Domain Registration

Overview

When you are ready to create a website, you may want to obtain a domain name. A domain name provides an instant online recognition, visibility, and credibility for your company. Some people even reserve domain names for their online portfolios or family websites. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally accredited organization that is responsible for registering and tracking all the domain names in the world. Each domain name leads to a unique IP (Internet Protocol) which requires distinctive information for every individual domain. Domain Name System (DNS) is a database system that acts as a connecting bridge between your domain name and IP address.

There are many companies that allow you to register domains for a small fee. Companies offer different rates, so you have some options when selecting a domain name provider. Your domain name will cost between $7 and $49 for your first year. Every year, you will pay a fee to renew the registration for your domain name. After your first year, the fee for your domain name will either increase or decrease

Benefits

Domain names increase visibility for your company. Domains that are catchy and easy to remember are inexpensive and powerful advertising tools. You can also assign e-mail addresses from your domain names.
When you buy a domain name, you might be listed in the WHOIS database, which reveals information about who owns the domain. You can actually complete a private registration that hides your registration information.
Your domain registration might come with tools for website building, status alerts, domain forwarding, and blog casting.

How It Works

Plan your site, and brainstorm ideas for what you want to call your site. If you can, choose the name of your company's business, and then select a .com, .net, or.org extension. Try to avoid selecting a long or confusing domain name, and use only letters, hyphens, and numbers.
Once you're ready to purchase a domain name, select a registrar service. Make sure that your registrar has an official agreement with ICANN. Once you select a domain name, the registrar will check to make sure that it is not already linked to an IP address. If the domain is available, you will be able to purchase it. Your domain registration will take about 24 hours to process, and after you select a web hosting service, you will be ready to upload your website. You can opt to keep your registration private in the WHOIS database.

Companies/Brands

Register, Planet Domain, and .US offer domain registration and web hosting services.

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Storage Hardware

Overview

The internal and external physical parts of any computer are known as hardware and are essential to a computer's normal functioning. There are various types of storage devices in a computer. The first level of storage, which is also known as primary level, is the memory of the computer. This is the part that can be accessed by the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the computer. Programs and applications that are accessed regularly by the user are stored in the CPU.

Storage hardware is designed to store your data, programs, and information efficiently. Instead reloading all of your programs each time you use the computer, the programs are already installed and ready for use. Storage devices also allow faster interaction between programs.
Storage hardware allows programs to run more efficiently since using less memory increases the performance of the computer. By using different types of storage hardware, you can constantly update your computer and maximize your storage facilities. The biggest benefit of storage hardware is that you have the ability to store extensive information in one place.

Hard Drives

Hard drives are the secondary level of storage hardware and can include flash drives and Zip drives. The data remains where it is stored, even when the computer is shut down, unlike primary data storage that is erased when the computer is off.
If you have very sensitive data or information that needs to be backed up once again, you can turn to even more data storage options, like offsite storage or backup hard drives. Internal hard drives provide optimal speed for your computer to run multiple programs at the same time.

Flash Memory

Flash memory is a form of memory that allows data to be stored without using power. This technology is used in digital cameras, personal digital assistants (PDA), and Local Area Network (LAN) switches. Flash devices come in three forms: flash memory drives, flash memory sticks, and flash memory cards.

Fibre Channel Switch

A Fibre Channel switch is a network switch that provides connectivity to a storage network. This switch has 128 ports and is used in high speed storage networking. Fibre channel switches have core components like redundancy, security, and multiple communications.

HBA

A host bus adaptor (HBA) acts as a connecting link between a host and the server or the storage device. These adaptors are also used as connecting devices for Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), Ethernet, Firewire, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Internet SCSI (iSCSI). Host bus adaptors enable faster and efficient management of storage area networks (SAN).

Disk Array

A disk array contains multiple disk drives and creates a disk storage system. The components found in a disk array are the disk array controller, power supply, disk enclosure, and cache memory. Disk arrays are classified into five categories which are network attached storage (NAS), modular SAN arrays, utility SAN arrays, storage virtualization, and SAN arrays.

