Linux Server Load Averages Explained
June 21, 2006
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Linux Server Load Averages Explained
New Linux users often get confused when talking about server load and the load averages. How to see the current load values on a Linux machines? SSH into your server and switch to the root user or an user account with admin privileges. Then just type "top" and hit enter to see the current processes, memory usage, and CPU related data - including the load averages. The term "load average" indicates a rough idea of the number of queued processes waiting for a resource to become available plus it shows active (currently running) processes. Here is a screenshot of a "top" command output:
In the upper part of the screenshot you can see the load averages of the server when the screenshot was taken. Here the load is very low and the server is just peacefully humming along. The 3 number values of the load average indicate the load average over 3 different periods (1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes). Please note that the "load average" doesnt accurately depict how busy your system is in that very moment, or why your system is busy in general. A server can have 1 single process running, nothing queued, and still have 100% CPU usage, or you could be running 25 processes at the same time and the CPU load is at about 30%.
So, what the does the load average values really tell you? If the load average of your server is consistently high it means one or some of your resources is probably overloaded. You might have a bottleneck on your system that slows everything down. Not enough memory can often be such a bottleneck. A very generic idea of a good load average is <2.00. However it depends on many variables and server admins rather see this value at 1.00 or below.
© 2006 - Webhostingresourcekit.com
Web Host Billing and Account Setup Software Review: WHMCS - Part II
June 6, 2006
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Web Host Billing and Account Setup Software Review: WHMCS - Part II
This is the second part of the product review for: WHMCS - WHMCompleteSolution. Part I of the review can be found http://www.whmcs.com.
Modifying the look of WHMCS
To modify the overall look of WHMCS you will need to work in the template section of the installation files. Depending on how your existing website is built, this can be very easy or a little more complicated. For the review I am not going too deep into modifying the template. Changing the header image was a breeze. Just by replacing the existing header image with our own we completely changed the look of WHMCS. We then went into the different templates to see how difficult they would be to change. The templates can be opened in Dreamweaver and modified. The language file also needs to be modified if you are working on the template modification. If you have modified other software templates to meet your design needs you should not have many problems doing the same thing with WHMCS. One option we would like to see would be able to work with header and bottom templates and not just one template for - let’s say - the order page or the index page. It might make things easier to adjust to a certain layout. Overall the template modification is not too complicated.
By the way - the overnight cronjob worked fine right out of the box. We received a notification email from our server this morning. Nice. For anyone having difficulties working with cron, this should give some peace of mind.
Customizing email messages that the system generates is fairly easy, too. A built-in online browser based editor allows for easy customization of all email messages. You can choose from many system variables to beef your messages. This allows for very personalized looking emails.
We now tried to order our newly created product and to see how the system would behave. Some minor adjustments later and we liked the order process. WHMCS allows you set options for the order page and we tweaked it for how we would use it in a production environment. One negative thing: We used the Google Toolbar Auto fill option to fill out the order form. The toolbar became confused with the street address and email address we had to manually correct the entries. Hopefully this can be changed by the developers at one point. The order process is easy, but several pages have to be accessed if you use the standard form (default setting). You can switch the settings from the admin control panel to a single page order form. Personally we are fans of short order forms and the single order form is exactly what we were looking for. It takes away some of the worries that a client changes his mind before reaching the final submit button. In general the order process is easy to go through and should be sufficient. Just choose the order form that you like most. As a result of the order we placed, we received the client and the admin notification emails. The output looks very good even with the default email text options. There is not much work involved to get the order process working exactly the way you want it.
Back into the admin panel we see the pending process and review it. In this case we trust ourselves and approve the order. The hosting account setup in WHM is done automatically and works just fine. That will make life very easy once orders start rolling in.
The Support Area
Almost every customer will need support one day. WHMCS comes with a built-in helpdesk ticket system and knowledgebase. The knowledge base is easy to populate and does a good job in regards to functionality and accessibility. The helpdesk ticket system offers basic functionality + some features not necessarily found in every competing solution. The support system supports Private Replies for just admins, Mail Piping, On Hold & In Progress tickets & Attachments.
Customer and system admins are notified via email once the ticket is open or responded to. Here we see some of the limitations of WHMCS. Advanced helpdesk ticket functionality is not available. Ticket notifications seem to be send to anyone registered as admin/support personnel. Tickets cannot be assigned to a person or a group.
