VM stands for Virtual Machine. Computing in the virtual machine is an emulation of a particular computer system. It basically operates on the computer architecture and functions of a real or hypothetical computer. Their implementations can involve specialized software, hardware or a combination of both.

Virtualized Environment

Virtualization is the most effective way of reducing IT expenses with boosting agility and efficiency. It is the best option not only for large enterprises but also for small and midsize businesses too. VMware virtualization assists you to run multiple applications and operating systems on a single server.

Create your first Virtual Machine

Creating a virtual machine is an easy task. You can launch Windows Server and Linux virtual machines in just a few minutes. You can provide the public -facing DNS name for the virtual machine. You can scale from 1 to thousands of VM instances, leverage hybrid consistency with on-premises systems, support Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint Server, benefit from built-in virtual networking and load balancing and many more.

Linux

Linux was initially developed as a free operating system for personal computers. It is based on the Intel x86architecture. However, it has been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. Because of the dominance of Android on smartphones, Linux has the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems. Linux is the leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems, like – mainframe computers and virtually all fastest supercomputers. It also runs on embedded systems, which are mainly built into the firmware and it is highly tailored to the system. It also includes smartphone and tablet running Android and other Linux derivatives, such as – facility automation controls, network routers, TiVo and similar DVR devices, televisions, video game consoles, smart watches and many more.

Linux VM Hosting Features

Linux VM hosting has various features, some of them are – deploy what you want, deploy with a click using Resource Manager templates, build security-enhanced, compliant solutions, nearly instant, run Microsoft enterprise applications with award-winning support, experience open source with options, easily provision SQL Server on virtual machines, make seamless hybrid connections, achieve fast I/O performance with low latencies, get true HPC capabilities in the cloud on demand, harness the power of Dv2-series virtual machines, protect your virtual machines with backup and many more.

Create a Linux Virtual Machine

Creating a Linux virtual machine (VM) is also an easy task to do from the portal or from the command line. There are lots of online tutorial available which shows you how to use the Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) for Linux, to quickly create server VM running. You can also create Linux virtual machine by using your own images as templates.

Linux Virtual Machine Hosting Companies

There are lots of web hosting companies available in the market which offers the facility of Linux virtual machine hosting. Their world-class support team has flexible technical assistance plans that cover everything from Microsoft applications to cloud infrastructure. Their staffs are knowledgeable, experienced, skilled & dedicated. They are always ready to help & assist you. Whenever any problem occurs, you just need to contact them. Moreover, they will resolve your problem as soon as possible. They offer distributions & one-click install apps. You can choose your favorite Linux distribution or can install your favorite application with the simple click of a button.

The servers which are using Linux as an operating system can make Linux Hosting. In this plan Linux platform has installed server software. The user gets complete control and available programs and scripts. Some popular LAMP related server software is also connected to this interface like MySQL, Apache, Linux and Python/Perl/PHP. Web host can customize this platform easily. Maximum community of user supports the Linux platform. cPanel is a control panel that is used to obstruct new OS from the user so that anything will not mix with each other.

Best Linux Hosting

The best Linux Hosting is based on latest technology. It is measured on some features like uptime, affordability, and technical support. Some companies provide best Linux hosting which is reliable and fast. The control panel is designed in such a way so that user has control on data, websites and files. The most popular control panel is cPanel that gives more features and having more application such as b2evolution, Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress.

Why Linux Web Hosting

World Wide Web system is connected to the important services such as internet hosting in which an enterprise is provided a facility of uploading its important data and information on internet. This uploading is necessary for distribution. Therefore, best Linux Hosting is useful in above procedure. Linux is an open source platform in which user can easily gather desired information. In this interface, the uniqueness is measured in terms of two things which are ssh and telnet access that help to transfer user data through transmission control protocol. Through CGI, which is common gateway interface, the user is connected with browser application.

