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contents
JOB 2.0
ARCH
Job Search 2.0
E-mail, social networking, cell phones, BlackBerries, etc. have quickly become part of the 21st century way of life. But if you misuse these technologies in your job search, says Dr. Richard Bayer, you’ll be one click away from sinking your job hopes.
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1&1’s Lenexa, Kansas Data Center
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Understanding Search Engines Can Really Pay!
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5 Ways to Expand Your Business in 2009
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Rapid7’s NeXpose: Reshaping Security
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HostingCon 2009 Preview
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How to Stop an Outage From Becoming an Outrage
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Personal Best: Parallels Summit 2009
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Making Sense of Ranksense: SEO for the Rest of Us
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Ping! Zine Service Directory
054
Fun With Grammar Checking 2
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www.cpanel.net
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bits& bytes
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LeaseWeb First Hosting Provider to Install Child Porn Filter
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SoftLayer Awarded for Environmental Accomplishment
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The Planet Enters European Market with London Data Center
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1&1 Internet Surpasses Yahoo on Web Hosting
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Customer Satisfaction for E-Commerce Sites on the Decline
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Google News Suffers 14 Hour Search Error
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HostDime Opens Customer Support Facility
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Hacker Con Set for May, Teaches Human Hacking
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The US Dept. of Defense Has 42 Million Billion Billion Billion IPv6 Addresses
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sponsors 002 Rackmounts Etc. 005 cPanel
007 Bocacom
009 Bobcares 010 1&1
013 Relio
015 Jaguar PC
017 Hosting Panama 019 Gawkwire.com 023 Black Lotus 025 Sprynex
027 HostCareers 031 FastHosts
033 Seeks Admin 035 ArcherSEM
035 Press Advance
038 Web Host Bootcamp 040 HostingCon
043 Young Copy
043 WebHost Magazine 045 Parallels
051 Lionfire Solutions 055 Voxwire
056 Host Gator
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pING! ZINE Publisher Keith Duncan Managing Editor/Designer Derek Morris Executive Editor Robert Lang Senior Editor Dave Young Editorial Staff Features Editor Joe Whyte Technical Editor John Burmeister Commentary Editor David Dunlap Marketing Editor Trey Gardner Customer Service Editor Douglas Hanna Corresponding Editor Amy Armitage Headlines Editor Derek Vaughan Contributing Writers Tiara Rea Pingdom.com Steve Holford Dr. Richard Bayer Contact Information Duncan Publishing Group, LLC Post Office Box 516 Denham Springs, LA 70726 Phone (225) 791-3963 Website www.pingzine.com General Info info@pingzine.com Sales sales@pingzine.com Editor editor@pingzine.com Design design@pingzine.com
Ping! Zine Web Hosting Magazine © March-April 2009, Published and Copyrighted 2009 by Duncan Publishing Group, LLC, P.O. Box 516, Denham Springs, LA 70726. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce part or all of this issue must be secured in writing from the publisher. For more information email: info@ pingzine.com. I want to go golfing today. Want to go with me? Complementary subscriptions are at the discretion of the publisher and may be cancelled or modified at any time. Unsolicited submissions are welcome. We assume no liability for lost or damage of submissions. We assume no liability for the content of this issue or the economy and all points and ideas are strictly that of the writers involved and not that of the publisher, publishing company, printing company or editors. This issue is brought to you by Penny’s Cheese Pens, you can eat it, you can write with it, it’s Cheese! Penny’s Cheese Pens, ask for them by name.
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BITS &BYTES
LeaseWeb First Hosting Provider to Install Child Porn Filter The Dutch Ministry of Justice appreciates the initiative LeaseWeb has started to fight child porn online even before images are being published through websites. When the hash technology turns out to be effective, the Dutch Ministry of Justice will give a follow-up to LeaseWebs initiative by offering the technology to the market on a broad scale in cooperation with LeaseWeb. Other hosting providers in The Netherlands are then invited to follow the example of LeaseWeb and join the initiative. Traditional Approach “The hosting network of LeaseWeb, which runs more than 2 million websites, is one of the biggest hosting networks in Europe where ordinarily child porn subsequently is being removed,” says Alex de Joode, Security Officer of LeaseWeb. “Within the international hosting market in general these are normal procedures to fight cyber crime.” “In our network in 2007 however we noticed an increase of the amount of reports regarding child porn images,” says De Joode, also cofounder of European cyber crime hotline network INHOPE. “Reports which where mainly caused by so called upload websites, websites like Flickr. On these websites users can bring images online without the interference of website administrators. In 2008, fortunately the amount of reports has declined a bit, but still reports within the LeaseWeb network were substantial. For LeaseWeb this is unacceptable. With current investments in new technological solutions we hope to change the character of our working procedures to a more proactive approach. This way we hope to prevent child porn sensitive websites from being abused by distributors of child porn.” Proactive Approach “To fight child porn more effectively we weighed the possibilities of several innovative technologies in the market,” says De Joode. “With the introduction of hash technology we now hope to have found an adequate solution. Hash technology to my knowledge has not been used within this context before. The positive feedback we got from Dutch Ministry of Justice also gives us a positive feeling about the project.” At first, the implementation of a child porn filter for child porn sensitive websites concerns a pilot for a year. The pilot will be implemented at the website of one of
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LeaseWebs clients, one of the bigger upload websites being administrated within the LeaseWeb hosting network. This is a voluminous website with about 40 million images online, where users can upload images and share these with others. De Joode: “Our choice to use this customer for the pilot project has been a deliberate one, because as I said many reports are coming from websites like these. The client in question immediately gave a positive reaction on our proposal to start a pilot project with filtering on child porn.” With the initiative and accessory investments LeaseWeb will maintain its trendsetting position in the hosting market. De Joode: “We started this initiative 6 months ago and we think to have found the right solution at this moment. We will develop the filtering solution furthermore, offer it to other clients who have these upload websites as well, but when we are satisfied with the solution we will offer it to the broad hosting market, free to use. Combating child porn on the internet is a necessary thing to which we are more than willing to contribute.” Finger Prints on Images The hash technology LeaseWeb has chosen is called MD5. The technology is capable of adding digital finger prints (hashes) to undesirable images. A database with finger prints of undesirable images subsequently checks whether there is a ‘match’. If so, the applicable image is blocked from being put online.” At first LeaseWeb is going to use the database of the Swedish company NetClean (www.netclean.com), a company that runs the ‘hash database’ of the Swedish police commercially, to feed the hash database of LeaseWeb so child porn images can be traced and blocked from being put online. LeaseWeb is in close consultation with Justice Department and police amongst others to examine whether and how hash databases from Dutch police could be used in this project as well. “Most of the time it’s the same images that emerge on the internet over and over again,” says De Joode. “With this technology we hope to stop this continuous circulation of child porn images. By using more than one database from several relevant parties within this pilot we expect to maximize the effects.” | Gawkwire.com
SoftLayer Awarded for Environmental Accomplishment Metro Foam Recycling has awarded SoftLayer Technologies a certificate for having recycled more than 12,000 pounds of foam material in 2008. The material was recycled through a partnership between the two companies; Metro Foam recycles all of the foam packaging material from SoftLayer’s new server shipments, greatly reducing the amount of waste that would go into a landfill. “We are proud to have reached this milestone in our efforts to reduce our impact on the environment. We believe it’s our responsibility as global corporate citizens to do all we can,” said Roy Rushe, SoftLayer Facilities Manager. “We will continue to actively seek partnerships and innovative ways to reduce our environmental footprint.” SoftLayer maintains a number of practices and programs for optimizing its environmental efficiency. In addition to
