I began using SiteUptime to monitor my blog's up-time a couple of weeks ago; so far I have been quite pleased. I am only using the free version of the service, so I do not get all of the bells and whistles that are offered with the paid accounts; however, I have already been notified of some downtime I had recently on this blog. I received an email and began taking action to get the blog back up.

There are three different accounts available offering different features. You can sign up for a free plan, a premium plan for $5 per month, or an advanced plan for $10 per month. All plans include the following features:

• 4 Monitoring Locations
• Email Alerts
• Monthly Reports
• Online Statistics
• Control Panel
• Web Server (http)
• Email Server (pop3)
• Email Server (smtp)
• FTP Server (ftp)

For more information on what is offered in the different plans, check out SiteUptime's comparison page.

What service(s) do you use to monitor your website's up time? Let us know in the comments.

phpMyVisites is an open source web analytics application written in PHP an MySQL. This offers similar features to AWStats and Webalizer. It is currently released in version 2.3 stable and under a GNU/GPL license. Originally created in 2002, this application has come along way to support the necessary requirements to provide useful web stats. As described on the phpMyVisites wiki, "phpMyVisites was created to address an important need for an Open Source (and free) program that offers features available in professional, “for-purchase-only” software" (About phpMyVisites).

There are a number of great features offered, which you can read about in more detail on their features page. The bulk of the features are contained within seven major sections of stats:

Major Features

• Visitors
• Pages viewed
• Follow-up of visitors
• Visitor movement
• Source of visitors
• Hardware/software of visitors
• Referrals

Other Features

• Track multiple websites
• Multiple users
• Clean user interface
• Strong security
• Graphics to help you visualize the numbers
• Multi-language support
• Search engine detection
• Get site stats in email and RSS format

Be sure to check out phpMyVisites and give it a try. It is easy to install and configure and has documentation for you to follow.

What do you use to track your site statistics? Do you use a hosted service or host your own application? Let us know in the comments.

Installation

FreeBSD provides a very easy installation process; it uses Sysinstall as an automated installation package to do it for you. All you have to do is answer some questions to create users and tell it which software to install and you are on your way to being up and running in a matter of minutes. The full installation takes longer that a few minutes to complete, but using Sysinstall to set the installation parameters is very quick. This installer takes care of everything needed to have FreeBSD installed and functioning correctly on your system, including user creation, software/application installations, network and peripheral setup, and much more.

Security

FreeBSD is one of the most secure operating systems available. There are a number of security features built into the system that deal with user and file system security. There are also a number of applications compatible with FreeBSD that offer added security beyond the default features. Besides the basic user permissions modified through CHMOD, FreeBSD offers the ability to use ACL and MAC. These options allow user permissions on a more specific level than the basic Unix permissions. You can also use a firewall to secure your system. FreeBSD has two options built in, altq and dummynet, as well as a number of applications available for install like IPFILTER (IPF), IPFIREWALL (IPF), and PacketFilter (PF). Another way to secure your system is change the default password hash from md5 to blowfish in login.conf.

Another great security feature that comes with FreeBSD is the ability to jail a process. This allows for separate environments for processes that are completely locked off from others. These jails function as almost a separate installation of FreeBSD allowing for its own user processes, user accounts, and files. Using a jail helps for testing software and often used by web hosts to give their users control over a virtual server.

Compatibility

There are numerous hardware compatibilities listed on the hardware notice for each release of FreeBSD. It is compatible with all the major processors the most popular being Intel and AMD. There are also thousands of applications available for installation on a FreeBSD system. As well as having all of those application ports available, you can run Linux applications on FreeBSD with the Linux Binary Compatibility system. This allows you "to run about 90% of all Linux applications without modification" (Linux Binary Compatibility).

Ports

The port system is a collection of software that is packaged and ready for installation on a FreeBSD system. You can download the source and install them very quickly and easily. Ports are available from the installation disc, online at the ports collection, or at FreshPorts. Once you have chosen a port to install and have followed the installation procedures, you can stay up to date with the ability to download and compile the updates easily from within the ports system. There are currently over 19,000 ports within 63 categories available for download and use (FreshPorts Stats).

Documentation

FreeBSD has many different options for documentation. They offer eight different kinds of documentation on their website including FAQ, Manual Pages, and the FreeBSD Handbook. There is also a web resources section, a for newbies section, and books and articles. The handbook is in my opinion the the best resource available and can be viewed online in multiple formats and downloaded as a local copy. There are a number of books dedicated to FreeBSD as well; a search on Amazon.com will demonstrate this. You won't have to browse the web for basic command questions; you can use the man pages on your installation of FreeBSD so you can have general command help locally whenever needed.

