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Most hosting accounts offer customers email services that are quite adequate.  Some of them even provide web-based access to those accounts.  Still, some customers may prefer the familiarity of their cloud email service, such as Gmail.  They may also have their business tied to Google Apps or another cloud service.  In such a case, you can easily make Google Apps your default email server in cPanel.

To configure cPanel to use Google Apps mail, do the following:

1. Login to cPanel and navigate to Mail section.
2. Select MX entry.
3. If you have multiple domains, select the domain you want to configure.  Otherwise, skip to step 4.
4. In the “Email Routing” section, choose “Remote Mail Exchanger”
5. Giving it a priority of zero (lower priority is first), set the destination to your cloud service provider
(This may vary, but for Google, it may be something like ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM)
6. Click “Add New Record”
7. Repeat steps for the other records (Google requires several).

If you have any existing MX entries, delete them or give them lower priority than your cloud provider’s.

Now, any email sent to addresses at your domain will automatically be routed to your Google Apps gmail accounts, according to the addresses you have setup within that system.  It should be noted that your web host will still have to route the email, so it will need to rely on your host’s DNS servers.  For more information about setting up your email for other cloud service providers, you should consult their documentation.

How to Setup Google Apps Email in cPanel

Internet is becoming one of the most essential business platforms for modern India It began with just as a medium for transferring data from A place to B place has now been required for the wide range of purposes all over the world

The Vps server concept has finally come of age, and has the potential to fill the gap between economy shared hosting and big budget dedicated hosting The concept is not a new one The notion of dividing the resources of a physical server has been around for many years

There is a ton of new terminology associated with cloud computing and cloud hosting.  Some view the term “cloud” itself as little more than a catch phrase.  As one tech expert once said, “There is no cloud.  It’s just a bunch of servers”.  Be that as it may, the cloud has taken the business world by storm, with many executives hoping to save money and resources by moving to the cloud.

One of the terms frequently thrown out by companies offering cloud technology is the “hybrid cloud”.  One simple definition describes a hybrid cloud as a combination of a private cloud and a public cloud.  If you are not sure what those are, however, that definition probably means little to you.

Essentially, a hybrid cloud refers to a business that keeps some of its server operations on-premise, while also utilizing the services of a cloud provider for its other operations.  These two environments are distinctively different in their physical locations, but the right technology can help them work together rather seamlessly.

In some cases, the hybrid cloud may be the exclusive design setup offered by your service provider.  In other words, the cloud vendor will manage both the public cloud and the private cloud, even though the latter is physically housed on your premises.  For some businesses, using a hybrid cloud allows them to enjoy better scalability.  For example, they may keep static applications on their private cloud while keeping data and other dynamic content on the public cloud.  As their need for more space and power increases, they can add more to the public side of the hybrid without needing to increase local infrastructure.

What is a Hybrid Cloud Environment?

(The Hosting News) – In previous blogs I wrote about the benefits of private cloud computing and the benefits of public cloud computing based on the unique models of each. Sitting between secure, dedicated private cloud computing and open, low cost public cloud hosting is a secure, shared cloud middle ground we call managed cloud hosting.

Public cloud hosting is typically built around the “compute as a utility” model where cost is the driving consideration, overriding security and availability, to deliver commodity-level pricing where computing is sold at pennies per hour.

Managed cloud hosting sits the other end of the spectrum in the shared cloud world.  Like public cloud computing, servers can be purchased “by the slice”, or a virtual server at a time.  However, the entire design premise for the managed cloud is to put security & high availability ahead of cost considerations.  Rather than purchasing servers by the hour, managed cloud hosting is sold on monthly (or longer) contracts for businesses that are running enterprise critical applications for the long haul.

At Online Tech, we built our managed cloud hosting solution around our secure, high availability private cloud hosting architecture. We chose to build our shared servers on an “N+1” redundant architecture and data center infrastructure.  That means there is redundancy in every component of the system – from power and internet delivery to the hardware and network components with no single point of failure in the system.  Should any component fail, there are redundant components in place to maintain the server and Internet availability.

