In an effort to better help all our many users, we make this FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) section available here.
You will find answers to some of the questions that we get the most often. If you need further support,
contact us today.
We also encourage you to visit our free web hosting tech support forum
since it is jammed packed with very valuable information related to hosting.
Question:
What is SEO Hosting and what can it do for us?
Answer:
Professional search engine optimization companies
have known for a very long time that related Web sites hosted on multiple Class C IP addresses had
and continue to have a marked advantage as far as quality search engine rankings are concerned. Avantex
owns multiple servers in multiple data centers spread throughout the U.S. and Canada and now offers to all
site owners and webmasters the possibility of using its facilities to the highest level and to reap the
benefits in superior search engine generic and organic listings.
Today's major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and a few more will give related Web sites
better search rankings if site A links to site B but from a different Class C IP address. Today, there
are many companies that own more than one site and they need to have them link to their other sites to
further promote their brands and help increase sales. Having all your websites hosted on the same server,
and on the same Class C address is a big mistake.
Avantex Hosting can help you with this.
Question:
What is email authentication? What is it used for?
Answer:
Your answer on email authentication can
be found here.
Question:
When can I expect being able to view my new website, provided I have all the
necessary files ready to upload to your servers?
Answer:
Our tech support department
begins setting up your new Avantex Web hosting account upon receipt of a payment
confirmation sent to us from your credit card company. This process normally takes
only about 2 to 3 minutes. In order for you to be able to see your website, the
following five conditions must be met:
1 - Your Internet domain name ( www.yourcompany.com ) either has to be newly registered
by Avantex, or transfered to our servers if it already exists. If you are getting a
new domain name, this will normally take about 24 hours to resolve itself on our servers
and to insure it is correctly registered into the Internet's DNS (Domain Name System).
If you are transfering your domain name to our servers from a prior Web hosting company,
this process will again take approximately 24 hours to resolve itself.
2 - DNS has to assign an IP address to your domain name. This is the normal process
of converting a domain name into a series of numbers that only computers understand.
3 - Web server space in allocated to your account - This is where we assign disk space
and setup your domain on Avantex's servers.
4 - FTP user names and passwords are setup - This gives you permissions to upload,
maintain and perform your necessary updates on your website, without any limits, 24
hours a day.
5 - E-mail accounts - email administrative (admin) access is set up on our email
servers. This will allow you to set up your own POP 3 account using any standard
email program such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora (or any other standard
email client).
All the above steps take place within an hour of placing your order with us. You
can start uploading your web pages, pictures, graphics and files as soon as you receive
your "Avantex welcome letter" with all the necessary FTP information. Your site will
be active as soon as you upload any index.htm or index.html file on our servers.
In fact, as soon as your account is completed and your domain name resolves to
our servers, you will automatically see the usual 'Plesk Default Administrator Page'
which our servers create dynamically, letting you know that all is OK on our side.
Question:
I'm using Frontpage to build and publish my website. Does that mean I need to
be on any of your Windows hosting plans?
Answer:
No. All our Linux hosting plans (except the ones at $3.95 and $5.95 a
month) will support Frontpage extensions. There is no need to be on our Windows hosting
plan.
Question:
I have Windows XP on my computer, so do I signup for the Windows hosting then?
Answer:
No. The operating system on your pc or workstation has no effect when selecting
a hosting plan for your site. All our Web servers are fully transparent to the user.
Question:
Does your Linux hosting plans support ASP or .NET pages?
Answer:
No. Running ASP pages or sites developed using Microsoft's .Net on Linux is
very limited in its use and we don't recommend it. Therefore, we will only support
ASP applications and .NET on our Windows plan only.
Question:
What is the difference between Unix/Linux and a Windows hosting plan?
Answer:
Unix/Linux supports CGI, Perl, PHP and MySQL natively. Windows will allow you to
publish in ASP and .NET pages, and has support for MS SQL and MS Access databases.
