The Nuts and Bolts of Unix Hosting

UNIX hosting involves a machine configured on a UNIX platform which is a multi-user computer operating system designed primarily for servers and advanced users. UNIX provides the base operating system architecture for many open source companies, such as Solaris (Sun Microsystems), Linux (GNU), and others. In regards to web hosting, choosing the UNIX web hosting alternative has its advantages and disadvantages.

UNIX has been around for years and it was the language of choice for midframe computer users. Windows actually copied the UNIX file naming convention technique when they created Microsoft Windows.

UNIX hosting is cheaper than Windows hosting. Because most web hosts use the free version of UNIX (like Linux), they don't have to compensate for huge overhead expenses which you have with any Windows Operating System. Savings is passed to customers. In addition, those who use UNIX hosting usually get free tools and applications that have been written primarily for the UNIX community. Since UNIX hosting is an "open system", its source code is publicly available for free from various web sites.

This allows web developers working for various companies and for different purposes to add rapid development of applications quickly. As a result, improvements come fast and problems are quickly resolved.

The main disadvantage of using UNIX hosting is that your provider may only allow access to your account via Telnet or SSH. As a result, you must have a strong working knowledge of UNIX commands in order to customize it to your requirements. You may find yourself spending a lot of time learning the basics before you can enjoy the free advantages of UNIX hosting but learning the UNIX language is not that hard at all.

When considering the UNIX operating system and UNIX hosting, you need to consider your own technical abilities. Then take a look at the special features offered by each system and hosting company in light of the available technology and -- sometimes more importantly -- your budget.

Linux Unix Host Options for Small Businesses

Linux/Unix is an alternate type of system that provides hosting for small businesses and companies that run Linux/Unix applications on their personal computers and laptops. The Linux/Unix-based platform is a stable platform in the industry.

The Linux operating system was developed by Linus Torvalds as an alternative to other operating systems. Most of its versions are free of costs. The most popular Linux software is Red Hat and Mandrake. Linux/Unix was only for professionals until a few years ago but the situation has changed. Many 'small' businesses have switched to the Linux/Unix platform because of its open source architecture, meaning that users can structure the system to do what they want it to do.

Web host providers are specializing in Linux/Unix servers and the demand for this type of interface has grown by 40% over the last three years. A Unix-based platform is one of the most reliable operating systems that you can ever have. It has a better up time than Microsoft Operating Systems and hosting programs in Linux/Unix are more flexible.

You actually can get more from a Linux/Unix based server than other servers on the market. Linux/Unix supports a wide variety of application languages, more than any other operating system. The most common applications of such kind include C, C++, Shell, Perl, Tcl, Python, Java and PHP. Databases available for Unix are mSQL and mySQL. The one you choose would depend on what you plan to do on the web and the host that you choose to park your web site.

The Linux/Unix based system comes with its own web development module in some versions of Red Hat Linux that make web site creation easy as 1-2-3. FTP modules are built into the operating system to provide you with an alternative way to load the web site to the Linux/Unix host. Linux/Unix will become a major force in the future as more small to medium businesses turn towards its hosting platform.

Using cPanel to Manage Your Host Files

CPanel is an easy user-interface site that lets you control your host account environment. The main peculiarity of this operating system is that it so simple to use that your below average computer user can’t mess it up. It’s got great features embedded into its panel and some of the features are listed below.

Site Tools:
There are such tools available for your use, which are Web Protect (.htaccess editor), Custom error pages, Redirects, Ability to edit MIME types, Ability to edit Apache handlers, Install/Uninstall FrontPage Extensions, Search engine tool submitting and File Manager.
Email:
The email program provides you with the possibility to add, remove, and change passwords while managing email accounts. CPanel is also provided by Webmail for the accounts, Auto responders, Forwarders, Mailing Lists, Spam filtering and some more.
Backup:
Backup allows you to create copies of account files and databases. The backup menu also allows you to download any automatic backups that were downloaded by your CPanel administrator.
Stats:
There are different tools to survey your site popularity and efficiency. Those are Webalizer web stats, Webalizer FTP stats, Analog stats, AWStats, View latest visitors, View bandwidth usage and View error log modules.
FTP:
There is a module that controls FTP accounts (add, remove, change password for its access), Anonymous FTP controls; Ability to change FTP login message and Ability to kill FTP sessions.

Advanced Stuff:
You have an ability to add or remove subdomains, Subdomain Redirects and its Stats.

Advanced Tools:
You are provided with tools of SSH access tools, Manage GPG keys and Cron jobs. There are also Pre-Installed CGI Scripts. Those are Interchange Cart, Agora Cart, Bulletin Board, Java Chat, HTML Chat, phpMyChat, CGI Wrapper (for non-suexec installs), Random HTML generator, Advanced Guestbook, Counter Generator, Java Clock Generator, Java Countdown Generator, Secure FormMail clone, CGIEmail, Entropy Search, Entropy Banner.

Network Tools:
DNS Lookup and Traceroute.

Database Management tools:
include Managing MySQL databases and phpMyAdmin access.

For beginners, CPanel has a lot of options that are easy to use. CPanel works with most browsers, such as IE, Opera, Firefox and others.

If you have any suggestions or comments about this article, please be sure to post them at the link below!

Thank You,
Warren Yarnall