Frequently Asked Questions About Hosting

We have listed below answers to the most common questions we get asked about our Cobalt RAQ4 Webservers.

 

Q. Can I use Frontpage extensions on your Cobalt RAQ4 server?
A. Yes. We support all editions of FrontPage on our servers.

Q. How difficult is it to manage a hosting account?
A. Its easier than using the video - if you can use a web browser you can manage your domain on our webserver. We will show you for free.

Q. Can an easy to use server still have power?
A. Absolutely. All Cobalt RAQ4 servers come with a full cgi-bin and ssi capability, whether you choose to use it or not is up to you but the facility is there if you need it.

Q. What are your bandwidth charges?
A. We do not charge for bandwidth and we place no restrictions on bandwidth nor do we place any restrictions on data transfer.

Q. How can you offer unlimited web space?
A. With the size of hard drives now space is in abundance. We start you off with 50MB andif you need more simply ask. We increase your space in 50MB increments for each request.

Q. What about advanced features - do you support these?
A. Yes, we support most advanced features. All our web servers come with their own dedicated cgi-bin, and have access to PHP. SSL is an option for secure e-commerce and SSI is also fully supported. As our servers run on industry standard Cobalt RAQ platforms (in use in 1/3 of all the Tier 2 and Tier 3 service providers around the world) you can be sure all standard applications will run on our Cobalt RAQ4 web server.

Q. Do you support dedicated servers and co-location?
A. Yes, we support both. Our clients include major industry ISPs.

Q. Why do you give 1 month free?
A. This allows you 1 month to properly set up alll aspects of your web site as well as try before you buy.

Q. Do you give Free Tech support?
A. Yes, by email and also by toll free number 1-877-307-2455. real People answer the phone!

Q. What is the difference between SSH and SSL?
A. SSH (Secure Shell) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) can both be used to secure communications across the Internet. This page tries to explain the differences between the two in easily understood terms.

SSL was designed to secure web sessions; it can do more, but that's the original intent.

SSH was designed to replace telnet and FTP; it can do more, but that's the original intent.

SSL is a drop-in with a number of uses. It front-ends HTTP to give you HTTPS. It can also do this for POP3, SMTP, IMAP, and just about any other well-behaved TCP application. It's real easy for most programmers who are creating network applications from scratch to just grab an SSL implementation and bundle it with their app to provide encryption when communicating across the network via TCP. Check out: stunnel.org.

SSH is a swiss-army-knife designed to do a lot of different things, most of which revolve around setting up a secure tunnel between hosts. Some implementations of SSH rely on SSL libraries - this is because SSH and SSL use many of the same encryption algorithms (i.e. TripleDES).

SSH is not based on SSL in the sense that HTTPS is based on SSL. SSH does much more than SSL, and they don't talk to each other - the two are different protocols, but have some overlap in how they accomplish similiar goals.

SSL by itself gives you nothing - just a handshake and encryption. You need an application to drive SSL to get real work done.

SSH by itself does a whole lot of useful stuff that allows users to perform real work. Two aspects of SSH are the console login (telnet replacement) and secure file transfers (ftp replacement), but you also get an ability to tunnel (secure) additional applications, enabling a user to run HTTP, FTP, POP3, and just about anything else THROUGH an SSH tunnel.

Without interesting traffic from an application, SSL does nothing. Without interesting traffic from an application, SSH brings up an encrypted tunnel between two hosts which allows you to get real work done through an interactive login shell, file transfers, etc.

Last comment: HTTPS does not extend SSL, it uses SSL to do HTTP securely. SSH does much more than SSL, and you can tunnel HTTPS through it! Just because both SSL and SSH can do TripleDES doesn't mean one is based on the other.