Need to shorten a URL? This Webopedia reference guide will help you understand what a URL shortener is and how these URL redirect services work.

What Is a URL Shortener?

A URL shortener is a way to make a long URL (Uniform Resource Locator) shorter. URL shortening services are Web tools (or services) that allow you to provide a long URL to a specific webpage and obtain a much shorter URL from the service provider.

Other Names for Short URLs

There are a number of phrases and words used to describe services to create a short URL. The list includes URL redirection, URL forward, URL generator, URL shortener, URL shortening, URL shrink and URL shrinker. Both URL shortener and URL shrinker tend to be the most commonly used.

Why Shorten a URL?

One of the most common reasons why people want a short URL is to save character space when typing messages on Twitter and other microblogging sites. These sites limit the number of characters you can use in an update and a long URL means less space for a message.

Another good reason to use a URL shortener is when you have a lengthy and unattractive URL on an ISP or free Web hosting service. In some cases you can use a shortener to have a more pleasing Web address. Short URLs are also useful when sharing an extremely long URL over instant messaging or in email where there is a chance the long link could be broken during message transmission.

Others may want to use a short URL to hide the originating domain name when posting a URL. This can be for legitimate reasons, but unfortunately this is a feature of short URLs that is frequently abused by spammers.

How Does a URL Shortener Work?

A URL shortener works because of a Web server function called a “Redirect” (URL redirection). Basically the new URL (the short URL) will redirect users to the old URL (your long URL). When you enter a URL a browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page. There are a series of redirect HTTP response codes that a server can return, including the following:

- 301: (permanent) Returns a permanent redirect status indicating that the resource has moved permanently.
- 302: (temp) Returns a temporary redirect status.
- 303: (see other) Returns a "See Other" status indicating that the resource has been replaced.

Example: How to Shorten a URL Using Bit.ly

Webopedia’s Twitter Dictionary page has a lengthy URL. If we want to post a link to this page on Twitter we would use a URL shortener to decrease the length of characters in the URL. Using the Bit.ly service you simply enter in the page URL you want to make short and click the "Shorten" button on the Bit.ly homepage.

In this case the resulting short URL is: http://bit.ly/3wMIVa. When a person clicks the http://bit.ly/3wMIVa hyperlink, bit.ly uses a 301 redirect and sends users to the "permanent URL” at http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/Twitter_Dictionary_Guide.asp

Abbreviated as PCM, phase change memory is a type of non-volatile memory that is much faster than the common flash memory, and it also uses up to one-half the power. It works by using a semiconductor alloy that can be changed rapidly between an ordered, crystalline phase having lower electrical resistance to a disordered, amorphous phase with much higher electrical resistance. Because no electrical power is required to maintain either phase of the material, so phase-change memory is non-volatile.

This emerging non-volatile technology pioneered by Intel, Numonyx, Samsung and others — could turn out to be a low-cost, more reliable, faster, and just plain better alternative to flash memory. Some industry insiders even believe PCM has the potential to accelerate the data storage market’s slow transition from hard disk drives (HDDs) to solid state drives (SSDs).
EnterpriseStorageForum.com has been covering storage networking for more than a decade. In this “Phase Change Memory: The Next Big Thing in Data Storage?” featured article, Herman Mehling offers an overview of phase change memory (PCM) and discusses its potential use in enterprise data storage environments.

What Exactly Is Phase Change Memory?

