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Five Advantages of Linux Hosting

June 29th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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At first glance, many people who are cornered with a decision to choose Windows or Linux hosting want to go with Windows. Why? Because Windows is a brilliantly branded product, of the very well known Microsoft Company. Their entire brand philosophy is to make complex computer products simple to use.

You may not have heard the name Linux but once or twice. Linux is popular in the tech world and has achieved only a percentage of Microsoft’s user base. However, many website owners and web hosting companies actually prefer to work with Linux. Here are five reasons why Linux hosting is superior to Windows.

1. Linux is an open source software product.
That means that while you must pay hundreds of dollars for a Windows system, you can download a Linux OS absolutely free. Linux is created by a community of web users and thus does not attach on a high licensing fee.

2. Linux can easily be converted into a Windows site.
Don’t panic or fret that you will be unable to use a Windows server after installing the free program Linux. In fact, a Linux server can easily be converted into a Windows server. The same cannot be said about converting a Windows site back into a Linux site. It is slightly more complicated.

3. Linux works well with some of the most popular scripting language.
Linux is the preferred system if you are working with PHP, MySQL or Perl. Though Windows servers are preferred if you are using .asp or Access, most other software works just fine with Linux.

4. Linux hosting is far more secure than Windows hosting.
In fact, government officials which protect highly confidential information typically go with a Linux system and not a Windows system. Practically everyone in the tech community (web designers, programmers, etc.) agree that Linux is a more secure site.

5. When you go with Linux, you help break Microsoft’s market monopoly.
Microsoft has enough money and market, so don’t feel bad about going with the underdog in this case. The fact of the matter is that when you avoid Windows products, you give more power to the web community and open source (yes free) programmers. Continue using Linux hosting if you want to support these open community programmers and help keep technology free!

You can learn more about Linux hosting by contacting a dedicated web hosting company in your area or online.

Compare Web Hosts is a premier web hosting directory that provides accurate and unbiased web hosting reviews. You can find the best cheap web hosting, Linux web hosting and Windows web hosting online at CompareWebHosts.com

What’s The Best Linux Distro

June 29th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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Many individuals trying out linux for the first time preserve asking what is the best version of linux os to use. To reply this query, there really is no such thing as one of the best model of linux. When all of it comes all the way down to it, linux is linux! The only major thing that adjustments among the many completely different linux distros is how you install applications and the quantity of applications that distro offers. A more specific query to ask nevertheless, when it comes to selecting what you consider to be the best linux distro is what is the linux distro going for use for. For instance you could be organising a server, or probably a safety auditor, or extra seemingly you might be establishing a home windows desktop replacement.

You’ll find many mixed opinion in relation to what individuals suppose one of the best model of linux is. One of the best ways to find a good model of linux is try out a linux stay cd, which can enable you try a version of linux without installing the os. Another good way to try linux with out install is by install linux onto a flash drive, then reboot and boot from usb.

What I’m going to offer is my opinion, and my opinion solely on what I think is one of the best model of linux. In relation to a desktop alternative I select Mandriva, for the principle reason that it is really easy to make use of, especially in case you by no means have had experience with linux before. Another reason I select Mandriva linux is because it has a wide variety of drivers that will help hardware in your computer.

The following finest linux distro for desktop replacement for my part is Ubuntu. Now if I was selecting a working system to use in making a server, then I’d choose unix, but if I used to be utilizing linux I might in all probability select a form of purple hat linux, akin to fedora or centos. Ubuntu server edition can be another good model of linux to make use of for a server distro.

In conclusion with regards to selecting a model of linux. The only thing that I can suggest it test, test and test. Eventually one can find a version of linux that you may be snug with.

What is the Greatest Linux Distribution

Linux VPS – Reliable and Fast

June 27th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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Linux VPS is a new hosting option which is based on server partitioning. The web hosting server can now be partitioned virtually and provided to website owners or resellers who would have complete access and ownership of their share of the server. Each user would be able to control their part of the server independently. Most of the hosting companies today offer VPS hosting since it offers better flexibility, better control and functionality at a lower cost to the users.

Why should you use this option?

Using Linux VPS can offer several different advantages to the users. You would be able to enjoy the best of shared hosting as well as dedicated hosting. VPS is created by splitting a server in such a way that every server would be able to run an operating system of its own. You would also be able to reboot your server without affecting the other accounts on the same server. The server partitions would be able to work like dedicated server. However, the resources would be shared. It is because of this reason that the costs are significantly lower than the dedicated servers. Every server would be flexible, secure as well as reliable, just as dedicated servers.

