anuragbhatia.com !!!

So after answering lots of queries regarding Web Hosting setup, i thought to post about it here……

This is regarding use of “External DNS Host…”

Most of newbies get confused because of type of setup they want…..

Type of DNS setups of site :

1. Web host and dns host both are same…….i.e using web hosts name servers.
2. Using separate DNS host and Web Host…

Both setups have their own advantages and dis-advantages…..like

Setup 1

Here we just use all services of web host including DNS hosting too….

like putting nameservers of Web Hosts @ registrar wrks that way…

This setup can be recommended ONLY when the web host is highly reliable and NOT with free or cheap web hosts. The main reason for that being since most of people now-a-days use email at their domain, and using a cheap or free web host’s dns can cause a whole lot trouble

But its always good type of setup when one is having a really good web host having really high (99.9%+) uptime, and one doesn’t needs access to DNS records of domain (which is often not required by a general user hosting one zone with one host!)

Setup 2

This can be a much much reliable setup, i.e having separate dns hosting other then using web hosts servers for dns hosting.

It can be useful as incase web host goes down, one can still have email working (as mostly people have email servers different from web hosting server!)

And also there is an very interesting fact that Free DNS hosts are HIGHLY reliable as comapred to cheap/free web hosts!!!

Thats my personal experience!

So in this setup easy way is just to create the following basic records

1. A record for root zone pointing to the ip of the web server of your web host.
2. Wildcarded A record (*.domain.com) also pointing to the ip of the web server of your web host (for sub-domains to work…)
3. mx records (incase you are using 3rd party email hosting rather then your web host…) so just simply create mx records with proper priority values …and done!!!but in case you have email hosting same as your web host’s then just leave step 3 and everything will go fine

So here’s the comparison b/w the both hosting methods…

Summary

So finalizing facts, i can just say you MUST go with a good external DNS host (free or paid…) to get full control on DNS things like – DNS records (A,cname,mx,srv,AAAA,NS,HINFO,PTR) , TTL, control on SOA parameters. All these features can be avoided ONLY if you use a really Good web host and are fully satisfied with its features

Thanks for reading and plz don’t forget to leave comments

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A few days back one of my friend told me to get a Unlimited web hosting account…..that too was for lifetime !!!

Features:

• unlimited web space (with a *)
• unlimited bandwidth (with a *)
• for Lifetime !!! (with a *)
• unlimited add on domains
• unlimited parked domains
• unlimited subdomains
• unlimited Databases
• Its cpanel !
• 99.9% uptime guarantee !
• 7 days money back guarantee !

all this was for just $17 (US dollers !) one time

Sounds intersting isn’t it…….means when we pay about $4-$5 a month for a few GB’s of space and a few hundreds of bandwidth this offers looks very attractive.

So ignoring the * i just gave it a try !

Signup was really good…….everything got wrking withing 1hr………..

Now i just didn’t used that account for about 40-50 days……..later i need to host a .iso image yea…correct file hosting….now you are getting it !

Hey…..remember i asked the reseller as per his terms to give me permission to host that file……and he gave

So a little hassle came up :

• No shell access…..aah….i asked support for that but support guy was a reseller……so he can’t actually help much here !
• i tried putting wget in a cron with confusing cpanel parameters …to make sure it download that file later in night and tried same for 2 days…..it never wrked………
• again asked support for Shell access >>> same reply <<<
• Ok fine after little frustations…..i just used the advanced tab while setting cron and gave * in ALL parameters !….assuming this time it will just start a cron within a minute and everything will go smoothly…….
• No No ….failure again ! ….it started downloading from source and kept increasing no. of downloads……by starting a download every min ! (i gave * in all parameters of cron….remember !)
• I observed the mistake…and tried deleting the cron…but the server has already suspended me !!! (looks funny….read more….)
• ok ….now i contacted the reseller……..
• His reply >>> “Hi, i got reply from the host under which i am reseller…they say – “the user Anurag tried to hack server with malicious scripts and tried to influence the other accounts !”
  They even suspended all 200 accounts under me in the process…and deleted your account permanently”
• LOL – really funny !
• Ok so now reseller suggested to pay $10 to get a lifetime account on new server……..$10 for lifetime…..hmmmm……not bad isn’t it ?
• got a new cpanel account with same features……….
• This time i again put the cron with EXTREME caution…….and hurray got it wrking…….appears i can sleep comforatbly now……….
• no no, trouble again !!!
  after 5-6 days when i used up about 18GB bandwidth, they again suspended my account becoz of too much usage in shared hosting envirement !