PCM offers high performance and low power consumption, combining the best attributes of NOR, NAND and RAM within a single chip, said Ed Doller, the chief technology officer of Numonyx, a joint venture created by Intel and STMicroelectronics. He said those attributes are: bit-alterable; non-volatile; fast read speed; fast write/erase speed; and good scalability.
Bit alterable: Similar to RAM or EEPROM, PCM is bit-alterable — meaning that stored information can be switched from one to zero, or zero to one, without a separate erase step. Flash memory technology requires a separate erase step in order to change information.
Non-volatile: PCM is non-volatile, as are NOR flash and NAND flash. PCM does not require a constant power supply to retain information, while RAM does.
Read performance: Similar to RAM and NOR flash memory, PCM features fast random access times. This enables the execution of code directly from the memory, without an intermediate copy to RAM. The read latency of PCM is comparable to single bit per cell NOR flash, while the read bandwidth can match DRAM.
Write/erase performance: PCM will achieve write throughput speeds faster than NAND and with lower latency. These features, when combined with a no separate erase step (bit-alterable), will deliver significant write performance improvement over NOR and NAND flash.
Scalability: Scaling is another area where PCM offers a difference. Both NOR and NAND rely on floating gate memory structures, which are difficult to shrink. As the memory cell shrinks on flash, the number of electrons stored on the floating gate shrinks. Because PCM does not store charge (electrons), it is immune to the charge storage scaling issue.
Recently, Intel and Numonyx researchers demonstrated a 64MB test chip that stacks, or places multiple layers of PCM arrays within a single die. The layering of arrays provides the scalability to reach higher memory densities while maintaining high performance rates.
So far, the cost of NAND flash technology has been driven to extremely low levels through the use of leading edge lithography, but it remains to be seen how much lower it can go. That is why many are looking for alternatives.

From anti-spam tools to application firewalls there are many open source software offerings that can replace popular security software.

From anti-spam tools to application firewalls there are many open source software offerings that can replace popular security software. The following list of security-focused open source tools on Datamation looks at good open source options and provides details on which security products the open source software is a good replacement for.

Anti-Spam

ASSP Replaces: Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, SpamHero, Abaca Email Protection Gateway — ASSP (short for "Anti-Spam SMTP Proxy") humbly calls itself "the absolute best SPAM fighting weapon that the world has ever known!" It works with most SMTP servers to stop spam and scan for viruses (using ClamAV). Operating System: OS Independent.

MailScanner Replaces: Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, SpamHero, Abaca Email Protection Gateway — Used by more than 100,000 sites, MailScanner leverages Apache’s SpamAssassin project and ClamAV to provide anti-spam and anti-virus capabilities. It’s designed to sit on corporate mail gateways or ISP servers to protect end users from threats. Operating System: OS Independent.

Application Firewall

AppArmor Replaces: Barracuda Web Application Firewall, Citrix NetScaler Application Firewall — Included in both openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise, Novell’s application firewall aims to secure Linux-based applications while lowering IT costs. Key features include reports, alerts, sub-process confinement, and more. Operating System: Linux.
ModSecurity Replaces: Barracuda Web Application Firewall, Citrix NetScaler Application Firewall — The "most widely deployed WAF (Web Application Firewall) in existence," ModSecurity protects applications running on the Apache Web server. It also monitors, logs, and provides real-time analysis of Web traffic. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

Data Loss Prevention

OpenDLP Replaces RSA Data Loss Prevention Suite, CheckPoint DLP Software Blade, Symantec Data Loss Prevention Product Family — OpenDLP scans your network and identifies sensitive data at rest on your Windows systems. In includes both a Web app, which lets system administrators or compliance officers deploy the tool and view reports, and a client, which runs inconspicuously on end users’ systems. Operating System: Windows.
MyDLP Replaces RSA Data Loss Prevention Suite, CheckPoint DLP Software Blade, Symantec Data Loss Prevention Product Family — The creators of MyDLP strongly imply that if the U.S. government had installed their software, it could have prevented the WikiLeaks scandal. It detects and protects sensitive data from being transmitted, and it installs in just 30 minutes. Operating System: Windows, Linux, VMware

Often used by organizations to ease remote management and to cut costs, a network server appliance is a typically inexpensive personal computer (sometimes called a thin client) that enables Internet access and some business-related activities.

What is a Network Appliance?

