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Domain owners receive a email like this.

Asia Network is the company of internet services that the domain

registration is one of the major online style of our service range. Now we have something need to confirm with you.We hope you to cooperate with us.On Aug. 5th 2008,we received an application from one person named “Karl Fischer” who wants to register some domains(designsbyoldcrow.asia designsbyoldcrow.com.cn designsbyoldcrow.eu designsbyoldcrow.info designsbyoldcrow.cn designsbyoldcrow.net).According to our investigation,we found that domain names have relevance to your company’s name and trademark,so we send this email for you to confirm it.We are dealing with this

affair in these days,so we wish to get the confirmation and the assent of your company.If Karl Fischer doesn’t belong to your company and you don’t authorize him to register these domains,Pls contact with me asap in order to prevent some guy from abusing your trademarks and the company names.

In addition,I must declare that we have time limited for one person or one company’s registration.It is just 15 days.If your company has no response to us within the dispute period,we will unconditionally authorized the application of Karl Fischer.In order to deal with this issue better,please let someone who is responsible for trademark or domain name contact me asap.Thank you for your cooperate.

Best Regards,

*Eamonn Young

*Sponsoring Registrar:

Asia Network

Add:UNITS A&B 15/F NEICH TOWER 128 GLOUCESTER RD WANCHAI, HK

Tel: +852 3118 1808

Fax: +852 3065 8189

Email:eamonn@asianetworks.asia

It appears that the name of Karl Fisher is used in a lot of these emails.  A lot of them do come from Asia.  The name can change, and the Country can change.  A lot of these scams are also comming from China.

The emails are targeting the owners of the first registered domain name.  They imply that someone is interested in registering all the other country specific extension of your domain name.

Unfortunately a lot of people panic, because they think their actual domain name may be in jeopardy.  In fact when I recived a email like this a few weeks ago that was my first thought.  Someone was trying to register my domain name.  Then I realized that was not possible.

I didn’t start looking into this until a couple of people I knew had also received a similar email

Here are a couple of blog articles that will explain this scam better than I can.  It is a scam.

Trusted MD.com

Fire Trust

Today we find in our voicemail queue that someone overnight left a rather unique message. We were rickrolled.

Wikipedia definition of “Rickrolling”

Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song “Never Gonna Give You Up“. The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a Web link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true source of the link without clicking (and thus satisfying their curiosity). When a person clicks on the link given and is led to the web page he/she is said to have been “Rickrolled”.

I love when our customers have a sense of humor. Here’s the message.

So… anyone gonna confess?

You may or may not have heard of the term, “Phishing” (pronounced like “fishing”). Phishing is the act of sending an email pretending to be from an online store or service such as eBay, PayPal, Amazon, major banks, etc.

The format of the email will look very similar to a standard email you would get from such a service. It might even contain the company’s logo. Here’s an example phishing email I received a while back:

PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of customers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.

We are contacting you to remind you that on 28 September 2006 our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with PayPal’s User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved.

To secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may require some additional information from you for the following reason:

We have been notified that a card associated with your account has been reported as lost or stolen, or that there were additional problems with your card.

This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account or credit card may be subject for temporary suspension.

To securely confirm your PayPal information please click on the link bellow:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run

We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible. Allowing your account access to remain limited for an extended period of time may result in further limitations on the use of your account and possible account closure.

For more information about how to protect your account please visit PayPal Security Center. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause, and we apriciate your assistance in helping us to maintain the integrity of the entire PayPal system.

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

It looks pretty real doesn’t it? Someone who’s not ever experienced receiving an email like this or isn’t very familiar with how PayPal works may fall for it. The email seems harmless and the link even appears to go PayPal.

First and foremost: PayPal, eBay, Amazon, and most likely your bank will not send you such an email if your account was truly compromised. So this is your first clue that the above and similar emails are a phishing attempt.

The link looks real doesn’t it? Take a closer look. Does the link actually go to PayPal?

No, it doesn’t. The link actually goes to http://www.blahblah2.paypal345.blarg.org.com.net/ which is something I just made up. In a real phishing attempt the link may contain the word PayPal (or ebay or your bank, etc) in the URL as this one does, but it’s not really PayPal. Don’t be fooled!