So here the finaly meaning of this story !!!

those stars in unlimited space and bandwidth meant its NOT unlimited !!!

it was actually unmetered !!!

difference :

unmetered means they actually put no limit on account itself……but then actual server limits always exsist, moreover saying shared envirement limit always exists.

I tried observing terms of a few more un-metered lifetime web host………almost all have similar terms…..and reliable hosts actually charge about $200-$300 lifetime to give unlimited bandwith with a few GB’s of web space……

So actually if we take a look from hosts point of view, we can never find the type of cheap reliable solutions we always look for in these kind of packages !

so better saying for important wrk don’t use lifetime – unmetered account…..

as per my struggle i just found following features in those packages….

• they are NOT unlimited but are unmetered….or i will better call them undefined !
• Poor customer support as becoz of reseller customer relationship
• you never know whether your scripts consuming average resources will run or you will use more resources then available in shared environment !
• good replacement of free web hosting BUT again here, reliability matters !

Ok ok, m ending up this post >>> Summary

Finally saying unlimited lifetime hosting accounts looks like candy when you see the offer BUT truly they are just un-defined accounts since limits always exists and you never know when you get susspended for crossing that limit….

But they can prove to be much better for light weight sites which are required only for small amount of time for like 3-4 months….in those cases they could be a good replacement of free web hosts, or home desktop based hosting.

Thanks for reading, plz don’t forget to leave comments…….

Hey !!!

after working on Linux from some days just thought to put a review about Linux itself !!!

Starting with Linux is often quite complex for newbie’s.

Here’s a list of common troubles…

• Selecting distro
• Switching troubles like partitioning
• Hardware trouble – including non-supporting hardware & driver problems
• Installing Software….not as easy as .exe files in windows package called wine sorts out that problem + rpm packages also really easy to install
  
• Learning a little bit command line parameters

Since being Member of Team Granular selecting ditro was NO trouble at all.Offcource i selected our Granular for starting

Partitioing looks a bit complex but after backing up WHOLE data, its not that much difficult to give try
And help docs coming with distro’s really help ………

Hardware is always a trouble………most often non supporting sound cards create trouble, even i was having trouble with my ethernet card’s driver initially but in latest released its driver problem was solved.

Actually having driver still not able to install it was my trouble.After much struggle i gave up but later got that solved

Installing Software is a bit complex type task BUT package installers always make work easy + most of distro’s comes with already installed software’s which really saves time in installing in windows ….

So actually truly saying starting is a “bit” bitter !

but after having its setup………its really really better.It takes some time in sorting out some basic startup problems but later its really like fun, easy to use, highly stable OS

The excellent features i observed in Linux:

• Highly stable
• Much much more control over your PC
• Supports old hardware….even is wrking @ gr8 speed on my 600Mhz computer
• No hassle of maintaining anti virus, anti virus & other security software and its updates….
• Gr8 support from Forums……….actually i personally feel Linux has more support then Windows.Every trouble can be easily solved from that specific distro forum + many other open source communities.

And even many more……which you will observe when you will switch !!!

So finally speaking

Although switching to linux can prove to be a little hassle initially but truly saying it really deserves …….

The features of Linux are much much more the only thing it takes is intially time.

So what are you waiting for ……….start !!!

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So if you come here from any search engine……….then you must be trying to do that !!!

>>> Hosting Site from home !!! <<<

A few days back i just thought to host a few things from home……specific reason to do that was to save time in uploading files like songs, some cool software’s etc to share with friends.
+ve’s

1. saves time in uploading things !
2. saves hosting fees
3. much control in hand type feeling !
4. my ISP offers 2am to 8am free net……so was free also for night !

so i started up……..

