With our LiteSpeed Hosting solution, you address speed issues with a blazing-fast platform.  Read on to discover how it can help you build a site fit for the modern consumer.

What Is LiteSpeed?

LiteSpeed — a drop-in, speed-enhanced web server — is available with our Turbo packages. With LiteSpeed, our clients experience 20X faster page loads compared to traditional solutions. If you’re serious about boosting your site’s performance, you should make the switch to LiteSpeed.  Here’s why:

High-Performance

A slow website impacts your bounce rates, SEO rankings, and bottom line. With Litespeed, we take care of your site’s performance so you can focus on other high-value activities. Here’s what we can guarantee with our solutions:

• 40% faster CPU performance
• 2X faster to first byte
• 9X more traffic capacity
• 3X faster read/write speeds

Free Site Transfer

Are you ready to experience A2 Hosting but fear migrating to our servers on your own? Don’t worry; in most cases, we can move sites for free. Call our 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support for more information about our free site transfer.

With our worry-free migration services, you can eliminate all speed optimization barriers.

Developer Friendly

We’ve been serving various website needs since 2003, and we’ve always enabled our clients to enjoy the most popular development software. We support older versions, too! Here is some of the development software we can link to your account:

• PHP 5.6, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, or 8.0
• MySQL
• 6/MariaDB
• PostgreSQL 9.6
• Python 3.4
• PERL 5.10
• Apache 2.4
• js 12
• FTP/SFTP
• Free SSH Access
• SSL & Free SSL

Perpetual Security

Recent cyber security statistics reveal that hackers attack 30,000 sites across the globe every day. With our Perpetual Security feature, we prevent our clients from falling victim to such attempts. A2 Hosting accounts come with free HackScan Protection to block malware before they can do any damage. Also, our reinforced distributed denial of service (DDoS) Protection boosts the likelihood of remaining online even after attacks.

Benefits of Turbo Plans

At A2 Hosting, our goal is to provide our clients with the best web hosting solutions that are both ultra-fast and reliable, like our Turbo plans. These are the options we offer for such services:

• 40% faster CPU performance
• 2x faster to first byte
• Can handle 9x more traffic
• Improved user experience with fast page loads
• Better SEO rankings

Built for Speed

Below are some components that make our turbo plans super fast, apart from LiteSpeed Hosting:

• Non-volatile memory express (NVMe): Through this component, we offer 3X faster read/write speeds.
• HTTP/3: This feature is the new gold standard in providing faster and more reliable connections for sites and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
• Edge Side Includes (ESI): With ESI, you don’t have to designate entire pages as non-cacheable. Instead, you can determine which portions can be cached and those that cannot.
• Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC): This element is an ideal alternative to transmission control protocol (TCP). QUIC creates multiplexed connections between computers, which further enhances your website’s speed.

Advanced Caching Software

Every time someone visits your site, your server has to run a request to convert all information pieces to viewable parts in a web browser. This process sometimes causes sites to run slowly, but it doesn’t have to.

This process doesn’t vary much from visitor to visitor, making caching essential. Turning on your cache stores your files within a much faster random-access memory (RAM). When caching software, your site won’t have to run complicated processes. Instead, your server stores HTML files for a fast load speed.

Upgraded Server Hardware

At some point in your company’s life, peer-to-peer networking becomes insufficient. As you grow, your user demands will exceed the capacities of routers and shared storage devices. For this reason, upgraded server hardware can do wonders for your business.

With a trusty server on your side, you can manage email campaigns for more people, grant access to multiple users, and manage shared resources in the workplace.

Optimized Configurations

Our experts know our hosting infrastructure inside and out, making it easy to optimize our solutions for various sites. Whether you have a CSS, JS, or HTML site, we have the right hosting infrastructure to meet your needs.

With our optimized configurations, you can enjoy faster load times while reducing overall page size. We can help you save up to 80% bandwidth and boost your site’s performance tenfold.

The A2 Hosting Edge

A2 Hosting is nothing like your typical hosting company. We designed our Turbo plans for super speed, limited occupancy, and various performance add-ons to provide clients with the fastest web hosting services available anywhere.

With our solutions on your side, you can boost your user experience and conversion rates. Read on for more reasons to switch to A2 Hosting.

Super Speed

Fast web hosting servers allow you to customize your website in a way that addresses your unique requirements. These services are essential to thrive in the modern world.

Fast hosting leads to a quick load time — a crucial SEO component that encourages clients to hang around. Additionally, a fast website equates to better security and more revenue. If your slow internet is driving away clients, It’s time to say goodbye to mediocre hosting.

Guru Crew Support

With A2 Hosting, our exceptional services don’t end when you sign up with us. Our 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support proves it.

When you manage a company, you typically observe normal business hours. However, overseeing a website is a different story.

Websites require 24/7 support because anyone can access the internet from anywhere in the world. Any time of the day, you have visitors reading your content or making purchases. Every time you experience technical difficulties, you can lose traffic and credibility.

Whether you experience a breakdown or network outage, our support team will be there for you 24/7/365.

Money-Back Guarantee

We believe in all our groundbreaking solutions, inspiring us to offer a money-back guarantee. There’s nothing to lose but everything to gain from our offer, so why not give it a shot?

We don’t think you’ll cancel because we offer up to 20X faster web hosting to help you thrive in the modern world! However, if you do, we’ll give you a hassle-free refund. We hate breakups as much as the next person, but we won’t hold it against you.

99.9% Uptime Commitment

Uptime refers to a measure of system reliability expressed as a percentage of time a machine has been available. When hosting providers boast impressive uptime rates, it’s a good indication of high-performance servers. Our 24/7/365 support staff will get your site running in no time.

Upgrade Your Website Now

In today’s modern world, your website speed can make or break your online presence. A fast load time can boost your SEO, conversion, and sales efforts. Whether you need shared web or managed dedicated services, there’s an ideal Turbo Hosting for your needs. With its LiteSpeed Hosting feature, you never have to lose an online client again because of a slow website.

Contact our sales team today to discover how working with us can transform your business.  We’d love to help you achieve your 2022 business goals.

The post What is LiteSpeed? The Ultra-Fast Web Server You Should Know About appeared first on The A2 Posting.

What is an Unmanaged Dedicated Server?

Unmanaged Bare Metal Dedicated servers are dedicated servers with full root access. They’re designed to grant a user complete root access control for custom server configurations. They aren’t for the faint at heart though as they require Linux expertise and server administration experience. We only pre-install software on your server after you make your selection upon checkout. Otherwise, the server upkeep relies on you and your team. 

When Should You Use Unmanaged Dedicated Servers? 

The easy answer is when you need the power of a dedicated server and the flexibility of an unmanaged plan. 