What you’ll be taken to is a site that will look like PayPal, may even look exactly like the PayPal home page, and there will be a form for you to enter your information. Usually it will ask for your account ID, password, credit card number and possibly your social security number. Once you hit submit after filling out the form, that information is collecting by identify thefts who will then use your information to make fraudulent purchases. They will very likely also purchase a web hosting account that will be used for their scam. (They also hack into unsuspecting innocent people’s websites and upload scripts and mailers to send out these notifications and collect data from people who fall for their phishing emails.)

Another clue is these emails usually contain poor grammar and misspelled words. In my example above, take a look at the last paragraph. Most major companies know how to spell, “incovenience” (inconvenience) and “apriciate” (appreciate) and if they don’t they are usually smart enough to run emails they send to their customers through a spell-checker.

When it doubt, never never never click a link you receive in email that states you need to update your PayPal account. Always go to paypal.com, ebay.com or your bank, etc. by typing the address in your browser if you need to update account information. You can always call them as well and see if your account actually does have any issues.

If you receive an email supposedly from PayPal, your bank, etc, telling you there was suspicious activity, or that you need to update your account, if there was an unverified transaction, or anything at all that directs you to click a link to correct the situation, do NOT click the link and input any information. Always always go to the the sites manually. Report the emails you receive to the abuse address for the website/service you are trying to visit. For PayPal it’s spoof@paypal.com. For eBay it’s spoof@ebay.com

MySQL provides cluserting but not fail over for end user. So here at JaguarPC Web Hosting labs we tested MySQL fail over cluserting. To setup MySQL clustering a minimum of 3 computers are required. However recommended number is 4 or more. And to setup a failover mysql cluster, we add one more machine making it 5. There are 3 parts in a MySQL Cluster:

Data: 2 or more nodes act as data. In MySQL 5.0, the data sits in memory, while in 5.1 data can go on disk as well (5.1 is release candidate). For our testing we use 2 data nodes. When one of the node dies, the other will serve the data.

Management: One machine is used for cluster management. Once the cluster is started and this machine goes down, the cluster can continue to work. So this is not critical for our fail over setup.

SQL:: 2 test machines were setup as SQL nodes in failover with a single “floating IP”. When one died, the “floating IP” moved to the second machine using arp spoofing. MySQL client would connect to SQL node using that floating IP, so for the client MySQL Server remains up and running when one of the SQL nodes die. This part of the setup is JaguarPC’s own making and is available through Dedicated Server Hosting offer.

The rough diagram for this whole setup is as follows:

MySQL client -> [ 2 SQL nodes fail-over ] -> [ 2 data nodes ]

RAM Requirement for Data Node: Since MySQL 5.0 uses RAM to hold the data in data nodes, you can use the following formula for obtaining a rough estimate of how much RAM is needed for each data node in the cluster:

(SizeofDatabase × NumberOfReplicas × 1.1 ) / NumberOfDataNodes

Say our database size is 10 GB, and we make 2 replicas and host it on 4 nodes, then we need about 6GB RAM in each node. If we store our 10GB with 2 replicas in 6 nodes, then we need 4GB RAM in each node. You get the idea.

More will be posted later about this topic.

My website was working for years on the old host but now it does not work on new host. Why? This is one of annoyances that come up because some people fail to realize that there are just too many variables at function here. For a website to operate, there are many building blocks, e.g. Web Server, Scripting Language, Database. And not only that, there are zillions of verions of these tools. If your site code was designed in the last century, it is possible that it will not work in the 21st century. No wait, if it was designed last year with the tool that was developed 5 years ago, it may not work today. Confused?

A static website that is composed of HTML/css/js is served by a web server as it is to the browser which renders and displays it to the client. However if your site is dynamic and is coded in a certain language (e.g. php or perl) that code has to run on the server to make web pages. That code may be written in a certain version of langauge which may be a mismatch between your old host and new host (or your old server and new server). As a responsible website owner you should be aware of what are the pre-requisites of your site code. Not only that, you need to regularly update the code to newest version of tools and make it compatible with them. If your site code has not changed since years, chances are that you are risking your entire hosting account and site, as many bugs that were unknown before may have been released in public. And those known exploits can used by script kiddies to hack your site remotely.

In short, a website owner needs to keep his code upto-date so that (1) it works on newest technologies and server tools (2) it is not open for remote exploits and abuse.

As a starting point, for a Linux Shared Hosting, you should be aware that PHP4 is phasing out and PHP5 is the future. MySQL4 database is also being replaced with MySQL5. So you need to learn how to update the code or get in touch with the developer/vendor of your web application to make it compatible.

