SQL 2012 Cluster coming soon

Coming soon to a CloudSite account near you, SQL 2012 AND clustering. That’s right, SQL 2012 PLUS a cluster. I don’t have an ETA just yet, but possibly within the next week. The cluster is being built as I type, which will also cut this blog short since I need to get back to it. After the cluster is built and test, we’ll connect myCloud to it and all CloudSite users will be able to create SQL 2012 databases. Whether or not they will be placed in the cluster will be up for debate as that may be a premium service addon. We’ll keep everyone posted.

Blog Hiatus

The GearHost blog has been on hiatus for a long time, but we’re coming back! All the sprockets are falling in place and we’re bursting at the seams with new updates and news for our customers and hosting lovers alike. We’ve been so busy over the last year putting CloudSites in place that we let the blog slide by the wayside. But we wouldn’t be a very good host if we didn’t have a blog, after all 63.5% of all sites on the internet are blogs. (jk, I made that up). So keep this blog bookmarked and come back daily for new updates.

CloudSites released

We’ve been so busy with CloudSites, I completely forgot to post it was released. Available now are shared accounts on a redundant and load balanced environment with 100% uptime for only $9.99 per month with unlimited features. The full details can be found on our brand new website, which is also released. http://www.gearhost.com/ Head over and check out the accounts and sign one up!

The Cloud Continues to Expand

New adoption of Cloud technology is all around us. For me, it just became an every day part of life outside of my job. Firefox 4 was just released and it comes with Firefox Sync, using Cloud style technology to sync your bookmarks, preferences, history, etc across multiple devices. Now I can keep Firefox synced between my work computer, laptop, and Macbook. This will become one of those features we’ll take for granted in a few weeks, and most of us won’t realize it’s actually taking place in the Cloud. Syncing this kind of data isn’t new either, there were add-ons for Firefox before sync became available that did the same thing. The addition of sync into the browser proves were moving full speed into the Cloud.

Of course, this doesn’t stop with Firefox, there are a lot of ways Cloud is becoming a staple of our digital life. Dropbox allows syncing of data using the Cloud across multiple platforms and devices, and allows you to keep any type of doc in sync. Microsoft released Office Web Apps allowing you to use Office applications within a web browser. You can access your documents anywhere and even on mobile devices like smartphones. Yet another example is Steam, which uses Cloud technology to sync your save games and achievements. Allowing you to simply install their application on any computer and then download and install your games.

I’m painting a bit of a broad stroke here, but I think when you remove content from your local machine and sync it via servers, you’re in the Cloud. It won’t be long before everything you do is synced with every device you use. This may mean simple terminals that plug into cat5 or sync with wimax over cellular type networks, connecting to servers that contain your account with all your documents and data. Easy access will be available anywhere you can connect online. Just more reason to make sure you are adopting Cloud technology, this is no longer just a marketing buzz word.

What type of SSL should I purchase?

Securing your website is vitally important, especially if you deal with anyone’s personal data. That doesn’t just mean credit cards. A home address, phone number, even email address should be protected. If you store any sort of information for your customers or site visitors, you need an SSL. A SSL encrypts the data between the user and the server to prevent leaching of data and man-in-the-middle threats. SSL’s now come with different levels of encryption and validation.

Organizational vs Domain Validated SSL Certificates

Organizational validated SSL certificates go through an extra level of vetting to prove they are issued to the correct business. In turn they look more valid to customers visiting your site. For example, they display information about your business in the SSL and come with images you can add to your site to show customers their information is secured. If you run ecommerce or take credit cards on your website, these are a must for the extra validation and fraud protection. The downside to these certificates is the amount of time it takes to get one. It can sometimes take up to 7 days to process the vetting for one of these certs and you may be required to present business documents. Organizational validated SSL certificates are usually more expensive as well.

