Linux is an open source platform and has always proven to be the most popular choice in web hosting, simply because it allows web hosting companies to offer competitively priced web hosting plans. Host.co.in offers a full range of Linux Web Hosting plans, ranging from shared web hosting to dedicated server hosting; this puts us in a position that means we can meet the needs of any prospective customers, with our 24×7 support team on hand to offer any assistance necessary. The open source nature of the Linux platform also enables a wider variety of customization, which has led to a number of third-party modifications and applications being available that are also open source; this means that the overall cost of running a Linux server is going to be far less than that of a comparable Windows server.

It is important to consider that the operating system that you choose to use as the platform for your web hosting plan will serve as a guide as to which technologies you can use to develop your website as well as the features that you can expect from a web hosting plan. In the case of the Linux operating system, Host.co.in recommends that you use this platform if you wish to utilize the following technologies as part of your web applications:

• If developing scalable web applications, the PHP scripting language is one of the best choices available in terms of scripting frameworks because it can offer you a wide variety of features and modules that can be used to create feature-rich web applications
• If a database backend is needed for your website then we recommend using MySQL databases on a Linux platform because advanced support is offered for these with the control panel that we use for a majority of our Linux hosting services, cPanel
• Support for advanced CGI scripts that can be used for more complex purposes such as email piping to databases are also supported with our Linux web hosting plans.

Linux can offer variety when you come to consider dedicated hosting, whether this be a VPS server or a dedicated server; there are many different Linux distributions to choose from and with each distribution having been designed for a different purpose, this represents another opportunity to develop a highly customized hosting environment. If there is a distribution that you would like to use, but sure unsure if Host.co.in offers it, please contact our support team as they will be able to arrange a solution that falls in line with your requirements.

Windows Web Hosting Services

As is the case with our Linux web hosting plans, Host.co.in also offers a number of different Windows web hosting services at different pricing points that are aimed at different target audiences. Windows is a commercial operating system and for this reason you should expect Windows web hosting services to be slightly more expensive than Linux hosting services of a similar specification; however the target audience for Windows hosting is often different to that of Linux. With Linux hosting often targeted at beginners and enthusiasts, Windows hosting is offered by Host.co.in with a target audience of businesses of all sizes in mind.

Windows is a closed operating system with many of the technologies and applications supported by the operating system being commercial in their licensing nature as well, therefore meaning that they will only function on Windows and no other OS. Examples of such applications can include:

• Microsoft SQL Server is an enterprise-class database server that is used extensively to power web applications and the internal applications used by large corporations; the fact that it only works with the Windows OS guarantees full compatibility and integration with the platform
• If you are going to be developing web applications for the Windows platform then you will be wanting to use ASP.NET 4.0 so that you can access the full power of the Windows OS
• As a Windows dedicated hosting customer, Host.co.in can provide installation of Microsoft Exchange Server if you are looking for a highly scalable email and collaboration system that your employees can use to communicate with one another.

For beginners that haven’t used the Windows platform before we recommend that you begin with one of our feature-rich Window shared hosting plans; this will put you in a good position to learn what the Plesk control panel and the other features of our Windows services can offer you. Host.co.in can also offer fully managed Windows VPS servers and Windows dedicated servers for businesses in need of a highly reliable web hosting service with a dedicated environment.

Windows vs. Linux

The choice between Windows and Linux is one that you will need to make based on your own or your businesses aspirations. Every business looking to establish a web presence will have different requirements and although both platforms can offer the same in terms of hosting your website, it’s the finer details that help to differentiate the two platforms. Host.co.in offers both Windows hosting and Linux hosting so that there is something available for anyone wanting to consider us for their hosting needs; regardless of the platform package that you choose, you will be entitled to receive our full 24×7 support.

cPanel is the leading Linux web hosting control panel, providing end-users with an intutivie and easy to use GUI that will allow them to manage their own web hosting accounts; WHM accompanies cPanel and allows resellers and system administrators to control their servers and accounts effectively. When combining cPanel hosting with a powerful cloud environment, you are able to offer a highly reliable and secure form of Linux cloud web hosting. As Linux is an open source operating system, cPanel cloud hosting services will be some of the cheapest cloud web hosting services available without compromising quality in any way and are likely to offer you a better level of service than some of the other cloud hosting solutions available. As a control panel cPanel is a web-based solution that is designed to allow web hosting customers to manage every aspect of their web hosting account without the need for any assistance, whilst remaining easy to use and easy for beginners to become accustomed to; whether you wish to add an additional email account your domain or change the permissions of a certain file, these tasks plus more complex ones can be easily achieved using cPanel. As a reseller hosting customer in the cloud then WHM will provide you with an interface from which you can manage your own hosting customers, add additional web hosting plans and create new customer accounts as and when they sign up; by choosing a cPanel cloud hosting plan you will be able to choose a reseller hosting plan that can provide you with a high level of uptime as well as generous resource allocations.

