and it’s especially important to pay attention to them if you use blogging CMSs like WordPress or Drupal. For reference, you might be able to increase your page load times for 4 second to 1.5 seconds. It’s very important to note that it’s not just about the number of plugins you have installed on your website but about the quality as well. A website with 50 plugins can load much faster than a website with 10 plugins if the website with fewer plugins have crappy plugins. Generally, you want to avoid plugins that load a lot of scripts and styles, plugins...

August 8, 2016

Domain Related, Hosting Related, Security, Security Related, SEO Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

You may have heard of the 3 more popular content management applications: Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla - but you are not sure which one is best for your needs. Perhaps you remain curious; so we will focus the the two ‘other’ choices besides Wordpress: Drupal & Joomla. Each particular CMS will provide the basic functions of: adding, deleting, and publishing various types of content. Each program has different strong points (and weaknesses) which should be considered whole-cloth, prior to making your ultimate decision. First write down your business’ objectives and goals. This should be is the first step in selecting the best CMS application suited for your particular business needs. Ultimately, optimally serving your business’ unique target audience. Choosing the right CMS (by the way, easily confused with CNS (Central Nervous System)), is the backbone for your project it will save you a great deal of headaches later. A reliable web host, with super customer support, also saves you from initial and future headaches. With 4GoodHosting.ca you can get both ultra-reliable hosting and the CMS of your choice for free: Joomla, Drupal, or of course; Wordpress - or any of the 200+ free scripts we offer you with any of our hosting package. Drupal: In 2016, there is an estimated 1 million+ websites built atop the Drupal CMS. Drupal is common to government offices, universities and colleges, Non-government Organization, Canadian & otherwise global enterprises. America’s White House website is taking advantage of Drupal’s strong website security features. Drupal is a comprehensive, expandable, powerful content management framework suitable to be the foundation of virtually any type of website. Drupal’s Advantages: * Tested Enterprise-level security; advanced control over URL structure * Lots of functionality - including advanced menu management, graphics modification utilities, poll management, and administration/users management * Built for high performance; pages load fast because of its defaulting caching features * Ability to handle large amounts of content & data * Extensive selection of themes, modules & extensions * Ideal for community platform sites (requiring multiple users - admin, editors, logged in users requiring customized content, private groups, etc.) * Large robust community generally responsive to inquiries and concerns. * Good SEO...

August 3, 2016

Hosting Related, Security, Security Related

Reading Time: 2 minutes

(US & Canadian News) Microsoft actually championed a huge victory in regards to user privacy {which certainly has affect on Canadians using Microsoft products and services: Email, Cloud Storage, Skype, etc.) on July 28th. An appeals court has ruled that a federal warrant to seize email from a Microsoft server in “Ireland” is invalid. Federal investigators received a spy warrant (for email contents) as part of a criminal investigation in December 2013, which touched off a debate between the tech-industry and law enforcement about jurisdiction & data storage. The timing of this coincides with Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) - where the company’s president and chief legal officer Brad Smith promoted a vision for the internet that "respects people’s rights" and is “governed by good law.” Microsoft said: “We obviously welcome today’s decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The decision is important for three reasons: it ensures that people’s privacy rights are protected by the laws of their own countries; it helps ensure that the legal protections of the physical world apply in the digital domain; and it paves the way for better solutions to address both privacy and law enforcement needs.” Privacy protections for information stored on paper should persist as data moves to the cloud. This decision helps ensure this result. — Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 14, 2016 Microsoft has publicly acknowledged a need for cloud providers, particularly those based in the U.S., to win back over consumer trust. Representatives for like-minded lobby groups include: the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), i2Coalition, plus big tech companies such as: Rackspace, Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Verizon - and notably in this case Ireland’s Parliament - and each submitted briefs in support of Microsoft’s initial statements and position. “We conclude that Congress did not intend the SCA’s warrant provisions to apply extraterritorially,” the judges said in the ruling (PDF). “The focus of those provisions is protection of a user’s privacy interests. Accordingly, the SCA does not authorize a US court to issue and enforce an SCA warrant against a United States‐based service provider for the contents of a customer’s electronic communications stored on servers located...

