Hello there, my name is Joe and I’m one of the 34SP.com Support Team members that you can contact via telephone and Live Chat 8 ’til 8 Monday to Friday, as well as email on: support@34sp.com. Regardless of whether your account is basic website hosting, business hosting or reseller hosting, you can use the tips I’m going to share with you to increase your productivity.

I’m going to explain a little further about the email tools at your disposal. This will hopefully save you some time and make everything a bit more organised.Today’s blog entry is a follow on post from Keith’s explanation on Email settings. I will be going through some of the more advanced features such as Autoresponders, Mail Lists and Mail Groups.

Auto Responders

Now that your mailbox is up and running, you may want to alert any potential clients or customers that you will be away from the office or computer. This is where Auto Responders come into play – as they are a good straight-forward way of notifying anyone that emails your mailbox that you won’t be responding to them straight away.To set up an Auto Responder, log into your Plesk control panel (www.yourdomain.co.uk/siteadmin). Click on your domain, and then click on the Mail icon. This will show a similar screen to the one above. Autoresponders have their own icon, an envelope with a grey arrow. After this, click on ”Add New Autoresponder”.This will give you all the options you require such as the response text, whether the email is forwarded to a separate address (working as a Redirect) and how many email addresses it can store at a time.

Mail Groups

A Mail Group is a handy function to keep people, work and additional email addresses separate. The premise is to place people that would see the same email, such as work addresses or even members of the same Sunday League football team in one group, saving you time and remembering everyone’s email addresses.To create a Mail Group, click on the icon called ”Mail Group”, and then ”Add New Member”. Enter all of the addresses, give the group a name, and most importantly – be sure to enable it. Once you have done this, you can enter the Mail Group name into your ‘To’ field which will then send the email to all of the members of that Mail Group.

Mail Lists

Mail Lists are one of the additional features that we provide at 34SP.com. More commonly known as a ”Distribution list”, the term sometimes used for a function of email clients where lists of email addresses are used to email everyone on the list at once. This can also be referred to as an electronic mailshot. It differs from a mailing list as it is usually for one way traffic and not for coordinating a discussion. In effect, only members of a distribution list can send mails to the list.The Mail List software we provide is called Mailman and it costs £7.50 per year. To add this to your account, log into your account on https://www.34sp.com/login. Click on Hosting, and then the Upgrade button.

I hope that these tips will be beneficial to you in your email activities. As always, if you have any more questions, feel free to contact me or the rest of the support team via the details on the Contact Us page.

If you are using our VPS hosting here at 34SP.com or are considering a VPS server, this blog post may be of great help. Although we have covered some points of this on our forums and in our support articles putting this into a single post may benefit some users. One of the most common issues we see at 34SP.com is servers being abused via brute force logins on sshd against the ‘root’ user.

If you looked in your /var/log/messages file and seen something like this – then this is happening too you:

Sep 7 21:23:02 HOSTNAME sshd(pam_unix)[23860]: authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=1.2.3.4 user=root
Sep 7 21:23:02 HOSTNAME sshd(pam_unix)[23861]: authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=1.2.3.4 user=root
Sep 7 21:23:07 HOSTNAME sshd(pam_unix)[23917]: authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=1.2.3.4 user=root

There are a number of steps you can take to aid in stopping someone from ‘brute forcing’ your password.

But the number one thing to do is to make sure your VPS key packages are upto date as security fixes are released on a regular basis.

We recommend to people that they use the atomic repository when using a plesk server, this is maintained by the original developer of plesk and as such the compatibility with plesk is very good and should cause no issues.

This following few lines of shell commands will update your plesk VPS to the latest plesk 8.x series and update a vast majority of packages to the latest version (please note if you wish to retain php4 do not use this)

[root@vps /]# wget -q -O – http://www.atomicorp.com/installers/atomic.sh | sh

Atomic Archive installer, version 1.0.14
Configuring the [atomic] yum archive for this system

Installing the Atomic GPG key: OK
Downloading atomic-release-1.0-10.el4.art.noarch.rpm: OK

Would you like to add the Plesk yum repository to the system?

Enable Plesk repository? (y/n) [Default: n]: y << ANSWER Y

Plesk 8.6 and 9.0 repositories are available:
NOTE: Plesk 9 repos are only available for rhel/centos 4 and 5

Enable Plesk 8.6 or 9.0? (8/9) [Default: 8]: 8 << USE 8 – DO NOT UPDATE TO PLESK 9

The Atomic Rocket Turtle archive has now been installed and configured for your system
The following channels are available:
atomic – [ACTIVATED] – contains the stable tree of ART packages
atomic-testing – [DISABLED] – contains the testing tree of ART packages
atomic-bleeding – [DISABLED] – contains the development tree of ART packages

This has added the plesk repositories to your server and you can now update your server with them:

[root@vps /]# yum update
Setting up Update Process
Setting up repositories
plesk 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
update 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
…
….
Transaction Summary
=============================================================================
Install xx Package(s)
Update xxx Package(s)
Remove 0 Package(s)
Total download size: 180 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y << ANSWER Y

This will then start to download and install the updates, once installed we need to do a change to a php configuration file and restart some services.