Benefits of cPanel Cloud Hosting

Many benefits can be had from choosing to use cPanel cloud hosting, some of which include, but are not limited to:

• Low cost cloud hosting – by using cPanel and Linux in a cloud environment, web hosting services providers are able to offer low cost cloud web hosting that is affordable for all parties without compromising on the level of quality or uptime that is offered – for many businesses it is important to keep an eye on the outgoings and if it’s possible to save money in a certain area then it is important to embrace any opportunities that will allow you to do this – furthermore, there is no point in paying an extortionate price for a web hosting plan if you are sure that you can purchase a similar plan from another web hosting provider for a reduced sum of money
• Intuitive web hosting control panel – cPanel is the most popular Linux web hosting control panel available and is used by a number of web hosting providers to offer Linux shared web hosting services – in the cloud cPanel will provide you with a reliable platform on which you can host your website and the services related to the control panel rarely fail, meaning that as long as the software if used in an environment that can offer unparalleled performance, such as a cloud environment, then you will be using a pretty much fail-proof hosting solution
• Resource choices – the architecture of a cloud web hosting environment dictates that a number of servers are pooled together to provide the resource pool from which web hosting services can be formed – the power of having many servers clustered together in this formation allows web hosting providers to be very generous with the resources that they offer with their cPanel cloud hosting plans, therefore meaning that they will easily represent good value for money – depending on the hosting provider that you choose, there may also be the option to choose the resources for your cPanel cloud hosting plan based around your own specific needs.

Reseller Hosting with cPanel

cPanel is one of the best solutions available for resellers as you will have access to WHM (Web Host Manager), a control panel that is separate to cPanel and has been designed with system administrators and resellers in mind through the advance account and server management features that it provides. As a reseller hosting customer there are several features that you will want access to include:

• Web hosting plan management
• Client management
• Feature management.

By providing the above, along with other features, in a separate control panel, cPanel has been able to develop the client-side control panel to be one that is better suited to beginners so that your clients are able to manage their own accounts easily.

Uptime Offered by Cloud Hosting

Any good web hosting company should be able to offer 100% guaranteed uptime with their cloud web hosting services, removing the worry of whether your website is going to be available or not. As multiple servers are clustered together to create a cloud hosting environment, if one server fails then there will be other servers available to pick up the slack of the crashed server until it is repaired and is ready for service again.

Compared to other forms of web hosting, a cloud hosting service is probably the most reliable hosting service available and this is without pushing the price up too much. For a long time the most reliable form of hosting has been dedicated server hosting and this has always been an expensive option; cloud web hosting has been able to provide those on a lower budget with the reliability benefits witnessed with cloud hosting, but at a much lower price that many will be able to justify and afford.

In conclusion, cPanel in a cloud environment is one of the best hosting combinations available, providing you with reliable hosting on a reliable platform at an affordable price. If you are a beginner then cPanel cloud hosting will be a good choice for you as the control panel interface is very intuitive and easy to use, with there being many tutorials available to provide you with assistance on completing a number of different tasks if you are unsure. Many providers will also offer full support with their cPanel cloud hosting plans giving you the ability to call on a professional support team if you are unsure of how to do something.

cPanel is a popular Linux control panel used by web hosting companies to offer low cost Linux hosting services such as shared web hosting, although it is also available with most Linux VPS server and Linux dedicated server packages. As well as making it easier for hosting customers to manage their own shared web hosting accounts, cPanel also makes it easier for system administrators to manage the servers that they are responsible for. cPanel is a standard feature of most Linux shared hosting packages and so any cheap web hosting provider you find should be able to provide you with cPanel hosting. If you prefer to use a Linux VPS server or Linux dedicated server then you may find that you have to pay extra for a cPanel license. It is recommended that you have a medium to high specification server if you wish to run cPanel because the control panel and its subsidiary applications will require a decent amount of resources to be able to run effectively; the more websites that you are going to be hosting on your cPanel server, the more server resources you are going to need to help guarantee a certain level of stability to those that you are hosting for.

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Cpanel has been one of the highly preferred control panels in the web hosting industry, hence most of the web hosts offer cPanel with their Linux web hosting packages.With Linux VPS Hosting and Linux Dedicated Server Hosting,you can avail root access to the server.Which means you are free to do installation,deletion etc of any application of your choice.