Advantages of Linux Hosting:

There are certain benefits which are as follows:

1. Stable and secure: Linux web hosting provides secure interface provides user-friendly platform in the area of safety of data.
2. Basic Plan: Linux web hosting comprises with the FTP access, ssh access, and MySQL services.
3. Easy Backups: Linux provides backup facility via inbuilt tools.
4. Low cost: Being open source software the cost of this software is less than in comparison to other software.
5. Technical Support: This platform gives the facility of troubleshooting related to the functions which solve the problem of users. The support is reliable and best among other services.
6. Simple Administration: Linux operating system is blessed with simple management. In this platform, no other software tools are required to be used.

Linux Hosting Companies:

The best Linux hosting companies provide reliable, secure, good customer support and best bandwidth according to the requirements. Companies provide sufficient storage to the user as they are in need. Most web hosting companies are keen interested in Linux OS makes Linux administration the desired platform for developers. A certification which is RedHat Certified Engineer Program that gives Linux ability of candidate and web hosts can provide efforts of technical support. The five companies which offer best Linux hosting are as follows:
Dreamhost
Hostgator
Bluehost
A Small Orange
Linode

Conclusion

Linux Hosting provides some hosting packages that involve account managing, website creation and adding domains. Some essential features such as uptime and money back guarantee, disk space, email addresses, databases and 24/7/365 technical support. Linux Hosting is mostly free, and Linux OS can easily be used on old servers.

Server Computer

Servers operate within a client-server architecture. Servers are the computer programs which run to serve the requests of other programs, the clients. The server performs some tasks on the behalf of customers. The clients usually connect to the server through the network but may run on the same computer.

Server On The Internet

A Web server is a program which uses the client-server model and the World Wide Web’s Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It serves the files which form Web pages to Web users whose computers contain HTTP clients that forward their requests.

Dedicated Server Hosting

A dedicated server is a single computer in a network which is reserved for serving the needs of the network. For example, some networks require one computer to be set aside to manage communications between all the other computers. A dedicated server could also be a computer which manages printer resources.

Linux

Linux was basically developed as a free operating system for personal computers that is based on the Intel x86 architecture. However, it has been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. Linux has the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems. In its original form, Linux is also the leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems like -mainframe computers and virtually all fastest supercomputers. Linux also runs on embedded systems, whose operating system is usually built into the firmware. It is highly tailored to the system. It includes smartphones and tablet computers which run on Android and other Linux derivatives.

Linux Hosting cPanel Features

Linux Hosting cPanel has various features, some of the main features are – POP3 email accounts, Email Forwarding, Auto Responders, Block an Email, Webmail, Mailing Lists, Spam Assasin, File Manager, FTP Manager, Directory Protection, Cpanel Web-based site management, Error Pages, Add Sub-domains Administration, Microsoft FrontPage 2000/2002 Extensions, PHPNuke, Chat Room, Message Board, os Commerce, Network Tools, Backup, Apache Handlers and many more.

Linux Hosting Plans

Linux hosting offers various plans for beginners to professionals. They offer different packages. They have the list of plans from which you can choose any of the plans as per your need & budget. There are lots of Linux hosting options to choose from so you can be picky. A great Linux host offer feature-rich hosting packages which manage your account, add domains and create websites in a manner as simple as possible.

Linux Server Hosting Companies

Linux Server Hosting Companies offer various services, some of them are – money-back and uptime guarantees, 24/7 technical support, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited web space, free domain, disk space, databases, and email addresses. These companies offer excellent technical support. Their staffs are always ready to help & assist you. They are skilled, experienced & dedicated and always ready to help you. Whenever any problem occurs, you just need to contact them.
They provide shared hosting plans for Basic, Unlimited, and Advanced needs. There are lots of reputed shared hosting companies which offer various features, some of them are – simple & easy, unlimited server space, reliable web hosting, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, unlimited domains, unlimited email accounts and many more. If you just want a basic online presence, the basic package is the ideal solution. If you have more advanced projects in mind, then they also offer the facility of customization.