the partnership with Metro Foam, SoftLayer collaborated with Supermicro, the company’s exclusive server provider, to create a reduced server packaging material program. The program minimizes the amount of packaging used for shipping servers to SoftLayer’s data centers nationwide and eliminates the production of unnecessary components and user guides. EPA figures suggest that electronics production and disposal amounts to approximately 2% of municipal solid waste. Improving the recyclability of all materials related to IT is critical to reducing the environmental impact of data centers. | Gawkwire.com
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BITS &BYTES
The Planet Enters European Market with London Data Center The data center features up to 20kW of power per rack, backed by N+1 redundancy on generators, transformers and UPS systems. Customers gain access to a 10GB private fiber interconnect to The Planet’s core network through its Ashburn, Va., data center, as well as local connectivity to Tier-1 providers and the major European peering exchanges. “For the past 18 months, we’ve evaluated international markets that are of strategic importance to our planned global expansion, and Europe has been at the forefront of those discussions,” said The Planet’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Erwin. “We’ve had serious customer interest, which underscored that the time was right to move forward. “We’ve made substantial investments in our data centers and our network over the past two years, including the recent addition of new peering points on the East and West Coasts of the United States. Our storage cloud and CDN products also provide global access points. With 42 percent of our customers located in international markets, we expect considerable interest in this new operation.” The Planet has forged a colocation agreement with Londonheadquartered TelecityGroup, which operates 20 networkindependent data centers across seven European countries. Procedures in the new facility comply with ISO 9001:2000, which benchmarks quality processes for data center operations and management. TelecityGroup is highly regarded for both its premium data centers and operational expertise. It is also taking the lead in driving energy efficiency in the data center in Europe as the first data center operator to sign up to the new “EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres.” It is also a member of the Green Grid. “The Planet has established a strong reputation for delivering high quality, reliable hosting and Web services,” said Adriaan Oosthoek, Managing Director for TelecityGroup UK and Ireland. “I’m delighted that TelecityGroup will play a crucial role in supporting The Planet’s roll out into Europe, by hosting and maintaining their infrastructure in our new highly resilient and secure Powergate data centre. We continue to be the data centre of choice for leading U.S. businesses expanding into Europe.” In December, The Planet announced plans for its seventh data center, a new 86,000 square foot colocation facility in Dallas. The first phase will open in May 2009. | Gawkwire.com
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1&1 Internet Surpasses Yahoo on Web Hosting According to WebHosting.Info’s domain rankings Web hosting company 1&1 surpassed Yahoo as the fourth largest US web host based. 1&1 has labeled it an important milestone, after five years of business in the US. Since their US inception 1&1, has been called one of the most aggressive web hosts, dramatically dropping standard industry prices. 1&1 was able to leverage economies of scale to offer their services and products across the globe in order to be competitive within the individual markets. This translated to substantial growth in the US market with more than 700,000 US customers to date. Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet Inc., said, “We are thrilled with 1&1’s continued success in the US market, topping a giant like Yahoo only happens with true perseverance. When launching in the US we knew that becoming a leader in this industry would be no small feat, but we’ve tailored our services to deliver packages that allow individuals to achieve success on the Web.” | David Dunlap
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BITS &BYTES
Customer Satisfaction for E-Commerce Sites on the Decline University of Michigan and ForeSee’s annual e-commerce satisfaction report detailed consumer’s declining satisfaction with the shopping experience provided by online e-commerce sites. From 2007 to 2008 the total satisfaction dropped by 2% to a grand total of 80% for average e-commerce vendors. Researchers believe this drop has little to do with overall satisfaction and more to do with economic conditions making customers less tolerant of small problems.
HostDime Opens Customer Support Facility
Among online stores, eBay dropped the largest (a drop of 4%) to an all time low of 78 points. Researchers attribute these drops to the increase in competition and the challenge these companies are bringing to bare on eBay. Amazon also dropped in satisfaction by one point.
HostDime opened a dedicated customer support facility in Orlando, adjacent to the campus of the University of Central Florida. HostDime plans to add about 20 jobs in the next few months to help it reduce average response time for support requests.
Not all retailers dropped in satisfaction. Newegg and Netflix both increased their satisfaction scores by one point from 2007. | David Dunlap
Located adjacent to the campus of the University of Central Florida, the new office is about 10 miles east of the company’s international headquarters in downtown Orlando. The close proximity to UCF enables the company to continue to draw on its close relationship with the school and hire UCF students and graduates as interns and full time employees.
Google News Suffers 14 Hour Search Error Although Google did not say what had caused a massive problem with their Google News service, they did acknowledge that there was a problem that last 14 hours. Users reported that they were unable to get any search results in Google News for such search terms as “Microsoft” and “Google.” No error messages were given, only a blank results. Other users reported that whole sections of news were coming up empty. Articles found in the Science/ Technology section for example where missing or returning empty stories. Still others received error messages. These error messages stated, “Please try again shortly. We apologize that this section is currently unavailable.” This is not the first glitch Google has had to handle in the past few months. In December, Google had technical problems with Google Talk and Gmail. In November, Google Apps suffered outages. At the end of January, Google’s search engine had a problem with a “/” which led the popular search tool to label every site as potentially harmful. | David Dunlap
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HostDime’s new office has capacity for up to 50 employees, which will include 20 new hires in the next several months. Other employees will be relocated from the downtown office. The additional employees will help the company reach a goal of offering an average response time of no more than 15 minutes on all customer support requests. “Our company is taking a mission-critical approach to customer support, even for customers with small hosting plans,” said Emmanuel Vivar, HostDime CEO. “The addition of a dedicated customer support facility will enable to us offer a higher level of service to all customers. We are also proud to create highquality jobs in Central Florida at a time when so many companies are handing out pink slips.” | Gawkwire.com
Hacker Con Set for May, Teaches Human Hacking Gartner reported in 2004 that the greatest security risk over the next 10 years will be the increasingly sophisticated use of Social Engineering (SE) to bypass IT security defenses. Most have seen the proliferation of SE attacks especially when it comes to phishing and its many variants. And with many high profile cases like Paris Hilton’s cell phone, Sarah Palin’s email account, Madoff’s ponzi scheme and the campaigns of both Obama and McCain being compromised, the predictions are proving to be correct. This leads security professionals into a new world of attacks against which many are not prepared to defend. People are now the target of the advanced hacker, and the cross-hairs are focused squarely on their foreheads... literally. It is only a matter of time before corporations feel the pain of wetware hacking requiring a new approach to testing and defense. There currently is no training that tightly integrates computer security with SE... until now. So in addition to the highly technical content for which ChicagoCon is known, this biannual security event is introducing a completely original and relevent 5-Day course, the Social Engineering Master Class, developed and taught by world-renowned social engineers, Chris Nickerson of TruTV’s Tiger Team and noted expert and international speaker, Mike Murray. Donald C. Donzal, Editor-in-Chief of The Ethical Hacker Network, said, “Social Engineering has been around for all of human existence and most everyone acknowledges its effectiveness. But no one has taken strides to teach the existing InfoSec community on the hows and whys of incorporating electronically-assisted social engineering attacks into auditing their own organizations much less bolstering their User Awareness Training. With the expertise of Nickerson and Murray at ChicagoCon, corporate security postures will be way ahead of the curve for a true business advantage.” ChicagoCon is a security event with 2 distinct components, training and a conference, both of which have a focus on Ethical Hacking. Ethical Hacking is defined as using the same tools and techniques as the bad guys in order to protect your own systems. The Spring Edition is set for May 2009. And without an exhibit hall full of vultures, the attendees are free to learn from the pros and network with peers to advance their practical knowledge and ultimately their careers. | Gawkwire.com
