Well, as usual Facebook is making changes to the way their platform looks and operates for its users. Some people are outraged by the changes that Facebook has made, seemingly without their permission; however, Facebook reassures its users that these changes are necessary in order to keep the platform successful. Most of the recent changes affect the time-line or the news feed. Businesses are wondering how this will affect them and whether if it will affect them in a bad way. 

One thing is for sure, Facebook is the leading social networking platform to date and it has been for many many years.Their changes have actually fueled their success and not slowed it down a bit. In the beginning, Facebook was mostly used by college students or those wanting to find lost relatives or friends. However, over the years, businesses have used Facebook as a part of their marketing strategy or the extension to their customer service. Using Facebook in this way has proven successful, so many businesses jumped on the bandwagon to create Facebook pages in order to interact with new customers and to create a sense of brand loyalty amongst your current customers.

How These Changes Will Affect Businesses

Firstly, let’s take a look at exactly what Facebook has changed and then we can understand how it will affect your particular business.The original news feed page on Facebook shows the likes and comments of friends.The like or comment was bordered by a boring grey bar that really did nothing to draw the eyes to like or comment.

Changes to the Visual Elements

Businesses were finding that even though all of their items were shared or liked, they weren’t getting the results they projected. Facebook realized this and made changes to the way that their feed looked. They made the pictures bigger and gave a new pop to the page by giving a blue line instead of the grey line they previously. The new setup works to outline a person’s likes or comments, which helps businesses fuel word-of-mouth marketing.

The “Following” Function

The “following” function is perhaps the best benefit for businesses to    date. Before, Facebook didn’t have an option for following, they only had one to like a certain page or to friend a certain page. However, people on the go don’t really take the time out to accept friend requests or to even review how many likes they have. However, thanks to the new “following” option, people are able to see what their friends are following in their home feed. If they follow your business’s page, more people are more likely to see it.

Cover Photos

Remember the old Facebook and how you had three main pictures at the top of your page? Those were the days, but they weren’t very good days for businesses. Now, you can use your chosen photo as a cover picture for your page to get your brand noticed. Businesses are using their logos and advertisement as their home cover photo. When a person likes this page, the cover photo appears in their friends home feed, which brings more awareness to a business.

All in all, the changes Facebook made did way more good than harm for businesses. People are slow to accept change, so there are a lot of Facebook users who complain about these changes. However, overtime users seemed to have adapted to them and like them as much as businesses do.

Source: http://www.facebook-studio.com/news/item/a-new-look-for-news-feed

Since the announcement of their partnership back in September of last year, the newly formed Yahoo! | Bing Network has been growing with every passing quarter. If you haven’t considered search advertising through the Yahoo! | Bing Network, then take into account that nearly a third of Internet traffic comes from these two search engines, in addition to their extended network of partnered sites. With that in mind, there’s no doubt that the benefits of advertising on the Yahoo! | Bing Network are increasing every month.

Benefits of Search Advertising on the Yahoo! | Bing Network.

Search advertising isn’t easy for any business, and many end up putting all of their eggs in one basket in order to save themselves time and money. However, while this strategy might be tempting for busy companies, restricting yourself to one advertising network in turn restricts your overall advertising reach. Advertising on the Yahoo! | Bing Network as well can help you solve that problem by giving you access not only to Yahoo! and Bing’s search engine users, but also all Microsoft and Yahoo! sites the world over, and all Core Search sites in the US. That’s a potential reach of 152 million searchers with just one ad buy through Bing Ads.

The Yahoo! | Bing Network also represents sites like Facebook, CNBC, Amazon, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, and more, ensuring that all ads served through their network reach a wide and varied audience on well-known and reputable websites–websites whose users are more likely to search online for products and services to buy. For example, compared to the average searcher, US searchers on the Yahoo! | Bing Network spend 24 percent more, which translates directly to increased ROI by doing search advertising with them.

The Search Advertising Data Speaks for Itself

Think it’s too good to be true? Then take a look at Kenshoo’s Global Search Advertising Trends for 2012, which is based on data from clients who use Kenshoo’s search marketing platform. According to the data, the Yahoo! | Bing Network consistently delivered higher click-through-rates quarter over quarter, with a high of 1.8 percent in Q4 of 2012, which was a 21 percent increase as compared to 2011–quite an achievement for the fledgling network. Additionally, the Yahoo! | Bing Network’s impression volume increased by 30 percent as compared to the previous quarter, meaning that even more searchers saw ads from the network.

