Popular searches

Network & Security Storage & Back Up Enterprise Email SSL Disaster Recovery Remote Hands Server Migration

Affordable Cloud Platforms

The Benefits of Using a Cloud and VPS Server

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

Opting for the correct path when it comes to hosting services may be somewhat mindboggling. For example, you may conclude there are solid points which need to be made for utilizing VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, just the way there are benefits of utilizing cloud hosting services. As a matter of fact, these 2 choices are not in opposition, but rather, they are complementary to each other: one may install a VPS inside a cloud framework. Opting for such a cloud VPS hosting choice implies you can profit from these 2 unimaginably famous and helpful technological methodologies for a specific backend.

Cloud Hosting Options

A cloud server is a domain which is given to clients through various servers which are incorporated and together constitute the cloud. Basic hindrances which have kept individuals from embracing such a hosting arrangement are the absence of full information control and concerns regarding security. Nonetheless, there are numerous advantages of the cloud; evidently, many thought pioneers have already started believing that security is, indeed, one of them.

By utilizing a cloud server, a company is basically making use of the server farm of some supplier to manage the network, communicate with the clients, and deliver its matter to the people – from virtual server created inside a cloud-designed condition. CSP or a cloud specialist deals with the initial deployment, equipment, information security, and maintenance. They will vary in the measure of consent they offer to the clients to utilize their individual guidelines and configurations for the programs and servers. Sometimes, scaling may be carried out via a web-based interface.  

Firms that make use of cloud innovation can scale extraordinarily. Scalability is important since it is not only about your capacity to develop, but also your association’s capacity to react spontaneously to the changes that are sought after – because your magnitude on an average will be dependably lower than the sum you are offering at peak periods. 

Cloud VPS Specialities

The main contrast between cloud VPS hosting and other IaaS practices is that cloud VPS hosting has its roots in containerization, thus providing clients with numerous cloud benefits without totally virtualizing the hardware.

It must also be noted that VPS hosting of each and every kind is far more customizable and secure than shared hosting since the previous option has its own particular OS, and also its own particular server (the reason why root access is possible in a VPS situation). Whereas a customary VPS splits up the assets of a conventional server with firm restrictions, a cloud VPS hosting provides you devoted assets too.

Cloud VPS Uses

Here are some of the most basic use cases of cloud IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service, as demonstrated by Enterprise Networking Planet and Cloud Academy:

Production migration: A major way in which cloud is utilized by companies is in the changeover of production from an on-location data center migration to cloud.

Disaster recovery/backup: Cloud hosting framework is composed in a way which makes it impenetrable to individual segment let-downs or to speed concerns of a solitary physical machine. Also, you essentially have as much storage space as you require with the cloud.

Redundancy: You may actualize 2 cloud virtual private servers in 2 topographical areas. At that point, you can utilize a load balancer for sending solicitations to every one of the 2 servers and render your framework significantly stronger.

Data manipulation/big data: You can oversee huge information significantly more productively inside the cloud hosting. Similarly, as with different operations, you don’t have to pay for the assets aside from when you have a vast dataset that you have to consider.

Peak-traffic bursting: At the point when an organization completes a considerable volume of online business exchanges, they will notice peak times when the traffic vacillates. Public cloud framework is intended for grand execution in light of generous rising and falling in the traffic. At the point when your movement goes down, you could conceivably backpedal to utilizing just your customary frameworks as well.  

Proof of concept: Cloud makes it conceivable with a generally thin spending plan to organize proof of concept. The discoveries allow you to have more proof to impart to administration.

Web hosting: Frequently, organizations will choose to utilize IaaS for their company. They settle on that decision with the goal that heap adjusting is executed deliberately all through their biological community, so as to ensure auto-scale on request. Basically, having the capacity to scale without having to physically intercede is a huge pick up for organizations that need that procedure to be simple, without administration or support challenges.

Development and Testing: Just the way you will not have additional space for equipment to take into consideration blasting at peak periods, you will also not have space for a formative backend. Cloud servers can be conveyed as required, for example, just for 60 mins of testing.

Importance of Online Marketing to Succeed in Web Hosting Business

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

Any hosting company needs a robust marketing strategy to succeed in the highly competitive niche market of web hosting. It is observed that many owners of web hosting companies invest heavily in procurement of equipment and are left with a meager budget for marketing efforts.

Factors that impact performance of web hosting companies

Lack of a focused marketing strategy and excessive investment in infrastructure are cited as the most notable pitfalls that lead to failure of many web hosting companies.

One of the most sought after yet ineffective method of marketing is that of cold-calling. This method is also called as outbound marketing and involves sending mails and making calls by doing offline as well as online search for approaching customers.

This method of marketing is commonly pursued by smaller companies. Here is every chance that the company would get blacklisted for resorting to spamming activities. Cold calling is often met with cold shoulders.

Direct calls to decision makers are met with very little success and the rate of success in such marketing activities is usually not more than a mere five percent. Small web hosting companies spend most of the financial resources in purchase and colocation of servers, thereby failing to earmark a fair amount of budget for implementation of marketing strategies.

Empower hosting with affiliate marketing programs

In modern business scenario, web hosts need to attach greater significance to marketing activities and make provision of optimum budget to carry out well chalked-out online marketing strategies.

Many small web hosts try to pitch their companies against major hosting organizations and fail to identify their exact competitors. If you are trying to emulate giant web hosting companies, then you are going to exhaust all your financial resources in building infrastructure. One also needs to understand the marketing efforts of these companies.

It is a common observation that many small webhosting companies ignore development of an affiliate program. Affiliate program is an important component of web hosting enterprise’s marketing plan. The power of affiliates should never be underestimated. Almost every branded hosting company is leveraging affiliate programs by paying commission to those who are selling these programs.

