A Beginners Guide to Popular CMSs - Part 1: Open Source

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From the first time online publisher to the multinational corporation, a significant proportion of the websites that exist on the world wide web today, perhaps around a third, are constructed using what are broadly known as Content Management Systems or CMSs. There are a vast array of CMSs available to any potential web site owner - many free, some commercial products. The following article looks at a few of the most popular, their strengths and weaknesses and what their technical requirements are from a web hosting platform.

What is a CMS?
The abbreviation CMS is short for Content Management System and the name conveys what is at the heart of these tools - they are systems which web authors can use to manage the content of a web site or web application. Many of the forerunners of today’s CMS were created as simple off-the-shelf packages which allowed users to run their own blogs and the concepts are still inextricably linked. However, from humble beginnings most have evolved to offer much more than that, to the extent that they are now heavily used by the even the most experienced web developers as the building blocks of advanced websites, utilising extensive support communities and wide ranging plugins and modules. They can therefore provide the uninitiated with an easy route into online publishing within minutes but also provide advanced users with valuable efficiencies and reliability in contrast with coding websites from the ground up.

The three most widely deployed content management systems on the world web today all use PHP (PHP Hypertext Processor) as the server side scripting language (the code that is run on a server and determines what data is delivered when a web page is requested). The first part of this article looks at these three CMSs.

WordPress
This CMS is recognised as the most used CMS on the web with estimates that it comfortably accounts for over a half of all CMS builds - almost two thirds in some surveys. The CMS began life as a blogging platform and is still, in its basic form, orientated towards this function, however a broad array of plug-ins and themes means that it also has the potential to be used for more complex web sites. Therefore, WordPress has become massively popular with personal bloggers and corporate web developers alike.

• Created: 2003
• Original use: Blogging platform
• Licence: Open Source (GPL)
• Popularity*:
• 59% of CMSs
• 17% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: MySQL
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Easy to create basic website and/or blog
• Large community support
• Extensive plug-in system for additional functionality
• Customisable themes which change functionality as well as appearance
• In-built CSS and PHP editing
• Concerns:
• Basic themes can make basic sites appear similar
• Examples:
• https://cio.gov/
• http://www.rollingstones.com/

Joomla!
Formed as an offshoot of the older CMS Mambo in 2005, Joomla has gone on to be the second most used system on the web accounting for around 1 in 10 CMS builds (1 in 40 of all sites). It is particularly popular with those looking for a (free) powerful yet simple system that requires little or no knowledge of code but that allows flexible control over the site’s look and feel.

• Created: 2005
• Original use: CMS
• Licence: Open Source (GPL)
• Popularity*:
• 10% of CMSs
• 3% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: MySQL; MSSQL; PostgreSQL
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Flexible template functionality to easily customise the look and feel site wide
• Inbuilt SEO & tracking capabilities
• Large extensions library to extend functionality and templating options
• Often available as a one click installation from web hosts
• Good usability for beginners/non-developers
• Concerns:
• Lacks ability to format uploaded media such as images
• Lacks versioning to store and revert to old versions of content
• Examples:
• http://www.getransportation.com/
• http://www.ikea.com.kw/

Drupal
Created originally as a forum platform, Drupal has become very popular due to its flexibility and is now used to build a wide array of website applications. The ‘out of the box’ Drupal build is known as the core and allows the user to add content to build a simple website, blog or forum, but the site is supported by an extensive community and it is the add-on modules that they create which gives Drupal its potential. Drupal is therefore commonly referred to as a content management framework due to its reliance on add-ons for functionality.

• Created: 2001
• Original use: Message Board
• Licence: Open Source (GPL)
• Popularity*:
• 8% of CMSs
• 2% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: Various
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Modular design for adding and managing additional functionality
• Extensive number of modules available to enhance functionality
• Taxonomy system for organising and display related content
• Large community for support and module development
• Concerns:
• Can be demanding on hosting platforms due to Queries
• The administration pages in older versions aren’t user friendly
• The core installation is light on functionality (see benefits)
• Examples:
• http://www.whitehouse.gov/
• http://www.economist.com/

If you are interested in getting a site built in one of the CMSs mentioned above then you can visit Digital Design London or for those looking for a hosting platform for their new site, visit VDC Hosting.

A Beginners Guide to Popular CMSs - Part 2: .NET & Commercial

Having provided an overview of the three most common PHP based CMSs in the preceding installment, the following begins with two of the most prevalent systems to be based on the .NET framework for their server-side scripting, and concludes with a further two commercial systems which are also amongst the web’s most popular.

Although most CMSs are based upon the open source PHP server-side scripting language, as mentioned in the first part of the article, there are still a significant number that utilise coding and languages based within the .NET framework, as developed by Microsoft...

DotNetNuke
This is the most widely used of the .NET based systems on the internet today as well as being one of the most stable and developed because of its relatively long history. It is maintained by the DotNetNuke corporation as an open source project and is currently available under free open source licences and enhanced commercial licences. The CMS itself utilises modules to extend functionality and skins to manage theming/templating for the look and feel of a site.

