An auto script installer is software which helps to install your website with a few clicks of your mouse.  Many web designers call it a life-saver for them as it reduces the time required to setup a new website and supports many web applications.  The two most popular auto script installers are Softaculous and Fantastico.

Softaculous

Softaculous is an Auto Script Installer with over 200 of the web’s most popular scripts, and many more to come.  Softaculous is perfect for customers, as well as web developers as it greatly reduces the amount of time spent setting up new websites.   Most of the scripts you’ll ever need are covered by Softaculous, including blogs (WordPress), CMS (Drupal, Joomla, SilverStripe), forums (phpBB), shopping carts (osCommerce) and photo galleries.  The best thing is that they are continually adding many scripts and features, including alerting you when critical security updates should be applied to your website.

Softaculous operates on popular control panels such as cPanel and DirectAdmin, and provides the ability for you and your customers to set up software very easily.  The installation process takes just few seconds with Softaculous, and can even be done by someone who has never setup a website before.  It doesn’t involve setting up MySQL databases, ‘chmod’ing files, importing structures and many of the common tasks associated with setting up a typical script.

The Best Auto Script Installer?

Many web hosting companies are now moving to Softaculous as it is continually added to and updated on a regular basis.  The software and scripts available on Softaculous are always increasing, and the management of websites which are based around scripts are becoming easier.

WebSlice business hosting and reseller hosting plans all come with the premium version of Softaculous, which includes more than 200 web scripts (as at June 2011).  Choose WebSlice to host your business website today.

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, which allows you to gain remote access into your server and see a real desktop.  This is highly popular with the non-technical folks out there who are too familiar with using a GUI (Graphical User Interface) such as Windows and MAC OS X, and are finding it hard to understand or use a terminal interface such as bash or jail shell.

So here we have it, our solution to having to remember those Linux commands!

We’ve now made available a CentOS 64-bit OS template with VNC and KDE.  This will allow our customers to have their own virtualised remote desktop, which can be accessed anywhere in the world.

All you need is a free VNC viewer (such as RealVNC, UltraVNC, or TightVNC) or Java (to access it via the web interface), and from there you can access your remote desktop hosted by WebSlice in NZ.  There are also mobile versions so you can access your remote desktop on the go – for Android (Android VNC Viewer/Client), iPhone (Mocha VNC) and Windows Mobile.

You can also install Wine, which will allow you to run Windows applications in a Linux environment (see their website for more info).

Some screenshots of our VNC setup:

Desktop, once you’ve logged in.

Using FireFox within our VNC VPS

You can order a VPS with this template straight away by selecting the CentOS 5.5 + VNC + KDE (64-bit) template in our ordering system.  Your VPS will be provisioned instantly after your first payment.  We recommend that you be on our 384MB RAM plan or higher to minimise resource bottlenecks as KDE, being a GUI remote desktop, uses a lot of RAM.

If you’re already a WebSlice customer, you can login to your VPS panel and choose the “Reinstall OS” feature to install this new template.  (Note: all your data will be lost, so make sure you keep a backup)

Please contact our friendly sales team should you have questions regarding any of our services.

See a list of our NZ VPS plans.

^AM

Our NZ VPS services are based in Auckland and are connected to high speed networks capable of serving you and your clients with unsurpassed network speeds.  Plans start from just $25.95, and put together with our current offer (50% off your first month, coupon code: 50OFF), we offer you unbeatable value.

We provide you with all the support you need to get running, as well as free technical support via email and toll-free phone.  We also offer a wide range of templates including Trixbox (to create your own IP PBX) and VNC (for Remote Desktop).

Please note: You must have a NZ address in order to be eligible for the free trial.

If you’re interested in a free 7-day trial, please contact our friendly sales team.

See a full pricing table of our NZ VPS plans.

Silverstripe is an open source content management system (CMS) developed in Wellington, New Zealand.

By using Silverstripe, you can build powerful content rich websites which can help your business succeed. Silverstripe is not only useful for businesses; government and non-profit organisations around the world are also getting onboard to give it a go.  They are backed by a great repository of documentation, easy to follow examples and a friendly community-powered forum.

Our servers are configured for Silverstripe hosting, so you can count on your Silverstripe powered website(s) working effectively.

If you’re not already a WebSlice customer, check out our web hosting plans.  If you have New Zealand website visitors or clients, why not get your website hosted by a true New Zealand company who can provide website loading speeds unmatched by international web hosts?

We back our customers 100%, providing toll-free phone support and 7 day email support – which other NZ hosts provide you with such dedicated support? (let us know!)

If you’re looking to find out more about Silverstripe, check them out here.

^AM

We’re pleased to announce a new addition to our DNS cluster – ns3.webslice.co.nz

This brings the number of DNS servers to three, which will further enhance the responsiveness of your visitors overseas. WebSlice’s global distributed network of DNS servers means lower response times for your clients worldwide.

Currently, we have DNS servers in Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia.  This new addition, from North California, located on the west of the United States, will speed up DNS queries for your US customers and website visitors.

Essentially, all domain names are pointed to a minimum of two DNS servers.  These DNS servers hold records which tell your browser where to look for services such as your web server and email server(s).  In the case of your website, DNS servers will hold an “A” record for your domain, which point to an IP address of your web server.

DNS servers play a major part of how the internet works.  Without DNS servers, you would essentially have to remember IP addresses for every website you would like to visit.

Existing customers – if you would like to take advantage of added responsiveness to your domain names, please add ns3.webslice.co.nz as your third nameserver in our control panel.  If you have any questions, or need assistance, please let us know.

If you’re not already a customer, why not check out how we can help your business?

^AM

Why should I buy NZ Hosting? or why should I buy a NZ VPS?

There are many reasons, which we’ve summarised below:

Better Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

This ones a biggie, which is why we’ve put it on the top of the list.  Search engines like Google use IP geo-location by looking at your website’s IP address. They can use this information to gather the context of the website, taking into account the website’s IP address, tied with their server location. having your website on a New Zealand based server means that you’ll be better ranked on the Google NZ search results.  On the other hand, having a website hosted overseas means that your site will likely be ranked lower down on the search result list.  To us, this means a huge loss of NZ customers.

It’s faster

National connectivity is faster, for you and your customers. Let’s face it, the state of New Zealand international bandwidth isn’t that great! Keeping your services hosted in New Zealand will make accessing your website quick and snappy.  What’s more, your customers will come back for more. Some ISPs do not count towards data transfer caps, so this is an added bonus.  Reduce network congestion as local connections do not have to travel across multiple networks to arrive at it’s destination.

You’re supporting NZ business

Keep the knowledge and financial resources within New Zealand shores!

It’s affordable (if you’re with WebSlice!)

NZ web hosting doesn’t have to be expensive.  We have seen far too many web hosts in NZ charge far too much for far too little resources, whether this be space, bandwidth, or virtual private server hosting.  And we’re on a mission to change that.  WebSlice hosting is one of the most competitively priced in New Zealand, while providing you with a great level of support whenever you need it, with free 7 day email support.

So what are you waiting for? Check out our web hosting and virtual private server plans.

^AM

Softaculous allows one click installations of over 170 web scripts found on the internet – both free and paid.

To use Softaculous, simply login to your cPanel and click on the Softaculous icon to get started.

It’s that simple.

See a full list of available hosting plans

We offer 7 day email support to show our commitment of providing quality support, when you need it.

See what WebSlice has to offer