Webmin is my personal favorite of the free control panels. I have used it for many years on servers I have set up at home to test and play with. It is easy to set up and has a great list of feature (or modules) including Apache, BIND, BSD Firewall, bandwidth monitoring, cron job manager, and many more. Beyond the standard modules included, you can download addition third party modules and develop your own if needed.

Currently there is support for many types of Unix (best option: FreeBSD), Linux (best option: Redhat), and Solaris systems. Webmin needs to be configured for each specific flavor of *nix because of file locations, but despite this restriction, there are currently 82 different operating systems supported.

Webmin uses a BSD-like license allowing for commercial and non-commercial use. "All recent versions of Webmin are under a BSD-like licence, meaning that it may be freely distributed and modified for commercial and non-commercial use" (Webmin).

Web-cp

web-cp offers security, flexibility, automation, and management tools to help you manage your servers. Some notable features include system monitoring, statistics, domain configuration, database management, email settings, file manager, and many more. There is a list of supported applications on the web-cp website including sendmail, Apache, Bind, and MySQL.

Running on *nix systems, there are currently 12 different operating systems that web-cp can run on. Multiple versions of Redhat, FedoraCore, FreeBSD, and CentOS are a few of the available options.

The license for this control panel is licensed as Open Source software under the GPL license. This license means that "anyone, anywhere can continue working on the code" (web-cp).

SysCP

SysCP includes management of mail, FTP, web space, CGI, custom error pages, statistics, DNS, and more. Within these categories of supported features, you can control popular applications such as Apache, Bind, Courier, and Proftpd.You can get full feature and supported applications lists from their website. As well as these standard application controls built into SysCP, you can download third party modules to control and manage other aspects of your server as well. Some of the third party modules include management for applications like SpamAssassin, Fetchmail, and a backup module.

You can use SysCP on five major *nix distibutions, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, OpenSuSE, and FreeBSD. These are limited to specific versions so be sure to check what you are using versus what is supported.

SysCP is licensed as open source using the GPL. "The SysCP project was founded, to develop a free server management tool in terms of the Open Source Definition and distribute it freely under the terms of the GPL" (SysCP).

GNUPanel

GNUPanel is written in PHP5 and is intended to run on a Debian Linux system. The main features include domain management, FTP management, database administration, mail management, and much more. You can control popular applications like Apache, PHP, MySQL, Proftpd, and others. There are also some web applications available for auto installation (WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, and osCommerce).

Although you can currently only run this on Debian, there are other operating systems installations planned. Current development is focusing on language translations of the application.

The license is open source, using GPL. The website stats that "GNUPanel is a completely free (GPL)" (GNUPanel).

ISPConfig

ISPConfig offers management of services like httpd servers, FTP servers, DNS servers, mail servers, database systems, and much more. You can get a full list of features at their website. You can manage popular applications like Apache, MySQL, Proftpd, Bind, and sendmail through the control panel as well. An additional feature of ISPConfig that can be a great deal of help is the four page listing of how-to's at HowtoForge.

There are eight major Linux distributions supported including Mandrake, Fedora Core. Suse, Debian, and Ubuntu. A number of different versions are supported for each of the eight supported operating systems.

ISPConfig uses a BSD license, which allows for redistribution and copying as well as changing the source as long as the original copyright information is retained.

FreeTechBooks.com is a website dedicated to programming books, textbooks, and notes. The content is 100% free and 100% legal. There are hundreds of books spread out among seven main categories with many subcategories within each main category. The seven main categories are Computer Science Books, Mathematics Books, Supporting Fields Books, Operating System Books, Programming/Scripting Books, Miscellaneous Books, and General.

You can find the books you are interested in by using the main and subcategories mentioned above, by looking at the most popular books listed on the left hand menu, or by using the search function to locate a book based on keyword(s), author(s), and/or other criteria. The site is updated regularly with news and comments as well as regular additions to the book collection, the most recent being the IT Security Cookbook, which was added on August 16, 2008.

Beyond the books, there is a community that you can register and be a part of. This allows you to post comments to the forum as well as be in contact with the other people that are interested in the same type of information you are. Registration is not necessary, but it is an option.

Be sure to check out the website and get all the free information you can. This is a great free and legal resource that allows us to "view, download and with a very few exceptions, print the books for your own private use at no charge. In fact, you are encouraged to tell others about the books" (FreeTechBooks.com).

Starting yesterday, Aug 2, WordPress.com now offers support 24-7. Previously, support was available during the day from 9am - 4pm PDT, and then 24 hours a day 5 days a week, but that has just changed. They recognized the need for fast support at any time and have expanded to meet this need. "The time has come for help without delay. We hereby announce 24-7 support on WordPress.com" (WordPress.com Blog). They will try to get back to you within 24 hours, if not sooner, and are working hard to provide quality support in an efficient manner.

