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The biggest factor to consider when selecting a cart is the level of technical expertise required. If you have a team of system administrators and developers, their combined skill set can likely work with any of the above mentioned carts. However, if your team is not robust and you want to launch immediately, a SaaS e-commerce solution might be the perfect fit.

For more information about how the carts cross-compare on scalability and security, read the entire e-commerce cart comparison.

Rackspace’s Hybrid Hosting approach allows web development firms like Cramer Development to support complex website needs without investing time and energy into standing up servers for temporary use or chasing scale to keep up with their clients’ growing needs. The built-in scalability of the cloud allows them to effortlessly adapt to variable website traffic and ensure their clients’ sites deliver the intended experience and functionality.

…With the suite of hosting services and supporting admin tools at Rackspace, the Cramer Development team can meet their clients’ application development needs while Rackspace handles the infrastructure layer.

For more information, click here to download the full case study.

Late last year Rackspace® Hosting unveiled the newest service level for Cloud Servers™ – managed service and support. Defining a new space in cloud computing, Rackspace has extended to customers an additional level of support on Cloud Servers, which includes monitoring, operating system and application infrastructure layer support, and technical guidance.

Customers of various sizes are finding the flexibility and scalability of this solution, coupled with world-class managed service to be a winning combination. For instance, the World Triathlon Corporation is the owner and organizer of Ironman-branded events. During their more than 80 world-championship events, traffic spikes are unpredictable as visitors seek real time data and multimedia. Travis Sitzlar, Ironman’s Chief Technologist explains what a managed service level in the cloud means to him:

“Back in 2000 or 2001, I was the only tech person that we had. So for a long time I was on call 24/7/365: I had the monitoring systems automatically pinging me anytime something went wrong, and if I didn’t know how to fix it, then we were in trouble, because we didn’t really have anybody else to go to. Fanatical Support, to me, means that I get to sleep at night.”

During the October 2010 Ford Ironman World Championship, Ironman’s network of sites worked smoothly, effortlessly scaling to handle the waves of incoming statistical data, as well as big spikes in traffic. Despite setting new records in simultaneous webcast viewers, peak traffic, and total uniques, the Cloud-based systems all operated flawlessly.

Read more about how Rackspace Hosting has built a solution that meets the scaling needs of the World Triathlon Corporation.

This announcement comes on the heels of exciting news here at Rackspace. A few weeks ago we celebrated the six-month anniversary of OpenStack. Last month we announced an agreement with Akamai for CloudFiles customers. And, in December we launched a Managed Service Level for Cloud Servers and acquired upstart Cloudkick, folding their talented team into our growing family of fanatical Rackers.

As Rackspace moves forward into a new year, there are quite a few exciting projects on the horizon. We look forward to building our product offerings, keeping you posted every step of the way.

Thank you to our clients, partners and fellow Rackers who continue to make Rackspace one of the best hosting providers in the world.

You’ve likely experienced the panic of a computer crashing. In the midst of writing a sales proposal or developing a corporate presentation the screen goes blank. This loss of data can be detrimental. Compound that, though, and think what would happen if your entire e-commerce database crashed. However, if you had a consistent, thorough maintenance plan in place, disaster recovery would be a simple process.

Fortunately, MSSQL maintenance plans can be easily setup within the SQL Server Management Studio. The Setup Wizard is a quick, step-by-step process for establishing maintenance plans. Maintenance Plan Designer (not outlined in this article), a manual setup process, is also available and will allow for a higher degree of fine-tuned customizations.

Combining a series of full backups with differential backups and optimization techniques is a proactive solution to ensure your data is recoverable with disaster strikes. These backups and tasks will not only secure data, but will also keep your databases running at top efficiency – helping to decrease query retrieval time for applications.

Maintenance Plan Setup: Full Backup

Full backups contain the entire content of the database. Since these backups are slower and require quite a bit of disk space for larger databases, it’s recommended to perform these once a week, at an off-hour during the weekend.

1) Load SQL Management studio

Start -> Programs -> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – > SQL Server Management Studio

2) Connect to database instance using windows Authentication

3) Open Database folder

4) Select Management -> Maintenance Plan and right click, select Maintenance Plan Wizard

5) Select Next

6) Title the plan (in this instance, “Full BackUp”) and select “Change” button

7) This full backup dialogue box allows you to control frequency (day/time) – select “OK” when done

8.) Screen will close, select “Next”

9) Check the Box next to “Back Up Database (Full)”

10) Click “Next” twice

11) Select the databases to backup and the folder in which the backups will be stored. Also check the following boxes:

a. Create subdirectory for each database (it’s important to keep backups organized on file system)
b. “Verify Backup Integrity”

12) Click “Next” Twice

13) Finish

14) Close. The plan should now be listed under “Maintenance Plan” folder – this is where you can adjust schedule or update any of the settings established already.

