Archive

Choosing The Right Hosting – Unmanaged Or Managed VPS

Majority of the enterprises or businesses often go with the shared hosting service, as it is a cheaper option. Moreover, a newly launched website of a company or an e-commerce store will not receive a lot of visitors and won’t need a lot of applications either. But over time the businesses tend to grow and the services provided through the shared hosting server are not enough to provide the clients with all the necessary features. 

The site will have increased traffic and will need a better and more efficient solution. This is where VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting server comes to play. Continue reading to know more about the VPS hosting server and the features associated with it.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) – An Overview

A fully virtual server that is completely assigned to a single client in a private manner is called the Virtual Private Server or VPS. The Virtual Private Server is a hybrid version of dedicated and shared hosting. 

In this type of hosting the physical server will be shared by more than one virtual server, among which one of them is dedicated particularly to a single client. There are two types of Virtual Private Servers. Those are unmanaged Virtual Private Server and managed Virtual Private Server.

Managed Virtual Private Server hosting

When a managed VPS is implemented, the hosting service provider itself looks after the virtual server by taking care of the server maintenance, updates and installation of the latest software patches that are needed. They are also responsible for the proper functioning of the physical server which includes uptime and availability. 

For any business-related websites, complete maintenance of the server is mandatory. Here are a few advantages and disadvantages of managed VPS hosting.

Advantages of Managed Virtual Private Server

  • Takes major responsibilities off the client’s shoulders.
  • Saves time and enables the business to grow. Clients need to concentrate only on making the business grow faster and not worry about managing and maintaining the server. 
  • A separate team to manage the server is not required.
  • The service provider will take full responsibility for all the issues that the server faces. (uptime, downtime, availability, etc.)
  • Ensures all the server hardware and software are up to date. (Operating system, security updates, firmware, etc.)
  • Twenty-four-seven strong technical support.
  • The servers are completely monitored and data or assets are kept safe.

Disadvantages of Managed Virtual Private Server

  • The price of managed virtual private servers is comparatively higher than unmanaged VPS hosting services.
  • Clients might face quite a few restrictions with respect to the server.
  • Clients have no flexibility and the versions of the software can not be managed according to their desires.

Unmanaged Virtual Private Server hosting

When it comes to an unmanaged virtual hosting server, only the physical components of the server will be taken care of by the hosting service provider. On the other hand, the client or the user is responsible for managing the virtual server and the features associated with it. The user or the client must manage the server activities such as updating the operating system, installation of patches, routing the virtual network and other complicated tasks. 

Though the unmanaged VPS provides complete liberty over the virtual server, a team of highly skilled professionals are also needed to maintain and manage the virtual server. The service provider is not responsible for the traffic, uptime or availability.

Advantages of Unmanaged Virtual Private Server

  • The price of the unmanaged virtual private server is comparatively lower when compared to managed VPS hosting service.
  • Complete control over the virtual server.
  • Clients or users can make direct decisions regarding the virtual server such as installing software that will be needed for later use, complete network settings, partitioning of storage space, etc.

Disadvantages of Unmanaged Virtual Private Server

  • Requires highly skilled professionals to manage this type of VPS.
  • The money saved on the hosting service, will for sure be spent on hiring a highly skilled IT team to manage the virtual server. 
  • The user or the client is solely responsible for monitoring the entire server traffic and all the actions that are associated with it. (cyber attacks, patch issues, traffic spikes, etc.)
  • The user or the client must be well aware of all the security patches, and the latest version released and keep the virtual server up to date.
  • Not much technical support is obtained and the information that is received is very limited.

When To Choose What?

  • Managed virtual private server

For an enterprise or a large organisation, a managed virtual private server is the best option, as they do not have to spend a lot of time managing and maintaining the virtual server. Clients opting for a managed virtual private server will save the amount (money) through reduced manpower, in the long run. Managed virtual private server guarantees availability, uptime and stability. 

This ensures that the website is available all the time to all the intended users. E-commerce websites that prefer a hundred percent uptime obviously will go with this managed virtual private server.

  • Unmanaged virtual private server

Organisations and enterprises that prefer to have full control over their virtual server will go with unmanaged virtual private servers. If you want to save up money this is the go-to option. This is because the price of the unmanaged virtual private server is comparatively lower than managed VPS hosting service.

Few Final Words

Both the managed and unmanaged virtual private servers have their own pros and cons. It is up to the client or the user to choose the one that suits their needs the most. According to the preference and the usage needs of the client, the right type of virtual private server must be selected.

Domain Security And How To Maintain It

Domain name security is important for the smooth operation of the internet. The Domain Name System (DNS) is a critical part of the internet’s infrastructure, providing a distributed database that maps human-readable domain names (e.g. www.example.com) to the corresponding numeric IP addresses (e.g. 192.0.43.10). 

A Glance At Domain Security

The DNS is vulnerable to a variety of attacks that can disrupt its operation and jeopardize the security and availability of internet services. The most serious of these attacks is DNS cache poisoning, which can redirect internet traffic to malicious sites that can infect visitors’ computers with viruses or spyware, or even steal sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Protection of domain should be the top priority for large enterprises, start-up companies, organizations, e-commerce websites, and other sites owned by individuals. Apart from leading users to the website, the domain name also represents the brand. This means that when a cyber attack is carried out on the domain name, there will definitely be a huge loss in data, severe data breach, loss of financial status, loss of reputation and reliability and so much more. 

Over the past several years, the domain registrars and domain registries of ICANN have invested in technical, operational, and financial resources to make sure that the DNS (Domain Name System) stays secure and maintains stability amidst the increasing cyber attacks such as malware infections, spam, botnets and various other forms of digital attacks. Apart from the industries, each and every individual must also take precautionary steps in order to keep their domain away from all sorts of possible cyber attacks.

Nowadays, domain names have become the most vital part of an enterprise or a company’s brand. Hence it is widely targeted by attackers or hackers. Now that you know the seriousness of maintaining domain security, let’s move on to know more about how to protect the domain name from unwanted threats and intentional attacks from rivals. 

Here’s How To Maintain Domain Security

  1. Select A Registrar That Focuses On Domain Security

While you decide on a domain registrar, make sure to check for robust security where the patches are carried out regularly. The security system must be away from vulnerabilities and loopholes, and most importantly it must not be outdated. 

