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How to avoid all problems in server and website management: a beginner's guide with tips and solutions to common errors

ispmanager.com — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 17:30:55 +0000

For a beginner, server and website management appear daunting. However, with the right tools, even the most complex processes can be simplified and automated.

In this guide, we will share the basics of server and website management and share a few tips from how to choose the right tools to how to solve some common problems.

Preparation – learning the basics of server infrastructure

Before setting up a server, it's important to understand how servers work. Here are the basic elements you will encounter:

Different types of servers: physical, virtual (VPS), and cloud. Start with VPS – they are affordable and easy to test.
Operating systems: Ubuntu — this is one of many operating systems (distributions) built on the Linux kernel, the easiest one for beginners to understand.
Basic Linux commands: learn how to install software and manage the file system and processes.

What will help you figure everything out fastest:

Install VirtualBox and download the Ubuntu Server image. Set up a local virtual machine for testing.
Take a basic Linux course – there are free lessons on YouTube.
Practice some commands: for example, create files (touch), move them (mv), edit them (nano), and set permissions (chmod).

Selecting the right management tool

There are two ways to manage your server – through the console or a control panel.

The console – flexibility and functionality for experienced users

Pros:

The most flexibility. All configuration is manual, allowing you to customize everything exactly how you want.
Versatility. There is a console on all servers and no additional software is needed.
Great for automation using scripts and task schedulers.

Cons:

Requires experience: you need to know the commands and their variables.
Entering the wrong command can cause problems.
There is no GUI.

A control panel – great for beginners

A control panel is a graphical interface that makes server management easier.

With a control panel, you can:

Set up domains, databases, and SSL certificates.
Create backups and manage users.
Easily install CMSs like WordPress, etc.

We recommend using the control panel and a console together. The panel will simplify routine tasks and the console will give you full control over the server.

There is a wide range of control panels on the market – choose one based on the configuration of your server, your budget and the needs of your project. We recommend ispmanager, a panel that has been installed over 700,000 times on hundreds of thousands of servers in over 150 countries.

Try ispmanager for free →

To find out how to install the ispmanager control panel and resolve any problems whil doing so, see the ispmanager blog.

Automate routine tasks

Automating regular tasks will let you focus on more important things.

Tasks that can be automated:

Backups. Setting up regular backups. In ispmanager, you can do so in 5 minutes by configuring the schedule and parameters. In the console, use rsync or tar to make copies of your files.
Software Updates. In Ubuntu, use unattended-upgrades – a tool to automatically update your packages. In CentOS, configure yum-cron.
Resource Monitoring. Install Zabbix or Netdata to monitor the server load. In ispmanager, you can use the built-in tools to monitor your resources in real time.

What server resource monitoring looks like in ispmanager

Configuring server and site security

Mistakes in security configuration or a lack thereof can leave you vulnerable to data leaks and hacking. Even small projects get attacked and hacked – so never neglect security.

How to configure security on your server:

Use SSH keys instead of passwords.

Generate a key: ssh-keygen -t rsa
Add it to the server: ssh-copy-id user@server_ip

Restrict access.

Change the default SSH port (22) to a non-standard port, such as 2222.
Disable password login by entering PasswordAuthentication no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Install an SSL certificate to secure your connection. In ispmanager, you can install a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt.

Managing your logs – find and eliminate errors

Logs are records of all the events on the server. They help you understand what is happening and identify the causes of problems.

How to work with logs:

Check for errors.

Connect via SSH and type: tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log
Find the lines you need using grep, for example: grep '500' /var/log/apache2/error.log

Use visualization.

Install GoAccess to analyze your logs in real time.
For complex systems, try the ELK Stack – Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana.

Common errors and how to fix them

403 Forbidden error.

Cause — insufficient access rights to files or folders.

Solution:

Check permissions using the ls -l command. The permissions for your site’s files should usually be 644 and the folders should be 755.
Set the right permissions with the command: chmod 755 /path/to/your/site
Make sure the owner of the files and folders is specified correctly: chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/your/site (for Ubuntu).

Error 500 Internal Server Error.

Cause — problems in the web server configuration, PHP, or .htaccess file.

Solution:

Check your server logs with the command: tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log or tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
If the error involves the .htaccess file, temporarily rename it (mv .htaccess .htaccess .htaccess.bak) and see if the site works.
Make sure that all necessary PHP modules are installed and activated. For example, to check what modules are installed, type: php -m

The site is unavailable – DNS error.

Cause — the DNS records are not configured correctly.

Solution — check DNS with dig yourdomain.com or use online troubleshooting services like MXToolbox.

The server is not responding – Timeout error

Cause — high server load or incorrect web server configuration.

Solution:

Check the server load with the top or htop command.
Increase the request handling limits in your server configuration.

Database connection error.

Cause — incorrect access data or a disabled database.

Solution:

Check your site's configuration file (e.g., wp-config.php for WordPress).
Make sure the database is running with systemctl status mysql or systemctl status postgresql

The main points on server and site management

Learn the basics of server infrastructure. Learn how servers work and the basic Linux commands.

Choose the right tool for the job. Use the console for complex tasks or a control panel with a visual interface like ispmanager. Better yet, use both. =)

Automate routine tasks. Set up backups, software updates, and monitoring.

Never neglect security. Use SSH keys, configure SSL, and restrict access to the server.

Check your logs – learn how to find and fix errors in your logs. Use Logwatch, GoAccess, or your control panel.

If this was helpful, subscribe to ispmanager on Dev.to so you don't miss our upcoming articles.

How to create a website on your own for free. A detailed guide for beginners

ispmanager.com — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 10:50:18 +0000

You may need to make a website for a work project, portfolio, or some other purpose. You may think that you have to spend a lot of money and hire a team of developers. However, you can make a website all on your own, for free, and without learning to code or other specialized knowledge.

In this article, we'll take a detailed look at how to make a website from scratch, from choosing the right platform to customizing and launching your site. We will also offer a guide on how to quickly create and customize your site from the ispmanager control panel.

The main methods for creating a website without any programming experience

If you have no programming experience, you can still create a website using a website builder or CMS. Let's go over each method in detail.

Website Builder

A platform with a simple interface and drag-and-drop functionality. They usually offer ready-made templates in their builders. All you need to do is choose a design, add your own text and images, connect to your social networks, and add modules for accepting payments.

Builders are great if you need to create a site quickly without much fine-tuning or custom functionality. They are ideal for small projects and small businesses with a limited budget, such as business card sites or small stores.

Pros and cons of builders

Popular builders with free rates

A free plan usually offers limited configuration, so it’s meant for portfolios, business card sites, and the web portals of small companies and non-profit organizations.

Site.pro. You can choose from 200 template sites with different features tailored to blogs, online stores, lenders, or corporate portals. Just add your text, images, and maps or media content and your site is ready. Your whole team can work on the site at the same time. This builder has built-in tools for promoting your site in search engines: you can add meta tags, create a human-understandable URL, and configure robots.txt, .htaccess, Sitemap, and HTML.

This is what the editor for creating websites in Site.pro looks like

Here are a few examples of its templates

The free version of Site.pro comes with 26 templates, an AI assistant, audio and video uploading, the ability to import a site from another platform, an unlimited number of sites, sites of unlimited sizes, @siteprofree.email, connecting your own domain, cookie configuration, adapting the site to different screen sizes, uploading scripts, site analytics, and SEO settings. The paid version offers even wider functionality from $ 1 per month.

How to customize the free version of Site.pro →

Tilda has more than 200 templates to choose from. The free version includes 1 site with up to 50 pages and up to 50 MB of storage space on Tilda hosting with an address that looks like this: username.tilda.ws. On the paid version you can connect your own domain, get more pages and storage space, and access advanced features and templates. The Personal version costs $10 per month, while the Business one costs $20 per month.

Examples of Tilda templates

WordPress.com is a powerful tool with a huge community; you can find support or advice on anything.

A gallery of WordPress themes for websites with different purposes, from a personal blog to a restaurant or real estate

The free plan includes 1 GB of storage, and your web address will look like this: username.wordpress.com. On the paid plans, you can remove ads, connect your own domain, and access premium themes, advanced features, and tech support. It starts from € 4 per month.

Let's dive into the second method of creating a website, using a CMS, or content management system. We recommend using one for commercial multi-page sites with potential for growth.

CMS – Content Management Systems

CMSs are more flexible than builders: you can scale your site in the future and customize it to meet the goals of your project. A CMS is great for sites that require complex functionality and a unique design. They are more complex than website builders and better for more experienced users working on medium-sized or large projects.

Popular Free CMSs:

WordPress.org is a versatile platform used for blogs, news sites, corporate websites, and online stores. WordPress is an open-source CMS that can be installed on your own hosting service for free. It comes with over 13,000 themes for different kinds of projects.
The free version of WordPress.com comes with basic features, limited customization, and you can't disable the ads. The paid plans start at $4 per month and you can remove the ads, connect your own domain, get access to premium themes, increase your storage, and install plugins for different purposes.

Joomla is more complex than WordPress and requires more time to set up. It offers advanced features without having to install a lot of plugins. Additional extensions can cost anywhere from $10 to $50.

Drupal is a CMS with a focus on security and support for complex site structure and custom modules. Drupal is more difficult to use as it requires programming skills. It is suitable for heavy sites with high volumes of users and data. You can install additional extensions from $4.

How to create a website with a CMS

1.Register a domain name – your site’s address on the Internet.

A domain name is your site’s unique address on the Internet, for example, ispmanager.com. The domain name should be human-understandable and reflect what your company does, its services, or brand.

You need to register a domain name if you use a CMS or want to choose a specific site name. Website builders provide a domain name automatically.

How to register a domain:

Choose an available domain name, add it to the cart, and select the registration period. A domain is usually registered for 1 year, but you can extend the term up to several years.
Register the domain in your name and enter your contact information so that no one else can claim your domain.
Pay – the price depends on the name and domain you chose. For example, Namecheap offers the domain name example.xyz for just $0.99 for the first year, while the domain name example.luxury costs around $799 per year.

Tips when choosing a domain:

Don’t include too many numbers and symbols. For example, my-website123.com – domains like that are harder to remember.
Check how the domain reads. Sometimes, words can merge into unfortunate combinations.
Protect your brand – if you intend to use your site long-term, consider buying the corresponding domains in other popular zones, for example, .net and .org, so that no one else registers similar addresses.

2.Choose a hosting service, a place on a server for your site’s files.

Hosting is how you get your content on the Internet, renting space on the server to store the site files. Your site will be available to visitors 24/7, the hosting provider stores all the files, and provides technical support and data protection.

You need to rent hosting if you use a CMS. Website builders provide hosting automatically.

Different kinds of hosting services:

Virtual shared-hosting – your site shares server capacity with other projects. Great for personal blogs and sites with low traffic.
Dedicated server – a physical server dedicated to your website. High performance, suitable for large projects and large-scale sites.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) or VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) – The golden mean between shared hosting and a dedicated server. One server is divided into several isolated virtual servers with dedicated resources and each mini-server is leased. Great for websites and online stores that are growing. You also need to install an operating system and control panel. May not be suitable for beginners.

For a small project just getting started, shared hosting is great.

3.Cost - there are free and paid hosting services. The latter run from € 4.77 per month. The free ones are great for testing and small projects due to their limited resources and instability. For commercial sites, it is better to go with a paid option to ensure your site works stably and securely. The cost differs from provider to provider and depends on the country where the server is located and how it is configured.