On the other hand, Kenshoo did determine that the Yahoo! | Bing Network delivered less click volume, but the return on ad spend was still high for those users who were advertising on the network. So although businesses might not have received as many clicks on the Yahoo! | Bing Network as compared to other search networks, the overall value was much higher, resulting in more sales and thus more return on investment. Generally speaking, the data proves that searches on the Yahoo! | Bing Network are definitely worth more in the long run.

Should You Try the Yahoo! | Bing Network for Your Search Advertising?

So let’s recap; the Yahoo! | Bing Network delivers the following search advertising results as of December 2012:

• 1.8% CTR on average
• $0.64 CPC on average
• 21% increase in network performance as compared to 2011
• Yahoo! | Bing Network delivers higher ROAS

If you want to make the most of your search advertising budget, then investing in the Yahoo! | Bing Network in addition to your current search marketing strategy is certainly a must. However, if you still aren’t sure that it’s the right advertising move for you, don’t forget that all myhosting.com customers receive a free advertising  coupon ranging in value from $25 to $75 with their web hosting or VPS account, which you can use to advertise on the Yahoo! | Bing Network.

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are used to create secure “tunnels” between one computer and another. This “tunnel”, often encrypted for security, allows communications and control of either machine. This is commonly used when two computers are on completely separate networks, but need to communicate with each other as if they are on the same network. If you’ve ever setup a shared network at home to view the pictures or videos from another home computer only to go to work to find you can’t access those pictures anymore then you can see how this might be useful. Essentially, it allows you to securely connect to another computer over the internet to do many of the things you might do on a home network.

Recently, a trending use for a VPN is to create a secure “proxy” of sorts where a user connecting to the internet from a hotel in Canada connects to their home computer back in the California, USA. A VPN configured properly allows the user to browse the internet as if they are browsing from that California location.  If you’re travelling and suddenly can’t access your Netflix or Hulu  subscription because you’re not in a country that supports it… well, you can see how this could be useful. You can ensure that you’re always able to access the content you pay for; from anywhere.

The reason for this is when a website attempts to identify where the user is requesting the connection from, that website server will only see the remote VPN server. The data is then “ tunneled” back to the end user’s browser.  The website is delivering content to the USA VPN machine and the rest happens over the VPN connection.

Let’s use Netflix as an example; Netflix will attempt to identify the location of the computer requesting a particular movie in order to ensure they only provide content allowed by copyright laws for that particular location. Since it will see only the USA VPN server, it identifies the server as located in the USA and will stream USA content accordingly. Like being connected to a network, and unbeknownst to Netflix, you’re actual location is completely distinct back at your hotel in Canada.

The USA Netflix customer gets their USA Netflix service and everyone is happy.

“VPN as a Service” vs “VPN on a VPS”

The end result can be the same, you get a service and with a touch of configuration (minutes) you can be connected and accessing worldwide content from anywhere. There are dramatic differences however that are best described in context.

VPN-as-a-Service (much like Software-as-a-Service) is essentially a subscription to that very specific service. You’re likely charged per user or based on how often you use it and you can use it only for VPN as described by the service provider.

VPN on a VPS (Virtual Private Server) can offer the same level of ease in getting up and running with a VPN as VPN-as-a-Service provider can, but in this case the service you’re purchasing is a pre-built server. You get the full server under your control and can do essentially whatever you want with it.

myhosting.com VPN VPS vs StrongVPN Service

StrongVPN offers VPN-as-a-Service subscriptions which are per user per connection. This is the more cost effective solution if you only need a connection for yourself. But it can get pricey pretty quickly when you need to add additional users. As a service you are simply provided access to a shared server in which many other users are connecting. While StrongVPN has put efforts into securing such connections, when you share any network (even a Virtual Private one), there are bound to be security concerns.

Alternatively, a VPS allows you to manage the entire VPN server including users, simultaneous connections and much more. The VPS is yours and yours alone, this means you control who accesses it and when. Not only is this more secure, but results in better performance when you need it. Sharing anything always ends in at least someone getting grabby and hogging all the bandwidth or server resources. And, in case you’re feeling frisky, you can always add additional services and features include audio/video streaming servers so you can store your content and stream it from anywhere. Software like XBMC, AirVideo server, and many others support streaming over networks.

There are a couple of areas of concern if you decide to go with a VPS based VPN however.