Domain validated certificates are simply validated through the domain contact information, usually just through an email. They do not come with graphics to put on your site, nor do they display your business information on the SSL. However, they can be issued within minutes, and sometimes immediately. They are also very inexpensive and sometimes free. They make a great cert to protect things like forum logins, or contact forms on your site. They should not be used for ecommerce though.

Extended Validation Certificates

An example of an EV cert

These are the best certificates you can get. EV certs are what change the address bar green and go through the most extensive vetting process. These certs can be seen on sites like ebay, amazon, government, and banking sites, but they’re still within reach of everyone. Although they are more expensive, they are the most aesthetically effective SSL you can get. When a visitor reaches the secure part of your website, their address bar changes to green.

Encryption Level

The last thing you need to remember when choosing an SSL is the encryption level. Make sure to use 256bit. SSL’s with only 128 bit encryption can be easily hacked into, while 256bit certificates are too strong. The encryption level is the length of the key used to encrypt the data between your computer and the server. The longer this key is in bits, the more effective it is.

Do you really want to manage your server?

GearHost does all this for you

When we released our CloudServer package, we decided to include a management package. This includes Windows Updates, Backup, Anti-virus, monitoring, and defrag. This decision came from a need by our support department, rather than sales. In support, we were getting requests from customers with servers that had never been updated. For example, a customer had a Windows 2003 server, in 2009, without a single service pack installed.

It wasn’t a lack of tech savvy on our customer’s part, in fact most of them readily admitted they knew the servers was out of date. They simply didn’t have the time to update the server and conduct regular maintenance. It’s in our best interest to make sure all servers are up to date. Regular maintenance on servers helps to keep them running longer and faster. In the end, that makes for happy customers.

It isn’t just updates either, you need to monitor disk space, RAM usage, CPU use, SQL performance, email service, web service, security, etc. It’s all of these little things most customers don’t think of. A server is like a ship at sea, there are a lot of things going on that need to be monitored and maintained to ensure it reaches port. When you charter that boat for a cruise, you aren’t thinking of all the details going into it’s operation, nor should you think about the details of your server. That’s what your hosting company should do.

But be careful about the level of management packages. We don’t offer CloudServers as fully managed, because they aren’t. Our management is actually preventative maintenance, and we have a separate fully managed service for customer that need it. We ensure our customer’s servers are running at peak performance and we make the time late at night to perform those pesky updates and maintenance tasks. Some companies offer this same server as fully managed, leaving you the impression they will handle the setup and config of your server as well. Normally, hosting companies leave these tasks to the customer.

With that said, why would you want to manage your server? In today’s competitive hosting market, almost all providers worth their bandwidth, offer server management. You should be worried about expanding your business, not about the latest service pack.

Your site will be in the cloud

Cloud Hosting and Cloud Computing has come a long way in the last few years. It began with complex server clustering offering high demand, load balanced, and scalable options. But it cost a lot and came fraught with incompatibility, bugs, and down time. Fortunately those early days are behind us and the technology has matured into a new standard. With virtualization, Microsoft’s Hyper-V technology, and ARR hosting in the Cloud has become reliable and easy. Even now, GearHost is using many aspects of Cloud Hosting in our current infrastructure. We have virtualized almost all of our servers to give full hardware redundancy to CloudServers and even our shared hosting. The rest of the industry is following, introducing Cloud Hosting at lower prices and virtualized on demand servers.

Unfortunately, Cloud Hosting still hasn’t been fully defined. Every host out there seems to have their own definition to suit their needs. Cloud Hosting really is simple to define though. Normal shared and dedicated hosting is done on single servers. Each server has a single role, or in the case with really cheap hosts, multiple roles. Normally you have a web server, mail server, and database server. These are connected to serve websites. Some hosts actually consider this a Cloud since they have multiple servers in one environment, but don’t be fooled, this is just normal hosting with segregated servers. True Cloud Hosting means connecting several servers in a redundant, balanced, scalable environmental. Each server is connected and can serve your website. Your site actually lives on each server, not just a single server. If one web server goes down, or has a problem, your site is still online because the other servers take over. If you get a spike in traffic, your site does not slow down because it can scale out to the other servers. So, Cloud Hosting is …