Go with hosting from ispmanager’s trusted partners →

4.Bind the domain to your website so that users can find it on the internet. If you use a builder, they usually provide step-by-step instructions like the Tilda builder, for example. With a CMS, you need to specify the domain settings on the server. Connect to the server and specify the settings in the console or bind the domain to the site through the ispmanager control panel.

5.Install your CMS on your hosting service by yourself or with the help of a control panel. We’ll go over how to do this in the ispmanager control panel in detail in the next section.

How to create a website and install a CMS in the ispmanager control panel

Let's dive into how to create a website and install WordPress in the ispmanager control panel. If you rented a server without a control panel, you can order a trial version of ispmanager and install it on the server. Here’s how:

Try ispmanager for free →

How to install ispmanager on a server →

1.Log in to the ispmanager panel using your username and password which you can find in your hosting provider's client area.

2.Add a domain. Go to "DNS Management" and select "Create Domain". Enter the domain name and name servers, which you can get from your registrar. Click "Create Domain".

If you have chosen shared hosting, you do not need to add a domain, it will be added automatically.

3.Go to Settings → Web Scripts, select WordPress, and the three dots at the end of the line. Choose the desired version of WordPress. We recommend going with the latest one. Then, click "Allow".

4.Create a website – go to the "Websites" section and click "Create a website".

5.Enter the settings for the site: enter the domain and select WordPress in the CMS line. In the "Database" section, select "Create a new database". A form will open, enter the database name, username, and password. Click "Apply." Then in the form for creating a site, click "Create".

6.Log in to the admin area with username and password. To enter WordPress, follow one of the following links: https://site.local/wp-admin or https://site.local/wp-login.php

7.Done! You have created your website. Now you can add content.

What else you need to get your site ready to go

For the site to be user-friendly, safe for users, and ranked high by search engines, you need to:

Plan a convenient site structure to help visitors find the information they need. You usually need pages like: home, about, services, products, contacts, and FAQ. You can draw up a simple site map even on paper or in a graphic editor like Figma.
Develop a design - you can choose ready-made templates for various topics: from fashion and beauty to construction and architecture. If necessary you can customize them to your liking: choose a font, color palette, and the arrangement of content blocks.
Add content to your site - you will need a description of your company, its products and services, text for the home page, and topical articles for the blog. Images can be gathered from photostocks or made yourself. Online stores absolutely require high-quality photos and detailed descriptions of the products. If you have the budget, you can hire a copywriter for the texts and a designer to create the images.
Set up SEO - search engine optimization. The right SEO settings will help your site rank higher in search engines. To do so, you need to add meta tags – titles and descriptions for each page, adapt your site for different devices, and add keywords in the content, which will help potential customers find your site.
Ensure site security - protect against cyberattacks, hacks, and data breaches. Install an SSL certificate to encrypt data and set up a firewall or modules like BitNinja to protect your site and server. What other tools are out there to help protect your site →

Key takeaways

→ For small business card sites, single-pages or small stores a website builder is enough. You can go with a free service with ready-made templates and then add content. You won't have to buy hosting or a domain name separately.

→ If you need to design your own multi-page website with custom settings and scaling, it is better to go with a CMS. A CMS is usually more complicated to work with than a builder, but thanks to their flexible settings, you can customize your site for the project objectives.

→ If you create a site with a CMS, you will have to pay for a domain name and hosting. The cost depends on the popularity of the domain name: from $0.99 and up to thousands of dollars, while hosting starts at $4.

→ Your site will also require: a design, content, an SSL certificate, and security modules. Don’t forget the ispmanager control panel to manage your site.

If this was helpful, subscribe to ispmanager on Dev.to so you don't miss our upcoming articles.

How to protect your website and hosting from cyberattacks — recommendations and turn-key solutions for project security

ispmanager.com — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 15:24:37 +0000

n 2016, Cambridge Analytica illegally collected data from 87 million Facebook users through an application that exploited a vulnerability in Facebook's system. This data was used for political advertising and to manipulate voters' opinions during the US presidential election, causing widespread public outcry and accruing billions of dollars in fines.

According to Check Point Research, the number of cyberattacks in the second quarter of 2024 has increased by 30% compared to last year. In this article, we will describe the ways fraudsters most often try to hack companies and how to avoid it.

Here’s a checklist of the most important things for website and hosting security in case you don't have time to read the whole thing.

Checklist: the key points for site and hosting security

Never neglect information security, even if you have just a small site. Large organizations have strengthened their protection methods so it's getting harder to hack them. Therefore, even a small company can become a target for cybercriminals.

Train your team on the basics of information security - in 2023, a study by Webinarcare found that 95% of cyberattacks globally are due to human error. Your employees have to know how to properly respond to phishing, what kind of passwords to set and how to store them, and how to properly send and receive information. Train them by describing and showing examples, test them not just as a formality, and make anyone who fails retake the course.

Update your software regularly — if you don't update your software, you run a higher risk of getting hacked by the latest scam tactics. Ideally, use solutions that are regularly updated and supported by their vendors.

Use password managers and multi-factor authentication to protect account access. For example, password managers like KeePass or Bitwarden and authentication applications like Google Authenticator or Check Point.

Install an SSL certificate to avoid getting penalized for data leakage. For a small project a free Let's Encrypt one is enough, for medium and large projects, it is better to choose paid ones with additional protection.

Choose turn-key solutions to protect your server from the main types of attacks — for example, security modules or all-in-one solutions. Learn more about site and server protection options in the ispmanager blog →

What is attacked most often and how — from cracking passwords to code vulnerabilities

Hackers are constantly looking for new targets. for example, the level of protection in the financial sector has become so high that criminals are turning their attention to other sectors - even a very small organization can be a target of a cyberattack.

Hackers most often attack:

Servers — trying to access or "drop" the server and its accounts.
Vulnerabilities in code and applications — looking for weaknesses through which to gain access to data and software.
Data that is transferred between a user and a server — users leave personal information, card numbers, and other data that fraudsters can exploit.

Next, let's go over each target and attack variant in detail.

Server access — fraudsters try to gain unauthorized access to the site’s server or control panel. The goal is to "drop" the server, hack into its accounts, and gain control of the server and site.

According to Webinarcare, 95% of cyberattacks worldwide are caused by the human factor - for example, employees clicking unsafe links from fraudsters or giving passwords to third parties.

The methods fraudsters use to gain access to servers include:

Bruteforce attacks — attackers simply access passwords to accounts by trying different combinations. If the password is weak, they can access the site quickly.
Weak access rights attacks — poorly configured access rights allow attackers to perform actions to which they should not have access
DDoS attacks — the site receives many requests and "goes down" due to overload.
Malware and viruses — viruses on the server can slow it down, delete files or block access to important features.
Phishing — users are sent phishing links to fake password pages and the attackers steal their credentials.

Code and application vulnerabilities — attackers exploit weaknesses in website software, such as the CMS or plugins to inject malicious code or gain access to data.

Ways fraudsters can find weaknesses in code and applications:

SQL injection — attackers inject malicious commands into a form on a website and gain access to the database.
Cross-site scripting (XSS) — malicious scripts are injected into site code and activated in users' browsers.
Looking for vulnerabilities in the CMS and plugins — older or insecure versions of programs may contain bugs that can be easily exploited.

Threats related to data transfer — concerns the interception of data between users and the server. Most often, data is stolen over unencrypted connections - if a site does not use HTTPS, data is transmitted openly and can be easily intercepted.

Possible consequences of the attacks listed above:

Penalties for leaking sensitive data — for example, the EU has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which stipulates fines of up to €10 million or 2% of a company's annual turnover.
Loss of traffic — the site may drop in the search results.
Hacking into the admin panel.
Infection of the site with viruses.

Tesla, for example, often comes under attack. In 2022, 19-year-old David Colombo discovered a vulnerability in Tesla Mate, the software used to track Tesla vehicles. The vulnerability allowed him to remotely access 25 Tesla electric vehicles in 13 countries. David could open doors and windows and start the engine without a key. The young man later contacted the Tesla security team and Tesla Mate developers to report the vulnerability.

8 ways to protect your website and hosting to prevent a cyberattack

It is important to regularly improve your company's information security system without waiting for a cyberattack to occur. Even if you have a small website or business, we recommend the following methods of defense:

Train your team in the rules of information security — in the previous section, we noted that, in most cases, cyberattacks occur due to human error. Therefore, it is important to train employees on how to properly handle sensitive data and basic information security rules. For example, do not click on links from unknown sources and do not download files from dubious links.

Conduct training and test your employees not just as a formality but to really test their knowledge of the rules. Even better, show real-life examples of the tricks fraudsters use and what the consequences can be.

A company's infrastructure can gat hacked starting with its personal accounts. For example, fraudsters can send phishing links over social networks under the guise of offering a subscription to a service. If an employee clicks on the link, the fraudster will gain access to the corporate system.

Install an SSL certificate — SSL certificates encrypt the data that is transmitted between the user and the server and makes it impossible to intercept. The certificate encrypts passwords and credit card numbers and other personal information that users enter on websites.

SSL certificates can be obtained through a hosting provider or special certification centers. Many hosting companies and control panels offer free SSL certificates like those from Let's Encrypt.
We recommend using a free Let's Encrypt certificate for small projects, and for commercial sites paid SSL certificates that include insurance in case of data breach. Which SSL certificate to choose and whether you can do without one →

Regularly update your CMS and plugins — outdated software often contains vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers. Modern CMSs like WordPress, Joomla, and others - regularly release updates that help protect your site from vulnerabilities.

In the ispmanager control panel, you can set up automatic updates for your CMS and plugins. This is especially important for sites that run on popular CMSs such as WordPress which are often the targets of cyberattacks.

Protect your passwords. Simple passwords are easy to attack with a brute force, so it's important to use complex passwords and additional protection. Writing down passwords on a piece of paper and storing them under your keyboard is not the best idea =)

Use password managers such as KeePass or Bitwarden. Password managers can help you generate complex ones and store them securely.

For example, in 2020, Zoom faced the problem of so-called "Zoom-bombing" — infiltration of video conferences by unwanted persons. After a series of incidents, the company made comprehensive changes to improve its security including end-to-end encryption and enhanced conference security settings.

Enable multi-factor authentication — MFA. It is a security method that requires you to prove your identity in two or more ways to authenticate. For example, using a password, a code from an application, and answering a secret question. For multi-factor authentication, you can use Google Authenticator or Check Point.

Enable MFA for all site administrators. Use MFA in systems where maximum data protection is needed and the cost of data leakage would be high.

Control access rights — assign access rights ensuring that each user can use only those services and data that are necessary for his/her work. In this case, even if an employee is compromised, the attacker will only have access to a limited part of the information infrastructure and the damage will be minimal.

In most CMSs, you can assign roles to users, for example, editor, administrator, and author. You can also restrict access by IP or geographic location.

Conduct a user audit and assign each employee only the rights they need. Regularly check and remove access from employees who are no longer working with the project.

Install DDoS protection — DDoS protection solutions filter malicious traffic, offload the server and allow only authorized users to access the site. DDoS protection can be configured using off-the-shelf solutions like the DDoS-Guard protection module →

In 2023, for example, Kaspersky Lab prevented one of the largest DDoS attacks on the Russian financial sector. The company used its own solutions and was able to repel the attack, which targeted bank servers, ensuring uninterrupted operation of online services and the security of customer data.