The below mentioned Port numbers are commonly used in cPanel. If you intend to login to your cPanel, you will need to use these ports in the form of http://www.yourdomainname.com:2082/

Port 2082 : Cpanel default port
Port 2083 : Cpanel over SSL
Port2086 : Cpanel Webhost Manager (default)
Port 2087 : Cpanel Webhost Manager (with https)
Port 2095 : Cpanel Webmail
Port 2096 : Cpanel secure webmail over SSL

One must unblock the ports in TCP if you are using a firewall. You can also add the following Ports;

Port 80 : Apache HTTP web server
Port 21 : FTP
Port 22 : SSH (You are bound to face ssh attacks if you leave this port open. Changing the port can help you avoid it)
Port 25 : SMTP (Outgoing eMail)
Port 110 : POP3 (Incoming eMail)
Port 53 : DNS server (if you run DNS server)

Most online users wish to start a forum of their own, but due to lack of detailed procedures they are simply stuck with the idea itself. Below are steps that would help you start with an online forum  with your own domain.First you need to contact your web hosting service provider asking to provide one of the forum softwares such as phpBB, vBulletin etc. Most of the reputed web hosts would offer an installing service called “Fantastico” using which, you can build your forum with comfort.You do not have to be a skilled webmaster to set up a forum on your domain.

Below are the Tips to set-up a forum:

Tip No. 1: First of all you are required to Register a domain name. A domain name would be the one that be an identity of your online website.
Tip No. 2: Now you need to sign-up with a web hosting provider for a package that would include phpBB, vBulletin or a similar forum software. A web hosting service provider is the one that would provide you an online web server space and the necessary softwares. This would allow you to get your forum online. A shared web hosting package can be an ideal option to start with.A web hosting service provider is the one that would provide you an online web server space and the necessary softwares. This would allow you to get your forum online.
Tip No. 3: Once your account is set up on a server,install your preferred forum software onto your domain. You can install the forum software automatically using Fantastico. PhpBB and vBulletin are one of the most preferred forum softwares available in Fantastico. To install, you need to first log into your web hosting account. Then select the  Fantastico in cpanel. Click on the preferred forum software, phpBB is great for a new forum and has some great features, vBulletin is easier to use and maintain. Choose the domain name you would like to install the board to. You can leave the “Install in directory” box empty in case you wish to have your forum as the starting page for your website (http://www.abc123.com). You can specify a directory, e.g forum, in case you want to have your forum installed at http://www.abc123.com forum.
Tip No. 4: Now you will need to choose the username and the password for the forum administrator.
Tip No. 5: Fill in the Site Name and the Short Description field that appears in the header of each page of your forum. Continue by clicking Finish installation. You will be lead to a page with the administrative panel of the board.
Tip No. 6: Here you will have to describe the categories/sub-categories of the forum.

Shared and VPS hosting have some things in common. It is important to understand the difference between the two to choos an appropriate solution that most suits your website requirements.

First of all let us take an overview of Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting.

Shared Web Hosting : Shared Web Hosting is the most basic type of web hosting solution. Shared hosting packages are cheap and affordable in terms of pricing. This type of hosting is more preferred by small websites that require less resources. In this, a physical server is shared by multiple users and websites. This being affordable, is more preferred by users as the cost of the server and its resources are shared by multiple users. Shared web hosting can sometimes not suit all types of websites, as different websites require different amounts of resources such as bandwidth and disk space. There may be websites that receive high traffic, hence consume bandwidth that is greater than what is offered with a shared hosting package. In such cases one needs to opt for a higher plan such as VPS Hosting or a Dedicated Server Hosting plan.

To start with, you may choose a Shared Web Hosting package and later upgrade to a VPS or Dedicated hosting plan as per the requirements of your website/s. Many webhosting providers offer flexible upgrade options and you can switch from one plan to another with less waste of efforts, keeping the website up and running over the web without any downtime.

The only drawback of shared hosting is that you do not get much privileges with it.

VPS Hosting or Virtual Private Server Hosting: A VPS is the next option to Shared Hosting in terms of resources and privileges. Basically, VPS shares a similar concept with Shared Hosting, but there is are few major differences between the two i.e. resources and privileges. Similar to a shared plan, multiple VPS accounts are created on a physical server using a virtualization technology. With a VPS you get better resources such as bandwidth and diskspace and you have better control over the server. You get complete admin access to the server, which means you can create, modify, delete ,install or uninstall applications of your choice, which is not possible on a shared server. VPS hosting plans too are affordable. With it you get to experience a dedicated like environment. The only difference is the resources and price. Each client using a virtual server is given a fixed share of a server.

A VPS is more preferred than shared hosting or Dedicated server hosting plan. The reason because, shared hosting packages offer less resources, security and privileges whereas a dedicated server is more expensive and the resources available with it are sometimes much more than what is required. On a VPS there not much restrictions set which isn’t the case with a shared hosting server plus you have almost similar privileges as that of a dedicated server. As said earlier with a shared hosting plan you do not have much privileges whereas with a VPS hosting plan, you get complete root or administrator access of the server. You have the privilege to configure your own applications and softwares.