The domain security provider must be completely aware of all the latest security threats and the precautionary steps to avoid such kinds of breaches or attacks. Intense security control must be in place and the recent security trends must be made known to all the employers working in the company or enterprise.

  1. MultipleFactor Authentication

Nowadays having more than one authentication system is mandatory. Two-factor authentication or multiple-factor authentication enhances the level of security that is associated with logging into a session. This multi-factor authentication prevents login credentials from getting compromised. Only authorized users should have access to all confidential or sensitive information or data. 

As an owner of a huge firm, enterprise or organization it is necessary to keep all the login credentials of your clients and users in a secure and safe manner. By implementing the multi-factor authentication system like passwords along with biometrics, OTP (One-Time Password), confirmation mail, etc. the web management, domain, and DNS accounts can be protected at all costs.

  1. Email Addresses Must Be Safeguarded

All the email addresses that are associated with the site must also be protected in order to maintain domain security. If an attacker or hacker gets access to your inbox, they will get complete control over the valuable information that you have sent and received through email. Surfing through the inbox might also give out sensitive or private data like bank account information, login credentials to several sites, etc. 

Within a few steps, the password of the account can be changed and the intended user could lose complete access and get locked out from their own email account. To avoid such cases, two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication gets implemented.

  1. Removal Of Sensitive Data From WHOIS

WHOIS is one of the best and most used information-gathering platforms. It is widely used by professionals and experts to gather information about a company or an organization. Moreover, hackers also make use of this platform to carry out the footprinting process with respect to the target website. 

WHOIS publishes the name of the owner, domain of the server, IP address, and contact details including contact number, email address, company’s physical address and so much more. Though it is hard or sometimes impossible to remove the data from WHOIS regarding a website, it is best to avoid providing private information. So, instead of providing personal name, address, and contact details it is advised to provide the organization’s name, address, and contact details. This prevents crimes like identity theft.

  1. Implementing Domain Lock

Each and every domain must have a registry lock which is the domain lock, this is essential for all e-commerce platforms. Right at the registry level, all the confirmations of the domain get frozen by the registry lock until a high-end security protocol is implemented. This prevents cyber attacks such as social engineering, hijacking, erroneous nameserver updates, etc.

  1. SSL Certificate Validation

To ensure trust, sites make use of SSL certificates (Secure Sockets Layer). This is known as the digital certificate, which has the ability to authenticate a website’s identity and put forth an encrypted connection between the clients and the server. 

  1. Phishing Attacks

Every e-mail user must have come across a phishing attack scenario and many have also fallen prey to it. It is not a piece of cake to constantly protect a site from all possible dangers as there are highly skilled hackers with high-tech tools to cause breaches or attacks even with a small loophole. 

One of the most common cyber attacks that are carried out through email is phishing attacks. All employers and individuals must be made aware of the possible threat that accompanies phishing attacks. Always be careful where you provide your login credentials. Verify the site’s authenticity and then carry on with providing the credentials.

Conclusion

Protecting your domain is your responsibility indeed. Though domain registries and registrars take extreme measures to safeguard the domain and the platforms associated with it, it is necessary for all users as well to play a role in making the domain more secure and away from the reach of hackers.

Cloud Hosting – Everything You Need To Know

Cloud hosting disperses data across numerous virtual servers, in contrast to the conventional web hosting companies that use physical servers. (One such hosting server exists only in virtual settings; hence, “cloud”.) If running out of storage or connectivity with one virtual machine, you can quickly use another one’s unused resources via cloud hosting. Cloud hosting enhances uptime and evens out whatever traffic spikes simply putting numerous servers on your command.

In the end, cloud hosting enables any online application or website you operate easily usable via a cloud network, instead of an idle server, which is what conventional non-cloud hosting entails. Increased performance, quickness, scalability, and uptime result from this.

Explanation Of Cloud Hosting

In order to satisfy online needs, organizations are turning further and further to cloud hosting nowadays. Cloud hosting has several advantages, ranging from basic necessity to business solutions. Let’s examine a handful of them:

  1. Speed – Forget noisy neighbors and enjoy top website speeds when you’re on the cloud.
  2. Utility Costs – With cloud hosting, you only pay for the resources you actually use. 
  3. Uptime – Thanks to its distributed virtual server infrastructure, cloud hosting does not cause service unavailability. 
  4. Data Security – If you opt for a cloud storage solution, any cloud hosting server issues mean you won’t lose out on precious data.
  5. Scalability – A cloud infrastructure lets you grow your hosting resources, without the constraints of physical hardware limits.

Cloud Hosting In Public To Hybrid Levels

In contrast, shared hosting lets the user use a single machine to run your website whereas dedicated hosting lets you utilize a machine shared with other users (Dedicated Server Hosting). Similar decisions must be made while using cloud hosting, except that the options are from public to hybrid.

  • Public Cloud Hosting:

A public cloud can be compared to a host machine, where data is stored on an array of networked computers by multiple websites. Just the price of the resources is shared, even when the hardware is distributed among multiple virtualized accounts.

Public cloud hosting ensures that your resources are contained and available only to you, as opposed to shared hosting, where you work collaboratively like disc space and computing power.

Through a control panel or a RESTful API, customers can frequently create cloud service servers in a matter of seconds. These servers enable customers to administer and adjust their configuration without needing outside assistance because they are immediately scalable when necessary.

  • Hyper-scale Cloud Hosting:

Provided with all the advantages of public cloud hosting, it is not surprising that three big players—Microsoft, Amazon, and Google—have entered the market. GCP (Google), AWS (Amazon), and Azure are examples of these “hyperscale” (Microsoft). 

They are regularly alluded to as hyper-scale clouds instead of simply clouds because of the size of their infrastructure. They provide a literal basketful of pre-made cloud services that seem to be simple to use, consume, and base your service upon.

  • Private Cloud Hosting:

A private cloud, which is frequently known as private virtualization, is your best option if you choose to not share your facilities with other accounts or websites. Although it costs more, it provides even more security and control. 

A private cloud gives you redundant networking, specialized hardware, storage, operating system, and power of your choice, making it a wonderful fit for individuals that handle confidential material or simply couldn’t afford any downtime. Private cloud hosting enables you to expand on pre-existing hardware if you happen to own a few infrastructures, thus lowering your expenditure.