Configure WAF, which protects against SQL injection and XSS, cross-site scripts that can lead to data leakage or site infection. WAF analyzes all incoming traffic, filters suspicious requests, and blocks them. Many WAFs are available in off-the-shelf solutions like BitNinja or ModSecurity. How will BitNinja protect your site and server? Find out in the ispmanager blog →

Make regular backups of your site and databases — backups help you recover from attacks, crashes, or random errors, and will help get your system back up and running. Use built-in hosting solutions or external services to automate backups. For example, you can set up automatic backups on a schedule in the ispmanager control panel. How to backup your site in ispmanager →

Turn-key solutions to protect your website and hosting from cyberattacks

There are dozens of turn-key solutions on the market. Let's briefly go over the most popular ones, their functionality, and cost.

This article was originally published on the ispmanager blog

The history of game engines — from assembly coding to photorealism and AI

ispmanager.com — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 13:55:49 +0000

Modern games with photorealistic graphics and convincing physics are built on decades of technological development. At the heart of every game is a game engine — a tool that turns messy coding into powerful, flexible processes. Let's break down how the industry went from hand-made to cutting-edge technology and how this changed the industry.

The 1970s–1980s — how games were created before engines appeared

In the 70s and early 80s, game development was very hands-on. Every line of code was tied to a specific piece of hardware and there was no automation.

Pong (Atari, 1972) was a simple tennis simulation with minimal graphics. The code directly ran the hardware.
Space Invaders (Taito, 1978) was a game in the Assembly. The developers set the behavior of the enemies manually.
Pac - Man (Namco, 1980) — the first time simple animation was introduced, adding dynamism to the gameplay.

This approach made development slow and set a limit on how complex the projects could be. Nintendo attempted to create internal tools, such as for Super Mario Bros. In 1985, but these did not become full-fledged engines.

The 1990s: the first game engines appear

With greater computing resources and the transition to 3D graphics, it became clear that the industry required standardized tools. The first game engines came to the rescue by automating key tasks like graphics rendering, physics, and control.

The big game engines in the 1990s were:

id Tech 1 — Doom, 1993. Id software's John Carmack came up with the revolutionary idea of separating the engine from the content. This made it possible to create levels with simple tools, while the engine was responsible for the graphics, physics, and object interaction. This approach brought the breakthrough that was Doom: its pseudo - 3D environments, textures, and dynamic lighting impressed players.

Build Engine — Duke Nukem 3D, 1996. This engine allowed developers to build more complex and interactive levels. The game featured destructible environments, animations, and elements that reacted to the player's actions. The geometry of the worlds became more detailed, which made the gameplay more dynamic and exciting.

Unreal Engine 1 — Epic Games, 1998. The first multi-platform engine with support for dynamic lighting and high-resolution textures. Unreal Engine offered powerful graphics tools and was made available to other developers under license. This made it commercially successful and popular among studios.

The main advancement for the game industry in the 90s was modularity. Game development teams could work in parallel: the designers created levels, the artists painted textures, and the programmers tweaked the game logic.

In the 2000s, engines became the standard for game dev

In the 2000s, engines became the backbone of game dev. The proliferation of computers and consoles allowed large and complex worlds to be created while the engines simplified development by automating the main processes. Games became more realistic, and developing them became faster and more affordable.

The big game engines in the 2000s were:

id Tech 3 — Quake III Arena, 1999. This engine introduced shaders to determine how light, shadows, and textures appear on the screen. This gave games realistic surfaces and lighting. dynamic lighting became especially important, adding depth and atmosphere to game scenes. id Tech 3 served as the basis for most games of the early 2000s.

CryEngine — Far Cry, 2004. This engine made a breakthrough in graphics, offering photorealistic water, lighting, and huge open spaces.

Unreal Engine 3 — Gears of War, 2006. This engine was one of the key technologies of the mid - 2000s thanks to the following innovations:

PhysX, a physics technology from NVIDIA that offered realistic destruction, collisions, and object behavior.
PBR, physically correct rendering, which made materials and textures appear realistic under different lighting.
Blueprints, a visual programming system that allowed developers to create game logic without writing code.

The emergence of unity in 2005 was a breakthrough for indie developers. The engine was free, supported cross-platform development, and was perfect for mobile games.

The 2010s — engines became available to everyone, not just large companies

In the 2010s, game development was no longer dominated by large studios. tools that were previously only within the grasp of multi-million dollar projects became open and accessible to small teams and indie developers. Game engines simplified the process of creating games and allowed creative teams to focus on ideas and design rather than technical minutiae.

The main game engines in the 2010s were:

Unity held onto its lead for indie projects due to its simplicity and support for all platforms. Its games included: Hollow Knight (2017), Cuphead (2017), and Among Us (2018).
Unreal Engine 4 added access to AAA technologies in 2014: PBR, Blueprints, and support for VR and PhysX.
Godot is a free and lightweight open source 2D game engine popular among indie developers.

The engines of the 2010s simplified game development and gave small teams access to the same tools as the major studios.

The 2020s: the era of photorealism and AI

Graphics reached a similar level to cinema CGI and artificial intelligence made it easier to create and optimize game worlds. Developers got tools for creating complex scenes and automating routine tasks while also saving time and resources.

In 2022, Epic Games introduced Unreal Engine 5 — an engine that revolutionized graphics and performance. It introduced technologies like:

Nanite — a virtualized geometry technology. It enables 3D modeling with billions of polygons without any loss in performance. developers no longer have to spend weeks simplifying their models — the engine adapts them for optimal performance.
Lumen is a system offering global lighting in real time. the light in the game changes dynamically: move the light source and the scene immediately updates. This offers realistic lighting without demanding manual adjustments.
The Matrix Awakens Demo showed how future games could look — photorealistic cities, live lighting, and incredible detail for characters and objects.

Artificial intelligence is now a key tool in game development.

What AI has brought to the table:

Automation — AI generates textures, animations, and entire levels.
Procedural generation — machine learning algorithms create large game worlds and dynamic animations and adapt them to the project's objectives.
Testing — AI helps you find bugs and test your levels meaning you can fix bugs and release your finished product sooner.

Today’s engines have simplified game development, reduced the time and costs, allowing small teams to compete with the major studios. Thanks to these technologies, game development has become more flexible and affordable.

How IT technology has changed game dev

The hardware has become more powerful. Modern CPUs and GPUs have made photorealistic worlds possible. Shaders, Ray Tracing, and DLSS have helped make lighting and textures more realistic while running faster on today’s devices.

The physics has become realistic. Technologies like Havok and PhysX have saved developers from having to manually set the behavior of objects. Destruction, gravity, and collisions have begun to look natural and predictable.

Rendering has taken graphics to a whole new level. The PBR, Nanite, Lumen systems have allowed games to display realistic materials and light. The graphics now look alive and react dynamically to scene changes.

AI has accelerated development. Artificial intelligence has automated routine tasks. It creates textures, animations, and entire levels, saving teams time and resources. Developers can now focus on the creative part of the game dev.

Games have become cross-platform. Engines like Unity and Unreal Engine have made it easier to port games to PC, mobile devices, consoles, and VR. A single project can be adapted for multiple platforms at once without excess cost and complexity.

Cloud technology has made games more accessible. Cloud computing makes it possible to run heavy games even on weak hardware. Studios use servers for complex calculations and rendering, which speeds up development and improves performance.

Game engines have changed the industry — they have simplified game creation, made graphics highly realistic and opened doors for developers at every level. Thanks to powerful hardware, automation, and new technologies, game quality has increased and development has become faster and more affordable.

What do you think the future holds for the game dev industry?

Plesk users keep discussing the price increase

ispmanager.com — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 11:10:21 +0000

Plesk users keep discussing the price increase and keep their creativity high.

In these trying times we offer to try ispmanager - a free license for a year is waiting for you→

This post was originally published in LinkedIn

A smart home with a pet cat: how to automate your daily routine at home

ispmanager.com — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:25:38 +0000

Can you automate your home so that the kitty litter box sends messages to WhatsApp letting you know it needs to get cleaned, and the TV displays a message when the bathroom is free? Our community manager Igor Gubaidullin, an engineer with 20 years of experience, told us about it.

The smart home concept became a hobby of his five years ago. It started with nascent steps to master Apple HomeKit and ended with a dedicated smart home server running Home Assistant.

My smart home is an ordinary one-bedroom apartment, where the temperature, lights, and household appliances like the robot vacuum cleaner or rolling blinds are automated through the open-source Home Assistant platform. I am completely satisfied with this platform, although from time to time, I still refine or reconfigure certain things when my habits change. Most recently, I switched out the motion sensors for presence sensors, achieving far greater accuracy of automation.

It all started with Apple

I've always been a big fan of Apple and its ecosystem. Apple has its own smart home system called Apple HomeKit, and when I became interested in the smart home concept in early 2019, I already had an Apple TV set-top box and other Apple stuff.

To start building a smart home, you first need a hub – a head device that integrates all the components of your smart home into a single system. For Apple, this role can be performed by an Apple TV set-top box, a HomePod speaker, or, until recently, an iPad. If you have one of these devices, you can get started by buying sensors and setting them up.

Devices for Apple HomeKit may include an Apple TV set-top box, a temperature control sensor, a door or window opening sensor, a smart lamp, a smart outlet, and a smart LED strip

So my existing Apple TV set-top box served as the starting point for my research.

Right off the bat, I'll note one unpleasant feature of the commercial systems out there: only compatible, pre-approved devices can be used with them. This is true for Apple, Xiaomi, Tuya, Aqara, and so on.
Right from the start, I opted for an unconventional approach – instead of installing light bulbs and smart sockets all over the house, I decided to start with climate control. I found a HomeKit-compatible air purifier online, installed and set it up. It was easy, everything worked right out of the box. It was even a bit boring. 🙂

Right after that, I wrote a review article on Sprut.AI, a popular portal at the time.

The Apple HomeKit Airwasher

After a while, I came across a thermal head for regulating the radiator temperature which is also compatible with Apple HomeKit. I wrote another detailed review about it when I integrated it.

Naturally, I was lying about the lights. I tried to install a Koogeek smart light switch. But it turned out to be incompatible with the wiring in the apartment. I couldn't integrate it so I had to sell it on Avito.

Expanding HomeKit's capabilities with Homebridge

All the above just served as an appetizer. So I decided to push ahead and soon found a manual for building an ESP8266-based sensor for monitoring the ambient concentration of carbon dioxide. I learned that if the CO2 level in the room is too high, it can cause headaches. “Useful,” I thought, and got on AliExpress to buy the parts. I placed the orders, waited, assembled them, flashed the firmware, and surprisingly, it all worked. However, there was a nuance – my homemade sensor was of course not certified by Apple so it would not work as part of my smart home.

But there is hope thanks to open-source projects like Homebridge. The latter allows you to connect any device to Apple HomeKit, even incompatible ones. Homebridge is a software layer between Apple HomeKit and all your gadgets not certified by Apple. But to run Homebridge, you need at least a very primitive home server. So the next stage of building a smart home was to purchase a Raspberry Pi.

My Raspberry Pi

It was easy to deploy Homebridge on my new SBC, after which I was finally able to connect my homemade CO2 sensor to the system. Now, if the room gets stuffy, the air purifier automatically starts, and I know it’s time to open a window. I later realized that the air purifier itself has no effect on the CO2 level so I addressed this. I’ll explain what I mean, so that you do not repeat my mistake without realizing it.