Both our Unix/Linux hosting plans, as well as our Windows hosting plans run on
Plesk™ and is the industry leader in server remote control software.
Unless you have a special need or specific request for running Microsoft applications
like ASP or .Net, any of our standard Linux hosting plans are best for your website, and
they even cost less than a comparable Windows plan.
Question:
I have never used Linux before so I don't know if I can manage my website
with your Linux plans. Does this mean I have to pay an extra for a Windows plan?
Answer:
No. Any of our hosting plans, Linux included, do not require you to have any
knowledge of that specific operating system. For the most part, our Web servers are
fully transparent to the user.
Our Plesk™ control panel will help you manage things like email creation, password
modifications, creation of new users, FTP parameter modifications, and a few other
things. If you know how to use a mouse and keyboard, you will be able to easily
manage your website with our easy-to-use Plesk control panel.
(Important note: However, this does not mean that our control panel will
create your website. You will still need to have knowledge of how to create and
design your site, write it in HTML, upload it to our servers, using FTP, etc.
Question:
Where can I get more information on the various topics of Web hosting?
We are happy to introduce you to the
Web Hosting Tech Support Forum.
The Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
is the answer to the growing number of the many technical questions we constantly get
from our customers, our affiliates, our partners and an increasingly large
number of site owners, webmasters and small business managers that face daily
challenges with their web sites or that need a quick answer to a specific
Web hosting-related question.
The Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
covers all topics of Web hosting currently in use today:
1) Linux-related questions or topics
2) Windows-related questions or topics
3) Unix-related questions or topics
4) BSD-related questions or topics
5) Internet security-related questions or topics
6) PHP and MySQL-related questions or topics
7) PostGre database-related questions
8) Any general questions related to Web hosting
Plus a whole lot more. Additionally, the Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
features a full chart of the most-frequently-used Linux and Unix SSH commands
in use today.
Use of the Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
is absolutely free to anyone, and can be used by anybody, whether
they are a client of Avantex or not.
The Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
is online now at www.webhostingtechsupport.org.
Question:
What are MIME types?
Answer:
MIME Types allows you to set certain programs to be used for specific extensions.
In easier-to-understand terms, MIME Types help your web server to identify what
type of file is being requested by your browsers. For instance, when the web server
gets a request from a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, for a file
that ends in .html, the web server knows that it is an html document because that
extension is stored in the MIME Types.
If the web server gets a request from a browser for a file that ends in .gif,
the web server knows that it is an image because that too is stored in the MIME
Types. This applies to every file, image, application, etc. that may be requested
by a web browser. If the extension is not stored within the MIME Types, the web
server will not recognize it and will not be able to assist the browser and that
particular file type will not be viewable by the user.
MIME types are identified by the server by the following format:
subtype/type extension
For example, adding the following two MIME Types will allow users to view ipx
images on your web pages:
application/x-ipscript .ips
application/x-ipix .ipx
Where "application" identifies the subtype, "x-ipscript" identifies the application,
and .ips identifies the extension used for that application.
Question:
Can I use the MIME types feature if I'm using FrontPage?
Answer:
No. This feature is not available for FrontPage users. If any MIME types are
needed, FrontPage users will have to add them using FrontPage or else your web files
may not be accessible online.
Question:
Which is the best way to choose the right Web hosting plan that is just right for our
needs? There seems to be so many different plans to choose from. Why are there so
many?
Answer:
Avantex has many different types of hosting plans, simply because there are many
different needs, from one website to another. Depending on the number and range
of features that are designed into your website, you may or may not need all the
features that some of our plans have to offer.
Our hosting plans start at a low $ 3.95 a month. Our sales
staff have the experience and the tools to carefully evaluate with you which hosting
plan would be best for your needs. Once you have made a selection of the hosting plan
that meets your needs, the same day (or at a future date), you can order
additional services, such as domain name redirections, higher disk space, extra
email addresses, an SSL certificate, etc.
