Web Hosting FAQ's

Web Hosting Related Questions

Domain Name Related Questions

Microsoft FrontPage Related Questions

What is virtual Web hosting?

We specialize in virtual Web hosting, which means that you can find a home for your Web site on our high performance Web servers and establish your presence on the Internet with your own unique domain name. This is a very intelligent and cost effective alternative to hosting your own web site internally. Our shared hosting environment gives you the benefits of high performance servers, high bandwidth connectivity that can seamlessly grow with your needs, pre-installed software, guaranteed reliability and around-the-clock support, all at a small fraction of the cost of doing it yourself.

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Is 500 MB/month of data transfer going to be enough to support my web site ?

Our experience has shown that 500 MB/month will be more than enough bandwidth for the average Web site. Depending on the quantity and size of your files, this could support thousands of hits per month. Note that only a small percentage of our customers have exceeded our data transfer threshold. Should your needs grow, however, we have cost effective plans that are designed to grow with you. For example, most of our customers begin with our Professional plan. Those whose sites have become quite popular have either paid $0.10/MB/mo. for additional data transfer or have upgraded to our Corporate or Commercial plans, which have much higher data transfer limits. A very small percentage of our customers with extremely popular sites have found it cost effective to upgrade to our Enterprise or High Volume plans which have high enough data transfer limits to accommodate nearly all of our customers' needs.

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How do I transfer files to my Web site ?

Files can be transferred to the Web server via File Transport Protocol (FTP). If you have a PPP Internet account and need FTP software, you can download a program for either the PC or Mac from our site. Internet providers such as AOL, Compuserve, and Prodigy may have a built-in FTP interface. An FTP tutorial is available for first-time users.

Microsoft FrontPage users can 'publish' their sites to our server and should not use FTP.

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How long does it take to set up a new account ?

Most accounts are set up and active within 24 hours! Once an account is set up an activation notice will be sent you via e-mail including a userID, password, and FTP hostname. You can begin uploading files to your new web site immediately thereafter. Domain account users will be given a temporary URL to access their site via the Web prior to the completion of either domain registration or transfer.

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Domain Name Related Questions

Will I be able to access my domain name with or without the 'www.'?

Yes, you will be able to access the domain name with or without the 'www.' in front. For example, you can access the domain name "mydomain.com" by going to "www.mydomain.com" as well as "mydomain.com".

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Do you handle domain registration?

Yes. We will contact the InterNIC once your account is activated to request either a new domain name registration or a transfer. You do NOT need to submit a registration or modification template to the InterNIC, as this will only delay your request.

When an account is activated with a new domain name, we will automatically send the registration template to InterNIC. The information sent on the template is pulled directly from the order form. InterNIC typically completes the registration within 24 hours, and propagation typically takes about 72 hours.

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Can I transfer an existing domain name?

Yes. Whether you place an order by telephone or via our online order form, be sure to specify that you are requesting a transfer and NOT a new domain. You should keep the service at your present site while waiting for your domain name to transfer. We will provide you with a temporary IP address so you can mirror your site on our server. All e-mail and Web pages will still be accessed from your current site. When InterNIC receives the template, they will generate an acknowledgment request (Ack/Nak) and send it to the current administrative contact of the domain. Once the administrative contact acknowledges the transfer, InterNIC will update their records.

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How long does it take before my domain name is active?

Once the InterNIC announces that your domain name has been registered (or transferred, if applicable), it usually takes about 72 hours before it visible to all users of the Internet. All Internet providers must update their records (DNS tables) to reflect new site locations. This process is called propagation.

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Microsoft FrontPage Related Questions

Answers to questions you may have about using Microsoft's FrontPage on our UNIX Servers.

NOTE: For specific information on how to use the FrontPage software, please consult the program's documentation or Microsoft Technical Support.

Server Extensions

FrontPage extensions are CGI programs that provide the server side implementation of FrontPage. FrontPage communicates with the extensions via HTTP using a Remote Procedure Call (RPC). When the server sees the "POST" request addressed to the FrontPage server extensions it simply directs the request to the appropriate CGI program. The extensions implement authoring (uploading/downloading documents, ToDo lists), administration (setting end-user, author, and administrator privileges), and dynamic content (browse-time WebBot components).

Without the FrontPage server extensions you will not be able to take advantage of the WebBots that are available through FrontPage. Also, without the extensions you cannot author and administer your web using the tools provided as part of the FrontPage Editor/Explorer package.

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Getting the extensions installed

New Accounts

Check the box on the order form indicating that you want the FrontPage extensions. New domains that request the FrontPage extensions when the order is placed will have the extensions installed within two days of activation.

Existing Accounts

To have the FrontPage server extensions installed on your existing site, send an e-mail request to support with the following information:

  • Your domain name
  • Your userID
  • Your request for FrontPage extensions.
  • Confirmation that you have back-up of any Web pages currently on the site.
    (In most cases it is not necessary to delete files currently on the site to install the extensions. However, if there are directories or files with special permissions (.htaccess) these will have to be removed. You can then re-establish permissions and password protection via the FrontPage Explorer.)

On existing sites, the installation will generally be done within 24 hours.

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Charges

There is no charge for installing the server extensions. We will also reinstall corrupted extensions free of charge*.

*Note: There are certain precautions that MUST be taken when publishing and maintaining your site with FrontPage.

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Limitations

There are some issues that potential FrontPage users should consider:

  1. Web size -- This seems to be most critical when a "searchable event" is present in the web (Search, Discussion Forum and Table of Contents). The lengthy process of updating the indices for these functions can lead to the connection timing-out (HTTP 500 Error or 'Server has timed-out').
  2. Disk Usage -- You may create and publish as many child webs as your disk storage space allows. However, for each child web you publish, FrontPage duplicates certain information into indices and hidden files. This adds 'overhead,' increasing the storage space required for your files. Microsoft's documentation notes, "FrontPage's optional full-text search indexes can take up to the same amount of disk space as your textual content."
  3. PRECAUTIONS
    There are several precautions which need to be taken to protect the FrontPage extensions on your site if it is housed on our UNIX servers:

    a) Do NOT use the Edit Access or File Manager features found in your Control Panel to set passwords, limit access, set file permissions or delete directories or files in a FrontPage web. This should only be done through the options in FrontPage Explorer.

    b) Do NOT use regular FTP (such as WS_FTP) to upload files to the server when FrontPage extensions are installed. This may corrupt the extensions, disabling the interactive features available with FrontPage.

    NOTE: The exception to this is when loading custom scripts to the cgi-local directory on your site. Instructions for uploading custom  CGI scripts is included in the notice you will receive when the extensions are installed.
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Features

Since FrontPage was created for developing Web sites in the Windows environment, some features are only available when the site is hosted on an NT Server.

  • Active Server Pages
  • ODBC and MSSQL Database connections (Access, FoxPro)
  • ActiveX
  • VBScript
  • SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Forms Processing (using the WebBot Save Results component)*

*FrontPage sites hosted on the UNIX Servers may use SSL by sending output from forms through cgiemail.

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Other Resources

You may also find answers on many user issues at Microsoft's Web site, from newsgroups and, of course, in books on FrontPage.

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