Why Reliable Web Hosting is Essential?

For those individuals who have web hosting needs where security and uptime are paramount, the world is a very happy place. Most webhosts can offer uptime guarantees which are above 99%. This figure is enough to make any business owner smile. It does not, however, mean that all of those webhosts that offer this figure are equally reliable. There are other factors involved in webhosting which may not frequently manifest as advantages or disadvantages but, when they do come into play, can make the difference between suffering and surviving an absolute disaster.

Webhosts generally operate out of what's called a "server farm". If one were to visit one of these facilities, they would find racks upon racks of servers humming away and serving up their client's web pages. These farms have certain requirements to ensure that they're reliable and safe. Most importantly, they need to be protected from human and environmental security threats that could compromise the well-being of the sites hosted on them. This is not a simple endeavor and any reputable webhosting company will be more than happy to answer any questions related to their facility. If they're not willing to offer straight answers about their facility, look elsewhere.

A server farm should have a backup system that allows it to keep functioning in the event of a local power outage. This is a basic question to ask of any webhost. It should also be insulated from other environmental threats such as floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. This is a basic measure for any company which does most of its business online. If the site goes down, the business goes down and customers on the Internet are notoriously unforgiving of downtime. To avoid downtime, there is a technology called "fail-over" which means that, essentially, if one's primary server should fail that another will take up the work. Ask about this feature.

Be sure to ask about server security where one's users are concerned. Any webhosting company should be willing to provide a secure server-called an SSL connection-to any one of their clients. This is needed for any exchange of personal data or financial information. Make certain that one's webhost not only supports the sale and installation of this feature but that their technical support can help clients setup and maintain this technology if need be. Oftentimes, solid reliability in a webhost means skilled technical support!

Remote Server Monitoring Software - DreamSys Server Monitor

DreamSys Server Monitor, once a commercial remote server monitoring software, is now available as a free download from the developer’s homepage. The user still needs to enter registration information after installation. They are however available on the homepage without the need for registration or any other kind of data grabbing. The Server Monitor application can be used to monitor servers over a network or the Internet.

The system administrator starts by adding new servers that should be monitored to the application. Required information are a unique name, the server address and the monitoring type. Available monitoring types are TCP / IP, Ping or Services. Additional information might be required depending on the type selected. A TCP / IP monitoring for example requires a port that can be added in the same interface.



Three notification types are available. The administrator can be informed by email, message box or net message.



Specific parameters for every server can be configured in the Configuration View tab. It allows the user to change the monitoring interval, configure the connection timeout, set the mail server and enable the logging of events.



DreamSys Server Monitor can be used as a Internet or network monitoring software. It lacks some of the features of advanced monitoring applications that offer website or database monitoring but could be enough for administrators who do not need that functionality.





Source: ghacks.net/2009/06/06/remote-server-monitoring-software-dreamsys-server-monitor/