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Frequently Asked QuestionsSelect a topic to see its corresponding list of questions.
Q. What is virtual Web Hosting? A. It is a home for your web site on our web servers to assist you in establishing a presence on the Internet. Virtual Hosting has the following advantages:
Q. What's a domain name? A. Your domain name (www.yourdomainname.com) is a component of your Internet address that is assigned to you and allows anyone on the World Wide Web to locate your website. Q. Does Cavecreek perform domain registration? A. Cavecreek offers domain registration. Cavecreek now performs domain name registration for as low as $15.00 a year per domain. This service is available to Cavecreek customers only. Q. How do I setup a virtual domain at Cavecreek.com? A. It's easy, go to our signup page, select an account and fill out our online order form. Q. Can I access my web address with or without the "www."? A. Yes, you can access the address with or without the "www." in front of the domain name. Q. How do I migrate my current site to Cavecreek? A. When migrating a site from a previous hosting provider to Cavecreek, you want to make sure you don't have any downtime or lost Email. The steps below give the smoothest possible transition from your old hosting provider to Cavecreek. Please see the document titled Migrating an Existing Account to Cavecreek for more information. Q. Do you offer dial-up Internet Access? A. No. You will need to gain access to the Internet itself through either a local dial-up access provider or another Internet-connected entity. By concentrating on Web Hosting, we are specializing in the services that are most important to your site's success. Q. Do you offer web page design services? A. Not directly. Since many of our customers are designers, we do not want to compete directly with them. Q. Will I be able to update my pages at any time? A. You have unlimited access to your site via FTP in order to make necessary changes. Refer to the previous FAQ for further information about FTP. Q. What can I use my web site for? A. You may use your site for whatever you wish as long as it complies with our Master Service Agreement and Acceptable Use Policies. Q. How soon can space be made available for my site on your server? A. Be sure to allow 24 to 48 hours after registration or adding hosting, so that your account can be set up. The only time that this is usually exceeded is if there are special circumstances, such as an invalid or reserved username. Even those situations can usually be resolved quickly. Once an account is set up, a welcome e-mail will be sent to you including your username, password, and IP address. Q. What is the service agreement term and what are the payment options? A. We bill quarterly. You may also choose to be billed semi-annually or yearly if you wish. We accept VISA, MasterCard and Discover, personal or business checks, international wires, transfers, or checks drawn on affiliated U.S. banks in U.S. dollars only. The client is responsible for all fees incurred using this method. Q. Can I resell space within my virtual domain? A. What you do with your site is up to you as long as you abide by Cavecreeks' Master Service Agreement and Acceptable Use Policies, but you may want to consider upgrading to a dedicated server prior to doing this. The overall responsibility for the site is yours. Q. Can I use a password protection service? A. Cavecreek does not recommend a particular password protection service, but does not discourage clients from using them, either. Q. Do you have a database system? A. We use MySQL for UNIX shared servers and Microsoft SQL for Windows servers. Q. Can we set up password protected areas with .htaccess? A. Yes, you can. You can do this through your control panel if your site is hosted on a UNIX server. Q. What server types do you use? A. Currently we use Apache on Linux and IIS6 on Windows. Q. Does each virtual server have separate log files? A. Yes, you have your own log files. Only UNIX can write multiple log files. Windows can only write one log file. Q. What is CGI access? A. CGI (Common Gateway Interface) scripts are used to provide functions like counters, form responses, guest books, and many others. Cavecreek gives you full CGI access for no extra charge, and you can write your own scripts, or install someone else's. Q. Which languages are supported in CGI (e.g. shell, Perl, Java)? A. Computer languages such as Shell, Perl and Java Servlets are all supported and available. 