BITS &BYTES
The US Dept. of Defense has 42 million billion billion billion IPv6 addresses Just as it did with IPv4, the US Department of Defense has managed to get its hands on a huge chunk of the addresses of its successor, IPv6. The US DoD has a /13 IPv6 block (the smaller the number, the larger the block). No one else in the world is even close to that. The next-largest block after that is a /19 block (which is already huge). In other words the DoD owns a block 64 times larger than anyone else’s. But just wait until you see how many IP addresses that really is. (Ok, the headline kind of gives it away, but we’ll expand on that.) So, how many IP addresses is that? A /13 block contains 2^115 IPv6 addresses. That is 42 million billion billion billion addresses, or put another way: 42 followed by 33 zeros. 42,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 We had to look up what a number that large is actually called: 42 decillion. That was a new one for us… Further perspective on how large the US DoD IP block is It can be hard to properly picture such a large number, so here are a few examples to give you some perspective. (Hint, 42 decillion is a positively ginormous number.) •If you stacked that many US dollar coins on top of each other, the stack would be 84 billion billion billion km high (52 billion billion billion miles). •The height of that stack of dollar coins would be 88 billion times the diameter of the Milky Way. •If the US DoD added one new device every second and each got its own IP address, they wouldn’t run out until 1.3 billion billion billion years from now. We recalculated these numbers three times. They simply seemed too insanely large at first. Looks like the DoD won’t have a shortage of IP addresses anytime soon… And you can add to this that they already own a huge chunk of the IPv4 address space. Who owns the largest IPv6 blocks? For the curious, here is a list of the largest IPv6 blocks on the Internet today and who owns them: The largest IPv6 blocks on the Internet Owner United States Department of Defense (DoD) France Telecom Deutsche Telecom Korea Telecom SoftbankBB IPv6 Network Australian Government Department of Defense InterBusiness TeliaSonera Telstra Internet Cable & Wireless Telecommunication Services Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation HiNet Taiwant Polish Telecom
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Block size /13 /19 /19 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /20 /21 /21 /21 /21
Number of IP addresses 4.2E+34 6.5E+32 6.5E+32 3.2E+32 3.2E+32 3.2E+32 3.2E+32 3.2E+32 3.2E+32 1.6E+32 1.6E+32 1.6E+32 1.6E+32 | Pingdom.com
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bY dr. richard bayer
J O B 2.0
SEARCH
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Nine Lessons in Technological Etiquette for 21st Century Job Seekers
E-mail, social networking, cell phones, BlackBerries, etc. have quickly become part of the 21st century way of life. But if you misuse these technologies in your job search, says Dr. Richard Bayer, you’ll be one click away from sinking your job hopes. It’s bad enough that you’ve lost your job. It’s even worse knowing you must compete with a glut of talented unemployed folks who’ve also hit the “recession jackpot.” But if your first impulse upon getting the ax is to run home and e-mail, text, and “friend” every potential employer you can think of, slow down. Technology is a job hunter’s friend—but only if you use it correctly, says Dr. Richard Bayer. Break the unspoken rules of job search techno-etiquette and all you’ll accomplish is getting your virtual résumé dragged into the trash. “How you use technology speaks volumes about your skills, your style, your ability to connect with future employers, and your manners,” says Bayer, Chief Operating Officer of The Five O’Clock Club (www.fiveoclockclub.com), the nation’s premier career coaching network, and author of The Good Person Guidebook: Transforming Your Personal Life (Five O’Clock Books, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-944054-16-1, $14.95). “The devices you use, when and how you use them, and the content of your messages send subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, signals to a prospective employer that can improve or derail your chances of getting an interview and ultimately landing the job.” As COO of The Five O’Clock Club, Bayer knows all about helping people navigate this complicated job market. His is the only career program in which members meet with professional coaches and peers on a weekly basis in a friendly, club-type format. It offers small group career coaching across the U.S. and Canada. “Here’s the bottom line,” says Bayer. “Use the technologies available—like Facebook and other social networking sites, e-mail, and your BlackBerry—in the correct way at the correct time and you can immensely improve your chances of getting a job in this crowded market. Use them inappropriately and you risk coming off as arrogant, insensitive, immature, or just careless.”
Here are a few suggestions on proper new technology etiquette for job hunters. Make your first impression the old-fashioned way.
In an age where e-mailing and texting seem to be the preferred methods of communication, it may come as a surprise that snail mail is actually the best way to get recognized by hiring managers. But when you consider that all businesspeople get too much e-mail and spam these days, it makes perfect sense. When hiring managers get an unsolicited e-mail that they don’t recognize, they may well hit “delete” without ever opening it, says Bayer. The solution? Drop your letter and résumé in the mailbox—yes, the actual mailbox. “Snail mail allows you to take advantage of paper quality, résumé design, and appealing typefaces so that the package you are sending is more like a printed marketing piece than a quick solicitation,” says Bayer. “This will differentiate you from
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other candidates. Compare it to e-mail, which is filtered so the appearance of your cover letter and résumé is at the mercy of settings on the Web, on the corporate network, and on the recipient’s computer. This triple-filtering means there is no guarantee that the HR person or the hiring manager will see what you sent the way you intended it to be seen. “Postal mail gives you the best chance to shape the initial impression and the best odds of getting your message delivered,” he adds. “And for many recipients, yours may be the only personally addressed mail they actually get that day!”
E-mail is best for follow-up and networking.
E-mail is generally viewed as acceptable for communication after a meeting. It’s fine for when you want to send a link to showcase your work or indicate a relevant article reflecting the content of your conversation. But important follow-ups should always be sent by snail mail as well, to assure that the formatting will be correct and the letter won’t get lost in cyberspace. E-mail is also ideal for contacting someone recommended by a member of your network. Put the person’s name in the subject line (e.g., “Bob Smith Suggested That I Contact You”) to be sure you are not automatically deleted. “Remember that you should spend just as much time crafting your e-mail as you would a traditional letter,” says Bayer. “E-mails are often scanned or read quickly, and they are easily misinterpreted. Many readers pay less than 100 percent attention and seek the key words or phrases, so they miss a nuance or a key point. This can hurt a job seeker who chooses words haphazardly or doesn’t carefully consider how to frame a message.”
When following up after a job interview:
Think strategy! In the old days, the question for job hunters was, “Should I follow up by phone or letter?” Today, they likely ask, “Should I follow up by phone or e-mail?” Actually, the issue of follow-up is far more complex than which mode of communication you plan to use. Your routine should also involve thinking and strategizing about what form of follow-up will be best for the organization or person you will be contacting. “Hiring decisions are made very quickly these days,” says Bayer. “That is why at the Five O’Clock Club in general we advise that you send an e-mail follow-up and also mail a copy of your follow-up influence letter. Also, at the end of your interview or phone interview, always ask your interviewer how they prefer to be contacted. This will allow you to use the best method for him or her and will help you avoid stepping on any toes. Most interviewees can pick up from their interviewer what kind of communication is or is not acceptable. Regardless, if you keep your follow-up courteous, gracious, and respectful, you should be okay.”
Use mobile devices only in a pinch.
