Cloud Hosting Firewall Settings

May 31st, 2011 by Mike

As a server administrator you have the ability to set custom firewall rules on your Cloud Server. To add a new firewall rule first log into the cloud control panel. Click on the server you want to setup firewall rules for, then select Networking -> Firewall.

The default firewall rules are to allow all traffic:

 

You can lock down all traffic on the Port, by making the default command “Drop” all connections. You can then allow specific IP addresses to access ports and resources on the server, like Port 3389 for RDP. Using IP source address 0.0.0.0/0 will allow all IPs to a specific port like 443 as shown below:

Cloud Hosting Control Panel

May 11th, 2011 by Mike

FlareHosting’s Cloud Hosting offers an easy to use Cloud Control Panel.  You can build, start, stop, backup or delete cloud servers directly from the control panel. You can schedule and review nightly backups.

The Cloud Control Panel gives you intuitive control over every aspect of your cloud Server farm. When you first log in you are given an overall view of the resources used in your server farm.

Cloud Server Usage: The Control Panel has interactive CPU and bandwidth graphs for each virtual machine so you know and control how your servers are performing.

 

Free SmarterMail Pro 8 Mail Server

May 2nd, 2011 by Mike

With out SmarterTools Partnership if you purchase any Windows Cloud Server, Windows Hyper-V Server (VPS) or Dedicated Server with Windows and you will receive the SmarterBundle Software Package ($800.00 Value) at no additional cost. The SmarterBundle includes:

  • SmarterMail Pro 8  – 250 Mailboxes ($299.00 Value)
  • SmarterStats Pro 6.x – 50 Sites($299.00 Value)
  • SmarterTrack Pro 6.x – 2 Agents($199.00 Value)

SmarterMail 8.0 delivers Exchange-level mail server features for a fraction of the cost. With lower hardware requirements, superior stability, and reduced maintenance costs and is the best-in-class Microsoft Exchange alternative for businesses.  It is easy to install and administer on your own VPS or Dedicated Server.

 

Cloud Server iPhone App

May 1st, 2011 by Mike

Our new Windows/Linux Cloud Hosting platform has an iPhone Server App that is available on the Apple App Store.  The iPhone application allows drilling down to the Cloud Server level you get into the details of your server you have the ability to turn the server off or on as well as reboot the server. You can also view CPU and Bandwidth utilization graphs, IP address allocation, and server backup details.

 

To all Flare Hosting email customers,
    We are in process on making a major upgrade to all of our mail servers, and part of that upgrade is to require new, stronger passwords of all our users.  These secruity requirements are that all passwords must have at least 8 characters, and contain 1 number, 1 symbol, and 1 upper case character.  To help with this new requirement we have outlined the change process below for your benefit.  If you have any issues completing this process, you can reach us at support@flarehosting.com.

1) Connect to the webmail interface of your existing webmail server.  This is the same server you have always used for your account.
2) Login with your email address and your existing password:

3) Once you login, you will immediately be prompted to change your mail password to meet our security requirements:

4) Once changed, you will also need to update your password in your mail client and/or smart phone.  This varies depending on what you are using for this, but is usually found under something called Account Settings or Logon Information.  Most likely the first time you connect after you update your password, you will be prompted for the new one.

- The FlareHosting Team

SQL Server 2008 License Pricing

September 17th, 2010 by Mike

A common question is the monthly cost of Licensing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and what the differences are between the versions.  Below are the costs based on Microsoft’s Monthly SPLA Pricing Terms when you have a dedicated Virtual Private Server (VPS), Dedicated Server, or Managed Server in our Datacenter.  This chart is a very high level overview on the pricing, CPU and Memory utilization of the different SQL Server versions and does not take into effect all of the different features included.

  Pricing CPU Max RAM DB Size
Microsoft SQL Express Free 1 CPU 1 GB 4 GB
Microsoft SQL 2008 Web $20/mo 4 CPU None None
Microsoft SQL 2008 Workgroup   $55/mo 2 CPU 4 GB None
Microsoft SQL 2008 Standard $220/mo 4 CPU None None

All pricing is per CPU/Anonymous access to the DB, contact us for per seat licensing.  The Microsoft pricing is valid for any Dedicated Server or Windows VPS that is hosted in our Datacenter.  For a Full Database Comparison by feature of the different SQL 2008 versions see this Microsoft Article.

Windows VPS Cloud Control Panel

July 2nd, 2010 by Mike

The FlareHosting.com Windows VPS Control Panel is a newer feature offered to our Windows VPS Customers. 