• Created: 2003 (2002 as IBuySpy)
• Original use: CMS
• Licence: Open Source (MIT) / Commercial Proprietary
• Popularity*:
• 2% of CMSs
• <1% of Websites
• Server-side script: ASP.NET
• Database systems: SQL Server
• Hosting OS: Microsoft
• Benefits/Features:
• Versions available to suit beginners and advanced developers
• Modules for extending functionality
• Allows multi-site management from one installation
• Community support available
• Commercial support available (see below)
• Concerns:
• Cost of commercial versions and modules
• Examples:
• http://www.thetrainline.com/
• http://www.creativecommons.org.uk/

Umbraco
The second of the featured .NET CMSs is Umbraco. This system is perhaps more targeted at web developers as it requires some knowledge of coding to get up and running, but for those who use it, it can provide high levels of flexibility in realising web designs because it utilises only standard frameworks, languages and protocols rather than introducing any limitations. As with the DotNetNuke, it is available in both a streamlined free open source licence and enhanced commercial versions.

• Created: 2004
• Original use: CMS
• Licence: Open Source (MIT) / Commercial Proprietary
• Popularity*:
• <1% of CMSs
• <1% of Websites
• Server-side script: ASP.NET
• Database systems: SQL Server; MySQL
• Hosting OS: Microsoft
• Benefits/Features:
• Provides a .NET framework for developers
• Uses standard templating formats and protocols
• Flexibility for site development and customisation (see above)
• Commercial support available
• Concerns:
• Limited out-of-the-box for beginners/non-developers
• Limited user management capabilities
• Cost of commercial product
• Examples:
• http://www.heinz.com/
• http://www.wired.co.uk/

The most deployed CMS, including the three for the article’s first installment, tend to be based upon open source frameworks and therefore free - a fundamental factor behind their popularity - whilst others offer enhanced commercial versions open source packages (see above). However, there are a good number of commercial CMS products available to consumers and some of these are amongst the most used on the web, despite their costs.

vBulletin
One of the longest lived of content management systems still in use on the web, vBulletin is in truth most suited to delivering message boards and forums, and is the most popular system for doing so, however it also brings an extensive array of functions into play and can easily be used for wider web development. Indeed it is particularly suited to building websites and blogs with good message board integration.

• Created: 2000
• Original Use: Message Board
• Licence: Commercial Proprietary
• Popularity*:
• 3% of CMSs
• 1% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: MySQL
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Specifically designed for forums and discussion boards
• Provides blogging and CMS functions in addition
• Rich with forum features and blog integration
• Concerns:
• Cost of licence
• Requires PHP editing during install
• Number of functions can be overwhelming
• Examples:
• http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/
• http://www.mac-forums.com/

ExpressionEngine
This powerful CMS was developed by EllisLab back in 2004 taking inspiration from an earlier attempt at a blogging platform and delivers a wealth of well developed functionality as well as flexibility owing to years of commercial development combined with underlying open source frameworks.

• Created: 2004
• Original use: Blogging Platform/CMS
• Licence: Commercial Proprietary
• Popularity*:
• 1% of CMSs
• <1% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: MySQL
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Commercially developed and supported
• Open source framework allows custom development
• Good and easy user management and administration capabilities
• Rich in functionality both out of the box and with add-ons
• Allows multi-site management from one installation
• Concerns:
• Expense/cost of licences and add-ons
• Examples:
• http://www.opendns.com/
• http://www.magentocommerce.com/

If you are interested in getting a site built in one of the CMSs mentioned above then you can visit Website Design London or for those looking for a hosting platform for their new site, click here.

How the Cloud is Fundamental to Smart Mobile Computing - Popular Apps

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Having looked at how the cloud has facilitated new ways of communicating via our mobile devices, the second part of this article examines a few other areas and types of mobile app which have been enabled or enhanced by the use of the cloud.

Documents
The ability to store documents and files in the cloud has been available for a while on traditional PCs but it is now a growing area for mobile phones and particularly tablets. With the spread of tablets in the last few years, more and more consumers have not only wanted the ability to view their documents on their mobile device but to also work with them. Consequently, combined services, such as Google Drive (incorporating Google Docs), which provide office productivity software as a service (i.e., SaaS) integrated with cloud storage, have become increasingly popular. Even without this, cloud storage allows the viewing, uploading, downloading etc of files, from work documents to personal notes, on the go. It can be utilised for productivity in conjunction with file editor apps and is particularly useful for managing and sharing multimedia files such as photos.

Browser Sync
Although not all internet browsers are available across all mobile operating systems, each device’s operating system will allow a choice of browser and almost all include the facility to synchronise your bookmarks, browsing history, search history and browser settings between all your mobile devices and fixed PCs. With the leading examples in the market such as Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera, the data is encrypted when stored in the cloud so that it is unidentifiable and secure but is still accessible when the user logs in from any device and wishes to synchronise their settings.

Maps
Whether it's the big players in the market such as Google maps and the newcomer Apple maps, or smaller rivals, most mapping applications pull their mapping data, including the image tiles that they use to construct the maps, from the internet. With the sheer quantity of data that would be required to display maps, even for one country (bearing in mind various zoom levels, using different imagery, e.g., satellites, street maps etc), it is not feasible to store all the information locally on small mobile devices and so it is downloaded on demand when the user makes a request to view a certain location or access directions. Consequently, although the software is installed locally, the use of the cloud for providing on demand access to content is fundamental to the mapping apps that so many of us rely on.