For too many of us in the fast-paced 21st century world, our cell phones and other portable communication devices are like our high-tech appendages. But when it comes to your job hunt, it’s time to amputate! “Many people type rapidly and badly with their thumbs on BlackBerries and similar devices,” says Bayer. “The typical mobile message has at least two typos in it because it’s composed in a hurry, and in quick reaction to an inbound e-mail. And the tone tends to be terse or glib and subject to misinterpretation. If you want to appear thoughtful, insightful, or expert, know that the mobile device may undercut your credibility. If you must use it, the general rule about e-mail holds: Always proofread!”
To sell yourself to potential employers, don’t “cell” yourself.
We all use cell phones so we all know the drawbacks. Sound quality and consistent transmission are iffy, and background noise is ubiquitous. So The Five O’Clock Club recommends that you never use a cell phone for telephone interviews or other phone communication, even if it’s just a cursory screening interview. The interviewer could easily miss words, lose the tone of your voice, or not hear your emphasis on a critical question. And you may not be able to communicate energy or enthusiasm without shouting. “Use your cell phone to set up or change an appointment, to call ahead if you are running late, or to get in touch quickly with a recruiter,” says Bayer. “If you’re a younger job applicant and don’t have a landline, make sure you are in a place where
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Table of Contents
you know you have consistently great cell phone reception and schedule your interview for a time when you can be in a quiet location. Also, always carry a pen and a pad with you so that you can easily write down any information you’re given. Asking your interviewer to e-mail you information is a huge no-no.”
Don’t call your interviewers on their cells, either.
Never make an initial or introductory call to a hiring manager’s cell phone, even if you manage to get the number. In contrast to landlines, everyone still perceives their mobile phones as private as their home phones. It is the ultimate intrusion—the ultimate audio spam—to receive an unsolicited call from a job hunter on one’s cell phone. The same holds true for instant messaging. It virtually guarantees a negative result. “Remember the Seinfeld notion that only second-class communications take place on cell phones,” says Bayer. “The person you are calling may think, ‘Does he/she think I’m not worth a real phone call?’ It’s an unnecessary risk that just isn’t worth taking.”
For first-time communication, always avoid IM, Internet directories, and social networks.
Instant messaging is a permission-based concept. People invite others of their choosing to interrupt them with instant messages. Rarely are job candidates invited to use this technology by prospective employers. Seeking out and finding a hiring manager via IM is considered extremely rude and intrusive and should be off-limits to job seekers. The same holds true for social networking. “Even though the Internet enables you to search out an individual using directory tools or through social networks, it is not acceptable to approach future employers using these tools,” says Bayer. “There is a work/life dividing line. Unless someone explicitly invites you to check out their MySpace or Facebook page or contact them through a social network—don’t.”
“Network” through LinkedIn and other sites.
LinkedIn.com provides you with a 21st century way to build up your professional network. Just as you should consider other passive techniques such as contacting search firms and answering ads, LinkedIn should be on your list of job searching strategies. “When job hunters use LinkedIn, they are simply putting themselves out there,” says Bayer. “But remember, for LinkedIn to work, someone has to contact you. Use these passive techniques and then get on with your real search.”
Always use your best judgment.
This may not seem like much advice at all. But the reality is there are just too many factors that go into creating a successful job hunt strategy for there to be the same hard and true advice for every candidate. In other words, says Bayer, there are always occasions where it’s okay, or even advisable, to break the rules. “When it comes down to it, you must assess the risks of your decisions and do what is right for you,” says Bayer. “If you receive consistently positive responses to the e-mails you send to interviewers, then e-mail away. If you trust your cell phone and don’t like the idea of waiting around all day by your landline for a prospective employer to call, then put your cell number on your résumé. Use trial and error to find out what is and isn’t working in your job search and eventually you will create a sound strategy that will steer you toward great opportunities.” “No matter what form of communication you are using, in the professional world there will always be a right and a wrong way to use it,” says Bayer. “Realizing that and carefully considering your options in any given situation is the best way to successfully navigate the crowded job market.” P! Writer's Bio: Dr. Richard Bayer is an ethicist and economist and COO of The Five O’Clock Club, a national career coaching and outplacement organization. He is a frequent guest on radio and TV, having appeared on the Today Show, CNN, Good Day New York, and in Fortune magazine, Bloomberg News, and other major media. Dr. Bayer has a background of 22 years of teaching at the University level in economics and ethics. He has authored a book on labor economics (Georgetown University Press, 1999), 18 articles in scholarly journals, and numerous popular essays on topics concerning ethics.
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bY dave young
DATA CENTER DOSSIER
1&1’s Lenexa, Kansas Data Center Now ranked the fourth largest web hosting company in the world, 1&1 Internet is climbing the charts to dominate a global expansion as a leading provider in web hosting products and services. With headquarters in Germany, 1&1 recently made its entrance to the US by opening a once warehouse turned state-of-the-art data center in Lenexa, Kansas.
Beyond the grand opening
1&1 held its Lenexa, Kansas data center grand opening on October 4, 2008. Although the data center had been up and running for over a year, guests and media were invited to tour the 54,000 square foot facility. Lenexa is known for having some of the most violent tornados in the Midwest, but 1&1 spent millions making sure the facility can withstand the strongest winds and tornados. Visitors at the grand opening witnessed first-hand one of the many unique aspects of the facility. Lenexa’s servers are racked in cabinets with clear fronts, so instead of cooling the entire data center, air circulating close to the servers is cooled. In addition, cabinets are paired in rows and cooled by a column of circulating air between the two rows. Lenexa says the cooling system allows for efficient cooling while saving energy by maintaining air conditioning in only the most needed areas. continued
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Strong on the outside, cool on the inside
Now with over 700,000 customers in the US alone, 1&1’s new Lenexa facility boasts an impressive atmosphere for hosting the most sophisticated technology. What’s most impressive about the Lenexa facility is the infrastructure. Thick walls of concrete, reinforced with steel, protect the building from strong winds. In fact, the Lenexa facility is reinforced with two sets of concrete walls and a steel roof with a solid mass of concrete sitting on top. On the inside, the data center has four-foot raised floors, and a next-generation cooling system, make the Lenexa data center an ideal environment for over 40,000 servers. A 2+1 redundant system consisting of three chiller plants, powered by two high powered 8.800KW cooling units, circulates cold air through the raised floors. The 2+1 redundancy means that two of these three plants are sufficient to cool the entire data center.
More power, longer uptime
If Lenexa’s main source of power fails, two 3,600 horsepower diesel generators produce enough electricity to keep the facility running for six to seven days. Without the generators, the facility would be vulnerable to significant downtime should power lines break due to natural disasters. To keep the generators operating at optimal levels, engineers simulate a power outage once a month. At 2,250kW of electricity produced per generator, these mammoth diesel machines are capable of powering all 40,000 servers and then some. In addition to powerful generators, the Lenexa facility has redundant backbone routing systems from two different vendors. 1&1 says having redundant backbone routing from more than one vendor provides additional security against vulnerabilities in case one vendor falls victim to software bugs. A 20 Gbps metropolitan area network (MAN) consisting of two redundant 10
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Gbit connections sends data between servers and the Internet. Although Lenexa is prone to tornados, Kansas City is still a safehaven for the facility due to fewer blackouts. Additionally, the Lenexa location provides equal latency between the East and West coasts.
Going green with renewable energy credits
In its quest to rank number one, 1&1 goes green with the Lenexa facility by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (www.b-e-f.org) to offset CO2 emissions. Renewable Energy Credits allow companies to support alternative, environmentally friendly power, such as wind or solar power, in areas that do not offer alternative solutions directly. 1&1 will need all that power to keep their double-redundancy systems online. The company boasts that their fail-safes have fail-safes including backup generators, dual routers, gel battery power banks, cooling systems, and multiple hard drives – all designed to keep the facility’s 40,000 servers running regardless of tornados, twisters, and other extreme external conditions.