Unmanaged dedicated servers are less expensive than their managed peers because you aren’t paying for the additional resources. You and your team manage the operating system, security, configuration, and every aspect of the server. This requires great skill to deploy updates, perform regular server backups and take necessary measures to keep your server up-to-date and secure. If you are not knowledgeable about server maintenance or don’t have someone or your team who is, an unmanaged dedicated server may be hard to maintain. If you do have the expertise there are great benefits to unmanaged hosting:

Unmanaged dedicated servers give you total control.

We give you full administrative access to configure the server to your needs. You and your team decide which control panel to use, which operating system you’d like, and which applications and servers you deploy on the server. 

Unmanaged dedicated servers are cheaper. 

Again, these plans are cheaper because we don’t offer the level of support guaranteed with a managed plan. You or your team must have the requisite server skills to manage your server and troubleshoot any arising problems. 

Unfortunately, unmanaged dedicated servers require a lot of work.

All aspects of server maintenance are up to you. You need to constantly protect your server from potential threats like malware, viruses, and other attacks. If you aren’t technically savvy, this proves difficult.

There’s no single answer to when you should use an unmanaged dedicated server. If you’re on an unmanaged VPS plan and need the extra power and flexibility, upgrade to an unmanaged dedicated server. But, if you’re currently on a managed plan, weigh out all your options and make sure you have access to the right resources before you commit to an unmanaged plan. 

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• Managed vs Unmanaged Hosting Plans: Which Is Best for Your Website?
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• An Introduction to Dedicated Servers and Their Configuration Options
• How To Navigate Web Hosting Options & Find What’s Right For You

The post When Should You Use Unmanaged Dedicated Servers? #ThingstoKnow appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Continue reading to discover what a web host manager is and why it is important. Learn what types of web host managers are available to business owners and web professionals like you and explore the benefits of using WHMCS for your websites. Finally, learn how you and your team can experience the advantages of web hosting with the assistance of A2 Hosting.

What Is a Web Host Manager?

A Web Host Manager (WHM) is a computer program that grants users like you the ability to supervise various cPanel-based sites. It allows you to manage your dedicated server or Virtual Private Server (VPS). This control dashboard provides you with administrative access to the back end of cPanel.

As an end-user, you can utilize WHM in tandem with cPanel to set up individual accounts, add new domains, handle hosting features, and conduct basic maintenance. It is possible for you to oversee MySQL databases and to add and remove email accounts with the assistance of WHM.

Why Is a Web Host Manager Important?

A Web Host Manager (WHM) is important because of its connection to cPanel. This website utility enables you to efficiently handle the operation and maintenance of your websites. It provides numerous functions that are related to database, domain management, backup, mail, and security.

cPanel’s automated and configurable platform allows you to create and automate all server management tasks. However, WHM is necessary to maximize the usefulness of cPanel. After all, cPanel needs the support of WHM to supervise multiple accounts.

What Types of Web Host Managers Are Available?

There is a wide range of web host managers (WHM) that are available to business owners and web professionals such as yourself. The type of WHM that is suitable for you depends on the particular needs of your business team.

These are the popular types of web hosting plans:

1. Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting involves the sharing of CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), and other server resources by multiple websites. This hosting type is suitable for you if you only need entry-level website hosting at a relatively affordable cost.

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

VPS hosting allows every website to be hosted in its own dedicated space on a server while sharing a physical server with other websites at the same time. It is a viable option for you if you need more storage space and customization features without having to splurge on dedicated server hosting.

3. Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is a form of hosting where your website has one dedicated server so you don’t have to share your resources. It is the ideal choice for you if you are willing to invest in its premium cost so you can access a higher level of resource allocation and control for your website.

4. Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is a form of service where the provider is fully or partially responsible for the regular management of the hardware, operating systems, and applications involved in web hosting. It is appropriate for you if you wish to relegate the technical aspects of web hosting to your provider.

What Are the Benefits of Using WHMCS?

A2 Hosting offers the benefit of using WHMCS to help navigate the backend of your website. These are the major benefits that you and your team can experience if you use Web Host Manager Complete Solution (WHMCS) for your website:

1. Multiple Functions

WHMCS makes it simple and easy for you to manage your website because of its multiple functions. Its handy suite of tools enables you to fulfill the following tasks:

• Keep track of your websites regularly
• Create, suspend, or delete your cPanel accounts
• Monitor and change the DNS zones of your domains
• Grant permission to keep track of your server status and data
• Configure the support requests of your clients via cPanel
• Set up your default page as you form a new account
• Make adjustments to your client user names and domain names
• Personalize your hosting and control panel with your branding
• Oversee the cPanel and change the aspects which do not require SQL access

2. Increased Cyber Security

Using WHMCS can increase the online security of your websites. Just in case one of your sites is compromised because of a cybercrime attack, a WHMCS will minimize the risk that your other websites will also be affected. A WHMCS also prevents hackers from finding out that the various accounts on different cPanels are linked to the same WHM account.

3. Greater Flexibility

WHMCS offers you flexibility by allowing you to adjust your bandwidth and disk space. These adjustments are critical to the continuous operations of your website, which may crash or become suspended if it goes over the maximum bandwidth.

4. Efficient Credit Card Processing

WHMCS enables your multiple websites to accept credit card payments from your customers. Your site will need an SSL certificate and dedicated IP address to process credit card transactions. Since only one dedicated IP address is allowed for each cPanel, you can choose a Reseller account that lets you manage multiple cPanels.

What Types of Hosting Plans Are Offered by A2 Hosting?

The right hosting plan will make it possible for you to achieve your work goals so you can grow your business.

No matter what type of web host manager you require for your websites, A2 Hosting offers a wide range of feature-rich hosting plans that you can choose from. We can empower you to manage your websites through our Shared Web Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, VPS Hosting, WordPress Hosting, and Reseller Hosting.

Contact our sales team to discover which one of these powerful A2 Hosting solutions is perfect for your business needs.

The post Why Do I Need a Web Host Manager? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Who has the best eCommerce hosting for small businesses? We tend to be a little bias when we answer A2 Hosting, but in this article, we’re going to review why we’re the industry leader in small business hosting and which plans are best for small businesses. 

How Does A2 Hosting Support Small Businesses?

A2 Hosting takes pride in supporting small businesses. We not only celebrate Small Business Week, but we celebrate Small Business Month. For the entire month of May, we offer some of our lowest prices of the season, increasing the affordability of our plans but still offering the same, first-rate service.

Apart from discounts, we also highlight the most important aspect at A2 Hosting: the people. From Katie Davis, author, and entrepreneur, to the Pyrenees Cycling Company in France, to music producer Gemtracks.com, we celebrate the backbone of our company, the small businesses that make us who we are. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have small businesses supporting us along the way. Knowing this, we like to give that support back by offering the fastest servers on the market and help from our advanced technical support team. 