The five benefits of managed cloud hosting include:

1. High Availability - Because the managed cloud is built around a high availability private cloud architecture, redundancy is built in with multiple hosts, SAN storage and network security.  This provides for failover protection and the unique ability to update and maintain the hardware without a maintenance window.
2. Automatic Failover & Resource Balancing – Built with VMware Enterprise Edition as the virtualization technology, failover and resource balancing between hardware hosts is automatically handled at the virtualization level – allowing the cloud servers to take full advantage of the high availability infrastructure should any host fail.
3. Network Security – Dedicated, secure VLANs, firewalls and IDS/IPS can be put in place for any set of cloud servers – delivering the same highly secure, dedicated network environment found on private cloud solutions.
4. Hybridize with Physical Servers – Applications and data base engines that can’t meet their performance requirements on a virtual server or need to run on a physical server to access all of the hardware resources can share a dedicated network with cloud servers, creating a hybrid of physical and virtual servers in the same system.
5. Cost Effective – On a monthly basis, managed clouds are as cost effective as most public clouds.  True, you can’t buy servers by the hour, but long term enterprise applications are rarely run on an hourly basis.

Not all applications are geared to take advantage of managed cloud hosting.  Research computing, development servers and test servers are good examples of non-critical systems that can take advantage of the hourly or spot demand pricing available in the public cloud utility market.

On the other hand, most businesses want to assure the security & availability of their corporate and client data with either managed cloud hosting or a private cloud.  Managed cloud computing provides the security and availability of a dedicated private cloud at a fraction of the cost.

By Mike Klein

ONLINE TECH | www.onlinetech.com

Colocation | Managed Servers | Private Cloud

The Five Benefits of Managed Cloud Computing

(The Hosting News) – Could hackers have just compromised information pertaining to a majority of South Korean citizens? Well, that seems like it may be the case. Cyworld, South Korea’s top social networking site was recently hacked, according to its owner, SK Communications. With the breach, hackers accessed data pertaining to Cyworld’s nearly 33 million users.

According the Wall Street Journal, the social network’s owner, SK Communications reported that such data breach pertained to users’ emails, numbers, names, and more.

Here’s where things get interesting: South Korea has nearly 49 million citizens. Also, most of Cyworld’s 33 million users are in the country. That’s a massive breach, possibly affecting the majority of South Korean citizens.

Meanwhile, SK Communications is said to be working with the country’s law enforcement and is mostly worried that the information could be used for spamming.

So far it’s thought that the attack probably originated from somewhere in China, according to SK Communication’s investigation into the matter. This really comes as no surprise as China has been a suspected source of various global cyber-attacks in the recent past.

A recent breach of Google’s Gmail service is thought to have originated from the country. Meanwhile, China has strongly denied any involvement.

The latest global breach occurs as countries, especially the United States, look to strengthen global cyber security. Most recently the U.S. revealed that the Pentagon faced a cyber-attack on its systems, most likely originating from a nation state. U.S. military contractor Lockheed-Martin also faced an attempted breach on its system. However, to combat such problems, the U.S. is said to be working on a virtual cyber-range, giving the U.S. the ability to test new defenses in the battle against global cyber threats.

Cyworld was launched in 1999, quickly becoming popular with young adults in South Korea. In 2006, CyWorld attempted to enter the U.S. market, setting up a possible competition with other social sites including Facebook and the then-popular MySpace. However, the social site failed to really make a mark in the U.S. and SK Communications pulled it from the country in 2010. Besides South Korea, the social network is available in Vietnam and China.

In South Korea, Massive Breach Hits Social Site

(The Hosting News) – DomainTools, the recognized leader in domain name research and monitoring, today launched a revamped DailyChanges.com website that features graphical user interface changes that improve overall navigation and usability. Still offering the same powerful daily DNS changes and web hosting activity, the freshly polished DailyChanges.com now provides data and statistics in a way that is easier for consumers to understand and digest.

DailyChanges.com has been serving DNS information since 2002. The site reports daily activity in 6 TLD’s, including .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ & .US, and the associated name servers based on changes reported in Registry Zone Files. DailyChanges.com offers an inside look at the most popular name servers, reporting details of TLD composition, the number of domains that use a specific name server as its primary name server, and the hosts each name server uses. Additional insight specific to each of the most popular name servers is available with details of new, deleted and transferred domains. DailyChanges.com stores this data and makes it available with a permanent link for future use.

