DNS and You

DNS and You

We all know and use domain names to find the websites we want to go to.  They are the text versions (www.inodecloud.com) of the Internet Protocol addresses (IP) that locate the content we want to find.  The concept is pretty simple – domain name systems (DNS) are registries that link textual domain names to numerical IP addresses like a phone book – but DNS can be applied in ways that make websites accessible in ways that take technical and regional differences into account. Before we move on to application of DNS you should know a few things about how they work.  There are several factors like aliases (CNAME), reverse DNS lookups and zone based registration that make DNS protocols powerful tools for consumers and providers. DNS Zone Authority Zone authority is the system that Domains use to delegate space to subdomains that are found at the same location (IP address).  Your IP address is tailored to your domain name and changes as new pages are added to your website.  For example, individual IP addresses begin at 0.0.0 (root host which can be your computer or your ISP’s root server) and grow as new locations are added to server space.  A zone is a portion of your IP address that is reserved for subdomains that require autonomy. CNAME Aliases are used in conjunction with search engine optimization.  They are additional domain names that link to the same address.  Aliases can serve several purposes like accounting for misspelled domain names and increasing your search engine ranking.  Platforms like Interworks come with tools for adding aliases to your domain.  Otherwise you could...
Private and Shared Hosting

Private and Shared Hosting

In my last post I talked about Google’s free SEO tools that included a report on successful SEO methods over the past year.  A recurring argument in that report was that branding is playing a continuingly enhanced role in search rankings as opposed to the more technical aspects of site building.  With so many options available for IaaS and SaaS the major factor in online branding has become security.  Should your online business take extra steps to ensure privacy and if so is your website duly trusted by search engines as well as clients? One way to be able to boast security is through customized or private hosting.  Privately hosted servers are dedicated to your business alone and are as secure as your front end.  If your business collects private information from customers then it is your responsibility to safeguard that information through enhanced security.  Shared servers suffer the vulnerabilities of their weakest sites and after the numerous recent hacks of both governmental and private services like the recent break into dating website Ashley Madison not to mention the breach of the U.S. IRS database many online users have become more concerned about the safety of information kept in large stores. If your website is not dedicated to collecting the world’s secrets then the problems that face shared hosting should not concern you too greatly.  There are enough steps that you can take on your own to reduce risk. Using secure and trusted themes or hiring a trustworthy and capable web designer can prevent front end attacks like SQL injections Limit access to your website by third parties (e.g....