Looking into the future
1&1 provides Internet Protocol version 6 (Ipv6) to approximately 1% of its customers. The company says customers prefer to use Ipv4, but have the option to move to Ipv6 in the future. Moving to Ipv6 provides more flexibility in routing traffic due to the addition of IP addresses within the network.
Facts and figures you should know
Every hosting company wants to have the latest in technological advances and claim to be state-of-the-art, but 1&1 takes modern to the next level.
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Size and Capacity: · 54,000 square feet · Five server rooms · 860 racks · Capacity for at least 40,000 servers Strength and Security: · Two sets of mason walls (each room is a building within a building) · 2nd steel reinforced roof with a concrete layer · Redundant utility feeds · Redundant backup diesel generators · Redundant uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems · Building access protected by multi-layer authentication and multiple 24/7 security cameras Electrical Rooms: · Electrical rooms house the power distribution infrastructure, transformers, automatic transfer switches, static switches and the UPS systems · The UPS is connected to battery power banks, which are housed in a separate room. · Static switches change to a redundant UPS in case a regular UPS fails Network Room: · Two separate rooms provide secure and diverse space for redundant routing systems of different vendors · Data continuously transports back and forth between servers and high speed 20 Gbps Internet connection · Data streams at up to 100 Mbps (dedicated servers) and up to 1000 Mbps for other high traffic servers (e.g. mail servers). Customer servers are protected from external intrusions by redundant firewall systems
· Pump Room · Rooms contain the mechanical systems (e.g. redundant secondary pumps) connecting the outside cooling infrastructure via a pipe system with the CRAC units inside the data center · Three pump rooms form a 2+1 redundancy system · State-or-the-art fire detection and prevention systems include a very early smoke detection, an FE-25 gas-type extinguishing system, and a double interlock pre-action sprinkler system Chiller Area: · Three (2+1 redundancy) chiller plants – each having their own and separate piping system – provide a continuous flow of a chilled water/glycol mixture to CRAC units · Chiller plants have redundant primary pumps · The initial capacity of each plant is 300 tons · The capacity can be doubled by adding a second chiller per plant · Generator Areas · Two generator systems each supply up to 2250 KW in case of a utility outage. The 3rd and redundant generator can supply up to 2500 KW in preparation of future bigger generators for the future electrical rooms. · Two independent automatic transfer switch systems constantly monitor the utility feeds and automatically start the generators in case of an outage · Two more generator systems are planned for the future as the power demand rises in the data center With nearly 8 million customers worldwide, over 700,000 in the US alone, you can see why 1&1 is climbing the charts to the top position. As they continue to dominate the hosting industry with multiple full page ads in magazines and thousands of banner impressions across the Internet, 1&1 will continue to push into new countries until they reach the number one spot. Keep your eye on 1&1 in the coming years and watch one of the most impressive marketing strategies unfold. P!
Writer’s Bio: Dave Young is a professional writer, marketing consultant, SEO guru, and founder of Young Copy, a leading promotional and technical writing services firm. Visit www.youngcopy.com to learn how you can boost your company’s revenues. Ping! Zine magazine | 029
bY steve holford
Understanding Search Engines Can Really Pay! As our gateways to the Web, Internet Search Engines are the most commonly used websites for the majority of UK web surfers. Fasthosts’ recently conducted research of 1600 consumers that found that 97 percent of those questioned frequently use Internet search engines to find businesses. Interestingly, there are slight geographical variations in our reliance upon search engines. Some 12 percent of Belfast citizens report having never used a search engine to find a retailer as opposed to only 2 percent of more search-centric Londoners. In general, consumers were rather in the dark about how search engines work. Some 71 percent of web users are unaware of how search results are compiled. A main conclusion was that British consumers have significantly more trust in main search results over additional sponsored listings. Paidfor links appear to be viewed by many shoppers with suspicion. 1 in 3 of us (33 percent) believe these listings to be ‘less worthy’ and ‘less useful’ than main search results. It would appear that Britons know what they like, and they like regular organic search results. Two thirds of web users (66 percent) report that they always pay attention first to main results, and some 40 percent of women and 34 percent of men will consciously ignore sponsored links whenever they appear. Eastern and central parts of England appear the most sceptical towards sponsored listings, with 45 percent of Norwich residents and 43 percent of people from Nottingham refusing to click on them, as compared to only 12 percent from Belfast. The data would suggest that it has never been so important for UK businesses to be submitting their websites to search engines to be optimizing their rankings. There is clearly no worse scenario than investing thousands in a beautiful website that is effectively invisible to the public. However, Fasthosts latest ‘Online Search For Business Survey’ (of 405 businesses with a website) found that many businesses are failing to leverage search engines as well as they should. On the positive side, this research does suggest that the number of companies submitting their websites to search engines has grown significantly in recent years. The proportion of UK businesses that currently do not submit their websites to search engines has fallen from 68 percent in 2005 and 49 percent in 2006 to only 17 percent today. Furthermore, over two thirds of business owners (69 percent) do recognize that consumers rely upon search engines to find many of the businesses that they use. Companies now appear to understand that inclusion within search engine rankings is important. continued 030 | Ping! Zine magazine
Top 5 Tips for tackling SEO 1: Choose one main keyword per page Search engines understand what a particular web page is about by reviewing the frequency of words and phrases in its content. By choosing one main keyword or short phrase for each page on your website, you can encourage search engines to associate the page with that phrase. 2: Increase the Keyword Density for each page Search engines expect the keyword or phrase on each web page to make up 6 – 10% of its content. The frequency of the keyword or phrase is called the Keyword Density. For example, if your page has 100 words and your keyword appears 6 times, you have a Keyword Density of 6%. Beware - if the Keyword Density is too high, search engines may consider the page to be spam and penalize your website in search results. 3: Use HTML tags to emphasise your keywords Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of an <h1> HTML tag is not to tell web browsers to use a large, bold font – it is used to indicate that this is the most important text on your page. Web browsers will just display it in a large font by default, because it is important. Search engines decide which words and phrases are the most important on your page, based on the HTML tags you use. The most important tags to include are the <title> which sets the title in the browser bar and should always include your keyword; <h1> (which should only appear once and should also always use your keyword) and <h2>, ideal to emphasise supporting words that are similar to your keyword or phrase. 4: Include Meta tags in your website using your keyword or phrase Meta tags contain additional information about your web page. Placing them in the HTML for each web page helps search engines to associate the page with your chosen keyword or phrase, without displaying the additional information on the page itself. The most important Meta tags are "keywords" and "description". The description is often the text you see displayed in search results. 5: Submit your website to all major search engines To give your website a good chance of being included in search results, you need to submit it to all major search engines. Various tools can submit a website to search engines worldwide and guarantee a Google listing. Once you’ve submitted your website, most search engines will look for a file called "robots.txt" in the main directory of your website. This tells search engines which parts of your website that you want them to include in their index. If your website does not have a robots.txt file, search engines will assume that you’d like the entire site to be indexed.