The air cleaner cleans the air from dust and odors, but it cannot get rid of CO2. Right now, my system runs on forced air supply. There is a hole drilled in the wall of the house that opens to the street. It has a fan with a filter that blows air in from outside, cleans it, and delivers it to the room. The CO2 sensor works in conjunction with this supply system. If the carbon dioxide level is above 1200 ppm, you could get headaches and fatigue. I have set up the system so that when the concentration is above 1000 ppm, the air supply is automatically turned on, and when it drops to an acceptable level, it is turned off.

Given the opportunity to connect any third-party device to the smart home, I started buying various sensors from Aqara, Xiaomi, and Tuya and integrated them into Apple HomeKit. Plus, I built a few more ESP-powered homemade devices. However, they have a significant disadvantage for my use case: they only work over wifi with specialized energy-efficient protocols for a smart home. I really like Zigbee: it only takes one battery to power a sensor, and it will last for years without needing to be replaced. Plus, wifi devices need external power (I know, CO2 sensors, even Zigbee ones, are not battery-powered, but I’m talking about other devices). Moreover, the devices cannot be used for signal relaying, unlike Zigbee, where each device can act as a router for any of its neighbors that are not in direct contact with the hub. However, we have to live with the fact that a smart home incorporates gadgets on wifi, Zigbee, and even Bluetooth.

Everything is evolving, and soon, this menagerie of protocols will be replaced by a single convenient protocol – Matter. There are already devices that support it on the market. They say that it will make everything easy and simple. We’ll see.

Taking Home Assistant to the next level

After a while, Apple's system became claustrophobic for me. I wanted to create more complex automation options than the ones provided by the vendor. For example, I wanted the lights to come on in specific places when certain conditions were met, or to start chains of actions when certain complex conditions or threshold values on the sensors were reached. Simply put, a smart home is defined by the automation of routine processes. Everything is configured so that in routine scenarios, certain actions are performed without human involvement. Without a certain level of complexity (by HomeKit standards) scenarios this isn’t possible.

This was the impetus for my decision to expand my smart home system beyond Apple HomeKit to incorporate an advanced sensor system that can serve as an automation engine and a hub for other devices. I chose Home Assistant, although I also tried Node-RED, which is popular in some circles. Home Assistant’s huge community and wealth of publications online helped it win out. So I decided to deploy Home Assistant on my Raspberry Pi, meaning that I wouldn't need Homebridge anymore.

At that time, if you installed Home Assistant, you had to be prepared to spend a lot of time on the command line. This didn't scare me, rather, I turned it into my new hobby, as I had never had any problems with Linux thanks to my professional background. Despite the rigorous demands of Home Assistant (especially its early versions) on the user, it offered expansive possibilities, allowing me to fine-tune all my devices and the interconnections between them. The large Russian-speaking community on Telegram was very helpful, and there is quite a lot of information on YouTube. My capabilities grew, and along with them, my smart home began to develop in new, dynamic ways.
Apple TV went from being my main controlling device to being a humble multimedia component of the system. Since one of Home Assistant's functions is to serve as a bridge with Apple HomeKit, anything connected to Home Assistant can be added to HomeKit as well. So I can still control my smart home and all connected devices through the Home app on my iPhone, or, say, ask Siri to raise the curtains in my hall.

At first, I deployed a system based on Raspberry Pi, but the Raspberry Pi has certain drawbacks – an unreliable disk subsystem based on an SD-card and a noisy cooling fan which kept my wife awake from the next room. 🙂 So I found a ready-made Gigabyte mini-PC with a silent passive cooling system and an SSD drive.

My Gigabyte mini-PC with a Zigbee USB stick as a UD server

It's also much more powerful; the possibilities for my smart home have increased significantly. However, after a while, even this server became cramped, so I ordered another, even more tricked-out one on AliExpress. As a rule, most people have enough Raspberry Pis and get a computer if they need to connect surveillance cameras. I had cameras already, but the overall speed and responsiveness of the system increased dramatically with the transition to the new hardware. Besides, the mini-PC started to serve as a file and media server on top of its role as a smart home server.

How it all works now

That's not to say that getting a smart home to work right is easy. Everyone in my family had their own vision, even the cat. We had to make compromises and bend over backward to make it amenable for everyone. For example, the sensors to control the lights had to be configured so that they could see people but not the cat, and the automation schedule had to be fine-tuned to fit my wife's schedule.
It took months to customize the interface; we wanted it to be clear and easy to use.

Here is everything I managed to automate.

Light in the kitchen. The kitchen is equipped with decorative lighting (above the table, kitchen unit, and on the ceiling), as well as light for my wife's work table. I did not automate the main upper light, it is controlled either manually or by voice.

The automation works like this – when someone enters the kitchen, depending on what the light sensor picks up (a number of threshold values are set), when the presence sensor is triggered, a group of lights is turned on, but not the upper light. At night, only the ceiling light is switched on, resulting in a dimmed glow. To automatically switch off the light, there are a few conditions – it only goes off when the presence sensor data shows that there is no one in the room, and the motion sensor shows that my wife is not at her desk.

Scheduled curtains. It’s simple, but it’s our family's favorite automation, the automatic opening and closing of the curtains. We have blackout roller blinds installed on our windows. They are controlled by Aqara chain motors. The curtains have their own triggering conditions: the system determines whether today is a working day or a day off (Home Assistant can be set up according to the holiday calendar), whether one or another family member is at home, and so it raises the curtains earlier in the morning on weekdays or later on weekends and holidays. They close by themselves, at sunset. Of course, they can also be controlled by voice, Siri is always at your service.

Watering the flowers. We also have automated notifications that it's time to water our flowers thanks to our soil moisture sensors. The system sends messages to us all in Telegram, and if anyone is home, Alexa, in a loud and stern voice, demands that we take care of the plants. Of course, there are more sophisticated Zigbee sensors and even entire drip irrigation systems, but I don't see the point in bothering with them, since our family only has a couple of ficuses.

Smart curtain, air inlet and Zigbee sensor for ficus

Sensor for the kitty litter box. There is a vibration sensor on the kitty litter box so when the cat visits it, the extractor fan in the bathroom automatically turns on. Then we all receive an urgent notification on Telegram to perform a hygienic procedure on the litter.

Vibration sensor on the cat litter box

Indoor humidity. Another sensor detects the level of ambient humidity. If the room gets too dry, the humidifier automatically turns on. It switches off if the humidity rises above the set level. You just have to keep an eye on the water level in the humidifier.
Bathroom occupancy. Sometimes, our daughter occupies the bathroom for long periods of time while my wife and I watch TV. To avoid knocking every half hour, I have set up a notification display right on our TV screen. As soon as my daughter gets out of the bathroom, we see a message, “Yay, the bathroom is free.” When anyone occupies the bathroom, the TV notifies us of that too.

Christmas tree lights. Our Christmas tree is decorated with an addressable LED strip with an ESP32-based control and WLED firmware. You can activate any of its many beautiful effects. It’s a popular item and very easy to integrate. I set up automation in Home Assistant so that every 10 seconds, a new random effect is randomly selected from the huge effects database.

My smart home can be accessed from anywhere in the world as long as I have internet. This uses Cloudflare Tunnel with a secure, encrypted connection. So when we go on vacation, vacation mode is automatically triggered and everything that should not be on is turned off, the radiators are switched to light heating mode in winter, and so on. If necessary, we can use a phone app to turn something specific on or off.

Autonomy. My smart home system is not connected to any cloud, is completely autonomous, and depends only on power mains. Even this can be circumvented with a UPS. I have set up an uninterruptible power supply system that will keep my entire smart home running for 6–7 hours.

Security. As for the security of the devices themselves, well, buyer beware. Clearly, in the abbreviation IoT, the letter S stands for Security :)

Saving money on a smart home and my future plans

People often think that a smart home will save them money. No.

On the one hand, of course, it is possible to optimize the consumption of some resources through automation: I pay for heating based on how much I consume. My smart home system controls the consumption of electricity and filtered drinking water. It can be set up so that everything is converted into rubles at the current rate.
On the other hand, a smart home is an expensive thing to set up. Think of all the hubs, sensors, various devices, cameras, the server, and your time... So I consider it an expensive hobby, not a silver bullet for solving every problem. There is no real benefit to a smart home, unless of course, you count the comfort and convenience it creates for you and your family members. Plus it's a heck of a lot of fun, provided you like to mess around with hardware and program scenarios and automations as per a plethora of parameters.

I've now reached a state where everything is set up, debugged, and running almost as intended. I don't have any clear plans for the further development of my smart home, I’ll add new things as the need arises.

But I will be happy to get your opinion and constructive suggestions in the comments.

More interesting articles and guides - on the ispmanager blog

Choosing an SSL certificate: paid or free — or whether you can do without one

ispmanager.com — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 16:49:04 +0000

SSL certificates can be either paid or free for both individuals and companies. They also have a few cryptic names. For example, OV, EV, and DV. It can be confusing figuring out which one to choose, whether you have to pay or not, and whether a free one will do the trick.

We’ll go over what will happen if you don't get an SSL certificate, what DV, OV, and EV mean, where to start, and ultimately which certificate to choose for your project.

Whether you can get by without an SSL certificate

Every website has a specific purpose, usually profit. The reputation of the company and its financial well-being depend upon the stability and security of the site.

An SSL certificate is basically a passport for a website. It confirms that the website’s address belongs to its rightful owner, assuring visitors that their personal data will not go public. A small blog, a medium-sized online store, and the website of a large company all need different SSL certificates. For some, a free Let's Encrypt DV certificate is enough, while for others, only commercial DV, OV, or EV will do.

This is what project owners risk if they choose the wrong SSL certificate or don't install any at all.

Data leakage. Visitors to a site transmit confidential information that can be intercepted by fraudsters, including passport data, credit or debit card numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses.

User distrust. When a person opens a site and sees a red lock and the message "Your connection is not secure," he or she will likely think it's a scam site and close the tab.

What the notification looks like on a site without an SSL certificate:

The site works even without an SSL certificate because it does not use the HTTPS protocol, which is what protects user data

When such a window pops up on a site that sells goods or services, it reduces the visitor’s trust. The natural reaction is "this isn’t safe, I'll try somewhere else." So the visitor checks out a competitor and a potential client is lost.

Falling organic traffic. Search engines rank sites without SSL certificates lower. The algorithms automatically mark the resource as unreliable and tend to put it at the end of the queue.

That's why every site needs an SSL certificate, no matter whether it’s a business portfolio or accepts orders and payments.

How SSL certificate protects the site. When a user tries to access a website, the SSL certificate creates an encrypted tunnel between their computer and the website server, protecting personal data from leaks. So even if fraudsters manage to intercept the info, they won't be able to decrypt it.

An SSL certificate is a file that establishes a secure HTTPS connection between a web server and a user's browser. The HTTPS protocol generates a unique key during data transfer which only the server and the computer know. An SSL certificate will not help if the site has already been hacked and malicious code has been embedded. It only offers protection during data transfer.

Let's move from theory to practice. In order to choose a suitable SSL certificate, let's identify what the project at hand involves.

How to choose an SSL Certificate

Before choosing an SSL certificate, you need to understand how your project works and what its objectives are. For example, some certificates can only be issued to a legal entity for a fee, while others do not provide insurance and are only suitable for small blogs and business card sites.

Here are the project specs to focus on.

1. What's under the hood?

Multiple resources — for example, two domains, email, and IP addresses. Certificates with IP address protection or the SAN option may be suitable for such a project. To learn more about how the options work, see "How to save money on SSL certificates with options."