[root@vps /]# mv /etc/php.ini.rpmnew /etc/php.ini

And restart services

[root@vps /]# service psa stopall
[root@vps /]# service psa start

This will now have updated the VPS to more up to date packages, this in itself will add some security to the server.

Now to look into stopping the possible sshd incidents, one of the best things to do is to fully remove the ability for the root user to login at all, this is fairly easy but we need to make sure that we have another user setup first so we don’t block ourselves completely. So lets setup a new user called vpslogin that we will use for all future logins to the shell itself:

[root@vps /]# useradd vpslogin -g wheel
[root@vps /]# passwd vpslogin
Changing password for user vpslogin.
New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Open a new ssh window to your server and check this user can login, if you can then we can move to the next step which is disabling the root user.

In your favourite editor (vi/nano/pico etc) open the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and look for the line ‘PermitRootLogin’ we need to set this to ‘no’ and if necessary uncomment it.

Now restart the sshd server

[root@vps /]# service sshd restart
Stopping sshd: [ OK ]
Starting sshd: [ OK ]

At this point if you try to login using your root details now you should not be able too.

Should you wish to access the root shell again now, you would login using the username ‘vpslogin’ and relevant password, once logged in you then would use the command ‘su -’ and then enter the root password, you will then have full root access to the server as you did before.

This step will have made the server more secure by making it not possible to login using the common superuser of root, but we can go further on this.

Change the sshd port and it will make it much more difficult for someone to just latch on to the sshd service and try to access it and also get rid of the ability to use Protocol 1 as this should not be needed any more.

Reopen up the /etc/sshd/sshd_config file and we want to change these two lines:

#Port 22
#Protocol 2,1

Change them to something like

Port 3422 (change this to something random – but ensure its not used by another service)
Protocol 2

And then again restart the sshd server

[root@vps /]# service sshd restart
Stopping sshd: [ OK ]
Starting sshd: [ OK ]

When you are sshing to your server in the future remember you will need to change the sshd port in your ssh client.

The instructions above will definitly help in securing your sshd server against random attacks. There are some tools that can aid in stopping these attacks after a few failed attempts. The instructions for this however are rather long but do have a read of our support article: http://support.34sp.com/KB/a159/adding-denyhosts-to-vps-servers.aspx – this will show you a useful utility that maintains global lists of people who regularly try to brute force servers and they will automatically be blocked from trying to access your sshd server. Please note it is possible to block yourself from your server using this if you regularly type your passwords wrong!

Another useful thing to do is to totally stop using passwords when using sshd – the following article is a good guide on how to do this type of thing : http://support.34sp.com/KB/a157/ssh-without-passwords-to-vps.aspx by using sshkeys.

One of the key things is to regularly update your VPS using the yum update command, make sure you watch the output as you may need to update some configuration commands, do not however jump straight into new major releases of plesk itself, we always recommand that you wait until at least the .1 release (eg 8.1 9.1) not the dotzero releases (8.0.x,9.0.x) these generally are still in need of quite a few bug fixes.

We can on request create ‘snapshots’ of your VPS if you wish before making any major configuration changes, the server can then be fully restored to that point in time if something does go badly wrong. As always feel free to contact us with any questions or help on securing your VPS server.

Today’s blog post comes courtesy of the 34SP.com support department. While many clients are setting up website hosting accounts or dedicated servers, the majority of questions we see coming into 34SP.com support pertain to email. So I thought it would be handy to show some of the most used features available and best methods for running your email monthly. The following guides are for our standard email and do not relate to spam filtering services or our new at mail system.

There are a number of choices when choosing to create your mail box:

You can create mail aliases for you mail box that allows more than one address to go to that box.
You can create a mail redirect that simply sends mail on to an existing mailbox.
You can create an actual mailbox for POP3 and IMAP that you log into to check your email using either outlook or webmail.

1) Often people would enable ‘Catchall’ on their accounts so that mails to various names would all arrive at one mailbox. Sadly however with spammers rife, this method fills your mailbox with unwanted Viagra and enlargement emails.

The way to work around this is to create ‘mail aliases’. For example:

Your main mailbox is info@mydomain.com and you would like to catch mail for enquiries@mydomain.com and ifno@mydomain.com (to catch typing errors).