Multi tenancy

Another benefit that you can enjoy by using VPS is multi tenancy. You can allocate different resources to your clients once you obtain VPS hosting. Resellers would be able to control the resources completely. They would be able to allocate different services to clients like email accounts and web space. This would allow the resellers to host various clients from a single server. The CPU resources can also be virtualized to make them appear as dedicated, stand alone servers for the clients. The administrator would also be able to control the resource levels efficiently through management of automated control panels.

The benefits

There are several benefits of using Linux VPS. You would be able to enjoy cutting edge technology in servers. You can have large memory and complete customization as well as high end processors. The lag time for CPU between commands and executions would be zero. You would be able to use control panels like Directadmin and cPanel for full control of your server. The set up is very quick and quite easy and activation would be instant. You will also be able to enjoy complete security and privacy. To sum it up, VPS is a good option for those who want to enjoy multi tenancy, virtualization, resource management and clustering. It would allow you to enjoy the benefits of dedicated hosting at lower costs. Using Linux VPS would be the best way to keep your hosting charges to a minimum and yet enjoy a wide range of features.

To get more information about Linux VPS and to find a host of other services, please visit http://www.nqhost.com/.

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Linux Data Recovery Post Fsck Error

June 24th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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In a LINUX system, any corruption or damage of the file system is dealt with running fsck utility. Though the utility repairs the corrupted file system, in some occasions, especially after an odd shut down, running fsck leads to more disastrous scenarios like data loss or inaccessibility of the hard disk. Sometimes, the situation is so worse that you have to recover the lost or inaccessible data from the valid backup or through any LINUX data recovery software.

The Problem:

While working on a LINUX operating system, if there happens any file system corruption or damage, fsck utility is used to check for the error and fix it. However, at times, fsck fails and flashes error messages. The affected drive or volume remains inaccessible and the error messages, which keep flashing on the screen may be as below:

“CANNOT READ: DISK BLOCK block-number: I/O ERROR”

A brief about ‘fsck’:

fsck is a system utility that comes with the LINUX operating system and is meant for checking, whether the file system is consistent or not. The utility can even repair the damaged or corrupted file system. Moreover, it interactively provides options to fix the damaged file system in a specified way or it automatically fixes specific problems without any user intervention. Usually, fsck is run by the system administrator, as the process of repairing by fsck can sometimes cause severe data loss and corruption.

Possible causes behind such problem:

The cause can be anything from a sudden power failure or electric power surge leading to an unsystematic system shut down.

Resolution:

The most possible way to successfully resolve the error is to format the LINUX system and make a fresh installation of the operating system. However, it is the data in the drive related to the troubled file system that holds more value than simply solving the error. Hence, in order to recover the inaccessible data from the drive or the volume, you need to take the help of any Fsck error recovery software.

Linux data recovery software are advanced utilities, that are meant to recover back the corrupted, damaged, deleted or inaccessible data from any LINUX based drive or volume. The software are developed with interactive GUI and are compatible with all most all currently available flavors of LINUX OS..

Jonny a techno geek is a technical writer doing research on different file system in linux like Ext2, Ext3. And Ext4. He is also interested in Linux data recovery . He is currently working with http://www.data-recovery-linux.com/.

Key Benefits of Linux Hosting

June 22nd 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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Linux is a large base of Web hosting development. It has been used as a conventional service in this world of increasingly open source phenomenon. Linux has a lot of popularity throughout the world. Technical support seems as an easier, faster processing and cost effectiveness makes this operating system more flexible than its nearest rival. So let us take a quick look at the important benefits and features of using Linux Hosting.

The most important feature of Linux hosting is its flexibility, and as an open source platform it is really important. Linux actually works in all kinds of systems throughout. Flexibility gives it an advantage in this expanding marketplace where business entrepreneurs want to use facilitates in their own ways. In addition, this type of software is specially built to use resources without spending many bucks on software licensing so it is just profitable deal.

Linux Hosting offers necessary resources for computing which gives Linux many advantages such as cost effectiveness and extensibility at the same time. Significantly it is effective, the platform loads quickly and works faster as much similar to other hosting platform. Thus, in some ways, Linux gives more stability and actually takes less CPU power to operate functions. Therefore, most people who have a good knowledge of technology prefer Linux platform. These people can obtain uninterrupted services, without any doubt of system crash at the beginning of business.