Power of bloggers

Influence of bloggers in the hosting industry is well established. It is not very easy to convince bloggers about promoting hosting solutions from small companies. We need to appreciate that influential bloggers are concerned about reputation of the blog which strongly depends on quality and performance of web hosting services they are promoting through their blogs.

In order to convince these bloggers about quality of hosting, one can make a lucrative trial offers by providing sufficient time. In majority of cases bloggers can be convinced about quality of hosting service in terms of uptime and availability of cutting edge infrastructure. This is due to the fact that many small hosting companies pay a great attention to infrastructure development.

Once you are able to impress upon the quality aspects of your web hosting, then it would be not be difficult to turn them to your side with offers for better commissions.

Establish quality parameters through review sites

Online reviews can significantly contribute to establish a sound reputation and better conversion of potential customers because a good proportion of customers rely on reviews to select a web hosting service provider. Great reviews improve your sales prospects and negative reviews can reduce the chances of product purchase to nil.

You need to search for respected review sites that are sure to influence decision making process of your prospective clients. You can send them requests to write reviews by providing domains as well as servers to second your claims. It is advised to enter into a deal with the reputable review sites because you need to provide what they require for gaining desired visibility.

Encourage purchases with coupons

Online shoppers are accustomed to promotional offers such as codes and coupons. It is recommended to encourage your clients by offering additional discounts through coupons. You can enter into agreement with online coupon sites for adding your coupons. It is advisable not to repeat coupons on same sites and use different sites for placing coupons.

It is also possible to attract potential customers by providing them with giveaways. It can be in the form of WordPress hosting or free offer of Virtual Private Server. You need to be careful in selecting individuals for offering giveaways.

Targeting site visitors

There are many possible outcomes whenever a person visits your hosting site and leaves without any purchase. The two significant probabilities are leaving website either by visiting its home page or by visiting product page. The retargeting of such customers can be performed by targeting ads through websites that are in association with Google Ad program.

It is easy to expand a hosting company in terms of employees and infrastructure by building a substantial customer base. Growth in customer acquisition is only possible by religiously following multi-pronged marketing strategy. While it is good to have a sound knowledge about the business, one can only succeed in the business with help of a perfect strategy for online marketing.

The Hidden Secrets of Cloud

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

Over the past few years, cloud computing has become a mainstream technology. Discussions and debates regarding the use and benefits of cloud computing have become a part of every IT buff. Cloud computing has surely helped in changing the technological landscape and that’s why it is considered as the most revolutionary technological innovation after the Internet. After witnessing the benefits of cloud computing, a huge number of businesses are moving to this advantageous platform without any second. Be it an eCommerce firm or an IT firm, everyone is making the move towards cloud.

But in order to harness the advantages of the cloud computing platform, it is very necessary to know some of the important things about this revolutionary technology. It doesn’t matter whether you are using cloud hosting solution like QuickBooks company file hosting or cloud storage service like OneDrive, knowing cloud in details will help you to deal with the challenges and use the technology in the best possible way. Although the internet is full of information related to cloud, still there are few things that are not known to the common people and this is what we are going to discuss in this blog post.

Let’s look at some of the hidden secrets of cloud hosting so that you can understand this advanced technology in a detailed way.

Cloud is not new

There are many businesses that are using cloud computing solutions from a very long time and still, they are not aware of its origin. Well, the most common perception about cloud is it is a new technology that must have been introduced in the market in the late ’90s but that’s not true. You will be dumbfounded to know that the term cloud computing was coined back in late 1960. According to the available information, it is believed that cloud computing was invented by Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider in 1960. It is true at that time, no one would have thought this invention will become the base of IT and it will allow IT, experts, to introduce many new technological innovations. The inventor of the cloud computing technology worked on ARPANET in order to connect people and data from anywhere and at any time. Well, this basic feature led to further development of cloud and in 1983, CompuServe came with a small portion of its disk space dedicated to upload any file by the user.

All Cloud vendors are not the same

If you are looking forward to taking advantage of the cloud hosting service then you will need to choose the right cloud vendor and here is the second hidden secret of cloud. Most of the people think that the cloud services provided by cloud vendors are the same but that’s not true. There is no denial in the fact that all the cloud vendors functioning in the market have to follow some particular guidelines but it doesn’t mean that all the cloud vendors are bound to provide the same level of cloud service. If you will choose the wrong cloud vendor then you might end up wasting your time and money on the cloud platform.

Whether you are going for tailor-made cloud app development service or just cloud hosting service, it is your duty to analyze the cloud vendor so that you can yield maximum advantages. Working with an experienced and reputed cloud vendor is always a good idea, even if you have to spend some extra money. There are many parameters on which you can analyze a cloud provider like security, accessibility, experience, uptime, scalability, flexibility and much more. You can also switch a cloud vendor without any hassle as there is no involvement of contract in a cloud service.

You can take care of your aging infrastructure with the help of Cloud

Many people think that cloud can never help an aging infrastructure but that’s not true. The hidden secret of cloud is if you an aging infrastructure then cloud can help you revamp that infrastructure without burning a hole in your pocket. If you will use cloud computing solution for your aging infrastructure then you will have access to help with your aging infrastructure and you will also be able to bring down the overall cost. This works best for all those companies that find it challenging to keep up with the latest technological innovation. Access to technology without any burden is the most basic but also the most important benefit of cloud. If you want to keep up with new technology without buying servers or without investing in any other type of hardware then cloud is the way to go for you.

Cloud computing might have become one of the most popular technological solutions but still, not many people are aware about this technology. The above-mentioned points are some of the most hidden secrets of cloud computing and that’s why you should know about them.

Image Hosting: Give Your Images the Edge They Deserve

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

An image carries so much more than just a click. As there is a very famous saying about an image “There’s more to it than meets the eye”. This is so much true as an image clicked tens of years back remains still so relevant and has the capability of carrying more emotion than the statement itself. It’s not just about narrating a story or imparting information but also to reinforce a point. Whether it is a blog or an email, an image instantly improves user engagement. 