Music & Video
Since their inception, smart mobile devices have had the idea of portable music at their heart although for much of their existence the music has simply been stored on the device and manually synchronised with a single PC.

Some music services now rely on the cloud to offer content on demand via streaming with the an obvious example of this being Spotify. However, due to the demand to listen to music without the expense of high transfer rates across 3G or when phone networks are unavailable, total reliance on the cloud for music services has been checked a little - even Spotify has an offline feature to store selected tracks on the device itself.

Probably, the most familiar example of a music app on a mobile device is iTunes. This too has recently embraced the cloud to allow users to store their entire digital music library so that it can be accessed from any device and from any location (provided you are online). Again this service also has the ability to make files available for offline use when a suitable internet connection is not accessible.

Phone Back Ups
Many of the cloud based synchronisations and storage solutions that have been mentioned so far are available through overarching cloud services such as iCloud provided by Apple on their iPhone and iPad devices. However, this service also allows a back up to be created in the cloud of the whole device in question including documents, files, apps and settings so that if the device is lost or corrupted, or if the user upgrades, they can restore everything from the cloud to their phone. Back up functions to individual PCs have been available before (and still are) but this cloud based solution means that users don’t have to wait until they get home and connect to their PC before they have peace of mind that their information is safe or before they can access it if it gets lost when they’re out and about.
© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about the benefits of hosting your infrastructure in the cloud then visit Infrastructure as a Service.

How the Cloud is Fundamental to Smart Mobile Computing - Communications

A large number of the apps that we all use on our mobile phones and tablets incorporate a variation of cloud computing in some sense, because many of them fundamentally rely on the idea that they are providing us with a packaged-up experience of what are essentially web applications. This approach to mobile apps allows the user to access an array of content and functions which they could not physically store on their mobile device. Therefore, cloud computing on mobile devices has fairly specific benefits for mobile users in comparison to users of PCs to the extent that cloud computing is core to the development of computing itself on such ‘smart’ devices, particularly since the launch of 3G networks and the ability to transfer data that that offers. What’s more, with the advent of the higher bandwidths of 4G upon us, the concept of maximising mobile data and processes within the cloud - and minimising the amount stored on individual devices - is only set to carry on expanding.

The list of the categories and types of applications that use and/or rely on cloud computing is extensive to say the least but the following looks at some of the primary examples of how the cloud has revolutionised our mobile lives.

Email
Beyond business use, the vast majority of email users access their email from webmail services - that is, email services where the information (the emails and contacts etc) is stored on the remote servers of the email provider. Most users simply log on to this service; others synchronise a desktop client with it whilst a few may opt to download their data fully to their desktop. However, the data essentially originates, and for the most part is stored, in the cloud. Therefore, such services are primed for use across multiple devices and locations, including mobile use. Mobile operating systems come with built in email clients which allow users to synchronise their email so that they can work with it on their mobile/tablet and any changes they make will be synchronised with the service provider’s servers and, consequently, any other devices that access that email account (and vice versa). In other words, users can for example draft an email on their phone on the way in to work then finish and send it from their desktop once they are in work.

Contacts/Address Books
With the use of email becoming so popular on mobile devices many email services allow users to synchronise their email contacts with their mobile too so that their email and phone and social contacts can be unified in one place with the underlying data being stored in the cloud. If they update the details on one contact record the update will appear on all of their other synced devices when they view that record.

Unified Communications & Social Networking
Mobile computing is at the forefront of both the social networking revolution and a communications revolution called unified communications (UC) - the idea that multiple channels of internet based communication such as email, voice over the internet (VoIP) and video conferencing, are integrated into one service. Both social networking and UC fundamentally rely on the use of the cloud to store data and communications and the internet to transfer them so that they are accessible across devices and locations.

Instant messaging (IM) is an integral facet of both and in many cases can be purely cloud based so that conversations can be continued across different devices and on the move as an alternative to more traditional mediums such as email and text messaging - the latter of which is particularly restricted to individual devices. Apple, for example have even integrated instant messaging into their default text messaging app so that messages are sent as IMs when sent between two iPhones. On the other hand, a prime example of UC within the personal space is Skype, a multi channel communications service which provides access to your account from any device and will sync conversations across each.

Social networking services such as Facebook, Google + and Twitter are an often overlooked but powerful example of cloud computing as all of the information you share on them is stored and accessed via the cloud including communications, recommendations and shared media (photos, videos etc). As such, they have become one of the primary communication platforms for users of mobile devices as they are able to share their experiences with their friends and see what they are up to whilst they are on the move. For many people, mobiles have, thanks to cloud computing become the primary way of accessing their social networks because of the ease and flexibility with which they can be used.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about the benefits of hosting your infrastructure in the cloud then visit What is Cloud Hosting.

The Data Centre Arms Race - US & Asia

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The final part of this trilogy looking into the growth of data centre facilities around the world focuses on the existing power house of data centre construction, North America, in particular the US, and the emerging contenders within Asia.