For a new web host starting out this will be sufficient, but for a larger operation with 500+ clients this system will not handle the growth and is not really suitable. Given that WHMCS is sold as a billing and client management solution and less as a helpdesk ticketing software, this is perfectly fine. The small web host operation can use this system until growth and client base justify the expense for a more professional helpdesk system. The limitation of the helpdesk system can be overcome by buying a dedicated helpdesk software down the road.
Extras
If you are considering switching from a competing product - WHMCS has import scripts available for switching from WHM Auto Pilot and ModernBill.
WHMCS - the company and customer support
A few days before we actually received a copy of WHMCS we contacted the maker of the software through their support forums with some pre-sales questions. The support we received from Matt (the main developer) was quick and good. He came down to the point and helped us out getting our questions answered. We have not had really any support issues since we received a copy of the software, but if normal support is handled in the same way as our pre-sales inquiries in the support forum, we do feel that customer support is in good hands. There is not much company information available on the website - a little more information should serve well to get more clients and to increase the confidence that WHMCS is around for a long time. However - we talked to Matt Pugh the main developer of WHMCS. An interview with him and more information will be available soon on Webhostingresourcekit.com.
Our Conclusion
WHMCS is competitively priced. It’s not the cheapest solution around, but by far not the most expensive one either. A customer can choose between leasing the software and buying it. Overall the system seems to be suitable for smaller and mid-sized web hosting businesses. Long-term should show how it can handle a larger environment in a production environment. The available functionality is good and gets the job done. The billing and client management piece makes a very good impression and for us that would be the main reason to purchase this software. The software is easy to figure out and intuitive. Setup/configuration should not pose problems for most people. The helpdesk is good for starting out, but if you are starting out for the long haul it might be worth to buy the helpdesk separately right away and to skip the hassle of migrating customers to a new system. This last recommendation is not just affecting WHMCS, this advise applies to many other billing and client management software packages, too. We give WHMCS two thumbs up. A good price buys you a good value.
WHMCS can be found at http://www.whmcs.com
Disclaimer: Webhostingresourcekit.com has not been paid to do write this review. This review is based on our personal experience of using WHMCS.
© 2006 - Web Hosting Resource Kit
What is .htaccess and how is it being used?
June 6, 2006
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What is .htaccess and how is it being used?
An .htaccess file is a simple ASCII file similar to that created through text editor such as Notepad or Simple Text. Most people are confused with the naming convention for the file. The term .htaccess is not a file .htaccess or somepage.htaccess because it is the file extension simply named as such. Its widely known use is related to implementing custom error page or password protected directories.
Creating the File
The creation of the file is done by opening up a text editor and saving an empty page as .htaccess. If it is not allowed to save an empty page, simply type in one character. An editor probably appends its default file extension to the name. Notepad for one would call the file .htaccess.txt but the .txt or other file extension need to be removed to enable the user to start “htaccessing”. This can be done by clicking the file and renaming it by removing anything that doesn’t say .htaccess. It can also be renamed via telnet or the ftp program.
These files must not be uploaded as binary but rather as ASCII mode. Users can CHMOP the .htaccess file to 644 to make the file usable by the server while preventing it from being read by a browser since this can seriously compromise security. When there are passwords protected directories and a browser can read the .htaccess file, the location of the authentication file can be acquired to reverse engineer the list and thereby completely access any portion that had previously been protected. This can be prevented by either placing all authentication files above root directory thereby rendering the www inaccessible or through an .htaccess series of commands that prevents itself from being accessed by a browser.
Most commands in .htaccess are meant to be placed on one line only thus if a text editor uses word wrap, it should be disabled as it is possible that it might throw in a few characters that might contradict Apache. .htaccess is not for NT servers and is considered an Apache thing. Apache is generally very tolerant of malformed content in an .htaccess file.
The directory in which .htaccess file is placed is “affected” as well as all sub-directories. It a user wishes not to have certain .htaccess commands affect a specific directory, this is done by placing a new .htaccess file within the directory that should not be affected with certain changes and removing the specific command/s. from the new .htaccess file which should not affect the directory. The nearest .htaccess file to the current directory is the one considered as the .htaccess file. A global .htaccess located in the root, if considered the nearest, affects every single directory in the entire site.
