How to Chose the best server backup service?

March 9, 2013 Posted by

As online trading and exchange established in a swift pace, servers were used to meet the increasing demand for smooth request handling. However it led to a condition in which it became a solitary point of impact as well. A server breakdown or downtime results in serious loss of data and thereby adversely affecting the commerce. Invasion of hackers added to the threat involved.

Outcome of data loss was quite enormous, that organizations had to use competent server backup strategies for the server management. Well there are certain points to be noted down while making a choice out of the various online server backup services accessible, that is the cost efficiency, viability features, storage capacity and business ratings.

The number of machines supported by the backup service has to equal your requirements. Let’s say if you only have a network consisting of 10 computers, there is no requisite to pay for a backup service which supports up to 99 computers or more. Therefore a thorough analysis of your necessity should be done prior to selecting the server backup service.

The different platforms or operating systems that the service supports should match your computers operating system. You may have Windows machines and Linux machines, which imply that the backup solution should be compatible with both operating systems. Understanding the requirement i.e. whether it’s for free, personal use, family use or business use determines the type of backup utility to be selected. Features and capabilities of the service are also determined by what you are using the service for.

Online backup services has quite a few software features ranging from automatic back up, data compression, data archiving, file synch and sharing, scheduled backups, network backup, timeline storing, versioning and more. Make sure to select software with the most wanted feature suiting your business requirement. Concentrate on products that have features that are most significant for your business.

It is significant to be aware of the storage requirement of your business server. When you need a space less than 10 GB, don’t go for plans with limitless storage. Analyze your business requirement thoroughly before making a choice. As the competency increased among the various backup services available in the industry, ratings by customers of these services became key to such choice. Ratings of such products are obtainable through online or offline business magazines including CNET, PCMag and so forth. It would be worth if a good preparation and market research is done before making a choice.

In an online server backup service, the information from the server is transmitted via internet and stored in an offsite professional data center or with the service provider to whom the server administration is outsourced. The expenditure and risk involved in server data administration is thus distributed. Benefit of having such an online server backup solution would be that your data is safe from theft, flood, fire or any such natural calamities.

Read more: Open source server backup software

open source server backup software

What Is Meant By Remote Tech Support?

January 24, 2013 Posted by

Technical support is the back bone of any product or service offered by the organization. Marketing a product with 24/7 support is much easier. As the world grew up to a computerized civilization, the need to solving computer issues easily became a requirement. The various means of technical support offered include phone support, chat support, email support, support in person and remote tech support. Out of all the various support systems in place, remote technical support via internet is the most favored one by the customers.

Remote tech support or remote support solutions involves connecting to the problem computer via internet, diagnosing the problem, experimenting with possible solution steps, fix the issue and verify the solution consistency. There is quite a lot of desktop sharing software available in the industry with lot many inbuilt features. The support engineer uses the desktop sharing software to gain access to the problem computer. The software enables you to take control of the remote computer and can synch the support engineers mouse clicks and key strokes with the problem computer. To the customer, it might look like his computer having activity when he is doing nothing.;

Earlier it used to be a tiresome job to carry your machine to the local support store to fix a software issue. Now it takes less than half an hour to fix a software issue with the help of remote support solutions. The limitations of other means of support are very much rectified by remote tech support. Unavailability of internet connection would be the only circumstance in which one cannot avail remote support for a software issue with the computer. Health check of the system, virus removal, mail client troubles, scanning for spyware, software upgrades and new application installations are some of the most commonly handled issues in such service.

The cost involved in getting a support person on the site is saved with the help of remote technical support, which is one of the prime reasons for its popularization. In phone, chat or email support, if the customer is not a technical person, it would be a tough time to fix an issue. The support engineer would have to put it in the simplest manner and even then it’s not necessary that the customer would be able to perform the steps described. Remote technical support it makes the process run in a much smoother way rather than spending hours on the phone or chat. Email support system has always been condemned about the turnaround time. The description given initially by the customer will not be enough for the engineer to diagnose the issue. Therefore another set of questions would be send back to the customer which will give some insight about the issue faced by the customer. Even then it would take a lot time to make the customer perform the required technical steps to resolve the issue faced. In remote support solutions, all this hassles are overcome as the engineer has direct access to the problem computer and perform the required solution steps either in the customer’s presence or absence.

