Zend Optimizer (also known as Zend Optimiser) is a useful PHP compression tool.

Installing on a 600host.net dedicated server is easy. Simply log in as root using an SSH terminal and execute the following command:
/scripts/installzendopt

Follow the instructions on screen (you shouldn’t have to change any of the default settings) and the script will install Zend Optimizer and restart Apache automatically.

If you have a business website and your business is manned during working hours then installing LiveChat is a great way to encourage more sale conversions.

LiveChat is extremely easy to install and free. For example, the open source Crafty Syntax Livehelp is perfect for any small business and can be installed with just a couple of clicks using Fantastico.

LiveChat is extremely good as potential customers can talk to a real person without having to make a telephone call but also without the hassle of waiting around for a reply to an e-mail.

A recent case study using a popular LiveChat system increased sales for an online real-estate broker (that’s an American estate agent to you and me!) by 10% in the first month. It’s an under-used tool that shouldn’t be underestimated.

It’s important to occasionally log in to your dedicated server by SSH and just have a check that all is well.

Type the command

mem

and a real-time display of memory usage, cpu usage, uptime and a list of processes will be displayed.

Ideally, the load average should be under 1, cpu usage below 90%, memory usage below 85% and swap usage below 80%.

If you have a defunct process hogging up all the cpu resources, for example this occasionally happens with the process yum-updatesd in Fedora, use the command either:

su -c ’service yum-updatesd stop’

or

kill -9 [the process id - displayed at left hand side of window]

The -9 forces the system to kill the process.

Rebooting a server should be avoided if at all possible, although sometimes it’s essential. However if it fails to come back online there are a number of possible problems:

Server is back online but can’t establish SSH connection:
Try pinging the server using the command

ping [ip address]

Using this command from an MS-DOS/Windows Command Prompt will attempt to ping the server four times, however if this is done from a linux terminal it will ping until you hit CTRL+C to stop it.

If you cannot ping the server then the probability is that it has failed to restart, there was a problem loading the OS kernel or there is a problem with the eth0 or eth1 settings. In this case you have no choice but to contact your provider’s support department.

If you can ping the server try establishing a connection using Telnet, or if you can access WHM/cPanel try establishing an SSH connection through this.

Server is back online but no apache, mail or anything else apart from SSH working!
Try typing the command:

service iptables stop

This is especially relevent if using cPanel as cPanel uses ports 2082 and 2086 for admin, ports which the iptables service blocks.

I can access WHM but none of my website work!
Try restarting apache. You can do this by logging in the WHM and choosing ‘restart services’ or by using the command

httpd restart

at the command prompt. If you get a command similar to ‘httpd is not running’ then this means apache is not running. Typing ‘httpd’ will start Apache. This is probaby a better way to restart apache as any error messages displayed would not be displayed in WHM

Having shared hosting is all well and good but if you want real control you need a dedicated server. The advantages of a dedicated server are:

• Customise it how you like - you can choose any operating system and control panel
• No sharing with everybody else - so there’s no chance of your site getting bogged down if somebody else is eating up all the CPU resources, or potential security risks from somebody else’s insecure scripts
• Administer it yourself - if you wish, you can administer the server yourself via SSH as you will have root access
• Built in redundancy - if you have a sudden surge of visitors to your site the extra resources are there to handle it without any drop in performance
• Host as many sites as you want - many control panels (cPanel included) do not have a limit on the amount of accounts which can be hosted

 The only downside to a dedicated server is the cost as this is likely to be over £100 per month for a good server from a reputable provider, however if your website is your main source of income it may well be worth that.