With the help of the images, you gain user’s attention for a much longer time thus comparatively have a greater impact. The best part is that anyone can make use of the images whether a blog writer or an entrepreneur. So the question that “Is image hosting made for me?” does not even exist.

Although there are some image-intensive websites or websites holding heavy images, image hosting is a blessing for them. Before even uploading a single image, one decides whether to host the image on their site or through a third-party image hosting provider.

But let me remove one confusion, image hosting is not just to host images but it also includes hosting social media integration apps. As to integrate social media apps also you need considerably wide-ranged bandwidth.

There may be multiple images hosting websites but you need to search the perfect suite for yourself. This might seem tough to find but is not that much in reality. You just need to know the frequency and quantity of your image posting. Not only this, the amount of time you want to spend on uploading and most importantly the reason for your upload.

Once you are clear with all these doubts you are good to go. Things become easier for a professional photographer as they are quite clear about their requirements.

Realizing the benefits of image hosting, plenty of websites came up with the idea of free image hosting. This increased the craze of image hosting even more. It not only lets you store but also shares those images in form of albums. This might come as a shock to you but some of them also allow you to use the image hosting platform as an online shop to sell your photographic pieces.

Free image hosting does not mean that they have restricted themselves in terms of feature. Here are some amazing features that any free image hosting holds-

Free storage space – The complete storage space is free to use. Although the storage space is free but is enough for individual or professional usage.

Backup and recovery- We understand the catastrophic effect on someone if they lose some of their important images. Hence, image hosting providers take good care of this. They have a solid backup and recovery options that keep your images multi-layered secured.

Upload in no time- Image hosting is known to be for quick uploading. You will be going to cherish this feature of image hosting.

In-house editing- The best part is that you need not wander here and there in search of image filter options. You get in-house amazing filtering options that are updated now and then.

Multi-platform sharing option- This feature of image hosting allows you to share images across multiple social media platforms. This has been possible as most of these platforms are easily synced with smartphones. Thus things become very easy for the photographers to manage all of their profiles altogether.

Uploading, adding, and editing images through image hosting is easily customizable but still, if you are not convinced then other additional features make it even more interesting. Images are treated with all the care it needs and more. Each and every image requires different layouts, templates, and designs. A good image hosting provider understands these requirements at its best.

One more additional feature and useful one is that image hosting platforms allows you to store the image in multiple formats. They have the availability of JPG, JPE, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP in some cases. This promotes the free flow of image content without any restriction on the format and easy to use the maximum number of users.

Uploading images can be done with one’s eyes shut. You just need to name and format the image correctly and once it’s done you will have to drag and drop the image directly on the image hosting platform.

So what you are waiting for? Give your images the same pampering with the help of all those features we have mentioned before. No matter if you are an amateur or a professional photographer, we will make your images worth sharing globally. The perfect image hosting provider is just around the corner you just have to come up with your images and enjoy the world-class transformation.

How you could leverage YouTube for your Domains and Web Hosting Business

Posted on by Manoj Yadav


Many organizations are using the social and digital media platforms to promote their online business. YouTube is the largest social media platform for video content. Customers also have been finding it more convenient as they are able to view the products. With YouTube, clients now find additional means to increase traffic to their website that could be beneficial and lead to more conversions.

Why choose You Tube?

You Tube is the second largest search engine and has about 100 hours of video content being uploaded per minute. It just ranks behind Google and Facebook having the third largest number of visitors on the internet. Customers can include lots of information to their video to make it more presentable and engaging. It is also easier to upload videos on You Tube. Consumers find it more convenient to watch videos rather than read advertising content. The clients can also give video tutorials of the usage and benefits of their products.

How to promote Business

Domain name and web hosting service providers can upload their videos on the different domain names they offer and the best ways of selecting and buying a domain name. They can give a tutorial on the various points a customer has to consider while buying the services of a hosting provider. They could promote their services by posting customer reviews, and the recognition and awards they have won. They can in briefly highlight the advantages of various hosting platforms they offer and the advantages organizations get using the hosting provider services.

Steps involved

Customers wanting to use YouTube to promote their business have to register with Google by having a Gmail account. The account name should be relevant to the business they plan to promote avoiding spaces and special characters. Then they can upload the videos with images and pictures about the products and services they offer as their business. The videos again can be redirected to the customer’s website with appropriate tags and keywords.

A crucial point the clients have to ensure is that the videos have to be eye catching with high quality illustrations, short and memorable taglines and audio cues to attract and absorb the visitor’s attention. It should be specific focusing on the core products and stress on the benefits the visitors will get buying the services. The customer should update the videos at regular intervals with new product launches and tutorials to retain the returning visitors.

How Webmasters Should Choose The Best Web Hosting Provider

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

There are so many web hosting companies around that choosing the right one is difficult. However, to ensure the success of your website, it is important to carefully study what each web hosting company has on offer. If your business critically depends on the website, which in turn depends on the quality of hosting services, then you need to go beyond what is stated on the hosting company website. You need to look at the business plan of the website hosting company. This offers you additional information about the company, its long term prospects, and how it can benefit you. 

Locations 

Most web hosting companies are specific to a particular location. This can be most commonly seen by the location of their servers. Some companies may have servers in many locations; others have servers restricted to a particular location. Usually, if need to choose a web hosting company with servers in location where the maximum numbers of your visitors are situated. This offers visitors easier access to your website, and thus, ensures loyalty. You might also be particular about server locations due to security aspects. A server in an unsuitable location could become non functional at the first sign of catastrophe, causing your website to go down. 

If the business plan mentions future explorations of other markets, you should take interest in it. Does that mean servers will move to another location? Or will new servers be added to another city? Does that city figure in your business plans as well? If yes, you and your website hosting company can grow together. This is why it is important for webmasters to look at the business plan of the hosting company closely. 

