SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer.” Secure Sockets Layer is a protocol designed to enable applications to transmit information between each other securely. SSL is the most widely deployed security protocol used today. In today’s Internet focused world, we typically see SSL in use when a web browser needs to securely connect to a web server over the insecure Internet. For example, in the case of a browser, users are alerted to the presence of SSL when the browser displays a padlock. This is the key to the success of SSL, as the users know the site is valid and secure and it is an incredibly simple experience for end users.

How does SSL work?

SSL works by the sharing of encrypted keys, or passwords. The keys are created in pairs, one a public key and one a private key. When the keys are traded in a particular manner between two parties, this protocol assures the parties in communication they are transmitting with one another and not a hacker or phisher. It also assures the data being transmitted is not intercepted by someone else.

What happens when my web browser connects to a secure website? (SSL)

1. The browser requests that the web server identifies itself.

2. The server sends the browser a copy of its SSL cert.

3. The browser checks whether it trusts the SSL cert, and if it does it sends a message to the server.

4. The server sends back a digitally signed acknowledgement to start an SSL encryption session.

5. Encrypted data is now shared between the server and the browser.

SSL’s importance in E-commerce

When a customer visits a store they can see who they are dealing with. They can see the person and the product and make a decision on payment. When a customer visits your website they have no way of knowing who they are dealing with or who owns the ecommerce website from which they are about to buy. They are exposed to all the risks associated with sending data over the internet.

Using an SSL cert on your website enables a web browser (your customer) to communicate securely with your website and assures the customer of these three key issues:

1. That the website really is who it claims to be.

2. That credit card numbers, etc are encrypted and cannot be intercepted.

3. That the data sent and received cannot be tampered with or forged.

LetsHost.ie offer SSL certs from €89.99 + VAT per year. For more information on these GeoTrust SSL certs, please visit http://letshost.ie/hosting/packages/sslcert

Error:
ns1.examplehost.com is not authoritative for zone example.ie. Your DNS change has been unsuccessful.
Please verify your DNS entry and try again. If you still get this error, please contact your hosting provider and ask them to set up DNS for your domain, and then try the change again.

What the above error is telling me is that a zone (or DNS record) does not exist for example.ie on the target nameservers. It is a requirement of all .ie domains that a zone exists on the target nameservers prior to actually making the change.

My next step is to contact the owners of the examplehost.com nameservers and request that
a zone be created for example.ie

How do I find out who owns the nameservers? If the nameserver itself is not a give away (dnsireland.com for Lethost nameservers) my first stop would be to go to do an Internet search for it. I could also do a WHOIS lookup on the domain by going to http://whois.domaintools.com and entering dnsireland.com. From the output I can see that this domain is registed by Letshost.

When contacting the owners of the nameservers I tell them the IP address of the server where my website and email are hosted.

e.g.: I have my website hosted with hostingprovider1.ie – IP: 1.2.3.4 <-- A record
I have my emails hosted with hostingprovider2.com - IP 2.4.6.8 <-- MX record

The information I forward on to the owners of examplehost.com is:

Hello,

Regards,
Johnny Customer

Once this zone is created for my domain I can then go back in to my client area and change the nameservers. The response I get this time is “Your DNS has been updated successfully !”

I wait about an hour for these changes to DNS to propagate and then check my site.
To my horror the site still displays a holding page or nothing at all! The reason for this is that changes to the nameservers of a .ie domain will only take effect after one of the IEDR reloads. These reloads occur at 10:00, 12:00, 17:00 & 22:00 7 days a week. For example if I changed my domains nameservers at 14:00 I would have to wait until the next IEDR reload at 17:00 before these changes would take effect.

So how does it work? Every computer on the internet is given a specific number called an IP address that
can uniquely identify that computer on a network. For example letshost.ie will resolve to 78.137.164.40 and google.ie resolves to 209.85.143.104.

DNS effectively acts as the phone directory of the internet mapping computer-readable IP addresses to
human-readable domain names. One could easily argue that the Internet would not have reached such levels of popularity if websites advertised on the internet were of the form http://123.321.12.23. This is just too
hard for humans to remember.

Nameservers hold a lot of information regarding a specific domain such as where to route a connection so
that the webpage is displayed or where to route email.

A domains “A” record governs where a domains website can be found. An A record is entered as an IP address so that when a nameserver is queried it looks down through the “phone book” until it finds the domain and and then redirects the user to the appropriate IP address. The same is true for the MX (mail exchange) record which directs a domains email.

Lets take the domain Letshost.ie as an example…
Letshost.ie uses the nameservers ns1.dnsireland.com & ns2.dnsireland.com
When you type letshost.ie in to your internet browser the .ie of TLD (top level domain) directs the connection the .ie root nameservers (IEDR). The root nameservers show that letshost.ie is currently using the following nameservers:
ns1.dnsireland.com & ns2.dnsireland.com

These nameservers contain the A and MX records (possibly alot more) for letshost.ie
The A record points to where the website is being hosted, 78.137.164.40 in this case.
The MX record routes email to a specific server antispam.letshost.ie which has an IP of 78.137.164.25

As you can see the DNS zone record for letshost.ie can direct traffic to differnt locations depending where the service is located. A subdomain bogota.lethost.ie can be set up and pointed to a server in Bogota to serve Letshosts customers in Colombia for example.