Remote technical support can be used to fix software related issues, server management, etc only if internet is available. If there is any hardware issues, the computer either has to be carried on to the support store or an engineer has to be scheduled for a site visit. Unavailability of internet being the only limitation, remote technical support is more favored owing to its reduced time and cost, and easiness and hassle free features.

Ad Free Web Hosting – Increase Your Website Worth

October 9, 2012 Posted by

Though advertisements are in fact the biggest revenue source from the internet, it could be a sore in the eye at times. When you want to host some exclusive websites such as a brand website detailing about the history, services and products of the brand, you would not want 3rd party company advertisements to plague your website’s landing page. This is when you could use banner free hosting services to get rid of 3rd party advertisements. A banner free hosting service would be similar to a normal hosting service with the exception that clients using it would be rendered a hosting service that does not bombard the hosted website with advertisements unless they prefer to have them on board. If such a website is up and running as a brand website, then people are likely to find it interesting to use it and conduct business transactions via the website which is crucial for the company. An ad free web hosting service should not however compromise on any convenience provided by a typical hosting service online.

The facilities that such a service should provide include storage facilities for user data and other related data from the website with varying storage option, reliable connection to the internet, powerful and necessary bandwidth to accommodate ever increasing user traffic, custom email, domain registration services and so on. The list is nearly endless. Also the ad free web hosting service should ensure that no pop-ups or unwanted text based ads float around in the web page. Such measures would definitely cut the time users would have to spend otherwise by closing these pop ups and ads.

So a banner free hosting service provides a number of useful services for a website which makes it a preferred choice among website owners who need efficient and hassle free website hosting without having to deal with advertisements and banners. So how exactly do you select a hosting service suited for your business which also prevents wasteful advertisements and pop ups from emerging in your website. There are several hosting service providers who claim to offer free web hosting services. Just think about the logic behind such services. Would anyone offer an opportunity to make a huge fortune for free? Such services would flood your website with banner advertisements, pop-ups and other irritating menaces which would prove to be a nightmare for visitors to your website. As such it is wise to stay away from these free services and opt for a reliable and banner free hosting service that is made available to you at a reasonable price. It is not that expensive to get an ad free web hosting service and you can definitely find the investment worthy in the long run.

So now that you have understood the true potential of an ad free web hosting service, it is time you started thinking about shifting over to such a reliable service if you are still clinging onto free hosting services that bombard your websites landing page with ads.

Setting up a Hosting Business Using Hosting Software Applications

October 3, 2012 Posted by

The internet is definitely the place where you should invest on if you plan to become a successful entrepreneur on your own. With minimal resources, you could set up a flourishing online business enterprise and there are turnkey solutions to assist you all through the time and hence you need not depend too much on other technical staff and human resources. You could start your own web hosting company with the help of several hosting software applications available online. Many of these offer live demonstration of how the software actually works while you run it. And you can get complete solution that help with basic hosting tasks.

Before going into the specialized specifications with regards to application programs for automation, you should make sure that you have the necessary hardware facilities and connectivity and network stability to ensure websites run smoothly on your service. You need to have a regular back-up remedy to restore crucial information in the event of a problem which may either be due to a man made mistake or a natural disaster. Whatever be the reason, your customers would anticipate the assistance offered by you to be efficient and disaster recovery is an inevitable part of a hosting business. After the necessary components specifications are met, all you need is to get your arms on a highly effective and well designed web hosting software. It is wise to go in for an open source software applications as it would be devoid of all the complexities and license issues for customization which would have popped up in the case of 3rd party owned hosting software applications.

In order for clients to use your hosting portal to host their website, they should pay you a fee for the hosting facility. Hence you need to offer competitive rates because there would be several other hosting options for your customer and it is vital that he or she has the impression or gets the impression that your hosting service is the best out there. In order to charge clients for the service provided you would require a billing software as well. However rather than having to acquire softwares for each and every single department you might as well check out the several web hosting billing software applications which integrate all functionalities of a powerful hosting software and the features and tools needed for billing customers for the service rendered. It is a kind of all in one solution. Make sure you go for an Open Source variant of such a software combo as well because of the benefits we mentioned earlier.

So as you can see, there is a tremendous business prospective for an online web hosting company and with the help of hosting billing software applications, it is quite possible for you to get one up and running with relative ease.

