Tuesday, January 27, 2009
There are many types of servers; everything from email servers, web servers and proxy servers to wow private server and backup servers. Virtual Servers are a hybrid of a dedicated server; one that is stand-alone and is usually used for one high traffic website, and a shared hosting type where many websites are hosted on one platform. In essence it is a single machine or server that pretends to be many by having the ability to run various operating systems and separate server software and configurations for each of many different sites but sharing the hardware resources such as processor, memory and hard drives.
There are many advantages to using virtual servers vs. shared hosting or dedicated servers. In a shared hosting setup, if the server software becomes corrupt or if one particular host site becomes corrupt it can knock all of the other hosted sites offline ..thus it is not as reliable as if you have a single dedicated server hosting your site. One advantage, however, is that it is the most cost effective of the server setups due to the shared hardware resources.
On the other hand, the scalability of a dedicated server can cause problems if expansion is necessary. In this case the site would need to be offline unless it were ported to a completely different server and while more reliable than a shared hosting setup it is also considerably more expensive.
A virtual private server (VPS) is a mix between a dedicated server and a shared hosting account. The physical server is divided into many virtual servers each running completely independent from one another. If one of the virtual servers goes down, the others on the physical server are not affected.
The VPS concept allows the client to run a complete server installation with guaranteed resources (RAM, memory, disk space, etc.) while at the same time sharing the physical server. This reduces the cost for the client. If you need a complete server installation with the option to "scale", a VPS account is for you.
A Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS) is a mix between a dedicated server and a virtual private server. It is designed with one physical server, and one virtual private server only. This means you get the advantages of a VPS (scalability) with the advantages of a dedicated server (100% resource usage). If you need a complete server installation with the option to scale and have heavy resource requirements then a VDS account is appropriate. Read more about virtual servers and all different types of servers at www.topvirtualserver.com
USB Encryption Meets Security Needs
Corporate, government or military personnel using the flash drives with USB encryption want a unit that is both secure on both ends. Flash drives must also have a high degree of usability to remain an effective tool for those depending on them. SanDisk Enterprise produces a flash drive with ultra-fast transfer rates making their use for reading and writing data efficient. USB encryption offers added access and control for all transferred files by securely partitioning the files in the flash drive. A central management and control software program controls flash drives with USB encryption where they can be audited or terminated from the central control center.
An advantage for using a flash drive with USB encryption is that sometimes attacks on data are not to exploit the data but to corrupt it. This is attempted by uploading a virus through the flash drive with the intent of corrupting the host operating system. SanDisk Enterprises partners with McAfee a global security company which scans their flash drives with USB encryption for viruses with anti-malware software. It is known that sometimes flash drives are used to get the virus into the operating system and cause all kinds of corruption problems. A secure flash drive with USB encryption and virus protection will eliminate this kind of threat to the host operating system.
USB Encryption Hardware and Software
USB encryption system’s access and control are either hardware or software based. A major concern for the ongoing security of flash drives using USB encryption is maintaining the most secure access and control system. USB encryption is the first issue to consider; encryption is only as strong as the algorithm's ability to produce random keys. The 256-bit AES algorithm is the best encryption available today for either hardware or software encryption applications. Those attempting to access confidential information should only be decrypted after they have been authenticated as authorized users. Sufficiently complex passwords will prevent many attempts to gain access to decryption.
USB encryption that is hardware based has proven itself to be the method of choice and the most secure. Hardware based encryption is most effective because the access keys are self contained in the secure flash drive. Software based encryption keys are often stored in temporary files on the hard drive and this makes them vulnerable and open to attack from inside the operating system. Those gaining access to the operating system may obtain passwords. Hardware based flash drives using USB encryption will also block the transferring or copying of data to an outside host, a technique commonly used when attempting to gain access to encryption keys illegally as well.
