1.You need to enable syslogd by adding the following to /etc/syslogd.conf
daemon.debug /var/log/ftplog.log
2. Modify inetd.conf
ftp ... -d -l -u 022
3. refresh syslog
# refresh -s sylslogd
4. refresh inetd
# refresh -s inetd
Friday, November 7, 2008
Setting FTP log connection IBM AIX
Disable send mail on IBM AIX
This procedure describes how to disable Sendmail in IBM® AIX® to free up port 25 for use with IBM Workplace Messaging®.
1. To stop the Sendmail process, find the Sendmail process id by performing one of these actions:
* Use the ps command to get a list of processes.
* Read the process id in the file /etc/sendmail.pid.
2. Stop the Sendmail process by typing this command and the process id, for example:
kill -9
3. Verify that Sendmail is stopped by typing this command:
Ps -eaf | grep sendmail
4. To keep Sendmail from restarting when the server is restarted, perform these steps:
1. Navigate to the /etc directory and look for rc.* files.
2. Using a text editor, open either the rc.d or rc.local file.
3. Use a number sign (#) to comment out the line that starts Sendmail.
4. Save the file.
5. Restart the server.
6. Start the Messaging SMTP inbound service.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
LCDs vs. CRT: Battle of the Display Acronyms
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors have come down in price considerably since their first release, but they still cost a good deal more than an equivalent-sized Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor, the TV screen-like monitor most of us know so well. As a rough approximation, you'll pay twice as much for a flat LCD screen as your will for a good quality CRT.
Whether the LCD is worth the extra money depends very much on your financial state and other conditions.
The biggest advantage of a flat screen monitor is compactness. They are only a couple of inches in width, so they take up much less valuable desk real estate than a CRT. That makes them an ideal choice for office desks and people who don't have much room.
LCD screens are easier on the eyes because they offer better contrast than CRTs. That's important if you're a Baby Boomer whose eyes aren't what they once were.
And for those of us who have to move monitors occasionally, I'll opt for a flat panel any time over the 60-pound-plus 19-inch CRT.
However, LCD have drawbacks besides price. For one thing, colors tend to appear more washed out on an LCD. The same things that make LCD's easier on the eyes make it hard for them to display vivid colors. They also lack the multiple color adjustments you find on a CRT.
By their nature, LCDs don't handle fast-moving objects as well as a CRT. If you're a gamer, you'll probably be disappointed at the speed and image quality you get from an LCD. A less expensive, higher quality CRT will save you enough money to buy that high-end video card.
Unlike a modern (multisync) CRT, an LCD has a fixed refresh rate. This means that the image tends to get blurry when you try to change the screen resolution.
Of course, CRTs have their own drawbacks. They are big, heavy, consume a lot of power, and produce a lot of heat. They are also more likely to cause eyestrain, both from the characteristics of the screen and from reflections and glare.
As LCD technology advances, we can expect CRTs to go the way of the floppy disk and dot matrix printer, niche items used only for special applications. For now, you have to balance the advantages of an LCD against getting a bigger CRT for the same price.
What's RAID 10 And Why Should I Use It?
RAID is, of course, a Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. It is a method of storing information on multiple hard disks for greater protection and in some cases performance. Under the RAID umbrella are a number of different storage methods, called levels and numbered from 0 to 9, some of which are more useful than others.
Each level is a distinct method of organizing storage, but some of them can be combined which produces a two-digit RAID level, such as RAID 10, sometimes identified (and more appropriately so) as RAID 1+0. In general, each RAID level has its own advantages and disadvantages.
RAID 10, for example, is fast, it's crashproof and it eats disk space. If you need more protection for your storage, or faster storage performance, RAID 10 is a simple, relatively cheap fix.
To implement RAID 10 you need at least two physical hard drives; just using two partitions on the same hard drive is inadequate. You also need a disk controller that understands RAID.
RAID 10 works by striping and mirroring your data across at least two disks. Mirroring, or RAID 1, means writing your data to two or more disks at the same time. Even if one disk fails completely, the mirror preserves the information. Striping, or RAID 0, means breaking your data up into chunks and writing the chunks to different disks in succession. It improves performance because the computer can get data off more than one disk simultaneously. (For the purists out there: RAID 0 technically isn't a RAID level at all because it doesn't provide any redundancy to protect information. However, it is commonly referred to as a RAID level anyway.)
Before we go on, here's one important caveat about backup and RAID 1. Although data is written to two disks simultaneously, the data is not being backed up. Should your system, rather than the hard disk, suffer an error erroneous data could be sent to both disks at the same time, corrupting both drives simultaneously. You still must have a backup strategy in place, even if you use RAID 1. (For greater protection against data corruption, use a RAID level that includes a parity drive, but that's a different story.)
Put RAID 1 and RAID 0 together and you get RAID 10. RAID 10 is secure because mirroring duplicates all your data. It's fast because the data is striped across two or more disks, meaning chunks of data can be read and written to different disks simultaneously.
The drawback to RAID 10 is that it cuts your effective disk space in half. Since everything is mirrored (duplicated), two 60 GB disks give you a total system capacity of 60 GB. And remember, always use identical disks when creating a mirrored array. The disk geometry (number of heads, cylinders, etc.) is critical, and using disks that are different is discouraged in the strongest terms.