Business objectives

The web hosting provider will list the objectives of their business in their business plan. Studying this will give the webmaster more insight into the long term plans of the company. If their webhosting service is perched on a risky branch, the webmaster will see it on studying the business plan. If the web hosting company is poised for success, it means positive growth for the website too, and thus, the well being of the business. This is why studying the business plan for feasibility allows webmasters to judge if the company will last long, and thus offer stability to their website. The objectives also mention the main goal of the website hosting company. The company that focuses on the right hosting service will benefit from access to the best resources. 

Plans

The business plan will offer details about the services offered by the web hosting service. This will enable you to judge the feasibility of a particular type of hosting plan. Some plans may offer additional features. If you study the business plan, you might get to know the full bouquet of products on offer. These could include plans for small businesses, large enterprises, ecommerce, gamers, resellers, CMS, and others. Based on your industry, you can check if the right plan is available for you. Also, by studying the plans, you can locate future investment options of the company and check if these plans will help your website in any way. 

Financial condition

Every business needs to maintain good capital flow to remain in business. You do not want to find out one fine day that your website hosting company has disappeared due to financial stress. While more established website hosting services offer robust financial growth, the upcoming ones are more willing to customize their plans for businesses or offer low priced plans. Then on the other hand are services such as Go4hosting, which are established companies, which also offer affordably priced services to clients in diverse industries. 

Resources

Webmasters are particularly interested in resources on offer. This includes storage and bandwidth, in particular. By studying the web hosting company plan, you can see how the company plans to allocate resources. You can then ask the company to offer you plans with the best resources. You might focus on a particular kind of resource, such as email accounts, or file upload, and so on. Go4hosting offers reliability, such as guarantee of uptime, and infallible security. This makes the security something you can rely on at all times. 

Go4hosting offers reliable resources, as well as plenty of hosting plans. Customers can choose business specific plans, with more resources, or for the convenience of ecommerce stores, resellers and others. There are plans aimed at low cost users, who need affordable but reliable hosting for their sites. Some users may also benefit from dedicated hosting, which offers more resources, as well as freedom to configure the server as they like. Shared hosting plans are known for their low cost, and perfect for growing businesses.  VPS servers on the other hand, offer uninterrupted resources availability, at the best prices.

The minutes of a Private cloud compared to a VPS

Posted on by Nishant Nath

Cloud servers have gained massive popularity in a relatively short time. From medium enterprises to a tech-giant, there is hardly a place where cloud servers are not deployed. Cloud has brought Virtualization to reality from the realms of vision.

The popularity for computing has now encompassed individuals and is no more confined to just enterprises. Among individuals, cloud goes by the concept of File hosting service. File hosting allows users to upload personal documents, backups, and database to an online storage.

The intense customizability of cloud servers is the key motive behind businesses gluing to it for their IT needs. Cloud servers allow individuals to handpick things that fit their business.

The choice of Private Cloud servers (PCS) over a Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a concern that many businesses topple upon. A PCS resembles a VPS in many aspects, but differs in only a few.

Many of us are left bewildered with the choice of a private cloud over a virtual private server. With this article, we have aimed at facilitating a crystal clear understanding of private clouds, and how minutely it differs from a VPS.

Private Cloud- What it is?

A cloud computing service, dedicated to the use of a single organization, in which the hardware is provisioned over a private infrastructure is called a private cloud.

VPS- What is it?

A VPS mimics the environment of a dedicated server on a shared platform. It achieves this by sharing resources of a shared server among multiple tenants. Each tenant is allocated a fixed share of technically separated resource from the server.

How VPS and Private Cloud Resemble each other?

  • Both VPS and PCS benefit from isolated resources reserved especially for their needs. Server resources in a VPS is only virtually isolated from other tenants, whereas in a Private cloud server, the resources are both physically and technically separated.
  • A VPS serves the interest of a single organization or user, much like PCS does.
  • Network traffic from neighbouring servers seldom affects the performance of another VPS hosted on the same physical server. Same goes with private cloud servers.
  • Both VPS and PCS can be provider-managed services, permitting administrators to continue using application resources without worrying about managing the underlying hardware.

How PCS differs from VPS?

Isolation

VPSes share resources from the same dedicated server. A virtual environment separates resource of one VPS from that of its neighbouring servers. Different providers have different ways of allocating resources to the tenants.

A Private Cloud server is procured on a private infrastructure, and are physically separated from other servers. Unlike VPS, the alienation of resources for a particular PCS does not require deployment of any virtual environment.

Security

The idea behind procuring cloud within organization’s own-premise is to achieve state-of the art data-security. Since such servers have no physical or technical connection with any other server, a private cloud is inarguably more secured than a VPS.

The above statement does not imply that VPSes are any less secure. Providers employ enough filters and techniques to safeguard data stored on a virtual private server.

Management and customizability

Both VPSes and Private clouds lay complete control and management at the hands of their network administrators. However, with VPS, some control still lies with the provider; the provider maintains the computing infra as per his own policy.

A self-owned Private Cloud server is entirely at the administrator’s disposal to manage and to customize. Admins not only control the server, but also the principal server-hardware and infrastructure.

Scalability & flexibility

Scaling VPS is almost always followed by a server setup which can be an exhausting task to carry out. When it comes to scalability, the cloud servers have a slightly upper edge for the reason that cloud hosting providers handle the entire server setup at their own end.

Virtualization

Virtualization means creating a pool of server space by consolidating hardware infrastructure irrespective of where resources lie physically.

With VPS, one cannot achieve virtualization as each virtual private server points to a unique physical disk address.

A private cloud pools resources from multiple servers to act like a single virtual storage. The virtual space thus created does not correspond to any server in particular, but to the combined pool of servers.

