These three pertain to security. The first, SSH, stands for secure shell and this encrypts all communication over a network. The web based equivalent of this is called SSL, for secure socket layer. This allows for all communication over the internet to be encrypted. Similar to mod_perl, mod_ssh and mod_ssl are built right into the Apache source code and work very, very fast.

When you encrypt something, the program scrambles what you type into gibberish that must be unscrambled to be intelligible. The encryption process is notorious for slowing down web servers - more so than any other factor.

If you are concerned about somebody viewing your data, you must encrypt it. This makes it impossible to understand by anyone if they were to analyze it. Credit card information is a common example of data that must be encrypted. However, because encryption slows the web server so much, there is a fine balance between encrypting private information and serving non-private information.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are another means of establishing a secure link. They involve two or more computers linked via the internet, but inaccessible to other users. The actual transfer of information takes place via ssh or ssl.

When we host your website, we can establish a VPN such that you can upload your information to a server we configure and place at your shop. Via VPN, all that information can transfer to our web servers (and back) securely and quickly.