Backing up your website with the Plesk Control Panel

Today, most people are aware of the importance of taking regular backups of irreplaceable files and documents, however few consider that this also applies to data on your websites as well. We are regularly contacted by customers who have accidentally deleted or overwritten a important file, causing inconvenience, loss of revenue or worse. Whilst we take regular backups of all our production servers, we recommend all customers take independent backups of their data, especially if you are about to make changes to your website such as upgrading your blog or forum software etc.

The Plesk control panel has a built in back up feature which will allow you to backup and restore snapshots of your entire website and databases. The backup files can be stored in a repository on the server, uploaded to a remote FTP site or downloaded to your personal computer. The remainder of this blog entry will explain how to use this feature.

To create a backup login to your Plesk control panel. Once logged in, click on the Home link in the left column. You should then see a list of domains in your account, click on the domain you want to back up. In the top row of icons you should see a floppy disk with a green arrow labelled 'Backup', click on it. You should now be on the Backup screen, there are four Icons, click on 'Create Backup'.

You should now be on the Backup file creation screen. Enter a name for the backup file and a comment if you wish, then click on the Back Up button. It may take a while depending on the number and size of the files on your site. When it is done you will see the backup file you created in the Backup files repository. To restore the backup file you created, click on it then click on the restore button.

For the other Backup features, please refer to the online help in Plesk or pages 135–144 of the Plesk manaul for Domain Administrator's (http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk/Plesk8.6/Doc/en-US/plesk-8.6-win-domain-administrators-guide.pdf).

The latest version of the Plesk Control Panel is included in our Windows Web Hosting, Windows Dedicated Servers and Linux Dedicated Servers plans.

Dedicated Servers – Do I need more than one?

So you have a dedicated server or plan on taking out a dedicated server for a new or existing project…

The journey begins with a single dedicated server processing all of your services such as website, email and databases…. What are the limitations with a single dedicated server? What happens when your requirements reach a stage when a single dedicated server just isn’t enough?

Complex Hosting

Although the journey begins with a single dedicated server, there are no boundaries on how far you want to take your hosting setup. We are able to offer a setup, which includes a number of dedicated servers load balanced for intensive processing and redundant failover.

It is possible to have a full rack of servers with specialist equipment such as hardware load balancers, SAN devices, firewalls, and it’s even possible to setup a VPN to servers within your office network for secure data transfer.

As a Managed Hosting provider we have flexible approach to individual customer requirements. No matter how complex your requirements are; we will always go that extra mile to provide the desired setup at the best possible price.

Who Needs Multiple Dedicated Servers?

Having more than one server gives customers the reassurance in there hosting setup.
You need to be confident that your web hosting can still deliver under intensive hardware strain and will still manage should one of the server nodes fail. Long-term it costs a lot less to have a setup with multiple servers than the impact it could cause if a single server failed.

This type of hosting is suitable for any business that requires that extra reassurance with there website hosting. It is always recommended to have multiple servers. Companies that have had bad experiences in the past with their hosting provider would largely benefit from the reassurance this setup has to offer.

How many Dedicated Servers do I need?

Its not always the easiest task determining your required hosting setup, with technical advisers always ready and up for a challenge, contact our expert team to discuss exactly what you need.

From one dedicated server to a clustered load balanced setup we take every enquiry seriously and will vision exactly what is recommended for your business, contact us now:
http://www.cwcs.co.uk/contact/

Reseller Hosting - What is it and why you might need it

You may be familiar with hosting a single website on a single account, but what if you want to host another website, or you plan on hosting lots of websites?

Do you buy a hosting package for each account, well you could but then you would have lots of different accounts spread out across different servers making management a nightmare. What you can do is purchase what is a Reseller hosting package, this gives you a single account which allows you to create hosting packages when you need them, without having to place another order for a new account.

With such freedom you can host your friends websites or even start your own little hosting company. CWCS now hosts websites and servers for many customers around the world, but its not known that when CWCS started it used a reseller package to sell hosting to its customers before building its own data centre.

A Reseller package is not ideal for everyone but it does give a much more affordable viable hosting solution for people who will need to host multiple websites. Why not try one of our Reseller Web Hosting packages?

Dedicated servers offer first class web hosting

It’s natural to be drawn towards the most attractive price when it comes to a service that is not always thoroughly understood. Web hosting is sometimes considered a grey area within the IT industry; even skilled web designers are not always up to scratch with different web hosting options.

So, why part your cash for a dedicated server when various smaller packages are available for a reduced cost?

A web-hosting package that is not suitable for a large business could cost your business severely in the long run. A dedicated server is always ideal for businesses that rely on a website or application within the day-to-day business operation. Think of a hosting server as a container for your website, if the container is not the right size and cant accommodate growth it will fall over and collapse.