How Non-Profit Organisations Can Benefit From Free Web Hosting Services

September 25, 2012 Posted by

Today it sounds quite crazy when someone wishes for something for free. Of course you can get something as gifts, but that pretty much wraps it up. Well if you thought that nothing in the IT industry is free, then you are gravely mistaken. Several programs mainly Open Source programs are available free of cost online. And there is more to the mix. You even have no cost hosting service providers who offer free website hosting services that help you to save considerably on hosting charges. Such gestures are very useful from the viewpoint of a Non-Profit Organisations, environmental activist group websites, free service portals such as free job portals, etc.

As such free web hosting services can be successfully implemented for such kind requirements. However do not expect much of a top quality service from such companies, but they do offer basic support and reliable platforms to run your website quite reasonably well. Not only that you get many basic facilities of premium hosting services and solutions such as free cPanel hosting, domain registration with custom email addresses for your domain, storage space for your data and many of these plans come with affordable upgrade options just in case you want a little more pumping up. With increase in traffic to your website you could easily use these premium plans to increase the storage space and bandwidth without having to shell out a fortune.

 Such free hosting service packages allow administrators of the websites to keep track of the activity in the website, get reports about the number of visitors that have paid a visit to his website, business deals if any that happened through the website and so many other valuable data pertaining to the website. As mentioned earlier, the biggest beneficiaries of free website hosting schemes are Non profit organisations as they can establish an online presence through a website which would prove beneficial for several of their causes. For example, a fund raising event can be carried out via their website and could be promoted by sharing the links to the event from their website onto popular social feeds and networks. Thus such services allow non profit organisations to freely benefit from the outreach and user influence of internet media.

Free hosting no ads service implies that you will not be troubled by persisting and rather annoying advertisements and banners that often plague several free as well as in some premium hosting services.

So now that you have understood the concept of free web hosting, you can make use of its services if your purpose is genuine and is in the interests of mankind and not for a money making business.

How You Can Succeed With A Web Hosting Business

September 20, 2012 Posted by

Today nearly every business organisation would want an online identity and what better way to establish such an existence than by creating a website to showcase their expertise and skills. So cashing in on this growing affinity for websites would be an interesting business prospect and not only is there scope for website development jobs and tasks, you can even start your very own web hosting business to make a decent income by successfully managing such a venture. If you are wondering how such a business would muster growth then just consider this fact. Nearly 60 per cent of business enterprises that want to go online would not be having a core IT competency and hence they are bound to outsource their IT projects which include website building and hosting.

Hence starting a web hosting business enterprise is valuable because you can certainly get good customers for you because of the lack of expertise business organisations face to handle their own websites. Web hosting is a complicated process and hence you may be worried about how you can achieve success. Well all you need to have is an effective web host strategy or plan and the necessary hardware and manpower skills and components to cope with the website requirements. The rest is all taken care of by software programs. You have computerized applications for nearly all of the hosting process functionalities.

You can make use of several tips provided by consulting companies that would guide you through efficient strategies to build up a dream business venture of starting a web hosting business. Many companies would have years of expertise in this field and they can guide you with effective business solutions that have been developed over the years and comprise of some of the best practices in the industry. You may have limited financial budget, but that is more than enough because such advisors can recommend you the best solutions and concepts that would increase your company’s growth ten folded within a limited period. As you are aware, the internet is the biggest source of revenue in the modern era and hence any online business if implemented properly can reap huge benefits.

Once your web hosting plan which details in brief about the specific financial funds, human sources, facilities assistance etc has been ready, you can use the assistance of service professionals to choose the best applications to help you with starting a web hosting business online. With tons of open source software applications available, you will never feel alone in your battle as they would take care of all possible complexities involved. All you need is the right guidance and with that you can succeed with a web hosting business.

Need Of An Efficient Server Migration Service

September 14, 2012 Posted by

When it comes to the IT department of a business, server migration is something that is inevitable. Data migration in server technology is required every now and then and is quite unpredictable. The scale of migration too is kind of undefined and often companies lack an effective server migration plan to transfer data and crucial information from one platform to another. There is no particular destination when it comes to migration of platforms. The most common varieties of server migration are from Windows based platform to Linux, Mainframe to Unix or Windows NT and even to Windows 2003.  Data migration services may also be required for upgradation or updating of traditional legacy systems to a more convenient and powerful computing environment.

