vps hosting | virtual private server

How to set up a private proxy server on my VPS

myvps — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:11:11 +0000

A proxy server shares one internet connection with all the computers on your local network or it is a computer that offers a network service allowing clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. So basically a proxy (proxy server) is one that acts as mediator between the client (the computer of a user) and server. When clients request data from an Internet resource, traffic goes from your web browser/application first through the proxy before it reaches the requested sources and back through the proxy which then transmits the data to you. A proxy server sits between a client application, such as a Web browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the real server.

How Proxy Servers Work:

1.When a computer on the intranet makes a request out to the Internet-such as to retrieve a Web page from a Web server-the internal computer actually contacts the proxy server, which in turn contacts the Internet server. The Internet server sends the Web page to the proxy server, which then forwards the page to the computer on the intranet.

2. Proxy servers log all traffic between the Internet and the intranet. They can log every IP address, date and time of access, URL, number of bytes downloaded, and so on. This information can be used in analyzing any attacks launched against the network. It can also help intranet administrators build better access and services for employees.

3. Some proxy servers work with special proxy clients. A more popular approach is to use off-the-shelf clients such as Netscape with proxy servers. When such an off-the-shelf package is used, it must be specially configured to work with proxy servers from a configuration menu. Then the intranet employee uses the client software as usual. The client software knows to go out to a proxy server to get the data, instead of to the Internet.

4. Proxy servers can do more than relay requests back and forth between an intranet and the Internet. They can also implement security schemes. For example, an FTP proxy server could be set up to allow files to be sent from the Internet to a computer on the intranet, but to block files from being sent from the corporate network out to the Internet-or vice versa. In this way, intranet administrators can block anyone outside the corporation from downloading vital corporate data. Or they can stop intranet users from downloading files which may contain viruses.

5. These can also be used to speed up the performance of some Internet services by caching data-keeping copies of the requested data. For example, a Web proxy server could cache many Web pages, so that whenever someone from the intranet wanted to get one of those Web pages, they could get it directly from the proxy server across high-speed intranet lines, without having to go out across the Internet and get the page at a lower speed from Internet lines.

A Virtual Private Server can work well to set up your own internet browsing proxy. It costs as little as $8 a month, which is roughly the same a private proxy or VPN provider, would charge you. But with you being in full control over the logs and resources on the server which can be used for other things besides hiding your IP when browsing the internet. It can be depicted by the diagram along with the instructions given below:

You will need to install a proxy server on your machine, this example uses micro proxy, a small Unix based HTTP/HTTPS proxy that runs from inetd.
Install xinetd on your server. Set micro proxy to run via xinetd (or inetd if you use that instead).
Force xinetd to start the service for you by adding the following snippet of code in your etc/services file.
Make sure the ports you want to use are open on the server, there are various methods to achieve this:
Once you have installed micro proxy, configured xinetd and edited etc/services you should be done on the server side, now it is time to configure your internet browser.

My site was hacked

myvps — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:53:13 +0000

What to do when my site is hacked

The intention of this blog post to help those webmaster whose wordpress sites are hacked. Since I am not a programmer, I can only share what happened to me, and how I solved it. Hopefully this article will bring some value to you, In the article I will include some resources for further reading.

what happened

When I tried to login to wordpress I got this message "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in home/xxxx/xxxxx/xxxx/default-widegets.php in line 0000". Now I havent't updated my site for a while, so I am pretty sure it was not me who made the error.

So I downloaded the file to my computer desk top from the location specified in the message, and found this script in line 0000

My one wasn't exactly the same but very similar and has a lot more codes in it, So I removed the code by upgrading my wordpress blog in cPanel, when it was completed I went to check my site again, and this time the error message was even better " This site may harm your computer ".

So it was comfirmed by Google the site was hacked.

solutions
1. Locate your ip

If you don't know your local ip here are the steps

For Windows

Start
Run
ipconfig

For Linux

Applications
Accessories
ifconfig

2 Who logged into system

This can be found within your cpanel last login, it should be your ip

3. Enable log archiving in cPanel

4. Take your site offline by create maintenance.php and editing .htaccess file.

5. Report to your hosting company
Most companies will be restoring your site or helping you solve the problems, some won't, but unless you try you won't know, and if your company does not want to help, it is probably time for you change a host.