Our CEO, Bryan Muthig said, “Small Businesses are so important and we’re trying to do everything we can to give them the prices and plans they need to flourish, everything we do is with the intention to help our customers thrive online.” We love our small businesses here at A2 Hosting and we’re committed to providing the speediest solution available for your business to thrive. 

Speed might not seem like an obvious way to support small businesses, but website speed directly influences a business’s conversion rate and profitability. Also, speed isn’t a preference but an expectation. More than 45% of consumers expect pages to load in 2 seconds or less. After 2 seconds, many users leave to find another fast-loading page. 

In fact, for every additional second of loading time after 2 seconds, conversions drop by 7% and continue to drop by intervals of 7% for every consecutive second.  

Amazon performed site speed tests that concluded they would lose $1.6 billion every year if their site slowed down by one second. Now, Amazon isn’t a small business, but as a small business owner, you can’t afford to lose money. Sure, it’s not going to total a $1.6 billion loss, but any loss is a loss for your business.

For small businesses, a one-second improvement in page load speeds leads to $70 more revenue per day (over $2000/monthly) for sites earning $1000 a day. 

That’s why it’s vital to invest in a speedy server. We offer our Turbo line of products that feature NVMe drives and our AMD EPYC processors. 

NVMe stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express. These drives are the fastest on the market, delivering sustained read-write speeds of 2000MB per second, miles ahead of its SATA SSD III counterpart, which tops at 600MB per second. 

We offer the NVMe drives for Shared Hosting, WordPress Hosting, VPS Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and Dedicated Hosting. 

As a small business, you won’t have the traffic of larger corporations like Amazon or Etsy. Your needs are smaller and it’s important to choose a plan that correctly matches your needs. 

We recommend the following plans for small business owners:

Shared Hosting – Turbo Boost or Turbo Max 

The Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans both use the NVMe storage and AMD EPYC processors. They boast unlimited resources and include our 24/7/365 support on phones, tickets, and LiveChats. The reason we recommend these two plans is because of speed. Again, slow websites kill conversions but fast websites keep your customers coming back. These two plans are the speediest we have for shared hosting. 

If you only have a small database, use very little, and have a tiny budget, you can opt for a Startup or Drive plan. Keep in mind, the Startup plan doesn’t offer backups and neither plan offers a Turbo option. If you choose Startup or Drive, you can upgrade to a Turbo server at any time. 

VPS Hosting – Mach 8 or Mach 16

If you have a larger volume of traffic, the Mach 8 is your best bet. It offers 8GB of RAM and 150GB of NVMe storage with the privacy of a VPS server in the body of a much speedier physical server. It only offers a single cPanel though so if you’re looking for another cPanel account, it’s best to go for the Mach 16 plan.

Dedicated Hosting – Warp 2 Turbo AMD 

If you’re a small business with an unusually high volume of traffic, the Warp 2 Turbo AMD is for you. This is a state-of-the-art Bare Metal Dedicated server with NVMe storage, Turbo caching, and a whopping 64GB of RAM. For most small businesses, this plan is overkill but for those exceeding our highest VPS plan, the Mach 32, this is the best next step. 

All of the above plans feature our 24/7/365 support team. They’re available on phones, LiveChat’s, and through tickets and they work diligently to troubleshoot your server problems. 

Keep in mind that with all of our plans, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. What works for one small business may not work for yours. Every business has different needs and it’s important to find out what’s best for you. When in doubt, contact our sales team. They are web hosting experts and will set you up with the best plan for your exact needs. 

In conclusion, A2 Hosting is committed to the success of your small business. By offering fast, affordable hosting, you’ll quickly rise in SEO rankings, lower your bounce rates, and increase your conversion rates, leaving your corporate competitors behind in the dust. 

Related Articles: 

• A2 Hosting: Web Hosting’s Small Business Champion
• Who Has the Fastest Web Hosting? Matching Your Need for Speed
• When Is It Time to Upgrade from a Shared Hosting Server to a Virtual Private Server (VPS)?
• How to Write Better Product Descriptions that Drive eCommerce Sales During the Holidays

The post Who Has the Best eCommerce Hosting for Small Businesses appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Why Do Hosting Costs Matter?

Hosting costs occur over the lifetime of your website. If you have a website, there’s no getting around the price tag associated with hosting it unless you own and run your own server (if you do–great!). Chances are you don’t run your own server so cost is important. 

At initial sign-up, most hosting companies offset the costs of starting a new website by offering promotional discounts for your first billing cycle. After this billing cycle is over, your hosting package goes up to the original price which is considerably more expensive. This is a common complaint we receive. But why does the price go up? 

Beyond the dollar figure, quality and performance impact your website first and foremost. Money is important, of course, but if your site is slow, you’ll lose customers and as a consequence, lose money. In this sense, cheaper isn’t always better. 

Paying for subpar hosting can mean slow loading times, leading to more bounces and fewer conversions–an estimated 7% drop. 

If you’re trying to save money, save it in other places. Skimping on your hosting is the last place to start because you don’t want a poorly performing website. 

The trick is to keep costs low but find the perfect ratio of quality to affordability. This is what we offer at A2 Hosting. 

So, what are you paying for? 

With the cost of managed web hosting, you’re paying for:

• Security and security patch updates
• Turbo-fast speeds
• High-quality 24/7/365 support on tickets, phones, and LiveChat
• 99.9% uptime 
• Scalability 
• Backups 
• Free email
• Free SSL certificate 
• And more, depending on the plan

Basically, you’re paying for the additional services required to keep your website secure and up-to-date. 

Notice we said managed web hosting above. Managed web hosting includes these additional services that unmanaged servers don’t. 

That’s why our Managed and Unmanaged Dedicated server plans have vastly different prices. 

As you can see, our unmanaged Dedicated hosting plans are less expensive than their managed counterparts. That’s because unmanaged plans don’t offer the support, security, and updates that managed plans do. 

Unmanaged plans are priced cheaper because they don’t offer:

• 24/7/365 support
• Server configuration
• Security
• Regular server-side updates

With an unmanaged server, you get what you pay for. They’re great for experienced developers who know how to handle the complications of maintaining a server, but for everyone else, stick with its managed counterpart. 

How can I lower the cost of my web hosting?

1. Choose a hosting provider you can trust. 

At A2 Hosting, our introductory Shared Hosting Startup plan starts at $2.99/monthly. Even though it’s a low-cost server, it still includes stellar performance. 

We have servers around the globe so you can choose the location to best meet your needs for latency and reliability. 

2. Choose a longer contract.

The longer contract you choose, the less expensive your web hosting package is. 

