Archive for the ‘ Web information ’ Category

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How easy is it to transfer a website?

Sunday, July 24th, 2011

For many see moving their website to a new web host is a daunting and unnecessary task, but a high percentage of orders Web Wizard receives are transfers of existing domains. This means there must be a reason for people choose to take on this challenge and maybe it’s because it’s not actually that hard to do!

If you are unhappy with your current host, maybe you are experiencing high downtime, are limited on your disk space or are simply paying too much per month, you need to decide on a new host, then the real fun of moving your content begins.

Firstly you need to make a backup of your MySQL Databases and save them somewhere safe on your computer. Login to your new control panel where you can then restore your files. If you are transferring to Web Wizard your control panel will be cPanel and you can restore your databases by using the Backup feature in the Site Management menu.

Next comes the moving of your files which can be done with the help of a third party software such as FileZilla which allows you to download a complete backup of your files. To then access these files you must create an FTP account in your new account which you can do in the FTP Manager Menu in cPanel. This will give you complete access to your files allowing you to upload them to your new server.

When you sign up with your new host they should provide you with an IP address which acts as an alternative to your domain name. Through this IP you can check that your website is showing correctly before you make the transfer complete by asking your registrar to change your nameservers. You should allow 24 hours for the nameservers to propagate. All that is then left is to cancel your old hosting, doesn’t sound too bad does it? If you are considering moving to Web Wizard don’t forget to take full advantage of our web hosting and dedicated support team available 24/7 at support[at]webwizard-lk.com.

 

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10 ways to prevent hackers and protect your web site / blog / application

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

If you are a serious web site owner / web master surely you would know how important a web site / blog / application is. You can use a web site, or a blog to reach out millions of customers, viewers across the world with less cost and with no (or limited) barriers. But do you also know that they can be a great area for hackers to play on? So here are a few tips of which we thought we’d share with you.

1. There would be some files, web pages; scripts that are not meant for public view. Protect it with a password or set permission to none. Simple way it use cPanel and user folder permission settings found there. Combine alphanumeric characters and exhaust all the character limits as much as possible.


2. Avoid using the common username for logins such as “Admin” which would make the hackers easy to guess your username, only they have to work on the password. Use some creative names which would be hard to guess.

3. Secure your source code. There are hackers who are interested in getting your source code to either destroy it or to build a website clone. That’s why it’s very important that you can protect it against such individuals. You can make use of scripts that will allow your source code to remain hidden to Internet users. Or you can simply make use of external CSS sheets as well as files for Javascript.

4. If your using famous applications such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal make sure you visit their web site and download the latest version or upgrade the existing versions. Hackers would use “reverse engineering” and try to hack the old versions. If you are planning to use any plugins , modules check the online review / rating, others review, comments would surely help you to take a wise decision.

5. Avoid using Beta products for public heavy use. Beta means it’s still in the test stage and not stable. Always go for a stable release. Always test you web site / application / blog well before opening it for public view.

6. Sign up for updates. Majority of the product and software updates may only be announced in their respective websites. This is to encourage their customers to continuously be up-to-date too of any new products that they are currently introducing into the market. To avoid the hassle, sign up using one secure e-mail address in all of their newsletters. If you receive any updates, make sure you take time in reading them.

7. Add a robot.txt. This is a special instruction you will give to search engines who may be visiting your webpages. You can instruct them to only index those files that are meant for users. You can also direct them to not index any that are only meant for webmasters. These may include files and images.

8. Check the permissions you may have set for your uploaded files. This is to prevent any hacker from getting access into your important and confidential files. You can confirm it by selecting CHMOD for your files located in the web hosting server. Otherwise, if you aren’t sure, then you can simply verify it from your web hosting company.

9. Take away old or unnecessary files. If you remove them from the server, then no one can access them anymore. It will not be obtainable for hackers and spammers.

10. Know your baby (Web site) understand  how it functions , requirements and what third part integrations have been used. Protect it from SQL injections, validate forms and fields. Look after and protect your baby it would surely bring back good news.

