Renaming a table within a database is a task that may need to be done occasionally. You might just need to rename it for clarification purposes, to archive old data, to make a copy when a restore is being done, or any number of other reasons. PhpMyAdmin helps you rename a database quickly with just a few clicks.
Continue reading “Renaming Database Tables with PhpMyAdmin”Using PhpMyAdmin to export a database or table is a great way to make a backup you can save locally, or it can help you with transferring that information to another server quickly. A few simple steps can be a powerful tool to help you and your business. We will go over exporting all databases at once, a single database, and exporting a single table. This guide assumes that you have already logged in to PhpMyAdmin.
Continue reading “Exporting Databases and Tables with PhpMyAdmin”Using PhpMyAdmin to import databases can help us in a few different situations, like when moving a database from one server to another, updating a table that is being developed elsewhere, or even restoring content from a backup. PhpMyAdmin helps make all those processes easy to accomplish through our browser.
This guide assumes that you have already logged in to PhpMyAdmin. We will go over what happens if we try to import into an existing database, importing a single table, and also partially restoring from a full database backup.
Continue reading “Importing Databases and Tables with PhpMyAdmin”Using PhpMyAdmin to search for records and information in your database can quickly help you get the information you need without having to run advanced search queries. This tutorial assumes you have already logged in to PhpMyAdmin, and shows how to search by keyword and for a range of records.
Continue reading “Searching Through a Database with PhpMyAdmin”In this tutorial, we will explore how to run SQL queries on a database within PhpMyAdmin. SQL stands for Structured Query Language. SQL statements or queries are used to perform database tasks such as searching, updating, or retrieving data from a database.
Continue reading “Running SQL Queries on a Database with PhpMyAdmin”
In this tutorial, we will consider how to enable both Python 2 and Python 3 for use on CentOS 8. In earlier distributions of CentOS, an unversioned Python command was available by default.
When the CentOS installation was complete, it was possible to drop into a Python shell by simply running the “python” command in a terminal.
Paradoxically, CentOS 8 does not have an unversioned Python command by default. This begs the question, why? RedHat states that this choice is by design “to avoid locking users into a specific version of Python.” Currently, RedHat 8 utilizes Python 3.6 implicitly by default, although Python 2.7 is additionally provided to maintain existing software.
Continue reading “How to Install Python on CentOS 8”In this tutorial, we are going to take a look at how to get started with TensorFlow on CentOS. We will be covering two methods. First, we will take a look at installing TensorFlow in a Python virtual environment via the Python package manager pip. After that, we will walk through installing TensorFlow via the Anaconda package manager. Finally, we will cover building a TensorFlow pip package from source.
Continue reading “How to Install TensorFlow on CentOS”In this tutorial, we are going to cover how to set up a Python virtual environment on CentOS. A Python virtual environment makes it possible to install Python packages into a discreet Python ecosystem that is entirely separate from your system’s default Python framework. This means that you do not have to worry about overwriting the installation of any current packages that might be defaulted to the existing version of Python on your system.
Continue reading “How to Set Up A Python Virtual Environment On CentOS”
We here at Liquid Web know how important good solid information can be. We also know that we have some of the most intelligent customers on the planet. With this in mind, we opt to try and ensure that you are kept up to date on the latest tech and information. It is with this in mind we continue to offer the latest knowledge available regarding ways to improve your service, upgrade your ability to work with your server(s), and enhance your overall effectiveness in growing your business.
Continue reading “What Is Python?”Reading Time: 5 minutes
In this guide, we outline the essential requirements for HIPAA compliant servers and how Liquid Web helps fulfill these necessities.
HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, was passed by Congress to protect sensitive user information related to health insurance. This act helps to reduce health care fraud and mandates a standard for handling confidential healthcare information for consumers and businesses.
HIPAA compliance protects this sensitive information and specifies proper guidelines and standards for handling health insurance data. HIPAA also establishes rules for handling, administering, and maintaining electronic servers as well as the hosting of this Protected Health Information. Read more about our HIPAA compliant hosting here.
Key Terms and Important Information:
To be HIPAA compliant, you must have firewalls in place. Most of the time, compliant hosting will implement hardware, software, and application level firewalls to protect the server from unauthorized users. This security applies to Access Control as well as Transmission Security, which protects PHI from unauthorized access.