One domain — for such a project, a DV certificate would be great. To learn more about DV certificates and where to order them, see the "DV—Domain Validation" section.

A domain and several subdomains — certificates with the Wildcard option may be best. Read more in the section "How to save money on SSL certificates with options."

An internal project — for example, sites accessed through the local network or web applications at the testing stage. A self-signed certificate is ideal here. Only the server on which the certificate has been created trusts it. For more details, see the section "Self-Signed SSL Certificate."

2. To whom the domain is registered.

An individual — can only obtain free or commercial DV certificates. For more details, see the section "Types of Certificates."

A legal entity — commercial DV, OV, or EV certificates can all be good options. For more, see the section "Types of certificates."

Let's move on to SSL certificates — let's find out what the difference is between free and commercial, the different degrees of verification, those with or without insurance, and what DV, OV, and EV mean.

DV — Domain Validation

Domain Validation is the extent to which the owner of a website is verified for certificate issuance. In order for a certification center to issue a DV certificate, it is enough to confirm domain ownership. Such an SSL certificate can be issued to an individual or a legal entity. DV certificates are issued fast, sometimes it takes less than an hour.

A free DV certificate is issued by a non-commercial certification center. You will have no insurance if the SSL certificate causes problems for your site. A free DV certificate is great when the financial outcome of the project does not rely on site performance. Let's Encrypt and CloudFlare are examples of free DV certificates.

A commercial DV certificate differs from a free DV certificate in its longer validity period and by coming with insurance. A commercial DV certificate is suitable for larger sites where users register and leave their email and name but do not make purchases or transfers. For example, the Sectigo PositiveSSL SSL Certificate is great for sites that need guaranteed resource protection, with insurance coverage of $50,000.

OV — Organization Validation

OV certificates are commercial. To obtain one, you need to prove ownership of the domain and the existence of your company. They cannot be issued to an individual, only to a legal entity.

The advantage of OV certificates is high insurance protection. For example, the GeoTrust True BusinessID certificate has insurance coverage of $1.25 million.

An OV certificate also includes information about the company to which it was issued. Users will be able to check that the site is real and not just used for phishing. OV certificates are necessary for projects where it is important to maintain data security and the site affects the company's profit. For example, the GeoTrust True BusinessID and Sectigo Instant SSL certificates are great for such projects.

EV — Extended Validation

EV certificates are commercial. To obtain one, a company must undergo extended verification, confirming the ownership of the domain and the existence of the company.

The main difference between an EV certificate and an OV certificate is the amount of insurance. For example, the popular Sectigo EV SSL certificate has insurance coverage of $1,750,000.

An EV certificate is great for large businesses and corporations that need to keep their data as safe and secure as possible.

Self-Signed SSL Certificates

A self-signed SSL certificate can be issued by anyone on your server. To do so, you need to form a private key and generate the certificate in the console or in the ispmanager control panel.

Such an SSL certificate is suitable only for internal projects because it is only trusted on the server where it was issued. Other devices will not be able to determine who issued the certificate, so the "Your connection is not secure" warning will pop up or access to the site will be restricted.

Here’s a table to compare SSL certificates:

How and where to order an SSL certificate:

Let's Encrypt free certificates: in the ispmanager control panel →

Commercial DV, OV, and EV certificates: submit an application on the ispmanager website →

Self-Signed SSL certificates: in the ispmanager control panel →

How to save on SSL certificates that come with options

Usually, a single SSL certificate is enough for a given project but not always. For example, if a project uses an IP address and does not need any domain protection at all. Or, on the contrary, consists of several domains. Or is really large in scale, for example, a financial company needs to protect internal subdomains, websites, web applications, and other services. Then, dozens of certificates for different domains and subdomains will be required.

SSL certificates offer additional options that can help reduce costs and protect your project depending on its characteristics.

What certificate options are offered and why you might need them:

SAN — Subject Alternative Name. A single certificate protects several domains and subdomains at once. It can be installed and renewed for all projects at once: you don't have to waste any time or money buying and keeping track of expiration dates for each domain. It is issued for specific names which you need to specify for all domains covered by the certificate. Great for sites with a large number of domains and subdomains like SaaS platforms and Internet portals.

Examples of domains: www.example.com , mail.example.com , blog.example.org.

Popular SSL certificates with the SAN option: Sectigo PositiveSSL Multi Domain, and Thawte SSL Web Server.

Wildcard: protects one domain and all its subdomains. Suitable for sites with a large number of subdomains of the same level.

For example: *.example.com — the asterisk in the name implies any subdomain, even those not yet created.

Popular certificates with the Wildcard option are Sectigo PositiveSSL Wildcard, RapidSSL Wildcard, and Thawte SSL123 Wildcard.

IP Address SSL: An SSL certificate for IP address protection. IP Address SSL is great for network devices, servers, and services that use IP addresses instead of domains such as internal VPN networks.

A popular certificate for IP Address is Sectigo PositiveSSL.

The main point: which SSL certificate to choose

✓ All websites need an SSL certificate: users, search engines, and browsers don’t trust insecure resources. You can get by without a certificate if you are ready to bear responsibility for data leakage and the loss of organic traffic and potential customers.

✓ An SSL certificate makes data transfer between the browser and the server secure. It confirms the source of the information and encrypts the information to be sent.

✓ Before choosing an SSL certificate, you need to identify the characteristics and objectives of your project: whether you are an individual or a legal entity and how many domains and subdomains you need to protect.

For example:

Free and commercial DVs are great for individuals.
Commercial DV, OV, or EV certificates are great for legal entities.
When you need to protect several domains or subdomains at once, Sectigo PositiveSSL Multi Domain or Thawte SSL Web Server certificates are great.
For projects that use IP addresses instead of domains, Sectigo PositiveSSL is great.
For sites with a large number of subdomains of the same level, Sectigo PositiveSSL Wildcard, RapidSSL Wildcard, or Thawte SSL123 Wildcard certificates are great.

✓ A paid SSL Certificate is necessary for sites that collect personal user data and accept payments.

✓ A free SSL certificate will do the trick when your site is not monetized, for example, a personal blog or a business card site.

Still have questions about SSL certificates? Write to us in the chat or email us at help@ispmanager.com We will help you choose, explain, or place an order =)

This article was originally published on the ispmanager blog

9 things that make IT professionals nostalgic

ispmanager.com — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:01:13 +0000

It seems like just yesterday that you couldn’t do anything on a computer without installing drivers via floppy disk, and the sound of a dial-up modem was the unofficial soundtrack of Internet connections worldwide. Let's reminisce about what IT professionals (and others) faced in the 1990s and early 2000s. Brace yourself for an attack of nostalgia.

Be warned: if you were born after 2000, a lot of this may come as a surprise to you =)

Installed drivers via floppy disk or CD

After assembling a new computer or reinstalling the Windows operating system, device icons with exclamation marks would appear on the screen. This signified that the OS couldn't find some drivers you needed for everything from video sound cards to your mouse or keyboard. You had to find the floppy disks or CDs that came with the hardware and install the drivers from them. And if the floppy disk or CD was lost or damaged, you had to figure out how to transfer the drivers from another computer.

We shared data using floppy disks or USB sticks

3.5-inch floppy disks were the primary storage medium in the 1990s–2000s. They had a capacity of 1.44 MB, so even a basic presentation or text document could take up several floppy disks. Moreover, the files often got corrupted thanks to physical damage. Every time you tried to load them, it was a roll of the dice whether it would work or not.

Then, USB flash drives appeared. Flash drives for 64 or 128 MB were considered a luxury. In 2005, a 128 MB USB drive cost $20 to $30 in the US.

Your computer connected to the Internet via Dial-up

Here’s how it worked – the modem was connected to a telephone line with a standard telephone cable. The modem was either external, connected via a COM port or USB, or built into a computer. The phone line could be used either for the Internet or for calls but not at the same time.

The sound of a dial-up connection definitely became a Pavlovian trigger in that era =)

The pure delight brought by the phrase, “Hello, World!”

Outputting the phrase “Hello, World!” is traditionally the first task you take on in any programming language. Outputting “Hello, World!” in the console or Visual Basic meant that your code worked.

Programming in Visual Basic

Visual Basic is a powerful environment for creating Windows applications. Visual programming made this kind of work accessible even for beginners. You could simply drag and drop the interface elements with your mouse. Beginners were thrilled when a button worked after writing just a line of code.

We configured TCP/IP manually

There was no DHCP. We configured IP addresses for all the computers on the network, the gateways, and DNS. If everything worked first try, you were not just a sysadmin, but practically a god.

Installing Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 was an operating system for serious work – for servers, workstations, and corporate computers – don’t try this at home.

Correcting `QBasic` and `Autoexec.bat`

You’d never be considered a real sysadmin if you didn't know how to correct autoexec.bat or config.sys to make an old computer work like a well-oiled machine. And if you knew how to write small programs in QBasic, you’d be sure to enjoy the respect of your colleagues.

Connecting to routers via Telnet

Real admins connected to routers via Telnet, without any graphical interface. Just a black screen and a few commands – keeping it real.

It seems like this all happened a century ago. What aspects from the history of IT make you feel nostalgic? Let us know in the comments what points above made you relive your youth! 👇

Buying nothing, or how digital art is disappearing

ispmanager.com — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 15:05:20 +0000

From DVDs to e-subscriptions: how we've given up on owning our own purchases, and where this is leading.

You have no power here

In 2021, the Google Arts & Culture Lab recreated the lost works of Klimt. Three of his paintings survived only as black-and-white photos, the originals having been destroyed by the Nazis. But now, experts using AI and the surviving fragments were able to bring the original paintings back to life.

Philosophy (recolored with Artificial Intelligence)

In addition to recovering paintings from old photographs, we now know how to recover them from X-rays as well. It is no secret that artists of the past occasionally painted new pictures over the old ones on their canvases. Moreover, unscrupulous owners sometimes cut canvases to fit them into new frames, losing precious parts of the image. As such, technology has helped restore Rembrandt's "Night Watch" or reveal secret paintings by Van Gogh or Picasso.

But technology now makes it possible not only to derive "images from images" but also from descriptions. For example, artist Fernando Sánchez Castillo and University of Madrid student Paula García, who wrote her dissertation on the use of AI in contemporary sculpture, were able to reconstruct a Velázquez lost in a fire. They used a textual description by historian Antonio Palomino, as well as a small sketch found in a private collection. With the help of MidJourney, Sanchez and Paula were able to get a decent result after spending 100 hours restoring the painting.

Sánchez Castillo's AI-aided reconstruction of Velázquez's 'Expulsion of the Moriscos'

We as humanity have lost quite a few irreplaceable artifacts from history and art. Examples include the Library of Alexandria and other such losses of our ancient written heritage. No less grandiose fires, thefts, and other tragedies have destroyed many paintings from personal collections over the last century. So what's wrong if someone still can't even finish a piece on their own, and now we have to wait for ChatGPT to finish what was the end of the Ice and Flame feud?

Major losses are causes for grief, but have you noticed the everyday losses right under your nose? Have you bought something you thought would last forever, and lo and behold, even without a fire or break-in, you’ve lost it? Check through your digital library, chances are a lot of stuff in there has gone missing.