Placement of .htaccess should not be done indiscriminately as this may result to redundancy and may cause an infinite loop of redirects or errors. There are sites that do not allow the use of .htaccess files because a server overloaded with domains can be slowed down when all are using .htaccess files. It is possible that .htaccess can compromise a server configuration specifically set-up by the administrator. It is therefore necessary to make sure that the use of .htaccess is allowed before its actual use.
Error documents are only a part of the general use of .htaccess. Specifying one’s own customized error documents will require a command within the .htaccess file. The pages can be named anything and can be placed anywhere within the site as long as they are web-accessible through a URL. The best names are those that would prevent the user from forgetting what the page is being used for.
Password protection is effectively dealt with by .htaccess. By creating a file called .htpasswd, username and the encrypted password of the people to be allowed access are placed in the .htpasswd file. The .htpasswd file should likewise be not uploaded to a directory that is web accessible for maximum security.
Whole directories of a site can be redirected using the .htaccess file without the need to specify each file. Thus any request made for an old site will be redirected to the new site, with the extra information in the URL added on. This is a very powerful feature when used correctly.
Aside from custom error pages, password protecting folders and automatic redirection of users, .htaccess is also capable of changing file extension, banning users with extra certain IP address allowing only users with certain IP addresses, stopping directory listing and using a different file as the index file. Accessing a site that has been protected by .htaccess will require a browser to pop-up a standard username/password display box. However, there are certain scripts available which will allow the user to embed a username/password box in a website to do the authentication. The wide variety of uses of .htaccess facilitates time saving options and increased security in a website.
Many hosts support .htaccess but do not publicize it while many others have the capability for it but do not allow their users to have an .htaccess file. Generally, a server that runs UNIX or any version of the Apache web server will support .htaccess although the host may not allow its use.
When to Use .htaccess Files
The .htaccess files should not be used when there is no access to the main server configuration file. Contrary to common belief, user authentication is not always done in .htaccess files. The preferred way is to put user authentication configuration in the main server configuration.
It should be used in situations where the content provider needs to make configuration changes to the server on a per-directory basis but does not have root access on the server system. Individual users can be permitted to make these changes in .htaccess files for themselves if the server administrator is unwilling to make frequent configuration. As a general rule, the use of .htaccess should be avoided when possible since configuration can be effectively made in a Directory Section in the main server configuration file.
Two main factors warrant avoiding the use of .htaccess files – performance and security. Permitting .htaccess files causes a performance hit whether or not it is actually used, since Apache will look in every directory for such file. The .htaccess file is also looked into every time a document is requested. The Apache search will include .htaccess files in all higher-level directories to have a full complement of directories of application. As such, each file accessed out of the directory results to 4 additional file system accesses even if none was originally present.
The use of .htaccess permits users to modify server configuration which may produce uncontrolled changes. This privilege should be carefully considered before it is given to users. The use of the .htaccess files can be completely disabled by setting the Allow Overide directive to none.
Web Host Billing and Account Setup Software Review: WHMCS - Part I
June 5, 2006
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Web Host Billing and Account Setup Software Review: WHMCS - Part I
We are currently in the market looking at a few web hosting business related client management, customer billing and hosting account setup software solutions. Most people - when asked - refer to Modernbill or Clientexec as great tools. Both applications have a great reputation. After a little more research we ran into a newcomer in the market offering great functionality and a lot of features, too. WHMCS = WHMCompleteSolution is a Client Management, Billing & Support System designed for CPanel and WHM Web Hosts. The feature list is extensive and pricing is very competitive. As mentioned - we are in the market for a client management and billing solution, WHMCS got our attention. Currently we have budgeted a 250 client license of Modernbill and an owned license of Kayako’s eSupport helpdesk software. Both applications are feature-rich and would be a solid foundation for a new web host as well as for large web hosting businesses. They are not cheap, but for a web host entering the market a good investment as it reduces the need later on to migrate to a different system.
Almost by accident we received the opportunity to work with a full version of WHMCS. We decided to put the software to the test and see what it can do. Maybe this would be a solid solution that would a) give us similar functionality compared to Modernbill and eSupport and b) save us a lot of money at the same time.
Instead of comparing feature lists and browsing through support forums, we were now able to use the software on our own server. We started installing the software. After unzipping the installation files we took a quick look at the installation instructions. The steps to get the software installed are fairly easy and we finished the installation in no-time. One cronjob needs to be setup, but the entire command line is available for copy and paste so that even non-technical people can take care of this.