Once your first contract expires, your plan often renews at a higher rate. To offset the higher cost down the line, lock in that discounted rate for as long as possible. 

For example, our Turbo Boost is on sale for $83.88 for three years or $6.99/monthly. Then, after three years it renews at $755.64 yearly. If you choose only a monthly billing cycle, the first month is $15.99, but every consecutive month is $20.99. Choosing a longer billing cycle saves you money long-term if you’re willing to make the short-term investment. 

3. When in doubt, start with a Shared plan.

The majority of new websites are better off starting with a shared web hosting package. It’s an entry-level hosting package allowing costs to stay low in the beginning. Unless you’re expecting a large volume of traffic at your website’s launch, shared hosting is enough for your needs. 

You can always upgrade at any time. As our sales team always says, it’s easier to upgrade than to downgrade. Upgrades are free, but downgrades cost $25 to migrate so it’s best to start small and scale-up. 

At A2 Hosting, we couple affordability with speedy plans. We offer generous discounts to get your business going and if you’re an existing customer, our sales team will work with you to come up with a more affordable solution. 

Related articles:

• How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Plan for Your Needs
• Web Hosting Resources: What You Need to Know to Choose the Right Plan
• How Much Should You Expect to Pay for Web Hosting?
• Why Web Hosting Matters for Your Business (4 Key Reasons)

The post Is Dedicated Web Server Hosting More Expensive? The Full Guide to Web Hosting Pricing appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Continue reading to explore what web hosting is and what the common types of hosting are. Learn why it is important to find a first-rate web host provider and discover which web host provider has the fastest hosting service and what kinds of plans they offer.

What Is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is an internet hosting service that hosts websites and web pages on behalf of businesses and individuals.

The backend and files of websites are stored on servers. Internet users can view a website by typing its URL address on their browser or by clicking on a link. The users’ computers will be linked to the server so that the webpage will load on their browser.

During the early days of the Internet, companies and persons were required to have their own computer or server to host a website. However, not everyone could afford to buy technological equipment or hire in-house professionals who specialize in website hosting. The need for web hosting services started to grow as the number of Internet users all over the world began to increase exponentially.

These are some of the popular types of web hosting:

• Shared Hosting: It involves the sharing of server space among various websites. The shared resources typically include the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and RAM (Random Access Memory). It is ideal for businesses that plan to build new websites because it is priced relatively low and allows for growth.
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting: It offers more control than shared hosting, but less control than dedicated hosting. Every website is allotted its own space and reserved resources within the parameters of the server making it a virtual private environment while still sharing hardware. It is appropriate for businesses with existing websites with low to medium amounts of traffic.
• Dedicated Hosting: It allows the webmaster, who is the owner of the website, to have almost full control of the site. The webmaster can manage the administration access, select the security features, and pick the operating system of the server. It is suitable for businesses with existing websites that have a high amount of traffic. This arrangement is usually preferred by companies with an in-house IT department that can oversee the site unless they have a managed plan which we outline below.
• Managed Hosting: This is most common type of web hosting service and can be added to Shared, VPS, and Dedicated hosting. In this scenario, the web host is in charge of server maintenance rather than the webmaster. The webmaster is freed from the responsibility of maintaining the operating system, software, and hardware related to the website. The website owner just needs to select the hosting package that will suit the needs of the business. This form of hosting is appropriate for businesses that plan to build and maintain websites with minimal effort. A2 Hosting has managed shared, VPS and dedicated hosting plans to choose from!

Why Is It Important To Have a Good Web Host?

A web host is a company that provides web hosting services to businesses and individuals. There are several reasons why any business needs to have an excellent web host:

1. Optimized Data Storage

It is critical for a business to have a dependable web host that offers ample data storage options. Proper data storage enables a website to handle more online traffic. Storage limitations can cause a site to shut down when the amount of traffic is high.

2. Secure Server

A competent web host can improve the cyber security of a business website. It ensures the safety of the network space to safeguard the website files and customer information from being accessed by outsiders. It blocks hacker attacks, phishing attempts, and other kinds of cybercrimes.

3. Zero To Minimal Downtime

Downtime refers to the timeframe when the website is not available online for various reasons. Whether it is scheduled or unscheduled, downtime can be detrimental to a business if it occurs often. It reduces opportunities for lead generation and conversion. Plus, frequent downtime makes a website seem unprofessional. That’s why it is critical for a business to select a dependable server with zero to minimal downtime.

4. Backup Protection

A business should work with a website host that offers backup options. Backup measures will allow the team to roll back the website in case of technical issues. A website must have backups so that a business will not lose important data.

5. Email Services

A business will appear more professional if the team members use customized email addresses that are related to the domain name, instead of communicating via free email accounts from popular email services.

Official work email addresses can help a business build a reputation as a credible, legitimate organization. Email hosting is one of the basic but essential features that a web host should offer in their packages.

6. Customer Service

A commendable web host should always be prepared to provide technical support to a business in case they encounter problems with their website. The company should provide alternative ways for their clients to contact them whenever they need professional assistance.

7. Flexible Pricing Options

Different businesses have varying budgets when it comes to web hosting. That’s why a business should choose a web host that offers multiple packages that they can choose from. This will allow the team to pick the plan that suits them best, based on their estimated budget and the specific services they need.

The availability of various packages also grants flexibility to a business. It allows the team to customize their plan in the future, in case they will need more server power, data speed, and storage space as their business expands over time.

8. Speed

Speed is one of the most important factors that a business should consider when choosing a web host. Slow website speeds can discourage users from spending time on a website. The user experience of website visitors will suffer if each web page takes too long to load. A business team should select a web host with the fastest hosting service to ensure swift loading speeds.

Why Is It Important To Have a Fast Website?

Having a fast website can be advantageous to any business in various ways. These are some of the benefits of having a quick-loading website:

1. Online Visibility

The website is a central marketing tool because it can increase the online visibility of a business. It has a significant impact on the marketing efforts of any company, in spite of the availability of other social media channels. The content and structure of a website should be strategic for it to be effective.

A website must feature basic information about the business, as well as its products and services. It should include compelling landing page copy that catches the attention of the audience. It ought to focus on results-driven solutions to the problems or needs of the target market.

Last but not least, a website should have fast loading times. No matter how well-crafted the content is, Internet users will not explore a website if the web pages are loading too slowly. A speedy website will motivate visitors to read the content so that they will learn more about the business and the brand.

2. Lead Generation

A fast website can result in lead generation for a business. Lead generation is the process of attracting attention and sparking the interest of future customers. Leads are people with the potential to purchase the products or subscribe to the services of a company someday.