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However, the data also found that 40 percent of business owners today are unaware of how search results are compiled. Around 1 in 5 owners surveyed (19 percent) were under the impression that the order of search results cannot be influenced by the publishers of websites such as themselves. Thus, it is perhaps unsurprising that 1 in 3 UK companies (35 percent) still do not make any efforts to optimize their search engine rankings, making their businesses more difficult to find online as a result. When this figure is combined with the 17 percent still absent from search engines, a very alarming half of all British businesses are not benefiting from ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ (SEO) – a vital commercial practice in 2009. In light of consumers’ undisputed reliance on organic search results, it is remarkable that so many businesses have remained on the sidelines. In a challenging economic climate, no business can afford to hand over sales to a more clued-up competitor. Research suggests that widespread confusion amongst business owners over the cost and time involved with SEO could be a possible reason for their neglecting the issue. A third of owners (33 percent) surveyed believe that it would not be possible to implement any optimisation themselves using an SEO tool. 1 in 5 owners (22 percent) believe that it would be ‘challenging’ or ‘impossible’ to achieve any improvement of their rankings themselves. Furthermore, two thirds of companies (68 percent) over-estimated the cost of optimizing their rankings, with 40 percent over-estimating the cost of an SEO tool by at least 3 times. Whilst understandably, many businesses will be reluctant to make large investments, the business case for SEO solutions is impressive to say the least. From only £100 a year, a company can implement a solution that will ensure much improved rankings. By knowing how and why results are ordered, business owners can far better leverage search engines to achieve sales. With some simple steps, it is very possible for business owners to take control of their search engine optimisation. Today, there are various tools available that will submit a business website to hundreds of search engines worldwide and guarantee a Google listing. The tools will also generate detailed monthly reports that can provide excellent insights when defining an online marketing strategy. Search engines comprise an invaluable link between consumers and businesses. By understanding broadly how Internet search engines function and grasping the basics of SEO, any company can transform their visibility on the Web. SEO comprises an excellent means to reduce marketing expenditure and increase visitor traffic. In the coming months, more businesses will turn to the Internet as a swift and cost-effective way to expand their sales and lead generation. In addition to the loud noise of large corporates’ online campaigns, many smaller players will be heard more clearly by optimizing their place in search results. Research lends much weight to the theory that SEO should now be a top priority for many UK firms. It could well become their best investment this year. P!
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Guide to using HTML Title Tags Using H tags effectively will not only improve your SEO, but also the structure and accessibility of your web content. H tags are used to denote section titles in your content. <H1> tags are normally used for the title of the content and then lower H tags (such as <H2> and <H3>) are used for subheaders. 1. Use H1 to H6 – HTML has six heading elements: <H1> through to <H6>. Use <H1> for your main page heading, then <H2> for sub-headings and so on, where necessary. 2. Prioritize your content – Search engines view the <H1> tag as the most important title of the page and then go down to <H2>, <H3> and so on. This means that you should always ensure your <H1> tag contains your most important keywords and that your <H2> tag contains your secondary keywords. 3. Match your H1 tag to your page title – It’s good practice to have your <H1> tag at the top of your web page and to include the same important search content as your title tag. This highlights to search engines – and potential visitors – exactly what your page is about. 4. Don’t overuse H1 tags – If <H1> tags are so important, why not add lots of them? Don’t risk it: just use one <H1> tag with your most important content and then use as many <H2> and <H3> tags as you need alongside your content. 5. Think about your target users – All good SEO comes from thinking about your users. If you structure your headings to make your text easily readable, you’ll automatically make it easy for search engines to spider it too. Remember: users first, SEO second.
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05 bY Tiara Rea
ways to expand your business in
2009
One of the main concerns any new business owner will run into is learning how to recruit industry contacts and expand the circle of new business prospects. There are a few ways to do this affordably, and as you are probably aware affordability is a major concern for most entrepreneurs in 2009.
01 Local Advertising
Did you know that many Starbucks, Panera Bread Company, Jamba Juice, and other local restaurant locations have bulletin boards and advertiser opportunities? Visit your local cafes and restaurants and ask them about leaving business cards, posting flyers, or even partnership opportunities depending on your specific business models. At the very least, this will increase your local brand recognition and potential customers will have an immediate way to contact you or view your online portfolio. Local advertising opportunities can also come in the form of community sponsorships. Look for organizations that will fit your business’s needs or make a good fit for finding potential customers. Keep in mind that even if you are sponsoring a fundraiser, nonprofit group, or benefit drive, you are reaching hundreds if not thousands of local participants, all of whom may be interested in your services.
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02 Online Business Networking
You’ve heard of social networking, right? Companies like FaceBook and MySpace introduced a new era of networking, but websites such as LinkedIn have taken this a step further for businesses and associates who need to build their networks. LinkedIn is probably my number one choice for expanding your business contacts. With LinkedIn, you are not only able to connect with your employees and offer recommendations for expanding their networks, but you are also able to network as a company leader. The more friends, colleagues, and partners you connect with, the bigger your business network grows. Once you connect with one colleague, you can see who they work with and recommend and so on. Your new business opportunities are endless!
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03 Local Search Advertising
About 25% of all web searches these days include local search parameters—and this number continues to grow every day. For example, if I am looking for a sushi restaurant in Las Vegas, I am not going to type “sushi” as my search. Instead, I would type “sushi restaurant Las Vegas” so I can see local search results that pertain to my area of search. When you search for something this specific, in a certain geographic area, you will see a handful of top-ranked results in search engines like Google or Yahoo. Getting listed in these results does require advertising fees, but if you do a little research for local search result advertising, you are sure to find a great and affordable solution.
04 Free Local Online Advertising
Think free advertising is a myth? Think again! For this tip, I recommend Craigslist as a local advertising opportunity. Though you will have to ensure you are abiding by Craigslist’s Terms of Service for advertisements, they always have a local category on their geographic location sites that allow you to post information about your services, special offers, and efforts. This can really help boost online opportunities and drive customers your way if they are seeing special deals posted daily or weekly in Craigslist.
a Business Blog 05 Start Do I ever write an article where I don’t mention the importance of blogging? Probably not, because it is incredibly important to your business’s success online! By starting a business blog and posting 1-5 times every week, you will not only increase your relevancy for specific Search Engine Optimization (SEO) terms, but you will also be sending a message to your customers that you care what they think and are conscious of their needs. Even posting a simple message to welcome new customers or provide discounts, specials, or partner offers will assist in securing your message of customer satisfaction and retention. P!
Writer’s Bio: Tiara Rea works for Lunarpages Web Hosting, where she is the Affiliate Program Manager and writes for the Lunarpages Newsletter and Blog. A whiz with affiliate marketing and copywriting, Tiara is also obsessed with Harry Potter, good poetry, and Japanese manga.
bY DAVID DUNLAP
Rapid7’s NeXpose
Reshaping Security When it comes to the data center, one of the highest priorities for the IT department is security. IDC’s Frank Gens, Senior Vice President & Chief Analyst said, that security ”is always the number one concern of IT.” Gartner and Forrester studies also put security up as one of the high priorities that a data center can provide its customers.
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Security in a data center doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just cover the web server or the network. Security encompasses the entire data center from end to end. Normally this means the purchasing of multiple security devices and software packages. To watch over the security a fully staffed IT department would have to be hired, to maintain the security policies and to implement, enforce, and solve security problems. Therefore, it is with this mindset we first looked at Rapid7â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security application NeXpose. NeXpose is a Unified Vulnerability Management (UVM) system. UVMs provide end-to-end security and can cover multiple systems. NeXpose comes in four forms; software, hardware appliance, SaaS, and managed. The software runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2000, SuSE Enterprise, Red Hat Enterprise, Fedora 9, Debian 4.0, CentOS 4, and Ubuntu 7.1. In a nutshell, NeXpose protects the entire network using non-malicious penetration attacks. The results of these attacks are prioritized and summarized. NeXpose delivers the steps on how to solve these vulnerabilities and then provide the results in a professional grade report.
