by macklus on Hosting

Should I change to a VPS?

Those of us dedicated to this web, with time accumulate small web that we maintain in different providers of cheap accommodation. They are products for which we do not charge much because they do not require much maintenance either, and they simply “are there”.

Over time, and as the number of websites we keep increasing, we get the million dollar question: Should I switch to a VPS?

The advantages of having a VPS

If you have an average number of websites (say 8 or 10), having them hosted on your own VPS gives you a series of undeniable advantages:

  • Total cost less than using separate accommodations.
  • Better use of resources, since the resources that a web does not use are available for others.
  • Greater ability to adapt the configurations to our liking.
  • All resources of the VPS are at our disposal, not as in normal shared accommodation.
  • The Internet is full of manuals to do the things we need.
  • Better options to expand resources if we are small.

The disadvantages of having a VPS

When you start using your own VPS, you realize that all that glitters is not gold, because having your own VPS also has disadvantages:

  • It is essential to have knowledge in systems administration.
  • If you do not want the pay high price, you will use a GNU / Linux VPS, which forces you to know about GNU / Linux
  • Normally you will use a control panel (such as Cpanel, Plesk or VestaCp), which may have an associated cost.
  • You must know and manage that control panel to avoid problems.
  • If you want to have total freedom, you can not use a control panel, but you must be a good administrator.
  • You have to take care of things like backup copies, save the logs, etc.

Then what do I do?

The main problem with using a VPS is that you have to know how to handle it. If you are willing to learn to do it, you will find many advantages. If you do not have time or desire, better not even start because in the end you will regret it.

If your motivation is just to save money, the safest thing is that you get fed up with the pileup. If you see it as a way to learn, improve and optimize, it’s not a bad idea.

Which VPS provider do you recommend?

I work mainly with 3:

All are cheap, and all are good, but do not stop comparing before deciding.

 
by macklus on Basic concepts

What is AWS SNS?

Inside the Amazon Web Services, SNS is one of two services that deal with sending notifications.

SNS stands for Simple Notification Service, and is the name that best defines its function: sending notifications to subscribers quickly and reliably.

How does SNS work?

SNS is a completely unattended and managed service, which operates in high availability, and in a safe and durable manner.

The main advantage of SNS is that we do not need to know anything about its structure or operation, since it is designed so that our only job is to integrate our application with the SNS API , and SNS is responsible for all message distribution work.

In its most basic structure, we only need to create a Notification Theme (a subject on which we want to send messages, such as “Errors”, to warn of system errors), and to subscribe the points that will receive the notification. These points can be of different types:

  • HTTP
  • HTTPS
  • Email
  • Email-JSON
  • Amazon SQS
  • Applicación
  • AWS Lambda
  • SMS

What are the costs of SNS?

SNS is a service designed for the mass sending of messages that, like the rest of AWS services, has a very low cost, based on the volume of messages sent.

In addition, the free AWS layer for SNS includes the first million messages, which will be more than enough for basic uses of the service.

It is important to clarify that the sending of messages via SMS if it has a different cost (is charged for each SMS sent), due to the characteristics of this type of service.

 
by macklus on Web pages

Your connection with this website is not completely secure?

If you have a web page (usually a WordPress) that works with SSL certificates (and if you do not have it immediately), you may find this error that, although it does not prevent our pages from being seen, may cause some elements they do not look good, or we get diverse errors.

Also, if you click on the exclamation that is in the address bar of the browser, you will see an image like the one shown below:


What is the error?

The error appears because, although our website is secure, some of the elements it contains are not.

Within a secure web page (which starts with https: //), all the elements have to be secure. If we have inside a web with https links to javascript, css or images that carry http: //, we will see the error.

How do I see where the problem is?

The easiest option is, within the page that gives us the problem, open a developer console, (usually just press F12 to appear).

Within the console tab of this, we will see messages indicating which resources are those that are incorrectly configured, in order to change them.

We show you an example in the following image:

Now, we just have to change those links in our template so that the error disappears.

Trick to be able to use http or https indistinctly

If we want to avoid this kind of problems, the best way is to use links that only contain a double bar.

For example, for an image:

<img src=”//servidor.algo/imagen.jpg”>

The browser will use http or https as appropriate, or we will not have to worry about changing it by hand.

 
by macklus on Basic concepts

Create an Amazon AWS account

The process of creating an account in Amazon AWS is very simple, and includes a very innovative verification system that can give us some headaches.

For those who want to create an account, here we show you the steps, which begin by opening the address in our browser:

https://aws.amazon.com

From here, in the upper right corner, we will see an orange button that says “Create an AWS account”, that we must press.

Create AWS account, step 1
Create AWS account, step 1

The first thing Amazón AWS asks us is the data that we will use to access our account, which must be related to a valid email account.

In addition, we will have to indicate the name of the account that we want to use, which must be unique (usually it will be our name or that of the company).

Create AWS account, step 2
Create AWS account, step 2

After indicating the data of the account, they will ask us for our personal data, used for contact and billing.

It is important to note that the address field must be indicated in the form Street, PO Box, Company name, and in the lower field will be where we indicate the characteristics of the street (Floor 4, door 2, north staircase, etc). We do not have very clear the reasons for this, being that afterwards they ask us again for the postal code, but we must be alert in case it could give problems with the billing information.