StrongVPN has servers in many different countries, for my purposes, I’ve never had a need for content outside of USA and Canada so this isn’t a problem for most VPS providers, but if you do need data centers in other locations, StrongVPN may be your best bet.

Second concern is regarding bandwidth which is often limited on a VPS while on StrongVPN claims to have no official cap (though I’m sure if you manage to crank up the bandwidth they’ll find some way to stick it to you). That said; most VPS plans including those at myhosting.com start at bandwidth allowances of 300GB and higher…  without saying that’s more than enough, I’m not sure if you’ve looked at your home bandwidth limits with Verizon, Comcast, Rogers lately, but most mid-range plans are capped under 100GB… if you’re fine with that then 300 GB is overkill.

The other concern is bandwidth speed which again StrongVPN claims to be uncapped, but again, we’re talking shared VPN servers or your own VPN server on a VPS. VPS providers commonly cater to web hosting developers and resellers who inherently post many websites that constantly have many simultaneous connections and often stream audio and video at end user request… so presuming you have a dependable VPS provider, speed likely isn’t an issue either. And again, you’re not sharing the connection with nearly as many others, so there’s no one to bogart the bandwidth pipe.

Are you ready to meet our Software Development Team? This month, we interviewed Ricky, one of our dear Software Developers. Check his answers to learn more about him!

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Ricky and I am a software developer with myhosting.com. In my spare time, I like to go to concerts, play sports, drink scotch and eat at the many good restaurants that populate Toronto. I am also an avid traveler and earlier this year, I visited Hong Kong (best city on Earth) as well as Japan. It was a fantastic trip that educated and enlightened me on the many cultures and people that inhabit those overcrowded Asian countries. Konnichiwa. I am also currently working on my memoirs: The Life and Times of Ricky: An Underdog Tale of Triumph in the Face of Adversity.

2. How did your myhosting.com adventure start?

My adventure with myhosting started in the spring of 2006, when they hired me away from the corporate conglomerate known as Primus. At first, I was unsure about working for a smaller company, but then I asked for three weeks off before I even got the job and they gave it to me, so I was like, that’s cool. Unfortunately, those three weeks were not really for vacation, but to go back to Edmonton, the funniest, happiest place in all the land according to people who I have absolutely nothing in common with. Still, it was an appreciated gesture and one that is an example of the employee friendly environment that exists within our company.

3. What is the most interesting situation you have faced?

As a developer, you would probably think my work days are completely devoid of human interactions (among other things). However, this is not the case, and the situations I find most interesting are the ones where I have to work with people from other teams such as marketing, customer support or operations. I enjoy the give and take aspects of negotiations and also seeing other people’s perspectives within the same company. There aren’t any particular situations I can identify, but rather, I find the overall process to be interesting.

4.What is the best thing about myhosting.com?

There are many aspects about myhosting that makes it a very appealing place to work for. The people in the company are smart, friendly, fun and are actually people I might want to hang out with in a non-working situation. The downtown location is amazing and I particularly like my view. We have happy hours on Fridays which caters to my alcoholism and I can most certainly appreciate that.

So, Facebook Wants a Search Engine? Some feel this is a great move by Facebook to continue expanding its already popular site; however, critics argue that this would indelibly end in failure. What will they get out of it?  Who will suffer from this? Why did they decide to go this direction?  Experts are split.  Some believe that Microsoft and Facebook will partner up to create a search engine and others believe that they will partner up with Yahoo.  No matter which giant Facebook decides to go with, there’s one common denominator—Google is in trouble.

The Microsoft-Facebook Partnership

Back in 2007, Microsoft decided to partner up with Facebook as a way to manage their international ad sales. This cost Microsoft $240 million.  Critics at the time thought that this was a weak attempt by Microsoft to jump on the Facebook trend.  However, it seems that the two had an additional plan.

After obtaining Facebook’s social data, Microsoft integrated this data into Bing search engine’s search results. This helped Bing to create customized results from this social data.  The finished results were better than expected and gave Facebook the edge to start its own search engine.

The Yahoo-Facebook Alliance

Several articles published on the net state that Yahoo and Facebook will team up to create their own search engine. This will be a great move for both companies that can result in an untold increase in income for both. This alliance would also pose a direct threat to the global search engine Google.  Also, Google Plus doesn’t have as many active users as Yahoo or Facebook. The latest statistics show that although Google Plus has over 400 million registered users, only 100 million are active. On the other hand, Yahoo had 310 million users and 100 million active users back in 2011, which has since grown, and in October, Facebook reported a staggering 1 billion active users per month, a number no social media site has since touched. The majority of these active users also have their apps downloaded and use them regularly. This means that if Yahoo and Facebook integrate search, and target their mobile users alone, they will be a strong force against Google Plus.