Step 1: To access your Windows VPS Cloud Server go to the Client Area.  After you log in, go to “My Services” find the Virtual Private Server Plan and click on the Details Link on the Right.

 Step 2: You can now access the Windows VPS Control Panel where you can do the following:

  • Reboot the Server
  • Hard Reboot the Server
  • Start The Server
  • Shutdown the Server
  • CPU utilization (Processor Load)
  • Disk Space Usage
  • Total Memory Allocation
  • One Click Server Login using RDP
  • Monitor Total Uptime
  • Retrieve the Server User/Password

These Features allow our Windows Server VPS Customers to gain the control over their servers and online services 24-7.  This is a current screenshot of a Cloud VPS Server.  

To order your own Windows VPS go here.

Are you running a Cloud Server, Windows Virtual Server (VPS) , or a Dedicated Web Server, and want to utilize an use to use and install Web App, or Web Application?  Microsoft has leveraged the following Web Apps for easy Download/Install on your Web Server:

  • PHP 5.2.11
  • MySQL 5.1
  • URL ReWrite 1.1
  • SQL Server 2008 Express
  • Streaming Media Services
  • Joomla! , SugarCRM, WordPress, Textcube, nopCommerce, Moodle, SilverStripe CMS, DotNetNuke, Umbraco, Drupal, nService. Amplifeeder

It is kind of hard to believe that Microsoft is leveraging all these Open Source tools on thier Platform, like SugarCRM a competing CRM product as well as MySQL.  But in my opinion, it is great!   Here is a Step by Step Guide on getting your Web Applications up and Running on MySQL/PHP:

1. First Step, go to Microsoft and install the Microsoft Web Platform.  The Installation is pretty straight forward and takes under a Minute.

2. Run the Web Platform Installer.  You can then Choose Three Catagories: What’s New, Web Platform and Web Applications.

3. Select the Applications you want to Install, such as WordPress on Windows.

4. The installer will require some dependacies for WordPress such as a MySQL Database, PHP 5.2.  It will ask for a Database user/password.

5. The installer will then ask for the Web Site Settings for the new web application, and even allow you to add new directories.

6. The Installer will complete with all the applications that were installed on your server.  Next, run the WordPress Easy Web Setup and you are up and running.

As an added bonus, there are even additional Database tools and .NET Framework 4.  Well that is it, really easy to get PHP Apps up and running fast on Windows Server. 

Second Thoughts?

June 29th, 2010 by Jeffrey Cagwin

Have you ever had second thoughts about what you wear to work?
A Flarehosting.com employee wore this shirt(in the picture below) to work yesterday. It made for a day of fun banter in the NOC. It really BRIGHTENED the day for us.

Giving our customers the best customer service is the goal of the whole team here at Flarehosting.com. This yellow shirt put a little more fun in the job yesterday.

The employee took all of the comments in stride and even wore a different Hawaiian shirt to work today.

Keep you work place fun and wear something outrageous today!!

Our mission is to provide the best service possible to our customers at an affordable price with two primary goals in mind: commitment and focus. We are committed to providing services that will not just keep our customers satisfied, but position them for success in web hosting.

Flarehosting.com

Setting up POP e-mail access to your Flare Hosting email account is quick and easy.  Follow this simple “How To Guide” to get started.

Step 1: Click on the Settings icon located on the main screen. Once in settings select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.

Step 2: Now select “Add Account”

Step 3: Now select which type of email account you would like to set up.  In this tutorial we will be setting up a “POP” account, so select “Other”.

Step 4: Now select “Add Mail Account”

Step 5: Here is where you would enter you email account information.

  • Name: Your full name or the name of the email account.
  • Address: Address is the full email address
  • Password: Your password
  • Description: should fill itself out but you can change that if you wish

Step 7: After a moment it will ask to enter the rest of your account information.  Select “POP” and now you are ready to enter you incoming (POP3) and outgoing mail server information (SMTP).

Step 8: Once you have entered the incoming mail server information (POP3), scroll down and you will then see where to enter the outgoing mail server information (SMTP)

Step 9: Once you have entered all the incoming (POP3) and outgoing mail server information (SMTP). Select save and now it will verify your POP account information.

Tips: If you receive the following error message, select “Yes” After selecting yes it will continue to verify, this verification process can take a bit so don’t be surprised if you find yourself waiting for a moment. This is normal by the way.

If you receive this error message, go back and check all your spelling and make sure the correct password is entered as well.

Step 10: Once the email account is verified the new account should be now listed in your “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” section. Select the new email account.

Your Done! Once selected just verify that where it says “Account” is “ON” and your all set to send and receive email.