Hightek Hosting – Official Blog

Hightek Hosting provides professional security solutions that are designed for businesses and companies that need to conduct secure online transactions.

During the month of August, we’re offering 25% OFF All SSL Certificates ordered.

The discount applies to the first year of the SSL certificate. Subsequent renewals are at the standard cost.

You can review our SSL pricing and order SSL Certificates online at: http://www.hightekhosting.com.au/hosting/ssl.php

Hightek Hosting is a proud dealer in GeoTrust, RapidSSL and Verisign SSL Certificates.

How Do I Receive This Discount?

Simply select the SSL certificate type you wish to order from our website and follow the order process.

During the order process, you will see a discount/coupon code box. Simply enter SSL25 and select “Validate” to apply this discount.

Why Should You Have An SSL Certificate?

You would normally use an SSL Certificate to collect credit card information or sensitive data, such as order information, which you wish to ensure is protected whist being delivered to you via your web site. You will also want your customers to feel safe entering any personal details on your site, this is achieved by clearly displaying the special seal provided with your SSL Certificate.

Need To Know More or Discuss Your Site Security?

Contact us today to discuss your security solutions and requirements and we can help point you in the right direction!

This offer expires 31st August, 2009 and is not valid in conjunction with any other offer.

All too often people install software applications such as Zen Cart, OsCommerce, WordPress or even Joomla and just expect it to stay working forever.

Unfortunately, with every software developer today comes their arch nemesis….HACKERS!

Nobody likes a hacker. They cause malicious damage, destory sites, data and even sometimes steal that data for their own further enjoyment.

With many of us running online businesses or e-commerce stores, customer security must always be our NUMBER 1 PRIORITY, especially considering many of us store private customer details and even credit card numbers.

No matter what type of business you are running, you should be taking customer security very seriously at all times.

As such, we have a few tips to ensure that you maintain maximum security of your site and software at all times.

1. Have your hosting provider configure you with a dedicated IP address and add an SSL certificate. SSL certificates ensure that all data transmitted between you and your customer is encrypted and secure. It also prevents malicous users from intercepting transmitted data sent between your server and your customer.
2. Change admin/root/superuser passwords regularly – All too often we see customers retaining the same passwords all the time, for a lifetime. This is not good security. You should be changing your passwords regular. Alteast every 30 days is ok
3. Secure passwords a must! – All too often we hear “I have the same password for everything” This is probably one of the worst security issues known. What your basically doing by doing this is leaving the door open for anyone to destroy everything you’ve worked so hard to obtain. You should not be using the same passwords for everything and you should be using a different password for everything you log into. Sure, this means you have to remember a bucketload of passwords, but it’s much better than trying to remember all your customers and what each customers details were. It is also important to have a secure password that cannot be easily guessed or found in a dictionary.A password such as thisismypassword is obviously not secure, but a password such as th15iSnOtmyp45sw0Rd*# or Vat7ef#n is a secure password. If you are unsure about creating secure passwords, check out this free tool: http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/
4. UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE! - Software developers are always finding ways to improve the security of their product, fixing security vulnerabilities and creating bug-fixes. No matter how much of a pain in the backside it might be for you to upgrade, it is important that you DO! No matter how long it takes you, remember, it’s an extra step to ensure your security is maintained and is worth much more than trying to recover from a crash, hack or bug. Don’t put them off!
5. Backup Backup Backup! – Backing up your data on a regular basis is just as important as the data itself. If you don’t backup, you might as well drive at high speed down a busy highway drunk! Yes, a poor analergy, but you know it’s unsafe to do that, so why would you not protect/backup your data.

No matter how much you trust your software and hosting provider, the simple fact is, don’t trust your software. Sure, we’re not saying all software is bad; it’s not the software that’s bad, it’s the people around the world that cause/find/locate issues and utilise them to their advantage that are bad.

Do your bit and stop the bad guys before they stop you!! Secure your site today!

It’s a question we get asked every day….but how do you answer it?