US
There are currently thought to be five data centres that are as large or larger than that in Newport, Wales and four of them are to be found in the US. The smallest of these is the NAP of the Americas data centre, located within the urban sprawl of Miami in Florida. Matching the Newport facility for floor space at 750,000 square feet, it is not only a key installation for both the US military and global DNS infrastructure, but is a vital hub for IT Operations in the south east of the US and Latin America beyond.

The next up the chain is the home of Twitter’s servers amongst others - the QTS Metro Data Centre in Atlanta Georgia - with a square footage of 990,000. The building which originated as a Sears distribution centre and, like many of the other contenders, was repurposed into a data centre, now houses its own substation to support its vast power consumption.

The single largest data centre building in the world is the Lakeside Technology Center. The only centre over one million square feet at 1.1m, it can be found in another re-purposed ex-Sears building, this time in Chicago (a city also home to Microsoft's largest facility at 700k sq.ft). The size of this facility can be illustrated by the fact that, within the Chicago area, the data centre consumes more power than any other facility excluding the city’s airport, being fed with 100MW of energy. This consumption is tempered however by the innovative use of a shared 8.5million gallon reservoir of chilled brine. In common with most of those reported here the facility is multi-tenant, offering colocation and business hosting to an array of clients. It is housed within a building, complete with gothic architecture, that Sears once used for its printing presses.

Although not a single building, the US’s largest data centre complex can be found in Las Vegas, Nevada with the expansion of the SuperNap 7 facility. The project currently has over 2m square feet of floor space and continues to grow. In total, this behemoth requires an energy capacity of a whopping 500 MVA.

Asia
If you were to believe the headline figures, Hebei Province in China is home to a data centre which would blow all of the world’s other largest facilities out of the water. The data centre being built as a cloud computing city by American IT firm IBM in conjunction with Chinese company Range, claims to have a gigantic 6.2 million square feet of floor space; nearly six times the Lakeside facility in the US. However, in actuality a large proportion of this space will be used for other purposes, such as office space, and the true footage of the data centre itself is considered to be in the region of 300,000 to 650,000.

Instead the largest data centre on the continent is considered to be the Tulip Data City facility in Bangalore, India with a floor space of around 900,000 square feet. In common with the Hebei Province centre above it has been built with IBM and also offers 80,000 of office space for customers. Although, due to its scale, it consumers 40 MVA of electricity, it can still classify itself as being a green facility as, at 1.9 PUE, it sneaks under the industry standard of 2.0 PUE.

As mentioned previously the challenge facing the data centre industry is to build big and to build green. Cloud computing and other new technologies are creating the demand for extra data centre capacity but this capacity can only be achieved in a sustainable and cost effective manner by finding smarter ways to manage the environments, primarily the temperatures, in which servers run to reduce their vast power consumption. However, with innovation such as the use of hot and cold aisles, thermal energy stores and the use of environmental resources, including external air and water, companies are opening up the possibilities for larger scale green data centre development.
© Stuart Mitchell 2012

The Data Centre Arms Race - UK & Europe

The following installments of this article look at the progress of this data centre arms race and a few of the new generation of large data centres that have been built across the world. There are, no doubt, some facilities which would warrant a mention that don’t appear below because of a lack of available data, particularly regarding those run by online application giants such as Google and Facebook for purely their own use. Information is more plentiful for data centres run as leased hosting and/or colocation facilities as they are looking to actively advertise their specifications.

When looking at the world’s largest data centres, there are a number of ways in which their sizes can be measured, including the scale of their operation, based on power consumption, the number of servers in use or the total digital storage capacity; or their potential capacity taking into account the number of units and total rack-space available in each facility including un-utilised capacity and potential space for colocation purposes.

This article focuses on the latter idea of capacity by comparing the floor space of each data centre’s buildings to get a scale of the actual facilities themselves rather than their technical capacities.

UK
Using this metric, the UK’s capital, London, is the largest data centre market in Europe. In other words it has collectively more data centre floor space than any other European city or single location. This statistic, however, reflects the high number of individual data centre facilities that are to be found within the confines of the M25 and not necessarily the size of any individual building. The legacy of early data centre adoption has left London with an advanced data centre ecosystem despite the costs of real estate in the area. This cost though has prohibited the growth of the largest facilities.

Consequently the UK’s largest individual data centre can actually be found nearly 150 miles away in South Wales, in Newport. Not only is it the UK’s largest but also the largest in Europe with 750,000 square feet of floor space. The scale of the centre means that it consumes 90 MVA of electricity and therefore incorporates its own electrical substation which has the incredible capacity to power a city of 400,000 inhabitants. It is also notable for its advanced security measures including exSAS guards, 3-skin walls, perimeter fences and biometric identification. The data centre offers enterprise customers of varying sizes the ability to rent isolated suites, units and/or colocation space to fulfil their hosting requirements from business hosting to managed hosting resellers for example. The first tenants of the data centre were BT and Logica.