From digital media to digital subscriptions

Back in 1999, an American company launched a pioneering subscription project. Before that, most Americans were accustomed to going to a video rental shop to pick up a VHS for maybe a week. This company, however, offered to send DVDs right to your home by mail, letting you return them when you want without any overdue fees. Of course, the original concept changed over time, evolving into a monthly set-fee subscription for a limited number of disks that the customer returned by mail at their own expense.

Time passed, technology developed, and the Internet allowed streaming to become more and more of a thing. YouTube appeared, and now, the company that sent its billionth DVD by mail in 2007 has also opened an online service with a framework already familiar to its users: pay once a month, get a collection of the best movies from a wide library of about a thousand movies, which at that time was more than the popular brick-and-mortar rental places had. Although the online library was smaller than the company's full catalog of mailable DVDs, the project was very warmly received — a complete success. The company, which started with the rather risky idea of mailing out DVDs without a rental deadline, soon became Netflix, a global household name, which has carved out its place in the monthly spending habits of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

The magic of light and sound

Thanks to the convenience of Netflix and similar services, we’ve barely noticed how we've totally given up on building collections of our own. True, by paying for subscriptions we get much more than we could by buying each item. All these services offering tons of music, movies, games, and books give us instant access to content and… at some point we realize that it was all just a rental. A rental with no late fees.

Playstation 5 without a removable drive

Most laptops and computers lost their removable drives quite some time ago. Apple's last MacBook with a built-in disk drive came out back in 2012, twelve years ago. And understandably so: the internet had evolved, the cloud or reusable compact media have become more prominent for sharing information, and storage has become dominated by digital platforms. Movies? It’s all on Netflix. Games? Steam has taken over, providing more than just games since 2005. Paintings? All you need is Instagram and museum websites. Knowledge? For all the controversy over the impartiality of Wikipedia, it's still the number one encyclopedia in the world. Why clutter up your shelves at home when you have a full catalog of human knowledge on your phone?

It's hard to say who was the first to notice the catch: gamers, movie buffs, music lovers, or other fans of art, but most likely it was the former. In the early days of the digital distribution of games, the boxed versions were no different from the electronic versions. If a game "went gold," it meant that the developers finished their work and sent the final version of the game for disk production and certification. Then, the eager gamer bought the game in the store and ran home, and even without internet, everything just worked. Sometimes it involved loading data from a second disk or entering a complex code from the box while starting the game, but the Internet was not required. Still, every program has bugs, and games are just highly complex programs. The game industry offered patches, which were sent on extra disks so that players could get a better experience (and sometimes just one that works). The Internet solved this problem: if there was a bug, they’d roll out the patch, and the player would download it, and nothing had to be mailed.

The absurdity of all this has snowballed to the point where the term "first day patch" is not even frowned upon in the gaming industry anymore. On the contrary, games are berated when they don't have a major update on day one to fix all the bugs. In 2016, No Man's Sky was released, which went gold so raw that Gordon Ramsay would have screamed his vocal chords right out had the developers been cooks. And in 2022, the Call of Duty series reached its apogee with the release of Modern Warfare 2, on a disk that had only 70 megabytes of data, and the remaining 150 gigabytes had to be downloaded from the Internet. Naturally, offline play was out of the question.

But even before that 70-megabyte disk, the platforms had set the trend by releasing a generation of game consoles without removable media in 2020. Xbox Series S and Playstation 5 "slim" cost less than their bulkier counterparts with a removable drive and let owners buy games directly from the platform's online stores or use their subscription services for a small monthly fee to access all the games. Considering that, two generations earlier, people used consoles not only to play games but also to watch movies (because why buy a DVD player when a console can play movies), the trend toward abandoning disks was inescapable.

This content is no longer available

That is, in your region, and it is more and more of an everyday reality. Aside from the predictable copyright issues in different regions and how dramatically users in Russia and the CIS, for example, have lost access to their content libraries after the sanctions, this kind of thing is increasingly found all over the world. In some locations, Netflix can't agree with the state on broadcasting and cuts off access to a certain American show. In another, the royalties due to creators make the service unprofitable. In yet another, due to a breakdown in rights negotiations, a movie available in Europe can’t be viewed in America. And to think, there used to be no problem buying a Blu-ray off the shelf. Then, the almighty algorithm showed that some movies were too unpopular to waste data center space on them. We're getting ever closer to living in an episode of Black Mirror, where the algorithm tells us what we should watch and then deletes everything else forever.

In gaming, the situation is no better. A developer can shut down the game servers, and although a single-player game used to still be available on disk, thanks to the fact that patches now make up the bulk of the game, it’s literally game over. And it doesn't even matter if the game was purchased directly or as part of a subscription. It's done, it's gone.

The game The Crew is not even ten years old yet, but you can't legally play it if you bought the electronic version. And there are no day-one patches or add-ons for the existing disks

In the gaming world, there are services like GOG that preserve old games and the possibility to legally purchase and play them, but how long will that last? It’s still a digital purchase, and what are the chances you’ll be able to play Heroes of Might and Magic 3 ten or twenty years from now? The answer used to be simple: as long as I have the disk and keep it in good condition, I can always reinstall it. Well, these days, the disk gives you 70 MB of the game and good luck getting on the other 99% of it.

If you think only gamers are out of luck, think again. Every year Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, and other services remove dozens of titles from their libraries for good. And they also remove content that was unique to their online platforms without any DVDs or cinema runs. As a result, a mini-series called The Secret Society of Mr. Benedict released in 2021 probably gained a few fans, but since last year, all they can do is tell their friends how much they liked it because, at some point, Disney removed it along with a bunch of other content from their streaming services, including stuff found nowhere else. This has reached such a level of absurdity that the 2023 movie Crater was released on Disney+ on May 12 of last year and less than two months later, on June 30, it was erased from their online library. Did the movie have a DVD or theatrical release? No. Where can you watch it? Nowhere. That's when the public noticed its disappearance and of course, Disney conceded by re-releasing the movie on other venues three months later. But that's just a lucky drop in the ocean thanks to the hype it got. Fans of Mr. Benedict are still waiting.

Canceled creators, censorship, the whims of creators, algorithms, and the strategies of upper managers — today, all this and more can spirit away titles that you thought you had paid for at any moment. This stands even for titles not covered by subscription but bought separately. Control over the arts now lies in the hands of publishers, not consumers.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum

"Wait a minute," you say, "It's all about legal access, we all understand... You know..." And I understand and wink back at you, not suspiciously at all.

We all know what we’re talking about

Of course, pirate sites and torrents, no matter how many times the authorities take them down, always bounce back. In 2023, a study found that about 87% of games simply can't be played without resorting to piracy or similar techniques, and that number will only grow. Games will be hacked, books will be scanned, music and movies will be downloaded from streams and reuploaded as long as there is demand and it will all be published on the internet. Ironically, this dynamic resembles how it used to be with physical media. You find a long-lost movie CD and then share it with your friends and so on. It gets copied and distributed, viewed under a blanket in a darkened room with the internet turned off. Our parents and grandparents would probably be proud of us. Some people copied rare books, some passed around a torrent of the Ninja Turtles — to each generation its own.

Fun fact — for a short period of time, Spotify owned μTorrent. This came about because Spotify wanted to hire Ludwig Striegeus and to keep him focused on his μTorrent brainchild, Daniel Ek bought out Ludwig's project in exchange for a 5% stake in Spotify. It’s a good tip on how to hire a great programmer who has a pet project.

But there's an important point here, or even two. First, pirating still isn’t legal and we don't recommend it. Neither pirate downloading nor distribution is legal in most countries. In some places, of course, it is overlooked, but in others, for downloading a movie torrent one night, you can go to jail for a few years or pay a debilitating fine. Second, everyone who has used torrents, even without intent to piracy, knows that there is nothing sadder than the inscription "Seeds: 0" except maybe, "Last Seeded 5 years ago." Yes, the world of torrents is very tough on quality. If a project is not even needed by the pirates, it is history. There are quite a few games that have never been hacked. There are quite a few shows, series, and movies that are simply not available for download or purchase anymore.

Digital subscription services have effectively pushed aside much of the Pirate Bay crowd. It is easier for a person to buy legally than to search for torrents without viruses, miners, or other annoyances using a proxy or Tor. It is more convenient to pay a small amount legally and listen to thousands of tracks a day on Spotify than to download the same mp3s for free and without SMS.

What's next

In September 2023, Netflix mailed its last DVD. It might seem that DVDs have been relics for a long time already, but they’ve been discontinued by the world’s biggest streaming service, which essentially started the whole thing, only just recently. But they have been discontinued nonetheless. DVD sections have been removed from major retail chains, and many titles are being released directly to online services, bypassing the cinemas. If earlier a fire could destroy decades worth of a movie studio’s output, now, even if you have impeccable fire precautions, you can still lose a beloved media library that you’d otherwise share with your children and grandchildren down the line.

So what to do about it all? There is no clear answer. Physical copies will probably continue to disappear. Collector's items will probably continue to be reissued to take up space on people's shelves. If you want to show your great-grandchildren the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you'll probably be able to do that without any problem. But as for something rare, you're going to have to get creative.

Limited edition of the six Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies with artbooks. Yeah, there are 30 disks in the set

At one time, I had to buy a VHS cassette at a Japanese auction (as I was in another country) just to watch the first ever clip of my favorite music band. But at least the cassette existed! It’s called Vaughn and it's still on my shelf. But this video just wasn't available online at the time of purchase. Finding something rare and trying to get a physical copy as an artifact can be a very memorable adventure, but if the release is entirely digital, with a single server cleanup, it’s utterly lost.

I guess, looking at how things have unfolded from the beginning, to be sure we preserve our memories we all just have to start taking notes. Who knows, maybe in the future, neural networks will be able to recover lost digital art from our recordings, reviews, and let’s-plays and that's the only way we'll be able to show our grandchildren what it was like when we were kids. Cherish your memories and nostalgia, and share in the comments what lost digital art you miss. Maybe something has disappeared from your collection as well? Maybe you're the kind of person who bought Concord? 😀

For example, I think the 2012 Deadpool game doesn't deserve to be forgotten among Activision's cancellations. They would have made so much money buying the rights back and releasing a remaster now, ugh.

The 4 best free CMSes for an online store in 2024

ispmanager.com — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:07:08 +0000

There are a lot of free content management systems (CMSes) out there in 2024. Some are great for projects with a small workload, while others are better for large stores with rapidly rising traffic. Which one is best for your online store, and what do you need to launch it quickly with minimal investment? Read on to find out.

We’ll go over 4 free CMSes for an online store:

WordPress
Joomla
Drupal
PrestaShop

All the CMSes on our list have the following:

An interface and features that are easy to use — most CMSes do not require in-depth programming knowledge so even a beginner can catch on. Each CMS offers easy access to documentation and customization guides.

Customization through plugins. For each CMS, add-ons can be installed on top of the main application to expand its capabilities. With them, you can, for example, connect to the site courier delivery service or messengers for communicating with your customers.

Open source code — you can customize the CMS at will to meet your project objectives.

CMS popularity statistics are cited from Solorlib.com

WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world

There are 470 million websites out there running on WordPress — that's 43% of all the websites in the world. This CMS boasts a huge community. Another feature of WordPress is the variety of plugins that extend this simple CMS into a feature-rich system. At the same time, your admin area will remain uncluttered and user-friendly.

That's why WordPress is great for online store tasks:

You can design a website quickly — WordPress offers thousands of ready-made templates and themes.
Lots of plugins — thanks to the large selection, you can quickly add a payment system, delivery service, and any other service you need.
SEO optimization — WordPress offers tools for promoting your site in search engines.