A website that functions smoothly and swiftly can transform website visitors and prospects into leads. It can enable a business to develop connections with leads by featuring relevant content that is tailored to their wants, needs, and demographic information.

3. Lead Conversion

A website is a tool that can promote lead conversion for a business. Lead conversion is a sales and marketing procedure that converts leads into actual customers through retargeting, behavior automation, and relationship development.

A website that is quickly and easily accessible allows a business team to nourish their leads in each step of the marketing process. It can serve as a central venue where leads can morph into customers by taking concrete action, such as buying a product, utilizing a service, or signing up as a paid subscriber.

4. Sales and Profits

An official website can play a role in increasing the sales and profits of a business. Sales refer to the total amount of income that a business earns from selling its products and services. Profits are defined as the amount of income that remains after the costs, expenses, and taxes have been subtracted from the sales.

A fast website has the potential to boost the sales and profits of a business by showcasing the benefits of its products and services through text information, photos, videos, testimonials, blog posts, and customer reviews.

5. Business Growth

A website can be instrumental to the overall growth of a business. It can help the team to achieve their goals and objectives in every stage of the marketing and sales process. It can also increase brand awareness and improve the reputation of the company over time. It gives the team more opportunities to establish new professional connections and to strengthen existing customer relationships.

Nevertheless, the general efficacy of a business website in achieving optimal results is largely dependent on its speed. That’s why a business team should ensure that the web host they select can provide fast loading times for their website.

Which Web Host Provides the Fastest Hosting Service

The speed of a website can determine how effective it is in contributing to the success of a business. That’s why you must choose a web host that is capable of providing impressively swift speeds for your business website.

A2 Hosting is the ideal option for startups, reseller agencies, companies, and organizations who need the fastest hosting service for their websites.

Who Is A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting is a website hosting provider that offers up to 20X faster web hosting speeds for businesses. Our high-performance solutions are suitable for everyone in the business industry, ranging from first-timers who wish to develop new blogs to professional developers with high-traffic websites.

A2 Hosting was founded by our CEO Bryan Muthig in 2001 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He utilized his strong technical background as a UNIX systems administrator and his passion for technology to establish a global hosting company.

At present, we have more than 200 hundred teammates and various data centers in 223 countries all over the globe. Our company has provided 120,000 active services and counting to our clients. An estimated 110,000 people have already used A2 Hosting products.

Our mission is to help people to thrive in the online world so that they can succeed in the real world. We harness our skills, knowledge, and resources to make it possible for others to bring their digital visions to life.

A2 Hosting has gained recognition as a reliable hosting provider in the web hosting industry. We have received awards and accolades that highlight the accomplishments of our team as we continue to empower our customers with the best web host solutions.

What Are the Benefits of A2 Hosting Services

These are many reasons why A2 Hosting is superior to other web host providers. These are some of the important advantages of choosing A2 Hosting and our services:

• Faster Speed: We offer up to 20X faster web hosting speed for business websites.
• Better Results: We can help small businesses and agencies gain improved SEO rankings, reduced bounce rates, and increased conversion rates.
• Accessible Customer Service: We provide 24/7/365 technical assistance through our friendly, skilled, and knowledgeable guru crew support team.
• Free Account Migration: We can move your website from your previous web host to A2 hosting for free.
• Risk-free Trial: We offer you a money-back guarantee if you are interested in trying our hosting services.
• Reliable Servers: We commit to 99.9% uptime so you can rest assured about the dependability of our servers.

What Plans Does A2 Hosting Offer

A2 Hosting offers a variety of web hosting packages to suit the multiple needs of our different clients. These are the plans from A2 Hosting that you can choose from:

Shared Web Hosting

The Shared Web Hosting service of A2 Hosting is powered by our top-of-the-line servers. All our servers are optimized for speed. Each server is only limited to a certain number of clients. This industry-leading web hosting service features 20X faster page load times at an affordable cost. You can experience an excellent combination of performance enhancements, resources, and limited occupancy if you subscribe to one of the shared hosting packages.

Here are the pricing plans for Shared Web Hosting:

• Startup: $2.99 USD monthly*
• Drive: $5.99 USD monthly*
• Turbo Boost: $6.99 USD monthly*
• Turbo Max: $12.99 USD monthly*

VPS Hosting

The VPS Hosting service of A2 Hosting features dedicated resources for maximum power. Because you will be allotted your own dedicated resources, you will have the advantage of enhanced server reliability and performance. This cost-effective model allows you to experience the benefits of a BMD server without the price tag. Our plans include 24/7 Guru Support, free SSL Certificates, and free website migrations.

Here are the various VPS Hosting plans with assorted VPS features for different management levels:

Unmanaged VPS Hosting

Unmanaged VPS Hosting allows you to configure the settings and requirements of the server operating system and other software that you plan to run at the server level. Keep in mind that this level of configuration is ideal for people with a high degree of technical skills.

• Runway 1: $4.99 USD monthly*
• Runway 2: $7.99 USD monthly*
• Runway 4: $9.99 USD monthly*
• Supersonic 8: $34.99 USD monthly*
• Supersonic 16: $54.99 USD monthly*
• Supersonic 32: $74.99 USD monthly*

Managed VPS Hosting

Managed VPS features high-level maintenance service from our team. It ensures that your server is regularly upgraded, fixed, and adjusted to increase the security levels of your business website. Managed plans are worth the extra investment because we will efficiently handle all the crucial management tasks on your behalf.

• Lift 4: $39.99 USD monthly*
• Lift 8: $54.99 USD monthly*
• Lift 16: $67.99 USD monthly*
• Mach 8: $59.99 USD monthly*
• Mach 16: $89.99 USD monthly*
• Mach 32: $99.99 USD monthly*

Bare Metal Dedicated Servers

The Bare Metal Dedicated Servers of A2 Hosting will allow you to select between Intel or AMD processors. They also include advanced NVMe storage options for your business website.

Here are the available Bare Metal Dedicated Servers plans:

Unmanaged Bare Metal Dedicated Servers

• Hyper 1: $129.99 USD monthly*
• Hyper 2I: $199.99 USD monthly*
• Hyper 2 Turbo Intel: $219.99 USD monthly*
• Hyper 3 AMD: $509.99 USD monthly*
• Hyper 3 Turbo AMD: $539.99 USD monthly*

Managed Bare Metal Dedicated Servers

• Warp 1: $179.99 USD monthly*
• Warp 2 Intel: $249.99 USD monthly*
• Warp 2 Turbo Intel: $279.99 USD monthly*

Reseller Hosting

The Reseller Hosting service of A2 Hosting enables you to begin your own hosting business. Selling our white-labeled reseller solutions allows you to make income, manage your customers, and run your own hosting company. We will grant you full control of the various aspects of your business. We will utilize servers with AMD EPYC CPUs and NVMEe drives to set up your reseller package.