Avantex provides you with different Web hosting plans for various user levels and
needs to choose from, and your choice should be based largely on the following three
factors:
Your needed disk space.
Your data transfer requirements.
Your website's general content (including graphics).
Your needed disk space refers to the actual amount of space (data storage) that
your website or Web applications will actually occupy on our servers. Disk space is
always measured in MB (Megabytes). Your data transfer requirements are also measured
in MB and are generated every time someone visits a page (or downloads a file) on
your site. It is therefore a cumulative statistic. Data transfer depends on the actual
number of people that visit your site and the size of the files on your site that are
being viewed. The more viewers, the higher the transfer. The more content on your site,
the more transfer per viewer.
Question
If I choose to get a virtual server with Avantex, do I get root SSH (shell access) to
my virtual server?
SSH or shell access cannot be obtained with any of Avantex virtual servers. In
order to get such permissions, you need to choose a Linux dedicated server from Avantex.
We offer dedicated servers in both the Linux as well as the Windows operating
systems. Prices are available upon request.
Question:
We are in a real hurry and we want to get our site setup as soon as possible. How
long does it take to have our site 'up and running'?
Answer:
A new Avantex account generally takes only a few minutes to setup. All orders
placed between 8.30 AM to 5.30 PM EST on weekdays are processed the same day. Note
however that it normally takes about 24 hours for a .com domain name to resolve to our
servers, once it has been instructed to do so (the DNS transfer). Once your account
is activated, you will automatically get a confirmation email from us, with your
detailed account information and all necessary technical information for your new
Web hosting plan.
Note: Avantex cannot activate your account until payment is received by credit card.
All payments from our users are normally done through credit cards and represent the
fastest and safest way to settle your account with us. Still, if you prefer paying for
your hosting with a company (or personal) check, please
contact us by email and our
accounting department will indicate to you the right way to proceed.
Question:
When people are surfing the Web, how will people and prospective clients find
our new website? What can we do to get some visibility?
Answer:
That is a very good question. You can submit your website to several search engines
such as Google, MSN, AltaVista, etc. and also directories like Yahoo and the Open
Directory Project (DMOZ), to help new and existing customers find your site. You can
also help prospective customers find your site if you have your site optimized by a
professional SEO (Search Engine Optimization) firm. If you need help in locating such
a firm, please
contact us by email and we will do
our best to recommend you a few names that we know are good.
Depending on the exact model of SEO program that you choose, (in a perfect world),
ideally it will place your website at the top of the search engine results pages,
over and above your competitors. Marketing your online business through these and
other tools will help you reach new prospects & customers and hopefully increase your
business.
Question:
Exactly what kind of technical support does Avantex offer it's clients?
Answer:
Our email technical support is recognized to be the very best in the industry. Avantex
has full-time dedicated tech support representatives on duty 24 hours a day. Once a
trouble ticket (or trouble email) is received, we start working on it immediately in
95% of the time. Additionally, from all of the continental United States and from any
Canadian province, you can easily reach our help desk by our toll free
1-800 number. Avantex technical support
is always open for email or phone support from 6.30 AM to 11.00 PM EST, 7 days a week, 365
days a year.
As a rule, we always encourage all our customers in need of assistance to send us an
email with questions or concerns about their websites or our various hosting plans, as
email is still today the fastest way to answer any of your technical inquiries, and
it also provides us and yourself with valid records of all communications, which a phone
call can never do. At all times, email tech support is around-the-clock. Technical
emergencies will be addressed first, and support issues are handled in the order they
are received.
Question:
Is there any reason why I cannot see my website using my IP address? When will I be
able to see it? Is this normal, since it's the first time I'm doing this?
Answer:
Unless you clearly and specifically request a unique, static IP address when you place
your order with Avantex, we always make use of virtual Internet IP addresses for all
our users. For that reason, until you transfer your domain name to our servers, you
won't be able to see your website. (Please note that there is an extra fee for static
and unique (permanent) IP addresses.
Contact us for a quote).