Dedicated servers are the roots to all hosting packages; even the smaller packages are hosted on dedicated servers, although you share the machine with other users. We always advise to invest comparatively and allow your business to breath with a dedicated server.

First class web hosting is a term we feel can be used to describe the service included when considering a dedicated server. You receive a super fast service with no interruptions and all the luxuries thrown in. All servers are located in our high specification Nottingham data centre with facilities in place to ensure the smoothest hosting experience possible.

Take a look at our great dedicated server offers!

Joomla Hosting Upgraded

We have upgraded Joomla to the latest version on our advanced load balancing linux web hosting platform. Joomla is a powerful, yet simple to use, content-management-system (CMS) which can be used to create websites. It can also be used to easily manage every aspect of your website, from adding images, updating text to updating products in your catalog.

Joomla is available at no charge (free) on Linux Professional Hosting, Linux Business Hosting and Linux Reseller 1 and 2 plans.

Colocation – What are the advantages?

For many of us, colocation means hosting at the lowest possible cost, with total control over equipment.

If you looking to cut costs and maintain/improve excellent server uptime, colocation may be the ideal solution for your business.

So, what exactly is colocation?

The term colocation can sometimes sound quite frightening to new businesses searching for hosting arrangements. The thought of a managed server sounds much more appealing, although in many cases parting the extra cash for a managed server is not always necessary.

With co-location, we give your server a home and provide all necessary functions required to have your server online. We take care of your server and ensure all possible disaster eventualities are prepared for, allowing you to relax and not worry about any potential problems that could arise.

Space is available for all types of setups, from small 1U servers to a full rack full of equipment. Like a hotel, you will receive a luxury service with all expenses covered. With our dedicated support team onsite, you can request for a server to be rebooted even without leaving your office, day or night.

Different options are available for businesses interested in colocating, find all the information you need on our colocation hosting page.

Is colocation for my business?

There is certain knowledge required when colocating a server; you will need to maintain the operation and setup of the server. Businesses that have servers located in-house would always benefit from colocation, the running costs will be a lot less and the reassurance of our redundant data centre is a key advantage of choosing to colocate.

As a reputable company we own 2 data centres located in the midlands, both located in the city of Nottingham and each run independently. This gives customers the option to have servers running in separate data centres in a fail-over configuration for total resilience.

Moving servers from their current location may seem to be an unnecessary and complicated task, although you will save money in the long run. How could a power or network outage affect the day to day running of your business?

Talk to us and find out further information about what colocation is all about with our contact page.

CWCS introduces new Web Hosting Linux Cluster Platform

When hosting a new website or even an existing website, one of the most important factors is the uptime your web hosting provider offers. If your website is offline due to a hardware failure, this will affect your business and would also have a major impact on your search engine rankings.
It is important to ensure a web-hosting provider has the correct setup for the hosting server to ensure downtime is always avoided. Many cheap web hosting providers may seem to offer attractive packages, it is always important to find out specifics when considering a web hosting package for your precious website.

We are proud of our new platform, we understand that not all customers have the budget to host there website on a dedicated server. That’s why we aim to offer the most resilient service web hosting could possibly offer. We have recently implemented a new platform for many of our Linux hosting packages, the benefits of the new setup can be found below, with details of how your business will benefit from it.

Resilience

Our new cluster setup has been implemented to offer the most advanced form of resilience a professional web host could possibly provide. Multiple servers are working together to ensure a backup server is readily available in the event of a system failure. There will no impact to your websites should a problem occur with one of the servers. Our resilience setup ensures peace of mind allowing you to focus your attention on other aspects of your business.

Performance

As a Managed UK Web Hosting provider, we believe all our hosting packages should never compromise on performance. We are able to deliver high amounts of resources on our smaller packages ensuring each customer is able to host their websites without experiencing any form of slow down. We have achieved this on our new Linux cluster setup by using separate servers for each individual service running. Having separate server allows each server to focus entirely on its intended use.

Features

With the new Linux cluster servers in place, we have introduced a new supreme control panel. The new version for the control panel is version 6.0; it offers more features than ever before including WordPress, Joomla and a PHP bulleting board.

Support

With over 10 years experience within the web hosting industry, we like to think our trained staff can handle any support query within the quickest time possible. Our control panel interface was designed in-house; each and every support technician is fully trained to support our in-house systems.

Scalability

Implementing the new cluster system has proved to accommodate customers with rapid website growth. More resources are now readily available allowing customers to upgrade between various packages without changing physical server. This ensures a smooth upgrade process is always maintained.

We consider ourselves as a professional UK web hosting provider with a proactive approach to new technologies. Improving our setup is essential to maintain our excellent uptime and to ensure we offer the most uninterrupted web hosting experience. Our new Linux cluster setup is just one of our steps we have taken to maintain our excellent reputation and professional service. Take at look at our web hosting plans to view further information on what we can offer for your business.