Linux hosting is mainly supported by a community of prospective members of open source developers. This simply means that you can set several applications from a database file with the most effective advanced technology, which is specially developed to access a system in user friendly manner.

At the end, open source nature of this platform gives this operating system extra layer of popularity. The faster processing time allow this system to run on all types of computing machines. The cheap cost and flexibility provide the top notch quality features in this increasingly expanding marketplace where users need to access features in their own ways. Therefore using Linux hosting is beneficial for all kinds of manners.

Nilesh Chavan has been in the field of Web Hosting for a long time and writes article on various topics that include Shared Hosting , and get more details about Affordable web hosting here, so you can get answers to the rest of your questions.

Learning To Use Grep in Linux

June 19th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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To find text patterns in files in Linux, you can use grep to do it easily. For instance, you want to find a file which contains the word “spaghetti”, grep will help you to search the file “grep spaghetti joe.txt”.

These text patterns we use to tell grep what to look for are called regular expressions. Regular expressions are a bit daunting at first, but once you get the hang of using them, they can be quite powerful.

The most basic grep command takes two arguments: the regular expression and the name of the file you want to search. Here’s an example grep command which searches for the word “beans” in the text file called joe.txt:

grep beans joe.txt

Here’s the content of the text file joe.txt:

I like spaghetti.
And I like peas.
Give me some beans!

The output of our command, grep beans joe.txt is

Give me some beans!

So grep looks in the text file called joe.txt and then searches for a line containing the word “beans” and prints it out.

You can also search for two or more words like this:

grep “I like” joe.txt

And the output would be:

I like spaghetti.
And I like peas.

You can use a few different flags with your grep command to change the output. These flags are also called switches. Here are some of the basic switches for grep.

The -c switch will tell grep to count the number of times the word “like” appears in the file.

grep -c like joe.txt

Output: 2.

The -i switch tells grep to perform case insensitive searches. That is, searches where upper and lower case letters are treated as a match. So “Joe” and “joe” would be a match. Without the -i switch they would not.

grep -i Peas joe.txt

Output: And I like peas.

What if you wanted to count all instances of the word “Peas”, with a case insensitive search?

grep -i -c Peas joe.txt

Output: 1

Just put the two switches after the hyphen.

Now, what if you want grep to output all *non matching* lines? Here’s an example that searches for “peas”, then prints out all other lines not containing the word “peas”.

grep -v peas joe.txt

Output:
I like spaghetti.
Give me some beans!

Now, for the grand finale! Let’s perform a case insensitive search that counts lines containing all lines that do *not* include the word “spaghetti”.

grep -c -i -v “Spaghetti” joe.txt

Output: 2

I hope this helps you become a little more familiar with the grep tool. Keep practicing!

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Welcome to the Linux Generation

June 17th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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With our economy having its, well, ups and downs lately, you might be thinking “Is now really a good time to think about purchasing a new computer?” Meanwhile, software applications that once needed robust hardware to run are now moving on to the Internet. The result is an upturn in the purchase of netbooks and low powered “Internet Appliances”, most of which cost less than a really nice new shirt (well, not really, but you get the idea).

With the onslaught of relatively inexpensive PCs coming from every major manufacturer and aimed at the new “cloud” generation, many are running one flavor or another of Linux. Why? Because Linux can be a rock-stable, slim Operating System, making it a perfect choice for these “slimmed-down” machines. In short, Linux may be THE answer for lower-end hardware based computers.

When it comes to the rest of the computing world, generally you only see Windows Vista or Mac OS X – but when it comes to netbooks, low requirement PC’s, and many other digital devices (routers, cell phones, televisions, PDA’s and more), Linux is making some big headway. In short, Linux is an almost perfect fit for with lower CPU and power requirements.

For those pinching pennies (and who isn’t these days?), a Linux-based PC may be the best of all worlds. Using Linux, one can resurrect a thought-to-be-obsolete desktop or laptop with an up to date, safe, and easy to use operating system. One example – our office currently houses six PC’s being used for various tasks by our staff, all running Linux. They are all Dell GX150 PC’s with Pentium 3 CPU’s running at 933Mhz, with 256MB of ram and 20GB hard drive space each, as well as one “server” – a 2.4Ghz Compaq with 512MB of ram and two 500GB hard drives (running Linux, of course, and this is our NAS, print server, firewall/router, and more). Our entire network cost about $ 800. That’s less than a lot of new workstation PC’s.