Europe
Beyond the UK, the next largest data centre in Europe is still to be found within the British Isles. The home of Microsoft’s cloud operations in Dublin, Ireland is not only a behemoth of a data centre with 550,000 square feet of floor space, but is also a pioneer in green computing using a power consumption of a meagre 1.25 PUE. This energy efficiency is achieved without chiller units by combining the circulation of cool external air with smart containment of heat producing equipment.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012

The Data Centre Arms Race - Causes

HANOVER, GERMANY - MARCH 05: A worker connects IBM Intelligent Cluster modules, including servers and data storage devices, of a Data Center at the IBM stand the day before the CeBIT 2012 technology trade fair officially opens to the public on March 5, 2012 in Hanover, Germany. CeBIT 2012, the world's largest information technology trade fair, will run from March 6-10, and advances in cloud computing are a major feature this year. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

This trilogy of articles looks at the development of bigger and better data centres across the world. It considers what is driving this construction boom, some of the challenges it faces and examples of how it is being implemented.

For a number of years the buzz word in the IT industry has been “cloud”. The word represents a shift in way all of us access and carry out our computing needs with an increased reliance on the internet. The term has even crossed into mainstream parlance thanks to services such as Apple’s iCloud. The idea behind cloud computing is that users can access computing resources, such as applications or storage space, on remote computers, via the internet rather than on local individual machines. The advantages are plentiful as consumers can access just the services they need as and when they need them (akin to traditional utilities) and from a multitude of devices and locations.

Many of us use explicitly labelled cloud services but the majority of those used, particularly in the private market, don’t necessarily prompt the same recognition. For example, the massively popular social media tools, Twitter and Facebook, allow us to share communications and media by storing it on remote servers where it can be accessed by anyone with whom we wish to share it via the internet, i.e., through the cloud.

In a sense, cloud computing is a natural evolution of the concept of the world wide web, which was intended to provide a network of shared documents, however with the wide availability of higher bandwidth internet connections and the adoption of Web 2.0, including the idea of user generated content, the old simple documents have evolved into complex web based applications and rich media.

The flexibility, scalability and cost effectiveness of cloud computing offers considerable benefits for both private and enterprise consumers compared to ‘traditional’ one-off installations on individual devices and therefore adoption rates continue to rise. The concepts can appear fairly ephemeral to the consumer, as they access all of their computing resource via the internet but, ultimately, all of that digital information does need to be stored somewhere. As the services get more and more popular, so social network providers, cloud storage providers, cloud application providers and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) providers need to find more and more physical capacity and recent years have therefore seen what has been described by some as a data centre arms race to build more and bigger data centre facilities.

The struggle therefore for data centre providers is to build bigger, to reach the capacity they need, but at the same time, minimise the power that they consume and the impact that they have on the surrounding environment. Power consumption is measured by a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) score which indicates the energy consumed by supporting infrastructure (mainly heat management) versus that required to power the core servers. The industry benchmark is a PUE score of 2.0 which represents one unit of power consumed on infrastructure for every one on servers, whilst the ultimate efficiency would be a PUE of 1. Not only does a more efficient facility prove greener and more sustainable but, for the provider, it minimises cost and increases the scope for raising capacity. Consequently data centre constructors are increasingly looking to new and innovative ways to bring this score below 2 and as close to 1 as possible.

The subsequent installments of this trilogy of articles looks at the scale of some of the biggest data centres in the world to illustrate how the need for digital data storage has changed the landscape of industrial complexes around the world.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012

An Introduction to Mobile VPN

The following article aims to provide a brief introduction to the concept of mobile VPN, how it works and its potential applications in business and the public sector.

What is Mobile VPN
A Virtual Private Network or VPN is a mechanism which allows users to securely connect to local networks from remote locations across public networks using encrypted parcels of data and authentication at each end point.

The term mobile VPN, or mVPN, refers to systems in which users of portable devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops connect securely to fixed local networks from remote locations, across the internet, by connecting initially to wireless networks or mobile phone carrier networks. The key challenges for mobile VPNs relate to the fact that the user and their device will, by definition, be mobile. They will need to be accessing their VPN connection from differing networks, often roaming between networks as they are on the move and occasionally experiencing moments offline between these networks (or as they put their device to sleep). The aim of a mobile VPN is to allow the device to be authenticated when connecting from this variety of networks and to maintain the VPN session as the user and their device roam.

The problem this poses, however, is manifold. Firstly, the IP address of the client device will vary depending on where they are accessing the network from, making authentication harder. The device may be assigned a dynamic IP address anyway (which will therefore change every time they connect), regardless of its location, but in addition the device’s IP address will change each time it connects from a different mobile or wireless network (Wi-Fi hotspot). What’s more, when the user is roaming across networks, the identity of the device end point will be changing each time they do switch from one to another. Secondly, the moments when the device is offline when the it is in a location without an available network, is switching from one to another or is idle can result in the suspension of the VPN session.

How Does It Work?
The classic model of a VPN involves the creation of a secure tunnel (in which information is encrypted) through the internet, essentially from one IP address to another, usually with the IP addresses of each end point predefined. This mechanism creates two problems for mobile users. Firstly a mobile system cannot utilise IP verification if the IP address of the connecting device changes on each occasion, which negates one of the authentication methods, removing a level of security for the VPN. Secondly this tunnel would break each time the IP of an end point changed or when the device goes offline. Mobile VPNs therefore overcome this obstacle with VPN software that assigns a constant static IP address to the actual device rather than relying on its network assigned IP address. In addition they can utilise a virtualised VPN session which is kept open as the status of the device changes and then an automated login to reestablish the connection when the device reconnects.