Cheers until we meet next time!

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What is CPanel?

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

cPanel (control Panel) is a graphical web-based control panel, designed to simplify administration of websites. cPanel handles aspects of website administration in its interface. The software is distributed by cPanel Inc. and is proprietary, it is designed for use by commercial web hosting services and requires monthly license fees.

cPanel runs on Redhat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and FreeBSD, there is also a beta version available for Windows Server 2008 which has not been released yet.

HISTORY

cPanel was originally designed as the control panel for Speed Hosting, a now defunct web hosting company. The original author of cPanel, J. Nick Koston had a stake in Speed Hosting. Web King quickly began using cPanel after their merger with Speed Hosting. After Speed Hosting and Webking merged, the new company moved their servers to Virtual Development Inc. (VDI), a now-defunct hosting facility. Following an agreement between J. Nick Koston and VDI, cPanel was only available to customers hosted directly at VDI. At the time there was little competition in the control panel market with the main choices being VDI and Alabanza. cPanel 3 was released in 1999; its main features over cpanel 2 were an automatic upgrade and the Web Host Manager.

cPanel 3 tended to be buggy and did not have a good user interface. The interface improved when Carlos Rego of WizardsHosting made what became the default theme of cPanel. Eventually due to internal problems between VDI and J. Nick Koston, cPanel split into two separate programs called cPanel and WebPanel. WebPanel was the version run by VDI. Without the lead programmer, VDI was not able to continue any work on cPanel and eventually stopped supporting it completely. J. Nick Koston kept working on cPanel while also working at BurstNET. Eventually Nick left BurstNET on good terms to focus fully on cPanel. cPanel has been updated and improved over the years. It is now a stable and reliable control panel.

FEATURES

To the client, cPanel provides front-ends for a number of common operations, including the management of PGP keys, crontab tasks, mail and FTP accounts, and mailing lists. Several add-ons exist for an additional fee, the most notable being Fantastico, a bundle of scripts which automate the installation of, but not the update of, web applications such as SMF, phpBB, Drupal, Joomla!, TikiWiki CMS/Groupware, Moodle and over 50 others.

Unlike some other web hosting control panels, cPanel manages some software packages separately from the underlying operating system, applying upgrades to Apache, PHP, MySQL, and related software packages automatically. This ensures that these packages are kept up-to-date and compatible with cPanel, but has become a cause for consternation to some, as it becomes more difficult to install newer versions of these packages.

WHM (WEB HOST MANAGER)

WebHost Manager (WHM) is a web-based tool used by server administrators and resellers to manage hosting accounts on a web server. WHM listens on ports 2086 and 2087 by default. As well as being accessible by the root admin, WHM is also accessible to users with reseller privileges. Reseller users of cPanel have a smaller set of features than the root user, generally limited by the server administrator, to features which they determine will affect their customers’ accounts rather than the server as a whole. From WHM, the server administrator can perform maintenance operations such as compile Apache and upgrade RPMs installed on the system

cPanel and WebHost Manager (WHM) combine to form a fully featured web hosting control panel system. cPanel and WHM allow you to provide an interface for both your customers and your staff.

cPanel and WHM brings the most extensive update ever to the cPanel and WHM software package. With upgrades in nearly every section of the product, this version enhances the feature packed, security minded and highly stable platform for web hosting.

cPanel and WHM is the premier choice for web hosting administration automation. With tools to keep servers secure, provision customer accounts, transfer accounts from server to server, deploy applications (blogs, cms, etc), and much much more, your web hosting operation will jump to light speed with cPanel and WHM.

cPanel (control Panel) is a graphical web-based control panel, designed to simplify administration of websites. cPanel handles aspects of website administration in its interface. The software is distributed by cPanel Inc. and is proprietary, it is designed for use by commercial web hosting services and requires monthly license fees.

cPanel runs on Redhat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and FreeBSD, there is also a beta version available for Windows Server 2008 which has not been released yet.

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