HIPAA regulations state the firewalls must be system-wide. The firewall implementations are part of the requirements for limiting access to personal information stored on a VPS server or dedicated server. Firewalls that are properly set up will limit or prevent accessibility from anyone who should not have access, often using explicit whitelists and blacklists. This setup prevents unauthorized employees, clients, or hackers logging into servers with sensitive data.
To be allowed through the firewall your users must have a uniquely identifiable username or identification that has been explicitly allowed access permission. At Liquid Web, our networking team is at hand to secure your server with hardware firewalls, while our support team is ready to protect sensitive PHI data with software firewalls.
HIPAA compliance requires that remote access to the server through an encrypted VPN tunnel. This VPN protects data entering into the tunnel with an encrypted session that lasts only as long as the session exists. Work done between the remote workstation and the server is protected from interception via this encryption. At Liquid Web, our VPN services are automatically encrypted to protect your data.
Password management is an essential part of HIPAA compliance. Safeguarding passwords and isolating them to identifiable users is integral to the protection of sensitive data. Using multi-factor authentication is highly recommended for this process.
Multi-Factor Authentication forces users logging into the secured server system to use both a password and another form of authentication, such as a mobile device, verifying their identity for granting intended access. Authenticating makes it much more difficult for hackers and unauthorized users to use stolen or brute force-acquired login credentials to access the server, as the user will have to do a secondary verification from a device that is unique to them.
Many companies utilize Google Authenticator which allows your users to have a phone app to use as their secondary verification method. Multi-Factor Authentication falls under Access Control.
If you want to be HIPAA compliant, your server cannot be on shared hosting. You must have a server that cannot be accessed by any other business or entities, which means it needs to be private or dedicated to your business. This isolated includes requiring a private IP address that is not used by another entity.
By running on shared hosting, you are breaking HIPAA compliance by allowing non-authorized users access to the server. Hosting with Liquid Web gives you your own private, dedicated HIPAA server strictly used by your business.
HIPAA requirements for limiting user access and having proper authentication. The server itself must also exist within a HIPAA compliant data center. Liquid Web has a high-security, HIPAA compliant data center that all of our clients are hosted within, falling under Facility Access Control.
An SSL certificate must protect any part of your website where sensitive information can be accessed. An SSL provides end-to-end encryption for the accessed data and logins used, to further protect access to the server. HIPAA defines PHI as Protected Health Information and anywhere that a user can access PHI must be protected with SSL.
Here is more information about how SSL’s work.
A BAA is necessary for HIPAA compliant hosting as it designates the role of the hosting company and defines responsibility for different parts of HIPAA compliance. It does not resolve your business of its HIPAA related duties, but it represents the roles that your business and the hosting company partake.
This Business Associate Agreement allows a hosting company the necessary access to servers to maintain them, while still preventing any other businesses’ unauthorized access to Protected Health Information.
See our HIPAA BAA policy here.
HIPAA compliance requires that all Protected Health Information must have an exact backup ready for restoration. These backups must also be located offsite and not on your server for recovery in the event of disaster or server malfunction. At Liquid Web we have two solutions for this, Guardian and DPM (Data Protection Manager) Backups.
By having an offsite backup, you are protecting the Protected Health Information and ensuring that no data loss will occur on restoration. Fully restoration is often achieved with continuous backups notating any changes of information on the server.
Read more about our different backup services here.
To be HIPAA compliant, the appropriate methods are necessary for getting rid of hardware. This disposal usually requires that the data be wiped entirely and destroyed in a manner that will not allow for restoration.
Data destruction is typically peer-reviewed and documented to state precisely the method of destruction. This process is to prevent any future use of the hardware from being able to recover sensitive PHI data. Often called Integrity Control it ensures that data is properly altered or destroyed.
All logins and maintenance must be fully documented. Any repairs on the physical servers must be logged, especially those related to the security of the server and who logs in to servers for software maintenance and reviews and applies to Audit Control.
At Liquid Web, all of our work is logged and appropriately recorded with HIPAA compliant standards.
HIPAA compliance is an integral part of your business. While it can be confusing, our technicians at Liquid Web can ensure you that your Protected Health Information is appropriately handled and follows HIPAA compliant standards. While we have only reviewed a portion of the requirements of HIPAA compliance, feel free to reach out to our HIPAA Specialists for more information about how we handle our data centers and servers.
Click this link to speak with a HIPAA Specialist.