I mentioned in a previous post that I decided to make a DIY blog, even though most of my endeavours would probably be blunders. After I decided that, I spoke to a friend trying to convince her to do it with me, and we thought of another blog we could do together. At the same time, though, I still want to do the DIY. So to let you know, I won’t be creating a separate DIY blog, I will just add it to my mommy blog.

The domain I was going to use for the DIY blog (makeshiftwings.net) will become my friend’s personal domain now. When the new server I ordered is turned up I’m going to move her site to the new server and new domain.

I did go ahead and order the new server for my domains. I also ordered a new server to replace one I already have because I can get these 2 servers for just barely over what I was paying for the other one. The one I have now is more than I need and is missing something I do need. I’ll let you know before the move, though, so you know when to expect some possible transition issues.

Backups are an essential part of any website. Most hosting companies will offer backups with their services, but you shouldn’t rely only on the automated backups they offer. I can tell you first-hand that the cPanel automated backups are not 100% reliable. I ran into a problem once where they just stopped running altogether but I didn’t notice.

The only real drawback to saving your backups to your own computer is that you don’t have it anywhere else, and creating a backup disk each day is tedious. And with my personal computer getting older, I’m a little worried about losing my digital photos and all my past work. I keep everything.

This is where keeping an online backup is handy. But you can’t simply pick any website to upload your files to. IDrive is an online backup service that encrypts your files for added protection. They offer up to 2GB completely free. If that’s not quite enough, like 5 years worth of photos, they have a 50GB storage package for $50 per year.

The features on both packages are amazing. They have a ‘continuous backup’ feature which will allow you to automatically back up your (updated) files every 10 minutes. You simply download it, install it, and you’re ready to go. Or if you want to make a manual backup you simple drag and drop it in like you would moving files from folder to folder on your hard drive. Then you have the detailed statistics you can refer back to if necessary.

I’ve just set up my account today, I’ll update you later on how it goes.

Recently a client asked me if I could point her in the direction of a good site that could show her how to build up her website. I don’t really keep track of sites for beginners, but I remember a site I Stumbled Upon last week that really caught my eye.

The website I stumbled is Web Design From Scratch. The range of information on this site is wonderful, from the basics of a website to javascript and DHTML. He doesn’t just tell you how to code a website (HTML) but he also teaches you how to plan your website, how to create the graphics, and how to pull a design together.

I’ve been looking through the site myself to find ways to help me to improve my own websites. Looking at his ‘My Workstation‘ page I see he has some wonderful things I never thought of, namely the noise cancelling headphones and the crib sheets.

His basics section includes the information you need to understand before getting started. Some of this info is essential and not necessarily common sense. If you’re interested in starting your own website or blog for the first time, or taking over your own website from a designer/consultant, I definitely suggest reading this Basics page before doing anything. A lot of people will suggest to just sit down and jump into it, but that leaves gaps and will cause you issues later. Better yet, pay the 1GBP to download the page and print it off, review it on your own over coffee.

For my readers I also want to point out a section I’ve downloaded and begun reading, Business of Web Design. If you’re interested in making as much as you can from your blog or website you’ll be interested to read this section. He shares a lot of good information, again, some I that hadn’t even occurred to me. This is for web design, however, you can apply a lot of it to your own website no matter what the topic.

Please let me know your thoughts on this site, and make sure to Stumble it if you like it.

If you don’t understand the title I am referring to servers! A VPS is a virtually partitioned server or as Amy mentioned virtual private server, a dedicated server means its dedicated just to you.

A Dedicated server is great and its fun to have all that space and no if anything breaks on there it was your site only. There are a lot of pros and cons about having both and as you know I try to keep it fair and balanced and give you unbiased information, but I am going to give you the run down of my decision making.

I am opening up a free wordpress blog hosting site in expansion of Pajama Mommy now I am not made of money unlike other bloggers making 14,000 a month I envy you :P but I am not in the position to afford a managed or even unmanaged server.

Managed server means you pay extra to have the people (or outside company) keep an eye on your server since you can’t be around every waking minute. Unmanaged means you are going to go this road alone and I don’t recommend it unless you truly know what you are doing.

Having a VPS means you’re on a managed server generally, if you get a vps and its unmanaged it really isn’t worth it in my opinion but its up to you, if you’re new to this you definitely want managed I always want managed or hire someone to manage since I can’t be there all the time. and its split up between 2-25 different people on that server. It can be good or it can be bad. A lot of new web hosting companies happen to start with VPS’s, I started with one because I can’t afford 300+ a month for a decent server. So I went to ModVPS.com on the recommendation of a friend who owns 2 VPS servers through them. it is $44.50 a month for 30GB of space 300GB of bandwidth and 4 IP’s with cpanel fantastico etc. Which isn’t standard if you have a server.

Unfortunately if you have a server you have to pay extra monthly for your choice of control panel if you choose to have fantastico etc. So there was a nice little perk. The only thing that kinda scares me about the place is they have 20-25 VPS per server. To me its a little over sold, but then again I don’t know the size of their server. I would have stopped at 15. (You always need extra bandwidth and space ALWAYS.)

When you have a server or even a VPS you have to have a main domain with it, I would recommend unless you are hosting your own website on their or a web hosting company you choose a separate domain for which you can also purchase the .net and .org for, when you decide to have multiple servers. Some hosting companies choose NAME-#.com so they can identify which server, via number however you will need a name for your server.

I chose “Ruby”. I couldn’t think of anything else! I will have 2 DNS (domain name servers) assigned to this which I will have to set up the DNS on my end as well via my domain registration company (NameNova.com of course only $7.17 for my .com!)

All of these are standard through any server company. If you can’t afford a server but want to run programs that you need root access for a VPS is the way to go. I get a 30 day money back garauntee with ModVPS. So I feel I am in the clear. However you just have to do your research on the company.

I emailed them a dozen times with all sorts of questions such as, how many people are put on 1 server? Are there any restricted programs I can’t run? I want to run this program am I allowed? How is your tech support is there an emergency number? How is the upgrading process? Etc. These are important things you need to know. I chose to email each question one by one, to see how the staff responds to annoyance. I know I am evil but the point is, I want to see how well they respond to it. I’ve dealt with other hosting companies where their support was and still are idiots. But they were short and sweet with their responses. Not blooming with personality however its not that important as long as they actually answered the question in a timely manner.