Cost

A VPS is hosted on the provider’s infra, that too on a shared server. Private cloud servers require setting up of an entire infrastructure for computation. Though, a private cloud can also be procured over a rented space, it would still cost way more than a VPS.

Performance

A VPS hosting only offers the assured level of performance, as it shares only a fixed part of resources from a central dedicated server. Static allocation of resources prove to be problematic during high loads. During peak loads, VPSes get clumsy as the allocated resources aren’t adequate enough to cater the increased resource requirements.

With Private cloud servers, the entire resource is accommodate any over-the-top network traffic. Moreover, if the load still gets past the server’s capabilities, the cloud can momentarily be scaled, and shrunk once the load gets back within the server’s limit.

Reliability

VPS, like any other physical server, has a single point of failure. So, if the host server malfunctions, all the VPSes capsuled on that server are bound to fail.

Private clouds deploy virtual storage. Even if one of the servers in a pool fails, data from the remaining server-pool is still accessible. This ensures a high uptime availability.

Indubiously, Private cloud servers are more reliable than virtual private servers.

Thought to retain

IT has developed a craze for the flexibility that has accompanied cloud computing. Cloud is seen as an economically viable alternative to almost all storages. Entrepreneurs have motioned the migration of their business from cheap windows VPS. Professionals have already started exploring and modifying cloud to their interests.

Organizations already having a well-established dedicated server’s network have also embraced cloud computing. Enterprises that demanded unmatched security from conventional server setups are procuring their own private cloud servers.

It would be interesting to see for how long will the craze for cloud computing thrive.

Unsolicited International Calls Can Compromise Security: A Go4hosting Case Study

Posted on by Nishant Nath

It all began with the reports of a total of 17 Indian lawyers, activists and scholars whose phones were being tapped for any piece of evidence. The application that was implanted in the targets’ phone did not come masked within an application, nor was it downloaded through a redirected link. A common pattern that raises suspicion is that each of these 17 victims received WhatsApp calls from international numbers.

While most of the victims were wary enough to not pick those calls, the damage had been done already. The malware was planted with just a missed call. Back in 2016, when this suspicious program was first identified as ‘Pegasus’, it was named the most sophisticated spyware tool in the history of cyberespionage.

There is virtually no escape to Pegasus unless you have uninstalled WhatsApp before the alleged attack. Cleaning or rebooting will not help (nor will factory resetting the phone) because the malware dwells in the permanent memory of your phone – something you cannot wipe (much like the IMEI number).

Indian Government Bans 42 Apps from Play Store

The first application that was banned from use in India was UC Browser, which was known for its blazing-fast downloads of webpages. What followed then was a spree of guidelines and ban of 40 plus applications. The newly formed BJP government released a list of applications which it deemed as unsafe following Intelligence agency’s reports that people of the subcontinent are under neighbour’s (primarily Chinese) reconnaissance.

Data from December 2019 indicate that UC Browser, a product of UCWeb which is owned by the Alibaba Group is still the second most-widely used browser in India.

Popular Browsers and their Market-share in India

In August 2019, UCWeb released another update following which the ban was lifted from it. A week later UCB was live on Google Play and the un-died craze continue to flourish. Within a month, the userbase burgeoned to its zenith, and soared lifetime high a month later.

To better understand the nuances between the pre and post release versions, and to see if there is any tangible change in the performance, Go4hosting downloaded an earlier version of the browser and compared it with a more recent version to see how things stack against each other.

The results were not very surprising.

Pre-Ban UC Permissions

We searched through the internet hoping to find any third-party application-store to download an outdated release of UCB (UC Browser), preferably pre-August 19. The search led us to an online blackmarket for apps, containing all the spooky applications that have now been discontinued from Play Store.

Shown  Above – An interesting thing we noticed was the exact same application showed different sizes on Google Play and the black market. Perhaps Google had a different way to compress raw apk data, or the black market was floating apks with mutilated codes. While the former is more reasonable, the second explanation cannot be outright denied.

We scrolled through the various release of UC, selected the one that was banned, allowed apk the permission to parse and installed it on a test-smartphone.

The permissions that UC sought from us were a bit overstated and was by no means convincing enough for a browser. As we scrolled down we saw it asked to access our call information, which had us on full-alert now.

In-App Permissions Required

With the call access granted, UC browser now had access to our call logs. It could make/record calls on its own, and also had rights needed to upload any of our files to its cloud servers in China. Seemingly, Indian intelligence also picked the hint and ordered immediate ban of Chinese apps in India.

India and China together formed almost 70% of UC’s userbase. By 2018, the browser already had more than 130 million MAU (monthly active users) in the subcontinent alone, but the number took a blow to the head with the ban. In a month, the userbase fell to a lifetime low.

Ban Outcomes Change in UC’s Policy

Once the government imposed bans on UC, UCWeb started to revamp its policy and subsequently jettisoned all irrelevant permissions.

The 6th January, 2020 (shown on right) update of UC browser features fewer permissions and works as great as its predecessors. Again, this has raised questions on the ethos of Chinese firms floating extraneous apps for their malign intents. If UCWeb had the capability to build the same application without inessential permission requests, why it did not do so in the first place.

How missed international calls hacked into WhatsApp

The Facebook-owned WhatsApp had only recently integrated remote handshake in its updates when it was hacked, despite WhatsApp being looked upon as a safer messenger after the update. A handshake authorizes direct connection between two devices, without the need for an intermittent connecting server. Though this eliminates mirroring or caching of data to third-party servers, it also renders it open and vulnerable to an attack.

Go4hosting has reasons to believe that this is what Pegasus took advantage of. When the 17 victims received missed calls, the malicious data packets from Pegasus’s systems were transmitted to the victims’ phone, and given WhatsApp already had the permission to read/write to SD card, the program had little problems invading the phone’s memory. 

What Damage Can Missed Calls do?