There is often some confusion about what all comes with a web hosting package. Usually the misconceptions are based on the type of support that is offered when purchasing a web hosting plan.

Web hosting providers are a lot like property or apartment managers.

Lets compare. First, I’ll start with shared hosting.

Do you remember when GeoCities first came out? In order to get a free web site, you first had to pick your neighborhood based on your site’s content. For example, if you had a site about technology, you’d choose the neighborhood silicon valley. From there you’d choose a house. Each house was assigned a number and your website URL would then be geocities.com/siliconvalley/[housenumber]. GeoCities long ago did away with that format, and web hosting has come a long way since those days but the concept of shared web hosting is mostly the same.

When you purchase a shared hosting plan, you’re essentially renting space on a web server that is shared by several other web site owners all hoping to host a web site on a budget. The server space will come fully ready for you to ‘move in to’. Essentially, the electricity will be turned on, the fridge will be present for you to store your perishables, and water will run. The property managers (web host provider) will make sure you have a clean space to move your stuff into. It is then up to you you to move your furniture in and organize it however you want.

Web hosting providers generally do not provide support for coding, scripting, development, or design. Just as apartment managers generally don’t tell you where to hang your pictures, which furniture to use or where to put your things.

What if something breaks?

“Your analogy doesn’t work. My property manager will fix the stove if it breaks.”

If something that comes with your shared hosting plan breaks, lets say cPanel in this example, we will certainly fix it for you. But we aren’t going to cook your dinner for you and neither will your property manager.

“What about all the cool programs you offer for me to install? Like Wordpress? Do you support that?”

We can host a Wordpress site and we even offer an easy way for you to install it. Wordpress is a third party product. Think of Wordpress as the refrigerator in your apartment. It may come with the apartment but your apartment managers didn’t create it. You can put whatever you want in it. But your property managers aren’t going to keep it clean for your nor throw out the food that goes bad. That’s your job. The concept is the same with hosting a Wordpress site. You need to keep it clean and updated to the latest secure version. This actually applies to any software, script, or program you install on your website.

This doesn’t mean you’re completely on your own. Your ‘property managers’ are going to keep an eye on things (servers) and make sure your ‘neighbors’ (other customers) aren’t making life miserable. Kind of like a gated community: We’ll attempt to block intruders and abusive ‘renters’ who continually have a detrimental effect on their neighbors will be asked to ‘move out’.

“What about VPS. You do everything, right?”

Purchasing a VPS hosting plan is like purchasing a condominium. It’s still shared with others, but you’ll have more control over what happens in your ‘space’. Your hosting provider will provide you with the basics, and you can purchase addons such as a control panel, extra RAM, etc, but the concept of the apartment is still the same. What you do from there with your site space is up to you. Your web hosting provider will still keep an eye on things and make sure your neighbors are all playing nice, but the space you’re renting is yours to maintain and keep up to date.

“I get it. But what about a dedicated server? Surely you’ll do anything I want?”

Not quite. When you purchase a dedicated server plan it’s like renting a house. It’s bigger than an apartment, and you have all the control to do whatever you wish with the space. You can even invite your friends over for a party! But it’s totally yours to maintain and operate on your own.

Lets say you want maid service, lawn care, and extra security. You’d pay extra for these if renting a house, right? The same holds true for dedicated web hosting. You can purchase Managed Services of different levels depending on your needs and we’ll take care of things for you. I warn you though, we don’t do windows. (Get it??) (OK. OK. I lied. You can actually add on Windows OS for just $35 more on our dedicated hosting plans.)

“I only need an apartment (shared hosting). Can I at least pay you to help me out with some things?”

Sure. We can do script installations and even upgrades of third party products if you wish. There is a fee attached, but this type of support does not come standard with a non-managed hosting account.

In a nutshell, Web Hosting and renting an apartment is pretty similar. We’ll provide you fresh clean space to work with, and we’ll keep things running smoothly. We’ll even offer a few tools and perks to keep your new place shiny and sparkly, but it’s ultimately up to you to decide what you want on your site, where you’ll put things, and how.

As I continue my series on changes in Google that smashed some sites or techniques based on this blog article by Brett Borders, today I’m dealing with the 5th technique in regard to Sponsored blog post networks.