  • Hybrid Cloud Hosting:

Hybrid clouds, as the name implies, combine infrastructure with private and public clouds to give you the advantages of both. Although each hybrid cloud is unique, if you are dealing with confidential data and dynamic workloads, implementing a private cloud can be quite beneficial. 

Furthermore, these can simply be installed on a public cloud for experimentation and less-important workloads. That is, less-important apps can be constantly updated in a public cloud, whereas private clouds allow for the seclusion of crucial records.

This strategy can increase productivity and cost savings while reducing security, privacy, and latency concerns. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that such a hybrid-like atmosphere is growing in popularity. In fact, above 75% of medium and large enterprises will have embraced a multi-cloud or hybrid IT strategy by 2021, predicts Gartner, the world’s top research and advisory firm.

  • Cloud Hosting and Web Hosting:

As was already noted, websites are frequently hosted using physical servers, if those are shared by several users or are exclusive to a single user.

However, several hosting companies are now providing cloud-based alternatives, of that kind of cloud services with Shared Hosting or Virtual Private Server Hosting, in an effort to jump on the “cloud” bandwagon.

  • Cloud Hosting and Shared Hosting:

Recall that shared hosting is the most basic kind of hosting, where your website shares server resources with other users. To provide clients with the advantages of cloud computing, Namecheap’s Stellar Business Shared Hosting plan now includes a cloud storage option. 

This solution adds an extra degree of security to your web pages by dispersing it across several servers. It gives you the reliability you require with no downtime and the best performance without breaking the bank. In actuality, the Stellar Business Shared Hosting plan’s monthly starting price is only $8.88.

  • Cloud Hosting and Virtual Private Hosting:

With the exception of being divided into numerous “virtual” servers, Virtual Private Servers Hosting functions very similarly to a standalone physical host. Much like cloud hosting servers, don’t you think?

The primary distinction is that, rather than having a single server, such as a VPS, exclusive to your site, you now have a connection to a network of virtually endless virtual computers. But, a Virtual Private Server offers the greatest features that are similar to those of a hybrid cloud out of all the conventional web hosting solutions accessible, including scalability. What’s best? It won’t cost a fortune.

  • Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting:

A dedicated server has your back if you’re concerned about data protection and demand unmatched performance. A dedicated server gives you more dedicated resources, a separate security zone, access over minimal server components, and far more setup flexibility as contrasted to cloud hosting since you have your individual physical server available.

A potential disadvantage? You must pay operating expenses to maintain the infrastructure, keep an eye on any hardware problems, and deal with configurations, updates, and other difficulties. Additionally, you’ll have to rent/lease a bigger dedicated server if your resource needs keep expanding, which will cost you more money. Additionally, switching servers increases your likelihood of experiencing downtime.

  • Cloud Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting:

Would you like to install WordPress on your website but detest it or are afraid of fiddling with the technicalities? You need Managed WordPress Hosting to get there. Your WordPress is rapidly published when WordPress has been installed for you here. 

Administrative duties including site upkeep, control panel administration, and other technical difficulties are not your responsibility. Can be put as, Managed WordPress hosting features are most likely an afterthought, allowing you to concentrate entirely on your page.

Conclusion

Cloud hosting may be the answer if you discover if your website has exceeded the resources offered by your existing host or if there have been significant increases in traffic. Cloud hosting simplifies things, whether it’s for uptime, management simplicity, or remote server resources to handle peak loads. 

Actually, a lot of cloud hosting services are made with non-technical customers in mind and provide an easy-to-use control panel that facilitates building and maintaining your website faster than before. You may directly modify databases, manage your domains, create FTP accounts for simple file transfers, and a lot of other things with cloud hosting. You can put all of your attention here on your own website and ignore the technological details.

Reasons Why You Should Not Choose Free Web Hosting

As everything is digitized in today’s world, it is crucial for the usage of websites to be present digitally. A properly built website is a must to globalize one’s self or one’s brand worldwide. Well-built websites are a great advantage to a company as they can uplift the branding of that company above the other market competitors. It’s just a click away to find millions of companies providing hosting services for free. 

When the budget is very constrained, this will seem like the best deal. Initially, it might be a good idea but very soon you will find out that it is not a good deal. Because you will end up spending more on these web hosting services than you have to spend for genuine paid versions. 

Reasons To Not Choose Free Web Hosting

Ten reasons are listed and explained below why you should not be using web hostings that are provided for free.

  1. No scalability

Scalability is when you expand your website due to the expansion of your business or company or organization. When you are using web hosting that is provided for free you will find that your websites are not scalable.

When your company or business is doing well and lots of traffic is drawn to your websites, you should be able to provide the readers with a proper website. But when you are using free services, the host will not be able to cope with the expanding traffic, in other words, you are losing potential readers. This is the downside, which is not a desirable trait of a website as it causes a real-time potential loss of revenue.

But when you are using a paid genuine service, you can always upgrade bandwidth limits at an affordable cost. This can also help you with reducing the downtime which may cause a loss of readers.

  1. Unsatisfied performance

Free hosting services consistently fall short in one crucial area- performance. The customer experience will be improved the quicker your website loads. Additionally, if your customer has a good user experience, you can anticipate increased engagement from them and a higher likelihood that they will produce leads and even make purchases.

Visitors will look for another option if your webpage takes a long time to load and may eventually stop coming to your blog altogether. Since you’re not paying for their services, free web hosting makes cuts.

Overall, their servers really aren’t efficient and cannot support a contemporary website with several dynamic aspects. Although the effect of free web servers on performance is evident, you should evaluate the performance of your website to make sure.

  1. Security

As a webmaster, it is your responsibility to protect your site from cyber-attacks and intrusion. While using a strong password and keeping your files up-to-date is essential, a reputable web host can also assist. In general, free web hosts provide little to no protection against cyber-attacks. They frequently contain security flaws that hackers can use to access hosted websites.

The good news is that numerous reputable web hosting services provide safe and secure hosting. And all of this comes at a very affordable price.

  1. No technical support

When you purchase hosting, you typically get a minimum of 24/7 help by email as well as live chat, with a few hosts also providing phone support. That matters since you’ll almost probably encounter a circumstance where you’ll need to be relying on that help. However, you typically receive no assistance while using WordPress hosting for free. Support is offered through a blog or another comparable platform. The ideal situation is restricted ticket assistance, with the majority of free servers relying on a local support forum.