Q. What's the difference between a shared hosting, colocation and a dedicated server? A.
*Determined by client backup schedule Q. How does a dedicated server benefit me? A. The advantages of a dedicated server include performance, security and increased control. There are cost savings for server maintenance. You cut costs on the Internet connection, router, security, redundancy and network administration. You can host as many sites as the web-server can handle because you do not have to share a server. You can install third party background software that is restricted on shared servers. Q. When should I switch over to a dedicated server? A. You may want to consider upgrading to a dedicated server if your needs match or surpass the following:
Q. Can I customize a dedicated server to my specifications? A. Yes, we can build a custom server to meet your requirements. Call a Cavecreek sales representative for more information and pricing. Q. What happens in the event of a hardware failure? A. All hardware and components are protected under our service policy on dedicated servers. We will replace any hardware component failure. Additionally, we reinstall from backup (if there is an available backup) if you sign up for our Managed Server Plans. Click here to learn more about the services available to you with Cavecreek Managed Server Plans. Q. How is my server connected to the Internet? A. Each dedicated server is hooked up to the Internet with an exclusive connection. Cavecreeks' network employs redundant Internet links through several bandwidth (uplink) providers. Q. What happens if I go over my bandwidth commitment? A. When you lease a dedicated server from Cavecreek, you choose a commitment level that is customized to meet your business needs. If your traffic increases and you exceed your daily or monthly allotment for bandwidth, we will move you up to the next plan level for that month. Q. What type of support do you offer for Dedicated servers? A. Cavecreek monitors your server 24x7 to make sure it is up and running. Additionally, we offer managed server plans which includes monitoring, maintenance and our Priority Emergency Reboot Service. Q. What if I need additional IP addresses? A. Cavecreek can provide additional IP addresses as required for a nominal fee. Please email support@cavecreek.com to request additional IP addresses. Q. Which Operating System should I choose for my Dedicated server? A. If you'd like to have your server managed by the Cavecreek Systems Administration team, we suggest CentOS Linux for most purposes. Just like with Shared accounts, you may find that you need Windows, FreeBSD, or an alternate distribution of Linux for a specific purpose. These are available as well. Contact Sales for additional details on the installation of an alternate operating system. Also take a moment to review our Managed Plans for more information on the services provided by the Systems Administration team. If you have your own systems administrators, follow their suggestion on operating system choice. Q. Can I resell space on my Dedicated server? A. Cavecreek does permit reselling of space on your dedicated server. However we recommend that if you choose to do so, these services only be performed by experienced systems administrators as there are many usability and security concerns that need to be addressed when planning to offer virtual web hosting services. Remember that Cavecreek will only provide systems administration support to you or your company directly and not to your clients. Q. How many sites can I host on my Dedicated server? A. Cavecreek does not put solid limits on how many sites you can host. Any limitations on the number of web sites per dedicated server will be based on system specifications and capacity. Q. What kinds of services can I run on my Dedicated server? A. While most Dedicated servers are used exclusively for Web hosting, you are free to run any types of services within the system's capacity. This may include streaming media servers, gaming servers, Voice over IP conference servers, and more. If you choose to operate services that we do not provide, there may be situations in which third-party software support is needed. A couple examples on the server side would be ShoutCAST or Real Networks' "Helix" server. If you are having problems dealing with your Email client or web creation software, we will verify the server settings and test them to make sure they work. We will do everything on the systems administration side we can to keep your site running as smoothly as possible. In situations where the third-party software vendor allows it, we can work directly with them to handle server side problems on your behalf.