Maintenance Plan Setup: Differential Backup Plan

Differential backups contain only the data that has changed since the full backup. These backups are often faster and do not require as much disk space. In order to restore a differential backup you will first need to restore the last full backup.

1) Right click Maintenance Plan, select Maintenance Plan Wizard

2) Select Next

3) Title Plan (in this instance, “Differential BackUp”) and select “Change” button

4) This full backup dialogue box allows you to control frequency (day/time). The differential backup should be run on all days that the full back up is not running. Click “Ok” when time/days have been established.

5) Click Next

6) Check the box next to “Backup Differential”

7) Click “Next” twice

8.) Select databases for which the differential backup will be performed (these will be the same databases as the full backup).Also check the following boxes:

a. Create subdirectory for each database (it’s important to keep backups organized on file system)
b. “Verify Backup Integrity”

9) Next -> Next -> Finish -> Close

10) The backup plan has been added under Maintenance Plans – this is where you can adjust the scheduling or update any of the task settings.

Maintenance Plan Setup: Remove Old Backup Files

It’s important to create a maintenance plan to cleanup old files like those generated by previous backups. Without a maintenance plan to clean up these files, your backup maintenance plan will continue to generate files and take up valuable disk space.

1) Right click Maintenance Plan, select Maintenance Plan Wizard

2) Select Next

3) Title Plan (in this instance, “Clean Up Backup Files”) and select “Change” button

4) Schedule this to run daily—perhaps in the evening or off-hours. Click “Ok” when time/days have been established.

5) Click “Next”

6) Check the box next to “Maintenance Cleanup Task”

7) Click “Next” twice

8.) Paste folder extension where all backups are stored and set file extension to “bak”; select box for “Include first-level subfolders”

9) Configure to retain two weeks worth of backups (this may vary for your individual backup needs)

10) Next -> Next -> Finish -> Close

11) The backup plan has been added under Maintenance Plans – this is where you can adjust the scheduling or update any of the task settings.

Maintenance Plan Setup: Optimization & Maintenance Plans

Another important step in database maintenance is regular optimization through tasks like reorganizing the data and index pages, compressing the databases, updating index statistics and performing consistency checks. These tasks will ensure that your database is efficient and error-free. Like the other plans, this plan should be scheduled during late evening hours since it will affect the database engine performance.

1) Right click Maintenance Plan, select Maintenance Plan Wizard

2) Select Next

3) Title Plan (in this instance, “Weekly Maintenance”) and select “Change” button

4) Schedule this to run weekly during off-hours; Click “OK”

5) Click Next

6) There will be four maintenance task boxes checked: Integrity Task, Shrink Database Task, Index Task and Statistics Task

7) Click Next

8.) Select databases for Integrity Task -> OK -> Next

9) Select databases for Shrink Database Task -> OK -> Next

10) Select databases for Reorganize index Task -> OK -> Next

11) Select databases for Update Statistics Task -> OK -> Next

12) Next -> Next -> Finish -> Close

13) The backup removal plan has been added under Maintenance Plans – this is where you can adjust the scheduling or update any of the task settings.

The importance of Internet security cannot be overstated. More and more consumers are turning to the Internet for purchases—a goldmine of potential data waiting to be hacked. With SSLs, private user information—such as credit card numbers—are scrambled before transmission and reassembled only with proper decryption keys. Doing so not only secures sensitive customer information, but is also a step in the direction of proper compliance.

Installation of the certificate is relatively straightforward for Linux servers, whether they use a Plesk control panel or not. The following provides a step-by-step process for installing your new or updated SSL certificate in Linux.

Installing SSL on Linux Servers with Plesk

(1) Login to the Plesk Control Panel, select domains, choose the domain to be updated then select the certificates section.

(2) Click “Add New Certificate” icon.

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(3) In “Certificate Name” box, enter filename you would like cert saved as.

Note: It is helpful to make the names something that is easy to identity, such as year of certificate and domain associated (i.e., 2011-www.my-domain.com).

(4) On your local computer, find the certificate and key files provided by your certificate authority. Open them with a text editor such as NotePad or gedit.

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(5) Copy the entire contents of each file and paste them in appropriate boxes in Plesk.

Note: Be sure to paste the contents of the files in the appropriate, corresponding boxes.

(6) Click “Send Text” when finished.

(7) Click “Setup” under the “Hosting” section of the domain screen. Choose the new certificate from the drop-down list and click “OK” when finished.

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Installing SSL on Linux Servers without Plesk

(1) Upload certificate and key files to the server using S/FTP.

(2) Login to the server via SSH and become the root user using the “su —“ command. Give the root password when prompted.

(3) Move the certificate file to /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.crt

(4) Move the key file to /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.key

Note: When trying to move the files, the ssl.crt and/or ssl.key directory may not exist, so you will need to create those first with a mkdir command.

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(5) You’ll want to ensure security of the files by restricting permission for the key using chmod 0400.