Scanning the Network Scanning the network begins with identifying what devices make up the network. This process ensures that NeXpose uses pertinent attacks increasing reliability and the speed of the scan. If the user likes, they can take some time to block off sections of the network (asset groups), set permissions, etc. By setting permissions for sections of the network, the user can delegate the security of sections to others or could use the permissions to resell NeXpose. NeXpose uses a Java expert system shell (JESS,) that scans and finds vulnerabilities much like the methods employed by ethical hackers and security audit firms. If we look at a network as a system with a series of layers, the power of this expert system becomes apparent. For example: if the network is vulnerable to a SQL injection attack, NeXpose will use it to gain access to the database. At the database level, it will check for more vulnerabilities such as privilege escalation vulnerability to gain access to the operating system layer. With each vulnerability found, NeXpose looks to see how far that single vulnerability can go. continued
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Table of Contents
If you are serious about security, you should give NeXpose a look. NeXpose scans hardware, networks, operating systems, databases, applications, web applications, and follows security policies. Here is just a small taste of what NeXpose can scan: routers, switches, hardware firewalls, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS, IPSec, PPTP, DHCP, DNS, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, Adobe Acrobat, Apache, Microsoft IIS, Telnet, SSH, ASP, ColdFusion, PHP, AJAX, JavaScript, password policies, user rights, system access policies, and a lot more. Since the expert system finds exploits organically, it can greatly reduce false positives to well below 1%. In fact, if a customer finds a problem with the software it will be sent to Rapid7 as a bug and will be fixed and updated within two weeks if it is verifiable. NeXpose’s broad coverage gives the user the complete picture. NeXpose can tell the user how a vulnerability in one section of the network affects other areas. The impact a single vulnerability has on a network as a whole aids NeXpose in determining the priority of a vulnerability. A timeline can be built for the assessment and solving of security problems with sequenced patching, plan security upgrades, and create a road map for fixing network problems.
The Summation and Fixing Vulnerabilities Once vulnerabilities have been prioritized, NeXpose offers a systematic process to fix each vulnerability. NeXpose also builds a list of possible patches and upgrades that will help in solving vulnerabilities. If several patches are grouped in a single download (such as service pack), then NeXpose will display that download instead of all the individual patches. NeXpose has a built in ticket system as well to handle implementation of security fixes. This gives the user flexibility in assigning multiple security vulnerability projects and can greatly increase efficiency. All of the information produced by NeXpose can be placed into a report. Reports can be selected from a number of template styles or can be customized to match the company’s security policy. Each report is sequenced with a table of contents, bookmarks, highlighted sections, etc. The reports are professional quality and in many ways can be used as the final draft of an executive level vulnerability report.
Technology and Customer Support NeXpose’s vulnerability database currently has more than 11,000 definitions and over 26,000 checks with more added as new vulnerabilities are found. The Rapid7 team updates NeXpose on continuous rotations to keep it up to date with various operating system and software vulnerabilities. As an added bonus, NeXpose comes with a 100% accuracy policy, if a customer finds a problem in the software, they will push it into development, get it fixed and updated within two weeks (after it has been verified). Customer support for NeXpose comes in many flavors. Extended office hour phone support and email is standard with 24/7 phone support for an additional cost. Since Rapid7 has only one product, the entire customer support staff is knowledgeable in deploying NeXpose. Rapid7 also offers consulting and training services. Every now and again, there is a product that really seems to get it right and delivers. Rapid7’s NeXpose is one of those products. If you are serious about security, you should give NeXpose a look. P!
Writer’s Bio: David Dunlap has been both a Web host industry analyst and commentator for the past eight years. Prior to his active writing career, David was a network and communications technician for four years. He currently is the Editor-in-Chief for WebHostMagazine.com
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HostingCon 2009-- The fifth annual gathering of hosted services professionals will take place this year in Washington D.C. from August 10th-12th. Moreover, while that is months away, the owners have been already hard at work for several months planning the show. The exhibit hall is currently over 60% filled with companies ranging in size from Microsoft to small start-ups, and over 300 attendees have already committed. In fact, the deadlines for participating as an exhibitor are rapidly approaching. “We’re expecting this to be the largest show so far,” says Kelly Kleiner, Vice President of Sales with iNET Interactive. “We’re working hard to make sure that all parties gain tremendous value from participating in HostingCon—we want to bring buyers and sellers together in a fun and educational environment.” For the past month, the iNET marketing and event teams have been completing the groundwork for HostingCon 2009’s program development. An outstanding advisory board consisting of industry veterans and subject matter experts is
in place and has provided exceptional insights into potential topics and speakers. At this point, iNET has received over 125 speaker proposals - more than double last year’s total! Stay tuned to HostingCon.com for program and exhibit hall specifics over the next four months including keynote announcements and a complete list of exhibitors. If you haven’t reserved your spot to attend HostingCon 2009 in Washington D.C., August 10 - 12, you can register by visiting http://www.hostingcon.com/2009/attend/register/ . You’ll want to get registered under the early bird rate. For a complete list of exhibition and sponsorship opportunities, please visit the site, or call Ms. Kleiner directly at 513-322-5607. You can also stay in touch with the progress of HostingCon 2009 by following the updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ hostingcon. The momentum is building for the largest gathering of hosted services professionals in the world - will you be there? It is shaping up to be an event you won’t want to miss. P!
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bY pingdom.com
How to
stop an
outage from becoming an
outragE
Sooner or later, every site or application will fail. However the consequences depend not only on how the
failure is managed but also on how it is communicated. Recently the web hosting company Media Temple and even Google have well illustrated how hard it is for modern connected organizations to respond quickly enough to system outages. Here’s a suggested crisis checklist and notes on the difficulties of always practicing it. On Saturday, February 28, a storage cluster at Media Temple failed, depriving thousands of customers of their service until the following Monday morning. In the process, the company did not mass e-mail its customers or swiftly seem to update anything other than the system status account on Twitter. Only later did the company attempt to send private messages to the accounts of some irritated customers. This quickly led to outrage on blogs and online communities. Similarly, in an incident covered here as well as elsewhere, Google faced a similar crisis four days earlier when its Gmail service stopped functioning globally for 2-4 hours. As millions of users and companies were unable to use their e-mail, the company communicated only very briefly on its official blog. Of course, very quickly the big media, blogosphere and communities were on fire with messages about “Gfail”. These examples show how modern organizations need to excel in following the deceptively simple rules of crisis communication – always try to reserve the capacity to:
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Table of Contents
I. Preparations:
With hindsight, Media Temple reacted as quickly as possible, throwing all resources at solving the issue – and forgot to communicate actively with their customers, generating anger and accusations that might have been avoided. Google for their part aggravated the error by reacting first offering erroneous information to its users – the failure was hardly “limited to a small subset of users”.
II. Urgent actions:
Both companies were hung high on Twitter, underlining the need for organizations to monitor real-time communities like this who can improve or aggravate the situation by instantly spreading information - if such is available. Media Temple later claimed that it lacked the staff resources to handle the thousands of micro conversations.
• Define your main stakeholders - customers, investors, partners, suppliers etc. • Keep an eye on big real-time forums where they may communicate. • Define what a serious error is and how to notice when one has happened.
• Define what has happened as far as possible - be careful to separate facts from guesses. • Define what to do about it - recovery, calling in extra resources etc. • Define which stakeholders are affected. • Define how to communicate with these groups – avoid speculation and optimistic promises in favor of continuous updates, addressing the information vacuum and user frustration. • Start communicating.