Here are the Reseller Hosting plans we have available:

• Kickstart: $18.99 USD monthly*
• Turbo Kickstart: $24.99 USD monthly*
• Launch: $24.99 USD monthly*
• Turbo Launch: $32.99 USD monthly*

Turbo Web Hosting

All our web hosting packages have turbo versions for increased power and speed. These are the impressive features of Turbo Web Hosting plans that you can take advantage of:

• LiteSpeed Web Server: It is a speed-enhanced, drop-in web server alternative to Apache. It allows you to experience up to 20X faster page loads.
• NVMe: It is a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) Hosting solution that generates 3X faster read/write speeds.
• HTTP/3: It is a cutting-edge web standard that enables quicker and more stable connections for APIs and websites.
• ESI: Edge Side Includes (ESI) lets you conveniently designate portions of your web page as cacheable or non-cacheable.
• QUIC: Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) is a speed-enhanced alternative to TCP. It minimizes latency by forming multiplexed connections among computers in a network.

Learn more about our Turbo Plans by viewing the turbo options for each type of web hosting package that A2 Hosting offers.

Contact the A2 Hosting Sales Team to Sign Up for the Fastest Hosting Service

Whether you own a reselling agency, startup, or company, a fast website is a powerful marketing tool that allows your business to reach new heights of success. Partnership with the fastest hosting service allows you to transform your site for the better.

A2 Hosting is the best option for you if you are committed to leveling up the speed and security of your business website. Contact our sales team today if you have questions about our exponentially fast web hosting services. Sign up for our web hosting plans to start speeding up your website.

The post Who Has the Fastest Web Hosting? Matching Your Need for Speed appeared first on The A2 Posting.

ANN ARBOR, MICH–NOV 22, 2021–Black Friday sales in 2021 are forecasted to break $900 billion in online shopping globally, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index. To prepare, eCommerce companies have begun to buckle down and enhance their websites for the recording-breaking traffic coming their way. A2 Hosting, a leading player in the web hosting industry, just released an accompanying ebook to aid online entrepreneurs in their preparations. “With the impacts of Covid 19 in 2020 and 2021, we know that now more than ever it’s imperative for our customers to experience a win during the holiday sales. We’re trying to give them as many resources as possible to help them succeed,” says Bryan Muthig, A2 Hosting’s CEO. 

This ebook is changing the game for eCommerce owners in 2021. It covers backend technical website improvements, front-end website optimization, and digital marketing do’s and don’t. eCommerce owners will find a thorough guide with step-by-step instructions on how to upgrade their websites as well as insight from A2 Hosting’s top-end development team, marketing team, and support gurus. Along with this ebook and a number of preparatory guides on their blog, A2 Hosting is also offering a Black Friday and Cyber Monday sitewide discount with their lowest prices of the year from 11/22-12/5. 

“We want to give our customers the right resources to succeed,” says Muthig. “Not only does that include the right hosting, but it also encapsulates the hosting experience in general. Our guru support crew will be available 24/7 for our customers throughout the holiday season so we’re here for you when it counts. Whether it’s a website crashing on Christmas Day or client questions on Black Friday morning, we’re a team that values supporting our customers in any way we can all season long.”    

About A2 Hosting

Recently awarded Leader in Web Hosting for Summer 2021 by G2 and Best Cheap Dedicated Web Hosting by Digital.com, A2 Hosting, Inc. is a high-performance hosting services provider located in Ann Arbor, MI. The company delivers ultra-reliable solutions and 24/7/365 US-based support from its Guru Crew team. Since 2003, A2 Hosting has offered innovative, affordable, and developer-friendly hosting for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as web development agencies worldwide. Customers seeking the fastest hosting options in the industry can host websites of any size on A2’s Turbo Performance server platform featuring page load speeds up to 20X faster compared to competing solutions. To learn more, visit https://www.a2hosting.com.

The post Win 2021 Black Friday Website Preparations with A2 Hosting’s Free eCommerce eBook appeared first on The A2 Posting.

But did you know that proper hosting is also important in establishing a good business reputation?

Through web hosting services, a website can provide amazing user experiences that will improve any brand’s image in its market. The opposite is true with a poor hosting solution. This can lead to poor user experiences that reduce your engagement significantly.

So how can you choose the right web hosting solutions for your website?

To help you decide, we’ve prepared a brief guide on the crucial things to know when choosing web hosting services.

How to Choose the Right Web Hosting Services

There are at least five factors to consider when deciding on the ideal web hosting service for your needs. Getting the highest levels on all these factors will ensure that your website can provide an excellent user experience.

These factors are:

Web Hosting Service Factor #1: Speed

The speed of your web hosting service provider is one of the first and most important factors you should consider. Hosting speed is a priority consideration as it shows how fast a provider can load web pages.

Websites that can load quickly often translate to a better user experience since most people won’t stay if a page takes a long time to load. With a slow website, your customers are more likely to leave your page and opt for competitors instead.

When talking about hosting performance, the software stack or server technology used by a provider is one thing to look out for. With technology evolving at a rapid pace, it’s important to have a web host that can adapt quickly and employ the latest tech advancements for maximum speeds.

At A2 Hosting we offer Turbo hosting plans that are designed to provide users with the best speeds for their websites. The limited occupancy of these plans minimizes the number of resources being used while optimized server configurations ensure top performance.

Furthermore, our Turbo packages take advantage of the latest server hardware and software technologies in the market, providing as much as 20x faster page load speeds than the competition. Websites hosted on their turbos plans can handle 9x more traffic with 3x faster read/write speeds.

Web Hosting Service Factor #2: Reliability

Reliability or the uptime of web hosting services is the second most important aspect to consider. Your host’s reliability refers to how often a site is going to be available and accessible to the public.

Besides a slow-loading website, one that can’t be visited is one of the worst things businesses can experience. An inaccessible site, even if it’s just for a few hours, can significantly reduce conversion rates.

Brand websites that experience frequent downtimes can expect their images to be tarnished. No lead or customer would want to visit a website only to find out that it’s not available. Catering to the needs of the target market at all times should be a top priority for your business website.

One way you can avoid experiencing downtimes as much as possible is by leveraging a hosting solution that is guaranteed to have at least 99% uptime. Anything lower than that would drastically reduce conversions.

At A2 Hosting we take advantage of tried and tested technologies, ensuring that all of our customers get 99.99% uptime from our web hosting services.

Web Hosting Service Factor #3: Security

As you browse for your potential hosting solutions provider, you should consider the levels of security they have to offer for new and existing customers. This is particularly important at the server level since this is where most of your site’s resources are stored.