6. Scan your computer
Scan your computer thoroughly using 2 or more antivirus systems listed below, if your site has more administrators, you should inform them to do the same

7. Upgrade all your thirdparty scripts to the latest version, such as wordpress , joomla, drupal. etc.

8. Change all your passwords, I mean all.

9. download all the files to your computer and scan them with antivirus softwares.

After the scan you want to look into every single file and find out if there is any other hacking scripts in the files

10. Once you are happy and sure all the files are clean, ask for a review in you google webmaster tools, it will take less than a day usually before they unmark your site.

For a more complete step by step solutions click here

The need to know before sign up for any hosting service

myvps — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:03:13 +0000

When you're signing up to any web hosting services, may it be dedicated, vps or shared hosting, it's easy to get lost in the jargon and sign on the dotted line before really knowing what exactly you're going to be paying for. The key is to remember that, as with any service you're looking to invest in, research is vital. read the full article here

Reliable UK & US Debian vps hosting

myvps — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:19:20 +0000

There are dozens of companies provding debian vps, and if I tell you that I have been a customer of all of them that would be a lie.

However, I have searched all over the internet, browsing through popular review sites, webmasters forums, blogs, questions & answers websites, as well as talking to those vps hosting companies customer service staffs, so if you want to spend two days reading boring reviews, well, be my guest.

I had a list of 20 debian vps providers, after evaluating them on customers experience and hardwares, and plans, only 4 left on my list, which are listed below.

VPS.NET

Cloud vps

Datacenters are located in both US and UK

$20 / month = 0.4GHz CPU, 256 RAM, 10GB storage, 250GB bandwidth

For more Info click here

Pandela

8-Core Servers, Virtuozzo/Hyper V

256MB RAM, 200GB Banwidth, 5GB storage $17

2048 MB RAM, 1500 GB Bandwidth, 50GB storage $64

Additional IP's: $1/mth
Extra Bandwidth: $0.25/GB

For more Info click here

Sitevalley

xen servers

$14.95 / month = 256 MB Dedicated Memory, 256 MB SWAP Memory, 20 GB storage, 100 GB Bandwidth

$49.95 / month = 1024 MB Dedicated Memory, 1024 MB SWAP Memory, 80 GB storage, 500 GB Bandwidth, 4 Dedicated IP

Adult allowed

For more Info click here

Eukhost - uk webhosting provider

Virtuozzo server

£ 19 / month = 15 GB Web Space, 300 GB Monthly Bandwidth, 384 MB Guaranteed RAM

£ 39 / month = 45 GB Web Space, 500 GB Monthly Bandwidth, 640 MB Guaranteed RAM

Muiltply by 10 is your yearly price

For more Info click here

3 Months FREE offer ends December 31st!

myvps — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:29:57 +0000

1and1 internet is giving away 3 months free hosting. click this link to get you 3 month free hosting.

A2hosting – Low Price = Poor Quality ?

myvps — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:35:08 +0000

A2hosting offers $8.97/month VPS hosting plan, no set fee, the promotion ends on the 31st of Dec.

The cPanel installation assistance service is reasonally priced, it costs $50 one time fee, as many other vps hosting companies would ask you sign up for their managed service which is usually more expensive.

30 Day money back guarantee, it is neccessery to know what the refund policy is before sigining up with any hosting companies, for a2hosting, only the month fee is refunable, one time fees such, ssl, cpanel set up assistance will not be refunded. Payment made by cheques and dedicated servers will not be refunded either.

Hardware

The a2hosting basic vps plan includes 128 Guaranteed Ram with 256 burstable ram, so your website will still be accessible even if it has exceed it ram limit. 10 GB storage and 100 GB Bandwidth / Data Transfer, unless you are hosting a huge ecommerce site (not as huge as eBay tho) with huge amount of page views per day, this should do you.

Software

Many Linux based OS to choose from,to name a few, Gentoo, Debian, Centos etc

2 virtualization systems, xen & openvz, in case you don't know the difference is, xen allows you to have multiple OS/operating system installation, as OpenVZ has 4 times less CPU consumption, less overhead, and more stable. They all have their advantages but if you only need vps for standard websites, then OpenVZ is the choice.

A2hosting offers 2 cPanel templates for vps customers, standard and advanced. basically advanced template is the same as the one in shared hosting, this is great for any one who is new to vps and would like to use cPanel.

