Server redundancy

In an ideal world, you get what you want all the time. The shopping lines are always short, the traffic is always light, and there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world, and just like a street can come to a stand-still when there is too much traffic, so can a server.

If you have a single server and its working, you might never suspect you would have a problem, but if too many people visit your server, some visitors could start getting denied access. Even worse, too much congestion can even bring a server down. With redundant servers, you can spread the load over two or more identical servers. The information across both is the same, so it does not matter which one a user gets when they access your site.

The other, perhaps more critical advantage of server redundancy is that even if one server goes down, the other one will continue to work. The more redundant servers you have, the more reliable your site will be. Generally speaking redundancy is probably not necessary for small, low-traffic sites, but for big sites that see huge volumes of regular users, it could be a life saver.

Photo Source: Flickr

What is MRTG?

Question: What is MRTG?

Answer: MRTG stands for Multi Rounter Traffic Grapher. It is free and open source software that monitors and measures traffic on a network. It provides a graph that shows traffic load over a set period of time. Although it was originally developed to monitor routers, many web hosting companies use it to keep track of bandwidth usage.

If you are a running a dedicated server, you will find MRTG very useful. With it, you can keep track of your site(s) bandwidth usage, high traffic times, and any anomalous spikes. MRTG is a Perl application and can run on numerous platforms, including Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and Netware.

Users can download MRTG directly from the project’s website. It is also available in most Linux software repositories, making installation quick and painless. MRTG is available under the GNU General Public License.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Watch a live domain auction

We hear about domain auctions on a daily basis, but rarely does one get the chance to see such an event live. The video above shows the sale of Ad.com during T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley in April.

The winning bidder was Divyank Turakhia, who paid £946,137 ($1.4 million USD) for the name. Turakhia is a technology entrepreneur who own a number of premium domains and start-ups.

As you can see, domain auctions are serious business. Most are done online, but it’s not uncommon to see the most valuable names sold at events like T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

TRAFFIC ccTLD Extended Auction Results

TRAFFIC Amsterdam ended more than a week ago, but the online extended auction that started during the event just came to a close. In all, £64,006 ($105,000 USD) worth of domains were sold.

The biggest sale was the combined auction of Blackjack.co.za and Casinos.co.za, which fetched £29,526 ($48,436 USD). Other notable sales include:
Sextoys.ca- £12,148 ($19,928 USD)
Identidad.es- £844 ($1,384 USD)
Employ.us- £3,294 ($5,404 USD)
Refrigerator.in- £898 ($1,472 USD)
AirlineTickets.co.uk- £3,037 ($4,982 USD)

Look out for TRAFFIC New York on October 26-29.

Source: Domain Name News

Average Internet user visits 70 domains each month

I already know I am way over the average, but the new statistics released by Nielsen Online are worth investigating, especially if your business is online. According to the report, the average person visits 70 domains and 1576 web pages each month. That means that most of the pages they see are within a few sites, undoubtedly including major search engines and social networking sites.

Each day, according to the report, a person will view 42 pages per online session, which lasts about 1.02 hours. At the end of a month, a person will have accumulated 37.21 hours of web site browsing. I can only wonder what my statistics would look like for the nights I fall asleep with my browser still open. Even more interesting is that UK users are apparently the biggest net junkies, clocking 47 web sessions and 86 domain visits per month.

The average person spends 51 seconds on a web page, just long enough to see someone fall from a bike on YouTube. In the UK, they spend only 49 seconds. The report estimates that the “Digital Media Universe” now has a population of 560,574,661. Despite the economic recession, there seems to be no reduction in the amount of pointing and clicking, something that is sure to make Internet service providers and web site owners happy.

Source: Nielsen Online
Photo: Flickr

ccTLDs Sell for Big Bucks at TRAFFIC Amsterdam

TRAFFIC Amsterdam is coming to a close and the auction results are now in. While many domains didn’t sell at the event intended mainly for ccTLDs, some brought in big bucks for their owners:

DiamondRings.com- £141,589
Rugs.co.uk- £13,844
Vegas.cm- £13,547
Job.us-£ 22,025
Tel.fr- £4,370
Houses.co.uk- £44,574
Blog.eu- £12,585

Obviously the big sale here is DiamondRings.com for £141,589. It’s a great name, but a bit overpriced in my opinion. The owner paid about £20,000 too much for it. DiamondRings.net sold at the same auction for £ 2,657, while DiamondRings.co.uk changed hands in 2008 for only £801.