Often used by organizations to ease remote management and to cut costs, a network server appliance is a typically inexpensive personal computer (sometimes called a thin client) that enables Internet access and some business-related activities. Applications used on network appliances typically are housed on a Web server accessed by the appliance.

Network appliances lack many of the features of a fully equipped PC, and are often referred to as "closed box systems" as they provide a complete solution consisting of limited hardware and software that is needed to perform a single or specialized set of functions. This hardware device allows for quick installation, ease-of-use, low maintenance and is typically managed through a Web browser. Increasingly, we’re seeing appliances used in network security to replace more traditional software-based security solutions.

Popular with business and enterprise, Unified Threat Management (UTM) is a category of security appliances that integrates a range of security features into a single appliance. UTM appliances combine firewall, gateway anti-virus, and intrusion detection system (IDS) or intrusion prevention capabilities into a single platform. UTM is designed protect users from blended threats while reducing complexity. UTM appliances offer a way to manage multiple appliances from a single location, create and manage global security policies, provide real-time monitoring and logging, as well as provide a single interface to manage security. Its basically the evolution of traditional firewall and VPN (virtual private network) solutions that incorporates many additional products and services.

Network security appliances generally consist of a set of network management and security tools that are installed on-site. Many network security appliances will also provide organizations with secure VPN for remote access.

Terms to Know: Network Appliance Security Tools

(IPS) intrusion prevention system: An IPS, or intrusion prevention system is used in computer security. It provides policies and rules for network traffic along with an intrusion detection system for alerting system or network administrators to suspicious traffic, but allows the administrator to provide the action upon being alerted. Some compare an IPS to a combination of IDS and an application layer firewall for protection.
(IDS) intrusion detection system: An intrusion detection system (IDS) inspects all inbound and outbound network activity and identifies suspicious patterns that may indicate a network or system attack from someone attempting to break into or compromise a system. An IDS evaluates a suspected intrusion once it has taken place and signals an alarm. An IDS also watches for attacks that originate from within a system.

(VPN) virtual private network: A network that is constructed by using public wires to connect nodes. For example, there are a number of systems that enable you to create networks using the Internet as the medium for transporting data. These systems use encryption and other security mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access the network and that the data cannot be intercepted.

firewall: A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

antivirus scanning: A utility that searches a hard disk for viruses and removes any that are found. Most antivirus include an auto-update feature that enables the program to download profiles of new viruses so that it can check for the new viruses as soon as they are discovered.

content/spam filter: A pattern through which data is passed. Only data that matches the pattern is allowed to pass through the filter. In this case the filters would block based on a list of Web sites, blocking illegal, objectionable or non-business-related content.

Often used by organizations to ease remote management and to cut costs, a network server appliance is a typically inexpensive personal computer (sometimes called a thin client) that enables Internet access and some business-related activities.

Common Network Security Options

Many of the antivirus and security functions integrated into appliances can also be incorporated into your network via software. Over traditional software solutions, appliances offer many benefits including the following: it’s easier to configure and manage, offers better integrity (it’s harder to get through an appliance compared to a basic computer running security software), and features better overall performance.

When choosing a software solution, you also need to consider additional products and hardware (operating system, server hardware, storage servers) and also provide maintenance, and set-up configuration for the solution including deployment, upgrades and monitoring. The additional hardware requirements and configuration and maintenance costs are reduced or removed with appliances.

In addition to choosing between software-based security and appliances, organizations can also look at what is traditionally called managed (or hosted) security options. Rather than pay out the money to own the appliance or server hardware and software, managed security is a subscription service model, where you essentially pay per service on an ongoing basis.

Managed security is a more popular choice with small to midsized businesses as the bulk of your security requirements are shifted to a third-party, outside of your own company, leaving security concerns to someone else. While that may sound risky, obviously you need to spend some time finding the right vendor with the right options to suite your network security needs

Mesh Topology

Devices are connected with many redundant interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh topology every node has a connection to every other node in the network.