Accessing the admin panel did not work - we do not have Ioncube installed on this server. But the WHMCS installer package is prepared for that scenario. We uploaded the available Ioncube folder with the runtime loader for Ioncube and instantly the software works. The available documentation is detailed and easy to understand.
The installation process already includes some setup pieces - so, be prepared to have your server or reseller account information available. Note: You can add additional servers or reseller WHM accounts later on.
Once we logged into the admin panel we took some time to look around and to make us familiar with the interface. The available options are:
Home - Pending Orders - Clients - Support Center - Transactions - Configuration - Reports
For the new setup we choose to inspect the "Configuration" area. After a quick non-guided tour we decided to jump into the setup and see how problematic or easy it would be get going. We want to sell web hosting and setting up a product is our first choice. The product setup form is well structured. Two things were just a little bit confusing for a first time user. 1) The product price - personally I think it could be beneficial to see a currency symbol next to the cost field to make life just a notch easier. 2) WHM Account setup details - just enter all the account features and a package name as needed to associate the right feature settings and allowances with your product. If the existing package is selected it might be easier (for the first time user) if the manual options would be grayed out. These 2 items are not a major issue. Just a small thing that could be improved or be structured differently in our opinion.
Once we finished the product setup we moved on the payment gateways. We decided to use PayPal and Credit Card (Authorize.net) as the available payment options. Both options are very easy to setup. The Credit Card option is named "Authorize.net" in the system and shows up as the same on the order form in the beginning. The name "Authorize.net" might be confusing to consumers as they cannot really associate anything with it. You can easily change the display name for this option from "Authorize.net" to something more descriptive like "Credit Card Payment". A confirming look at the order form showed the results of the change.
Enough for one evening of testing. Please see the second part of our review here.
© 2006 - Web Hosting Resource Kit
Custom/Private DNS Servers and their Importance to a Reseller
June 4, 2006
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Custom/Private DNS Servers and their Importance to a Reseller
The term “custom DNS server” or "private DNS server" refers to the DNS servers that a reseller is using to provide DNS services to his customers. The customer has to have his domain registration point to the DNS servers of a web host where his website is hosted so that visitors can find it. As a reseller a web host does not have his own infrastructure. He is leasing the infrastructure from the actual web host. It looks bad from a business standpoint to a customer if he signs up with (Reseller) web host X-Hosting.com, but the DNS servers he would have to use belong to Super-host.com.
Staying Anonymous
As a hosting reseller you do not want your customers to know that you are reselling them web hosting from a somebody else. The concern is that the clients would bypass you and buy web hosting directly from the source to save money. In order to keep your actual infrastructure anonymous you need to remove any connections between you and the real hosting company you are using to provide your services. Custom DNS servers are used so that a customer uses ns1.YourDomainName.com and ns2.YourDomainName.com for the DNS setting of their domain and not the names of the DNS servers that your host provided you with. This step will make it very difficult for a client to identify you as a reseller.
Moving Hosts
Custom DNS servers are also an important piece when it comes to moving off a reseller account to your own server hardware. Instead of forcing all your customers to change their domain DNS servers you can instead just change the IP addresses used with your custom DNS servers to point to the new IP addresses on your server. Do not do this to move your customers websites secretly - which you technically could. A move should always be communicated. If you plan a move by changing your DNS Server IP addresses, communicate this to the customers. The nice thing then is, that you can pretty much a large number of user accounts and website very fast, very quick.
Resellers should use custom DNS servers as an additional step to brand their services and to hide the fact that they are buying hosting from a larger company. If a reseller web host (a host selling hosting to resellers) does not offer custom DNS servers, a reseller should look somewhere else to buy his hosting from. Nowadays there is no reason why a reseller should not get his own custom DNS servers assigned.
Web Hosting: How to check orders for fraud?
June 3, 2006
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Web Hosting: How to check orders for fraud?
It’s order time. A customer signed up for your services. You are reviewing the order. You now have a new customer and will be making $X dollars more a month, but what if this purchase was done with a stolen credit card? You would be facing a chargeback on your account and eventually get into reliability problems with your merchant account provider. If you get hit with a lot of charge backs this can either cause a rise in your rates at your credit card merchant or worse your merchant account being canceled and terminated. Therefore it is very important that you screen all incoming orders for credit card fraud.