Given the cost of disks, storage space is much less of a problem than it was a few years ago. It's cheap enough to add additional disks to support your RAID 10 array and if the disk controller on your motherboard doesn't support RAID 10, you can get an add-in disk controller card for less than $50.
RAID 10 is also slightly more complex to set up than conventional storage, but it isn't particularly hard. The system or disk controller software includes install routines that will walk you through the process. It usually takes just a few minutes to install a RAID 10 array.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Find maintenance level on AIX
# instfix -i | grep AIX_ML
All filesets for 5.3.0.0_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-01_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-02_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-03_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-04_AIX_ML were found.
make bootable CD AIX
Have you ever needed a bootable CD/DVD image because the one you have is lost, broken, or simply out of date. The following procedure can be a great help. mkcd and/or mkdvd can be used to create bootable images. Generally, these commands are used to create a bootable mksysb image. But these commands can also be used to create a boot-only CD/DVD that you can use to boot a system and then get into maintaince mode using the information on the failed boot device - e.g. AIX in installed, but not booting. Or you have a tape that is not bootable, Etc..
On any AIX system at the SAME kernel level as the system you are wanting to (re)boot (e.g. 5300-05)
1. # cd /var/adm/ras
2. # ls ./bosinst.data ./image.data | backup -ivqf /tmp/fakemksysb
3a: # mkcd -m /tmp/fakemksysb -d /dev/cdX ## X is device number of cd/dvd writer
3b. # mkcd -m /tmp/fakemksysb -S ## will create a .iso formated file in a "default location" - it will not end in .iso Transfer this file to system with a cd/dvd burner and burn the CD
Note that towards the end of the process there will be some installp error messages. You can ignore these.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Performance Monitoring Tips and Techniques - AIX
What are the most common performance problem causes?
From my personal experience (your mileage may vary):
* 50% poor disk layout + mgmt - some disks 90%+ busy while 50% not used at all - do you have a clear document that maps the files to actual disks?
* 10% poor setup of RDBMS tuning parameters relating to memory use
* 10% single threaded batch applications (and we have been using SMP for 9 years!!)
* 10% poorly written customer extensions to standard applications
* 5% system running with errors in the errpt log file (including CPU failures!!)
* 5% paging on large RAM (>2 GB) systems & vmtune not use to set min/maxperm
* 5% AIX problems already discovered and fixed but AIX was not up to date.
* 4% badly ported app = not compiled with optimization or on old AIX versions
* 1% genuine bugs in AIX or commands
and every single one of these was reported as a problem with the hardware!!!
Perfpmr - the performance guru's secret weapon
Perfpmr is the official AIX Support performance data gathering tool. If you report a performance problem then after the usual checks on your software levels, AIX Support will ask you to use this tool to gather loads of information that you must return, as soon as possible. It is actually a set of shell scripts that use standard tools to gather information and write report summaries. This means it is very useful for you too and why reinvent the wheel, when the IBM Austin experts are maintaining this excellent tool for you. Get the latest AIX version
It comes with an excellent README file with all the details on running it, but briefly, find at least 100 Mbytes of free disk space and as the root user untar the file and run the master perfpmr.sh shell script. This needs to run during the problem (of course) and I suggest for 5 minutes = 600 seconds. For example, ./perfpmr.sh 600 It actually takes longer than this as there are several sections and the final phase gathers lot of configuration details that takes a long time with machine with lots of disks. Once finished take a look at the summary (.sum) files as these are readable. You may be able to sort out the performance problem yourself from this data alone.
But perfpmr is more than this because:
* it was precisely documented your system configuration at the hardware and AIX levels - this saves you doing this.
* if you take regular perfpmr data of the system running happily on a normal workload day. Then when there is a problem - you or the AIX support team can take a look at the differences between the good and bad performance captures and this will make diagnosis ten times simpler.
* if you should take perfpmr data of the system running happily before and after any minor or major changes to the system. For example software upgrades, AIX upgrades, changes to disk subsystems and adding software. Again, you will be able to determine what changed - for good or bad - ten times faster with before and after data captures.
My favorite Desktop tools of the job
I have a Windows based Thinkpad and AIX servers and this is what I use every day:
1. Virtual Network Computing VNC from TightVNC - so I can have X Windows at zero cost and it stays running for tomorrow
2. WebSM Remote Client - so I can remotely manage my AIX machines and HMC's. You can download this from you HMC (if you have it setup right and allowed the protocol) from http://
5. Thrashing rising page outs, CPU wait and run queue.
6. Disk I/O bound when %iowait greater than 40% (iostat)
* Although in recent years this might not be true as CPUs are much faster and disks only a bit faster.
* This means many workloads are not disk bound and the CPUs deal with the data faster than the disks deliver it.
* So high I/O wait is perfectly normal on many systems.
Setting minfree and maxfree on an AIX 5.3 System
minfree = (maximum of either 960 or # of logical CPUs * 120) divided by # of memory pools
maxfree = minfree + (# of logical CPUs * maximum read ahead) divided by # of memory pools
Where,
1. of logical CPUs from bindprocessor -q (count number of available processors)
2. of memory pools from vmstat -v
(note: If the number is 0 use 1 as a default)
Maximum read ahead is the greater of maxpgahead or j2_maxPageReadAhead from ioo -a
Tuning minfree and maxfree
You need to increase the value of minfree when you see 'Free Frame Waits' increasing over time.