Truecaller, another Chinese application that was amongst those banned, revealed India ranks #5 in global spam call rankings.

The number of international spam calls saw a rise in 2019. An average Indian receives around 26 pesky phone calls every month, the report says. 

Though the actual number of call-frauds has seen a dip, the frauds through phone calls have increased drastically.

While some reported numbers that did not reflect on call logs, some reported receiving calls from no number at all i.e. calls that had no caller id.

People in India were already under distress with badgering credit-card calls and now hackers from Pegasus have joined the club, although more covertly. At present there seems no cure to this disease that Israel’s NSO, the company that developed Pegasus, has given birth to.

Because phones are being hacked with missed calls, privacy is at its all-time low. The way Pegasus was discovered alludes to even bigger peril. These applications have possibly existed for a very long time and come embedded with every new smartphone. Or, maybe the people developing applications (like WhatsApp, UC Browser, etc.) intentionally leave loopholes to sell them to organizations like NSO, one may never know.

Importance of Using an Exclusive Email Hosting Service instead of the One Provided by the Hosting Service

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

Emails are an important part of all business dealings. Keeping this in mind, many web hosting services provide their clients with an email address that goes along with their hosting plan. It is indeed a value added service given by the hosting service provider. In fact, the client can even find it beneficial at first because they are getting everything at a single place. However, it can be more harmful than beneficial. Rather than using such an email from your hosting service provider, use of a third party email hosting can be more beneficial. To understand the entire dynamics, it is important for you to have a look at the problems associated with the emails.

Emails will become Inaccessible when the Website is Down

When you use an email provided by your email hosting company, your email will also remain inaccessible when the website remains down. Let’s understand this problem in details –

When an email is tied with the DNS, the main problem is that the email and site remains inaccessible when the host experiences downtime. This is especially true if the host doesn’t have multiple servers for keeping site live on the internet.

If a business gets an email from a different hosting solution then it’ll essentially help in separating the servers. This essentially means that the email remains available even when the site is down.

At this point of time you may ask whether an email service also goes down or not. Yes, email hosts also go down. However, it won’t go down simply because your web hosting solution is facing a downtime.

Your Email can get Blacklisted if Someone Else is Spamming

If the email server you are using is shared with anyone else then this means any other businesses’ unworthy actions may adversely affect you. Suppose you are sharing your email server with someone else. Suppose, the other person or business starts sending spams. In that case, the server IP address that is getting the poor reputation is shared by your business email address too. If that server IP address gets banned/blocked then it means that your email address also gets banned/blocked. This is one of the major downsides of using a shared email server. In fact, during the period during which your email address remains blocked or blacklisted, all the emails you are receiving will get bounced. For a business, it’s not a good thing at all.

In fact, to get off the blacklist, it can take several days. That’s why the dedicated email hosting services are so beneficial. They work hard to ensure that a certain email address is not spamming. In fact, they also ensure that the emails don’t get blacklisted.

Slow Delivery

Web requests as well as the database are handled by the host server. It has been seen that the emails from shared hosting get delayed many times. In some cases, the emails get dropped too. However, when you opt for an email hosting server, the bandwidth is not shared with websites. This ensures that the emails get delivered to the destination emails much faster.

Support Problem

It has been seen generally that most hosting providers focus on delivering great service on website hosting only. Therefore, the support staffs are also trained in providing service for hosting solution mainly. When you get email service free from your web host, they are giving you a value added service to entice you. The support staffs are not trained enough for these email services. Therefore, you may not get adequate service from them on email related issues. In fact, the service providers may not give your email hosting problem adequate priority or importance when the email hosting service goes down.   

Difficulty of Moving to a New Host

Migration of hosting service provider is a common practice. However, website migration is difficult and needs lots of planning. However, the problems will be doubled if you have to migrate your email hosting too at the same time.

Just think of the situation when you plan to change your hosting service provider from whom you had received email hosting service too. After using it for a year or more now you want to change the hosting service for both website and email. In such a case, the email server will remain down during the time takes for moving the DNS.

Availability of Less Features

You web hosting service provider may be exception in providing you with wide array of hosting plans. However, that doesn’t ensure that they have the same finesse in providing adequate email support. It has been generally seen that the email provided by a hosting solution comes with less number of features. Some of the examples include 100 MB inbox, absence of calendar (until and unless the user makes additional payment), and inadequate spam filters/security.

When a business uses a third party service provider instead of a free email service from a web hosting solution then too there are some associated benefits. It enables the business to look around and shop for the best email platform at a certain budget. By doing this, you get the layout as well as features that are most suitable for you. As it is their expertise, they can also offer additional offers.

The above mentioned points are some of the main problems faced by the users when they use the emails offered by their website hosting service. Here are some of the recommendations that can help you to get the best out of your exclusive email hosting service –

Recommendations

Some of the recommended email hosting service providers for businesses includes –

  • Google Apps for Work
  • Office 365 Email and Calendar
  • Network Solutions
  • Aabaco

Conclusion

Business emails are the main medium of communication with clients and prospective customers. That’s why choosing the email hosting and service provider is very important. A third party email service provider has expertise in providing email service to businesses. In such a case, the downtime of a website server doesn’t adversely affect the email services. That’s the reason why it’s always recommended to use an exclusive email hosting service instead of the one provided by your website hosting service.

Why A Big Bang Approach To Cloud May Be Best Avoided

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

If you have made up your mind to sift your business data and operations to the cloud, you should search for the best hosting plans for your business. In other words, you need to know what your business needs are in the first place in order to start searching for the best cloud hosting solutions for it. The so-called “cool” cloud computing technologies may tempt you to shift your data to the cloud. But you need to see whether such solutions would actually be worth your time and money in the long run. Very often enterprises sign up for hosting plans which do not always deliver business-related advantages. So, when you understand your business objectives properly you can start looking for technologies which will complement these objectives.