So you click on the info mail box in Plesk and choose ‘add new mail alias’. Then put in the alias name you would like. That’s it. As simple as that.

Should you decide later to use any of the used aliases as real mailboxes you will need to remove them first.

2) If you just want to create a mailbox redirect to, say your Google address, simply click ‘Create new mailbox’ in Plesk and enter the name of the mail box you would like and then untick the mailbox option at the bottom of the screen. (No need to set a password as you won’t be logging on for mail). This will warn you no mail will work and simply accept this warning. Now click ‘Redirect’. Tick ‘Redirect and enter into the box the name of the email address you want to send mails to. Once you click ‘Ok’ that’s it – it’s set. (Many people forget to ‘untick’ mailbox when creating these which then builds up mail on the server and causes unwanted emails about being over space to occur.)

3) If you just want to create a mailbox you can use with Outlook and view using webmail simply click ‘Add new mailbox’ provide the name of the mailbox you would like and set a password in the two password boxes. ( Be sure to set your password – as it is a common mistake to not set one and then be unable to log into mail.) That’s it the mailbox is created and ready for use.

Hopefully this covers some of the most used options for mail and helps you start to get the most our of your 34SP.com email account. As always, our support team is also here to help in any way we can. So if you need help with email or anything else related to your 34SP.com account, please do get in touch.

Hi all! I’m Ali and I’m one of the web designers here at 34SP.com. My role involves getting paid to be arty and techy all day with the occasional splurge of rock band at lunchtimes – it’s fantastic! For my post I’m going to chat to you about what goes on here in the design department and I’ll take you through the stages we go through to create websites for you, our lovely customers.

When you email us with a request for web design, your email will go into our ticketing system. This is where we carry out the majority of our correspondence. Note: If you’re already a customer in correspondence with us, please try to reply to previous tickets rather than starting a new email otherwise we’ll end up with separate tickets scattered all over the place.

Gathering your requirements

The first thing we’ll need from you is your project requirements. This will include:

• how many pages you will need

• whether your site needs to be able to accept online payments

• whether your site needs to be content managed

• if you’d like any flash or dynamic content

To provide you with an accurate quote you need to give us as much detail as possible about your requirements – the longer and more detailed the email the better.

Working up a design

To begin creating a design for you we need to know your design requirements. These include:

• what your preferred colour scheme is

• whether you have a logo or need a logo designing

• whether you prefer rounded (e.g. www.sellyourps360.com) or square (e.g. www.spaconsultant.co.uk) corners

• any existing websites you like the design of

Once we have your design requirements, we start to put together a flat design for you using Illustrator. There are arguments for using Illustrator over Photoshop or Photoshop over Illustrator but personally I find Illustrator much easier to use and more flexible for putting together layouts.

The flat design is free of charge and can be worked on until we get the perfect design for you. Once you’re happy with the design we arrange for a 25% payment of the website design cost and get to work on building it.

Building your website

At present we use Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium for all our creativity, putting together designs in Illustrator, building sites using Dreamweaver, working the animation magic with Flash and tweaking imagery in Photoshop. The majority of the designing and HTML and CSS side of things is done by myself and Simon with Phil stepping in to look after the programming and scripting and to sort out the databases and PHP.

Your approval

Once the site is finished, we’ll let you know so you can go and have a look over and make sure everything is as you expected. When you’re happy, we accept the final 75% payment and make the site live. Of course, every design client receives one year of complimentary business hosting for their account. So once the final payment is completed, we can automatically launch the site for you onto a 34SP.com business hosting account – with no additional hosting payments due for one full year.

So, what else do we do?

What else does a web designer working as 34SP.com spend their day doing you ask? Well, other than frantically emailing or creating websites for you guys, we manage 34SP.com keeping it up to date and in tip top condition, we build various landing pages and supporting imagery for 34SP.com advertising campaigns, we play a little rock band at lunch time in our games room complete with Xbox and full screen wall projector and of course we research all the latest design and SEO techniques to ensure that any websites we produce are the best of the best.

I hope that this post helped you understand the web design process here at 34SP.com. Please contact us in the web design department anytime for design advice, or to work up a quote for your next website or web development project.