About VMware

VMware refers to a Workstation and a commercial virtualization software of VMware dedicated to x64 computers. This is installed on the top of existing operating system which is running on computer, known as host operating system, and thus it refers to a Type 2 hypervisor. It is supported by both, Linux and Windows host Operating Systems, so it can be installed on both of them.

VMware Workstation allows users to set up more than one virtual machine, in which each one of them having their own guest operating system, and execute the same at the same time. Guest operating systems which are supported can be 32 bit or 64 bit, comprises of maximum distros of Linux, most of the versions of Windows, and other operating systems such as FreeBSD and Solaris.

Steps for Installing VMware Workstation on a Linux Host

A. Install VMware Workstation

To install the VMware Workstation, first of all, it needs to be downloaded. If using for the first time, there is a trial version of VMware Workstation, duration of 30 days, is available, which user can download. Moreover, if looking for the full version, it needs to be purchased from the web store of VMware.
VMware Workstation comes with one file installed for all the distributions of Linux, which is a zipped .bundle file. VMware Workstation’s latest stable release is 10.0.
Point to be noted here, steps given below explain the process of installation of VMware Workstation from a CD-ROM disc. If software is downloaded, steps will be the same except when user begin from the directory in which downloaded installer file is saved, instead of the Linux directory on CD.
1. First of all, User needs to Log on to Linux host with their username, which they have decided to use while running VMware Workstation.
2. Next, in a terminal window, become root so that initial installation steps can be performed by the user.
3. Now, mount the VMware Workstation CD-ROM.
4. User is required to change to the Linux directory on the CD.
5. Next, for the installer of users choice, installation must be continued with the appropriate section:

Using the tar Installer

Using the RPM Installer

Point to be noted here: User may skip the steps to copy and unpack the archive and may install direct from the VMware-distrib directory present on the CD.
·1 Tar archive must be copied and pasted to a temporary directory on users hard drive. for instance, /tmp.
cp VMware-<xxxx>.tar.gz /tmp
·2 Next, Change to the directory in which file is copied by the user.
cd /tmp
·3 Now, Unpack the archive.
tar zxpf VMware-<xxxx>.tar.gz
·4 Next, Change to the installation directory.
cd VMware-distrib
·5 Now, installation program must be run.
./vmware-install.pl
·6 Default directories for various types of files such as library files, binary files, documentation files, manual files, and init script is given, so user must accept them.
·7 User must answer ‘Yes’ when he wish to run vmware-config.pl.
So, here ends the installation of the tar archive. User is expected that RPM installer instructions are skipped by him, and he may continue with the step no. 6.

Using the RPM Installer

·8 First user must run the RPM, which specifies the installation file.
rpm -Uhv VMware-<xxxx>.rpm
VMware-<xxxx>.rpm is the installation file, present on the CD-ROM. Instead of <xxxx>, filename must have the numbers which correspond to the build and version both.
·9 Now configuration program must be run by the user from the command line.
vmware-config.pl
6. Now the prompts which are left, must be worded in such a way that, in maximum cases, the response received by default is considered as appropriate.
Important Note: While workstation is installed and user is unable to host-only networking, user does not permit the virtual machine to make use of bridged and host-only networking both.
7. Now, a message will be displayed by a configuration program, stating ‘the configuration completed successfully’. If message does not appear, configuration program must be run by the user again.
8. When all is completed, user needs to exit from the root account.
exit
B. Begin the VMware Workstation
C. Enter the serial number

Serial no. must be entered by user only for once. If user does not have a configured serial number from the previous installation, user is prompted for the same at the time of starting the Workstation.

Now, To enter the serial number, User is required to go to the option ‘Help’ and then enter the Serial Number.

Here point to be noted, A Workstation can be installed by the user without a serial number. However, a virtual machine cannot be power on without entering a serial number. So, to on the virtual machine, a serial no. must be there.
D. Now using the New Virtual Machine Wizard, User must create a new virtual machine.
E. After a new virtual machine is created, a guest operating system is required to be installed in the same. For this, user requires the installation media such as floppy disk or CD-ROM.
F. After this, VMware Tools package in a virtual machine must be installed by the user for improving the performance.
G. After tools get installed, virtual machine is ready to use. Now User can start the same.