Why Google Should Start Shaking

Google uses algorithms to create results in a search.  However, recent data suggests that social graph optimization is the next evolution in search.  The results of Microsoft and Facebook’s partnership show that social graph optimization is already successful and a major plus on their side over Google.

Currently, Bing uses the data extracted from Facebook to power its search results.  For instance, if you search for a “bookstore in Los Angeles”, the top results would be bookstores that your friends liked on Facebook.  This is because the search engine extracts everything that a user likes on Facebook and what that user’s friends liked as well.

But, Google’s the World’s Favorite!

You may be thinking that since Google is the current search giant, why would they even care?  The threat to Google was obvious when they came out with Google Plus, supposedly a better take on Facebook. They are trying to use the same model that Microsoft and Facebook pioneered by having their search results powered by whatever the Google Plus users like. The problem is that most Google Plus users don’t remain logged in when they click the icon next to a result. This means that Google has no insight on the data behind the users liking these results.  However, Bing has the exclusive rights to all of the data from Facebook and most users stay logged in when using Bing for search.

The underlying conclusion is this, no matter which company Facebook decides to partner with to create a search engine, it will ultimately succeed.  The amount of users on Facebook combined with the number of mobile users,  and the number of users who actively like products and services speaks volumes of the company’s success.  Add a search engine to the mix and you’ve got the formula for a one-stop shop.

Who wants a jump on the “cloud” bandwagon?  Everyone it seems, but few people actually know what it is or the real benefits that it provides. Cloud is often a term used by IT techs, but even the average Joe Blow next door with a website may have some familiarity with the term.  In this post we will examine what cloud means (to stop further abuse of the word) and how it’s being used in hosting. 

What is Cloud Really?

Most people who use the net regularly have run across the term “cloud”, but does anyone really understand what this term signifies?  Some think that cloud is only applicable to software, others are familiar with it in terms of platforms and others with infrastructure. The truth is–cloud incorporates all three. To eliminate further confusion, here is the general definition of the term:

Cloud computing – Wikipedia defines cloud computing as the use of computing resources both hardware and software, delivered as a service over the Internet.

The actual “cloud” in the term cloud computing is derived from the typical drawing of a cloud often used to explaining how the system works.

Cloud Computing Image courtesy wikipedia.org

How Cloud Works?

As you can see by the above the illustration, the actual “cloud” contains networks, hardware, storage, various services and interfaces.  All of these items combine with one another to deliver software, storage and infrastructure over the net.  This information is delivered to the devices surrounding the cloud, which include smart phones, tablets, laptops, desktops and servers.

The three cloud computing models are Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service.

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – IT organizations normally use this model to deliver their business solutions.
• Software as a Service (SaaS) – with this model, the service provider is the host of the software so there’s nothing for the user to install, buy or manage.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) – developers use this model to construct applications on top of the compute infrastructure using black box services.

The average user of cloud doesn’t need to understand how cloud works, but they are aware that they are using it. Cloud can be offered as public cloud, private cloud or public and private together called hybrid cloud.

How Cloud is Used in the Hosting Business

When cloud is referred to in web hosting it takes on a slightly different meaning.  Cloud hosting often uses resources from more than one server. This method is used to balance the load of your site by distributing it among a cluster of servers.  In web hosting, the cloud is made up by the cluster of servers.

Most site owners could benefit from the security and availability of hardware resources that cloud web hosting provides.  However, sites that have a lot of traffic would benefit the most.  This is because cloud web hosting would minimize the risk of a site overloading its server due to a surge in use.

Most websites are still hosted on a shared hosting server, which (in it’s simplest form) relies on the services from a single physical server. With cloud web hosting you site will often be clustered amongst multiple servers.  If your site suddenly becomes busy, more servers are available to take the load and when they aren’t needed they can be switched off.

This mode is generally not available on a shared hosting server. Although most shared servers are powerful enough to handle a lot of traffic, high traffic to one site may be detrimental to all the other sites on the server. Cloud web hosting eliminates that by simply providing more servers when they’re needed, without impacting others.

