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In the Cloud, in Someone Else’s Hands―Correct Me if I’m Wrong

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Cloud computing

I freely admit I’m technically challenged. I have a good working knowledge of computers, enough understanding to get me by, but I don’t even try to unravel the technology behind the Internet. When my IT, Tom, tries to explain anything to me, my eyes glaze over. Protocols. Ports. Unicodes. Integrated digital networks. Optical carrier. Stop. I don’t need to know what wire goes where, why data centers need to be sterile, or how a super flat laptop manages to have more capabilities than a fat old PC. Just plug me in, and I’m good to go.

One mystery that is here to stay is cloud computing aka the cloud.

What exactly is cloud computing?

Chances are your email is already in the cloud, and you login to access it.

The way I understand it . . . When you say something is in the cloud, it means that, instead of it being stored on your computer’s hard drive, it’s being stored on the Internet. For a small fee, companies providing cloud storage—like Google Drive, iCloud, or Amazon CloudDrive—allow you to upload your files to their servers, then provide a way for you to access whatever you’ve uploaded—files, documents, calendar, photos, music, whatever—anywhere at any time on any device that has an Internet connection.

There’s no doubt, it makes things more convenient . . . and it’s certainly a cost-effective boon for business. By storing everything in the cloud, businesses don’t need to keep expensive servers onsite or techs on the payroll. Employees can access their files anywhere and work from home or while on the road. Making backups is no longer necessary. Losing data is highly unlikely. Cloud storage companies make copies of everything you upload so it’s all stored on several servers, just in case one of the servers should happen to crash.

Whoa, wait a minute . . .

Just how many copies are we talking about? With hundreds of thousands of people around the world uploading to the cloud, that’s a lot of copies floating around. What happens if you want to delete something? You have to trust that the company will delete all copies. That could be bothersome. And who has access to the copies server-side? Can you trust them not to see/read/steal/exploit your stuff? Hackers had a field day with nude celebrity photos they found on iCloud. When you put personal or confidential or sensitive stuff out in the cloud, you’re taking a chance. You can’t be sure whose hands it might fall into.

Of course, I could be wrong. I lack a clear understanding of how the Internet operates.

Filed under hosting, the cloud

Choosing a Hosting Service

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fit inTrying to find the right hosting service for your website is mind-boggling. I know. I recently changed from a host I had been with since 2002 to another that promised faster, better, more-reliable service.

It wasn’t easy. There are literally dozens of hosting services out there, and all have hosting plans that look similar. How do you know for sure which ones are good? Honest? Reliable? The best value for the money?

This is what I was looking for:

  • A reputable company.
    • If you google “best web hosting services,” you get a boatload of sites you can go to for reviews, opinions, and comparisons. It’s a good starting point for the names of those hosting services who are consistently rated at the top.
    • Reading online reviews is another way to weed the good from the bad. But you can’t necessarily rely on reviews or review sites for honesty. Nor can you trust posted testimonials and opinions. Too many hosting services pay people to say nice things. They aren’t, however, going to pay anyone to write a bad review, so read the complaints to see if any patterns emerge, such as, horrible tech support or repeated website downtime.
  • An affordable hosting plan—no overkill or features that might not be needed. You can always upgrade later, if necessary.
    • There are four types of hosting: shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud. Shared hosting is what most people choose—it’s the least expensive and good for just about any personal or small business website. If you anticipate having a lot of traffic, you might want to go with another plan. A live chat or phone call with a sales rep would answer your questions and help identify which of their hosting plans is best suited for your website and budget.
  • Friendly, informative customer service.
  • Prompt/same day customer support and techs who know their stuff and are willing to help.
  • Free domain registration—not necessary, but a plus.
  • Free cPanel.
  • Free database backups.
  • Unlimited bandwidth/transfers.
  • Unlimited storage/disk space.
  • 4 or more websites allowed on one account.
  • WordPress-friendly with one-click installation.
  • Data center located nearby . . . the nearer, the better.
  • Solid money-back guarantee.

It took a bit of time and research, but Sweet Solutions now resides happily on a shared server at InMotion hosting. As far as faster, better, more-reliable . . . so far, so good.

Filed under hosting

Where Does Your Website Live?

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If you want a website, you need to sign up with a hosting service. A hosting service provides the space on the Internet where your website will live.

My website currently resides on a shared server at InMotion. Most people go with shared hosting. It’s generally the least expensive option and perfectly adequate for websites, like mine, that don’t experience heavy traffic. If your website gets a lot of hits every day, with an occasional spike or two, a VPS (Virtual Private Server) would be a better choice. Dedicated servers are for the uber popular sites where everybody is trying to access something on the site at the same time.

Here’s an easy-to-understand breakdown, prepared by InMotion, explaining the differences between these three types of hosting:

Where does your website live?

Filed under hosting

Elvis Has Left the Building

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ElvisRecently, I changed hosting services. I had been with my previous host, who shall remain nameless, since 2002. During that time, I had no issues and was completely satisfied with the service.

It’s easy to be satisfied when there are no issues. I mind my own business and rarely, if ever, contact my host for any reason. So I had no reason to complain and could never understand why others trashed the customer support at this particular hosting service as being near non-existent, slow to respond, apathetic, lackluster, and rather rude.

That May, things changed. Suddenly, I started having all sorts of problems. My website became sluggish, slow-to-load, and unresponsive. Every time I tried to make updates, I was kicked out of WordPress with error messages saying my connection was lost. Other sporadic messages said that WordPress could no longer establish a secure connection because my server was not configured correctly. I was getting server errors left and right. More than once I could not log in because my username/password were not being recognized. Several times I could not access my site at all because, I was told, my own IP address had been blocked by my server’s firewall. It was a hot mess.

This went on all summer—it was one thing after the other. I contacted tech support repeatedly looking for answers. It took them forever to respond. First, they blamed WordPress. Then, they told me that the OpenSSL version 1.x I needed for WordPress requires CentOS 6 and up and, unfortunately, the server I was hosted on was still using CentOS 5 . . . as if this was somehow my fault. I felt a definite disconnect. Their responses were oftentimes generic, not addressing my specific issues at all. The final blow came when they announced that brute force attacks on my website as well as a lot of hits from some bad Bots and IP addresses were causing spikes on their shared server. They wanted me to fix it.

I don’t know anything about brute force attacks or how to stop them. I’m a web designer. I rely on my host to keep its servers updated and secure. If there are security or other issues with my website, I expect my host to be readily available and willing to put some effort into helping me resolve the problem(s).

In retrospect, I believe the sudden issues I experienced were directly related to the shared server my site was on. At the same time I was having problems, my host was in the process of upgrading its servers from CentOS 5 to CentOS 6, and the final portion of that upgrade was with the carriers that provided the connectivity at my data center. There may have been too many people on the shared server, or my host may have arbitrarily reduced CPU limits for its customers. Whatever. Whatever my host was (or was not) doing during that server upgrade was having a definite negative impact on my website.

All I have left to say is . . . for 13 years of good service . . . thank you, thank you very much. Bye bye.

Filed under hosting, Sweet Solutions

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Sweet Solutions
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