Use the 'vmstat -s' to display the currently value of 'Free Frame Waits'.
Remember, to calculate a new value for maxfree.
Large Disk Subsystem Setup
Setting up Disks? - Want some advice? Here are my (Nigel Griffiths) top tips:
1. More disks are goodness - increasingly hard to justify with bigger disks but spindles count for performance
2. Use ALL of the disks - ALL of the time. But make the computer do this i.e. not manually move data around.
3. Hose it all about (especially for systems with less than 8 disks = one RAID5 is best)
4. Using RAID5 - 7+1 parity for maximum disk use
5. Aim for 16 to 32 LUNs - make then big enough to reduce the number of LUNs - no one can manage a thousand LUN's
6. Use 4 paths = 64 to 128 vpaths - two paths also OK. Never use more than 4 paths.
7. All LUNs same size
8. Clear map of layout - you must known where LUNs are placed and overlap.
9. 4 to 16 filesystems (never just one filesystem) to avoid free space allocation bottlenecks.
10. With AIX 5.2 onwards, the 64 bit Kernel and JFS2 should be thought of as the default.
11. LVM striped at 64KB or 128KB stripe width.
12. Database should have 8KB or better yet 16KB block size minimum.
13. Mix data, index, logs up on all the disks - to avoid hot spots (don't have disks for specific data types)
14. Direct attach, if you are the only ESS/FAStT user
15. Sequential I/O - big block = max throughput above 64KB blocks, also 256KB or 1MB works well (4KB can kill your throughput)
16. Random I/O - many files, equally spread across filesystems and hence disks
17. Two Fibre Channel adapters per TB,
18. Expect 70% adapter bandwidth max (2 Gbit FC = max 200MB/s and 140MB/s real)
For ESS/FAST/DS in particular (these numbers are 2 years old and probably need updating):
1. 6 to 8 Fibre Channel adapters per ESS
2. Disk Size: 36 GB=OK, 72 GB OK for Random, 146 GB only for archive
3. Use ESS bid against EMC and HDS
4. Typically 30+ hosts
5. Disk qdepth ESSF20=60 and ESS800=90 FAST900=1024/disks/hosts FAST500+600= 212/hosts/disks
6. Fibre Channel memory DMA=1MB, CMD's 248
Kenapa Gaji Saya Tidak Pernah Cukup
Gaji. Cuma 4 huruf memang. Tapi kenyataannya, yang namanya gaji selalu saja ditunggu-tunggu oleh mereka yang bekerja sebagai karyawan. Dimanapun itu.
Betul. Jika Anda - atau suami Anda - bekerja sebagai karyawan di sebuah perusahaan, seringkali Anda selalu menunggu agar tanggal gajian itu datang - kalau bisa - sepuluh hari lebih cepat. Benar kan?
Menariknya, berapa pun gaji yang terima, seringkali kita merasa tidak pernah cukup. Besar sih besar. Itu sebabnya, kadang kita merasa kesal, kenapa sudah capek-cepek kerja sebulan, tetapi gaji tak pernah cukup.
Bapak ibu, tenang. Kalau Anda bingung karena merasa gaji Anda tidak pernah cukup, maka kali ini saya akan memberitahu 5 hal kenapa gaji Anda dirasa tidak pernah cukup. Mau tahu apa saja?
1. Biaya Hidup Tinggi
Salah satu penyebabnya mungkin karena biaya hidup di kota tempat Anda tinggal memang tinggi, dibandingkan kota-kota lain. Sekali lagi, ini cuma kemungkinan saja lho.
2. Gaji Anda Terlalu Kecil
Penyebab kedua adalah gaji yang kecil. Mungkin biaya hidup di kota Anda tak terlalu tinggi, tapi berhubung gaji Anda kecil, jelas Anda merasa gaji tak cukup bukan? Memang ada yang berpendapat, berapa pun gaji Anda, asal bisa dikelola dengan baik, pasti cukup. Betul. Saya setuju, karena saya sendiri juga bilang begitu. Tapi, kalau Anda merasa telah mengelolanya dengan baik, tapi kok gaji Anda tetap saja dirasa enggak pernah cukup selama berbulan-bulan, bahkan bertahun-tahun, maka bisa jadi gaji Anda memang terlalu kecil.
3. Kenaikan Gaji tak Sebanding dengan Kenaikan Biaya Hidup
Penyebab ketiga karena kenaikan gaji Anda setiap tahun tidak seimbang dengan kenaikan Biaya Hidup. Misalnya, gaji di keluarga Anda Rp 1 juta sebulan. Biaya hidup Anda sekeluarha juga Rp 1 juta sebulan. Sementara tahun depan harga-harga naik, sehingga biaya hidup misalnya Rp 1,3 juta sebulan. Semetara gaji Anda "hanya" naik 10 persen, menjadi Rp 1,1 juta. Jelas, kan, gaji Anda tidak cukup.