Now that you understand the basics of cloud and the benefits of cloud in web hosting, you can throw the term around merrily in your next conversation with confidence. You may also consider using cloud as a hosting option.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, our team has prepared an infographic with information on how to maximize your investment.

What are your plans this year? Are you an online retailer planning to offer a sale to your customers? Or are you a consumer who’s looking to cash in on some great deals? Share your comments with us in the comment field below, or share our infographic on your site using the handy code below!

Embed on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below

<a href="http://myhosting.com/images/cyber-monday.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://myhosting.com/images/cyber-monday.jpg" width="550" height="2480"></a><br />Maximizing Your Dollars on Cyber Monday – An infographic conceptualized by <a href="http://myhosting.com/">myhosting.com</a>.

This month, we would like to introduce you to Daryl, Enterprise Accounts Manager. Daryl has been with myhosting.com for 10 years! Read the  interview below to learn how his adventure started!  

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Daryl Brown. I’m a family man. My family and friends are the most important part of my life. Since I started working for SoftCom I’ve got married, moved into our first house, and became a proud father of two boys.  Currently a lot of my downtime hours are spent on renovations for our home.  Over the past summer we built a new deck and battled a raccoon that thought he should be allowed to live under it. The next project will either be the kitchen or finishing the basement.  I’m a big LEGO fan and have been collecting minifigs for a while. I love older B-Movies like Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Creeping Terror, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, and so many more. I also enjoy some of the newer films like Sharktopus, Dino Shark, and Piranha.  If there’s some kind of crazy creature and bad acting I’m sold.  I’m also an avid runner. I run mostly 5K and 10K races but I’m working towards a marathon hopefully in 2013.

2. How did your myhosting.com adventure start?

I started working for SoftCom in early February 2002. I’ve worked with a lot of great people and had a lot of roles within our company over the last decade. Back in the early days of SoftCom we had a small support team that answered inbound emails for our shared web hosting customers and mail2web.com users. The first few years went by very quickly. Sometimes I miss the days of answering support emails about troubles logging into mail2web.com. Those were the easy days even though we’d all be answering over 100 emails a day.

3. What is the most interesting situation you have faced?

The most memorable moment that comes to mind was the North American blackout of 2003. Coming into work that evening was an interesting experience but very slow. My regular 40 minute commute took just over 2 hours. We all worked hard keeping the emergency generators up and running and helping the customers that still had the ability to email us. With a power outage of that size you can imagine there were a lot of support requests. Our team pulled together; many of us put in extra hours. We had the overflowing queues back under control in less than 24 hours. Even though it was a pretty hectic time it was still a lot of fun. Getting something to eat while the power was out was interesting too. Restaurants were giving out free food before it spoiled. The lines at the Hotdog vendors were huge even though they had run out of buns hours earlier.

4.What is the best thing about myhosting.com?

Without question the best part about myhosting.com is the people. We seem to hire really great people.  Everyone that I have the privilege of working with are people that I consider friends not just co-workers. A well stocked fridge of cold drinks is a great perk too J

Mobile websites represent a trend in internet access which is fueled by the rising speed of wireless internet access and the increasing capabilities of smart phones. For any business or organization, the purpose of a mobile website is to provide fast facts to customers on the go. This information allows customers to quickly find your products or services, contact your company, and find your physical locations in their area. The future of the mobile web is bright and a mobile website is an integral part of any business creating a presence online. 

Why do you need a Mobile Website?

Currently, the purpose of mobile websites is to share pertinent information about your business or organization and its products or services. This needs to be done using whatever internet connection is available and within the hardware restrictions of the device browsing the web. This is where goMobi excels because it creates a basic, yet professional and highly customizable, mobile website. Your customers will be able to find basic information about your business or organization, the address, phone number, a map with GPS guided directions, videos, products, business reviews, social media connections, images, form, and many other features can be included on the site. You can even include a link to the full version of your site for customers with high-speed internet access and tablets with larger screens.

Fast Facts

When most people visit a mobile website they are looking for fast facts. They want to know where your business is located, what products and services you offer, and how to contact you. This is because they may be using a mobile data plan with some restrictions and they are typically using a device with a relatively small screen. These devices are not designed for full-featured website and typically cannot take advantage of the more sophisticated code found on websites designed for desktop computers. Also, the user of a mobile website will commonly follow a QR code to find the site and may us a GPS navigation system built into their device to find your nearest location. Your mobile website should take advantage of all of these features, and goMobi does just that.