Order IP Location Doesn’t Match Billing Address
Check each order IP for its geographical location. Does it match the address of the order at all? If you get an order from Joe Average of Chicago and the order IP address is China or Romania, this should ring the alarm bell. If possible implement the AVS (Address Verification) feature of your merchant account. This useful feature automatically does this check for you when running a credit card charge. You should still verify IP and geographical address in addition to that.
Email Address Verification
Taking a closer look at an email address of an order is another good step to identify fraud. Free email accounts are often used to place fraudulent orders. But then again - some people use free email accounts to have an off network email address for better availability. Remember that you are a web host how would the customers communicate with you via email, if their server is down (worst case scenario). Some web hosts make it a habit to refuse orders coming from email addresses from countries like Russia or China as these are especially known for a lot of fraud. An email address alone is usually not an indicator of a fraudulent order, but it can be an important piece of the puzzle.
Order Amount
Fraudulent orders are often placed for the highest dollar amount possible. In hosting this might mean that a customer is trying to pre-pay for 6 months or a full year. Stolen credit cards tend to be used to buy a longer period since the thief knows the credit card will be canceled and is hoping that it just takes a while so that he can use the hosting account for more criminal activity.
Order Format
Does the information such as customer name and address appear to be formatted correctly? Criminals placing a fraudulent order often don’t take the time to use proper writing/spelling. They just use lower case writing for the entire name and address information. Or they might just use all caps. Watch for both as they are good indicators if the order is placed from a real customer or not. Anyone taking a little pride in himself uses proper upper case / lower case writing for his personal name and address.
Conclusion
Sooner or later you will be facing a fraudulent order. Fraud cannot be completely avoided, but with good fraud checking procedures in place and some experience under your belt you will reduce the risk of having a fraudulent order slip through. If in doubt, just calling a new customer might solve any issues you have with an order and it actually might help to make the customer feel like he is dealing with a very professional business he can trust.
© 2006 - Webhostingresourcekit.com
Niche Marketing In Web Hosting
June 2, 2006
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Niche Marketing In Web Hosting
There are literally thousands of web hosting companies on the internet today. The competition is brutal and to become successful a web host has to overcome this competition by finding a way to distinguish his business from all the other web hosting companies. Pretty much every web hosting business offers the same features and hosting packages look like cloned across the board. A newcomer web host host should decide on specific market segment to carve out his niche. Catering a specific niche is called niche marketing and is an important key to gain customers without competing with the big guys.
Why finding a niche to focus on is important?
As a new web hosting business you usually do not have the advertising power or cash to cater the broader market. Niche marketing is often cheaper and more effective when it comes to how much money needs to be spend to acquire a new customer. Some of the bigger web hosting companies spend up to $200 dollars per client in acquisition cost, because they have enough cash and patience to recoup that expense over time. Unless things go really bad, customers often stay for years if they are happy with the service they receive. Patience and an extended investment can pay off for a web host. As a small web host you probably do not have the cash reserve and the cash flow to make this type of investment possible. However - smaller web hosts often have a certain advantage over larger hosting companies. Personalized service to a niche market. You can easily provide better service and attract customers by focusing on a niche market. By associating your services with your personalized service are able to get clients where a larger company cannot. Offering phone support where the customer always talks to the same person, being extremely knowledgeable about the niche market, visiting clients at their business location or home and helping them to get going - that is an advantage a large business will never have.
Niche Market can be Easier to Support.
Niche clients can be easier to support as you might be able to rule certain support situations right from the start. Depending on the niche market your servers might never be that busy. Depending on your niche market you might mainly see static websites on your server. Depending on your niche market …. you name it and it might help your business. Offer specialized tools for the niche market you are catering and life can be good.
Reputation
Because you are focusing on a small market segment or certain type of users your reputation plays a big role in how successful you will be. If you do not show knowledge and understanding of the niche market you are serving, customers will not take you seriously when considering who to trust their business.
Stand Out!
Even niche markets might have several players already that you are competing with. Competition might be less compared to the broader market segments. Make sure your business stands out from the others. Make your website look different. If you are hosting OSCommerce applications, show them that you know your stuff about OSCommerce and that this knowledge will help you to serve the clients even better. Become involved in one (or more) of the OSCommerce related discussion boards on the Internet. Show your skills and let the customers see what you are capable of. It’s your niche.
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