Serasi

We spend a lot of time thinking about hosting and all the stuff that goes along with that from applications to servers and server software. Our attention tends to be focused on maintaining webpages and domain names, but there are a lot of reasons you might be looking for a host. Maybe, for example, you want to run a Call Of Duty 4 server.

A Call of Duty 4 server is what makes it possible to play an online Call of Duty game with and/or against other players. Every time you’ve ever played an online game you’ve been on someone’s server. When a game first comes out, the producer will often setup and manage a few servers to get people started, but there are usually a lot people that will setup their own servers pretty quickly.

Running your own game server gives you a lot of control of the environment in which you get to actually play. Games like Call of Duty have many different modes and maps which you can choose from and many different settings. There are various “deathmatch” style modes where players, or teams of players, try and kill off opponents to gain points. In such games the winner is the one who earns the most or reaches a given score first. Search and Destroy mode allows teams to play either as defenders or attackers trying to defend or destroy equipment at various sites scattered throughout the game map. Domination games force players to focus on capturing and controlling certain pre-defined areas. Hardcore mode can be combined with various other modes, increasing the difficulty of surviving greatly. Headquarters matches are particularly fast-paced as the action centers around controlling and defending a single object, with the serious disadvantages placed on the team that is not in control.

The game modes can be played on various maps. Each map provides a unique environment, some taking place indoors, others outdoors or a combination of the two. Many different settings from deserts and forests to towns and large cities can be chosen and these settings have an impact on the types of strategies and style of gameplay that you’ll encounter in a given match.

The choice of map and game mode is usually controlled by the server administrator. You can normally play all kinds of games on other peoples’ servers, but hosting your own gives you and your friends direct control. Clans (clubs of gamers who often play together on teams) often choose to run their own servers, making it possible for them to hone specific tactics in specific settings. The main advantage is that server administrators can control who plays on their serves, so a clan will be able to get all its members together at once and makes sure they get to play together in specifically chosen teams.

You can run a Call of Duty 4 server using the game software itself. If you’ve setup a LAN game yourself, you’ve already run a server. This can be done with the same computer on which you’re playing, but you can also launch the game in dedicated server mode. Things get a little more difficult when you’re trying to host large games over the Internet, so lots of people choose to use independent game hosts which handle all of the configuration problems, provide powerful machines to act as servers, and then hands over control of the important and fun parts of running as game server their customers.

A Call of Duty 4 server is what makes it possible to play an online Call of Duty game with and/or against other players. Every time you’ve ever played an online game you’ve been on someone’s server. When a game first comes out, the producer will often setup and manage a few servers to get people started, but there are usually a lot people that will setup their own servers pretty quickly.

Running your own game server gives you a lot of control of the environment in which you get to actually play. Games like Call of Duty have many different modes and maps which you can choose from and many different settings. There are various “deathmatch” style modes where players, or teams of players, try and kill off opponents to gain points. In such games the winner is the one who earns the most or reaches a given score first. Search and Destroy mode allows teams to play either as defenders or attackers trying to defend or destroy equipment at various sites scattered throughout the game map. Domination games force players to focus on capturing and controlling certain pre-defined areas. Hardcore mode can be combined with various other modes, increasing the difficulty of surviving greatly. Headquarters matches are particularly fast-paced as the action centers around controlling and defending a single object, with the serious disadvantages placed on the team that is not in control.

The game modes can be played on various maps. Each map provides a unique environment, some taking place indoors, others outdoors or a combination of the two. Many different settings from deserts and forests to towns and large cities can be chosen and these settings have an impact on the types of strategies and style of gameplay that you’ll encounter in a given match.

The choice of map and game mode is usually controlled by the server administrator. You can normally play all kinds of games on other peoples’ servers, but hosting your own gives you and your friends direct control. Clans (clubs of gamers who often play together on teams) often choose to run their own servers, making it possible for them to hone specific tactics in specific settings. The main advantage is that server administrators can control who plays on their serves, so a clan will be able to get all its members together at once and makes sure they get to play together in specifically chosen teams.

You can run a Call of Duty 4 server using the game software itself. If you’ve setup a LAN game yourself, you’ve already run a server. This can be done with the same computer on which you’re playing, but you can also launch the game in dedicated server mode. Things get a little more difficult when you’re trying to host large games over the Internet, so lots of people choose to use independent game hosts which handle all of the configuration problems, provide powerful machines to act as servers, and then hands over control of the important and fun parts of running as game server their customers.

IIS7 - The latest and greatest from Microsoft.

IIS7 is the latest iteration of the Microsoft’s web server. Formerly know as the Internet Information Server, IIS has come to dominate most of the servers belonging to Fortune 100 companies though Apache remains the market leader overall. According to the latest statistics over a third of all sites are backed by IIS.

Benefits of IIS7 over IIS6

IIS7 is one of the more significant updates to the IIS platform. The biggest change is the modular nature of the engine. This means that one can configure IIS7 to support only features that are needed, adding more as and when necessary. In addition to improving it’s flexibility, this leads to a significant leap in security. For example, you can add modules from scripting and even backward compatibility.