For instance, you want to check if they apply the newest operating system patches to your server. Patches and updates are vital for servers to have as few vulnerabilities as possible. You should also check if they provide DDoS protection and high-level firewalls to filter potentially malicious traffic.

Besides cybersecurity, backups are equally important as well. Backup solutions provide you with a repository containing saved business data that you can fall back on if the worst should happen.

With A2 Hosting, you can leverage secure web hosting services that provide you with top-notch protection and stability for your website. We work on the OpenVPN virtual private network so that our users can work from site to site and point to point without worrying about their security. OpenVPN, in particular, comes with security features such as network address translation (NAT) protection.

Meanwhile, our Brute Force Protection solution lets you block cybercriminals using methods such as IP routing, APF, and custom commands.

Other security features you can find from our packages include:

• ConfigServer and Firewall (CSF) login security
• Linux malware detection solutions
• Linux environment security
• SSL certificates
• Secure Shell (SSH) login security solution
• SimpleRisk risk management solution

At A2 Hosting, our goal is to help you identify potential security threats and resolve them before they become worse. Our secure servers utilize the latest and proven cybersecurity solutions so you can have around-the-clock protection for your websites.

Web Hosting Service Factor #4: Features and Add-Ons

Features and add-ons are always great to have in any web hosting service. The main reason for this is that these added options let you scale up when needed, especially when you wish to expand to a new market.

A2 Hosting offers customers quite a few add-on solutions that can help improve site security, functionality, usability, and experience. These additional options are:

• Cloudflare: The content delivery network (CDN) known as Cloudflare is a service that we provide to our web hosting customers free of charge. We offer a knowledge base of tutorials that will teach you how to set up and get started with Cloudflare.
• SSL certificates: SSL certificate is a necessary add-on solution for any website, especially in terms of ramping up security. Using the right SSL certificate, site owners can make sure that their website data are encrypted while making themselves more trustworthy to their visitors.
• WHMCS hosting: Resellers looking to leverage A2 Hosting’s plans can take advantage of WHMCS since we also support hosting with this feature. You can learn everything from configuring OpenSRS access for WHMCS to ordering a WHMCS license with us.
• Domain and SSL reseller: Again, for resellers or those using managed VPS or managed dedicated server accounts, you can turn into an SSL or eNom domain reseller with A2 Hosting.
• Promotions: Promotional programs are available when you pick A2 Hosting as your web hosting services provider. You can even access a knowledge base containing information on programs for affiliates, refer-a-friend, and more.
• cPanel licensing: Dedicated, cloud VPS, and unmanaged VPS servers normally don’t have cPanel included in their accounts. With A2 Hosting, cPanel licensing in included with many of our plans.
• MailChimp account setup: We can help you sign up for a MailChimp account and teach you how to generate API keys. The latter should help you integrate MailChimp with your A2 Hosting website so you can manage your newsletters and drip campaigns easily.
• Dropmysite: The Dropmysite cPanel plugin lets you keep track of your websites and configure backups for your data. A2 Hosting will provide you with all of the resources you need to make the most of Dropmysite.
• Ordering a Blesta license: Looking to leverage Blesta for your website? A2 Hosting will guide you throughout the process so you can maximize your reseller hosting package with us.

Web Hosting Service Factor #5: Support

If you’ve found a web hosting provider that has the hardware, software, and features that you need, then the next logical step is to consider their support. Does your chosen provider have the expertise, equipment, and resources to ensure you get the best levels of service at all times?

Here are a few aspects to consider when it comes to support:

• Support level: When it comes to a host’s level of support, you need to consider the level of support your business website needs. For instance, do you require VPS, cloud hosting, or dedicated server support? What about WooCommerce or WordPress? Does your host offer help on those platforms? Are you looking for a managed plan where your host takes care of all of your backend server needs or looking to manage it yourself?
• Contact methods: The next aspect to consider is how your provider gets in touch with you in terms of support. Do they offer telephone and live chat or just email? Having an online support ticket system can be crucial, especially for business websites. A2 Hosting offers ticket, live chat, email, and phone calls 24/7/365!
• Ability to respond: Besides being able to contact them through multiple methods, you should also learn how quickly they can address your issue. In case your website goes down, you want to know how long before it gets back up so you can get back to business as soon as possible.
• How quickly they resolve issues: Similar to the above, resolution time is another thing to consider with your web hosting provider. Some hosts pass the concerns of their customers to third-party support providers, which can take several days to be resolved. You want to leverage the support services of a company that can resolve all of your issues themselves. At A2 Hosting we have an extensive in house support team, otherwise know as our guru crew.
• Operating times: Finally, you want to check and ensure your web host can provide around-the-clock support. 24/7 customer service is a must nowadays especially for website owners that can experience problems at any time of the day or night. That’s why A2 Hosting has someone there to help you 24/7/365!

At A2 Hosting, our web hosting services come with the highest levels of support you can expect from a premium provider. We are available to answer inquiries or resolve issues of our customers whenever they need us.

In case you want to learn more about our services, you can visit our support page that contains all of the information you need on various hosting solutions.

Which Level of Hosting Plan Is Right for You?

So which level of web hosting plan fits your needs? Consider the short overview below and click this link to take our free quiz!

Shared Web Hosting Plan

Our Shared Web Hosting plan is our most affordable hosting solution that lets you share resources such as disk space, data transfer, and processing power. It also comes with cPanel, server backups, and unlimited storage.

VPS Hosting Plan

On our VPS Hosting plans you share the same server with other sites, but you get to operate your account independently. This means you get your own allotted amount of resources! If you choose our managed plans back-end server maintenance is handled for you.

Dedicated Hosting Plan

Looking for a premium hosting solution? Our dedicated hosting plan means that you get the highest performance, best features, and a private server solely for all of your business website needs.

Conclusion

These are the most important aspects you should know about choosing a web hosting service. Following the tips provided in this post will help guide you in getting the right solution for your website.

If you have any questions about our web hosting services, contact our sales team today. Interested in finding out which plan is right for you? I encourage you to take our free quiz to help you decide!

The post Crucial Things to Know When Choosing Web Hosting Services appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Before we can decide when it’s time for you to upgrade, let’s first define these services.

What is a VPS?

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a server where resources are all allocated virtually. You share physical resources with other users on the server, but unlike shared hosting, your site gets dedicated resources in its virtual allocation.

For example, if the server has 16GB of RAM, your VPS might get 2GB of the 16GB of RAM. That 2GB is yours and no one else’s.

Resources are divided using a hypervisor to create virtual machines for each user on the server. This might sound confusing, but it’s most important to know that each account on the VPS is completely cut off from other accounts.

A VPS is like owning an apartment in a fourplex. You own your part of the building, but the other three apartments are owned by others. All of the resources in your apartment are yours, but you share the same building. 

