I started using Ubuntu in 2009. By the following year I had dropped the dual boot with Windows XP and was completely Ubuntu. When I hit a glitch during an update in 2011, I figured I would re-install with the latest version – 11.10 at that time. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about the major change they had done to the desktop environment by the name of Unity. Sorry Ubuntu, you lost me.

There are a number of “Unity hate” posts out there and that’s not the point of this one. I’d like to share with you what I eventually did as an alternative to Unity in the hopes that it may be a good choice for you too if you’re looking for one. Continue reading →

Last summer, we were proud to roll out our Client Portal – a robust, integrated system that allows Nexcess clients to quickly and easily manage their hosting account and utilize the Support system, from a single login.

It’s been over 6 months since we converted (completely) to the new system, so it seems fitting to shed the spotlight on it again and remind all of our valued clients – and present to prospective clients – how this system can simplify the various tasks that go into managing your hosting account.

Continue reading →

If you are reading this blog post or host a site with us, you have more than likely heard about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP act (PIPA). There is so much information circulating regarding these two pieces of legislation. Some of it is true, some of it false, regardless, amongst the plethora of information, there is one reality, if SOPA or PIPA pass, the Internet will never be the same.

Most of this week’s news coverage is revolved around the “Great Wiki-Blackout of 2012” and their public demonstration against, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, being rammed through the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate this past year. The intent of both bills is to stop any and all copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, while opposition groups of the bill claim, both bills attempt to prevent online piracy in a way that actually infringes on free expression while harming the Internet.
Continue reading →

When a website reaches the point where a single web server can no longer handle the amount of traffic to the content or services it provides you must find a way to reliably distribute its load over two or more individual web servers. This type of service is called load balancing which is where a specific device or service accepts connections, processes them using a balancing algorithm, then directs that incoming request out to an available server of many servers to handle the request. To perform load balancing, there are a few options you can choose from. DNS load balancing is possible, but not widely used. Software based load balancing where software performs the balancing of requests on a linux server is a powerful and reliable method of distributing load. Hardware load balancing where you have a dedicated hardware device handles the load balancing can be used for advanced applications and needs.

Continue reading →