Another significant improvement, is the use of an XML based web.config file (just like in .NET applications) to handle the configuration of the entire server configuration. This leads to improvements in portability, fine tuning as well as ease of access compared with the previous hierarchical metabase storage up until IIS6.

There is also good news for VPN users. IIS7 has improved it’s remote management capability by providing secure HTTP connections though you have to enable remote management manually. But that can be good as some viewed the earlier setup as more vulnerable.

Though there are many more improvements, let us look at some reasons why you should an IIS7 engine over a more traditional server like Apache.

Benefits of IIS7 over Apache

For most people the ability to use PHP scripts on IIS used to deter them from using a Windows platform. Even a hosting provider like Godaddy disallows the use of a PHP based application like Wordpress on a Windows server. However, the latest releases of IIS and especially IIS 7 give massive performance improvements while running PHP scripts to the extent that PHP is no longer the sole reason not to choose IIS.

Today more and more site owners are turning to Windows to host their PHP based applications, and Wordpress on windows is picking up a huge following.  Thanks to improvements around PHP and IIS through the cooperative efforts of Zend and Microsoft, PHP performance is much more stable, reliable and faster than it was on earlier versions.

Of course, if you plan to make use of the awesome .NET platform, then IIS 7 is your only choice. With the latest release of ASP.NET 3.5 and full support for the MVC framework there has never been a more compelling time to develop applications in .NET. In addition, Microsoft’s Web PI  has made it easier than ever to install all .NET related components. IIS 7 has also significantly improved it’s usability interface eschewing the full MMC framework it had earlier.

IIS7 also features improved diagnostics capability with advanced error tracking that allows you to trace errors based on the conditions you want IIS to look out for. This could be tracking down timed out pages or other errors through it’s “failed request tracing” capability.

Summary

All in all, this is the time to switch over to a Windows platform if you’ve been sitting on the fence till now. The new security features coupled with the flexibility, ease of use and diagnostics have made IIS 7 quite an irresistible choice for those looking to host their web applications.

When choosing a web host there are a number of things that must be taken into consideration. These vary from the price we are willing to pay to the software and hardware characteristics of the server. A rule of thumb when picking a host is that a cheap does not mean necessarily good. In fact, in the web hosting world, generally “you get what you pay for”. So don’t be fooled by the first host that gives you unlimited resources for a very low price. Most probably they will give you a bad service and lots of downtime.

Another important decision to be made when looking for a web host is choosing windows or linux hosting. There is no special rule, you generally choose what best suits your needs. I am going to outline the basic differences between linux and windows hosting.

The first difference (and probably most important) is the support for the various programming languages. In Linux you have a vast choice, ranging from basic CGI / script support to high level programming languages like Perl, Php, Ruby etc. This is a major plus for the programmers and technical users. In Windows you get the Microsoft powered languages like .Net, Asp etc.

The second difference is how you access the host. While both offer ftp access , Linux has more advanced features for you like ssh, telnet, VNC and many others. As you can see it’s focused more toward to more technical users. With Linux you get more power but less user friendly interfaces.

The last difference I’m going to discuss is security and performance. It’s known that linux hosting is much secure than windows , and even when exploits are found they are fixed generally in less than 24 hours. Also, it’s true that Linux servers tend to manage better the hardware on which it runs. So if security and performance is important to you Linux is the way to go.

It is easy to fool a novice business associate by giving him disk space and bandwidth that he does not really need. Depending on the type of website you own, you must be able to precisely calculate the amount of disk space and bandwidth you need for web hosting. Here are few tips to estimate the needs carefully. Read on to find out about them.

Size of the Website

The size of the website is important to ascertain the amount of disk space needed for hosting the website. This size depends on text, graphic images, animation, and flash. Text uses very little space. But contrary to this, images can take up huge chunks of space.

Although animations, jazzy flash, or heavy graphic files can be really interesting to watch, it could kill the interest of the users as well. How? By taking a lot of time to load. Many users are still using slow Internet connectivity. Their computer may also not support heavy animated files as well. Why not select simple images to keep your webpage within 50-60 KB? An average page should not be more than 30 KB.

Amount of Disk Space

Now that you have decided on the size of the website - which is roughly 30-60 KB, select the amount of space you need in the computer to host your website. Keep this limit to 10 MB. Surveys suggest that this limit is fair enough to accommodate any load the website might get.

You might consider altering this limit a bit if you have a busy forum to maintain. If not, you know the amount to keep.

Number of Visitors

Estimating the number of visitors to your website is very important to select the amount of bandwidth you need to maintain your website. For instance, if you are aiming at 20,000 visitors per month for your website, which has an average of 30 KB data per page, go for 1.5 GB bandwidth strength.

So, next time your web hosting provider offers a 5 GB bandwidth for a similar website, you know the answer. Also, 20,000 hit rates are quite hypothetical. Usually, hit rate for an average website is quite less.

Wrapping Up

In short, unnecessary disk space and bandwidth would cost you money and effort. Estimate your needs properly and seek those web hosting firms who offer upgrades as well. Unless you are offering a popular movie songs and clippings, you don’t really need mega space and bandwidth.