Server migration becomes important when there is a need to standardise business process and techniques to adhere to a more solid core which is very valuable for company. The need for highly efficient and powerful computer systems as well as processing capability is also a reason for server migration. Relocating to a new foundation is often necessary to stand above competitors and provide more quality for the assistance you provide to your potential customers. As such you need to have a server migration plan kept prepared at all times. The need for modern business practices with regards to finance, employee maintenance, etc also makes it vital for server migration.

It is vital for any business organisation to invest in setting up a self hosting infrastructure or in simple terms, it should have a server of its own. Opting in for shared hosting services may be financially viable but they then your business would be criticised on having no backbone of its own. Thus business entities are fast migrating to a server environment and the need for data migration services are on the increase. Having a server of your own allows more flexible communication between your employees and integration of several departments is possible thanks to this communication link. Dedicated servers ensure that your business models are not disrupted and hence customer satisfaction levels would be high because your service models would be up and running always. Thus server migration is essential for ensuring the growth of a business organisation.

If you are concerned about the skills you posses to perform data migration, then you can entrust the job with any expert information migration company. They would have the necessary abilities with regards to human resources and facilities to offer a straight forward server migration schedule. Such organizations would adhere to a well set out server migration plan to create sure that your solutions and business procedures are not impacted negatively during the migration procedure. However entrusting such critical tasks to 3rd party companies is not without serious risks in terms of confidential data security. So you should ensure that the company you appoint has a proven track record in the industry.

As such data migration is a key trend in today’s new generation businesses and you can safely perform this migration with the help of an affective data migration service.

Why Do You Need Remote Server Monitoring Services

September 10, 2012 Posted by

Have you heard about Remote Server Monitoring Services? If not, then let us just give you a brief idea of why you need it and what exactly it does for your business. Your servers sometimes have a mind of their own which just refuses to comply with your commands. This is the time when you need experts to attend to it in order to resolve the issue. But having this assistance team of specialists attend to you every single time would mean they have to be sourced at the same office. This means they have to be employed in your company’s payroll and thereby result in escalating expenses in your budget. Sometimes the service would be needed just occasionally and hence maintaining dedicated staff for it would prove to be very expensive in the long run.

As such remote services can definitely to cut down on expenses considerably. So what exactly is remote server monitoring? Simply it is handling and managing of a server situated in a geographically different place from that of the professional tracking the server. This server monitoring assistance allows experts to control and observe your server and thereby leaving you and your team relaxed and spared off all the specialized and technical complexities that would have aroused if you were to do it in-house. This assistance in particular benefits those organizations whose primary business is not IT and hence it gives them time and human resources to focus on their key business designs while professional IT employees from another place attend to the issues in their server.

A server is something no big or small enterprise can ignore today if they want all their activities and business deals streamlined and hence the need for server monitoring service in companies becomes even more imminent. It makes sure that disrupted server operations are brought up back in no time without causing major slowdowns and service denials. This proves vital in a client centric business wherein failure to render timely customer service can ruin the entire business. Besides, having IT specialists look into the matter allows your other business activities to be carried out smoothly as your staff need not devote their time and attention to server repair or maintenance.

Using experienced IT experts in a non IT atmosphere will have its own problems besides payrolls and other financial costs for your company and hence the need for remote services to such tasks is highly appreciated. The organizations that provide a distant server tracking assistance is assured to provide professional experts and they would have the necessary software and hardware facilities to make sure that your server problems are fixed as fast as possible with little or no impact to other business services.

So now that you have understood the importance of remote server monitoring services, it is wise to opt for one especially if you want to cut down on expenses so that your budget can be used in other key areas.

Empower your helpdesk team with automated helpdesk application

July 31, 2012 Posted by

One of the greatest challenges confronted by any products or services agency is handling their client concerns effectively and guaranteeing the customers are satisfied with the service! Managing client concerns is the most delicate part of any business. You never know what the client anticipations is and it is not that easy to satisfy the same. Most companies have recognized a helpdesk team to deal with client concerns alone. However as the number of concerns improved, it became even more difficult for the groups to deal with, in an immediate and precise way. Hence the need for a computerized client handling procedure came up. This need led to the development of customized helpdesk software.