DailyChanges.com provides multiple data sets for use in discovering Internet activity trends so users can:

• Discover which name servers change the most
• Find out which name server had the most new domains registered
• Look for trends in transfers between name servers
• Retrieve the name servers of the top 50 popular websites
• Search by domain or IP for associated name server information

The information on DailyChanges.com is made freely available to any visitor. The site statistics, such as report hosting, name server and domain trend data, are often referenced in various publications and media. In addition, domain portfolio owners and advisers find it useful for researching market opportunities.

Says Jamie Zoch, Owner, DotWeekly.com, “The premium and unique domain name server data provided by DailyChanges.com easily provides competitive advantages to any company or business, and I like that it is easy to use and navigate. In fact, I use it daily.”

For nearly 10 years, DomainTools has provided users with the most comprehensive data about domain names. Individuals, small business owners, and many large enterprises use the breadth of tools to do everything from finding a good domain for a new business to verifying DNS and WHOIS information on corporate portfolios of thousands of domains.

For more information, please visit: http://www.domaintools.com/

DomainTools Revitalizes DailyChanges.com

(The Hosting News) – BBH Solutions, Inc., a leading New York City provider of converged network solutions and IT managed services, announced today that they have completed cut-over of a national call center’s voice and data applications into their cloud environment. With this integration, BBH Solutions continues to advance as a premier provider of cloud hosted voice, data, and video applications in the region.

The technology infrastructure of the call center operation accommodates several hundred call agents simultaneously. The system, which features predictive dialing, call routing, and a number of advanced data services, supports centers located throughout the United States.

“We are excited to host this call center in our cloud,” said Bruce Hoernecke, President and CEO of BBH Solutions, Inc. “Each cloud migration has its own nuances. For this project, our client recognized that they needed a partner that has extensive skill sets with all of the technologies involved in their solution. In addition, the burden of redundant power requirements, backup power, cooling, and multi-carrier redundancy all factored into their decision to rely on us to design and engineer this system in our own facility. Our ability to provide these services from our data center created an attractive economic driver as well.”

Cloud computing gives businesses the ability to utilize the powerful and secure resources of a service provider to host their technology applications and data storage. Applications such as Voice-over-IP telephony (VoIP), video conferencing, email, and office productivity programs are then delivered to end users on demand, or “as-a-service”. Users can gain access to these applications from virtually anywhere on the globe via a number of secure connection types.

BBH Solutions offers cloud integration and hosting services from their secure, SAS 70 Type II network operations center (NOC). Their NOC is monitored 24x7x365 to ensure high availability of services. In addition to security, high availability, and business continuity benefits of cloud computing services, customers can rely on a predictable monthly cost model for their IT applications.

About BBH Solutions, Inc.

Manhattan-based BBH Solutions, Inc. provides technology services with a focus on the converged network and unified communications. BBH Solutions is certified by Microsoft as a Silver Server Platform Partner. They are an APC Gold Partner, and a member of the BlackBerry® Alliance Program. BBH Solutions is certified by Cisco Systems in Advanced Unified Communications and Advanced Wireless LAN. Their Cable Infrastructure Group is certified by all major cable and connectivity manufacturers. A leader in providing customized network maintenance plans with their BBHWorks program, BBH Solutions offers services including on-site visits, remote monitoring, business continuity planning, disaster recovery, offsite back up, and strategic IT planning. In 2011, BBH Solutions launched its cloud services and integration program. The company opened a second office on Long Island in 2006. BBH Solutions is an Inc. 5000 Honoree for 2008, 2009, and 2010. For more information about BBH Solutions, Inc., go to http://www.bbhinc.com.