Most free website hosting services have several restrictions, including customer care. Unfortunately, you won’t get much assistance from them in case your web pages go down. You’ll have to be figuring it out on your own. You will mostly be by yourself if you encounter any questions or mistakes while you wait for email assistance to answer.

  1. Impacts of SEO

Since it has been demonstrated that the website may experience slower loading times and more frequent outages, optimization for search engines may have a negative effect on your company. When you’ve invested in SEO, you are aware that building a strong internet presence takes time. In addition to losing what you have worked for, having your website taken down by your free hosting service will have a number of negative effects on your potential to rank first.

Google has established strict criteria for sites that desire to rank highly. Due to the above-mentioned drawbacks of hosting for free, your website will have a harder time ranking because it is of bad quality as per Google standards. When it comes to search engine results, you won’t be able to put your company on the map. This is a significant obstacle for your company. 

Professional, premium hosting providers give you complete control over your website, improved SEO, a real, professional domain, and a scalable website that grows with your business. When you select a reputable web hosting company, you help build your brand on Google search. And this means a better chance of success as you continue to push yourself and reach your full potential through your professional online presence and supportive, premium web hosting services.

  1. Discomfort In Custom Domain Connection

You don’t really receive all of the features you have to operate your page with free web hosting in comparison to premium dedicated web hosting. You will have to restrict yourself to a select few settings when putting up your website. You might not be able to locate the option to add your own domain, for instance. You may or may not have the authority over your own hosting or domain, based on service. You would need to continue to use a subdomain that the hosting company offers.

  1. Advertisement

Ads in general are disliked, especially those that don’t have anything to do with your needs. Additionally, choosing free site hosting is unwise for this reason. These advertisements make your website load slowly and provide users with a bad experience. On your smartphone, you have ever attempted to close an advertisement? Because you’re straining so hard to click the little ‘x’ at the corner, you will leave the website half of the time. In general, you have no influence over the advertising that shows up on your site.

The vast majority of the free internet services are made profitable by showing adverts. You develop the website and produce the material but they make money from the adverts. These commercials are frequently obtrusive, distracting, and ugly. What’s worse is that your clever rivals might be capable of paying these free web host providers to promote their blogs. Talk about undermining your own business.

  1. Insufficient Resources

Your resources most likely will get constrained while registering your webpage with a hosting service for free and have you on your toes. Every server will have a maximum amount of available RAM and storage. Any general website with more than three pages won’t be able to be supported by the available resources.

  1. Limitations In Transfer Of Webpages

The majority of free shared hosting providers have a sneaky way of including some confusing jargon in the service agreements. You have no control over your website, despite the fact that you might think so. Additionally, it’s likely that your hosting company will be the owner of all of your stuff.

This means that neither your website nor its contents or any of your creations may be sold. Think about being an artist or designer who displays photographs of their work on the website to attract clients. Once you did that, the regulations of your ‘unpaid’ hosting service take effect and you lose ownership of that data.

  1. Downtimes

Free providers often do not offer a 99.9% high availability but reliable premium web hosts frequently do. Those servers routinely fall offline during maintenance, whether from hardware issues or just general carelessness. Additionally, as already mentioned, reaching customer support will be challenging.

Conclusion

Before registering for such a web hosting provider, keep these things in mind. You should build your website from scratch with dependable, premium hosting and a genuine, branded name if you’re serious about it and wish to maintain it around for a while.

Paid vs Free Web Hosting – Impacts

One of the first and foremost decisions you will have to make while launching an online business is choosing between paid or free web hosting services. This is a common situation every start-up or new organisation faces. Almost everyone looks forward to choosing a hosting plan that is cheap or has a low price. But going with a low-price or cheap web hosting plan comes with huge disadvantages. Some of the drawbacks of using cheap or free hosting services might include even scams or acts of stealing private and confidential data or information. 

This brings us back to the question – which is the right kind of web hosting, free or paid? To answer this, we need to consider several other features of hosting services as well. As you continue to read through, you come to know about the other features apart from cost, that should be considered in order to choose the aptest and most suitable web hosting service for your company or business. 

Major Variations Between Free And Paid Web Hosting

  1. Upgrades and features

Making use of a free hosting service will definitely restrict your needs and requirements. In a free hosting service, only the default settings can be used, clients won’t have to liberty to make changes or use other sources apart from the basic things that are provided. This includes not being able to create more than one site or create various file types. 

Moreover, the clients will not be given access, where the server will be able to support the cPanel platform. So, clients can not use the cPanel feature, which will allow the users to configure the digital SSL certificates. Additionally, backups can not be done, WordPress can not be installed and FTP accounts can not be created.

  1. Storage and bandwidth

The amount of data that can be sent to the target from a website over a period of time is known to be the bandwidth. The space used for storing files, folders and databases on the server is called storage space. Both, storage space and bandwidth, are two important features that should be looked into before selecting a web hosting plan.

The paid version of web hosting plans does not restrict the client’s space used for storing and bandwidth. In order to obtain this, the best-suited web hosting service provider must be selected. On the contrary, free hosting plans have not a few but a lot of setbacks. This includes not being able to publish all the necessary content on your websites because of the lack of storage space and the ability to make it accessible to all will also be cut off because of limited bandwidth.

  1. Branding and Domain

All service providers give out free domain names but the only difference is that in the free version, the domain is accompanied by the company’s name in the provided URL. This is commonly known as the free subdomain. In cases like these, a paid upgradation will be required to receive a custom domain without the service provider’s name on the URL. In paid hosting plans, a unique custom domain name will be assigned and provided to the client’s website.

  1. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and its rankings

The rankings of the website are majorly impacted by the website traffic. Slow-loading sites tend to lose traffic which leads to fewer rankings. The speed of each and every site has been calculated by the Google algorithm, for the past few years and this has become a vital metric for all the sites hosted online. The rankings are calculated based on this. 

Free site hosting providers will display advertisements on the webpage with no regard or relevance to the contents of the site. This act fails to showcase professionalism. There are also possibilities of fake ads or scams being posted on the client’s site. But in the paid versions, you can find no such ads or any other irrelevant content being displayed on the site along with the contents.   