Here are a few of the things that WordPress plugins for online stores allow you to do:

Start an online store with WooCommerce. You can use it to add storefronts, a shopping cart, payment tools and modules, a delivery system, and fulfillment to your site. The plugin is free but you have to pay for some features.

Sell digital products like ebooks, music, and software with Easy Digital Downloads. Includes the standard tools for sales: showcases, shopping carts, and accepting payments. Plus it has an access control system for files, the ability to send emails with a link to download the product after purchase, and promo codes for discounts. You can sell your own digital goods or set up reselling of those from your partners. The plugin starts at $99.

Raise your rankings in search engines with Yoast SEO. Supports various SEO tools: URL management, sitemaps, customizing breadcrumbs and meta tags, and improved site loading. The developers claim that the plugin will help you optimize your site as fast as possible. The plugin is free but you can buy tech support.

Advertise your products with Mailchimp for WooCommerce. A plugin for integration with Mailchimp, the leading mailing list service. Helps you create and manage marketing campaigns, synchronize customer data, and send targeted mailings. Useful to retain customers and increase sales. The plugin is free.

Analyze your website traffic and control your revenue with Site Kit by Google. This plugin is for integrating with Google services: Google Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, and PageSpeed Insights. Allows you to easily track and analyze data about site performance, traffic, and revenue, and provides convenient reports right in your WordPress dashboard. The plugin is free.

For whom WordPress is best:

Projects with a limited budget — to launch an online store quickly and with minimal costs.
Startups — in WordPress, you don't have to spend time on development. There are a lot of guides and documentation openly available.
Medium and large online stores — WordPress can be supplemented with plugins for different tasks to expand the functionality of the site.

Joomla — a functional CMS that isn’t demanding on hosting

The concept of Joomla is to give the user all the functionality needed in one system. Joomla hides a lot of customization without the need for additional plugins. However, Joomla’s site control panel is more complex than that of WordPress.

For example, Joomla allows you to customize the appearance of your site as needed — you don’t have to get deep into front-end development to create an interesting project.

Joomla is the fifth most popular option in the world: in 2024, about 18 million sites run on it.

Here's why Joomla is a good choice for an online store:

It’s functional — many of its features work “out of the box.” For example, SEO optimization, media and content management, and user groups. You won't have to add dozens of additional modules to Joomla.
Minimum technical requirements for hosting — enough support for SQL and PHP. A minimum of 1 CPU and 1 GB RAM on the server.

Easy to master — there is a huge pool of documentation, localization in different languages, forums, and video guides.

We suggest using the following helpful plugins for Joomla with an online store:

For creating your online store

Free — VirtueMart. You can set up different prices for buyers, upload product cards with different properties, and save a buyers' cart after they close the site. This extension is free.
Paid alternative — EShop. Allows you to create multi-level product catalogs, set different characteristics, and create reviews, ratings, and product comparisons. It costs €49.90.

Speed up page loading — JCH Optimize. It removes unnecessary characters from your code, speeds up image loading, and compresses texts. With JCH Optimize, pages load faster, which improves search engine rankings. There is a free version but paid versions start at $29.

Who Joomla is best for:

Small and medium-sized online stores that do not want to spend time selecting and installing plugins for their CMS. Joomla offers a large range of options in its basic configuration.
When you need to develop a customized site design without templates.
Online stores that are renting affordable hosting with minimal specs — Joomla will not overload the server.

Drupal is a scalable and secure CMS

Drupal is a CMS for creating heavy-duty sites where scalability is important. It’s great for advanced users as the interface and settings of Drupal are more complex than those of Joomla or WordPress. On Drupal, you can create any kind of site, from a single page to large online stores.

Why Drupal is great for an online store:

Security — Drupal’s developers pay a lot of attention to security. They conduct security audits, find and fix vulnerabilities quickly, and protect from hacker attacks. This is a major plus as online stores contain commercial information and personal data.

Scalability — Your project can expand to include new pages and complex features. Drupal makes this easy: it has tools for accelerated page loading and the ability to integrate the CRM with other systems that will help simplify your work amidst high traffic.

It's large community — you can always find documentation and tips on how to use Drupal. You can also take advantage of plugins written by other developers.

Free, helpful Drupal plugins for an online store:

For setting up the basic functionality of an online store
Commerce. This one is for unloading goods, receiving orders, and payments. The system consists of the main Commerce module and its extensions. For example, the Commerce UI for displaying the store UI, Checkout for ordering goods, Cart — a shopping cart, and Customer for working with customers.

Ubercart if Commerce doesn’t do what you need. The developers claim that Ubercart streamlines orders for both the buyers and site administrators.

Customize the output of data from Drupal to the interface with Views. It comes in handy when creating attractive showcases, menus, or shopping carts. For example, with it, you can display a block with popular products or highlight a category in the menu.

Analyze your site’s SEO with Content Optimizer. Analyzes the content and gives recommendations on how to optimize your site for search engines.

Who will get the most out of Drupal:

Medium and large online stores, for which traffic is growing rapidly and a flexible and scalable CMS is needed.
Projects where it is important to pay close attention to data security — for example, online stores selling premium goods or financial services.
Online stores that want to develop a non-standard site and customize it to meet their project objectives.
Projects that don’t mind hiring a development specialist — Drupal is not suitable for beginners.

PrestaShop — a simple CMS specifically for e-commerce

PrestaShop is a CMS designed for online stores. It includes more than 350 features to quickly create a complete website. This is the 12th most popular CMS in the world. About 300,000 online stores use it.

Advantages of PrestaShop for an online store:

Good localization — it supports over 70 languages and aims at a global market.

Rich functionality out of the box — It is customized for e-commerce. You can create a storefront and customize order processing and promotion without installing modules and other enhancements.

Customization without coding — PrestaShop supports hundreds of modules that will help you quickly add new features to the site at minimal cost. Many modules are paid, but there are free plans.

The bestselling modules for PrestaShop:

Connect messengers to communicate with customers through popular services like WhatsApp and Facebook with the WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger & Chat Button. Helps you to communicate with your customers in a way convenient for them. The module has a free plan.

Make your website menu more attractive with Mega Menu PRO. This module allows you to create menus in different styles and add animations. You can choose ready-made templates and any colors. If that isn’t enough, you can set your own CSS styles. The module costs €97.99 per installation.

Perform SEO analytics using AI with SEO Audit. It analyzes how optimized your site is for search engines and users, shows previews of how your site will appear in the search engine, and warns of SEO problems. It can integrate with ChatGPT and create product descriptions and meta tags faster. The module costs €167.99.

Start email newsletters via Mailchimp with Mailchimp for PrestaShop. It helps to customize marketing emails like ads, notifications, and technical messages. The module is free of charge.

Speed up page loading with Super Speed. It caches pages, optimizes databases, and minimizes code. The module costs €139.99 per installation.

Who PrestaShop is best for:

Small and medium-sized online stores — if you have no plans to expand and scale your project.
Projects that can’t hire a development specialist — PrestaShop has a clear interface that even a beginner can understand.

Other things you need to run an online store

In addition to a CMS, your online store will need:

A domain name — the address that users will see when they open a link to your site. These cost from a few cents to millions of dollars. For example, the domain bananana.com will cost $20 and supershop.net will cost $1.8 million.
Hosting — space on a server owned by a hosting provider where your website and its content are kept. This is necessary so that users can find the site on the internet. You can choose hosting with the ispmanager panel already installed or install it yourself with the help of our guide.
The ispmanager control panel for managing your site. In ispmanager, you can install a CMS, make backups, protect your site and server from viruses, and manage the server without using complex commands in the console.

Now let's move on to installing a CMS.

How to install a CMS for a website from the ispmanager control panel

You can install WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or PrestaShop in a few minutes from the ispmanager panel.

In the left side menu, go to Sites → Create Site.
Fill in the fields with your settings and choose a CMS from the list.

In the CMS drop-down list, you will also find phpBB for creating forums and the fee-based Bitrix — we will take a look at them in the articles to come

3.Click the “Create” button. In the lower right corner, a login and password pop-up will appear for you to log in to your admin and databases. Save these credentials.

The login name and password can be viewed in the “Notifications” tab — click the bell in the upper-right corner of the panel

4.Log in to site administration.

To log in to your CMS, enter the appropriate path in your browser address bar.

Here are the paths for different CMS:

For WordPress: address_site/wp-admin or address_site/wp-login.php. For example: https://ispmanager-shop.com/wp-admin or https://ispmanager-shop.com/wp-login.php

Joomla: address_site/administrator/

Drupal: address_site/admin

PrestaShop: address_site/admin

5.Enter your login name and password to log in on the CMS page that opens. You’re done — you can customize the site and add content.

Try ispmanager for free

This article was originally published on the ispmanager blog

8 ways to scare the hell out of a system administrator

ispmanager.com — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 08:13:15 +0000

You can't scare system administrators with painted pumpkins or Halloween costumes. There are much scarier things to hear, like the phrase, "I've been doing a little file cleanup."

Here are a few scary situations that have scared the hell out of admins. If you work with a sysadmin, remember to never do these things =)

Some colleagues reported that the server room went very quiet and warm.

This phrase is enough to make the sysadmin put aside his morning coffee and scramble to the server room thinking, "As long as it’s not an air conditioner. And not a power supply. And not both at once."

The message "Server won't turn on 🤷" appears

Nothing scares an admin more than a complete lack of details. "Server won't turn on" is like telling a doctor, "I have some pain, but I can't say where." And adding the shrug emoji is sure to drive the admin into a panic.

"I cleaned the system of unnecessary files, including System32."

This is the easiest way to make an admin drink a bottle of whiskey or slam a pack of Validol. A user might just want to delete some files "to speed up the system" but it turns out that there's something vital in their list of “superfluous” stuff. Such situations give admins chronic nervous tics.

"We decided to deploy on Friday night."

"Let's do the deploy now, it'll only take 10 minutes" is the most terrifying phrase your boss can make on Friday. In the IT world, "About 10 minutes" is like "One more level then sleep" for gamers: you could be there till the sun comes up.

The user decided to "help out a little" and installed some handy free software from "1337.download.best".

Imagine a user bypassing all the security systems and installing some software from a suspicious site. Got goosebumps?

You get a call from your security service: "Someone made a request to the database from an IP in Afghanistan."

Hearing this can make an admin forget to breathe. Sure, all the data will be safe, but a flood of thoughts begins: "Why Afghanistan?" and "What other surprises are on the way?"

You discover that there have been no backups for the last 30 days

Not for the faint of heart. For a sysadmin, backups are like a first aid kit in a car. It should always be there, but it's better if you never need it.

You run `rsync` and get the wrong IP address

You start copying data, but you mistakenly enter a production database instead of a test server. "Just one digit," you think as the system starts to slowly die, and the complaints from coworkers start coming in that the server is down. At this point, you want to find a secluded place to pretend to be a bush and not have to explain why the test team has decided to "hang out" at production.

Some advice: if you want to maintain good relations with sysadmins (and access to the Internet), better not test their nerves. And if you do want to fray your sysadmin's nerves, get ready for them to take revenge and for long stories about viruses that "literally ate reports before their eyes" or backups that "disappeared during the full moon."

What's the scariest situation you've ever had at work?

10 counter-intuitive tips on how to choose a reliable hosting provider

ispmanager.com — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 08:36:02 +0000

We've put together a ten-point checklist of questions you should ask when choosing a hosting provider.

