FAQ Page for BVG Hosting - Robust & Affordable Plans

Hosting FAQ's are so you can understand the nature of each service we offer.

H-SPHERE: A unique product that allows a smaller host facility the same advantages of a huge one such as VERIO thereby allowing us to keep pricing simple and low. It is a JAVA powered hosting system which sees to all aspects of Web Plans including installation of services and an easy to use control panel for each client.

Stopgap Domain: Is not a real domain and does not allow the user to have any domain name, DNS zone, and e-mail service. However, stopgap domain users can have IP-only access if they purchase a dedicated IP. Users are able to maintain and access their sites using the instant domain alias through FTP services. A stop gap domain looks something like this: 123.uNNNN.bvghosting.com This is a good option for a low investment offering for the first time to see the interest level. Or if you want a place to post family photos this is an inexpensive alternative.

Third Level Domains: Are registered on the provider's DNS server, containing the provider's domain name. Third level domain registration is available only if it is allowed under the selected plan. Functionally, third level domains have the same features as second level domains. A third level domain would look like this: yourname.bvghosting.com - providing yourname is available.

Static IP's: A static IP is a series of numbers only assigned to one account. Unlike a domain name which can share IP addresses with many other domain names, a static IP belongs solely to one sole address on the Internet. So if your IP address for yourdomain.com is 24.32.888.124 then your domain has a unique listing that no one else may share unless you decide to share the digits. This is helpful with search engines who look at shared IP's (know generally as Virtual Hosts) to the first account listed. Therefore if you sell tools and clearly define that in your title, meta tags and page text and the first domain on a Virtual Host sells tires the search engines will see conflicting info and may penalize your site for suspecting redirecting domains. Some plans come with a static IP and some have the option of adding one (or more for all plans) for a setup fee of only $3 and at $3 per month for optional IP's. A very low priced but robust service. Dedicated IP is required for Virtual FTP Server and Secure Socket Layers (SSL).

Bandwidth Allowances: Bandwidth is also know as transfer or web traffic. It is counted by numbers of bytes transferred at the end of a billing cycle (normally 30 days). The least amount of traffic or bandwidth our plans offer is 1GB which is generally an overkill on most web sites. Increments of bandwidth allowances are increased in each plan based upon plan size. All accounts may purchase additional bandwidth for $3 per GB which is very reasonable.

Storage: Storage refers to the amount of disk space allocated to your web site for all needs including Web, Email and MySQL. While we have allocated the resources across these areas you can reallocate simply by clicking on the limits and changing them. Most folks use less than 15 MB's for a web site and therefore will be able to allocate unused portions for other uses. If you find you are running out of storage space there are low add on pricing features under each plan.

Discounts: Discounts on longer contracts are for recurring features and are 5% on quarterly packages, 10% on biannual packages and 15% on annual packages.

Host Domains: All plans allow you to host a domain and all but the Personal Plan include it free of charge. A domain is yourname.com or other ending and you may purchase (register) it online while at our site for only $17 for a year! You may also transfer your domain to your web site hosting plan and enjoy low cost domain renewals.

Park Domains: Allows users to use H-Sphere DNS server for designating IPs to domain names serviced and hosted on other servers (not those of H-Sphere). In this case a DNS zone is created with a custom DNS A record for the domain name.

Subdomains: Subdomains have the same functionalities as regular domains. A subdomain of yoursite.com would be http://subdomain.yoursite.com

FrontPage® Extensions: Installs FrontPage for its domain. Holds username and password to log into FrontPage.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol. (A way to put your files on the server in large groups) You will use Virtual FTP if you have a Static IP. A good FTP client that is free for use is WSFTP le. (For Windows users, but that site will help you despite your platform).

There are other forms of FTP you can use:

FTP sub-accounts are created for Internet users authorised to enter your home directory on the server. With FTP sub-accounts they obtain full FTP permissions to your home directory or alternatively to the one assigned, but are not entitled to enter the control panel. No dedicated IP is required for FTP sub-accounts. Although each FTP sub-account has different from the original FTP 'account' login/password, both have the same ID.

Anonymous FTP allows anonymous connection to the Virtual FTP Server. This lets you set up and share files with anyone (be careful where you put this!)

Shell Access: allows users to access and operate their system through Shell, provides extensive privileges and more extensive abilities than FTP (such as running sripts etc.).

Telnet/SSH: A terminal emulation program for TCP/IP networks such as the Internet. The Telnet program runs on your computer and connects your PC to a server on the network. You can then enter commands through the Telnet program and they will be executed as if you were entering them directly on the server console. This enables you to control the server and communicate with other servers on the network. To start a Telnet session, you must log in to a server by entering a valid username and password. Telnet is a common way to remotely control Web servers. SSH is a secure version used which is much safer. It is not necessary to run this program to use our server as it has click and point shell access! If you want to run SSH or Telnet.