This is how VMware Workstation is installed on a Linux host.

Linux reseller hosting is popular and quite loved by people. Linux operates with different system availability. Linux reseller hosting plans usually come with WHM Cpanel. WHM is available with Linux reseller hosting which allows an individual to manage key functions such as creating hosting packages, adding a domain name & enabling or disabling features for an individual’s customers, view resource usage such as disk space, bandwidth, etc. WHM also enables an individual to brand Cpanel that is created under him. Once an individual setup a domain in his WHM, then the customer can access their domain’s Cpanel and manage key features such as emails, database, FTP, DNS, etc. an individual’s customer will also have access to logs, statistics, usage limits. Additionally, it includes features such as password protection for secure web hosting, SQL database management, etc. are also available.

Various Hosting Plans Availability

Linux Reseller hosting comes with various hosting plans. Whatever is the hosting plan is selected by an individual but that must contain few things which are a must to have. Linux reseller hosting plans are powered by Cloud Linux OS in most of the hosting providers. CageFS allows complete isolation of each website from others web hosting services for better security. Additionally, it includes PHP 5.x, Perl, and Python supports. MySQL 5.x with PHP my admin, Apache 2.x, Pear, Ajax, Ruby On Rails, GD Lib, PDO/PDO MYSQL, MYSQLi, Zend Guard Loader, DNS Management for Google Apps, Ioncube Loader, Curl, hash, mbstring, XML, Subdomains, Web stats, Access logs, Password protected URL, Hotlink protection, URL redirection, File Manager.

Security with Linux Reseller Hosting

Linux Reseller Hosting plans include Email facility with Anti-Spam & Anti-Virus security. Linux Reseller Web Hosting also comes with POP3, SMTP, and Webmail Access. Mail access by means of various systems whether movable or non-movable support is also available with most of the Linux reseller hosting. As a web hosting service provider Linux reseller hosting is quite secure to use. It is recommended to go for a Linux reseller hosting by paying some amount instead of going for free one.

Easy to employ

An individual can install a range of third party applications in his domain with a single click. Some of the available apps in Linux reseller hosting includes Word Press, Joomla, Mambo & much more than that. Linux Reseller Hosting now offers fully brandable reseller hosting. An individual can brand his reseller account using Personal DNS, cPanel WHM branding, Domain control panel branding.

Reseller Domain Control Panel

Through Linux web hosting reseller an individual can avail Domain reseller account. He can add funds to his account instantly and start registering various domain extensions. An individual can also brand his domain control panel so that his customers can register domains from his website itself. With so many features Linux reseller web hosting is a must to use for an individual who wants to go for web hosting.

Conclusion

Today, Linux reseller hosting is used throughout computing and have secured a place while server installations such as the LAMP application stack. Use of Linux reseller hosting in home and enterprise has been growing. Everything needed by an individual to generate maximum revenue from his Reseller hosting business is available with Linux reseller hosting. It comes with free WHM reseller hosting package including powerful security and tools such as SSL certificates, cPanel, Website Panel, etc.

Linux Hosting is quite popular in India, among the several platforms or hosting solutions used. Although it is not compatible with Windows applications and the coding conversions and it cannot be used with some Microsoft technologies like Access, ASP or MS SQL. However, it is seen that most of the people in India prefer Linux hosting over Windows hosting because it has several unseen advantages which makes it more user-friendly, affordable, secure than others. Windows may not possess These advantages.

