Provided that you are planning to create a website running on a dedicated server, then you might have known about various advantages of this hosting type. But do you take into account the significance of its location? A good few providers tend to leave this parameter out of the issue, but a large ecommerce company cannot afford such carelessness even with the dedicated server as soon as the expected results can be less positive.
What is Server Location?
A server location is the place where the data centre is located. Data centres in their turn can be pictured as a sort of houses comprising all head-end equipment including servers themselves, storage systems, routers, switches etc. Your provider can have several data centres around the country as well as around the world. Your residence itself may not coincide with your server locus.
How Does Dedicated Server Location Influence Its Performance?
To understand how relevant location is for your website, let’s imagine a coordinate system with four participants. Let your dedicated server location be the datum point of the system. Other three points are locations of your computer, provider and customers. The most significant here are locations of your server and those of your customers because of a number of reasons.
Reason 1: Speed. The shorter the distance between the two locations the better is your web site performance. Why is it so? Everything is quite simple. When a client tries to load your web page and send a request to it, an amount of data should be transmitted from the client to the data centre and back; and it takes time, no matter how fast the modern Internet is.
The issue is what the exact time it actually takes. So, loading rate of your web site may become determinative. The truth is that a little less than a half of the users would leave the site if it loads more than 3 seconds! To keep them interested - let alone driving them to buy - your web site should load and work very quickly. That’s why you should consider the geographical place of the server you will employ to serve your customers.
Reason 2: Privacy. At the first glance, it may seem odd that your server location may play a role for privacy issues, but it indeed does. The thing is that the regulations or laws concerning the data security are varied from country to country, so holding a dedicated server in the USA is not the same as holding it in the UK. Moreover, there are countries where personal information of the servers based there can be accessed and monitored by intelligence agencies.
Reason 3: SEO. SEO has a specific purpose - to make Google place your web site as higher as possible when a user makes the corresponding request. Curiously enough, but your SEO strategy should include the server location parameter as well. This is due to one of the search engines algorithm which is about ranking web sites according to their loading speed. If your website tends to slow down, Google will by all means note this and send it to the middle of nowhere on the request page of your customers.
What Location Is to Be Chosen For My Dedicated Server?
Thus, we arrive at an obvious idea - if you want your web site to work properly, you should devote much attention to the potential residence of your dedicated server or bare metal server. It definitely should be as close to your customers’ region as possible.
If the distance is too big, it doesn’t only adversely affect websites running speed, but it may also destroy the whole SEO plan elaborated for them.
But things may turn even more complicated. You may have been using a server for a while and noticed that your website performance has been poor, in spite of being in close vicinity of you or of your customers’ area. It may indicate that your provider doesn’t ensure high quality work of its servers.
So, no matter how good your dedicated server is, if it is located too far away, it will impact your website productivity and, vice-versa, no matter how close your dedicated server is, if its quality leaves much to be desired, your website is still much affected by this.
In case of network poor performance, you may consider changing either the server or even the host - in case it can’t offer you a suitable location shift. Another stimulus for that may be your tapping new areas and creating there new websites for the clients. Now you will think over both the chosen server's quality and location.
How To Survive a Migration of Dedicated Server?
A server migration is an act of transporting each slightest datum from one server to another. This is not that hard as it may seem, but it’s crucial that you have prepared the whole mechanism of the on-going migration.
It depends on whether you migrate the server with the same IP address or to a new one, but practically the whole thing will include:
- you stop the initial server and make the system start buffering the data;
- you make a backup of the data;
- you restore it on the new server;
- you make certain that the new server works properly.
To sum up, to choose or migrate the dedicated server, you only follow those simple steps:
- define your target area paying the most meticulous attention to your customers’ location;
- explore which data centres your provider has;
- examine the data centre’s performance on one of the multiple sites which can supply you with that info;
- check up your own website’s condition as it should be optimized before “moving house”.
Now you are all ready to do it and enjoy the performance of your new dedicated server.
Online Threat Alerts Security Tips
Pay the safest way
Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.
Guard your personal information
In any transaction you conduct, make sure to check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if the seller, charity, company, or organization is credible. Be especially wary if the entity is unfamiliar to you. Always call the number found on a website’s contact information to make sure the number legitimately belongs to the entity you are dealing with.