The next TRAFFIC event will be in New York on October 26-29.

Source: Domain Name News

IFPI uses The Pirate Bay verdict to go after web hosts

News of the conviction of four people responsible for The Pirate Bay file-sharing site spread quickly, and the IFPI, an international affiliate of the RIAA, is now targeting web hosting providers who host file sharing web sites.

The web hosts, they argue, are accountable for content and should shut down the file sharing sites, despite the fact that the sites in question do not illegally distribute music.

The IFPI’s actions raise new questions about privacy and how involved a web hosting provider should be in the daily activities of their clients. Web hosting providers do not generally monitor their clients, unless there are specific terms of service violations or activity that would cause harm to the servers.

DCP Networks, the company responsible for providing hosting services to TorrentBytes, one of the larger BitTorrent sites, reportedly received a letter from the IFPI, requesting them to shut down the site.

IFPI lawyer Magnus Mårtensson told DN.se that the letter received by DCP Networks is not something strange or unusual. IFPI has contacted several other hosting providers and site owners Mårtensson said. What they aim to do here is extend the (yet to be appealed) verdict of “assisting copyright infringement” and apply it to hosting providers as well.

It remains to be seen whether there will be any legal basis for the IFPI claims, but their letters to web hosting providers might be enough to convince some to reject any clients with torrent tracking web sites.

Source: DN.se via Torrent Freak
Photo: Flickr

TRAFFIC ccTLDs Coming to Europe

TRAFFIC may have ended yesterday, but June 1- June 5, it will be starting back up again, this time in Amsterdam. The event’s official name is TRAFFIC ccTLDs 2009.

As the name implies, the focus of the expo will be ccTLDs, or country code top-level domains. Silent domain auctions will run every day June 2-June 4. The inventory has yet to be announced.

Single admission is £995 ($1,495 USD). Discounts are available for groups and families. The price is so steep because it includes various day and evening activities, such as dinners and parties. A €290 pass will be offered soon that covers the conference only.

Rick Latona Auctions is the event sponsor. The following ccTLDs will be discussed: .nl, .de, .uk, .eu. .fr, .es, .it, .cn, .jp, .kr, .ph, .in, .br, .ar, and .mx. Those looking to submit a domain for auction may do so here.

The first TRAFFIC expo was held in 2004. It is now the largest domain conference in the world, with 12 having already been held. After Amsterdam, look out for TRAFFIC New York October 26-29.

TRAFFIC Silent Auction Ends

A ten-day silent auction at Moniker ended yesterday afternoon at SnapNames.com. The online event, which started in late April at TRAFFIC 2009, saw the sale of 1718 domains, bringing in £1.7 million ($2.6 million USD) worth of revenue to the owners. This is the same silent auction where Ad.com sold for £946,137 several days ago.

On the event’s last day, 201 domains were sold, netting £306,769 ($460,000 USD). Some notable sales include:
SteakKnives.com- £12,004
OnlineTelevision.com- £13,337
GreatFalls.com- £11,700
SiameseCats.com- £8,003

Source: The Domains

Ad.com Sells for £946,137 at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

Yesterday, domain purveyor Moniker held an auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley, a domain name convention held April 27-30 in Santa Clara, California.

More than 1200 domains were sold during the three-hour live event. Most notably, the two-letter domain Ad.com was sold for £946,137 ($1.4 million USD). The buyer, Divyank Turakhia, has not announced his plans for the name. Turakhia owns a number of web start-ups, and has been rated one of Asia’s Top Young Entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek.

Considering the domain is only two letters and so highly brandable, it was a surprise to see it to go for such a low price. Other names sold include BottledWater.com for £30,412, Athletic.com for £27,033, and Shutter.com for £16,895. Perhaps these below average figures are simply indications of the poor economy. A full list of domains sold is available here.

Photo Source