Why Linux Hosting

1. No cost is associated with most versions of Linux, because it is an open source. Thus, Linux is the excellent choice for cheap dedicated servers.
2. Services such as the Apache web server, the BIND name server, Send mail and Exim mail servers are offered by the dedicated Linux server web hosting web server.
3. Linux provides support for various types of applications, software and programming languages including Perl, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
4. It is very cheap and affordable to operate.
5. Linux Hosting provides multiple options to fulfill the requirements of hosting.
6. No need to restart Linux, and its server is also not defragmented frequently.
7. Linux servers are more secure than other servers. Viruses and malware also attack less on Linux and fixed very frequently by its developers and users.
8. In Linux system, administrator has a clear view of files and is under control.
9. Linux is scalable, flexible and can be reconfigured without considering the processor, services.
10. Linux hosting is compatible with PHP, a most popular programming language.
11. It may also help to test new things; thus it proves to be beneficial for practicing programmers also.
12. Linux is not required to run on your PC to host your site.
13. It has the ability to run for several years, without any kind of failure. It is good for individuals; small as well as medium-sized business and can run various processes at a time.
14. Linux has big three commercial providers Red Hat, Novell, and Canonical, which offers 24 hrs support for your business services and critical applications and also support business that are standardized on .NET web technology.
15. Worldwide community of developers who contribute to the source code, security fixes, and system enhancements always provide support to the Linux.
16. Linux users get the free support through forums and community sites, and they also get the peace of mind from distributed community, because there’s no single source and single point of failure for Linux support or development.
17. Linux has one additional advantage also i.e. it has The Linux Foundation which is a corporate collection of platinum supporters (Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell and Oracle) is considered as a positive sign for Linux users and adopters because its presence assures that Linux is developed on the continuous basis. This foundation also contains members who sponsor Linux Torvalds through donations and membership dues, and others who work on Linux full time. Behind this their main objective is to “promote, provide safety and standardize Linux to encourage its growth around the world.” It is the primary source for all things Linux.
18. Ubuntu Linux provides you new and improved versions in every six months and long-term support versions in every two years. It also offers regular updates of its packages and sources several times in every year and security fixes as per the requirement.
19. Linux is considered faster as it can load and run around 40-50% faster than other servers, whether it is a dedicated server, cloud server, windows server or VPS server.
20. Another benefit is that Linux is supported by many powerful and reliable tools and solutions like PHP, MYSQL, and Perl.

Linux Hosting Features

Linux hosting offers useful features which makes it an excellent platform. It includes Unlimited bandwidth, Web space recovery, E-mail accounts, storage, Forwarding, Autoresponder, MySQL5 database, Host multiple websites, FTP Accounts, SSH Access, Free included domains, DNS Management, Antivirus, Perl, Python, Ruby On Rails, PHP and PHP Dev, Graphic archive, Istock photo image library, 1&1- Edition, Site Analytic, SEO spotlight, E-mail marketing tool, Daily server backups, Password protected directories, Dedicated SSL Certificate, Online office package, etc.

Popular & Cheap Linux Hosting Providers India

In India, a no. of Linux hosting service providers are available, offering their services for years to no. of clients. So, who are the best ones offering their services at reasonable price in reference to India.

Some of the popular and cheap ones are

·1 Hostingraja
·2 eWebIndia
·3 BigRock
·4 Go4Hosting
·5 SSD Web Solutions
·6 Hosting.India.to
·7 Webcom Systems
·8 Delhi Web Hosting
·9 ZNetLive
·10 eWebguru
·11 Net4

All About Hosts File

Hosts file is simply a text file which is used by all operating system to decode hostname into IP addresses. If you type in hostname facebook.com, then system will search for the hosts file to get IP address which needs to connect to the suitable server. Basically, while opening the host file, you notice that it doesn’t have any directory of the whole internet but just a couple of lines. For any type of search, your system first checks the hosts file and if that search isn’t defined there, will be looked up on DNS server defined in network settings.

Therefore, you can use hosts file to add to what DNS servers can’t provide or override IP addresses which DNS server normally provide. Let’s clear this with the example, if you ask facebook.com, DNS server provide Facebook IP address to the computer. But if you need to block Facebook on that computer, you have to add an entry in hosts file. So, there are number of things that you can do with hosts file.

