Web hosting is a service that allows you to host your own Web page. Websites are frequently hosted on the internet. Linux VPS hosting can also be used for file sharing and email. But what if you no longer require your website? Perhaps you sold your company and WordPress website to a new owner. Perhaps your capstone project in college is finished.
Some web hosting providers allow you to terminate your Linux server subscription at any time, but only if you request that it not auto-renew for another term. This can be aggravating for financial management in the organisation, especially with more expensive managed VPSs or dedicated servers. But what more can you do with your Linux VPS hosting or cloud server if you’re stuck with it? In the meantime, how can you use it to be more productive?
You’re probably aware that content management systems (CMSs) are typically used to create websites, but they may also be used to perform other jobs through third-party integrations, plugins, or modules. Some recommended plugins may be pre-configured for performance within managed Drupal and WordPress hosting architecture.
Horde and Roundcube Webmail software are available on cPanel servers for email. Administrators of unmanaged VPS Hosting (also known as Cloud VPS Hosting or Cloud Server Hosting) can install either independently. You may have utilised an FTP tool (most likely FileZilla), cPanel File Manager, or another file sharing application if you’ve ever been unable to upload an important or huge file to your website using your CMS.
However, instead of allowing your private server sit idle until it expires, you might install a variety of additional online apps, particularly free open source software (FOSS), aimed at increasing productivity.
Collaborative File Editing
Today, there are numerous online note-taking programmes accessible, some of which also serve as collaborative office suites for collaboratively editing documents and spreadsheets. You could have used Google Workspace or Microsoft Office 365 in the past for a school presentation or a professional project. Both of these apps can unintentionally connect users to third-party sites that compromise privacy (for example, Facebook’s “Suggested friends” feature). Why not install your own collaborative real-time editor instead of working in Google Docs while battling for privacy?
Video Teleconferences
Many of us were obliged to learn new web and desktop apps for video teleconferences instead of face-to-face meetings due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The masses flocked to Zoom, and whenever someone mentioned Zoom security or an opportunity came itself, I advocated Jitsi. You may demo capabilities like screen sharing, recording to Dropbox, and an embedded Etherpad document via https://Meet.Jit.si.
When a subject is too confidential for email, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) apps are more secure, but they are still vulnerable to cyber attacks. Hosting your own teleconference web application is one of the most effective solutions to address these concerns. This is a better option:
Privacy from unwanted visitors
Security that address your requirements
Customization options for your teleconference needs
Media Streaming
Do you enjoy broadcasting multimedia from your home or live events but don’t require the additional teleconference functions that Jitsi provides? How about a web application that allows you to use your own website instead of YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, or Facebook? This provides you complete control over the broadcast without having to worry about platform terms of service issues (ToS). This can also help with DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) violations.
Instead of constructing a SoundCloud or YouTube playlist, Ampache, accessible from Softaculous, allows you to stream audio and share your music library. Independent musicians, for example, could use Ampache to share music stems and create album metadata. Just remember to set HTTPS as the default in Ampache.
Red5 is a robust flash-based streaming programme that may be hosted on a dedicated server. Some people use Red5 in conjunction with Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) or the Stream Labs fork, a popular free desktop tool for customising audio/video (AV) streams before broadcasting. OBS can be used to deliver customised feeds to other streaming services in order to compensate for their lack of functionality. OBS can also run on dedicated servers equipped with a graphics processing unit (GPU).
Project Management
Project management (PM) approaches and tools are used by businesses to keep track of task progress, deadlines, assignees, and statuses. Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) and Gannt charts, which are often employed with the waterfall technique but are also suitable with agile work, will be familiar to Certified Project Management Professionals (PMP). However, appropriately implementing Gannt charts can take time and be difficult to follow.
The kanban board structure has grown more common in agile project management for displaying task progress within teams and projects. Rather than focusing on the duration of jobs and subtasks, kanbans prioritise the stage of tasks, which is ideal for flexible teams and even busy entrepreneurs juggling legal, branding, and cybersecurity projects.
For example, a company’s SEO strategy may lead content marketers to employ a marketing calendar with a kanban to ensure that a new or updated piece is published every day.
For good reason, Trello and Asana are two of the most popular kanban web tools today. They offer a vast range of features that can be applied to a variety of scenarios. However, neither of them can be self-hosted. For a cloud kanban (which also supports scrum sprints), I prefer Taiga.io since it has a clearer UI that is easier to explore and administer.
You may try it out by signing up for a Taiga.io account, or you can install it on your Linux VPS hosting for additional anonymity. Other free methods for hosting your own kanban boards are still available.
Kanboard is a free and open-source stand-alone kanban programme that has been around for a long time. It doesn’t have the same size development team as the other kanban developers, but it could be useful for a small group or individual. On Linux servers, it simply requires PHP (which comes pre-installed with cPanel). Softaculous users can easily install it from cPanel and create a new kanban board in seconds. Even for Nextcloud or WordPress users, this is a worthwhile choice to explore because of its capabilities and Kanboard plugins.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer relationship management (CRM) software emphasise outward efforts with new and current clients and partners, whereas project management tools aid you with mostly internal initiatives:
- Keeping track of potential consumers as they progress through sales funnels
- Developing customer ties in order to better sell new upgrades and products
- Providing a central location for customer service and technical assistance requests
Two of the most popular cloud-based CRM options today are Salesforce and Zendesk. We’ve also covered how to perform CRM with WordPress since, well, WordPress. However, Softaculous offers a section dedicated to CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, such as Vtiger and SugarCRM, which are utilised in logistical operations.
Every owner of a small or medium-sized business (SMB) should try a CRM to discover how it can improve insights and productivity while also streamlining man hours and workflow.
Social Networking
Concerns over censorship on social media have prompted many individuals to abandon Facebook and Twitter in favour of more privacy-conscious platforms such as Mastodon and GNU Social, both of which can be self-hosted, as well as Discord. Some people prefer to communicate via email. Some people are resuming internet relay chat (IRC). The “long-tail” methodology of these lesser-known social networking networks is their main advantage. While MySpace, Facebook, and other similar sites encourage users to follow the entire world, long-tail social networks allow users to interact with smaller groups of people who share common interests and hobbies, such as:
FOSS communities like WordCamp
Independent music production
Spirituality and religion
Equality activism
While some of these connect to other instances as part of their federated social network, others are designed to act as a private communication channel for many businesses. For years, Mattermost has been a favourite among security-conscious users looking for a Slack-like workflow. Rocket is another popular self-hosted solution. Zulip uses PostgreSQL and forces every message into a thread for better structure, whereas Chat uses relational MongoDB.
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