POP3: Short for Post Office Protocol, a protocol used to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Most e-mail applications (sometimes called an e-mail client) use the POP protocol.

WebMail: is a www-frontend to IMAP/POP3 mailboxes. You can compare it to the systems Hotmail, YahooMail etc use. It allows a user to access his mailbox via the world wide web and do most things other mail programs allow to do, even if he is not sitting on his own personal computer or corporate LAN.

Autoresponders: mail autoresponder is a separate mail resource. The autoresponder sends a uniform response back to the sender whenever a message arrives in a mailbox assigned for that message.

Mail Forwarding: You can have any or all your email forwarded to an outside email account or to a different email address within your domain. e.g. you@coralwave.com

Mail Alias: Aliases are alternative addresses for your existing mailboxes.

Catch All: Don't miss emails because someone made a typo! You can assign an account to catch all mislabled messages in.

Maling Lists: Forwards e-mail messages to a list of e-mail address.

CGI BIN: all accounts come with a cgi-bin directory, so all the cgi-bin directory's content is treated as cgi executables which the server tries to run. All executables located in the CGI-BIN directory is treated as a cgi script, including binary files and scripts written in Perl, shell, Python, etc. Scripts are executed with the rights of the user who owns the web site, so they can work with his home directory.

PERL: A scripting language popular for executables such as form mail.

PHP Module: allow you to create dynamic web pages with PHP. It is point and click and comes with a preinstalled Bulletin Board so you can host your own message boards from day one!

SSL Server or Shared SSL: Dedicated IP is required for Secure Socket Layers (SSL). Shared SSL enables provision of Secure Sockets Layer encryption and business authentication to Web business customers through using WildCard certificates, but without the need to issue unique digital certificates to each hosted client. When a client checks the host name in this certificate, it uses a shell expansion procedure to see if it matches. WildCard certificates work only within one domain level.

MySQL: Allows to create and manage MySQL databases. MySQL is the world's most popular Open Source Database, designed for speed, power and precision in mission critical, heavy load use.

Raw Logs and Web Site Stats: Compiles the data of who referred (which web site or search engine) the visitor to you, what browsers or any other internet-oriented software they used to visit your visit your site with-- and all related data. Tracks all events and their details and writes logs to files in user's logs directory as well as all errors. Programs commonly referred to as site stats are used to compile this info into HTML generated (Web Pages) results so you can review the information. Many can even tell you the keywords or phrases used most frequently to find your site.

Webalizer: Is a free product which Analyzes the transfer log to produce a readable report. It is basic and free. Gives top 30 referrers etc. It is popular for smaller sites and you can view their reports at http://www.mrunix.net/webalizer/

Modlogan: Is another free product which does relatively the same job but many folks prefer their reports. To learn more about this product click here.

Urchin: Currently the top product for site stats providing far superior reporting, tracking and other valuable info. 100's of referral sources, top pages, top entrance and exit and much more. Urchin is in demand over Webtrends and has just released a new version out doing themselves. No real set up - just install with a couple of clicks, set the time of day or week or month for it to run and you are good to go! Visit their site to see if this is right for your web marketing. We are able to offer licenses' for a one time fee of $25 and $2.50 per month (each)!

OsCommerce: www.oscommerce.com osCommerce is an open source e-commerce solution and is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Visit the site to see the results of using this Storefront to create shopping cart powered sites.

MIVA: Miva Merchant is a dynamic browser based storefront development and management system that allows merchants to create multiple online stores. However it has a high ticket license fee making the ease of use less attractive than the no license fee OsCommerce solution. License fees for the MIVA product are $300 setup and $25 montly.

Active Server Pages (ASP): enables the developer to create scripts that run on the server to create dynamic Web pages. An ASP document can contain a combination of HTML text, server-side, and client-side scripts that are combined to create an engaging experience for the Web user.

Directory Index: Allows users to set directory indexes, i.e. which page (sequence of pages) should be loaded first if index.html page is missing.

Redirect URL's: Redirects the visitor seamlessly to a different URL set by the account administrator.

Search Utility: Take advantage of adding mnoGoSearchto your site. This is a simple search engine to service your site.

Custom DNS: Record configured by the client to map domain names and web server IP's.

Crontab: The module that allows users to clock and run their own Unix shell scripts automatically. For instance every day at 11:59 p.m. you can update your web stats by scheduling a simple task with this feature.

Tech Support: Sophisticated (but point and click easy to use) tech tickets are utilized 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide technical support. Login right from your account Control panel and receive fast results. All tickets responded to within 24 hours but normally sooner.

Search Engine Submit: Register your site with major search engines with a click of a button!!

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