It’s not a case of saying “this, that and the other” will be the perfect plan because we all know, every website is going to be different.

Whilst some people think it is impossible to guage your traffic each month, here are some of our “Top Tips” on how to choose a hosting package:

1. You need to determine approximately how much disk space you will need. Your most basic HTML website can use between 20-50Mb (Megs) of storage, but if you have or are going to have alot of images and video, this can soon turn into a whole lot more. You need to allow room for your site to grow too, so make sure you choose a plan that not only gives you space you need now, but also space for the future.
2. You need to work out approximately how much traffic you will use. Whilst this isn’t easy, some simple calculations can help you work this out. Basically, if each page on your website is 1Mb in size, multiple this by the number of hits (page views) you receive each month. Eg: 1MB x 10000 hits = 10000MB/10GB. Your sites usage might not work out to be that high, or it might be higher, so do the maths for your site accordingly.
3. Make sure your language is supported. All too often we here the phrase “I wanted to code my site in ASP, but didn’t realise that the plan I selected does not support this!”. If you are using ASP to develop your website, then you are going to want a hosting plan based on a Windows hosting server simply because ASP is supported under Windows hosting. Linux hosting genereally does not have this support by default. If however you are developing your website in a language such as PHP or PERL, generally Linux hosting would be the best hosting plan to suit this, as it’s almost native to the language. Make sure your plan supports what you need first time!
4. Plesk or cPanel? Which is better? Another common question asked. To be honest, it’s not so much which is better. It’s moreso which one seems easier for you. Think of your control panel like your Coke or Generic Cola. They are both beverages you can drink, just made by different companies. Effectively, your control panel is the same. cPanel is developed by cPanel, Plesk is developed by Parallels. Each control panel is designed to make your life as a website administrator easier, but each has their own unique way of doing things. They both look different and have different layouts.

   Currently, cPanel is only supported on Linux machines, so this narrows the search down a little, where as Plesk is supported on both Linux and Windows servers. So with Windows hosting, you don’t really have a choice unless a provider offers a panel such as HELM or DirectAdmin, which is different again…but let’s not get confusing!

   In our opinion, cPanel is much easier to use and learn than Plesk, although, with Parallels Plesk 9, this debate is soon old fashioned, as Plesk is now easier to use than it once was (or so we think so)

   If need be, ask your potential provider for a demo. Some providers do not offer these, others offer them. Some offer 14 or 30 day money back guarantees, whilst others do not. Check with each provider, read some manuals and make a decision you believe is right for you.

5. Evalute/Review the provider – You want a company that is going to help you when you need it, not when they want to! Read some reviews on the hosting provider and get references from credible sources. Money back guarantees also are great options to look for.
6. Scalability – You want a provider that can grow with you without hurting the pocket. Find a provider that will allow you to upgrade or downgrade your plan at a time that suits you in accordance with your needs.
7. Uptime – You don’t want to choose a provider that experiences alot of downtime, so ask about site/server uptime and if revelant, ask for uptime stats or reports. Any provider who is genuine about their business will provide some form of information on this topic.
8. Payment Methods – This is one thing alot of people need to check…how to pay. Check that your potential provider offers a payment method suitable for your needs. There is no point signing up to a provider, only to realise that you cannot pay because they don’t have a payment method you desire to pay by.
9. Addons, Options and Upgrades – Establish where you want to take your site, what you plan to do and look at what upgrades you could potentially need in future. Some people start out with a basic website, only to work out later on they wanted to run an online store, accepting credit card payments online. For this you would require a dedicated IP address and an SSL certificate .

   Check with the provider on how this would take place and the costs involved in doing so. You do not want any nasty price surprises.

10. And finally, budget! – Choose a provider that meets your budget requirements as well as your other above requirements. Ask questions, get answers and make sure that everything fits within the realms of how you want your site to operate and what you want it to offer.

    We can never stress enough how important it is to make notes and do your ressearch. The last thing you want is to be caught out with hidden costs, nasty bugs or the wrong plan.