Apache2 has growing demand among Linux Hosting consumers. For installing Apache2 you need to enter the following command at a terminal prompt.

sudo apt-get install apache2

Further more you need to place directives in plain text configuration files, these directives are separated between the following shown files and directories

• apache2.conf: This is the main Apache2 configuration file. Contains settings that are global to Apache2.
• conf.d: This contains configuration files which are applicable globally to Apache2 and some other packages which can be used by Apache2 for addition or symlinking files to this directory.
• envvars: Apache2 environment variable are set in this file.
• httpd.conf: Named after the httpd daemon, this was the Apache2 configuration file, it can be used for particular configuration option which globally affects Apache2.
• mods-available: Not only for loading modules but also for their configuration, this file can be utilized. (Only few specific and not all of the modules are included it this file)
• mods-enabled: This file has the ability to hold symlinks of files situated at /etc/apache2/mods-available, and this makes it possible to enable the symlinked file enabled at the next time Apache2 is restarted.
• ports.conf: Herea are the directives which analyze, which TCP ports Apache2 is listening currently.
• sites-available: Configuration files for Apache2 Virtual Hosts can be found in this directory. These virtual hosts permit Apache2 to get configured for more than one website which have their own separate configuration settings.
• Sites-enabled: similar to ‘mods-enabled’ here one can find symlinks at /etc/apache2/sites-available directory, also when a particular configuration file in ‘sites-enabled is found symlinked, the website configured by it can be kept active when the Apache2 is restarted.

Below mentioned are the steps to perform a traceroute check on the different operating systems :

Windows :

• You need to open the Start Menu
• Then click on Run
• Type cmd and then press enter
• In the command prompt displayed you need to type tracert mydomain.com and then press enter

The above steps will provide you with the traceroute results from your computer to mydomain.com. You can also execute the actions by using tracert with an IP, i.e. tracert 10.10.10.1

Linux :

For executing a traceroute in Linux you need to open a terminal window and type in traceroute – I mydomain.com. The -I options is an important aspect for the traceroute to use ICMP. Similarly you can use traceroute with an IP, i.e. traceroute -I 10.10.10.1

Mac OS :

Mac OS is a operating system working on the UNIX platform similar to Linux. This concludes that you would be able to perform a traceroute check similar to as done for Linux, traceroute -I mydomain.com executed in a terminal window.

If you are still facing issues in this regards, you can contact you Web Hosting Service Provider support for further help.

Anyone is the world will not want their things to be kept insecure. If we say about the web applications, they are insecure too. If we spent time, money and efforts creating a web application why not a further step in protecting them. In the case of web application if you don’t secure it anybody can copy the work and the code. This issue was highlighted by two PHP developers and they thought of the software called Zend optimizer tool from the Zend Technologies.

This optimizer tool helps you to use the Zend Guard encoded files. If you don’t use this tool the code which is Zend guarded cannot be executed. If this code is encoded the visitor will be to interpret it, but won’t be able to see it. This tool enhances the performance of the PHP applications. The zend optimizer goes through the code generated by the standard Zend run time compiler and then it will optimize the code for the faster execution. Even though the optimizer runs every time the page is executed it has a very little or you can say negligible overhead. It speeds up the code execution process with 40% to 100 %. Additionally it will enable PHP to load  and execute the files that are encoded by using the Zend guard.

Zend Optimizer has a limited functionality to only interpret the encrypted the code. In actual to encrypt tit you need to use the Zend guard. This Zend guard will convert the code in the PHP format to the binary equivalent known as “Zend Intermediate Code“. When the conversion is over the new encoded files will take place of the original regularly coded PHP files. Zend guard is helpful in suggesting if any module or functions needs to be excluded from the encryption process for the better development time.

Lets see some of its specifications.

Supported Operating systems, Platforms.

Linux : Linux x86, Linux x86-64, Linux Power.

Solaris: Solaris Sparc 8, 9, 10, Solaris x86 9, 10.

Free BSD x86 5.x, 6.x

Windows x86 2000, XP, 2003.

OS X Mac Power

AIX pSeries 5.