  1. Reliability and Performance

The availability and speed of the website will be limited to free web hosting services. Though there might be a few service providers that provide better speed at no cost, a few hours of downtime will definitely be scheduled on a daily basis to keep the server from crashing or overheating. If the server crashes, it will affect all the sites that are present in it, which will cause discomfort to not just one client but to all the clients that are making use of the server. 

But in the paid hosting service, high-end and modern technologies are used to maintain the performance, stability and reliability of the website. The service providers also guarantee the best uptime throughout the day and also at night. So, to conclude, paid hosting service is more reliable compared to free versions.

Disadvantages Of Free Hosting Services

  • It is not actually free: Several free service providers offer basic plans. With such basic features, it will be almost impossible for the clients to maintain or create the desired workplace according to their preferences.

    The users will be asked to pay and upgrade to various other plans in order to get the feature that they actually prefer. The basic plan will lack good bandwidth, disk space, SSL certificate, control panel (cPanel) and many other features.
  • Crashes frequently: All the free servers are never properly maintained nor frequently or regularly updated. As the plan is for free, the service providers do not put much thought into maintaining the server and this is why the site crashes very often.

    Site crashes will also lead to a reduction in the ranking of the SEO. This is not the case with the paid servers, such companies will take good care of the server and make sure it is properly maintained. They provide better uptime and the site does not crash or slow down. The clients are usually very satisfied with the paid hosting plans.
  • No customer care: Say you are facing issues while using the free hosting server, there will be no customer support team to guide you through sorting out that particular issue. You are on your own. This is one of the major drawbacks.

Conclusion

Apart from the cost cuts there are not many benefits that accompany free hosting services. Paid hosting is preferred by reputed organisations or companies. If you do not have a very big budget, you can always go with cost-efficient plans. There are several low-budget plans that are available. So, take your time, do all the research and find the most reliable and apt plan for your organisation or company and go with it.

2022 Threats Of Cloud Security That You Should Be Aware Of

The business environment is changing significantly, which has an impact on organizations everywhere. Digitalization, remote employment, and changing rules are just a few of the developments that businesses must adapt to. The last thing a company needs is a cyber catastrophe that could result in reputational damage, expensive recovery, and data loss. 

Comparing cloud computing to the majority of legacy on-premise systems, enhanced cybersecurity is promised. However, a lot of corporate executives aren’t completely aware of the risks and weaknesses associated with cloud computing. Thoughtless SMBs with little to no additional cybersecurity protocols for their cloud installations are the focus of rising cyber threats.

In order to protect the critical company and personal data, it is crucial to stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity developments. Let’s discuss the top five cloud services.

How Safe Is Using The Cloud?

Let’s first explore cloud security before moving on to our topic of cybersecurity concerns. In any case, how secure is the cloud? In a word, cloud implementations offer greater data protection than on-premise ones, but you need still to have backups and other security measures designed specifically for the cloud. Only authorized individuals can access sensitive information since cloud data is encrypted. However, it may be disastrous if those security keys and credentials fall into the wrong hands.

Businesses that operate in sectors like banking and finance will need to use additional security measures to protect customer and company information. Internal security controls, debit card blocking, and EMV chips, are a few of the security features available to banks.

Threats To Cybersecurity You Should Be Aware Of

In order to increase team productivity and give management better access to their systems and data, firms can seamlessly interact, collaborate, and access vital business data through the cloud. However, there are other cybersecurity concerns that companies need to be aware of. The top 5 threats to cloud security in 2022 are listed below:

1. Data Leaks And Breaches

Powerful technology like the cloud has made our world more connected than ever. However, a more linked environment also means that hackers have a bigger attack surface to exploit. On your network, data breaches and leaks frequently take place covertly and quietly without your teams being aware of them until it’s too late. 

In this manner, fraudsters are able to collect more information from you for nefarious uses. For instance, some cybercriminals will sell your customer information to third parties, post it in forums on the “dark web” for use by other cybercriminals, or even hold it, hostage, by withholding access to business information unless they are paid a ransom.

2. Data Loss

Data loss is a significant cybersecurity risk in the cloud. This typically occurs after your system has been compromised and malicious actors start stealthily stealing your data behind closed doors. It can be difficult to maintain data storage in the cloud, thus some businesses may forego some backups or vulnerability scans on purpose.

However, if your data is taken and kept as a ransom, you will have to pay money to get it back. If you don’t have enough backups, your firm won’t be able to support itself in the case of a significant data breach.

3. Access Control

There is a greater need to control who can access your network and who can’t now that so many firms are utilizing cloud applications and solutions. The majority of firms utilize password-protected software for this, but sometimes that’s not enough to keep your company’s data safe from unwanted users.

Identification, tracking, and control of authorized users’ access to particular systems or applications are continuing tasks of access management. It entails developing procedures and policies to preserve access credentials, including MFA, zero-trust processes, and identity management. 

4. Dangerous APIs

Insecure APIs are another major danger to cloud implementation. Since businesses often rely on APIs for mission-critical applications and operations, the open Internet exposure of many organizations’ APIs is a significant problem. 94 percent of companies encountered an API-related security issue in 2021.

Each business must resolve security issues in APIs in accordance with its own security requirements. In order to prevent data loss, APIs on company servers and networks should be routinely maintained. APIs are just as vulnerable to breaches as other security flaws.

5. Inadequate Cloud Storage

The final item on our list of the top cybersecurity risks for businesses is cloud misconfiguration. Despite the fact that the cloud has been available for almost ten years, it is still a relatively new technology that IT specialists are still learning how to effectively utilise. 

Many businesses utilize a professional provider to set up their cloud storage, but some would rather do everything themselves. If this applies to your business, it’s critical to make sure that your data setups are safe and organized in accordance with security guidelines.

Optimum Procedures For Small Organizations

Now that you are aware of the challenges your cloud-based business applications face, let’s talk about some best practices that can shield your small business from dangers and damaging cyberattacks.

  • Safeguard Your Network

To safeguard your network, use tried-and-true cybersecurity techniques. Tools like VPNs, firewalls, data backups, antivirus software, and risk assessment monitoring are a few examples. All of these are standard tools that every company’s arsenal for cybersecurity should contain.

  • Take Initiative

The worst thing a business can do is wait for a cybersecurity attack to occur before taking steps to protect its assets. In order to protect themselves against network dangers that are disguised, teams must be vigilant about cloud security.