III. Follow-up:
• Respond quickly to further questions from key stakeholders – always stick to the facts/message as agreed above and avoid speculation. • If an error has been committed, offer apologies and remuneration (which both the mentioned companies currently have done).
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It may be the case that in this kind of situation the best course for a company may be to define its one message, mass-communicate and update this actively and avoid speculation or individualization. This is when it is beneficial to have one single source of information that all customers can be referred to for status updates, for example an externally hosted status blog. So, are we saying that by following the above rules, communications mishaps could never happen? Of course not, the answer is that crisis management is never easy – otherwise it wouldn’t be a crisis. P!
bY DAVID DUNLAP
PERSONAL BEST PARALLELS SUMMIT 2009 This year’s Parallels Summit kicked off at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year’s Summit built upon, as well as surpassed last year’s attendance records. More than 1,000 attended this year’s Summit hailing from more than 60 countries. The amount of software vendors increased five-fold from 2008, with slightly more than 100 ISVs represented. Compared to 2008, the amount of attendees doubled and the amount of conference sessions increased by thirteen sessions.
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Officially, the Summit did not start until Tuesday, February 3rd, but Monday was filled with plenty of events. Monday was called Day 0 by event organizers and started off with a Golf Tournament at Primm Valley Golf Club. Later in the evening, was a networking reception at Eyecandy Sound Lounge in the lobby of the Mandalay Bay. The club was packed and as long as Microsoft and Intel were picking up the check, the bulk of attendees were located at the bar. In two hours time, conference goers built up a bar tab well over $5,000. Day 1: started with a whirlwind three-speaker set: John Eng, VP Marketing, Service Provider Division, Parallels; Serguei Beloussou, CEO, Parallels; and Morris Miller, Founder of Rackspace and Sequel Ventures, LLC. The big topic of this year’s Summit was Cloud Computing and what it means for the Web Host industry. So much so, that fifteen conference sessions discussed computing with the Cloud. Day 1 ended on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Bay, at a lounge called Mix. The lounge gave a breath taking view of the Vegas skyline with drinks and food lubricating the gears of industry. Wednesday Day 2: The theme of Cloud Computing continued with such topics as “Blue Skies? Clearing the Air on Cloud
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Computing and SaaS,” “How We Will REALLY Move to the Cloud: the Coming Partnerships Between Hosters and Cloud Platform Providers,” and “Cloud Commerce – How Providers Enable Their Business Customers to Benefit From Cloud Computing Trends.” Along with speeches and the conference sessions, the exhibit hall was much larger this time around. The size of the room allowed for more exhibitors and more space between booths allowing for greater foot traffic. In the back of the exhibit hall, Parallels’ Hands-On Lab was held for the second straight year. With its close vicinity to the session areas and several networking lounges, the amount of traffic that flowed through the exhibit hall greatly increased over last years. This year’s Summit also included many schools and universities in attendance. Some showed up to cut costs (there even was a specific conference session on this called Virtualization Super Story: Oregon City School District Cuts IT Budget 60%) while others came in order to look for software and hardware for their IT classes. As of this writing, the location for next year’s Summit is up in the air. Possible cities include New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Miami, and Washington, DC. P!
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bY DAVID DUNLAP
MAKING SENSE OF RANKSENSE SEO FOR THE REST OF US
In January 2009, there were more than 13.5 billion search engine searches in the United States alone. Web sites who want to tap into this incredible amount of traffic must have a site that performs well on search engines. Getting quality search engine ranks for a Web site can take a lot of time and money and although many Web developers understand the importance of paying for quality when it comes to finding an SEO consultant, the money simply isn’t there.
The very real truth is that many small business owners who require search engine traffic do not have the funds available to secure an SEO/SEM service. Likewise, they do not have the time to learn how to do better in search engine rankings. What small business owners and Web developers need in general is a way of getting their site’s search engine rankings up without costing a lot or taking too much time, but be flexible enough so they can use any information garnered from the search engine side to aid in content and marketing. The objective of RankSense is fairly clear, to perform the above task for Web developers. It does this by guiding them systematically through a process
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that will optimize the entire site. Briefly, RankSense analyzes what keywords are currently bringing users to the site; detect pages with errors, compiles competitors and their rankings on your targeted keywords, page optimizations, link structure analysis, and Web site analytics.
What RankSense is.
Users navigate four task groups in order to complete the process. The computer handles most of this process with the user adding things such as site information, logfile location, and what sort of keywords the site should pursue. On RankSense’s homepage, the user can easily navigate to each task group and to the subtasks within those groups. The right side of the homepage also
contains a quick look at Task Progress. Each subtask is its own page where the user selects what is needed then presses the start button. When RankSense is finished, either it will ask for more input or the user will move unto the next page. This progresses until each subtask is finished. That is RankSense in a nutshell; easy to use, wizard style tasks, and it can be done within any amount of time frame. Essentially, it is the answer to the problem that small business owners face when it comes to search engine optimization. I have been doing SEO and SEM for a few years now and although I am not a master at it, I would like to think I am very good. Considering this, RankSense is not the type of software that I need. continued
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However, even though RankSense is for novices and Web developers who do not have the time to learn a new skill set, it does have a few features that I have found to be indispensible even for SEO experts. One feature in particular that RankSense has that I am amazed at is its Competitive Intelligence subtask. This subtask looks at keywords you select and then finds the main competitors you have for those keywords. It then gives you information such as their traffic, popularity, authority, etc. This not only allows you to keep track of competitors, but you can use this tool to find sites that you can build possible link relationships. Prior to using RankSense, I did a lot of this process by hand. Sure I would use various tools from places that I have subscriptions to, but it still requires a lot of time on my part (especially when I am looking at 200-300 keyword placements).
Emails and Support RankSense is automated software. However, after purchasing RankSense I was sent several emails that provided helpful information, tips, and places to go to in case I had problems. This I found to be quite refreshing. The emails were well written and they contained some good information with screenshots. One email I received was a letter of encouragement and this too was impressive. Form letter or no, this is the type of thing I wish more companies did. It adds a personal touch and shows that the software vendor is going the extra mile to make sure their customer is taken care of overall, RankSense is a very good product. It fills in voids in the marketplace for those who need to get started on tapping into the large amount of search engine traffic out there. It won’t replace an experienced SEO technician, but it can help increase your search engine rankings and it is easy to use. RankSense has the motto, “Quality Search Traffic for the Rest of Us!” and in my opinion, they live up to it. P! | www.ranksense.com
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bY DAVID DUNLAP
Fun With
Grammar Checking 2
I think it would be funny to look at the media. When it comes to grammar, few professions have a more intimate relationship with the English language than journalists do. However, with the constant grinding of articles day in and day out, sometimes things slip through the cracks….
Miner Refuses to Work after Death
Apparently, he still owes his soul to the company store.
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
After the lighting, the battery will be small potatoes.
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges!
Next week on Modern Marvels!
Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter I will no longer complain about waiting in long lines.
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
Is this some sort of fat joke?
“That’ll learn ya!”
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
And taste great!
Two Convicts Evade Noose, Jury Hung. I have nothing for that.
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half. Ouch, I thought my high school was strict.
Something Went Wrong in Plane Crash, Expert Says
Dropouts chopped in two, idle kids smacked, and now this?
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
John Hopkin’s basketball team no doubt.
Deer Kill 17,000
Bambi II, Judgment Day!
Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
It suppose to crash a different way?
Whatever happened to the punishment fitting the crime?
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash
Well one would normally expect the dead in a cemetery.
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I am going to assume something went wrong in this plane crash.
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