Manage Hosts File in Linux

Hosts file is a popular feature to modify your system, depending on needs. Through hosts file, you can easily block websites, create shortcuts and more.

Edit Host File

In Linux, hosts file under /etc/hosts. You can simply use graphical text editor or terminal text editor. But, there is only one graphical tool which offers partial control of hosts file that is Linux Mint’s domain blocker application. This tool works by adding entries into hosts file which points hostnames user specify to 127.0.0.1. This is the only work you can do with domain blocker. You can make change with the text editor for any other use of host file.

Customers require administrative rights to save changes to the file. Editing can be done by using terminal commands including gksu gedit/etc/hosts or sudo nano/etc/hosts. Through terminal you, can launch application along with administrative rights. You can just replace gedit or nano with your preferred terminal text or graphical editor.

Benefits of Hosts File:

• Use of less resource- you can block advertising sites without any extra programs by using function that is built into your system. It reduces memory and processor usage and free up resources for other tasks.
• Minimize tracking and safety concerns- Hosts file can prevent tracking and advertising companies, by intercepting IP calls before they leave your computer. This will keep tracking companies from profiling you and keep you safe. Those sites which are not in hosts file can track you and send ads.
• Works on connections other than HTTP- Mostly ad blocking programs intercept IP calls going to HTTP port on your computer. Hosts file can block IP calls on any port including FTP or HTTP.
• Configurable hosts’ file- Users can edit host files completely by their own instead depending on other to block sites. They can put any site into the hosts file and can use this to block trackers, unwanted sites or advertisers. All these tasks can be done by users without depending on someone else.
• Fast browsing speed- Files that is placed in hosts’ files with proper addresses, computer does not ask another computer where to find a site. Therefore, computer will go directly to that site, and this will increase the speed of surfing experience. Blocking technique in hosts file can keep ads from being loaded in hosts.

Some drawbacks on Hosts file:

• Host file will not work with URL’s which starts with IP numbers.
• Host file may cause some sites to stop working properly.
• Host file will not work with wildcards.

Linux is a very popular platform used for hosting websites. As it is quite inexpensive to operate, so it is considered as cost-effective or cheap hosting solution. With affordability, it is also secure, scalable, reasonable, reliable platform. By offering services at low prices, it does not compromise with other aspects, and that is everyone desire.

A no. of cheap web hosting providers are available in the market which offers their Linux hosting services with high quality, reliability, security at minimal prices. The list is a long one, but the major ones are Arvixe web hosting, Webhosting pad, Go Daddy web hosting, Jodo host, In Motion Hosting, i Page hosting, Midphase, 1&1, Host Excellence, Just Host, Host Gator, Discount ASP.Net, Host monster web hosting company.

So, Have a look!