Besides knowing what your business goals are, you should also make an attempt to know technologies which will complement your current technology stack. It is possible that you have many systems working now and you will, therefore, have to choose technologies that can integrate with these and make work easier for you. You also do not want to be locked in with a vendor in choosing a cloud hosting plan. So, businesses are now looking for a flexible work atmosphere where security is made a priority.

What are the main reasons to opt for cloud hosting?

  • Very often companies shift their operations and data to the cloud in the hope that this is an economical move and they will be able to save money in the process. But, this does not always come true. While cloud solutions can offer you flexibility and scalability, it is not cheap always. It can offer you real-time resources so that you can access infrastructural resources as and when you need them. You are in a position to develop and test innovations quickly when you shift to the cloud. The increase in speed is a huge advantage when compared to deploying traditional infrastructure. Since this speed or getting to the market first with any new innovation gives your business a competitive edge, most companies value this.
     
  • Another significant benefit of cloud computing is the ability of an enterprise to cope with sudden spurts in demand. When your business experiences unplanned growth or sudden traffic spikes, the cloud may be a huge help. This is particularly true of companies which face an incredible amount of traffic due to sales on certain days of the year; on such days, the on-demand infrastructure is made possible because of the cloud.
     
  • A third major benefit of cloud hosting is security. When you have a flexible environment where employees are working on multiple devices, chances of breaches and leaks are high. But businesses today are understanding the basic need to prioritize security as is evident from the new data protection rules set forth by EU and enforceable from May 2018. Now data is no longer stored in any physical device; rather it is in the cloud-hosted desktops.

Things to remember when moving your data to the cloud:

  • Amongst the many tips to remember when shifting data to the cloud, one of the most vital ones is picking a technology which can integrate with your existing technologies. Else, you will face a number of challenges in deploying these and the whole process of data shifting will become much slower than before.
     
  • Secondly, it is not wise to try to move all the data in one go. You must pick and choose small applications at first and then see if these work. You should test them before deploying them in the cloud. Once successfully deployed, you can move onto slightly more complex workloads. So, a big bang approach may actually be a fatal blunder. You need to understand that having the right process in place is as vital as choosing the right technology.
     
  • You must also be prepared for failures and crashes. Any component of the infrastructure could simply disappear without warning. Your applications should be designed to cope with such crisis. Cloud-native apps are designed to be self-healing. So, they are usually able to adapt to such crisis even without human involvement. But traditional applications have not been designed for such unforeseen circumstances. So, you should never simply shift any application without researching first and then hoping it will work.
     
  • When you feel that you can use a one-size-fits-all solution for the cloud, you are sadly mistaken. Businesses need tailor-made solutions; without custom solutions, they cannot achieve their goals. So, any common approach is not desirable. You need the flexibility to evolve hosting solutions; else, you will end up paying for a solution which will not give you the desired result. In the long run, you will end up paying more for such a solution and it will result in a rather complex migration process. The business will then have to choose a completely different platform as it outgrows the solution by that time.

Importance of Web Hosting on Search Engine Ranking of Website

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

Significance of web hosting in terms of Search Engine Optimization has been always overlooked. In fact, web hosting was seldom mentioned in relation with SEO practices.

Major search engine attach great significance to user experience as one of the vital SEO factors. Page load speed is an important contributory factor for a better browsing experience. Network uptime, availability of bandwidth, and server performance are also important components that can boost website performance to a great extent.

It is obvious that frequent downtime events and reduced page load speeds are responsible for site abandonment by visitors. This can certainly impact your overall rankings due to negative user experience. This underlines the essence of uptime for maintaining uninterrupted website availability. This brings us to evaluate different factors that are found to impact Search Engine Optimization.

Importance of website speed

Website speed has been a hot topic of discussion lately. Speed is responsible to instantly load the website pages in response to requests from the visitors. This factor is accorded higher importance by leading search engines. The website traffic is directly proportional to its speed. The reason for this is the modern day internet users are using smart phones or Wi-Fi connections to access internet. These connections differ in terms of performance and therefore a faster loading website has better chances to attract and sustain visitors than a slow performing site.

In order to find a reliable webhost that can boost your website speed it is recommended to get associated with a reputed and established host that is ready to offer SLA backed guarantee of 99.99 percent uptime and nothing less than that. If you are confronted with slow site loading issue then it is time to check your server and the presence of bad coding, multiple images, HTML, CSS, and so forth. Any image that is larger than 100kb deserves to be optimized by using compression software.

Slow loading sites can be harmful to user experience. You can access a good analytics tool to check speed of your site and speed of page loading. In order to have a sound backing of your web host for a greater assurance of website speed, you can select webhosts that have earned robust reputation of offering remarkable speed to the hosted websites.

Having chosen a right host, you also need to check different hosting options. Among the conventionally available alternatives, one isadvised to try VPS hosting for availing dedicated resources. In shared hosting your website is vulnerable to resource consumption by even a single neighbor. However, in VPS environment you are assured of specified resources even if a neighbor is consuming large resources.

Website availability

Repeated downtime events can also affect search engine rankings because if the search engine spiders are not able to access your site more frequently, then the there will be negative consequences in terms of ranking. It should be appreciated that search engines are also concerned with their reputation and would not rank a site that is found to be frequently inaccessible.  

Whenever there is a talk of uptime, you will find almost all web hosting providers claiming upwards of 99 percent uptime. On needs to understand that high uptime is the result of high performance servers and constant monitoring of performance factors. Reputable hosts not only assure a sound uptime close to hundred percent but also undertake to compensate site owners in the event of an unexpected event.

Downtime can also be the consequence of a server crash. There are several causes of server crash including overloading on account of high traffic or lack of proper maintenance. Presence of viruses or malware can also result in server crash. Servers can go down occasionally. It is the ability of host to bring it back to life that should matter.