In order to be proactive about cloud security, it’s important to:

  • Updating software frequently
  • Requiring all employees, especially those who work remotely, to utilize a VPN
  • Using a password manager to create and encrypt your passwords
  • Investigating the security requirements of popular add-ons, programmes, and extensions that your company employs as necessary.

Conclusion

With various security controls designed for cloud implementations, organizations can defend themselves against the top 5 cloud security risks of 2022. To lessen the risks related to utilizing the cloud for corporate operations and storage, do a cloud security audit, develop a strategy with security partners of yours, and put cloud tools and training into practice.

VPS Security And Best Tips To Secure It

A VPS or Virtual Private Server, has become a very favored hosting choice due to its security, performance, and flexibility at a lower cost than most hosting options. But like any other hosting solution, VPS (virtual private server) also has several vulnerabilities that hackers can try to exploit.

VPS Hosting

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service provider. A VPS runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and customers may have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, so they can install almost any software that runs on that OS. For many purposes, they are functionally equivalent to a physical server, and being software-defined, are able to be much more easily created and configured. They are priced much lower than an equivalent physical server.

With a virtual private server (VPS), you have complete control over your data and your environment. This means that you can run whatever software you want on your VPS, without worrying about compatibility issues. With a VPS, you can also have a virtual private server (VPS) as a server that is licensed and configured as a dedicated, private, on-premises instance of a public or private cloud computing platform. This type of server is commonly used in business and enterprise settings, where greater control over the resources and security is desired. VPS has become increasingly popular for web hosting, as they provide greater control over the resources and the ability to scale the instance up or down as needed.

Tips To Secure VPS Hosting

Read on to know more about how to secure your virtual private server with these helpful suggestions and tips.

1. Change Your Default Ssh Credentials

Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) is a common method used to gain and manage access to servers. Hackers often target SSH ports using brute force attacks to gain remote access. You can change your SSH port to make it difficult for hackers to access your server. Another simple method is to use a strong and unique password that contains a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.

2. Disable Root Login On Your Server

A server running on a VPS architecture always has a default username of “root”. The root user will for sure have the most control and privileges over the server compared to other users. Hackers often take advantage of this. Therefore, it is best to disable root login access on your server terminal.

3. Always Use The Latest Software Available

Keeping your server software up-to-date at all times is important to keep your VPS secure. Updating the software will provide you with many security changes that will better protect your data, as well as be smoother and error-free.

4. Setting Up Server Firewall

Installing a firewall is the best way to ensure strong VPS security. A simple firewall can help you block several IP addresses, block access and detect patterns, and also update rules that allow users to access your website or not.

5. Install Anti-Virus Applications Or Software

Installing antivirus software on your server will offer additional security measures against hackers and data loss. Even with a firewall or other security protocols in place, malware and other viruses can get onto your server and wreak havoc. If you’re not comfortable with a separate antivirus plan, you can consider a VPS hosting service like Big Rock that offers built-in server security features.

6. Using Fail2ban

Fail2ban is a Python-based software that helps identify and prevent brute force attacks, DoS attacks, and other common hacking techniques. The software constantly monitors your server logs and will notify you if it detects any form of data injection, multiple failed logins, or abuse.

7. Replace Ftp With Sftp Server

Although File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a convenient way to move files, it is generally considered outdated and risky. All data transferred via FTP is in clear text, which means it is vulnerable to packet sniffing. Therefore, switching to secure FTP (SFTP) for all communication with the server is a must. SFTP encrypts all data and information so that no unauthorized person can read it.

8. Regularly Review User Access

Since you are unlikely to be the only one with access to your VPS hosting server, it is important that you regularly check the kind of control and access other users have on the server. You can monitor user activity, grant or deny file permissions, or restrict access to protect sensitive data and ensure optimal VPS security.

9. Remove Unwanted Modules And Packages

The more modules, software, and packages you install on your VPS, the more opportunities you open up for hackers to exploit. Keep your server simple and remove any modules or software you don’t use to reduce the risk of hacking and data loss.

10. Monitor The Server Logs

Regular monitoring of server logs gives you insight into resource usage, significant events, user activity, and errors. This will allow you to identify any potential server issue before it snowballs into a larger, disruptive problem. In addition, it is also useful to back up your data regularly to prepare for worst-case scenarios.

11. Prevent Attacks On The Server 

While no server can be completely impenetrable, following the tips above will help you keep it as secure as possible. Remember, you must never compromise the security of the server. Any security failure can spell disaster for your website. For stress-free hosting, use a fully managed VPS hosting service that offers the best combination of user-friendliness, efficiency, and security for your website.

Conclusion

Now that you know all about securing the virtual private server, make sure to implement all the necessary measures and undertake precautionary protocols in order to keep your virtual private server protected and far away from all sorts of hacker attacks. The virtual private server is widely known for its performance and flexibility at a very low price, so be sure to make optimum use of it. Though there might be a few vulnerabilities present in the virtual private server, with the right guidance the server can be safeguarded.

Which Is Better, Shared Hosting Or Dedicated Hosting

Whether you’re a small-scale business owner looking to introduce your first application or you run an application development organization or agency with a wide range of clients, choosing the best hosting plan for your business is critical.

A reliable hosting resolution is a must so that your applications are always accessible to the intended users. Of the different types of hosting solutions available in today’s market, dedicated hosting and shared hosting are two of the very common hosting resolutions that a business might consider.

Before you come to a conclusion, between dedicated hosting and shared hosting, Through this article you will be able to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each and how your decision must be subjected to your business and its goals.

Shared Hosting 

Shared hosting is a great way to start your own website, but you should be careful. Not all hosting companies are the same. Make sure to research the company you choose before signing up. There are many highly reputed hosts available, but be sure to read the reviews. Shared hosting is a great option for small businesses, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure you get a host with a good reputation. Second, be sure to research the features offered by your host. If you need help choosing a host, reach out to your local business association or community website.

Hosting providers offer a wide range of services, but what separates the best from the rest? In this article, we will be discussing the different types of hosting services and their pros and cons. Shared Hosting is a great way to save money, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First, be sure to research the hosting company carefully. Make sure they have a good reputation and have been in business for a long time. Also, be sure to sign up for a yearly plan to get the best deal.

Shared hosting is a great way to get started with a website, but be aware of the risks. You may be thinking that sharing your website with other people will be easy, but it’s not always that simple. Your website could be taken down without warning if the host decides to change their site policy.