Be careful of the information you share
Never give out your codes, passwords or personal information, unless you are sure of who you're dealing with
Know who you’re dealing with
Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something and know who you are sending payment to. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.
Check your accounts
Regularly check your account transactions and report any suspicious or unauthorised transactions.
Don’t believe promises of easy money
If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam. Oftentimes, offers that seem too good to be true, actually are too good to be true.
Do not open email from people you don’t know
If you are unsure whether an email you received is legitimate, try contacting the sender directly via other means. Do not click on any links in an email unless you are sure it is safe.
Think before you click
If an email or text message looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on the links.
Verify urgent requests or unsolicited emails, messages or phone calls before you respond
If you receive a message or a phone call asking for immediate action and don't know the sender, it could be a phishing message.
Be careful with links and new website addresses
Malicious website addresses may appear almost identical to legitimate sites. Scammers often use a slight variation in spelling or logo to lure you. Malicious links can also come from friends whose email has unknowingly been compromised, so be careful.
Secure your personal information
Before providing any personal information, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, account numbers, and passwords, be sure the website is secure.
Stay informed on the latest cyber threats
Keep yourself up to date on current scams by visiting this website daily.
Use Strong Passwords
Strong passwords are critical to online security.
Keep your software up to date and maintain preventative software programs
Keep all of your software applications up to date on your computers and mobile devices. Install software that provides antivirus, firewall, and email filter services.
Update the operating systems on your electronic devices
Make sure your operating systems (OSs) and applications are up to date on all of your electronic devices. Older and unpatched versions of OSs and software are the target of many hacks. Read the CISA security tip on Understanding Patches and Software Updates for more information.
What if You Got Scammed?
Stop Contact With The Scammer
Hang up the phone. Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.
Secure Your Finances
- Report potentially compromised bank account, credit or debit card information to your financial institution(s) immediately. They may be able to cancel or reverse fraudulent transactions.
- Notify the three major credit bureaus. They can add a fraud alert to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. You may also want to consider placing a free security freeze on your credit report. Doing so prevents lenders and others from accessing your credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit:
- Equifax
- Experian
- TransUnion
Check Your Computer
If your computer was accessed or otherwise affected by a scam, check to make sure that your anti-virus is up-to-date and running and that your system is free of malware and keylogging software. You may also need to seek the help of a computer repair company. Consider utilizing the Better Business Bureau’s website to find a reputable company.
Change Your Account Passwords
Update your bank, credit card, social media, and email account passwords to try to limit further unauthorized access. Make sure to choose strong passwords when changing account passwords.
Report The Scam
Reporting helps protect others. While agencies can’t always track down perpetrators of crimes against scammers, they can utilize the information gathered to record patterns of abuse which may lead to action being taken against a company or industry.
Report your issue to the following agencies based on the nature of the scam:
- Local Law Enforcement: Consumers are encouraged to report scams to their local police department or sheriff’s office, especially if you lost money or property or had your identity compromised.
- Federal Trade Commission: Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or use the Online Complaint Assistant to report various types of fraud, including counterfeit checks, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and more.
- Identitytheft.gov: If someone is using your personal information, like your Social Security, credit card, or bank account number, to open new accounts, make purchases, or get a tax refund, report it at www.identitytheft.gov. This federal government site will also help you create your Identity Theft Report and a personal recovery plan based on your situation. Questions can be directed to 877-ID THEFT.
How To Recognize a Phishing Scam
Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.
Scammers often update their tactics to keep up with the latest news or trends, but here are some common tactics used in phishing emails or text messages:
Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. You might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company. Or maybe it’s from an online payment website or app. The message could be from a scammer, who might
- say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
- claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
- say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
- include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
- want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
- say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
- offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real
About Online Threat Alerts (OTA)
Online Threat Alerts or OTA is an anti-cybercrime community that started in 2012. OTA alerts the public to cyber crimes and other web threats.
By alerting the public, we have prevented a lot of online users from getting scammed or becoming victims of cybercrimes.
With the ever-increasing number of people going online, it important to have a community like OTA that continuously alerts or protects those same people from cyber-criminals, scammers and hackers, who are every day finding new ways of carrying out their malicious activities.
Online users can help by reporting suspicious or malicious messages or websites to OTA. And, if they want to determine if a message or website is a threat or scam, they can use OTA's search engine to search for the website or parts of the message for information.
Help maintain Online Threat Alerts (OTA).