Web Servers it supports:

Apache 1.3x

Apache 2.0.x (prefork mode)

IIS 5,6

Support for PHP versions:

PHP 4.2.x to 4.4.x

PHP 5.0.x, 5.1.x

Things to be ensured before using the zend optimizer. Zend optimizer will not run if the following PHP settings are enabled:

1. Thread Safety.
2. Enable Versioning

Zend optimizer is free and easy to use software. Mainly good hosting companies use this utility for the security of the web applications and code as explained above

Linux Web Hosting itself explains that it is hosting of websites on the popular and most powerful server ie. Linux server. High quality web applications i.e. Linux Apache MySQL and PHP (LAMP) are used in Linux web hosting solutions. Linux is registered under GNU General Public License hence it is an open source software, therefore Linux web hosting solutions can be available at cheap rates as there is licensing fees that needs to be paid. Which isn’t the case with Windows, you need to pay licensing fees with every purchase of the OS.

One can avail good benefits with Linux Web Hosting services. With it web hosting providers offer many powerful and useful web applications that are very easy to use, a person with limited or no web master skills can easily manage the Linux hosting account/s.

Linux has gained popularity due to its stability in the hosting environment, which is one of the major reasons for people preferring Linux platform. Major website related tasks can be handled quite effectively with Linux web hosting. These plans are much cheaper than its competitor.

Understand the LAMP technology

LAMP is an abbreviation of Linux Apache MySQL and PHP. These applications are one of the most popular web applications. Each of them are renowned due to their extreme power and their ability to effectively adapt to web hosting. This technology is well known due to its usability, stability, reliability and the variety of other features. The MySQL database and PHP scripting language are the most preferred applications.

Linux is a lot similar to Unix, as it is registered under the GNU General Public license, which means that it is freely available. Its source code can be easily modified and the modified versions can be redistributed. Linux can be extensively used on Web Servers, Desktop PC’s, Mobile phones, LapTops etc. Linux web servers are one of the extremely reliable and stable systems, it has the capability to handle an extensive range of applications. Due to Linux being an open source application, webmasters from across the globe keep upgrading it with the latest technologies. This enables Linux users to get these new features for free. There is no licensing fees that needs to be paid for these updated versions.

In this technology, Apache HTTP server comes second in the list. It is one of the highly used HTTP server across the globe. As a matter of fact, almost 50% of the existing websites use Apache. Most of the common and mostly used scripting languages such as Perl, PHP, Python etc. are supported by Apache. In addition to that, modules such as mod_auth, mod_auth_digest, mod_access, mod_digest etc. are supported by Apache. SSL (Secure Socket Layer), TLS (Transport Layer Security) and Proxy modules too are supported by Apache. Virtual Hosting which is a type of web hosting can be easily possible using Apache.

Some people are yet confused and aren’t sure about the Operating System (OS) to be installed on their servers. Let me clear that doubt, one can have any OS on a server, irrespective of the one they have on their local computing machine. It makes no difference if one has Windows on the local machine and wishes to have Linux OS on the server.

As we all are aware, Windows and Linux are two different operating systems. Windows is widely used on the household/office PC’s. Linux is a newer version of Unix OS. Both contribute to an excellent web hosting environment. Though, we cannot deny the Pro’s and Con’s of each.

An individual usually gets stuck when choosing the OS on the servers. Here are certain factors that may help you to get rid of this confusion.

COST:

Cost is one of the major determining factors when choosing an OS.

Linux is an Open Source OS, which means one does not need to pay the licensing fees inorder to have it. Hence, Linux is comparatively cheaper than Windows. Whereas, one needs to purchase the license of Windows inorder to install it on the machine. A single licensed copy can be installed on one computer. But, with Linux, once you own it, you can freely install it on any number of machines.

RELIABILITY:

Linux is reputed for its stability and reliability. Meaning, Linux server is much less likely to crash than Windows Server. Hence, these servers can offer more uptime to the web-sites hosted on it.

SPEED:

There is practically not much difference in the speed of both the OS, but there is marginally faster speed seen in Linux when processing basic web pages.

SCRIPTS:

Many CGI programs can be found over the Internet. Majority of the Perl scripts, developed on Unix/Linux servers.Most of them can be freely downloaded from the internet.

FUNCTIONALITY:

Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) programming/scripting language are supported by Windows only. It enables oneself to build dynamic web-pages by connecting to Microsoft’s database such as SQL server or Access. Linux, does not offer any support to ASP and Microsoft databases, instead MySQL database is supported.

Today, more and more people are switching to Linux Web Hosting solutions as it is easy to use, more stable, open source, free updates are available and most importantly it is cheap. Hence, unless ASP and MsSQL database is required by a web site, Linux can prove to be a better choice over Windows.