The beauty of this OS is its stability, as any Linux user can attest to. Linux is stable. Like rock-solid stable. Linux machines don’t crash, they boot quickly, and are far more reliable computers than their XP and Vista counterparts. However, there are still a few folks out there who are going to go with the XP option for familiarity’s sake. Linux is new to most people, and people generally don’t like having to learn something new unless they have to. Most don’t realize all the software they’re accustomed to can (generally) be replaced by a Linux alternative, and for far less cash outlay. They don’t understand that the savings in computer repairs stemming from Windows’ vulnerabilities to virus’s and malware. They haven’t been told about the huge increase in security Linux provides compared to Windows.

All that being said, the move to Linux computing is becoming more noticeable now than ever before. Without the economic crisis to factor in to people’s spending decisions, people probably wouldn’t have considered the Linux option as strongly as they’re doing today. When every dollar saved counts, the decision to go Linux may be more about cost savings than anything else, but that might be what it takes to get people to try the OS computer geeks have been raving about for years. Give Linux a shot, and you might be surprised.

Jason English
ShopForLinux
http://www.ShopForLinux.com

5 Linux VPS Performance Tips

June 15th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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As a freelance Linux consultant, many of my clients are often interested in making their VPS (Virtual Private Server) as responsive as possible. Since VPS servers by nature have somewhat limited system resources (often less than 1 GB of RAM), getting the best VPS performance can be a crucial part of running a successful server. To make matters worse, most clients assume that the VPS host has already optimized their server- which simply isn’t true (even Rackspace, a wonderful VPS host, doesn’t do this). Therefore, I’ve written this article as a brief introduction to some of the more common ways to get the best performance from a VPS.

Tip #1: Disable system services
The top way to increase your VPS performance is to disable any system services that are not necessary. Services that are never used will still use up valuable RAM and CPU time, and also possibly allow your server to be attacked remotely. If you don’t need these services, why have them? Manage the startup scripts that start these services at boot time, and disable them.

Tip #2: Configure MySQL properly.
One of the more common ways to increase the available RAM (or to allocate more RAM to MySQL) is to configure the MySQL cache sizes. If your MySQL server instance is using too much memory, decrease the cache sizes. Likewise, if MySQL gets bogged down with large requests, increase the MySQL cache.

Tip #3: Configure Apache properly.
With Apache 2.0, many system administrators and clients alike have become confused as to the proper configuration of the Apache worker threads. Check how much memory Apache is using, and adjust the StartServers and MinSpareServers directives as needed to free up more memory.

Tip #4: Clean up your modules!
Without exception, there will always be modules or features that are enabled in memory hungry server software packages (such as Apache) that simply are not needed. Take a look at the configuration files for Apache, and decide if you need FrontPage support, or some of the other extra modules that ship with the VPS software packages. Disabling unnecessary modules or plugins will decrease the system memory that server software such as Apache requires, which will give you more resources for the software that needs it!

Tip #5: Disable control panels.
Let’s face it, everyone loves the more popular control panels, such as Cpanel, Plesk, Webmin, and phpMyAdmin. Heck, I’ve even written tutorials on how to use some of these control panel software packages. However, disabling these software packages frees up quite a bit of resources- sometimes as much as 120 MB of RAM! Sometimes the best solution is to disable these control panels until you actually need them- then they can be turned on via a PHP script (albeit somewhat insecure), or via a command entered at a shell prompt.

These 5 tips should decease the amount of RAM that your VPS uses by as much as 30-40%, which might save you quite a bit of money per month. Since most providers start out their VPS plans at systems with 256MB of RAM (and upgrades from there are expensive, often costing $ 40/month for an additional 256 MB), optimization of a VPS server is a crucial step. In addition, these 5 tips can be performed by a talented system administrator or consultant in typically less than two hours, which can mean a return on investment after only two or three billing cycles. What you do with the extra money saved is your business- you’ve earned it!

Christopher J. Pace is a freelance Linux consultant who has worked with Linux since 2001. Currently, he provides remote Linux consulting services for sick servers.

Updating Linux Device Drivers

June 12th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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Almost everyone is familiar with Microsoft Windows, as it is installed on the computers of many home-based users. While it is certainly the most popular, Windows isn’t the only operating system available. There are several other choices, including Mac OS X, Solaris and Linux.

The Linux operating system comes in many different variations. Some of the most popular versions include Debian, Fedora and Redhat among others. Just like any other operating system, Linux comes with a number of device drivers. This means that there may be a time when hardware devices on your computer stop working properly and require driver updates. Although a device could experience problems for various reasons, an outdated or dysfunctional driver is usually the culprit.

