MySQL Database Services

MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL (Structured Query Language) relational database server. If the hosting package that you have purchased includes MySQL Database(s) then you get 5 Database Users per Database that you have purchased, and the ability to do the following from your hosting control panel, using the Database Manager section:

• Add / Delete MySQL Databases
• Restrict Access to the database from a set of IP Addresses / Hosts
• Add multiple database users for a single database
• Define granular level database access policy on a per user basis i.e. you can decide which all privileges a user should be given from Select, Insert, Update, Delete, Create, Drop, Grant, Reference, Index, Alter Privileges
• Change Passwords
• Suspend / unsuspend access of database users
• One-click Access to phpMyAdmin - a web based tool for administering your MySQL database that allows you to create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, manage keys on fields etc.

Website Speed Booster

The Website Speed Booster, as of this writing, is a feature unique to our hosting control panels ONLY. It automatically enhances the speed of your website by upto 20x times and more. This tool works by compressing the content delivered to the client when it is sent across the network. It uses the browsers ability to uncompress this data seamlessly. The tool does not require any changes in website code nor does it require any additional software on the client. All browsers starting from Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape 4.06, Opera 5, Lynx 2.6 support this feature. Our solution will simply not compress the data if the visitor has a non-compliant browser.

Using the control panel you can boost the speed of all of the following:

• all static pages i.e. html, js, css files etc
• all dynamic pages i.e. php, perl, cgi, python files etc
• all images and downloadables i.e. gif, jpg, png, doc, pdf, xls files etc

Auto Correct URL Spelling

This option is another feature unique to our hosting control panels ONLY - it attempts to automatically correct misspellings of URLs that users might have entered, by ignoring capitalization and by allowing up to one misspelling (character insertion / omission / transposition or wrong character). Requests to documents sometimes cannot be served by the web server because the request was misspelled or miscapitalized. This option addresses the problem by trying to find a matching document. It does its work by comparing each document name in the requested directory against the requested document name without regard to case, and allowing misspellings. A list is built with all document names which were matched using this strategy.

If, after scanning the directory,

• no matching document was found, then the server will proceed as usual and return a “document not found” error
• only one document is found that “almost” matches the request, then it is returned in the form of a redirection response
• more than one document with a close match was found, then the list of the matches is returned to the client, and the client can select the correct candidate

For example, if the visitor to your website types in http://www.yourdomainname.com/home.htm or http://www.yourdomainname.com/Home.html in the browser’s address bar, and the actual page which exists on the web server is home.html then the visitor will automatically be redirected to http://www.yourdomainname.com/home.html if the Auto Correct URL Spelling option is enabled.

Unlimited Web Forwarding Rules

The Redirect Manager in the hosting control panel gives you the ability to forward requests for any local folder, sub-folder, file to another domain name, URL, or IP address seamlessly. For e.g. if you want http://www.yourdomainname.com/corp to redirect to http://www.someotherdomain.com, then you can add a rule for the same. The easy-to-use Redirect Manager allows you to add as many such web forwarding rules as you want.

Direct Download Manager

Another feature exclusive to our control panels - the Direct Download Manager helps you save several hours of your valuable time by allowing you to download files to your web space directly from another server via a HTTP URL or FTP URL. If you need to transfer large files to your web space that are already available on some other server, then you would typically have to download these files locally to your desktop and re-upload them. All of this could take up quite some time depending on the file size and your internet connection speed. However, using the server-to-server transfer facility provided by the Direct Download Manager you can utilize the server’s high speed connection to directly download large files, so, even if you are connected to the Internet via a dial-up connection, file transfers will occur at the very high speeds.

This feature is most useful when you are transferring your website date from your previous web hosting provider, as you could just zip up your whole website and instead of downloading it locally to your desktop, directly download it on the server and unzip it there.

Supported Web Development Technologies

All our linux hosting packages support all the popular linux-specific web development technologies, empowering you to create your website or web application in the language of your choice.

Supported web development technologies include:

• PHP
• Perl
• CGI
• Python
• Ruby
• Server Side Includes (SSI)
• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
• Real Audio / Video HTTP Streaming
• Macromedia Flash
• Macromedia Shockwave

Supported Web Publishing Tools

You can upload data / publish content on your website / transfer files to and from the server using any of the following:

• FTP Based Clients
• Macromedia DreamWeaver

Netfirms, Inc. , Canada’s leading web hosting provider and one of the fastest growing .CA domain registrars, recently announced that the best time to acquire the .CA extension is now. With the US economy not operating up to par as of late and the Canadian dollar performing at historic highs against the US dollar, what better time to invest in the .CA?

In a feature article in Sedo’s October 2006 newsletter, Jay Finnan, now Portfolio Sales Manager at Sedo, not one for aberrations, foreshadowed the status of our northern neighbor’s virtual real estate market over one year ago. “One thing is for certain, the demand for quality .CA domains will continue to grow.” He couldn’t have been more on target as we continue to see demand for the extension increase from year to year.

Various factors make the .CA extension desirable for Canadian residents. The overall availability and affordability of the .CA Top Level Domain (TLD) are among the top desirability factors. With only about one million .CA domains registered to date, the relatively low price of $9.95 a year for registration costs and affordable website hosting costs, more and more people are hopping aboard the .CA train.

The .CA also has quite the competitive advantage for any business hoping to retain and expand their Canadian clientele. If you find yourself traveling through the country, you’re bound to see countless advertisements on highway billboards boasting a .CA domain. Presently, when acquiring a generic one word .COM, it has the potential of costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. It makes the most economical sense for Canadian companies hoping to stay competitive to brand their businesses around the .CA.

Just like any other mainstream country code TLD, the .CA can do a lot for national morale and the country’s sense of identity as well. Nowadays, the likelihood of interacting with a business or individual in Canada electing to use the .COM over the .CA is slim to none. Small businesses can retain their client base by priding themselves in using the .CA while growing their web presence. There’s also a trust element involved. Canadian citizens are less prone to fear working with a multinational using the .CA TLD and are more inclined to buy from them, knowing full-well that the business is most likely located in Canada.

So, what does this all mean for Sedo’s users? Currently, there are over 18,000 .CA domains listed for sale in our marketplace. With a clear Sedo presence in North America, it’s easy to see why so many have engaged in transactions on our marketplace. Since Sedo’s US office launch in 2004, the quantity of .CA domains listed along with the sales turnover rate has consistently increased as you can see from the graph below.

Minor Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) regulations make the transfer of .CA domains relatively trouble-free. Prospective domain buyers will need a Canadian presence in order to own a .CA domain. However, with these slight residence restrictions, the buyer only needs to contact their registrar to have them initiate the domain transfer request. The registrar will then subsequently contact CIRA on the buyer’s behalf in order to request a registrant change.

With the recent push by NetFirms to register more domains with the extension, the possibility of registering millions more two or three word premium domains, and the relative ease in transferring .CA domains in Sedo’s marketplace, the future of .CA domains is only looking brighter. Good news, eh?