Helpdesk software is designed to automate the different activities followed in processing a customer request. Right from picking up a customer ticket and ensuring its satisfactory closure, all activities are well tracked and organized by helpdesk software. The enhancement it brings about in the helpdesk system of the company is huge. Increase in efficiency and productivity of the team is one remarkable change brought about in the business by the online helpdesk software. There are several notifications and alerts integrated to helpdesk software that will prompt the engineers to pick up tickets raised by customers on time. It enables the engineers to stick to the service level agreements. Customers always appreciate their queries being answered promptly.

Helpdesk system is capable of doing projects which range from simple occurrence control to complicated incident managing techniques. The system will perfectly monitor the various factors of a request ticket managing process. Details on the client contact history, awaiting tickets, issue concern, transfer to next level of support and more can be easily utilized with the help of a helpdesk application. It will act as an anchorman of connections for the end users. Certain programs have expertise connected to it which maintains details about the products or services and most common problems associated with the same. Information platform allows clients clear their simpler questions themselves, without having to raise problem ticket as such. Helpdesk application can be incorporated with a devoted web hosting server and thus enable the company to offer a 24/7 assistance center for the clients. The end-to-end monitoring process of a help desk system allows in precise report generation of the support team. Customers can keep a record of their problems with the help of a helpdesk application.

Technical engineers can utilize required information to assist a client in an immediate manner by using a helpdesk application. For the control or the company, it provides as the purpose of a monitoring tool to evaluate the performance of their assistance function. Thus applying a helpdesk application allows the clients, engineers and the company to have their own advantages accompanied as such in different ways.

iScripts Supprotdesk is an open source  helpdesk software that can be easily integrated to your existing business website or can be used to implement a fresh helpdesk system. It comes with an outstanding array of features that help enhancing your helpdesk functionalities. The unencrypted code can be tailored to best fit into your business. Coming with a feature packed admin panel, reinforced security protocols, efficient ticket management system and support tools, and the application is well suited for any scale of business.

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Outsourcing The Technical Support

July 24, 2012 Posted by

Outsourcing critical and non critical requirements of the business has gained such a wide spread acceptance and is influenced by many factors. Affordability was one among the excellent reason for choosing outsourcing various business requirements. As the option for quality sources improved, crucial company procedures like technical support also started to be outsourced. Taking a decision on whether tech assistance team should be outsourced or not is very crucial. For that, you have to have no shocks about the pros and cons associated with technical support outsourcing, how to select a good service provider and whether you would be helped from outsourcing.

There are numerous advantages accompanied in outsourcing a business process. Money saving is one of the key advantage of outsourcing any business process. Service providers offer human resource with high quality and greater experience to work on your product at a far less cost when compared to the native engineers. You don’t have to worry about the back office work associated with employee management and compensation. It’s all taken care of by the service provider themselves. And there is no need to set any kind of infrastructure to house the engineers. Infrastructure management is a major contributor towards a company’s annual budget. By careful analysis of the existing business system, understanding the feasibility of outsourcing a process and choosing the right provider can always help you make outsourcing beneficial to your business.

A wonderful thing about offshore outsourcing is that you can eliminate the difficulties of time zone difference or any geographical restrictions. You can offer the client a 24/7 system of tech assistance team by freelancing it to a popular company. Anytime assistance will definitely grab client appreciation and thus add on to the company profit by saving your money. The engineers from outsourcing team would be of ample expertise in their areas which further increases the client assistance offered. They would be able to answer client queries in an immediate manner and fix issues quickly. Outsourcing tech assistance team or other company process markets the risk associated with company maintenance and thus enabling you to focus on other core company activities.

There would be pros and cons associated with any systems. Outsourcing technical support is also accompanied by certain disadvantages. Security is the top concern raised in terms of outsourcing business process. Since the outsourced engineer have access to various parts of the business system, chances are high the data being leaked. Confidential information if leaked to a competitor can adversely affect the business. If the service quality offered is not meeting the standards, you will have to switch service provider and start the process from scratch. If the service provider shuts down also the situation is same. If the agreement made between the service provider and yourself is not clearly defining all the process being handed over, it can end up in you paying a lot more than what was expected. Thus the cost effectiveness can change into a different situation.