Where to Begin Updating Linux Device Drivers

In order to update the drivers for your Linux hardware, you must find out what type of device it is. Once you have these details, go online and head to the manufacturer’s website. Although mainly used in the network setting, Linux is becoming more popular as a desktop system, making it easier to find device drivers. Most hardware device manufacturers allow you to download device drivers from the support section of their websites. Regardless of the manufacturer, it is important to download drivers that are specific to the Linux operating system. If you download and install Windows drivers, your hardware will not work on your Linux system.

Because Linux is an open-source system, many of its device drivers are available in open-source variations. The open-source nature allows any developer to create device drivers and freely distribute them. These drivers can typically be downloaded from various open-source communities online. With proprietary software and hardware components, you are required to download the device drivers from the manufacturer.

How to Install Linux Device Drivers

Device drivers for the Linux operating system are usually distributed as source code in zip archives. This calls for you to unzip the compressed archive to access the appropriate files. In order to accomplish this, you must use a compatible unzip application and manually compile the source code. While Linux is generally more complex, this task can be easily completed by basic computer users.

Ensuring Compatibility Before a New Purchase

If you plan to add a new hardware device to your Linux computer, it is important to make sure it is compatible with the operating system before making a purchase. This can be done in two ways: you can either check with the manufacturer or visit the KeyLabs website. KeyLabs is an organization that tests numerous applications and devices to determine their compatibility with various systems, Linux included. This company has tested so many hardware devices that gathering information from KeyLabs is often easier than getting it from the manufacturer’s website.

Even though Linux is becoming more accepted as a desktop system, finding the right device drivers can still be a tedious undertaking. This is especially true if you are trying to integrate hardware devices that were previously used on an older Linux system. As you would expect, the process is much easier when dealing with new hardware devices, as they typically come included with installation discs that contain the appropriate drivers.

Adam K Smith is an eminent author on Device Drivers for all types of Computers. Safely Update All Your Drivers and Fix Your Drivers Problem Instantly.

Overview of Linux System Services

June 10th 2015 Posted at Linux Kernel
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System services are the services that your server will run, and be used. These are what makes your server a server basically, and what brings you customers. Whether your customers be paying users (such as in an ISP), or they be donation users (users that give little or no money towards your server), they are still important. They are the reason that you want a server, so it is important to think of them. Linux offers *MANY* services, here are some of the more common services:

* Shell Services (The Secure SHell (SSH), Telnet, Remote Shell, etc)
* Mail Services (POP3, SMTP)
* Web Services (Web Hosting)
* DNS Services (Domain Name Services)
* FTP Services
* Talk Services (via Talked, enables users logged in to chat with each other)
* Kerberos Services (secure authentication techniques)

Linux offers many other services, of which will be described in detail later. Most of the services lie in the /etc/init.d directory, which is actually a set of start up scripts, but as most services are started at boot, so the /etc/init.d directory would be a good place to start looking for services installed…..you can also try tel netting to known service ports, which are listed as follows:

Telnet: 23

SMTP: 25

HTTP: 80

DNS: 53

SSH: 22

Talk: 517

Kerberos: 750

FTP: 21

If you are running the service, you will get a message that looks like:

/home/ares> telnet localhost.localdomain 22
Trying 192.122.209.42…
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
Escape character is ‘^]’.
SSH-1.5-1.2.20

Then you are running the service that is reported. Also, you can download the portscanner nmap from from insecure.org. It is available in RPM formats, as well as .tar and .tgz formats. Once installed, you can invoke it by using the following syntax:

nmap localhost.localdomain
Nmap will then output all the open ports on your server. This is also good for scanning other servers on your network, to see what services they are running. If you see a service, such as Sendmail (SMTP service) running, and you don’t need it, I recommend removing it, via commenting out the lines in /etc/init.d/sendmail, or by just issuing the following command:

/etc/init.d/sendmail stop

Then un-installing it, with the package manager for your distribution (i.e. rpm for Red Hat Linux). For instance, to un-install a rpm package, use the following command:

rpm -e packagename

To see a list of all rpm packages, use the following command:

rpm -qa | more

This will send the output to the more command, as we have covered earlier. If a package gives you a dependency error, you will need to un-install the dependency first, or you may force the un-install with the -f option (*NOT* recommended). You can use the deselect program in Debian Linux to remove the unwanted package, simply type:

deselect

To bring the deselect menu up. This is more user-friendly than the rpm utility, if you like interfaces that is. Now, we will move on to specific services, the first on the list is the apache web server.