Where Can It Be Used?
Mobile VPNs can be beneficial for any profession or industry where the client is on the go, working from various locations; particularly where the information that is being accessed and transmitted is of a sensitive nature and therefore needs to be kept secure. In the public sector, for example, mobile VPNs can allow health professionals to communicate with central networks when outside of the surgery or hospital (i.e., in the field), to view and update patient records. Other public services whose jobs also require them to be on the move constantly, such as the police can employ the technology to the same effect to view centralised databases.

Whilst being initially popular in the public sector the technology is becoming vital to the private sector too with enterprise realising its value in allowing output to continue seamlessly for employees within businesses where travel is a necessary element of the work. Examples form the private sector can include transportation and delivery services, utility employees and travelling salesmen.

As the cost and productivity efficiencies of working securely on the move are realised by both business and the public services, and with the continuing proliferation of smartphones and tablets, the adoption of mobile VPN technology is set to gather significant pace and consequently become commonplace throughout many aspects of our lives.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
To find out more about the possibilities of VPNs for enterprise visit VPN UK.

The Basic Equipment You Need to Get Online - Part 2

The first part of this article gave a quick overview as to what equipment you may need to use to surf the internet and the most common way of establishing an internet connection in the home. However there are other ways to connect your computer to the internet, each with its own pros and cons.

Choose a Connection - Part 2
Cable - If you already have, or you want to sign up to, cable TV and phone services you can get your internet connection though your cable too. Your cable provider will usually help you set the internet connection up at the same time as installing the TV and phone, either through a modem/router or through your TV box. At the very least they will supply you with a modem/router which will need to be connected to the cable socket just as it would the phone socket if your were using ADSL. Again the wireless routers (with built in modems) are now standard for this purpose. If your house has never had cable before the provider will need to install wires which connect you to the main network (most likely in the pavement outside your house).

Satellite - Alternatively if you are already subscribing to a satellite TV service, or want to, you can add broadband internet to your package here as well. The first and perhaps, most obvious bit of equipment you will need is a satellite, and this will need to be connected up to a modem, or in this case a special satellite modem (otherwise known as a DVB modem), before connecting to your computer. Your service provider will install the satellite and modem for you or convert your existing equipment if you have any.

It is worth being ware that there are two types of satellite broadband that you can consider signing up for. The first, 'one-way', is more affordable but only uses the satellite to (rapidly) receive/download information and any information you send/upload will go through your phone line and will therefore be a lot slower. A 'two-way' service will use the satellite for both and is therefore a lot quicker but, unfortunately, a lot more expensive too.

If you are living in a more remote location it may be the case that the phone network where you live isn't able to support broadband internet and you may not be near the main cable network so satellite may be your only option if you want to get online.

Mobile/3G - The internet is also now available on the go through a mobile phone signal known as 3G. This wireless signal is provided by mobile phone operators and can carry data/information (and therefore the internet) as well as normal phone calls. It is typically used for mobile phones, particularly smartphones, which are designed with the internet in mind, but can also be used for computers, such as tablets and laptops. To connect a computer to the a 3G connection you would need to use what is called a 'dongle' which plugs into your computer and then sign up with a mobile network to use their service. The mobile network will often supply you with the dongle when you do sign up.

If you buy a smartphone, the connection would be set up for you when you buy it and the use of the connection would be part of your phone tariff, however it is important to remember that there may be a limit to how much data/information you can download per month.

As you can see there are a good number of options from which you can choose to get yourself online but don't be put off by the jargon. Once you have worked out which option is right for you (most likely which is the best value) your provider should supply you with everything you need to get online and, in the case of cable and satellite particularly, they will usually install it all for you anyway. Once you are connected there is plenty of internet help out there to help you take the next step and get the most out of your online experiences.

The Basic Equipment You Need to Get Online - Part 1

The vast majority of the UK population are now online and rely on the internet on a daily basis, but for those who have never taken the plunge it may still seem a daunting place. However, everyone can find some aspect of the internet that can enrich or make their lives easier and its never been easier to set up internet access.

Choose a Computer
The first thing you need to consider is the device on which you are going to surf the internet. The most obvious device is a personal computer (PC) but there a different types of computer which may or may not be suitable. A desktop PC is one that will need to sit on a desk and is therefore not portable. They tend to be the best value for money in terms of how powerful they are (how quick they are at carrying out processes; how much they can store on them) and are ideal if you have a study or a desk at which you want to work and browse the internet, or if you need a more powerful computer for advanced tasks. Increasingly the most popular option is a laptop computer which, although often slightly less powerful for the equivalent money, is far more flexible and can be used anywhere around the house or on the go. Fortunately, they have become far more affordable as they've increased in popularity.