Changes to a domains nameservers will not happen instantly. These changes take time to propagate out to all the internets routers. The algorithms that are used by routers to direct internet traffic pass these changes of IP addresses to each other. It can take up 24hours for a domains to fully propagate throughout the internet.

What are the advantages to having a sitemap?
Well, in addition to making it easier for your visitors to navigate their way around your site, sitemaps also make it easier for search engine spiders to crawl your site. This can improve your site’s search engine optimization by making sure that all the pages can be found. This will increase your search engine visibility, as well as your traffic.

And since most search engines will only follow a finite number of links from a page, having a sitemap ensures that search engines and visitors alike can access all the content on your site.

Do you need a sitemap?
Well, it depends on your site. If your site only has one or two pages and hardly any content, then no. You don’t need a sitemap.

However, if your site has multiple pages and lots of content, it definitely won’t hurt to install a sitemap on your site. Here’s a good rule of thumb: Once you get to the point where you are no longer able to include all the links to your pages on your home page, then you need a sitemap.

After all, anything that will help your visitors as well as the search engines navigate your site is a good thing.

Great, Now I want to build a sitemap for my site
Ok you can use the following link to find the best sitemap creator for your site;

http://code.google.com/p/sitemap-generators/wiki/SitemapGenerators

That becomes the primary domain associated with your account, but did you know that your LetsHost Complete Hosting Plan gives you plenty of storage and bandwidth to host up to 25 additional websites, all from a single hosting account.

Add on Domains and Parked Domains

Once you’ve registered your new domain name(s) there are two ways to add additional domains to your LetsHost Complete hosting account. You’ll find these options in the Domains section of your hosting control panel (accessible via cpanel.yourprimarydomain.com).

1. Parked domains

When you park a domain you’re essentially “pointing” that domain to a domain that already exists on your account (either to your primary domain or an add-on domain… see below).

For example, let’s say your primary domain uses the Irish top level domain, .ie. So, greathosting.ie might be your main domain name, but you also decide to buy greathosting.com to help broaden your reach and traffic (and of course to prevent other companies from registering it).

In that case you want anyone who types in www.greathosting.com to be automatically routed to your primary domain at www.greathosting.ie.

By “parking” the secondary domain on top of your primary domain, any traffic arriving via www.greathosting.com is seamlessly redirected to www.greathosting.ie. Simple!

You can “park” an unlimited number of domain names with a single LetsHost Complete Hosting plan.

2. Add On Domains

Your Letshost hosting package also lets you add up to 25 Add-on domains. These essentially  behave as independent domains, complete with web-space, e-mail addresses, ftp accounts, etc. – all conveniently controlled through your central, web based LetsHost Complete Hosting Plan control panel.

Files associated with your add-on domains sit in a sub-folders under your primary domain’s public_html folder, and you can administer them just as you would the files for your primary domain. To the outside world your add-on domains look and behaves like a completely independent website.

Your LetsHost Complete Hosting plan gives you great flexibility when it comes to hosting multiple domains, and don’t forget, LetsHost is also a leading Irish domain registrar… so you get great hosting, great domain registration and great support all in one place.

You’ll find more details and step-by step instructions on setting up your add-on domain and adding a parked domain in the comprehensive LetsHost support knowledgebase.

Image via Wikipedia

Choosing the right web hosting partner can be crucial to the success of your online business… but with so much choice in today’s Web Hosting market where do you start?

Right here, that’s where!

To help you make sense of the web hosting conundrum we’ve put together the LetsHost web host selection guide.

• Choose a host in the country where your primary target market lives: this is important, because search engines deliver local search results to users based on the geographical location of the server on which the web pages reside (which they can infer from the server ip address)
• Make sure the host is reliable: do they offer guaranteed uptime / levels of service? Many hosts publish live server statistics that demonstrate the reliability of their services. You should expect a service level approaching 100% from a high quality hosting service.
• What sort of support do they offer: make sure the hosting you choose includes efficient and effective support 24/7. If your website goes down you need to be confident you can call on your host for assistance whatever time of the day or night.
• Backup and disaster recovery: if the worst happens and the server goes belly up, what sort of disaster recovery options does the host have in place? Ideally your host should take several daily snapshots of your entire account / server, allowing them to restore it and get your site back up and running as quickly as possible should the worst happen.
• What do others think: find out what other customers think. Read testimonials, and search for discussions on webmaster forums relating to the hosts your considering. Are other people’s experiences good or bad? Post a few questions.
• Shop around: hosting is an incredibly competitive industry, so shop around for the best deal – but bear in mind that the cheapest option isn’t always the best choice.

We believe that LetsHost offers the best balance of hosting features, reliability, support and value for money available in Ireland today. But don’t take our word for it… apply the checklist above and decide for yourself.