June 20, 2016

Domain Related, Hosting Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

There has been a lot of buzz recently about “Cloud Hosting”. But how does that really relate to how websites are hosted, with the great majority of hosting accounts hosted in a manner known as ‘shared hosting’. Cloud offers distributed scale-out storage as well as virtualized infrastructure. However, more than 9 of 10 websites out there are small business, personal or hobbyist websites - which see no visible benefit to the site administrators or the site visitor when served from a conventional standalone shared server compared to from a virtualized and distributed cluster of servers. The benefits of a cloud or hosting based on a clustered arrangement of servers are recognized with larger scale websites, deploying enterprise level applications, or websites is expected to suddenly serve enormous spike in traffic at times - such as hosting a video conference with hundreds or thousands of participants. At 4GoodHosting, we have been serving out thousands of long-term (and happy) hosting customers for well over a decade. Our servers today are state-of-the-art and powerful. About every two years, we upgrade our shared hosting server with new faster equipment, RAID hard-drive data redundancy, plus disaster recover servers, and also solid-state SSD storage for SSD-hosting customers. Our up-time for the past year has been better than 99.9%; and besides infrequent server restarts, our shared hosting servers have been 100% reliable. Whenever a hard-drive, in one of our dozens of shared hosting servers, starts showing a sign of wear-and-tear (and we have special monitoring software for that), we replace it immediately with no downtime for our clients - due to our redundant RAID storage architecture. So, in order to keep our hosting consistently low, we plan to continue hosting our customer’s website on state-of-the-art stand-alone shared hosting servers. We don't see shared hosting or virtual private server (VPS) hosting going away, we see it continuing strong into the future. Also, we believe in standard monthly pricing to give our customer’s more peace of mind; as we strive to keep our prices as low as possible across the board. Shared hosting and virtual private servers have traditionally offered standardized pricing which is not variable. In contrast, the...

June 13, 2016

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

What is meant by NoSQL databases? NoSQL databases schemas and applications have now emerged into the mainstream as a modern tool for organizations battling big data requirements. But what does NoSQL actually imply, and what advantages and disadvantages does NoSQL deliver for data storage? Here is everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about NoSQL. To begin with, NoSQL”is not a specific database product. It is a term that refers to a general category of database methodology and techniques; and a handful of vendors have implemented NoSQL administration in different ways. Yet all NoSQL products share a basic defining characteristic; which is that NoSQL implementations do not use the “relational-database” model of traditional SQL-style databases; such as currently ubiquitous in shared hosting “MySQL”. “Traditional” DBs Gaining an understanding of exactly what NoSQL means requires a recap on how most databases today have typically functioned for the past several decades. With a relational database like MySQL, the database architect or programmer needs to define and detail in advance where the data is going to be stored. Different tables are created, different pieces of data are stored inside different tables, and data is retrieved based on table structure. So MySQL, and other relational databases, are close to perfect if you know ahead of time what structure your data will be represented in; and also have a sense of how much data that will need to be stored. But what happens when your storage needs not so predictable? What if your applications data storage needs to be highly scalable? Relational databases don’t work quite so well in those situations. Simplicity, Openness, and Scalability NoSQL allow you to stream data into a database without defining a formal storage structure ahead of time. As a result you do not need to write as much cryptic code for an application to interact with the database. Also you can retrieve data quickly without having to tell your application where precisely to pinpoint what data you want within a large, rigid, syntactically very sensitive database structure. NoSQL DB’s also tends to scale better as they are designed to be able to run easily on...

May 24, 2016

Hosting Related, Security, SEO Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Is your website becoming much more popular? If you are searching for reliable yet inexpensive, and fast loading website hosting, “shared web hosting” or “V.P.S.” (Virtual Private Server hosting) service are two good, but not identical, options. The most common choice, to do it at rock bottom costs, shared hosting, but for many businesses the limitations of shared hosting eventually becomes outgrown. Migrating from a shared server plan to a VPS (or an entirely “Dedicated” or “Standalone Server) is typically the next step. 4GoodHosintg provides free upgrade migration services; to solve any nervousness when you may decide to upgrade your website to its own server. Some signs you have outgrown Shared Web Hosting: Skyrocketting Traffic For low traffic websites shared hosting is ideal. If you are noticing your traffic increase consistently, or if you are offering high-bandwidth content such as video(s); you may need to upgrade to a VPS (Virtual Private Server) for dedicated bandwidth, and for a lower-latency (faster) less congested network connections. When your business/website grows in size: your email, disk space, CPU & RAM (Random access memory) requirements will also eventually surpass your existing shared hosting plan. The growth of your business will often dictate the need for upgrades. Choosing between VPS and dedicated server Perhaps you would feel best serving your website by renting your own private server (standalone web server with it’s own dual power supply). However, first consider the differences between VPS and Dedicated servers - to find out which one is best for your application; including cost, as VPS are less expensive than leasing dedicated equipment in our data center. In either case, 4GoodHosting offers numerous advantages: such as 24/7 customer support, “RAID” hard drive and SSD redundancy, dual-coast back-ups, disaster recovery servers, plus the flexibility of upgrading or downgrading your server hosting package whenever you need with free migrations. read_more Maximum Security of your data If your business or organization is dealing with alot of company confidential data - then you should ensure the security of your data. By choose self-contained VPS or Dedicated Server hosting, you will more secure control over who has the ability to access your data. For VPS...