The newest contender on the block is what's called a tablet computer or simply tablet, which is similar to a laptop in that it is portable, but it doesn't have a traditional keyboard or mouse, just a screen which is touch sensitive. Many people therefore see these as far more intuitive as you can directly interact with what you are seeing on screen - instead of using a mouse to click on something you just touch the screen with your finger.

The most portable option is that of a smartphone. These are the latest incarnations of mobile phones which can connect to the internet on the go as well a performing the more traditional tasks of making phone calls and text messaging. Most smartphones have touch screens similar to tablets (and some have small keypads as well) although they are not ideal for browsing more complex sites because they have smaller screen sizes

Choose a Connection - Part 1
Once you have your computer sorted, you'll need to think about how you want to set up your internet connection.

ADSL - The most common choice in the UK for household internet connections is what's known as ADSL broadband. To set up an ADSL connection you'll need a traditional (landline) phone line, a microfilter and a modem and you'll need to set up an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

A microfilter is a small device which plugs into the phone socket and separates out your phone connection from your broadband internet connection. Your modem is a device that converts your telephone signal into a digital signal for a computer (and vice versa) and that can usually be combined into a device called a router as well. A router acts as a central hub through which all your computers can talk to each other as well as share the internet connection. Therefore, you typically have the choice of a simple modem which just provides an internet line to a single computer, a modem router which can distribute the internet connection to a number of computers or a Wi-Fi modem router which can do the same over a wireless network. Wi-Fi allows you to share your internet connection over the airwaves with computers anywhere in the house that themselves have wireless capability (i.e., have a wireless adapter) which the vast majority of laptops, PCs, tablets and smartphones do now have built in.

The good news is that the microfilter and modem will usually be supplied by your ISP and the majority will supply wireless routers free of charge as a standard part of their packages.

ADSL accounts can often be the cheapest option for getting your home online but your data/information may download (appear) at slower speeds and you may also have limits as to how much you can download in comparison with other forms of broadband internet. For most people who simply want to browse the internet however, it is more than adequate.

Having covered the devices that you'll need to use to surf the web and then the most common way of connecting to the internet, the second part of this article on internet help looks at the alternative ways you can set up an internet connection for your computer. You may need to consider these if you want to surf the internet on the go, need faster download speeds or you live in a remote area.

How to Use a Search Engine

If you are planning to make the most of the internet and world wide web then one of the first things you should become familiar with is how to get the most out of a search engine.

When looking for information or a service online there may be hundreds, thousands or even millions of websites out there on the web that are relevant (to a greater or lesser extent) to your query. However without using a search engine you would either have to be told about them specifically or hunt them down yourself by linking from one website to another, until you hopefully find a few that are relevant enough. Even then it can be difficult to gauge how trusted or reliable they are.

This is the job that search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo perform for you. There are billions if not trillions of web pages on the web and the number is always growing. Search engines are designed to quickly find you those few that are the most relevant to your query and give more credence to those that are established and therefore more trustworthy.

To understand how to get the best out of a search engine it a good idea to have a basic understanding of how they work. Search engines gather their information using software that sends out what are called ‘robots’ or ‘spiders’ which read the text on every page of every web page they can find, following links from one website to another. The data is then stored by the search engine company.

The exact methods (the algorithms) that search engines use to process all this data are complicated and kept very secret, due to the fierce competition between them, and they are constantly evolving to provide a more refined service. In essence though they will rank web pages for any given terms based upon whether the text content on those pages includes those (and related) words as well as the number and relevance of the other websites which link to the original web page. Factors such as the age of a website and how many people use it (i.e., traffic) are also taken into account to determine how established and reliable the site is.

Each search engine will present you with one obvious search box for you to type your search query, accompanied by a search button. To perform a basic search you simply need to enter the key words that are relevant to your query and click the search button. For example, if you are looking for a dog sitting service in the Salisbury area then type dog sitters salisbury. The results, the pages which the search engine thinks are relevant to your query will appear as a list of links on the page, each with a brief description. Clicking on the link will take you through to that page.

There is no need to present the words as a literal question like Where can I find dog sitters in Salisbury? because the search engine may return results that have the extra words in - you don’t necessarily want a page that asks the same question as you but one that might answer it after all. Some of this extra words are so common that they will not help your search to be more specific anyway. Punctuation is also ignored unless it is a special character which changes the nature of your search - see below.

In addition the words you are searching for do not necessarily have to appear next to each other or in the same sequence on a web page for that page to appear in the search results. However if you do only want to see the pages that contain an exact phrase then you can contain your words in quotation marks. For example, if you are trying to find the website for a business called Salisbury Dog Sitters then you can refine your search results more effectively by searching for “Salisbury Dog Sitters“. Moreover, if you want to web pages that don’t include particular words you can use a hyphen immediately in front of the word. Following the earlier example through, if you want to rule out search results that are appearing for pages that mention dog sitters in Salisbury, Maryland so that you can focus on results from Salisbury, Wiltshire you could search for dog sitters salisbury -maryland.

You can add more words to be more specific in your query such as dog sitters overnight salisbury but be careful not to over-complicate your search and use too many words. Whilst increasing the specificity of your search it can also rule out some results which may be relevant to your query but don’t necessarily contain every single word you’ve used, especially if some of your words weren’t essential for your query. The trick is to be only as specific as you need be and at the same time, target your words carefully. The words you do use need to be as descriptive, unambiguous and as relevant as possible.