3. Uang Lebih Enak Dihabiskan daripada Ditabung
Jujur saja, dimana-mana, yang namanya uang lebih enak untuk dihabiskan daripada ditabung. Benar kan? Contohnya, kalau Anda dapat uang Rp 500 rb sekarang, pasti akan lebih enak kalau Anda membelanjakannya daripada disimpan. Bawa saja uang itu ke toko baju atau toko sepatu, pilih-pilih, beli deh.
Tapi, kalau ditabung, enggak enak rasanya. Kenapa? Karena Anda jadi enggak bisa belanja. Itulah kenapa yang namanya uang lebih enak dibelanjakan daripada ditabung. Nah, karena keenakan, membuat orang selalu menghabiskan uang di dompetnya.
Setiap kali Anda pegang uang, selalu habis. Akhirnya, ketika ada kebutuhan, Anda lantas berpikir: "Kok nggak cukup ya gaji saya?" Padahal, itu karena Anda sudah terlanjur keenakan menghabiskan uang, sehingga rasanya gaji Anda seperti tidak cukup. Padahal, mungkin saja gaji Anda sebetulnya cukup, tapi Anda terlalu menghambur-hamburkannya.
4. Karena Keinginan Tidak Ada Batasnya
Anda tahu tidak bedanya kebutuhan dan keinginan? Kebutuhan adalah sesuatu yang Anda beli karena memang Anda butuhkan, entah Anda ingin atau tidak. Sementara keinginan, adalah sesuatu yang Anda beli, walaupun kadang Anda tidak selalu membutuhkannya. Menariknya, kebutuhan seringkali memiliki batas. Sementara keinginan biasanya tidak memiliki batas.
Misalnya, setiap bulan, penghasilan keluarga Anda katakan saja Rp 1 juta. Biaya hidup yang betul-betul Anda butuhkan setiap bulan rata-rata adalah Rp 700 ribu (ada batasnya, ingat?). Sementara, barang-barang yang Anda beli karena Anda memang menginginkannya, rata-rata adalah Rp 300 ribu per bulan. Total Rp 1 juta. Sesuai dengan gaji Anda. Tapi, suatu kali, bisa saja keinginan Anda meningkat, dari yang biasanya Rp 300 ribu per bulan, menjadi Rp 500 ribu per bulan. Otomatis, penghasilan Anda jadi nggak cukup dong.
Menariknya, seringkali justru keinginan inilah yang membuat gaji kita terasa tidak cukup, karena yang namanya keinginan seringkali tidak ada batasnya, sementara kebutuhan, umumnya ada batasnya (dalam contoh diatas tadi, yaitu Rp 700 ribu per bulan). Nah, kalau Anda ingin gaji Anda cukup, sering-seringlah mengendalikan keinginan Anda yang biasanya tidak terbatas itu.
Bagaimana bapak ibu. Sudah jelas kan kenapa Anda selalu merasa gaji Anda tidak pernah cukup? Salam.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Mirroring Harddisk on Solaris
Membuat miror hard disk adalah pekerjaan yang susah-susah gampang, yang harus kita perhatikan adalah kita harus melakukannya secara terurut dan terinci karena apabila salah langkah maka harddisk malah akan tidak bisa diaccess dan di boot.
Adapun langkah-langkahnya sebagai berikut:
1. format ==> lihat disk yg akan digunakan dan yg akan dimirror
misal : c0t0d0 (disk yang akan dimirror) dan c0t1d0 (disk ke dua sebagai disk mirror)
2. untuk root biasanya slice 0 maka disknya c0t0d0s0 dan c0t1d0s0
3. untuk swap biasanya pada slice 1 maka disknya c0t0d0s1 dan c0t1d0s1
4. Misalkan /var dipisahkan dari / dan diletakin pada slice 3 dan penulisan disknya c0t0d0s3 dan c0t1d0s3.
5. untuk replica/database svm biasanya diletakin pada slice 7 besarnya minimal 50MB dan disknya c0t0d0s7 dan c0t1d0s7
6. check apakah database replica sudah dibuat dengan menjalankan metadb
7. kalo belum ada lakukan metadb -a -f -c 5 c0t0d0s7 c0t1d0s7
setelah itu menyamakan partisi disk1 ke disk2.
8. prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2 |fmthard -s - /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s2
9. memulai mirroring
10. metainit -f d11 1 1 c0t0d0s0
11. metainit -f d12 1 1 c0t1d0s0
12. metainit d10 -m d11
13. cp /etc/vfstab /etc/vfstab.date.xxyyzzhmetadb
14. metaroot d10 ==> d10 akan tercreate secara automatis pada /etc/vfstab
15. metainit -f d21 1 1 c0t0d0s1
16. metainit -f d22 1 1 c0t1d0s1
17. metainit d20 -m d21
18. metainit -f d31 1 1 c0t0d0s3
19. metainit -f d32 1 1 c0t1d0s3
20. metainit d30 -m d31
21. lockfs -fa
22. edit /etc/vfstab untuk mengganti c0t0d0s1 menjadi /dev/md/rdsk/d20 dan d30.