BBH Solutions Adds Call Center Integration

(The Hosting News) – VKernel, the award-winning provider of enterprise-class performance and capacity management products for virtualized data centers and cloud environments, announced today a key resource to assist VMware customers in determining proper vRAM (VM memory) sizing. Outlined in a new white paper, “VM Memory (vRAM) Sizing Considerations,” by vExpert David Davis of VMwareVideos.com, virtualization administrators can learn how to use VMware memory metrics to determine the proper vRAM allocation for a virtual machine. This new white paper comes on the heels of VMware’s recently announced licensing change for vSphere 5, whereby licensing is determined by pooled vRAM allocations. This VMware licensing shift makes proper vRAM sizing essential for many customers to avoid purchasing additional vSphere licenses. For further assistance in VM memory sizing, VKernel’s vOPSTM Optimizer can calculate proper vRAM allocations using methods similar to those explained in this white paper, and can automatically implement these VM memory sizing changes.

Memory is typically the most constrained computing resource in a virtualized data center. Determining how much memory to allocate for a VM can be complicated as a variety of VM performance metrics must be analyzed, some vCenter settings can vastly affect how VM memory responds, and different memory usage results are reported at the guest and hypervisor level. Yet, determining an accurate virtual memory allocation is critical as setting too little vRAM can impact application performance and allocating too much will increase costs.

VKernel’s new white paper, “VM Memory (vRAM) Sizing Considerations,” explains which VMware metrics must be analyzed, how to interpret the results, and outlines a vRAM sizing process for both new and existing VMs. For virtualization administrators that want to put the concepts described in the white paper into action, VKernel vOPS Optimizer automatically analyzes the metrics described in the white paper to determine proper VM memory sizing.

“The new vRAM -based licensing structure for VMware’s vSphere 5 makes capacity management for virtual memory more important for many customers,” said Bryan Semple, Chief Marketing Officer at VKernel. “VMware administrators will need to minimize vRAM over allocation to increase the number of VMs they can put on a physical server for a given vSphere license cost. This new white paper instructs VM administrators on how to undertake this vRAM sizing process.”

VKernel’s “VM Memory (vRAM) Sizing Considerations” white paper is available at http://www.vkernel.com/resources/whitepapers/vm-memory-vram-sizing-considerations. A free 30-day trial of vOPS Optimizer—which analyzes actual virtual machine utilization and VM performance metrics to properly size VM resource allocations—can be downloaded from http://www.vkernel.com/products/optimizer/overview.

About VKernel

VKernel is the number one provider of capacity management products for virtualized data centers and cloud environments. The company’s powerful, easy-to-use and affordable products simplify the complex and critical tasks of planning, monitoring and predicting capacity utilization and bottlenecks. Used by over 50,000 system administrators, the products have proven their ability to maximize capacity utilization, reduce virtualization costs and improve application performance.

VKernel White Paper Assists VMware Administrators

(The Hosting News) – Host.net, a multinational provider of network infrastructure services focusing on colocation, cloud computing and network transport & transit, announced today their PCI DSS compliancy is now validated on Visa’s Global Registry of Service Providers.

PCI DSS is a set of policies and procedures intended to optimize the security of transactions and protect cardholders against misuse of personal information. Created jointly in 2004 by Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, PCI DSS has become widely accepted as the standard for cardholder data security. Compliance as a service provider requires that any organization that processes, stores or transmits cardholder information must revalidate their compliance on an annual basis.

“While we have been PCI DSS certified for a while now, we’re especially pleased to also be listed directly by Visa as a registered service provider,” said Lenny Chesal, Host.net CMO & vice president of strategic sales. “This validation adds yet another level of assurance to our valued customers that our number one

priority remains securely protecting their data and confirms the success of our overall strategy to become the premier provider of secure multinational network and infrastructure services.”

Services covered by this review, which was conducted by BrightLine CPAs and Associates, Inc., include Host.net’s hosting provider capabilities. Host.net is compliant through Jan. 31, 2012, upon which it will be subject to its annual review and revalidation.

About Host.net

Host.net is a multinational provider of network infrastructure services focusing on colocation; cloud computing and storage, and network transport and transit for education, finance, government, healthcare and other enterprise organizations as well as wholesale and carrier clients. The company operates multiple enterprise-class data centers connected to an extensive fiber-optic backbone delivering Internet, MPLS and layer 2 communications using a wide array of last-mile options. It serves customers in most major metropolitan regions of North America as well as portions of Europe. Founded in 1996, Host.net is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL.

For more information, please visit: http://www.host.net/

Host.net Now PCI Listed with VISA