Most search engines will offer the ability to perform advanced searches where you can usually specify other criteria for your search results which will help you to be more targeted in your searches. Useful options here can include a time period (to find web pages published within a certain time frame) the language of websites, a filter for more adult content and a geographical focus for your results (usually by country).

Moreover, most search engines also provide you with the ability to search for particular types of online content such as images, news, videos and shopping results using variations of their main search page. Look out for a link to these alternative search pages on the search engine’s main menu and you can ensure that you are only accessing the type of online content you want. The display of the results on these pages will often be more suited to your needs as well. An image search for example will display the results as images so that you don’t need to click on each link to see the image you’re looking for.

Search engines really are the principle gateway to world wide web and it is no coincidence that an estimated 80% of people accessing the web do so through a search engine. Learning, with internet help, how to get the most out of search engines is a key step in learning how to use the internet. Once you’re familiar with how they can be used you may find that the web is far more accessible than you had thought.

How to Use a Search Engine

If you are planning to make the most of the internet and world wide web then one of the first things you should become familiar with is how to get the most out of a search engine.

When looking for information or a service online there may be hundreds, thousands or even millions of websites out there on the web that are relevant (to a greater or lesser extent) to your query. However without using a search engine you would either have to be told about them specifically or hunt them down yourself by linking from one website to another, until you hopefully find a few that are relevant enough. Even then it can be difficult to gauge how trusted or reliable they are.

This is the job that search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo perform for you. There are billions if not trillions of web pages on the web and the number is always growing. Search engines are designed to quickly find you those few that are the most relevant to your query and give more credence to those that are established and therefore more trustworthy.

To understand how to get the best out of a search engine it a good idea to have a basic understanding of how they work. Search engines gather their information using software that sends out what are called ‘robots’ or ‘spiders’ which read the text on every page of every web page they can find, following links from one website to another. The data is then stored by the search engine company.

The exact methods (the algorithms) that search engines use to process all this data are complicated and kept very secret, due to the fierce competition between them, and they are constantly evolving to provide a more refined service. In essence though they will rank web pages for any given terms based upon whether the text content on those pages includes those (and related) words as well as the number and relevance of the other websites which link to the original web page. Factors such as the age of a website and how many people use it (i.e., traffic) are also taken into account to determine how established and reliable the site is.

Each search engine will present you with one obvious search box for you to type your search query, accompanied by a search button. To perform a basic search you simply need to enter the key words that are relevant to your query and click the search button. For example, if you are looking for a dog sitting service in the Salisbury area then type dog sitters salisbury. The results, the pages which the search engine thinks are relevant to your query will appear as a list of links on the page, each with a brief description. Clicking on the link will take you through to that page.

There is no need to present the words as a literal question like Where can I find dog sitters in Salisbury? because the search engine may return results that have the extra words in - you don’t necessarily want a page that asks the same question as you but one that might answer it after all. Some of this extra words are so common that they will not help your search to be more specific anyway. Punctuation is also ignored unless it is a special character which changes the nature of your search - see below.

In addition the words you are searching for do not necessarily have to appear next to each other or in the same sequence on a web page for that page to appear in the search results. However if you do only want to see the pages that contain an exact phrase then you can contain your words in quotation marks. For example, if you are trying to find the website for a business called Salisbury Dog Sitters then you can refine your search results more effectively by searching for “Salisbury Dog Sitters“. Moreover, if you want to web pages that don’t include particular words you can use a hyphen immediately in front of the word. Following the earlier example through, if you want to rule out search results that are appearing for pages that mention dog sitters in Salisbury, Maryland so that you can focus on results from Salisbury, Wiltshire you could search for dog sitters salisbury -maryland.

You can add more words to be more specific in your query such as dog sitters overnight salisbury but be careful not to over-complicate your search and use too many words. Whilst increasing the specificity of your search it can also rule out some results which may be relevant to your query but don’t necessarily contain every single word you’ve used, especially if some of your words weren’t essential for your query. The trick is to be only as specific as you need be and at the same time, target your words carefully. The words you do use need to be as descriptive, unambiguous and as relevant as possible.

Most search engines will offer the ability to perform advanced searches where you can usually specify other criteria for your search results which will help you to be more targeted in your searches. Useful options here can include a time period (to find web pages published within a certain time frame) the language of websites, a filter for more adult content and a geographical focus for your results (usually by country).

Moreover, most search engines also provide you with the ability to search for particular types of online content such as images, news, videos and shopping results using variations of their main search page. Look out for a link to these alternative search pages on the search engine’s main menu and you can ensure that you are only accessing the type of online content you want. The display of the results on these pages will often be more suited to your needs as well. An image search for example will display the results as images so that you don’t need to click on each link to see the image you’re looking for.

Search engines really are the principle gateway to world wide web and it is no coincidence that an estimated 80% of people accessing the web do so through a search engine. Learning how to get the most out of search engines is a key step in learning how to use the internet. Once you’re familiar with how they can be used you may find that the web is far more accessible than you had thought.