23. reboot system
24. syncronize mirror disk
25. metattach d10 d12
26. metattach d20 d22
27. metattach d30 d32
28. ls -l /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0
29. eeprom "nvramrc-use?=true"
30. eeprom "nvramrc=devalias sds-root /pci......./disk@0,0:a devalias sds-mirror /pci..../disk@1,0:a"
untuk step ini lihat hasil ls -l pd step ke 28 dan dimulai pada line /pci.... dan sd@0,0 atau sd@1,0 diganti jadi disk@0,0:a dan disk@1,0:a.
31. eeprom "boot-device=sds-root sds-mirror"
32. Selesai deh.....ntar kalo disk yg satu rusak maka automatis os akan pindah ke disk yg satu lagi karena sudah dilakukan step 29, 30, dan 31.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Backup on Lto Tape
The value of your data more then the hardware and we know that when we loss over data and that’s why the Backing up data has become golden rule in the computer world. We need to backup data once in a day to avoid panics at the time of data loss. Data backups, hard drive backups, email backups prove beneficial when you lose some important data.
In such case you can trust the backed up data! But how can we create backup of over data and what hardware can we use to have backup on that is reliable and easy to use. Capabilities such as dynamic rate matching and dual mode compression enhance tape drive performance and product life.
Released in 2007, LTO-4 tapes have a native capacity of 800 GB which can go up to 1.6 TB worth if compressed (2:1). The data transfer rate has gone up to 120 MB/s and a 256 bit AES-GCM drive level encryption has been added. LTO 4 Ultrium also features backward compatibility with LTO-2 and LTO-3 drives. Another advantage of using LTO tapes is that future versions are in development so there will be a chance to update your system instead of it being phased out of use. Multiple sources for LTO media and drives reduce production bottlenecks and also ensure investment protection for OEMs and end users alike. Related products available at Tape4Backup are: LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, LTO Cleaning Cartridge, LTO Barcode Labels, LTO Empty Cases and LTO Cartridge Memory Reader.
Backup tape users are increasingly sensitive to data security in the wake of high profile data loss incidents, and encryption techniques have appeared to help ensure security. For example, if an unencrypted tape is lost or stolen, its data is at risk. But, if an encrypted tape is lost or stolen, its data is still considered to be secure. Thus, the use of encryption has a profound effect on corporate liability and reporting obligations.
We can find LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, LTO Cleaning Cartridge, LTO Barcode Labels, LTO Empty Cases and LTO Cartridge Memory Reader on the following link
http://www.tape4backup.com/ait-2-tapes.php
Ask me for detail and info: links@tape4backup.com
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Keyword Articles
To begin with, a short explanation of what a keyword article is. When a search engine user begins to look for information on a particular subject, there are certain phrases that are used by the vast majority of people. For example, if you’re building a web site and want to know how to get on the first page of Google, you may type in “Top Rankings”, or maybe “First page of Google.” Because these search phrases are tracked by various methods there are tools available that will tell you which phrases are the most popular for a particular subject.
Keyword articles attempt to capitalize on this by using the search phrase within their text. As the search engines index web pages, they’ll use these phrases to determine the subject matter of the page and rank it accordingly. Sounds pretty simple right? And it is. In the early days of the web it was possible to increase your ranking by simply repeating the search phrase as many times as possible. But as internet use began to become widespread, the search engines were forced to become more sophisticated in order to weed out the sites that abused this fact. After all, a web page that was a constant litany of one single keyword was of very little use to a researcher, and the whole idea of the internet was to deliver information and not keywords.
In order to deal with the problem, Google, Yahoo, and MSN developed highly complex algorithms to separate good, highly informative sites from the so called “spam” sites. Today, in order for a site to achieve high rankings, the site has to deliver good information in a unique way. These search algorithms have now evolved to a point whre the overuse of a keyword, or just stuffing keywords into an article, will get a site penalized in the rankings, or in some cases, even eliminated from the search results altogether.
So what makes a good keyword article? First of all, a keyword article has to give the user good solid information. Secondly, the use of the keyword phrase has to occur in a natural manner. Forcing the issue only results in an awkward reading article and defeats the intended purpose of the keyword article.
If you intend to use keyword articles on your site, make sure that you’re a good solid writer. Unfortunately many site owners are not natural writers and their articles reflect that fact. Other site owners will go overboard in their use of the keyword phrase and end up getting penalized. If you aren’t a natural writer, or you don’t have the time to do research and write good articles, then hire a writer to do them for you. There are a number of sites where you can find freelance writers who are familiar with keyword articles so that’s not a problem. But remember that you’ll generally get what you pay for. While it may be tempting to go for the lowest bid, (and the bids can get awfully low), you simply won’t get a quality keyword article for a few dollars. Worse yet, you may end up with computer generated articles that are almost incomprehensible or even plagiarized material. If you truly want to achieve high rankings, keyword articles are an essential part of the formula, but they have to be quality articles that deliver good unique information in a useful way. If you can write that type of article you can write your own keyword articles. If you can’t, then enlist the aid of a qualified writer to produce the keyword articles for your site.
source: www.freearticles.com
4 Basic Steps To Protect Your Computer Against Internet Intruders
It never ceases to amaze me how many people connect to the Internet with no protection on the PC at all! This is a very dangerous activity and has led to financial ruin for some people.
I have had family members and friends who ask me to check out their PC's because they are 'slow' or they can't stop these damn popup windows from coming up. These are the first signs of infection or security breaches on your PC.
