The complicated answer to the above question is this:
SPF means Sender Policy Framework.

What does that mean?  Well, I’ll make it as simple as I can. It’s basically a DNS record that is put in place that lists the allows mail servers (SMTP Servers) that you have authorized to send email for your domain. Why would you want this? Simply to help fight the war against forged or spoofed messages.  How so? Basically, the receiving mail server (or host) if they are checking for SPF records, it will make sure the message it’s receiving is coming from the allowed hosts.

So for example, for bahjons.com, I only want messages to be accepted if it’s coming from the mail server: mailserver2.bahjons.com – I could create an SPF record only allowing this host. When a message is sent to Yahoo Mail, they will check to make sure the message is from mailserver2.bahjons.com.  You can find out how to create an SPF record at www.openspf.org

If you want to be able to check to see if a domain has an SPF record, you can use a validation tool like this one.

I hope that helps.

SWSoft is renamed Parallels.
I have mixed feelings about this move by Parallels. To me, I think they will always be SWSoft. And why not? SWSoft makes me think of a software company, which is basically what Parallels is. Other obvious reasons that I wouldn’t have left the brand behind is of course the massive amount of money was was poured into building the previous brand name.

I understand Parallel’s reasons for the change. They want to unify their offerings. It seems they are renaming everything to “Parallels BlahBlah.” Seems like another way to confuse customers with your offerings. Anyway, more power to them, they seem to know what they are doing. And with over $100Million in revenues last year, I’m not going to question their tactics.

Parallels Aquires ModernBill.
This is a rather interesting move for Parallels. In my honest opinion Modernbill had alot to be desired before the acquisition. Their support was fairly useless, with their rather confusing documentation. Shortly after the acquisition, the site is moved, and the old documentation is taken offline. They have started to put a new one online, but even after weeks it’s still mainly incomplete.

I only hope that Modernbill turns around from it’s previous self. At Parallels Summit 2008, they announced ModernBill will be integrated more fully into other Parallels products. Maybe at the sametime they will start reworking the core product, without losing support for the other control panels – namely cPanel.

Parallels Summit 2008
Overall I think it’s a good conference. The speakers most be good, as the exhibit hall was only full during the coffee breaks and during lunch. Otherwise, it was rather slow. The number in attendance was around 500-600 including Parallels employees. The food was good, and the boat ride Monday evening was entertaining.

You can really tell from the conference that Parallels is really working to improve their image and their company relationships. They repeatedly mentioned they want to help their customers and partners grow their business – not worrying about Parallels pocket books – which I find hard to believe, but I’m buying into it. I’m still rather bias to cPanel, but will be keeping a closer eye on Parallels and what they are doing for the next coming years. The industry is moving forward, and Parallels is keeping right up with it I believe.

Feel free to post your comments and opinions on Parallels as well.

As an example: A webhost may have a server which has a 250GB hard drive, and let’s say dual Xeon 2.0ghz, 2gb ram.
And they sell a hosting plan with 5GB Space, 100GB Bandwidth. So realistically you would only be able to put 50 accounts on the server, just because of hard drive limitations. However, the webhost might put 300-500 accounts on this server, because they know that most customers aren’t going to use the full 5GB alotted to them. That’s just one area of overselling.

What’s the big deal?
Other than the fact that it’s “dishonest” in a sense – there isn’t a problem. That is, unless the webhosting company oversells too much. There’s more than just disk space to consider when a webhost oversells. CPU and ram should be considered, as well as the amount of network bandwidth that’s available. So if done right, overselling can be to the advantage of the consumer and the webhost. Consumers usually get alot more bang for their buck (whether they use them or not) and the webhost can be more profitable. Unfortunately, alot of webhosts don’t properly oversell, and it ends up costing the customer – mainly in performance, because the server ends up being overloaded.

Is Overselling Okay?
This is a long debated question. And I’m sure that it will continue to be debated as long as the hosting industry exists.
My personal opinion… Yes it’s good to give customers loads of “stuff” with their account. Knowing that most customers don’t use the resources that they are given, doesn’t change the fact that you are “giving” them someone that you can’t reasonably give them. And knowing that customers don’t use the resources given – why give it to them? Why give them empty promises? Give them a little more resources then the average user uses, and give them over bundled services to make their experience good. And educate customers about overselling.

I hope this article has provided some incite into overselling. I would love to hear your feedback!

Types of Web Hosting
Okay so now we can discuss the types of hosting.

• Shared Hosting – This is probably the most common form of hosting found. This is basically as mentioned above. You are sharing the server with many other users. And for most users/customers this type if hosting is sufficient. Problems that you may run into with shared hosting include (but not limited to):
  Spam Complaints – Because you are sharing the server with other users, the server might be blacklisted by ISP’s for spamming, even if you didn’t send the spam. It might be another user on the server.
  Slower Performance – Again, if there’s one user that’s using alot of resources on the server, it can effect the rest on the server.
• Reseller Hosting – This is a step up from the shared hosting account. You are still sharing the server with many other users. However, with the reseller account you can host more than 1 domain, and sometimes give each domain their own control panel. As a reseller, you can control how much resources is alloted to each of the domains/accounts under your reseller account.
• VPS Hosting – A VPS means “Virtual Private Server.” They are also called a VDS. With a VPS, you are sharing a server with fewer users than you would in a shared or reseller hosting package. With a VPS, it is like having your own mini server. You generally have full root access, and can configure and install things as you want, without effecting other users sharing the VPS Node (server.)
• Dedicated Hosting – As the name implies, it’s dedicated. In this setting, you aren’t sharing the server with anyone. You have full root access to the server, and can take full advantage of the resources purchased.
• Colocation Hosting – With colocation, you own the hardware (servers, routers, switches, etc.) You simply are using the network of the provider (their power, internet connection, AC, etc) This can be a cost effective means of setting up your server. But keep in mind, that the initial cost of the hardware can be expensive.

The above are the basic types of hosting. Over the years, new forms of the above have been born. For example, from Dedicated and Colo Hosting you will find Managed Hosting – where the provider manages the server for you. You’ll also find Grid Hosting and Cluster Hosting, which is typically a more redundant than traditional dedicated and colocation hosting. You’ll also find: image hosting, file hosting, blog hosting, forum hosting, and so much more. These are all just different variations of the traditional hosting types.

I hope you found this article useful. It’s important that when you are searching for hosting, you seriously consider your needs. Is uptime the most important thing to you? Can’t afford to not have your email? Then you might want to consider a dedicated solution. Or perhaps a backup mail solution. Whatever the case, make sure you do plenty of research on the hosting company that you choose. Make sure they have good reviews and from more than one source.