We are pleased to announce that we have rolled out  KSplice on our our Linux web servers.

What does this offer?

When installing major updates to one of our web servers, like your home pc they often require a re-boot afterwords. On a web server this is not desirable, during the reboot your web server will be offline. We always aim to provide close to 100% uptime, so installing kernel updates etc stop us from reaching.

To solve this, we are now using KSplice on our our Linux servers. With KSplice we can install important OS updates without the need to re-boot. As a result, this will help eliminate any website downtime due to software updates.

It is the age old debate. You need web hosting for your company, should you use a Linux server or use a Windows server? If you are new to web hosting, you may instinctively go for windows since you will recognise the brand name.

Why should you use windows? There are many disadvantages of using a windows based server. These are the first three which come to mind:

• Cost. Windows based web hosting is typically more expensive. For this blog post, we conducted a bit of research. We were unable to find a decent windows web hosting package with databases for under £10 a month. Why is this? Microsoft are greedy, the company charge nearly £1000 for the operating system alone. Popular Linux distributions are free.
• Less secure. How many times this year have your heard about ‘virus’ threats to windows. This affects windows servers also. Viruses on Linux based computers are much less common.
• Stability. From our personal experience, Linux based servers are much more stable. Linux distributions typically have a much lower RAM memory leak over time, this means the server will need to be re-booted less to keep it running faster
• Harder to use. Plesk and other windows based web hosting control panels can be very hard to use and feel a bit daunting to the user at first. The most common Linux control panel (cPanel) is commonly accepted as being much more user friendly.

With windows based servers, you will pay more, it will be less secure and typically harder to use than the Linux alternative. To us it is a simple answer, Linux based web servers are far superior. However this is not just our opinion, have a look on a search engine of your choice. How many windows web hosts can you find compared to Linux ones? Linux has won the datacentre war.

You should only opt for a windows based web host if you have your heart set on a ASP based website. Linux servers can’t easily run ASP code (there are addons for linux which you can install to run ASP). However the alternative PHP is a much better platform to use! (and its perfect for a Linux web server!)

We often get asked by customers which FTP program they should use to connect to their web hosting server. Other people ask, is it worth paying for a FTP program or are free ones as good?

If you are a windows user there are several good FTP programs out there. Cute FTP has lots of features and is easy to use, however its not free.

When it comes to mac, your choices are even less. Many people who use a mac recommend Cyberduck.  - Cyberduck quite possibly has the best looking dashboard icon. However since the release of snow leopard, from our experience, cyberduck does not work correctly anymore. It has a nice interface and is easy to use, however its slow and caused several problems in the office where it would not upload files to a web server via our file server in the office.

Over the last few months everyone here has come to the agreement that Filezilla is simply the best FTP program. It seems to upload files much faster than its competition and ‘just works’. The only negative is that it is not as user friendly as some of its rivals. However if you know what you are doing when it comes to using FTP programs, we think filezilla is a must.

Well worth checking out.

Also .. If you are a windows server administrator, the filezilla FTP server edition is a must. Far far better than the microsoft offerings… and the best bit, its free!

What do you think is the best FTP program, which one do you use? will be interested for your feedback.

Many of the large domain registrars are now offering incentives to purchase your domain names in bulk.  Of-course they will want you to buy more domain names, so the registrar can make more money out of you! So what is in it for you? Should you consider buying bulk domains?

Cheaper in volume

Buying several domains at once is going to be more expensive, rather than simply buying just the one you need. However if you do need several domains, buying them all together in bulk can result in saving you money. The average .co.uk domain name cost £7-10 for 2 years registration. When buying in bulk, the cost per domain can be substantially lower.

Get the names before they are gone

When you are buying domain names in bulk, you can also secure all variations of the domain name you want i.e. yourcompany.com, yourcompany.co.uk. When you setup your business, it is a good idea to secure your company name in all major domain name extensions. If you choose to buy extra extensions over a period of time, other people may take them. So register all your domain names in bulk in one go to stop your competitors stealing your name with another extension.

Easier Management

If you buy all your domain names in bulk, in one go with one provider they should all expire on one day (assuming you register them all for the same period). Doing this i will make your domain management much easier, you will no longer have to worry about loosing domains via not being notified when they expire. All your domains will be due for re-new on the same date – much easier to remember!

Summary

As discussed, buying domain names in bulk can offer several advantages. For your business, it might be worth considering buying a bulk load of keyword rich domain names and point them all to your website. Since many registrars are offering discounts on bulk, in the long term this could result in cost savings.