Sponsored blog post may have been around for longer than I realize but I think they became used to a large degree in 2007. 2007 was when I first became of them. It appears that Google has taken action against them in 2007.
As I understand “Sponsored Blot Post” , basically you are paying someone to write a review of your site, or perhaps a particular product you sell on their blog.

If I understand “sponsored blog post” correctly from Google’s point of view they are just another paid link.

I do not agree with Google on their present position in regard to paid links. I think I agree with them in regard to paying someone to write a review of your site or product. I know very few people that would give an honest opinion when being paid to write a review. Unfortunately most of the people I know who would participate as a writer for this type of review would say nothing but good.

Those who would provide an honest opinion will not get hired. From the webmasters point of view the only reason I can see to pay some one for a review would be hoping for SE benefit.
Why are people paying for this type of review. It is for a link. Even if the review is an honest review it will not likely result in much traffic.

IMO the concept of the “Sponsored Blog Post” is nothing more than another scheme to build links that probably will not benefit your site anyway. This is one instance of Google’s stance on paid links that I agree with.

If your interested in my previous articles in regard to the changes that Google made in 2007 that did smash some sites here they are:

Links
Supplemental Pages
Directory links
Open link brokers and link networks

I haven’t provided a lot of reference links in this article. You will find them in previous articles. If there is any discussion, I will not only provide them, but I might provide some additional references.

The title attribute is something you can add to any link. When used correctly the title attribute will on mouseover provide a little more information to the user about the link destination. The text displayed on mouse over is referred to as a “tool tip”.

If your using IE you will see something similar for images. What IE is doing is displaying the “alt attribute”. IE is not all that compliant with W3C standards, and the “alt attribute” should not, and is not displayed on mouseover of images with standard compliant browsers like FireFox.

The “alt attribute” should only be displayed if for some reason the image is not displayed.

On the other hand the “title attribute” should be displayed for any link that is using the “title attribute”. On mouseover you should see a too tip for any site I have linked to from this article.

A question that often comes up in SEO related forums like IHY relate to the SE value of the “title attribute”. In fact this just came up. The specific question was Adding Css Tooltips to Hyperlinks.

Personally I have not seen any evidence that using the “title attribute” helps with SE ranking. At this time I do not know of any credible SEO that thinks the “title attribute” is used.

I do think the “title attribute” should be used. Why? Because it will help your visitors. I am slowly adding the attribute to my sites. I try to use it in blog post. In regard to blog articles I could probably provide a better description of the link destination. Even with my quickly written “title attributes” I think they give you a better idea where the link will lead you to.

Regardless of how SEs treat the “title attribute” at this time, they may sart considering it in the future.

If you design web pages to benefit your visitors,  it will always help you one way or another.   If you only think about SEs what you do may or may not help.  Unfortunately some things you do only for SEs could end up hurting your site in the long run.

Use the “title attribute”.  Use the attribute as intended.  Think of your visitors and not the SEs.

A few weeks ago I started a series of articles based on this Blog Article written by Brett Borders. The title of the article was 7 SEO Techniques That Google Smashed in 2007.

This is my 4th article based on what Brett originally wrote about.

I agree with Brett that Google really started targeting paid links in 2007. However they started giving indiactios about paid links as far back as 2005. At leas according to Matt Cutts. f you don’t know who Matt Cutts is, he is in charge of the Google “Spam Team”, or to say that another way he is in charge of the “Quality Control Team”. In other words the department that Matt Cutts heads is concerned about the quality of the search results that Google returns.

Though I agree with Brett there is evidence that Google is trying to target paid links, I would disagree that they are targeting the brokers that profit by selling paid links. At this time I do not think they are very successful in their attempt to target paid links.

IMHO if Google was really serious about paid link brokers they would stop Adwords advertising for this industry. Look at this search for “paid link brokers“. The 3 coveted positions at the top of the page for Adwords are all text link brokers.

Google knows who the text link brokers are. Simply stop taking advertising money from them, and take their sites out of the index.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out who is selling links for the search engines and who if offering links for sale for advertising purposes IMHO.

It appears to me on the paid link issue that Google is trying to snip of bad branches rather than dealing with the root of the problem.

If your interested in seeing my previous comments on this issue:

2007 Changes in Google Regarding Links

2007 Changes in Google Regarding Supplemental Pages

2007 Changes in Google Regarding Directory Links