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Domain Name Service

Overview

Domain Name Service, commonly known as the DNS, is defined as a naming system for computers, services, or resources which deal with Internet or a private network. The DNS interprets domain names and converts them into a numerical (binary) identifier, which can be identified by the computer. These numerical identifiers are known as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

Names are easy for people to understand, while computers understand numbers. So, when we use names to identify websites, the computer can process the data only if it is in the form of a numerical. DNS also allocates a domain name to a particular website. This allocation is not based on the physical location of the user. This is because World Wide Web hyperlinks and Internet contact information are stable and do not change even if there are changes in routers

Benefits

There are four major benefits offered by Domain Name Service. They are free manage DNS service, free domain forwarding, low cost, and security. Free manage DNS services allow you to have control over the whole domain. All the domains and associated domains are managed by DNS records through its reliable infrastructure and automatic updates. You can hide the destination URL in any domain using free domain forwarding feature. It is done by URL masking. By doing this, your URLs remain hidden from the surfer and your brand identity remains consistent, providing an enhanced performance. The costs of DNS are low and affordable. DNS offers security and protects your website from hackers. Apart from these benefits, domain name system also has various services like mail servers that accept e-mail for Internet domain.

How It Works

The DNS assigns a particular IP number for every domain name, which is unique. A particular domain name can be divided into three levels. The first level indicates the name of the website like "Example," the second level mentions the domain of your website. It could be .COM, .ORG, or.EDU. The third level refers to the country like, .US for US websites, .UK for UK websites, or .AU for Australian websites. So, the domain name of your website could be "www.example.co.us." DNS then allocates a particular IP address for this domain name. All the names and IP addresses of domain names are maintained by a company called Network Solutions.
The DNS accepts request to convert domain names into IP addresses, both from programs and other servers. When you type in a URL into your browser, it first converts the domain name into an IP address. To do this, the browser contacts the DNS, which retrieves the right IP address for the webpage that you have requested for. The browser then recovers the right webpage corresponding to the IP number and displays it on your system.

Companies/Brands

Web hosting companies also offer domain name registration services. Companies such as International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN,) Veri Sign, and Inter NIC offer domain name services.

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Dedicated Hosting

Overview

If you have launched a website, you are probably aware that you need a host. You can host your website through a free host, which will likely put advertisements on your page to generate income.

Instead, you might wish to use a dedicated hosting service that provides extremely powerful and secure web hosting solutions. You can lease an entire server that is not shared with anyone. Only your website will be on that server, so you can feel more secure. Other customers cannot find a way to tamper with your website and data. Dedicated servers are ideal for e-commerce, multimedia, and gaming websites. If your website requires advanced performance, reliability, and control, you should consider a dedicated server. You can choose your operating system and hardware configurations. You can also easily install programs for shopping carts and credit card processing. You have total control over your server configurations.
Dedicated server hosting provides highly secure and powerful options for companies that do not want to purchase and house their own hardware. Businesses can use customized software and an application to meet their specific business needs at an average price of $40 per month. Prices will vary based on your bandwidth and configurations. In any case, dedicated servers are less expensive than maintaining your own server.

Benefits

Dedicated hosting provides powerful, reliable, and secure hosting services. You will have ample disk space and bandwidth for very large, high traffic, or mission-critical websites that are generally needed by big corporations, data-heavy organizations, and active online communications. Dedicated hosting also allows greater ability to install and run software applications. You receive more space and simple tools for operation. Dedicated hosting is perfect for those who need an excellent customer service. By placing your websites in dedicated hosting server, the chances of you facing problems or issues related to offline or downtime will be drastically reduced.

How It Works

Dedicated hosting service offers the space and bandwidth to host your website on the server. Dedicated hosting is available on either Unix/Linux or Windows servers, enabling higher performance and more security. It also offer services to manage and maintain your server, backup data, monitor server traffic, access technical support, and upgrade the plan as needs change.

Companies/Brands

Just Host and Rack Space provide dedicated hosting to you with the most reliable services.