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(6) Edit the VirtualHost configuration for the domain. This is sually found in etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

Note: This will edit the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile to point to the correct directories with the actual files.

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(7) Finally, gracefully restart Apache to load the new configuration.

A few weeks ago Rackspace announced our newest managed service level – on Rackspace Cloud Servers.

To follow-up on the benefits and Fanatical Support® offered by this new managed service, we are hosting a webinar which will explore the following topics:

1. Finalize Selection of a Collaboration Toolset

Making information available and reliable to the team is a critical component for productivity. Have you considered SharePoint 2010 as a solution for centralizing information including wikis, videos and documents?

2. Plan for Next Year’s Seasonal Spike in E-commerce Sales

The increased traffic demands require unique, scalable solutions. Rather than invest in additional infrastructure that is only used six weeks out of the year, consider a Hybrid solution from Rackspace.

3. Consider Managed Hosting in the Cloud

Already in the Cloud and don’t have the time to effectively and efficiently monitor your environment? Rackspace Hosting’s newest service level – Managed Service in the Cloud – includes monitoring, operating system and application infrastructure layer support, and technical guidance.

4. Evaluate Disaster Recovery Plans

What are you going to do when disaster strikes? Managing your disaster recovery internally can quickly become costly and complex. Consider a new plan for designing, deploying and managing your disaster recovery.

5. Make Workforce more Mobile with Secure, Remote Access to Data

How are you keeping business moving while the team is on the road? How reliable is the access to mobile email? Consider a solution that will maintain productivity while ensuring exchanges of communication are secure.

Good luck with implementing your new IT strategies. As always, if you have any questions, Rackspace’s Fanatical Support is here to assist you.

Before moving forward, here is a recap of the first eight days:

First Day of Christmas:
One Company for your Hosting Needs

Second Day of Christmas:
Two Options for Email Hosting

Third Day of Christmas:
Three Product Lines within the Cloud

Fourth Day of Christmas:
Four Types of Dedicated Hosting Solutions

Fifth Day of Christmas:
Five SharePoint 2010 Demos

Sixth Day of Christmas:
Six Areas of Certification

Seventh Day of Christmas:
Seven Days a Week, We Never Sleep

Eighth Day of Christmas:
Eight Days of Hybrid Capabilities for Peak Traffic

Ninth Day of Christmas:
Nine Data Centers

Our data centers offer top-notch physical security, a precision environment, conditioned power, a core routing environment and highly-skilled network technicians. Our promise to maintain network availability 100% of the time is supported by these nine, worldwide data centers.

Biometric scanning, keycard protocols, advanced fire suppression systems and uninterrupted power supply ensure our most valuable resource – your data – is constantly performing at maximum efficiency.

Tenth Day of Christmas:
Ten of the Highest Rated CloudTools

There are many diverse applications and uses for the Rackspace Cloud. We’ve partnered with numerous companies who offer tools that have helped our customers improve performance and functionality within the Cloud. Among those partners are our top rated tools – ranging from content archiving to application performance monitoring, our partners have developed tools to help you get the most out of your Cloud experience.

Eleventh Day of Christmas:
Eleven Managed Hosting Services

Managed Hosting means you can go about your business, focusing on strategic decisions and not worrying about data management. From managed security and storage to databases and private clouds, Rackspace has been perfecting Managed Hosting for more than a decade.

Our 11 managed hosting services include the following: Managed Security, Dedicated Microsoft SharePoint, Unmetered Managed Backup, Rackspace Critical Sites and Disaster Recovery Services.

Twelfth Day of Christmas:
Twelve Years of Fanatical Support®

Twelve years ago Rackspace launched with the promise of offering something unprecedented – a global hosting provider whose support was unparalleled in enthusiasm and knowledge. Today, we offer a growing selection of hosting products with that same level of Fanatical Support® that launched us on day one.

Thank you to all our employees, partners and customers who have helped us to become one of the worldwide leaders in hosting. We look forward to many more years and thousands more success stories.

Rackspace in Action:

LivingSocial enables people to share reviews of their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and more. In a few short years, LivingSocial has grown to more than 90 million users, and is among the more popular Facebook applications. With this explosive growth came the need to properly scale servers and other infrastructure to address the mounting demands of traffic.

Originally with another hosting company, CTO and Co-Founder, Aaron Batalion realized the need for a hosting provider that could effectively serve as an extension of his team. He turned to Rackspace and formalized the relationship after a brief courtship.

Batalion recounts the daily support he receives from Rackspace, “Rackspace provided us with three different firewalls in three days when our growth was exploding. It took only hours to stop the bottleneck caused by users flooding to our site because I can call Rackspace and say ‘here’s the problem, here’s what we need, how do we solve this.’ Rackspace’s Fanatical Support® is real.”

Read more about Rackspace’s solution to LivingSocial’s growth challenges.