It takes 4 simple steps and it costs you nothing at all except a bit of time and effort.
Step 1 - Get a firewall installed.
Firewalls help to protect you from Internet attacks and intrusion from hackers on the Internet who go 'sniffing' for unprotected computers.
What do they do when they hack your computer? Well they look for password files, security breaches that allow them to use YOUR computer for malicious attacks on other computers on the Internet.
There was a story not long ago about the Russian Mafia hacking into a household computer and using it to transfer funds from unsuspecting bank accounts for their own illegal purposes. When the Feds tracked down the responsible computer, it belonged to some unsuspecting person who had no idea of what was happening. So be warned!!
Microsoft Windows XP has a built in firewall so you could enable that and it gives you some basic protection.
If you don't want to use that firewall then try a free firewall called zone alarm from http://www.zonelabs.com
Zone alarm is a great firewall and even better for the price - they have a free version for home and non-commercial use.
Step 2 - Get an anti virus product installed
Anti virus software scans your computer for malicious code that can cause all sorts of problems on your computer and even delete files and make your computer inoperable.
You can get a very good free virus scanning software called AVG virus scanner from http://www.grisoft.com/
Step 3 - Get a reliable anti-spyware software
Spyware tends to sit on your computer and 'spy' on what you are doing. It can do things like look at web sites you have visited, record your key strokes (looking for account numbers and passwords) and it can then sends this information back to its originator.
A great and well know spyware scanner is called Spybot-S&D from http://www.safer-networking.org/
The other great spyware utilities are adaware from lavasoft, and Microsoft have one as well.
My advice would be to run two or three spyware utilities, particularly if you do a lot of online transactions with your computer.
Step 4 - Keep your Microsoft (MS) Windows Operating System (OS) updated
Microsoft come out with security patches on a regular bases to close up security 'holes' that have been identified. These patches can be applied manually by you or you can have MS Windows download and install them automatically.
To check out what updates you require -
1. Go to the Microsoft Windows Update page here - http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
2. Scan your computer to find out what critical updates and security patches are not installed.
3. Select the updates to install paying particular attention to CRITICAL Updates.
You may need to restart your computer after the patches have been applied
As a final word on the 4 steps, it is critical that you keep all of the programs up to date. So check back with the vendors on a regular basis (at least weekly) to see if updates are available. The better programs (like Spybot) will have options in them to check for updates.
The above list of programs is not the ultimate list. Like any programs there are dozens of choices. The ones above are those that I have had first hand experience of.
I personally use commercial programs because I spend so much time connected to the Internet, my family surfs quite regularly and I am a big fan of online transactions. Even the commercial programs only cost pennies compared to what can happen if you do get an infection.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Would you like make a living online ?
Has the allure of making a living online been something you've been thinking about for a while?
There are countless ways to earn an impressive income online. Internet marketing can provide you a means of attaining the life that you have dreamed of. Now you won't have to miss those afternoon school plays or basketball games! I mean, you could have so much time on your hands that you'd have to find new hobbies.
How To Get Started
As a new Internet marketer, your overall goal is the success of your online business. Why is it that some people are wildly successful online, many more enjoy a modicum of success and still many others squander their way to failure? Researh! Lots and lots of research is where success in a home business starts. The fact that you are reading this is part of that research. So I'd say you are on the right footing even now. The absolute most important aspect of this comes after you have narrowed down all your choices.
Your most important choice may not even be something that you have even considered. Personally, I think the most important choice you make in the whole "online thing" is if you are going to go it alone or find a solid mentor.
Don't roll your eyes at me here! When I first got started in online marketing I didn't have the benefit of a mentor. It was in 1997 and the internet had just gotten graphics! I read a few things about the internet and within a few hours I was pretty much my own expert back then. It's kind of funny looking back at it now.
The internet has grown up along with my kids and it's become about as complicated as them too! Anyway, to step into the internet now, without a mentor, you'd spend more time and money doing things wrong than you have time or money to do it. Because your return on your investment would be so low and slow, you'd lose interest in the pursuit before you ever even made a ranking on a search engine.
Anyway, finding a willing and motivated mentor is an integral part of the next step, and, if you choose wisely your mentor comes with the package.
Choose A Product or Company To Promote
There are endless options of companies and products to promote online. Most everyone says it's best to find something you already have some knowledge about and can be passionate about.
To tell you the truth, I could get pretty passionate about something I don't know squat about if I found out that I could make 20 grand a month with it. In fact, give me a month and I'll know more about "it" than 98% of the world knows about it. I mean, case in point here, how much did you know about sex before you found out about it? Are you pretty knowledgeable about it now? Is it something you're passionate about now? (Hope that point is made!)
Personally, I think it is better to find something that works and learn to love it. Believe me, if you find something that ordinary people are making $5,000 a week with and it is duplicatable, you'll learn to love it!
It is also important to select a company that allows you to help other people. Remember, the driving purpose of your online home based business should be to help your clients, not to take their hard earned money and run. Napolian Hill said "You'll get everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." I have found that rings true.