Type of hosting and SEO

It is very common for the new websites to choose shared hosting as the entry level hosting due to its affordability and convenience. Every website has to share vital resources including bandwidth and storage among hundreds of other neighbors.

It is frequently argued that noisy neighbors can adversely impact your websites search engine ranking or overall reputation. There are conflicting arguments about role of shared hosting on search engine ranking of a website. According to highly reliable information, the page ranking has nothing to do with the type of hosting.

It is therefore better to be on a safer side by choosing a reliable and reputed host. Since there is a plethora of hosting companies, you are bound to come across all types of providers. You need to exercise extreme care and precaution before choosing the right hosting company. Going through reviews, getting information from other website owners that are using the same hosting service, and checking for the presence of top tiered data centers are some of the steps you can initiate for narrowing down to the right host.

Why Businesses Are Migrating From ERP to Cloud

Posted on by Manoj Yadav

Statistically, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) constitutes the largest segment amongst business management software that enables organizations to manage a swathe of operations like product planning, supply chain management, manufacturing, and service delivery. ERP enables organizations to automate their processes, and provide an insight into each aspect of their business.

For the past few years, companies are struggling with intricate ERP customizations, particularly, software up gradation. In fact, implementing customization is a Herculean task, which forces many to stay with their outdated software. Indeed, companies, sticking to the applications of pre-digital age, are not competent enough to outmaneuver their counterparts.

Cloud to the Rescue!

Today, companies are moving from ERP to cloud-based platforms. However, the safety of business data on cloud is a matter of debate. Other major concerns associated with cloud adoption are – its actual benefits and success rate.

According to a study, conducted by Gartner, “Different models of on-site software licenses count on more than half of newly installed software applications.

In many scenarios, cloud-based systems prove successful in eliminating hefty upfront costs, making reimplementation of cloud ERP much easier than carrying out any on-premise upgrade.

Let us understand how cloud ERP can add value to your business lifecycle:

Costs: Instead of demanding hefty upfront costs, cloud-enabled ERP implementations are based on a subscription model, which includes the cost for hosting and support. Thus, the costs allied to implementation go down when compared to conventional up gradation. Cloud Hosting service providers manage and maintain a data center migration facility that supports adjustment in subscription with respect to changing organizational needs. By moving ERP to Cloud, businesses can handle intricate software and hardware management activities – right from software patching to upgrades and system backup to system monitoring.

Transferring all such responsibilities to a cloud service provider enables them to shrink the size of their IT support and free up their resources to focus on their important business aspects.

Fast Deployment: One of the major issues that system integrators and vendors encounter with in-house ERP systems is – customizing and configuring existing templates as per the company’s standards. This implementation can take months of time and, sometimes, even years of time. Herein, cloud-based ERP solutions provide a standard configuration with limited tweaking functionalities that meet the demand of every business type. This, in turn, makes the deployment process super-fast while taking care of critical needs of a business. Unlike in-house ERP systems that involve complex implementations, cloud ERP enables companies to configure new business functionalities speedily.

Elasticity:

Service providers are including new ways that can help organizations to add software and functions, quickly, in an ideal time limit. There are vendors, who provide custom-built applications for analytics, finance management, and collaboration. This makes cloud-enabled ERP solutions a befitting option for companies, as they have been evolved to meet a changing competitive environment.

Varied businesses approach to ERP Cloud

A number of corporate entities, including proprietary firms, have observed that maintaining/updating ERP solutions and underlying hardware take up the precious time of their IT team, refraining them from shouldering new responsibilities. At the same time, the need for avant-garde tools has also increased to support the transforming business processes.

Some organizations are gearing up for cloud, to converge multiple ERP systems into one centralized platform.

A number of companies are adopting cloud to move their personal ERP solutions, such as budgeting, planning, and procure-to-pay.
Few companies are choosing cloud to move their complete portfolio of software solutions, such as Human Capital Management (HCM).

However, it is important to decide your business goals strategically, to make the most out of your ERP investment. Your focused approach will guide you throughout the process.

The below points will help the organizations that are planning to move ERP functions to the cloud:

  • Do not rush to carry out ERP migration of entire company at one go. At first, implement it to some processes only, so that it starts giving you a complete insight into the accounts. It will help you regulate the flow of data. Once the implantation to the subsidiary proves successful, you can roll out holistically.
     
  • It is important to understand that many organizations are moving to hybrid cloud computing model. Out of which more than 70% organizations admit that choosing hybrid cloud was their best decision, says a research. After migrating their business processes to cloud, they were able to cut back IT complexities, performance, and security issues.
     
  • Understand that a cloud powered ERP works with other systems and does not exist in a vacuum. That is the reason why, it is of immense necessity to regulate the source data and put stringent governance and compliance policies across all systems. This, in turn, will ensure smooth business functioning.
     
  • To make the most out of your ERP cloud investment, it is important that your business processes are properly aligned with the cloud software capabilities. Also, if up gradations are needed, they should quickly accept that.
     
  • A hybrid cloud is a combination of multiple cloud platforms, such as public cloud and private cloud. It allows you to store sensitive data on private cloud and lower the number of files on public cloud.

Last but not the least, it is important to crosscheck the capabilities of a service provider before you sign up for their services. A service provider – that has a rich domain expertise and that supports a range of alternatives, like financial, project portfolio management, process management, and supply chain management – can ensure seamless integration and business processing.

Have questions?

Ask us.



    AWS Standard Consulting Partner

    • Go4hosting
    • Go4hosting

    Alibaba Cloud

    Go4hosting

    Go4hosting-NOW-NASSCOM-Member Drupal Reseller Hosting Partner

    Cyfuture Ltd.

    The Cricket Barn
    Tiverton
    Exeter
    EX16 8ND

    Ph:   1-888-795-2770
    E-mail:   [email protected]