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Interactive Advertising

Overview

Interactive advertising uses media to promote a product or service. Interactive advertising can include games, songs, or video clips. Methods are attention grabbing and are effective in recruiting potential customers.

Advertising costs vary based the extent to which you would like to develop your media. You can hire an agency to create complex or simple advertising tools. Some advertising tools like blog posts and forum postings cost nothing.

Benefits

Interactive advertising allows you to reach out directly to existing and prospective customers. Interactive advertising tools capture an audience's attention and can help you stand out from your competitors. The biggest advantage of this type of advertisement is that you can receive an immediate response. You will also be able to judge if your ad has effectively reached the target audience.

How It Works

There are both online and offline modes of interactive advertising. Forms of offline interactive advertising methods include direct sales calls and visits, interactive kiosks, telephone calls, interactive television, and mobile phones.
Telephone calls are one of the oldest forms of interactive advertising. Most companies have a customer care or consumer support department. Advertisers call up existing customers and talk to them about the latest deals and offers that are proffered by the company. Sometimes, they also contact prospective customers and try to convince them to use their products or services.
Another method of offline advertisement is interactive television. Advertisements are displayed on television, and a phone number or contact address is flashed below the advertisements. People who are interested can call the number on the screen. Sending promotional messages to mobile phones is another method of offline interactive advertising. Information kiosks provide additional interactive advertising tools. Representatives from your company can directly talk to prospective customers. You can also set up automated kiosks with touch screen monitors that have all information that a potential customer may need.
Online methods of interactive advertisement include email marketing, key word optimization, blogging, and social networking. With the development of the Internet, online interactive advertisements have gained a lot of popularity.
Email marketing refers to the practice of sending promotional emails to many people. Emails may include information regarding the company, offers and discounts, or a website URL.
Social networking is probably one of the most effective methods of interactive advertising. You can create accounts on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Add tweets, RSS feeds, or forum postings about your business. Viral marketing can be done through social media sites. You can also ask customers to write testimonials. Blogs are another mode of advertisement that you can use to publicize your company. You can publish an informational post about a particular product that you are selling.

Companies/Brands

IAB, Blitz Agency, and Ideazinc provide interactive advertising services.

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Email Service

Overview

Email service is vital to any business. You can use your email service for marketing purposes and for internal company communications. You can even select an email service that allows you to send HTML mail, which is the same format that websites use. With some services, your employees can check their mail remotely from anywhere in the world.

Personal users can also benefit from an email service to stay in touch with friends and family. Email technology has evolved to include features for chat and blogs. Regardless of whether you are a business or personal user, you can find services that allow you to check email from a client like Microsoft Outlook or through webmail, which you can access through your Internet browser.
You can find webmail services for free through Yahoo or Gmail, or you can use email provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
When selecting an email service, research features including storage space, security, and versatility. Businesses especially will need to keep their networks secure from hackers and viruses.

Benefits

Email is becoming more popular than regular mail. You can quickly and easily correspond with family, and you can message hundreds of people at once. You can communicate information instantly and even send pictures and documents through email attachments. Certain email services are very secure, so you can ensure that you are protected from viruses. You can forward your email to other email addresses, and you can even check your email with your phone. You can even find fully functional email services free of cost. You may need to pay for additional security features. For businesses, email is a great marketing tool since you can reach customers in a quick, efficient, and cost effective way.

How It Works

Using an email service to send and receive emails is quite easy. At the very least, you need an Internet connection. You don't even necessarily need a computer since many newer cell phones are enabled with email functionality.
Email systems run on two servers. The first is a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, which is used to handle outgoing mail. Post Office Protocol (POP3) and Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) server servers handle incoming email. You send an email through the SMTP server, which communicates with the recipient's domain through the Domain Name System (DNS). The Domain Name System connects to the recipient domain's Internet Protocol (IP) address. The recipient's POP3 server places the message in his or her inbox. You can also attach files, images, and documents to your email.

Companies/Brands

There are many email services that provide free and paid services. USA.NET, Mail.com, Gmail, and Yahoo provide a range of free and paid services for home and business users.

