Running a small business is no easy task. The last thing you need is extra complexity in your IT infrastructure – so why turn to Linux? Well, it could (if you’re lucky) actually turn out to be a less complex choice for many tasks, depending on the distribution you select. And, critically, Linux is free; at least if you don’t figure in support costs. That’s an overhead ticked off the list. So what’s the best choice for your small business? We’ve approached this selection with a few criteria in mind. Stability must come first: if you’re putting a distro to work, uptime is critical. Solid support provision comes a close second. We’ve also considered practical capabilities, which is why you’ll find a couple of non-desktop distributions on our list.
Built on the solid foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) – and, indeed, officially funded by Red Hat as of 2014 –CentOSis undoubtedly a distro with strong credentials. Its default Gnome desktop is pleasant and reasonably familiar to most computer users, the RPM package management system is widely supported, and it’s equally at home on workstations and servers. CentOS harness the open source components of its parent OS, which actually make up the majority of RHEL. Only Red Hat’s trademarks and a few proprietary components are omitted. Thanks to this unique partnership, updates tend to flow to CentOS only a day or two after they hit RHEL. In other words, this is enterprise-class Linux that anyone can use. CentOS is now one of the world’s most popular server distros and is perfect if you want to build serious hardware appliances without paying for a Red Hat subscription. While the CentOS community can provide some useful advice free of charge, professional support is the key reason for using RHEL. Server prices for Red Hat combined with a support package start at $799 (around £600, AU$1,065) per year, so it could be prohibitively expensive for small business use.
A distro administered entirely from a web interface
Nifty alternative to commercial server platforms
Relatively easy-to-use
Professional tech support
ClearOSand CentOS are pretty close cousins. Both run many of the same packages inherited from RHEL, and can benefit from the swift Red Hat release cycle. But while CentOS is a functional desktop OS, ClearOS is designed primarily as a server platform and an alternative to commercial options like Red Hat Enterprise Server or Windows Small Business Server. The OS is administered entirely from a web interface so you won’t need a keyboard, mouse, or even a monitor connected to the machine once ClearOS is installed.
Because of its tight focus, ClearOS is actually easier to use than most server operating systems. That web interface makes installing this operating system’s various components a breeze, so you can easily set up a firewall for your business, manage an email server, install a file server or more – all safe in the knowledge that each of these components will (most likely) work perfectly together. ClearOS 7 is supported professionally by a dedicated ClearCARE team. It also includes software packages that have been thoroughly tested for stability. Prices start at $108 (£80, AU$140) per year. You might also be interested inClearVM, the team’s virtualization solution – the free version allows you to finely manage the precise performance of two virtual machines and eight CPU cores.
While CentOS is an open source OS based on a paid-for release,OpenSUSE works in reverse. This community-developed operating system is used as the basis for the commercially-supportedSUSE Linux Enterprise. SUSE actually borrows a lot from Red Hat, including its RPM package management system, but isn’t a direct clone.
OpenSUSE is one of the few distros to use the graphically-heavy KDE window manager by default, though you can also install Mate, LXDE and others. This means it can run on older hardware. In fact, if you’re looking to run small web appliances, thelatest versionwill run on a Raspberry Pi and includes a huge number of packages. OpenSUSE now follows a rolling release model, which means updates are regularly available without you having to manually upgrade every 18 months as before. This makes for a much more secure and stable operating system.
If you’re running a small business, the security of your network should be as important a concern as the behavior of your employees.IPFireticks both these boxes at once. It’s an all-in-one Linux appliance: install it on a machine which sits between your internet connection and your network switch and it’ll do everything from managing IP addresses to protecting you with a firewall, and controlling what sites your workers are allowed to visit and when.
It does require a certain level of knowledge to get IPFire installed, and its unique nature – it’s constructed from scratch, not forked from any specific version of Linux – means it won’t be quite as easy to configure as other distros may be. Thankfully there are regular ‘Core’ updates, which incrementally keep IPFire up to date with the latest security and app updates. IPFire is managed via a web interface and requires at least a machine with two network connections. There’s an excellentinstallation handbookand paid support is available if necessary.
Page ranks are literally everything that blogs and websites try for. If the search index is higher, the better performing your website is. It is what ensures that you get the best traffic which translates into revenue. It is important that the pages be optimized in such a way that it doesn’t slip beyond the first five, because users steer away from the other results on a natural instinct.
The broad scope, the algorithm is all that search engines take into account, churn it in their algorithms to find out what exactly should be the page score such that it features higher on search results.
Changes in the Google Algorithm have significantly impacted several pages across the web. A confirmation from the horse’s mouth confirms that there have been multiple changes as a part of the annual 500-600 times change that is a part of the process. Officials confirmed that they are not focused on eliminating low-quality pages, but only enhancing the algorithm such that the search results turned out are better.
But what is the broad core algorithm everyone is talking about?
We are aware of the SEO rules. We know how it is beneficial when the interaction of the website and the search engine is concerned. Broad core algorithm is focused on updating the search results. The update clues contain a few catches which has to be borne in mind before you go heads on into updating the website.
The focus is targeting around turning out better search results, nothing wrong with the site rankings or the content, no fixes to lost site ranking, and venturing into the clear scenario where it is a content issue and not a quality issue for the website.
It is an algorithm which covers a broader range of scenarios which gives it the name Broad core. This is to ensure better search results and focus on the content. The main objective is to focus, fetch and bring relative content for any sort of search query.
Transparency and its impact
It might come across as an agenda to remove the low quality websites and the indexes. However, that is not the case. Making search result optimization more transparent helps websites comply with the latest algorithm which has been rolled out. However, ignoring the updates can lead to sites missing out on reasons why sites have lost rankings.
But, the algorithm is focused on providing better responses to the queries entered in the search bar. Nevertheless, the past behavior of Google is affirmative to the fact that it was indeed another attack on the websites which have a lower index or quality. Lower quality exclusions have been a forte of Google and it is likely to stir up the same.
Did you know the Broad Core Algorithm is updated twice daily?
There was a record 665 updates on 2012 alone and the number has only risen over the past couple of years. Whether it is a Phantom release or anything of other kind, the speculation has been put to rest. The updates are focused on single intent that is, improving the user experience.
The updates are mainly for the results that are given out. It used to be keyword driven initially, and then it moved on to different patterns as Google started updating the algorithm. Eventually, it is the combination of Meta tags, content material, headers and the likes which are instrumental in rolling out better results for the user. Broad core alone is focused on understanding what the user is looking for and finds relevant content, even if it ranks lower on the quality index, to give proper results.
Wondering how it could be achieved? Well, it could be loading images and videos which are relevant, it could be having proper anchor text, it could be having external links, Meta tags, and back-links, better quality content which is quick and easy to read and long tail keywords which make sense and are not just placed out randomly for the sake of it.
Information retrieval is focused on how optimized your content is. High rankings do not appear out of the blue. It is the featured development in the page content that ensures that the page reaches a higher search index. There is no penalty if you are at the bottom of the block, but it allows you to look at the specific guidelines and make it worth the effort.