Check whether the hosting company is operating legally

Check the following documents from the hosting company to ensure you don't end up dealing with scammers.

Registration and license. The host must be registered as a legal entity in its country. This can be checked in company registers on government websites. Some jurisdictions also require special licenses to provide hosting services.
For example, in China, a company must have an ICP (Internet Content Provider) license. In the USA, you can check the registration of a hosting company on the corresponding websites of each state.

Security certifications. For example, ISO/IEC 27001 and PCI DSS for processing payment data.

→ How and where is the hosting provider registered? What supporting documents can it provide?

Draft a request to the hosting provider

Hosting companies can provide different ranges of service:

Highly specialized. For example, on only a certain model – SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS. Otherwise, you can rent dedicated servers based on Apple solutions.
Comprehensive – using several models and, for example, renting dedicated servers and server colocation.

It’s one thing if you need to rent equipment or install your own server in a data center. It’s quite another if you are looking for a quick solution to launch, say, a website, online store, or cloud storage. If you don't need unique customization, a hosting that provides SaaS services will do. And if you don't want to deal with hardware and operating systems, but need full access to software, PaaS solutions are a good choice.

Choosing a hosting provider will be easier if you ask the following questions:

What services the hosting company provides. Consider whether you’ll need a new cloud model or other service solutions in the future. For example, cloud computing, machine learning tools, or more control over software.
What hardware configurations the hosting provider uses. This is important if your tasks require a certain number of GPU cards or your software runs on a specific version of an OS.
Whether the equipment you need is available or needs to be ordered. Sometimes, the hosting provider may offer more than is available on short notice. Then, you’ll have to wait several weeks or even months for server components to arrive.
What software is provided and supported by the hosting company. For example, do you need certain operating systems? Do you have time to deploy and check the functionality of the software you need? If not, hopefully, you are accustomed to using a certain hosting control panel.
What the bandwidth and latency of the data link is. Hosting services can come cheap, but the bandwidth will likely be insufficient. For example, you won't be able to do a cloud backup of a large amount of data and the latency will prevent you from enjoyably playing Minecraft on your server.

→ What is important to you now, and what might you need when your project has grown?

Calculate the actual cost of hosting

Not all services are included in a server rental rate; you’ll have to pay extra for some.

Check what services and products are included in the rates and whether there are any discounts available. Watch out for:

Administration. Hosting companies usually include technical support for equipment, including power checks and reboots, in their standard rates. They may include maintenance if the components of the rented server fail as there will be problems with accessibility if the lines are down. However, other than basic tasks, server software administration sometimes costs extra. This may include assistance in migration, customization, assembly or modification of equipment configurations, and customization of the OS and software beyond the standard configurations.
What hardware configurations the provider offers. This is important if you require a certain number of GPU cards or your software runs on specific OS versions.
Software that’s tied to a number of users. Licenses for some software that hosting providers offer (for free or not) may only allow a limited number of users. Examples include licenses for a certain number of cores for Windows or for the number of accounts or domains for a hosting control panel.
Advanced features. Some companies block advanced system features without paying a monthly subscription fee. They may also charge for the number of processor cores used. Meanwhile, for server versions of Windows, Microsoft charges for the amount of data stored during backup and for network traffic.
Promotional offers. Hosting companies can lower or waive service fees if you take advantage of their promotional offers.

→ Can you study the full list of paid services before ordering hosting?

Clarify SLA uptime and downtime and the tech support schedule

The norm is for the provider to guarantee an uptime of 90%, notify of planned downtime in advance, and reimburse for any time in excess of that.

System downtime for maintenance or upgrades is usually scheduled in the local time where the hosting is located. Make sure that the tech support hours, work shifts at the data center, and the hosting company's scheduling of outages work for your time zone. This is important because sometimes, access to the mashroom is not 24/7, but only possible during weekday afternoons, for example. Yes, tech support is usually available 24/7 but you may have to wait for a new shift to start at the data center.

→ Is it convenient to work with the given uptime guarantee and downtime schedule? Can you wait for problems to be resolved until the next business day?

Check how data security is ensured at the hosting site

Fines for data breaches are increasing and legislation is tightening. Therefore, our list of questions for the hosting company about its data security is the longest one we have here.

Here's what you need to know when choosing a hosting provider:

Encryption. How data is encrypted in transmission and at rest. The correct answers are TLS, AES, or stronger protocols.
Data location. Where the data is stored, whether it meets your location requirements, and whether you would violate laws by storing it in that region. For example, if the hosting company handles data from California residents, it must comply with the CCPA. In Europe, compliance with GDPR regulations is required.
Backup. How often data is backed up, how long backups are kept, and how easy it is to restore data.
Data Access. Who has access to the data and what their roles and permissions are.
Multifactor authentication. Is there support for 2FA and if so by which methods — TOTP, SMS, or email.
Protection from DDoS attacks. Whether the hosting provides protection from DDoS and at what level — L3, L4, L7, or intelligent attacks.
How user deletion works and on what timeframe. What happens to virtual machines and servers when they are abandoned, how long user backups are stored, and what data is saved after a user is deleted.
What secure coding practices and regular code inspections the hosting company applies. For example, whether the hosting provider uses tools for static and dynamic code analysis, checks input and output data, and maintains error logs.
How often an application is pentested and whether you can get the results. Whether and what kind of pentests have been conducted, internal or external, and what attack vectors have been used. What the overall security level of the hosting provider is.
Is there a vulnerability disclosure or bug bounty program in place? Does the host participate in a rewards program for finding vulnerabilities? Whether the info about the vulnerabilities identified and fixed is freely available.
Have there been any data leaks and are there any known successful attacks on the hosting company? Is there any public information about successful attacks on the company, are there any reviews mentioning clients getting hacked due to the fault of the host?

→ Are projects on this hosting provider sufficiently protected? Are any laws violated?

Find out what the incident response and stability of the hosting company's tech support is

No hosting company can guarantee perfect security or uptime. However, a reliable provider will quickly sort everything out or help to do so if something goes wrong on the client's side.

Here are some questions to quickly gauge what speed of response to expect for any potential incidents:

What technical support the provider provides and in what time frame.
What the channels for getting technical support are.
What the host's incident response plan is.
How customers are notified in the event of an incident.
What the history of violations, regulatory inquiries, and incidents looks like.
What the disaster recovery plan is and how often it is tested.

→ Are your chosen hosting provider’s tech support style, incident response, and incident history appropriate for you?

Find out the available migration options when changing hosting providers

Sometimes change is good. Maybe you find a better price/quality ratio elsewhere or your data security requirements have increased. Or maybe your hosting company often suffers DDoS attacks or server crashes. Sometimes a project grows to the point that your provider’s tech support or equipment can no longer cope.

Here are some questions for your new hosting company:

What happens if we move from our old hosting provider? It is useful to take advantage of a trial period to see whether the new hosting and its tech support will fit your needs.
Will there be any help with the migration? Some hosts offer migration services. For example, they assess the project infrastructure, select the best relocation options, or are ready to take on the migration themselves.
Will there be additional fees for relocation assistance? Check the list of services if you are offered a discounted or even free migration. You may have to pay for software administration and customization or migration design.
What operating systems and business applications are available for pre-installation on the new hosting? Make sure you can migrate your infrastructure without surprises such as unsupported OS hardware or having to find experts for software that the new hosting staff can't help you with.
With what other systems can the infrastructure integrate? Does the new hosting support the same virtualization tools or dashboards as the old one? Can the entire data be migrated as virtual machine images or file systems, or can the data be migrated from cloud storage?
Is there any helpful information, documentation, or guide available on how to migrate to the new hosting service? The hosting provider may already have ready-made instructions for moving data and infrastructure that suit your project to help you migrate on your own.

→ Will the move be transparent in terms of the process, costs, and risks?

Clarify whether it’s possible to integrate with the hosting service via API or install additional software

Sometimes it is more convenient for the host's clients to manage servers and services through a web panel, and sometimes through an API. For some, it is important to be able to earn money on reselling services from their hosting company. Moreover, some need to install additional hardware and software solutions on the host's servers.

Here's a list of questions if you can’t live without a few of the extras mentioned above:

Does the provider have an API to provide access without the provider's web panel? What are the capabilities of that API and can it be used to automate your own projects?
Does the hosting company allow reselling of its services and under what conditions? Is it possible to integrate your hosting and that of the hosting provider?
Can additional hardware and software solutions be installed on the host's servers? Will the host allow you to connect hardware and software configured your way? Does the host have a Smart Remote Hands service, that is, when the hosting company takes over the tasks like hardware installation or maintenance?

→ Will you have the ability to install third-party software or hardware from the host and automate the hosting experience via API?

Verify the reliability of the hosting company

Here are some questions you can use to gauge the reliability of the hosting provider:

How stable the host is financially, legally, and geopolitically?
Is it possible to first deploy a pilot of your project to identify possible risks and problems when working with the selected host? These may be non-obvious but critical problems with tech support, network speed, or the need for additional fees.
If you plan to expand your business in the future, can the hosting provider offer the scale of disk space, RAM, GPU, and CPU time you'll need?

→ How painful will it be for your project if the hosting company closes unexpectedly?

Will you have freedom in your choice of software and hardware?

Some hosts depend on specific software and hardware vendors. It is more difficult and expensive to migrate away from them. Sometimes it is even impossible to extract your data.

For example, if you migrate a database from the Azure cloud, you will not be able to get a backup of it in the usual *.bak and *.trn formats. Instead, the database dump will be provided in the *.bacpac format. Even if you manage to transfer the data, it will require far more time.

Or, for example, the software for working with neural networks is customized for certain versions of CUDA or Torch libraries, and new GPU-hosting boards require the latest versions thereof. You will have to spend money on adapting your code to them.

Questions that help you assess the risks:

Is the hardware and software that the host is using open or closed? If it is open, ask for an overview of the open API interfaces. The hosting company will provide a link to evaluate whether it is easy to input and output data.
What’s the data return plan? If you decide to leave the host, in what time frame and in what format will the company return your data?
What backup capabilities do they have? E.g., data backup and recovery technologies, APIs, and options for extracting, transforming, and loading data and files.
What’s the cost of re-licensing? If the provider uses closed solutions, calculate the cost of migration and the possibility of transferring licenses to another host.
Is there a vendor lock? Evaluate possible problems arising from your solutions being tied to specific hardware. Is it possible to supply certain drivers, what are the specifics of the hardware configuration, and is it possible to reproduce them on another host's hardware?

→ Will you be tied to the host's solutions and the software and hardware they use, especially proprietary software? Will you be able to transfer licenses for the proprietary software you purchase to a new host?

Quick checklist

How and where is the hosting registered? What supporting documents can it provide?
What is important now, and what might be needed when your project grows?
Is there an opportunity to explore the full list of paid services before ordering hosting?
Are you comfortable working with this level of uptime and downtime schedule? Can you wait for problems to be resolved until the next business day?
Is your hosted project sufficiently protected? Are any laws violated?
Do your chosen hosting provider’s tech support style, incident response, and incident history suit your needs?
Will the move be transparent in terms of the process, cost, and risks?
Will you have the ability to install third-party software or hardware from the host and automate the hosting experience via API?
How painful will it be for your project if the hosting company closes unexpectedly?
Will you be tied to the host's solutions and the software and hardware they use, especially proprietary software? Will you be able to transfer licenses for the proprietary software you purchase to a new host?

This article was originally published on the ispmanager blog

Forem: ispmanager.com

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