Star Topology

All devices are connected to a central hub. Nodes communicate across the network by passing data through the hub.

Bus Topology

All devices are connected to a central cable, called the bus or backbone.

Ring Topology

All devices are connected to one another in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it.

Tree Topology

A hybrid topology. Groups of star-configured networks are connected to a linear bus backbone.

Need to shorten a URL? This Webopedia reference guide will help you understand what a URL shortener is and how these URL redirect services work.

Things to Consider Before Using a URL Shortener

While short URLs make it easier to access pages at a long URL, there are a number of things you should consider before using these services, especially when promoting and relying on the short URLs for your Internet business or website.

The Negative Side to Short URLs

Service Closure and Disruption

If the URL shortening service is shut down or goes offline then your short URLs will not work . Service interruptions can happen but you can avoid disruptions by choosing a URL shortener service that has been around for a while and has a good reputation for actively monitoring its service for spam links.

Type of URL Redirect Being Used

Different URL shortening services use different HTTP redirects. The type of redirect is being used determines where the credit for the URL is given, and you want search engines to credit the short link to your site not the URL shortening site. The services that use a 301 permanent redirect are the best choice.

Consumer Privacy and Security

Short URLs can be used for malicious reasons; for example, to cloak the URL of a pornography website or to hide malicious spyware and downloads. Savvy Internet users simply might not click a short URL. In terms of security, remember that you have no control over the URL shortener service and should they fall victim to malicious hacking so will your short URLs.

Potential for URLs to be Blocked

Since short URLs can be used for directing users to malicious or spam sites some ISPs and Web sites will block short URLs so these are not seen by users.

Meaningless Characters in URL

Short URLs consist of “meaningless” characters. Users and search engines do not see useful words (keywords) in a short URL. For example our short URL http://bit.ly/3wMIVa tells you nothing about the page you will land on when you click the link. Look for a short URL that you can customize with a keyword.

On the Positive Side…

On the positive side, a URL shortener is useful and commonplace online today. It has disadvantages but it also has many advantages over using a long URL, especially for microblogging. Ultimately, just having a short URL to access your Web page tops the list of advantages, but it can also help with keeping links intact in email or text messages and it can be useful for SEO (search engine optimization) when you use a short URL service that allows you to choose keywords in the short URL.

Another positive note is that most URL shortener services provide detailed tracking and analytics for each shortened URL. This is useful to track how popular the short URL is and to see when it is published on social media sites.

List of 15 Short URL Tools & Services

Now that you know how to shorten a URL and are aware of the pros and cons of using a URL shortening service, here are 20 services you can try.

1. Beam.To: Free and easy to remember B2-Redirect URL.

2. Bit.ly: shrink tweet URLs to 20 characters, plus track and share the shrunken URLs.

3. doiop.com: Allows you to create a keyword in the short URL.

4. EasyURL: Spam-free URL Shortening for active easyDNS.com members in good standing.

5. Goo.gl: Google’s own URL shortener. Offers short URLs, reliable service and good uptime.

6. is.gd: An "ethical" URL shortener with options to use your own keyword.

7. LNK.IN: Offers a short URL generator, domain forwarding or URL Redirection Services.

8. ShrinkURL: Instant redirection, custom URL (shrinkurl.us/mysite) and logging.

9. SnipURL: URL shortening with added features for posting to RSS.

10. Redirx.com: A basic URL shortener.

11. ReTwtme: shorten, share, and track URLs posted on Twitter and other online publishing spaces.

12. t.co: Twitter’s own link service is used on all links included in Direct Message notification emails and can be used to shorten URLs — but only those posted on Twitter.

13. TinyURL: shrink your URLs to 23 characters on any online publishing space.

14. Ulimit: domain names, Web redirection and email forwarding.

15. v.gd: automatically generates URLs that are typically 18 characters long.

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