Difference Between Shared Hosting And Dedicated Hosting

Shared Hosting

As you might presume from the name itself, shared hosting denotes a solution where multiple applications and sites are hosted on a shared server. A server’s resources are allocated and shared among the hundreds of thousands of applications and sites on which it might run. This is why shared hosting is the cheapest solution on the market. It is the greatest choice if you are on a very tight budget and prefer to minimize control over the configuration and customization of your application you own.

However, lack of control over resource allocation, server management, server maintenance, and updates is one of the most commonly cited disadvantages of shared hosting services.

Another disadvantage is that if the user’s site traffic increases as the business take a hike, a shared hosting solution will not be able to scale to meet its requirements.

Benefits Of Shared Hosting

  • An extremely affordable hosting plan
  • Ideal for small-scale to mid-range businesses with less or low traffic
  • The host does all technical requirements, permitting you to focus on the content
  • Quick and easy to set up

Disadvantages Of Shared Hosting

  • Different applications and sites compete for limited resources
  • Low flexibility and less control over server operation
  • Low scalability

Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting permits you to use the entire server only to host your sites and applications. Dedicated hosting does not include the allocation or sharing of resources and you can also benefit from all the processing power that the server has to offer you. Owning a dedicated server also provides you with unlimited and complete control over the operation and configuration of server resources. You can also customize the server to match your needs, making it ideal for businesses that have unique and evolving server requirements.

One of the major motives behind why businesses opt for a dedicated server is the scalability feature it offers. With a powerful server free of competing applications and third-party sites, your applications will be in the best possible situation to provide access to more users as your business grows. Keep in mind that dedicated servers require considerable technical know-how to manage and operate. However, if you opt for a server management plan, you can skip the technical details.

Advantages Of Dedicated Servers

  • high level of performance and Power 
  • Better control over the server customization feature and configuration settings
  • High flexibility and better scalability

Disadvantages Of Dedicated Servers

  • More expensive than shared hosting
  • Some technical knowledge is required

Shared Hosting vs Dedicated Server: The Final Verdict

The final option between a dedicated server or shared hosting solution depends on the business itself, its aims for future growth, the need for scalability, and a number of other factors as well. If you establish an application or web development agency, the decision will be much easier, and dedicated servers are a perfect choice.

If hosting multiple applications with different features is important to you, a shared hosting server lacks the power of processing and flexibility to meet your needs and requirements. While shared hosting may be just perfect for smaller organizations or businesses that don’t expect a significant increase in traffic, an app development company can’t afford to take that risk. Dedicated servers provide a wide range of performance-packed features and customization functionalities that not only make up for the price you pay but also make dedicated server options very user-friendly and cost-efficient when compared to cloud hosting solutions or other hosting types that offer similar features.

Why Dedicated Server Hosting Is Worth The Price

While shared hosting services may be widely known, no application development business can go wrong with a dedicated server. It provides everything you need for control, scalability, and performance to help your business reach great heights and grow and get more clients without having to fear server support.

Common Myths About Shared Hosting

The challenge of selecting the most suitable site hosting service plan arises when business owners think about taking their business online. Small-scale businesses or organizations and start-up companies often prefer shared hosting services over others as they are known to be reliable and budget-friendly. There are various different plans offered by the hosting service provider for shared hosting service. Compare and analyze each and every feature that is offered in various plans and finally, select a plan that you think is most suited for your business or organization.

The shared hosting service has a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 10.3% every year. This is the second-largest CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate). Though there are numerous benefits that come along with shared hosting service. Also, there are quite a few myths about shared hosting that have been around for a while. These myths need to be exposed so that users get a clear understanding and better clarity regarding shared hosting services. 

When these myths about shared hosting get exposed, the original features and characteristics of shared hosting will be known to the public. Such clear information is necessary for all buyers, myths often mislead clients into opting for something that is not much required for them at that time. In order to avoid such situations, every myth regarding this type of hosting should be addressed.

Shared Hosting – An Overview

The most cost-efficient type of hosting is the shared hosting service. A shared hosting service is where multiple websites get hosted on a single server. The server is shared by all the websites on it. The storage space, CPU, and all the other features that are provided by the website hosting providers must surely be shared. Moreover, even the entire cost of the server will be shared by all the sites on the server. 

The service provider of the shared hosting, will also manage and take care of all the server maintenance, overall security, and other aspects that fall into managing the hosting server. All these make it convenient and easy for all users to run a successful business online right from the initial stages of establishing the particular website. Shared hosting is the right type of hosting for all start-up companies and small businesses or organizations.

Objectively untrue actions are termed myths. Do not fall prey to myths. Myths about shared hosting have been for a while and this misleads most of the users who do not look into the myth. Here are a few myths about shared hosting that you, as a business owner, should not fall for.

Most Common Myths – Shared Hosting Edition

Many people often skip using shared hosting just by believing in certain myths. They opt for pricier hosting types and plan when they have all the needs and requirements to purchase a shared hosting server. Avoid falling for false statements you read on the internet or hear from other unprofessional people. Moving on to the first misconception.

Myth – 1: Free Hosting And Shared Hosting Go Hand In Hand

A free hosting service is where the web hosting provider charges its clients with hidden costs (indirectly). For instance, if you host your website on free servers, your site will lack performance, decrease uptime and overall security will not be provided. The service provider might also add advertisements to your website and earn money through that. 

Whereas shared hosting is not like that, there will be no hidden cost or any other offers that might be added to your website. A shared hosting server is also secure and reliable. This type of hosting ensures overall security, high performance, guaranteed uptime and so much more that makes sure that your site stays protected and continuously monitored. So, this proves that free hosting and shared hosting do not go hand in hand. The first myth about shared hosting is exposed. Moving on to the next one.

Myth – 2: Shared Hosting Lacks Security

The vulnerabilities present on one website on the server might cause issues to other websites present on the same server as well. This is where many security risks arise. One vulnerable site is a threat to all the others on the same server. But, just by this one can not conclude that shared hosting lacks the required security. 

Most of the shared hosting service providers do offer high-end tools like DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection, firewalls, anti-malware, anti-virus software, network monitoring tools, etc. So, you need not worry about shared hosting lacking security. This is one of the most common myths, and now it is exposed. You can confidently go about with a shared hosting service for your website and see that it impacts positively.