Cheap Linux Web Hosting Companies

• GoDaddy web hosting offers high quality & reliable cheap Linux hosting services leads to high performance. The three basic Linux hosting plans offered by the provider are the economy hosting plan, the deluxe hosting plan and the ultimate hosting plan which comes with various important features such as unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, network uptime guarantee of 99.9%, one-click setup, 24*7technical support, free domain name.
• Webhosting Pad company is considered as excellent and cheap hosting provider, because it offers excellent quality Linux hosting services at a very affordable price. It offers features such as 30-day money back guarantee, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth at a nominal price just $ 1.99 per month.
• In Motion web hosting is another cheap web hosting provider that offers best quality services of hosting to their customers. This provider hosting services is basically Linux-based, and they may work either with Windows operating system or Mac operating system, as the services are compatible with both the operating systems. The great hosting features offered by this provider is huge amount of bandwidth and disk space each month. These features make hosting very reliable and cost effective just for $ 5.95 per month.
• Arvixe web hosting company is listed under top 10 cheap web hosting providers. It offers good quality hosting services at an affordable price. The features which they offer includes Unlimited bandwidth, a free domain for life, a free Site Builder, a free online store, an easy to use control panel, a 60 days money back guarantee with many more all just for $4.99 per month.
• Just Host aims at providing cheap Linux hosting services to their clients without compromising with the quality and security. With unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and other good features, it is considered as a good choice.
• 1&1 web hosting company is another leader when we are talking about cheap Linux hosting providers. It comes with features such as 50 GB of disk space and unlimited bandwidth and all this cost only $ 4.99 a month.
• Host monster, one more excellent web hosting provider, offers excellent cheap web hosting service including features unlimited hostable domains, unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth, free domain, free site builders, free online stores and other useful features for only $ 4.95 per month.
• Host Gator, cheap Linux hosting provider in the industry. It offers features which include: unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, free domain name, an easy to use control panel, WHM control panel and all for just $ 4.95 per month.
• Discount ASP.Net is another hosting provider which also aims at offering excellent and cheap hosting services to their clients. It may offer features of unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth depending on the hosting plan chosen. It offers its features at $7.50 per month.
• Mid phase is also recognized as an excellent and affordable Linux web hosting provider. At reasonable prices, it offers unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth and other great features for only $5.95 per month.
• Jodo Host is also counted in the list of cheap Linux hosting providers which offers 1GB of disk space and 20 GB of bandwidth to their clients. It offers their features at $2.95 per month.
• Host Excellence offers Unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth for $5.95 per month. This is also considered as a good and cheap Linux hosting provider.
• IX web hosting designed to offer best quality cheap Linux hosting services to their clients. The features which they offer are very reliable and include Unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth. It costs only $ 4.95 per month.

So, whoever are planning to use Linux hosting services by spending less amount of money, for them this article may prove helpful.

As we all know, each and every computer has a respective address, put by TCP/IP in a form of numbers. Format is like 44.175.145.99. Computer address is popularly known as IP Address. Every computer in the world has their own and unique IP Address. With the growth of TCP/IP, it becomes difficult to remember addresses of all the computers in such a compact format. So, to resolve this issue, DNS came. DNS, simply translate the IP Address to a name and similarly, name to IP Address. As names are easy to remember by human beings, rather than IP Addresses, so DNS has gained popularity all over the globe. In Linux, some built-in utility are available. In reference to the above, Linux Host command is covered in this article.

About Host Command

Host, a necessary and easy to use command line tool, used to search the IP Address of a given domain name and to print the domain name for the IP Address given. Host command is also a DNS lookup utility. If there are no options or arguments given, command line options and arguments are summarised in a short form, and same is printed by the host.
Here name refers to the domain name which is required to be looked up. Maybe it is a colon-delimited IPv6 address or a dotted-decimal IPv4 address, and in which case, a reverse lookup for that address is performed by host, by default. Here Server is counted as an argument, which is optional, and it is either the IP address of the name server or its name which is queried by the host rather than server or servers which are listed in /etc/resolv.conf.

Uses or Purpose of Host Command

·1 Primary purpose of Host command is to translate a domain or host name into IP Address and vice versa.
·2 To perform DNS name lookups.
·3 To search or find the IP address of a host and vice versa.
·4 To list different kinds of DNS resource records and validate them like MX and NS names.
·5 To verify the connectivity to web and ISP DNS server.
·6 To check the spam and records of blacklisting.
·7 To verify issues related to DNS Server and troubleshoot the same.

Syntax of Host Command

The Syntax is
·1 host [-aCdlnrTwv] domain-name/ipaddress
·2 host [-aCdlnrsTwv] [-c class] [-N ndots] [-R number] [-t type] [-W wait] [-m flag] [-4] [-6] {name} [server]

Examples of Host Command

Here come several examples of Host Command:
·1 How to find the IP Address of a hostname
Suppose a hostname is host 123456789.co.in
69.65.102.222 is the address of 123456789.co.in.
Now in order to determine the IP Address of a hostname, hostname must be typed along with the host command. IP Address of 123456789.co.in is 69.65.102.222
·2 How SOA record information is printed:
host -C 123456789.co.in
Nameserver ns1.dnshorizon.com:
123456789.co.in SOA ns1.dnshorizon.com. saisan.gmail.com.
2007062001 86400 7200 3600000 86400 Nameserver ns2.dnshorizon.com:
123456789.co.in SOA ns1.dnshorizon.com. saisan.gmail.com.
2007062001 86400 7200 3600000 86400
Host’s nameserver and its SOA record is printed by the given cmd.