Fad or Trend

“The International Advertising Bureau has found that 61% of customers who visit a website that isn’t mobile-friendly will leave the site to visit a competitor.” This fact alone makes the cost of setting up a mobile website seem minuscule. However it’s important to see the broader picture of the mobile web to make an informed decision about setting up a mobile website for your business. The advances made with smart phones have ensured that future generations will grow up with computers and the internet in their pocket and at their finger tips. The mobile web is far from a fad and it represents a larger trend in ubiquitous computing and internet saturation.

Future of the Mobile Web

By the end of 2012, projections suggest there will be more internet-connected mobile devices than people. Additionally, mobile devices will provide access to more than half of the world‘s internet users by 2015. Some of these devices will have the high-speed internet connection, unlimited data plans, large screens, and processing power needed to display full-featured websites. However, the majority will still require mobile versions of these websites for some time. This means that investing in a mobile website now will payoff for years to come. Additionally, having a full-featured website and a mobile website ensures your business will not be turning away any customers simply due to the device they use to connect to the web.

Setting up and maintaining a virtual private server (VPS) can be a daunting task for a beginner, but the proper software can take much of the headache out of the process. Traditional VPS control panels may be confusing, and it can take forever to learn all of the functions. However, many people who purchase VPS hosting are turning to Webmin VPS to better visualize VPS configurations.

This open-source control panel is powerful and simple to use, which makes it a favorite with both beginners and VPS hosting experts. The interface for the system is web-based, can be accessed through any browser and can be used remotely. Once it is installed, this simple control panel allows authorized users full access to the VPS without the need to manually edit the Linux configuration files through the command line which can be a daunting task. Multiple user accounts can be created, and the system includes over 100 standard modules that can be used with most Linux server distributions, including CentOS and Debian.

Using Webmin for VPS

The Webmin control panel is now installed with all new myhosting.com Linux VPS accounts that don’t include cPanel or Plesk. When the administrator logs in, all of the options are enabled. The administrator can also create additional login names and passwords. Each account can then be customized, and access to certain functions can be restricted. It is important to note that users of the control panel do not necessarily coincide with users of the server. Users must be created independently for access to the program.

Webmin VPS Sections and Modules

After logging in, a row of images is displayed along the top of the screen. These are links to the seven sections of the panel, and each section acts as a menu for the 113 modules that come with the standard configuration. In addition, over 100 third-party modules may be accessed here if they have been installed. Following are the seven sections and the major modules contained in each.

Webmin

This section gives the user access to several important tools. It also provides the option of registering the server so that it can be seen by others, which is useful for those who are managing multiple VPS systems. Primary modules in this section include the following:

• Configuration backup tool
• Language and theme options
• User configuration
• Log files

System

This section contains the tools for configuring the server, including server users, boot-up and shutdown scripts, cron jobs and software packages. The major modules in this section are as follows:

• Password maintenance
• Disk quotas and network file systems
• File backup
• MIME programs
• Scheduled cron jobs and commands
• Users and groups

Servers

The Servers section allows users to manage server services, such as Apache, ProFTPD, MySQL, and Sendmail. Although these services can be accessed through the control panel, it is still necessary to know the commands required for configuring them. The modules in this section include the following:

• Apache webserver
• BIND DNS server
• CVS and DHCP servers
• Database servers
• Procmail filter
• SSH server

Networking

The Networking section contains several options. However, these options are only for advanced users and experienced Linux administrators. In addition, not all of the options work with every VPS. The useful modules in this section are as follows:

• ADSL Client
• Bandwidth monitoring
• IPsec VPN configuration
• Linux firewall
• Network configuration
• SSL tunnels

Hardware

The hardware section is usually disabled for VPS systems, but it allows users to manage the actual server hardware, such as RAID configuration, boot-up, disk drive partitions and printers.

Cluster

The cluster section is used to manage groups of servers. Users can copy files and cron jobs between clustered VPS systems and establish users for clusters. In addition, software packages can be installed simultaneously on multiple servers.

Others

This section contains several useful tools, including a java based UNIX shell connection program, system monitors, a file manager and a file transfer tool. Custom commands can be created in this section, and Perl modules can be accessed here.

Webmin is quickly becoming popular in VPS environments. Unlike cPanel and Plesk VPS, it is more about VPS configuration and optimization than web hosting automation. In addition, it is free, open-source, and geared toward server configuration instead of website administration. Beginners are able to configure their servers easily through this control panel, and experienced users have tools for advanced configurations.