Step 1: Plan
Give yourself at least a week, preferably two, for everything to happen. If you are switching hosting providers and nearing the end of your current contract, the sooner you get started the better. You do not want to start two or three days before your contract expires and face billing issues or a suspended account. Take your time and give the whole process at least two weeks. Do not inform your current host you are moving at this stage.
Review this overview and base your plan on how long it will realistically take you, factoring in worst-case scenarios.

Step 2: Backup
You should always have a full backup copy of your site on a local computer. If you don’t, please get a copy of your site now. You probably used an FTP client to upload the original website files to your current providers webserver. If not Filezilla or SmartFTP are excellent free FTP clients. Using the FTP client software, download a copy of your entire site so you have it available.

If you use databases like MySQL, you will also need to backup your database. This can usually be done through your old webhost’s control panel. There are usually a variety of ways to do this, depending on what control panel your current provider uses or on the website scripts you have installed. Wordpress, for example, has a plug-in that will look after the database backup for you

If you use phpMyAdmin, you should log in to that on the web server. Once logged in:

1. Select “Databases”
2. Click the name of your database
3. Click the “Export” tab
4. Choose “Select All” from the left column
5. Make sure the “SQL” button is selected; also check: Structure, ‘Add DROP TABLE’, ‘Add AUTO_INCREMENT’ and ‘Enclose table and field names with backquotes’
6. Make sure the “Data” box is checked, but leave the checkboxes inside unchecked.
7. Check “Save file as” and leave the default choice
8. Check “None” for compression
9. Click “Go” and save the file to your computer. Then check “zipped” (or gzipped/bzipped if you prefer) and click “Go”again.
10. You should now have two backups.

Step 3: Upload to LetsHost
Once you have received your Welcome email from LetsHost, you will find a link to allow you to access your control panel using the IP address. Connect to this IP address using your favourite FTP software, and upload your backup copy of your files to the LetsHost web servers. If you are using a new domain name, make sure all of the internal links in your scripts are changed to point to the new domain. If you are keeping your domain, your internal links should be fine.
Next, if you have a database, you can recreate the database using the mySQL option in your control panel. Restore your database by logging on to your control panel using the IP address link provided in your welcome email. Make sure your links to the database are changed to match the ones in any configuration files. You may need to check the documentation for the CMS you use, or you can ask us to assist you.

To restore using phpMyAdmin:

1. Logon to your new server (link provided in your welcome email)
2. Click the “Import” tab
3. In the following “Location of Text File” screen, choose “Browse” and choose your backup
4. Double-check that the “SQL” box is checked
5. Click “Go”. Go get some fresh air, or have a cigarette
6. After a bit of time, you will see a success screen. You are done.

Be sure to double check your .htaccess file to make sure it is up to date and correct. Again LetsHost staff will be more than happy to help you here. Once you feel confident that everything is working as it should, move on to the next step.

Step 4: Recreate your Email Accounts at your new host
Set up all existing email accounts at the new host. This is done through your control panel. Any forwarders, aliases or auto-responders you had set up on the old host need to be set up on the LetsHost control panel. Set up your “catch-all” account if needed to capture all non routed emails. Once your DNS change has gone through your account will immediately receive mail to the correct email addresses.

Step 5: Update your DNS Records
If your domain name is new or you are keeping the same name, this step is the same. Go to your current registrars site, log into the control panel. Look for “Nameserver” or “DNS” and plug in the Primary and Secondary nameserver information you received in your welcome email. In theory it should take about 48 hours for your DNS records to propagate, in reality it takes much less time than this.
Check the email at both the old server and new server while this change is happening. It is possible some mail is going to both, separately.

Step 6: Cancel your Old Account
Once you feel confident the change has taken place, you can go ahead and cancel your old account. Your site has been available to the non-updated DNS servers, now that they are updated you no longer need two versions of your site out there.

Step 7: Enjoy your new hosting service at LetsHost
You are done. Hopefully everything went smoothly. If you have any problems, concerns or issues, please contact any of our support staff by email, live chat or by phone – we are always here to help and assist in any way we can.

Letshost has led the way in bringing an overall price reduction to the Irish market. It was only 2 years ago that the average price of a .ie domain name was around €65.

With the introduction of a fully automated API link to the Irish Domain Registry, LetsHost can process the application for a new .ie domain name within minutes of receipt of an order.

You can take advantage of this excellent pricing by logging on to the LetsHost website at www.letshost.ie, and selecting Order Hosting. From there, simply enter your chosen domain name and complete the contact form and, once verified for completeness by LetsHost staff, your order will be automatically processed through to the domain registry.

In addition, LetsHost are delighted to announce that any DNS changes required can be completed using the new LetsHost Domain Management system – from the Support menu on the LetsHost website, simply select Domain Management, and you can update the name servers without any contact with LetsHost staff – this fully automated process allows Letshost to continue to offer the lowest .ie domain name registrations in the country.

In 2007, LetsHost registered more .ie domains than any other company, bar one.

About LetsHost:
Letshost was formed in 2003, and has grown to become one of the largest hosting and domain registrars in Ireland today. You can contact LetsHost by calling 01 653 5032, by email to support @ letshost.ie or by visiting our website, and clicking the Live Chat option.