Customers Service

99.9% Uptime policy, a2hosting has good reputation for their server uptime, although like many other companies, scheduled maintainances are not included in the uptime gurantee. Toll free phone support for US and Canada. Live support, Feedback button shows that a2hosting is continually working on their customers experiences and it is definitely a sign of good customer support.

Conclusion

A2hosting is an affordable vps hosting provider that has good customer support and plans that are suitable for absolute beginners in vps. Click here to visist A2hosting

Cheap vps hosting packages are not all bad

myvps — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:58:14 +0000

This post has been moved to cheap vps page

Click here to access it

Don’t get fooled by anhosting coupon

myvps — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:22:01 +0000

Many sites are offering 25% off anhosting coupon code, in fact, anhosting does not provide coupons, the 25% off is their current promotion, so with or without, you will get a nice 25% discount. If you don't believe me Click Here to see for yourself, below is the anhosting review

Intruduction to Anhositng

Anhosting is located in Spring Creek Parkway Providence, UT and is a sister site of midphase, vps.net, uk2, and a few more. They only offer shared hosting plans suitable for standard websites, and host more blogs then many other hosting providers.

Features

Mysql 5 database, php 5, and fantastico are all included in the hosting package, that means you can create wordpress blog, joomla, drupal, with 2 or 3 clicks using fantastico, MySQL allows to set up new databases easily. Php 5 is required by many applications such wordpress plugins.

Price

$5.21/month is a pretty standard price, their sister site midphase offers $2.95/month packages. One thing I suggest you to do though is to ask them what is the price for second year, as with many hosting companies the price is way higher than the first year.

Conclusion

Even though Anhosting coupon isn't available, you will still get a nice discount, also they offer reasonably priced packages and good customer support. Their hosting plans are more than enough to get you started, once your site gets bigger, it will be the time to think about switching to vps or dedicated, I think it is good to start with anhosting or Midphase, because if you want to change to vps, you will probably get nice discount from their sister sites that offer vps hosting plans such as vps.net.

Click here to visit Anhosting

Illegal immigrants can not use 1&1 internet

myvps — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:15:40 +0000

I was browsing through 1&1 internet reviews, and came across a post in one of the forums suggests that you need to provide your passport copy and very very personal information in order to sign up for their services, sounds like 1and1 has become the online police department.

So out of curiosity I had a look in 1&1 internet privacy policy, where I found no mentions regarding to passports. That's why it is time for us to focus on the problems, pros and cons.

Problems

Not receiving validation email, You should get it right after you sign up, otherwise check your spam filter first, if still not, well, wait for a while and contact their support, for vps and dedicated may take up to 5 days to set up.

other problems are not really problems, such as how to set up joomla, wordpress, all you need to do is to use an ftp client such as filezilla, if you don't know how to do it, let me know, I will make a video on that.

Pros

Good variety of hosting plans, shared hosting, vps, dedicated servers etc. The starting price is surprisingly low for dedicated server, only $49/month, as for shared hosting and vps are pretty much the same as many other hosting providers.

I like the sound of green hosting, it feels like that we are helping to protect the environment as we are building our sites.

90 day money back guarantee (does not apply to dedicated), while most of the hosting companies offer only 30 days.

24/7 support which is pretty standard with all the big hosting companies, although I am a big fan (my surname is Fan too, and I am big) of live chat support, which is not available.

Cons

The account cancellation in 1&1 internet can be tricky, many customers had complaints on that issue, so read through their policies before you purchase 1&1 internet hosting plans (that applies to any other hosting companies)

Even though 1and1 and many other hosting companies provide a free domain when you sign up, but unless you are just testing it out and don't care about the site much, don't use the free domain provided for your site. I think we can all afford $10 for a domain name.

Conclusion

Don’t decide whether to register for a hosting account with 1&1 internet or not based on what I have just said, as I always suggest do more researches before buying any hosting service, and that will save you a lot of headaches and nightmares in the future. Watch my video “how to find a reliable hosting service”, and don’t forget to order hosting services through my links, because you will get a nice gift, actually a few. Click to see what you will get

How to find a reliable hosting service

myvps — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:54:39 +0000

As customers, we can only hope that we will find a reliable hosting service, which will meet our expectations. Reading reviews is helpful, but first we will need to find a resource of reliable hosting reviews.

In the video below I will show you one of the best resources for finding reliable hosting services and real user reviews.

Have you watched it?

Hopefully that helped, and let me know how I can be more helpful.