I'm pretty excited to here this news. I don't host my blog through WordPress.com, although I do use WordPress. However, I think this is a great step that they have taken to reach out and provide extra support needed by their users. Hosting your blog on WordPress.com is free, with a few upgrades available at a cost, and yet they still upped their support level to 24-7. I think that is pretty impressive and says a good deal about their business practices. Kudos to you, wordpress.com!

• Affordable Internet Services Online (ASIO) - ASIO uses solar panels to power their data center and solar tubes to provide lighting. The ECO-1 hosting plans start at $9.99 per month offering 500 MB of storage space and 5 GB of bandwidth. They also offer a competitive package of features standard to each hosting plan. Don't be too quick to judge the smaller storage and bandwidth limits; this isn't always a bad thing.
• ThinkHost - ThinkHost is fully embracing the "go green" movement and is powered by 100% renewable energy sources. They also take it a step further and plant a tree for every new customer they get. Their green hosting plan starts at $7.95 per month, offering 100 GB of storage space and 1000 GB of bandwidth. Along with storage and bandwidth, ThinkHost offers a competitive package of features that comes standard with the hosting package.
• ecoSky - ecoSky is powered by solar and wind energy; it is clean and renewable. They use a grid system to store excess energy created when they aren't in need of it and are able to use it if they are in need of more power than is being produced. They offer a personal hosting plan starting at $19.99 per month with a $25.00 set-up fee. The personal plan offers 500 MB of storage space and 5000 MB of bandwidth. Each plan offers some of the typical features; however, they don't list the software versions that are installed on the servers. I would ask for that information first if you are considering purchasing a plan.
• GreenestHost - GreenestHost is 100% solar powered, relying on zero renewable energy credits and producing zero emissions. Although the front page advertises 5 hosting plans starting at $9.95 per month, I was only able to locate 3 hosting plans starting at $24.95. They offer a competitive features package with their hosting plans, but the price is quite a bit higher than the other hosts listed.
• Solar Energy Host - Their data centers are 100% solar powered, creating no greenhouse gases. This host is focused mainly on hosting with Joomla, the popular open source CMS software. Eco hosting plans start at $9.95, offering 500 MB of storage space and 3 GB of bandwidth. The features pacakage included with these hosting plans are less robust than the previously listed hosts because they are centered around Joomla.

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Disclaimer: This list does not take into account any reviews or ratings for the hosts listed. This list is just to show available options. Please take the time to research specifics before signing up.

Shared hosts offer great features and prices for both new webmasters just starting out and seasoned webmasters. The best feature is typically the price. A lot of shared hosts can offer basic plans for under $10 a month. The extensive bundle of features you get for that cost is not always the best way to go however. There are often terms and conditions (which are skipped over all too often) that can make the best price and feature combination not worth a tenth of what they are charging. Here is a list of 5 things, in no particular order, to verify before deciding on a shared hosting plan.

1. 99.9% Up Time - Verify that the plan includes 99.9% up time. This is in my opinion the most important one because if the host isn't committed to keeping the connections and servers running at all times, it doesn't matter what features or deal you get, your website will be unreachable.
2. Unlimited = Unlimited - Verify that if your host advertises an unlimited amount of anything, you will indeed get unlimited amounts of it. Some hosts will offer unlimited bandwidth for instance, but throttle you if you start consuming too much. Another downfall with unlimited (bandwidth in particular) is the impact other users can have on the system. If the host doesn't have a limit in place, one user could consume a large percentage of resources, which will in turn decrease the performance of your website.
3. Exceeding the Limit - Verify that the host doesn't suspend an account that goes beyond its allocated limits per month, whether it be bandwidth or another limited feature. This may not be a bad thing for those webmasters who are not relying on the website for anything, or those who are not looking to have a regular following (I don't know very many of those kinds of webmasters), but it is very bad for webmasters that can't have down time. If at all possible, try to make sure that your account isn't suspended for going over; have them charge you accordingly. If you aren't comfortable with this route, make sure that you keep a close eye on your limits and make the necessary adjustments to ensure you don't exceed your limits.
4. Established Support Record - Verify that the host has an established and verified customer support record. You will inevitably need to talk to support when your site goes down, because it will go down, and I have dealt with hosts that take around 4-6 hours to get back to you. Make sure that you can talk to someone within minutes if your site is experiencing problems. You aren't able to do much to help your site when using a shared host, so you will rely mostly on the support they offer. THIS IS KEY!
5. Speed of Upgrades - Verify that your host will upgrade to the new releases of features such as PHP, MySQL, cPanel, etc. as soon as possible after the stable releases become available. I have heard many cases, and been a part of cases, where you buy the most recent version as part of your hosting package and the releases don't get updated/upgraded after that. The new machines that are set up get the new releases, but the machine you are on might not get them for months or even years after the release.

Have you dealt with something that might not be a typical item to watch out for? Let us know in the comments if you have any tips to keep us aware.