Things required

1. a domain name !
   No problem…….i already had anuragbhatia.com with me.
2. static ip or dynamic ip solution
   for this i tried 2 free dns hosts >>> sitelutions.com and editdns.net
   both worked fine………sitelutions has a bit complex type control panel….but great features…….but except one all its dynamic dns clients were chargeable……but editdns.net was good here.
3. a web server running on home system…….
   since i was trying all on windows….so i found KFWS as one of the greatest and easiest web server (supporting virtual hosting also….)
   Although for reliability……….Linux is ALWAYS the best…..but just to have a look and moreover for fun purpose i preferred windows.
4. Good Internet connection !!!
   #4 might look crazy but thats true !…….i mean to say you must have a decent enough High speed net connection. Say for just a simple plain site, having all pages less then 100KB and getting about 2-3 visitors a time, about 150kbps bandwidth is enough.But remember for purpose like file hosting (as it was in mine’s case……even MUCH more bandwidth is required !)

So finally doing some work !!!

1. Domain
   since i had domain……i just created a sub-zone under it at my dns host like home.anuragbhatia.com and gave it my homes (dynamic) ip.
2. Dynamic ip solution – i used sitelutions.com with dyndns…….and setting up was really easy……..all done within 10mins.
3. As stated i used KFWS and installing it took a little struggle as IIS 6.0 was already wrking on port 80 by default………(its windows….remember ??? )
4. Bandwidth – NOW came a serious problem !!!
   Actually i have a 2Mbps ADSL connection from BSNL !
5. Read carefully its an ADSL connection meaning – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber line. Asymmetric makes it really complex….it means the asymmetric nature of upload and download speed.e.g here i do get downloading speed of 400-500KBps but i was hardly getting upload speed of 60-70KBps……….although that was fine for a simple site…….BUT since i was just hosting sites…….this method failed as for having 10 visitors………each visitor downloading a 5MB file……so finally there were getting ONLY 10KBps download speed (even some less…).So one must be sure about uplink speed of ISP especially in ADSL case.
   
   

So although my mission to host files from home failed but i do concluded…

• Its is for simple plain site with less bandwith usage
• file hosting is FULLY wasteful as per considering low uplinks of home plans.
• reliablity is very less as single ISP trouble …….site down !
• System becomes more vunarable to creatures like DDoS attacks !
• Keeping system always up also creates cooling problems…….specially in country like here in India…..it really matters.
• Database accessing on home system is always slow……so again its for simple sites ……….less use of database etc !
• Data loss is also a problem.A home user has options like backing up data on optical storage…….that too is to be done everyday…..and in between doing that system becomes quite slow….
• Moreover a more trouble is in developing countries like India we don’t have always on power supply & home ups ONLY gives 20-25 mins backup when monitor is turned off !

Experience with a cheap web host…

on the other side i found many good things in using a cheap web host like

• No slow speed issues…….people can download files uploaded @speed of 300-400KBps and that didn’t seemed to be changing when i was having 15+ users downloading that file…..
• Reliability was high………….as i got 99.9% uptime guarantee thus something sweet
• Security attacks their problem !
• Data base access high speed as they are actually “servers”
• Data loss NO Problem……..as the web host does backup daily

So summarizing facts !

Hosting a site from home is useful ONLY for personal sites or the sites which really consume less bandwidth, cpu usage, not critical as per reliability & moreover when its required only for a few days……

Its much better to have all these features deducted @low costs…..e.g i found a cheap host charging just $12/yr giving 2GB space and 110GB/mon bandwidth.

Take a look at it >>> Click Here <<<

hey don’t forget to leave comments

And one more step towards a brighter future of Open Source

Today Team Granular released Granular 1.0 RC release

so it is celebrations day

This is last release before Granular 1.0 Final

This release is more stable, user-friendly, usable, and more fun to use. Quite some bugs have been fixed, improvements made, updates done; thanks to your constant feedback on the previous release (Granular 1.0 Preview).

Here the download links

http://server2.anuragbhatia.com/granular-1.0-rc-cd.iso

http://server3.anuragbhatia.com/granular-1.0-rc-cd.iso

http://server400.anuragbhatia.com/granular-1.0-rc-cd.iso

MD5 Sum -

c3bd8e042dd85f4f552aaac567bdb31a