My name is Simon, and I work for the 34SP.com design team. For those of you who aren’t aware, 34SP.com has been offering a web design service for nearly a year now. Each completed design comes with a business hosting account for one year at no additional charge. Over the last 12 months we have designed and developed a wide variety of sites ranging from simple static websites to complex ecommerce solutions and social networking sites. Although I’ve been designing websites professionally for over 5 years, I still look forward to designing new sites, and whenever we get a new client I still get excited like a kid at Christmas. My enthusiasm for my job is in no small part due to the fact that I enjoy the challenges each new website brings. Every single one of the websites we have designed over the last year has been created from a completely individual brief, with our clients having a wide range of expectations, requirements and priorities. This, you may think would be the same for any designer, architect or art director, but what keeps a web designer’s job so interesting is the constantly changing face of the web, and the associated technology and trends that go with it.

The fast paced evolution of the web, from crude looking hyperlinked text to the mixed media world we now know, has been nothing short of mind-blowing. In this blog post I’m going to write about some of the challenging issues web designers face working in this constantly evolving industry, and hopefully provide a few tips along the way.

Accessibility

There is no doubt that accessibility has been a key talking point in the web design community over the last 10 years. In broad terms, accessibility encompasses both compatibility and usability, in other words: practical design. The theory behind accessibility is that anyone should able to access your site on whatever platform they choose. In practical terms creating an accessible site is often a fine balance between usability, compatibility and creativity. In many cases, the client and the target audience should determine which way the balance tips. It’s no coincidence that the most popular websites online, be they Facebook, Amazon, Wikipedia and Yahoo are not particularly pleasing on the eye. Despite their complexity, these websites are extremely easy to use and visitors respond well to this. On the flip side, media-rich marketing websites, such as Nike.com or Gettheglass.com, put a much stronger emphasis on creativity and cutting edge graphic design. These sites are light on written content, and deliver concise marketing messages through a more immersive online experience. Form versus function is an age old design conundrum, and in order to achieve the correct balance is it essential to understand your client’s needs, and the expectations of the target audience. Whichever route you decide to choose for your website, there are 2 key elements to bear in mind.

Compatibility

There is no point in creating a beautiful website, if it is only going to work on a particular version of a particular browser. In recent times, this has meant building websites that look great in both Internet Explorer and Firefox, and hold together on a variety of different screen resolutions. Over the last 2 years, however, the rule book for browser compatibility has been rewritten. The increasing popularity of browsers such as Opera, Safari and more recently Chrome, means there has never been so much choice in how to view the web. The rise of the smart phone has meant users are now going online using much smaller displays yet, paradoxically, there are more and more surfers using HD televisions to browse the web. It’s now impossible to test your website on all these different devices and the different browser choices each platform supports. Yet despite this dizzying array of different ways to view web pages, there are several steps you can take to ensure your site can be viewed as it should be, by the vast majority of web users.

1. Browser Testing
Love it or hate it, Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser around with nearly 45% of current browser usage share (statistic taken from http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp). Although this statistic includes 3 different versions of the browser, there is no denying that it is still the most popular browser of choice for the average web user. It is therefore imperative that your site works well on both versions 6 and 7 of IE. With version 8 available in beta, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll need to add that to your to-do list as well, along with Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome.

2. Valid HTML
Using cascading style sheets rather than tables, produces slim, valid markup. Validating HTML and CSS will increase the chances of successful cross browser compatibility, and will help protect a site against any compatibility issues that may arise in the future. Unfortunately, having valid HTML and CSS does not guarantee perfect cross browser compatibility on all browsers, but it will definitely help both now and in the future.

3. File Sizes
Although Broadband has helped unlock many of the restrictions on the web, it is still important to keep file sizes to a minimum. Websites that are slow are very frustrating to use, and with more users connecting via wireless, 3G and even bluetooth connections, download speeds are an important consideration. Many websites need to contain large files, and if this is the case with your website, make sure the user is offered the choice to access the files, rather than forcing it upon them.

If you are interested in any of the topics discussed above, there is plenty to read about them at the following websites:

http://www.anybrowser.org

http://www.w3.org/WAI

Usability

Creating website interfaces that offer an intuitive, easy-to-use design is paramount if you want your website to deliver lots of information successfully. The web is a busy place, and users won’t generally hang around on one site, if they can’t find what they are looking for. If your website has poor navigation, typesetting or layout then it will fail in engaging the user. The most effective way to guarantee that your site is easy to use, is to test your website at regular intervals during the design and development process. Efficient testing is not achieved by asking colleagues at work to test your site. They will be aware of what you’ve been working on, and if they are a fellow web designer they will be more web savvy than an everyday user. To successfully test a website you need to find representative users, who have not used your website before. Ask your users to perform several key tasks on the site. If you are developing an ecommerce website, ask your user to find a specific item and add it to the basket. If you are developing an administration system, ask employees to perform a administrative task on the system, Observe your users whilst they perform these tasks and makes notes of any difficulties they experience.

That’s it for this post – look for more design-related information in the next post by my colleague in the design department, Ali.