April 18, 2016

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Every day across the internet, hackers, malicious users, and cybercriminals, for whatever motive they may have, compromise thousands of websites. Their hacks are even sometimes invisible to users, but can remain harmful to visitors viewing the page, including the site owner. Unbeknownst to webmasters for some amount of time, their site has become infected with various forms of harmful code; some have shown able to record keystrokes on visitor’s computers, and even steal login credentials for financial account or online banking. You may ask: Is it my web host’s responsibility to protect my website? The answer is: both yes & no. Your web host, like 4GoodHosting, has implemented strong network security mechanisms and various other security measures to ensure your website works optimally. However, keeping each website secure is also the responsibility of the webmaster. Shared hosting is also by nature an “unmanaged” environment. This implies that each customer is responsible for updating their applications, website code and implementing security precautions to protect their website files and CMS (Content Management Service - such as Wordpress/Drupal/Joomla). Over the years we have seen various and some recent vulnerabilities with popular applications such as WordPress. Sometimes these breaches through Wordpress have impacted customer websites; because the site owners’ did not keep their applications up to date - even after receiving notifications that their installation needs to be patched due to vulnerabilities that have been identified. Some examples of these attacks are: SQL injections, Code injections, template holes and many more. If your site gets hacked what should you do? Here is where you should ask yourself: “Do I want to handle it myself? Or get help?” Here at 4GoodHosting we follow a well thought out and rigid methodology that enables us to automatically scan for and identify malware/hacks on our customers’ sites. We have built a rigorous process to resolve and fix the attack, “hack” as soon as possible. We employ the following steps: 1) 24/7 Monitoring 2) Scanning of the site 3) Assessing the damage (hacked with spam or malware) 4) Identify the vulnerability 5) If necessary, Quarantining the site 6) Validating backup files 7) Clean and maintain the website read_more However,...

January 11, 2016

Domain Related, Hosting Related

Reading Time: 2 minutes

HaLow There! “Halow” (pronounced "halo") is a new wifi-frequency that offers double range, and uses half as much power; or succinctly “low-power, long-range wifi”. ( 802.11ah standard ) The WiFi alliance has finally approved the frantically-anticipated 802.11ah wifi standard and nicknamed it ‘HaLow’; which uses less power and has better wall penetration. It can be thought of much like a long-range Bluetooth signal. Basically HaLow is all about connecting low-power & long-range wifi; which is critical to the production of small, affordable smart devices. “Halow” enabled devices will operate at a lower and much less dangerous “less-microwaving” frequency, in the unlicensed 900MHz band (incorporating IEEE 802.11ah protocol standards). Coincidentally this also extends the range of a typical router or device of the current 2.4GHz standard, uses less power and provides better wall penetration. The new wifi standard is seen as essential for the Internet of Things (IoT) and various futuristic connected home devices. The biggest obstacle has been gadgets like home-security sensors, smartbulbs, cameras, smart-watches, connected cars, digital healthcare products, and wearables; as well as industrial and retail sectors. These devices have had to supply enough power to send data long distances, constantly, to remote hubs or routers. However, today most prevalent wifi-standard in the 2.4Ghz spectrum doesn't allow for long battery usage and transmission distances. read_more The WiFi Alliance states that HaLow will "broadly adopt existing WiFi protocols," incuding IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, meaning devices will have regular WiFi-grade interoperability security. This announcement portends to a new array of 900Mhz-enabled devices in the near future. Apart from the IoT, Internet of Things, how about simply a more solid WiFi connection from the distant spare room, or simply less microwave-cooking-band radio frequencies saturating your house?

December 21, 2015

Domain Related, Hosting Related, Security Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is basically a postal address for each and every Internet-connected device. Without one, websites would not know where to send information/data each time you perform a search or try to access a website. IPv4 offers only about 4.3 billion IP addresses (specifically 4,294,967,296); which you most likely are familiar with already ( x.x.x.x; (1-255).(1-255).(1-255).(1-255) ). Through the use of techniques such as Network Address Translation (NAT) the life of IPv4 was extended, because NAT allows multiple devices to connected to the Internet through a single IP address, with the router in that particular household or business keeping track of which local device are receiving & sending data packets. But without IPv6,the Internet’s expansion and innovation could be limited, and the underlying infrastructure theoretically could become increasingly complex to manage; so a more expansive, address protocol has been deemed necessary. IPv6, the latest - and possibly could be the ultimate addressing protocol, holds 2128 or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IP (340 billion billion billion billion) addresses. That is enough to give at least 4.3 billion IP addresses, or the addressing space of the current internet, individually to every person on Earth; or 7 billion current Internets! Why the IPv6 protocol architects decided on such an unnecessary huge address space is unknown; Surely, 264 or 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 (18.4 trillion million) would have been way too many already. It seems like a bad call on the planner’s part, simply too excessive, when instead each packet could contain 64 bits of extra data. However, if we want to ever give an IP address to every mappable cubic centimeter of Earth’s entire atmosphere, IPv6 will provide future generations that capability, and more. read_more Companies that use and distribute IP addresses will need to adapt their networks and systems to use IPv6. Our servers, networks, switches, at 4GoodHosting have been already made IPv6 compliant. Just one IPv6 deployment highlight to draw your attention to this month, but it’s a big one: Canada’s Telus are just a few months into their IPv6 rollout, but it is clear from the chat above that they have been busy at upgrading their network with ipV6. Additional IPv6 benefits *...