One of the many site applications we offer is phpBB3, which claims to be “the most widely used open-source bulletin board system in the world.” Using phpBB3 you can create everything from large discussion forums to small game clan meeting rooms. It offers the tools necessary for moderation teams to maintain control of your site. A detailed permissions system also allows access to specific features as you see fit.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of phpBB3 is the ability to customize it by installing any of a number of available modifications. You’ll see a list of modifications later in the post, but first things first: Installation.

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I think it is safe to say that the majority of computer users, at one time or another, and to one degree or another, has had that moment where we wished we had made a backup of our files—but hadn’t. I don’t believe that an in-depth explanation is required to illustrate why this is a good idea, and that we can all agree that this is something that we should periodically do to avoid that “I wish I made a backup” moment.

While it may seem obvious that you would do this on your personal computer; the files on your Westhost account are no exception. It is just as easy to remove or overwrite a file or an entire directory on your Westhost account. The frequency in which you do this is going to depend on your site; you must decide on the regularity that you perform the backup. There are multiple ways that you can perform the backup of your site, the easiest and most popular method I will describe below.

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Even to most Internet professionals, the Apache web server software can be as perplexing as it is ubiquitous. Although not as comprehensive as the official 685-page documentation, this post outlines two useful features you can enable in the httpd.conf file to improve the performance of your web server: persistent connections and gzip compression.

Important note: An error in your Apache configuration can take all of your web sites offline. Please make a backup copy of the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file before you begin making modifications. Also remember that it is necessary to restart your account to apply either of the changes described below.

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In part one of customizing Zen Cart (found here) we covered changing the color scheme of your store to better fit your needs. In part two we will be discussing changing some of the main images that Zen Cart uses in the design.
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One of our more recent Site Application additions has been Zen Cart. This e-commerce solution has many robust features and this article will give some detailed information, giving you the ability to modify the cart with your own look and feel.
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To all Tomcat users out there, I’m sure many of you have had questions on how to get things up and running; questions like ‘Is Apache Tomcat the same thing as Tomcat?’, and ‘How do I get the :8080 to go away?’

What is Apache Tomcat?

Apache Tomcat and Tomcat are the same thing. Apache, in this case, is simply the parent project and does not refer to the Apache web server. Apache Tomcat acts as a servlet container that processes Java servlets/JSP pages. There are some specifications that can be made within the Apache web server to let Apache know whether or not to handle the request or pass it on to Tomcat for processing. These specifications are located in the mod_jk.conf (sometimes just jk.conf) file in the /etc/httpd/conf.d directory.

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Web hosting clients often find themselves transferring an existing domain as well as signing up for a new hosting account. In order to simplify the process, here are 3 easy steps to use as a guideline:

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Those of you who are familiar with WestHost know that we take great pride in our business model, especially as it relates to the personalized support we provide each of our clients. The service and support we offer is of such importance that we have always maintained the commitment to keeping that in-house. There have been times over the years where using an outsourced agency in another country would have provided some cost savings to our business. However, looking at the long-term affects of managing our support in-house, the benefits by far out weigh the costs.

This same philosophy of providing in-house support is shared by our parent company, UK2 Group. To read the recent press release about UK2’s in-house support, click here. Our experienced WestHost team is excited to assist with this consolidation by providing our in-house support to some of our partner brands. We are looking forward to the opportunity to work with new Web hosting clients from around the world!

With so many companies to choose from how do you know that you are going to get the most out of your dedicated hosting? You may be a new client trying to learn more about dedicated hosting with WestHost. Perhaps you are an existing client looking to upgrade to a dedicated server. You may have a dedicated server elsewhere that is not providing the highest standards. No matter what your unique situation is WestHost is confident in our ability to surpass your dedicated hosting needs. Among the list of priorities are:

• Server Reliability
• Top-notch Support Staff
• Competitive pricing

When it comes to server reliability don’t just take our word for it. We invite you to compare how WestHost has ranked among the worlds most reliable hosting providers by companies like Netcraft. Netcraft is widely considered one of the most reputable companies in the hosting industry in ranking out reliability amongst today’s top hosting providers. In November & December WestHost was at the top of the Netcraft list surpassing other hosting industry giants. How is this possible? It is simple; we make server uptime one of our top priorities and have a highly skilled support team backed by our state of the art data center. We stand behind our reputation by providing a solid SLA to our dedicated server clients.

WestHost is extremely proud of our internal support staff and their dedication in helping each client. We are not afraid to boast that we have one of the best teams in the Web hosting industry. Our team here is highly skilled and motivated in giving quick and convenient service. We are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and can be reached by phone, live chat, or e-mail. We use careful selection in getting the right people to join our growing team of support personnel. One of the big reasons our support staff is so successful is that they love what they do!

Despite the above mentioned reliability and support team our pricing is extremely competitive. A WestHost dedicated server is smart economics when you consider what you get for what you are paying for. We are however, always looking for ways to become more competitive by offering promotions that offer double the ram or reduced set-up fees. We believe that when you compare our size, reputation, and strength that dollar for dollar WestHost is the King of the Web hosting!

If you need dedicated server hosting the choice is simple. Contact our Sales department today or order online.

Many people have asked me how best to share a calendar between colleagues, between friends, husband and wife, offices in different locations, and some other cases where coordinating schedules is useful.

One solution that many are turning to is Google Calendar, which is a fantastic solution. It offers many features, including the ability to subscribe to your calendars from desktop applications. If your software supports iCal, you can subscribe to your Google Calendar by clicking on the calendar under My Calendars, and choosing Settings. In the window that appears, make sure that the Calendar Details tab is selected. At the bottom, you will see several buttons, one of which displays “ical” – there is a button for both “public” and “private”, which will show only your public events or all events (both public and private). Copy and paste the URL from this button into your calendar application.
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