Remind you that the data must be real and reliable, to avoid legal problems.

NOTE: We must have the telephone number that we indicate by hand, in order to make the verification.

Create AWS account, step 3
Create AWS account, step 3

The next step is to indicate a credit card (which has to be valid and be active), although that does not mean that we will incur any charge (they will not do so if we do not exceed the limits of the Amazon AWS free layer).

We must also indicate if we want to use our contact address for the realization of the invoice, or if we want to indicate new data.

Create AWS account, step 4
Create AWS account, step 4

Now that Amazon has our data, they will verify the phone number through a very interesting system.

First, they will show us a code on the screen, and then they will call us at the telephone number we have indicated, and we will have to enter the code with the telephone keypad.

Create AWS account, step 5
Create AWS account, step 5

The last step we must complete is to indicate the type of support we want. Although it can lead to confusion, no service plan is indicated here, only the support plan (the speed and way in which Amazon will solve the possible problems that we have).

In general, we will indicate the Free Plan, since it is sufficient for the normal use of our accounts.

Create AWS account, step 6
Create AWS account, step 6

With this, we have our Amazon AWS account created, and we will be redirected to the access page, where we can access with the created data.

Create AWS account, step 8
Create AWS account, step 7

Once we have logged in, we can see in the alert area that we have access to the free AWS layer.

Create AWS account
 
by macklus on Basic concepts

What is the cloud?

Although the concept of Internet cloud has been with us for almost 20 years, it has not been until relatively recently that it has begun to reach all areas, it is now common for cloud services to be offered in environments that are not technical in nature, where before it was impossible.

But … What the hell is “The Cloud”?

Understanding the concept Cloud …

What is meant by the Cloud is no more than many computers working together and providing services on the Internet. It’s that simple. It is not a new concept (although technically it is more advanced) nor is there anything special about it. The Cloud are only the computers of others.

Going into more detail, the cloud concept is a step forward in order to have resources that were previously unthinkable, in much more advantageous conditions, and above all in a much simpler way, which has facilitated its progress.

The Cloud is …

  • A more optimal cost: By paying only for what you use, the costs are reduced, since you can expand or reduce the services you use if you need them.
  • Dynamism: The resources that we use in the cloud can adapt according to our interests, even automatically. Thus, we can adapt to higher workloads without our service suffering, or reduce resources (and cost) in times of less work.
  • Ease: All Cloud services are designed to be used by people who do not have to have a very technical profile. Most services can be configured and adapted with a normal web browser.
  • Security: When using standardized services and managed by specialized providers, its use is safer. In addition, the Cloud even allows us to replicate our services among several countries, in the prevention of major catastrophes.

The fundamental basis of the Cloud is to optimize Internet resources, make them easier, accessible and safe even for the most complex processes, saving costs and energy in the process.

The Cloud is not …

  • A program that we sell to keep our files.
  • A web page to manage our invoices.
  • A dedicated server or VPS that charge us for hours.

While it is true that these services can be hosted in the cloud, when they offer us they are not offering us to work in the cloud, they only offer us a service that may or may not be related to it.

When the concept of Cloud began to become popular, there were many suppliers who wanted to get on the bandwagon to make money with a concept that was still not well understood. The term Cloud became one of the most important SEO terms, although in reality what they offered was not a real cloud, but the same infrastructures that were already available before. Luckily, little by little the concepts are clarified and it becomes more difficult to sell something that is not.

If you want to know more about the Cloud, you can go through the pages of Amazon AWS or Google Cloud, which are the main references of computing in the cloud.

 
by macklus on Basic

Gmail takes so long on update external email accounts

If we have mail accounts external to Gmail connected to a Gmail account, we may have noticed that Gmail is slow to update mail from external accounts.

This problem, which really is not, is simply that the external mailbox that we have configured does not receive enought mail, and Google delays the update requests for that email account.

Google’s algorithm takes into account the number and frequency of emails received in the external accounts it manages, and depending on that frequency, it takes more or less time to update that account again.

So, if our account receives several emails every minute, the updates will take place every 5-6 minutes, but if we only receive one email each day, Google will take a long time to check back if there is new mail.

although there are solutions, it is important to keep in mind that these are not “official”, and may not work as expected.

Solution 1: Google Labs Configuration

Google offers test solutions from its testing lab. One of those options allows us to periodically update the mail, although for this we must have a Gsuite account.

Configure steps are:

  • Enable Google Maps by following this link.
  • Activate the option called “Fetch messages from your POP accounts on demand by using the refresh link on top of the inbox.”

Solución 2: Gmail POP3 Checker

Gmail POP3 Checker is a Google Chrome plugin that allows us to change the update time of the account.

Basically, having the browser open connects to Gmail and forces an update of the mail from external accounts.

To install it, just install the extension, click on the icon that appears in the Chrome bar, and configure the time we want to pass between each update.

Although the default time is 1 minute, it is advisable to set it to at least 5 minutes, to prevent the server from blocking us for making too many requests.

 
by macklus on This site

Hello word

Thats its.