Frequently Asked Questions
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows individuals and orgnizations to make their own website accessible on the internet. You can choose free web hosting which is usually supported by advertisements or pop-ups, or you could choose to pay for hosting which allows you to have complete control over your website’s content.
What is shared hosting?
Shared web hosting is where many websites share a single server. Each website has its own partition or section of the server to keep it separate from the other websites. This is normally the most economical solution for hosting because many users share the overall cost of the web server.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is what separates you from everyone else online. It is your websites identity. Once you own a domain name it is yours as long as you choose to renew it. Domain names have two parts, the name its self, and a top level domain (TLD). A TLD is the ending extension, .com, .net and .org are the most popular TLDs. Most domain names must be registered for a minimum of 1 year, but some require two.
How do I register a domain name?
Many web hosts will register a domain for you (including us!). The oldest domain register is Network Solutions, for most domains they charge $35/yr. You can purchase domain names at servdot.com for only $15/yr and all of our hosting packages come with a free domain name included!
How do some host offer unlimited bandwidth/space/transfer?
It is not possible for a web host to offer “unlimited” bandwidth/space/transfer. All of these hosting plans always come with clauses (usually buried in the terms of service, or acceptable use policy) which restrict how many system resources you are allotted. We recommend you visit UnlimBand for more details.
What exactly is space and bandwidth/data transfer?
Disk space is the amount of space available for you to store the files for your website. The HTML files are relatively small but images, scripts and databases can take up large amounts of space.
Bandwidth is the amount of data that your website is allowed to send each month. Usually this is measured in gigabytes.
What do I need to do to put Flash on my website?
Flash is a client side technology. Flash does not require anything special from the web server, as long as your visitor computer is capable of displaying flash, it will run on their computer.
What are PHP, ASP, perl, etc?
These are each acronyms for programming languages commonly used for websites. Each has their own benefits and uses.
What is MySQL, MS SQL, etc?
These are database applications which are designed to hold large amounts of searchable, sortable data. We offer MySQL on all of our servers.
Do I have to change my domain if I get a new host?
No, you can simply change your name servers via our client portal or transfer the domain to a different webhost/domain register.
Will there be forced advertising on my site – things like banner ads or popup ads?
We do not and will not ever force advertising on any of our customers. You can choose to advertise on your website and keep any revenue generated by your advertisements .
What is Domain Parking?
Domain parking lets you buy a domain and then have a ‘coming soon’ page on it. This is not needed – if a domain is not parked it will simply be inaccessible to anyone.
How can I pay for web hosting?
We accept payment via PayPal or credit card.
What are subdomains?
Subdomains are an extension of our website. For example if your website is www.servdot.com then secure.servdot.com would a subdomain.
How do I upload my site online?
There are many different ways to upload your site online. File transfer protocol (FTP) is the most common method but we also have a web bassed solution through our control panel (cPanel).
What is uptime?
Uptime litterly means the amount of time that your website is online in a month. We offer 99.9% uptime so your site will never be offline more than 43 minutes (total) in a single month.
What is the difference between UNIX hosting and Windows hosting?
The difference between UNIX and Windows hosting is the operating system (OS) that is running on the server. The vast majority of web servers are Linux (UNIX) due to its superior stability and because it is free. Linux web hosting is normally cheaper than windows hosting. While Windows hosting is more expensive, you do not necessarily get what you pay for.
I have a fast internet connection (DSL/cable) – can I just host my own site?
You could but we would not recommend this. Most internet services providers have clauses that state you are not allowed to run servers of any type from your residential internet connection. Also consider the work required to make sure that your home bassed web server is stable, secure, and available 24/7. Our web severs use high performance harddisks and have connections to the internet much faster than what is available for residential internet service..
Why would I need a dedicated IP?
For most people a deidcated IP is not required. However if you need to run secure socket layer (SSL) or anonymous FTP it makes things much easier and more stable. We require that clients have a dedicated IP to use SSL.
I am using too much bandwidth! Is there anyway for me to make it less?
In most cases you can reduce the amount of bandwidth you use by: optimizing images and using relative links. Not only does this save you bandwidth but it also makes your visitors experience better because webpages will load faster.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the practice of optimizing the content of a website to be more attractive to search engines.