• Affordable – Virtualization lowers the operating cost, even shared hosting can be done in the Cloud at an affordable price. Dedicated servers are already less expensive while offering better performance.
• Dependable – Everything is redundant, providing 100% uptime..
• Scalable – Utilize multiple web servers when traffic spikes.
• Performance – Two is better than one, with multiple servers handling your website, you’ll never have slow load times or time outs.
• Green – High density and compact. New hardware uses less energy and is compacted into smaller space to use less natural resources.

Within the next year you will be considering Cloud Hosting, or already running your website in the Cloud. GearHost is already taking steps to offer Cloud Hosting to all of our customers through shared hosting, and we already offer hardware redundant CloudServers.

PHP on IIS 7

Installing PHP on IIS 7 has never been easier, and Microsoft has thrown a lot of support into it since the release of Windows 2008. Check out their official website, it’s a great place to start. If you have never installed PHP on a Windows server before, I recommend using the web platform installer. Even with my experience installing PHP on Windows 2000, 2003, 2008, IIS 5, 6, and 7, R2 (need I go on), I use the web platform installer. It makes things a lot easier, because it configures the php.ini for you, along with setting up IIS. For the complete novice, this is the easiest install method.

First, install the web platform installer, then go to frameworks and runtimes. (You can open WPI from within IIS, it is a snap in.) Choose PHP, PHP manager for IIS, and the wincache extension from frameworks and runtimes and click install. If you plan on using MSSQL with PHP, then make sure to download the drivers for that as well, which can be found in the database section of the WPI. The wincache extension for PHP greatly enhances performance and can be used in a  lot of PHP apps (WordPress, Joomla) to increase the responsiveness.

After you install, I recommend opening IIS and navigating to the FastCGI settings. Click on the php-cgi.exe and then click on edit. Set the max instances to 10 or more. This will allow more php-cgi.exe to run at the same time. 10 is good for a low traffic server, I usually set to 50 for a medium traffic server.

The PHP Manager in IIS is a great snap in add on. It allows you to manage all of the settings you normally would through the ini. Make sure to check it out and apply any recommendations the first time you open it.

So, for anyone who feared running PHP on IIS before now, your worry is gone. It couldn’t be easier to install and manage PHP on a Windows server. Not to mention PHP is a lot faster with FastCGI since the release of Windows 2008.

Bring your dog to work day

Actually, every day is bring your dog to work day at GearHost. We have a pretty casual environment, but demand a lot out of our employees, and being home to take care of the dog is no excuse. So instead of  our employees leaving to let the dog out, or feed them, why not just bring the dog here? See, there’s a good business decision to be made in everything.

Moya, Mike's (Support Manager) adopted samoyed, dreaming of a land where treats are plentiful and squirrels abound.

Actually, Moya has become a bit of a mascot. Maybe because Mike insists on bringing her in, or because she’s white and fluffy like a cloud. A cloud as in CloudSites and CloudServers. Did we mention we’re working on a new environment?

Get the green address bar for only $249.99!

Get the green address bar for only $249.99!

We’re fast approaching the busiest online shopping period of the year. One of the most effective ways to increase your online sales is by purchasing a Commerce SSL and displaying the Green Address Bar on your website. It enhances trust and confidence in your website which will turn browsing visitors into paying customers!

The Green Address Bar works in all major web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome. Don’t delay in getting the green address bar for your website and lose potential sales.

Green address bar in action.

For a limited time, you can purchase a new Commerce SSL for only $249.99. Hurry, this sale runs out December 31 2010.  To order your SSL, simply contact us via phone 888.535.5443 or open a support ticket using our Support Portal.

For more information on GearHost SSL’s please review this KB article.