Myth – 3: Frequent Downtime

The downtime of a website depends on the amount of traffic a site receives. If there is high website traffic and the server can not handle it, downtime occurs. The best hosting service provider makes sure that this does not happen. Make sure your service provider ensures better uptime in the shared hosting plan. Your site must stay up and running despite the huge traffic. Ensure that is possible, as it is absolutely necessary. 

Certain website hosting service providers ensure a 99.99% uptime guarantee and also live up to their word. So, stop worrying about frequent downtime when you think about shared hosting services. Frequent downtime is just a myth.

Myth – 4: No Scalability Is Offered

The other most common myth that is widely spread is that shared hosting services do not offer scalability. But the truth be told, shared hosting service providers offer easy and seamless scalability options. Most of the service providers aid in scaling up the resources that you will need when your online business expands and grows by gaining a lot of traffic. This ensures uninterrupted business continuity and makes the website available to all the intended users to the maximum. 

These are some of the major myths that have spread across users. Many believe these myths and fail to make optimum use of this type of hosting method. Since these myths are exposed now, you can clearly understand the positive impact that shared hosting might cause.

Conclusion

To summarise, a shared hosting mechanism is affordable (budget friendly), extremely reliable, scalable, ensure security, and is known to be very convenient to host an e-commerce website or any other business for that matter. But, all of this depends on the hosting service provider. Do check the review of the previous clients before selecting the service provider for your business website.

Is E-Commerce Site Compatible On A Shared Hosting Server

Wanting to start an online business or do you already have a small-scale e-commerce website? Here are all the answers to your question regarding this. Each and every e-commerce site has to deal with a lot of customer data and maintain a big database to store all their sensitive and private information and other credentials. This is why it is absolutely necessary to ensure smooth uptime and high performance of the website so that there will not be any loss of business revenue, customers, or sales.

As you continue to read you will understand more about the important feature to look for, in a shared hosting provider and how you, as a business owner should select the most suited company. So, let us now get started on shared hosting and e-commerce websites!

Getting Started With Shared Hosting And E-Commerce Site

The most common misconception about shared hosting is that they are only suitable for websites with low traffic or e-commerce sites that do not need many resources. However, if the right kind of plan is available in shared hosting and is also compatible to accommodate the traffic of the website, then moving forward with shared hosting is very much appreciated. The most budget-friendly and affordable type of hosting is shared hosting, this is where multiple blogs and sites get hosted on a single server. 

The blog or website is hosted on the same server in shared hosting, sharing resources like disk space, RAM, memory, CPU cores, and other resources as well. The major advantage of shared hosting is the cost-cutting feature. This feature makes the hosting service available for small-scale businesses and enterprises. Moreover, technical knowledge and expertise in the field are not required to get your way around shared hosting systems. The control panel is simple to understand and manage.

Just because it is budget-friendly, doesn’t mean that it is all you need in a hosting server. Shared hosting has several limitations. Such restrictions include not having complete control over the server, lack of access, etc. Plus, performance degradation and downtime occurrence might be an issue one might face. But, these disadvantages arise for e-commerce sites that have huge traffic and do not affect any other reason. So, if your e-commerce website does not attract high traffic and is still in the expanding stage, it is better to choose shared hosting as it is practical and financially beneficial.

Benefits Of Hosting an E-Commerce Site On A Shared Hosting Server

Here are some of the top reasons why shared hosting is best for e-commerce websites.

1. Increased performance

The performance of the e-commerce website is greatly impacted by the plan offered by the hosting service provider. This is because any action or issue will always be handled by the hosting service provider. 

So, while choosing a website hosting service provider, make sure to choose a company that has the capacity to monitor and maintain the website by ensuring improved performance, better uptime, smooth page loading, etc.

2. High-end Security

The most essential and crucial aspect of hosting online sites is the security feature. E-commerce sites contain a large amount of user data including credential details and private or personal information. This is why hackers or attackers spend night and day trying to cause and breach and steal all sensitive information. Hackers usually exploit vulnerabilities and steal confidential information from an e-commerce website. 

To ensure that such attacks do not happen the hosting company must monitor the site twenty-four-seven so that the site stays protected from all such attacks and issues. Make sure an SSL Certificate is available and all other in-built security features along with it and made accessibly. The website hosting company should take all the necessary measures to keep the site protected and safe for all its users at all times.

3. Low Cost

As an owner of a business enterprise, it is your top priority to choose a web hosting provider and plan that is most suitable to your website which is both cost-efficient and reliable. Start-ups and small-scale companies prefer low-budget plans to get all their work done.

Site performance, security, and cost are the three main features that make shared hosting effective and preferred. Not all users prefer shared hosting but all the shared hosting sites are getting the maximum features for the cost they pay.

What Is The Right Shared Hosting Plan For The E-Commerce Site?

In order to choose the right shared hosting plan, you need to get familiar with all the features that will be offered on a particular plan and analyze them, compare them and then come to a decision. Here are a few factors that are important when choosing a shared hosting service for an online store.

1. Reliability 

The two main features that are important for a web hosting company are reliability and security. Reliability ensures clients’ performance and uptime, page speed, and improved user interaction. So, always go with companies that provide a better reliability experience.

2. Administrator Access 

The web hosting service should offer a simple and easy-to-use control panel with admin access. With admin access, file uploading, apps, plugin installation, and website data can be easily accessed. This makes sure you have control over your website.

3. Customer Service 

As a client, you will obviously have a lot of queries and questions regarding the smooth running of the site. You might want to make changes and doubt whether it is possible or have issues accessing clients’ data and others. During such cases, you need a ready customer support team to assist you with clearing all your doubts so, make sure the web hosting companies provide you with that.

The right website hosting provider will provide their clients with the best customer support service, the admin access to make sure that the owners have the ability to control their e-commerce site and reliability so that clients do not get disappointed.

Conclusion

Always check for reviews, it applies not only to products but also to software and hosting services as well. Though shared hosting is not suited for all, it is a great option to launch your new website for your e-commerce business. Shared hosting is best known for reliability, security, affordability, and scalability features. However, the key to getting access to all of this is, only when you choose the right hosting service provider that offers all these key features.  To sum it up: think, compare, analyze and then choose the most appropriate option.