Get Educated
Many people enter the internet marketing arena thinking that they can put up a web site and instantly start earning a massive income. Unless you're selling the cure to growing old, it's not likely to happen. The way that you earn a great income online is learning everything there is to know about internet marketing. "Internet marketing" is a fancy way of saying, "drive people to your site.The same way you would have to learn new stuff for a J.O.B, you need to educate yourself about your new business. Driving traffic is how online success is achieved.
Really and truly, marketing is where the online money is made. Everyday there are thousands of people who are looking and wanting to buy any number of things. They are going to buy it from you if you learn how to get in front of them. If you don't, they are going to buy it, but from someone else.
So here's the deal. If you are going to get into internet marketing, you are going to have to learn to like "marketing." If that isn't your cup of tea, then you need to find something else now.
Generating Traffic
The main obstacle to any new online business is figuring out how to drive "targeted" traffic and therefore "prequalified" prospects to your "well designed" website. Now, learning to do everything that is necessary to accomplish that is probably more than the ordinary individual could do in a lifetime. That is why the best marketing is done by teams of people who combine their skills in internet marketing, copywriting, sales, organizational abilities and their collective knowledge.
The Choices Are Many
There are about as many ways to monetize the internet as there are grains of rice in china. Look around the internet for a few days and you'll see what I mean. So when looking for "that thing" that you are going to take up, I would advise you to steer away from anything that only has a web address and an e-mail.
Find something that piques your interest and call the person named on the site. Don't worry about anyone trying to "put the sale" on you. In fact, high pressure sales tactics are a sure sign that it's something that you don't want to do. I mean, if you don't like the receiving end of that, why would you consider dishing it out yourself? Just hang up and call the next one.
When you find someone who is not trying to "sell" you, pay attention. If they are making money without "hype and high pressure" they obviously have something people want and don't have trouble getting people to buy!
Relationships
Once you get that far, find out what kind of relationship they would have with you if you put stakes down with them. What makes you valuable to them as a rep or distributor? The better the bond, the better the team, the better the training, the better it is for you.
There are so many online business opportunities out there right now that hail the "completely automated" slogan. Just ask yourself, how long could you work with a computer or a set of videos? As long as humans are human, there will always have to be a human touch for any kind of long term relationship. While you are looking around, keep that in mind.
Summary
What you need is a complete turnkey business system that generates traffic, sifts, selects, recruits, trains, motivates, and gets new people producing in your internet business. That is the ultimate gift of internet marketing. Those can be done best via the internet and a motivated mentor. Choose wisely!
source:www.articlesbase.com
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
All Bloggers Should Know a Little SEO
Search Engine Optimization is something that is important to most bloggers. By definition, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords (Source: Wikipedia). Basically, when you go to use your favorite search engine to search a term or keyword, the sites that you are most likely to click would be towards the top. Those higher listed sites are better optimized for search engines than say the sites on page 50 or even 100+. SEO increases the chance that a searcher will click your site, as it would be higher in the list for that keyword. For bloggers using Wordpress, an easy download (that I use as well) is the All in One SEO Pack. The plugin is designed to optimize your titles and generate META tags automatically. A popular SEO ebook available is the SEO Book. This 160 page book by Aaron Wall explains everything from why SEO is helpful to a step-by-step checklist on how to do it. If SEO is something you're interested for your blog or site, I highly recommend checking out some of the resources in this post, as well as SelfSEO.com's tools and SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Optimizing your Articles
To submit your article to an article directory you must have following parameters about your article: title, category, summary, keywords, resource, body. Let's talk about these parameters.
Title
The dictionary definition says that title is an identifying name given to the article. But the title has some other functions, to intrigue the visitor to actually read you article, and to intrigue web search engine (like Google) to put it high on the search lists. How a title can attract a visitor to read your article? Title should say that there is something of value for him in the article. Basic human needs is related to personal physical and mental needs. Physical needs are food, sleep, water, clothing, sex. Mental needs are need of security and safety, need of health, need of respect for oneself, need of excitement and variation, need of significance (making a difference), need of connecting with others. One way to prioritize them is Need Hierarchy Theory of Abraham Maslow. To sum it up the title should relate to one or more of human needs. For example if your article is about yoga you could address the benefit on health and self respect.
Category
This parameter is not necessary to specify, because usually you choose one from the list of categories. Categories among directories are often similar or even the same, but sometimes they can differ. Therefore you could note a category or two where you want to put your article. That will speed up the process of submission.
Summary
This is mandatory parameter and it quite self explanatory. Usually two to three sentences are enough. You could write summary after you finish writing the article, but sometimes you could start writing article with writing summary. If you start with summary, that could be a good starting point for writing an article. What should you write in summary? Summary should elaborate the title you wrote. Also it should intrigue the visitor to click on link leading to the body of article. The summary should also be formulated in a way to put a page with summary high in search result. You can achieve that by mentioning a hot search words. If you are in doubt if you should mention stock or share, then consulting Google trends you could find out that the stock is more frequent than share in Google searches. Therefore you should use stock.
Keyword
You should mention keywords separated by comma. That is usual way of writing keywords. What keywords you should use? Write as many keywords as you can remember. If you have to many of them, then using Google trends you can eliminate the ones with lower ranks. For example if you are in doubt between shareholder and stockholder you will eliminate stockholder.