What is a Bare Metal Dedicated Server?

A bare metal dedicated server is a server where you have the entire physical server dedicated to your website. In a VPS, you only get part of a server, but with a dedicated server, you get the whole thing! 

Using the housing analogy, a dedicated server is like owning your own house. No one else owns parts of it. It’s solely yours to do with as you please.

Now, Bare Metal Dedicated servers differ from traditional dedicated servers in a few ways. First, provisioning occurs within minutes of ordering. Gone are the days of waiting 24 hours for your dedicated server to get up and running. Also, higher-quality servers are used with top-of-the-line components.

Now that we know the basics of our VPS and Bare Metal Dedicated servers, we can discuss the main question of the article.

When Is It Time to Upgrade from a Virtual Private Server to Bare Metal Dedicated Hosting?

This is a frequently asked question and one that deserves answering. Typically, you want to upgrade from a VPS to a dedicated server when you’ve reached 70% of your total resource usage for RAM, disk space, CPU, and bandwidth combined. Why 70%? Because it’s better to be early than to be late. If you wait until your resources hit 100% total usage, you risk your server crashing or getting temporarily suspended until you upgrade. NOTE: We email you several notices warning you of resource uses once you get past 50% usage. We won’t suspend your account without warning and suggesting an upgrade.

There are, of course, other reasons you may want to upgrade to a bare metal dedicated server such as:

• Wanting to use an application or operating system that won’t support virtualization. 
• Expecting a surge in traffic during a certain time of the year. For example, some businesses need the extra power of a Bare Metal Dedicated Server during Black Friday.
• Not wanting to share a server with anyone else.

Suffice it to say, if you notice you’re not getting the same performance and you’re starting to see 70% resource usage on your account, it’s time to get an upgrade. Contact our sales team today if you’re not sure if you need to upgrade or not.

Related Resources:

• What Is a Bare Metal Dedicated Server? (And When Is It Right for You?)
• Bare Metal Dedicated Specs and Why They’re Important
• 13 Questions to Consider When Choosing a Bare Metal Dedicated Server
• A Guide to A2 Bare Metal Dedicated Hosting

The post When Is It Time to Upgrade from a Virtual Private Server to Bare Metal Dedicated Hosting? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Apache or Apache HTTP server is a top-rated open source web server software, commonly used by hosting providers as their web servers to host WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and many other CMS. Whether you are a hosting provider, a site administrator, or an owner of a site, web server errors are bound to happen. 

Logs are records of transactions or events of a particular application commonly stored as plain text files known as log files. If you face any web server issues, a log file is probably the first place to understand further what has gone wrong and tracing its route cause. This blog will give you an overview of Apache log files, how to access and interpret them, and either solve the error on your own or hand it to your support team for further assistance.

Apache Access Log

An Apache Access log stores information on the events that occurred in your  web server. A web server administrator can gain the following information from the Apache Access log and use them to understand the behaviour of user requests for the site:

• Incoming requests to your web server
• Users viewing and accessing your site
• Status of requests
• Request response times 

Apache Error Log

Error logs are considered the most important log file. An Apache Error Log records any errors in the webserver during the processing of requests, such as missing files or invalid requests. It also records the runtime errors of the Apache web servers. Information in the error log helps support teams or developers diagnose errors quickly.

Apache Log File Location

Apache server log files are stored in a separate folder, and their location depends on the operating system or hosting account type you are currently using.

View and Download Apache Logs for Hosting Accounts

Let’s look at the ways to access the Apache logs for different hosting types. Examples here refer to A2 hosting services; however, this guide applies to hosting providers with similar setups.

 For more information on accessing Apache logs for different hosting accounts, refer to this article.

Access Apache Logs in Shared or Reseller Hosting 

To access the Apache logs from a shared hosting account, use the cPanel dashboard to retrieve the access or error logs. To access the Apache access log, first, you need to download the Raw access log. A raw access log contains information on your site’s visitors in a plain format used to analyze its traffic.

Read more about how to configure and download the Apache access log for shared hosting in this article. 

Next, access the Metrics section on cPanel and click on Errors to show the last 300 entries in your error log.

Access Apache Logs in Managed Dedicated and VPS Hosting

If you are a Managed, Dedicated, or VPS Hosting user, you can use your cPanel to access the apache log files in the following directory: /usr/local/apache/logs/access_log. You can also use the Metrics section on cPanel for a one click access to your error log:

Access Apache logs on a Dedicated (Unmanaged)  and VPS Hosting

With Dedicated or VPS hosting, you have root access, and this allows you to access and manage the Apache logs files. All Log files are stored in the var/log/ directory. 

• Use  SSH and type the following command to view the last 100 lines of the Access log file:
  sudo tail -100 /etc/httpd/logs/access_log
• Use  SSH and type the following command to view the last 100 lines of the Access log file:

sudo tail -100 /etc/httpd/logs/error_log

How to Read the Apache Access Log

Now that you’ve learned how to access the error logs; this section will give an overview of how to interpret some parts of the access log. Download the access log file and open it using a text editor. You may also choose to format the log file output for readability. In this example, the log file is using the Combined Log Format, where it gives additional information for debugging purposes. Here are the fields on a single line in the access log file:

10.xx.xx.xx – – [30/Jul/2021:00:38:46 -0400] “GET /Joomla2/administrator/index.php?option=com_ajax&format=json HTTP/1.1” 200 60 “http://sarojini-test.com/Joomla2/administrator/index.php?option=com_menus&view=item&client_id=0&menutype=mainmenu&layout=edit” “Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/92.0.4515.107 Safari/537.36”

The Files Decoded:

• 10.xx.xx.xx – IP address of the client that made the request
• 30/Jul/2021:00:38:46 -0400] – Date and time of request
• GET /Joomla2/administrator/index.php?option=com_ajax&format=json HTTP/1.1″  – request type and resource being requested
• 200 – request type and resource being requested
• 60 – size of the object returned to the client
• http://saaaai-test.com/Joomla2/administrator/index.php?option=com_menus&view=item&client_id=0&menutype=mainmenu&layout=edit: HTTP represents the address from which the request for the resource originated.
• “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/78.0.3904.108 Safari/537.36” – The browser by client to access the resource access client request.

Conclusion

In summary, Apache log files are essential for a web administrator to understand events on their website and gain insights on visitor requests or runtime errors on Apache servers. More often than not, the error logs are commonly used and deemed vital as they can be used to understand the root cause of an error and help the support team resolve them quickly to avoid site downtime. There are many resources available on error logging, and if you are using cPanel, refer to this link to understand further on logging features using cPanel.

The post How to View and Analyze Apache Logs on Hosting Accounts appeared first on The A2 Posting.