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Website Software

Website Software

Many people think that designing a website requires extensive knowledge of a programming language or scripting code. In actuality, website software makes it easy for people of all technical backgrounds to create a website. Software can be used to meet a range of needs. Businesses can create complex or sophisticated sites, while users can create simpler sites. You can use Content Management System (CMS) tool, online website builder, or computer application.

Content Management System

A Content Management System (CMS) is a web application that is designed to make it easy for non-technical users to create, manage, edit, search for, and publish various digital media, electronic texts, and websites. CMS tools can be customized to adapt to your evolving website. CMS also provides the ability manage your website's structure, appearance, and navigation tools. Searching and indexing the content becomes easy with the use of CMS. CMS tools also help keep track of the user's information and security settings.
CMS consists of two elements, a Content Management Application (CMA) and a Content Delivery Application (CDA). A CMA allows the user to create, modify, remove, and manage content from the website even without prior knowledge of web applications. Usually, all the data is indexed by the CMS system, so it is easy to search the data using keywords. There are three types of CMS tools available. The first is enterprise content management system, which is used to manage unstructured content and information of a company. Second, web content management systems are used for publishing content on the web. Finally, component content management systems locate and link the content found within documents.

Open Source Software

"Open source" refers to a type of software license. Under this license, software can be created, manipulated, and distributed for free. Typically, open source software is released with its code. Users can analyze, change, or use this code as needed.
Open source software is created by a worldwide community of testers, programmers, technical writers, designers, and artists and is exclusively designed to meet everybody's requirements and usage. Open source software also prohibits discrimination and allows users to use the software for any reason.
Typically, open source software is released under a General Public License. General Public Licenses allow for derived works and modifications of the software. The integrity of the source code is maintained by specifying that the software can be modified only under the existing license. You cannot modify an open source program with intent to sell it for a profit.
Open source software is widely available online for a variety of purposes. You can find graphics editors, productivity tools, and web design programs. You can download free web design templates or HTML editors. You can even integrate sophisticated open source platforms for PHP and MySQL databases with your hosting provider. You can also find open source CMS tools to integrate with your website.

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Data Centers

Data Centers

Data centers stores important and critical computer systems. Your network might require storage facilities for your power supply, security systems, air conditioning, and critical data. Data centers house extensive amounts of data. For example, a university will need to store information regarding student information, test scores, employee information, and competitor data. Data centers require extensive security systems, mirror drives, and backup systems.

Data centers are used by various government offices, mobile phone companies, banks, and businesses. The main function of a data center is to protect and store critical information. It should also be able to retrieve information easily when required. Data warehousing is similar to data center and stores information that needs to be analyzed by a company or business. A company might use information that is saved in a data center to analyze the trends for their business over a period of time.
Setting up a data center is a complicated process. You can use co-location facilities, build your own center, utilize a host, or update an existing data center. Before you plan to build a data center, you should assess your needs and budget. The location, power facilities, air conditioning, and bandwidth should be determined.
A four-tier system is used to identify different data center designs. Tier 1 provides a single path for powering and cooling the center. Tier 2 includes a single path for power and cooling. Tier 3 also has a single path. Tier 4 has multiple paths for power and cooling, redundant components, and provides 99.995% availability for the data center.

Co-location

Co-location services make use of data centers where different networks or website are stored. These data centers are generally used by web based companies to store their hardware in an offsite location. Through co-location centers, many people can locate networks, store data, use servers, and interconnect simultaneously. Colocation centers enable companies to place their server racks with other servers and share bandwidth. The center provides the power, bandwidth, and IP address for your server.

Server Racks

A server rack is a cabinet where a server can be mounted. It usually has two to four vertical racks where equipment can be placed. The framework where you place the computer that acts as a server is called rack and the computer that is used is called rack server. Designed for mobility and security, server racks also help in noise reduction. Accessories used in server racks include shelves, side panels, doors, fans, and power strips. You can purchase server racks from a manufacture or build one on your own.

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