Resource
Basically resource should say: I am an authority in my subject and click here and visit my site. First of all you should write your name. Also, the reader should be intrigued to click on the link to your site. To achieve that you should write what is unique about your site and why the reader should visit it. There should be a call for action like "To see more of my articles visit my site". Depending on the article directory resource box can contain html code, so you could write two kinds of resource box, the one with html code and the one without. Resource box is not tied to a certain article. It is usually the same for all of your articles, and you will usually use the one with html code. Some authors say that you should not put all possible links to all of your sites. The reason for that is that you should build your credibility and the person with sites about hiking, sport and insurance could lose some credibility in insurance. Therefore you could have different resources for different areas of your expertise.
Body
This parameter is actually your article. You should put keywords in it, but I think that you should not be obsessed with search engine optimization. Be obsessed with the quality of your article. Visitors will like good articles and dislike the bad ones. No keyword will change that.
Having all this in mind you can create some template for article that looks like this:
*******************
Title:
Summary:
Keywords:
Resource: I am John John and I am a great hiker and you should visit my site in order to see the pictures from the Himalaya.
I am John John and I am a great hiker and you should visit my site hike.hike.com in order to see the pictures from the Himalaya.
I am John John and I am MBA. I am an expert in Insurance. If you have troubles with insurance go and read more of my articles on my site.
Body:
*******************
Why Should you Blog?
It seems like everywhere we turn these days there is someone talking about blogging, blogs, the blogosphere, bloggers, and so on. Have you ever wondered what all the fuss is about?
And if so, have you ever thought about trying your hand at blogging?
Blogging is an internet phenomenon that can be described as a blend of personal diary, op ed commentary, and practical journalism. The word "blog" comes from "web log" which is a reference to the origins of blogging. In the early days, blogs were no more than online journals where people wrote about anything they wanted (what they had for dinner, how their mood was that day, etc.), much like the pen and paper journals that people have kept for centuries. However, with the growing ease of access to and familiarity with the internet, people realized they could now share their feelings with the entire world!
Blogging has since exploded into an inescapable new medium. You`ve probably heard people on TV talk about the huge effect that blogging has on popular culture. Some bloggers pride themselves on exposing everyone`s dirty little secrets (from politicians, to celebrities, and even other bloggers), while others have less caustic agendas and stick to simple commentary and discussion about an infinite array of subjects (from gardening to video games).
Keep in mind, though, blogs don`t always have to be frivolous. Some of the best and most accurate information about the Iraq War, for example, comes from people who embed themselves in the Middle East and use their blogs to instantly share their first-hand reports with the world.
Now that we`ve concluded our crash course in the history and definition of blogging, it`s time to get back to the original question.
Why should you blog?
I’m sure you’ve heard about some bloggers who command audiences that number in the millions, and others who have parlayed their blogs into multi-mullion dollar businesses. You probably want a piece of that luxury, and who wouldn`t? All you have to do is start up a free blog, write a few posts, and you`ll be sipping margaritas on a beach in no time. Right?
Well, not so fast.
It`s true that some people have found great success with their blogs, and there`s no reason to say that you won`t too, but the odds aren`t really in your favor. Estimates put the number of blogs at about 50 million (and growing every day) and without A LOT of effort and dedication (and a bit of luck) chances are good that your blog will never reach that superstar level of success.
I`m not telling you this to discourage you from starting a blog, I`m just trying to warn you that it`s not a one-way-ticket to the good life. Blogging can be a very fulfilling and exciting adventure whether or not you hit it big.
The most appealing part of blogging is that anyone can do it! The rules of blogging are not set down on unchanging stone tablets. Basic writing skills and a general appreciation for courtesy are recommended, but not required. You can write about anything you want, however you want; that’s the entire beauty of blogging.
So now that you`ve determined that you want to start a blog, the next step is to decide why. Let’s take a look at a few basic reasons why people blog.
People blog to make money.
It`s true, blogs can be a source of income, and there are a number of ways to make money blogging. Pay-per-click advertising services are a good way to start, or perhaps product review services that will pay a certain amount of money per review. If you`re ambitious enough you could even go so far as to write an e-book or set up an online shop and promote/distribute it on your blog.
People blog to find new career opportunities.
Blogging is a great way to practice your writing skills and host your writing samples (if you aspire to be a professional writer) or to showcase your art and design skills (if you want to be a professional artist or designer). A blog combined with an online photo-sharing website can be a simple and free photography portfolio that is instantly available to any prospective client anywhere in the world. In this age of e-mail and instant gratification there is no better way to connect with an employer than through a blog (just be sure to keep it professional).
People blog to share their passion with the world.
Whether you are a die hard sports fan or a model train fanatic, if you have any sort of passion or hobby you have an instant idea for a blog. You can try to provide the latest news and information about your "niche," or you can aspire to be an expert resource to others who share your interests.
People blog to document their life.
The trusty online diary hasn`t gone out of style, and they certainly don`t have to be only for telling the world what you ate for breakfast. People can use blogs as a scrapbook of their children`s lives and instantly share photos and memories with the whole family, or they can blog to keep track of their diet and exercise regimen.
Now you have a good idea about what a blog is and why you should have one. The next step is to get out there and start blogging! Whatever you decide to blog about, just remember that the possibilities are truly endless.
By: Michael Landry
Edited By: Bruce A. Tucker
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