Options of Linux Host command

No. of options are available for host command on Linux OS and here comes a short summary of the relevant ones only. Otherwise, a list is long.
Option Purpose
-a For the given hostname, all their DNS records are printed.
-C Authoritative name servers and SOA records are printed by this option.
-d It is equivalent to -v.
-l By using AXFR, all hosts are listed in a domain.
-t This option is used for choosing the query type. Query Type can be NS, KEY, CNAME, SOA etc.
-W It determines the time or duration of wait for a reply.
-v Host generates the Verbose output.
-T To query the nameserver, rather than UDP, TCP must be used. And this is given in those queries which need TCP, like AXFR requests.

Generally, Linux hosting is an operating system known as Linux on the server since 1991. Linux is Unix OS system offered as a free open source choice. It has become most popular open source OS in the industry. When you want to start your online website, business, blog or other online project, Linux hosting is the best choice. Customers can easily modify, use and redistributed in commercial and non-commercial abilities.

Linux Shared Hosting

Linux shared web hosting is the best option if customer wants to get benefit of open source OS and applications. Linux hosting include LAMP that is Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) bundle. To manage shared hosting in better way, mostly hosting providers offer free Cpanel, and they suggested hosting WordPress blog.

Why Linux is better choice than Windows

Mostly customers choose Linux for number of reasons. Linux hosting comes with features such as CGI, PHP, Pearl, and Python, all these are popular options for webmasters. It is the most stable selection for web hosting and offer features which can be used free of cost as compared to Windows Hosting. Options in Windows hosting are ASP and ASP.NET, both are difficult to use.

Top Benefits of Linux Shared Hosting

Linux operating system comes with great features and benefits. With this type of hosting, newcomers can start their website or blog. Let’s check out the advantages of Linux hosting.

Reliability
Linux offers excellent reliability as it is one of the first operating system. Mostly Linux users prefer it better than Windows.

Flexibility
Customers can do various things with the help of Linux server, like create a website, multimedia application, forum, blog or other online applications. It’s GNU, or General Public License feature can be used with a range of distribution such as Ubuntu, SUE Linux, and Red Hat. Due to this, Linux hosting is much more flexible than others.

Security
Security is an important factor for any type of hosting. Linux hosting has proven to be the safer and secure especially for shared hosting.

Simplicity
Another main advantage of Linux shared hosting is its simplicity. It is simple and user-friendly hosting along with MySQL, PHP, and Perl applications. In comparison to other hosting, Linux has very easy to use system.

Cost
Linux is an open source platform, and it is free to use for your hosting. As a result, hosting companies can keep lower rates compared to Windows hosting. Linux hosting also includes popular and free scripts such as phpBB, Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and so on.

cPanel
Mostly Linux web hosting companies provide cPanel with their services. cPanel is the popular website management control panel that manages website by using GUI interface. Through cPanel, users can set up databases, email accounts, FTP access and more on Linux shared hosting.

Plesk
Plesk is another popular website control panel for managing Linux shared hosting and Windows. All hosting providers offer Plesk control panel with their hosting plans.

Choose Right Linux Shared Hosting
Without significant support and time, customers cannot enjoy the benefits of using any type of hosting services. With the best Linux hosting providers, you will get excellent technical support and staff monitors your server 24/7. Below, you can find some of the name of hosting providers on Linux and Windows platform:
1. BlueHost
2. DreamHost
3. HostGator
4. iPage
5. IX Webhosting