Q. What is a Domain Name? A. Your domain name (www.yourdomainname.com) is a component of your Internet address that is assigned to you and allows anyone on the World Wide Web to locate your website. It is a permanent address that follows you anywhere in the world, no matter where you might move. It is a very powerful tool for an individual or business to use. It enables you to send and receive E-mail for personal and business use. Q. How do I register a domain through Cavecreek? A. Cavecreek performs domain name registration for as low as $15.00 a year per domain. This service is available to Cavecreek customers only. Q. What type of domain extensions can be used? A. We are able to host any domain extension. However, our domain registration abilities are limited to certain extensions. Q. Do you host foreign domains? A. Yes, we host all types of foreign and domestic domains. Q. How long can a name be? A. Cavecreeks' registration service can register long domain names. The domain name length can be from 2 characters up to 63 characters plus the extension. Q. What kind of characters can a domain name include? A. Valid characters are the letters (a-z) and the numbers (0-9). The hyphen (-) can be used as long as it is combined with valid characters, and it cannot be a leading or trailing character. If you use capital letters, they will be converted to lower case, which is the format that the domain name server (DNS) recognizes. Q. Can I find out if a domain if it is already taken? A. You can search for this information at http://www.internic.net/whois.html. A search here will also return information on the owner of a domain if it is already taken. Q. What does it cost to register a domain? A. We participate in the recent expansion of the domain name registration system. This expansion has lowered the cost to register a domain to only $15.00. Certain other registrars who were providing the registration before the expansion are still charging higher amounts. Q. How long does the registration last? A. You can register a domain for up to ten years. The cost is $15.00 per year registered. You should renew your registration about 30 days before the end of the current term. Q. How long does it take to register a domain? A. Be sure to allow 24 to 48 hours after registration or adding hosting, so that your account can be set up. Your E-mail should arrive soon after (depending on your mail service). Please read the E-mail to determine if the registration was successful. Q. Do I own the name? A. No, you have entered into an agreement to use the domain name. If there are other considerations such as trademark, or prior use issues, then the domain may revert to the other party. Q. What is a DNS server? A. DNS servers are the computers that resolve the name to a network (IP) address. Cavecreek provides this service on your behalf. Q. What is a URL? A. A URL is an Internet address which allows anyone on the World Wide Web to find a website instead of having to use an IP address to find the website. Q. How do I change my DNS settings? A. Contact support@cavecreek.com for assistance with changing your DNS settings.
Q. Can I get POP accounts for my domain name? A. Yes. For shared and budget accounts it's set up by default. For dedicated and colocated accounts, it's available provided Cavecreek knows the domains to set it up for. Q. How long will it take my e-mail account to become active and accessible? A. Be sure to allow 24 to 48 hours after registration or adding hosting, so that your account can be setup. Q. What's the size limit on e-mail messages? A. The maximum size of an e-mail message that Cavecreek allows is 5Mb. If the message is larger than the maximum, it will not be delivered to its destination. In this case, Cavecreek keeps a copy of the message on the server. Q. How do I set up my e-mail account? A. E-mail may only be setup after a server or server space is available, unless already existing. Shared accounts must contact customer support to have their e-mail activated. Dedicated and colocated accounts may setup their own e-mail through Cavecreeks' control panel. You may reach customer support 24x7 by telephone (1-888-906-0666) or email at support@cavecreek.com. Q. Do you offer virus protection? A. Yes. It is installed on the server free for all hosted clients. Q. What programs can be used to access e-mail? A. All POP clients can be used – any program which downloads the files from our server onto your computer. You can also access your e-mail through our control panel using web mail. Q. How can I manage my e-mail users and how can I setup mail redirection for my users? A. You can add or delete POP boxes using our control panel. You redirect mail by editing the address, un-forwarding to the POP box (which deletes it if that's the only reference to it) and forwarding to whatever e-mail address you desire. Q. What is an e-mail alias? A. An alias is nothing more than a different address for the same mailbox. Every message sent to the alias address will go to the main mailbox. For example, if you send mail to webmaster@yourdomain.com, that address is forwarded to where you normally check your email. It can be one location or multiple locations; however, you need it structured. We are able to meet your requirements for email alias allotment at no extra charge. Q. Can I access my e-mail from anywhere on the Internet? A. Your e-mail can be accessed anytime from anywhere in the world through Web Mail. All that is required to do this is the ability to access the Internet through a browser. The Web Mail utility is available on Cavecreeks' control panel. Q. How can I make sure I do not lose e-mail when I move over to Cavecreek? A. Do not cancel your old service before you receive the Welcome Letter indicating your new Cavecreek account is active. Once the account is active, upload your site content and use the e-mail control panel to create e-mail addresses right away. Once that is complete, you can change the WHOIS information on your domain to point to Cavecreeks' DNS servers. Once your e-mail and the site is hosted from Cavecreek servers, the final step would be canceling your previous hosting plan.
Q. What is Microsoft FrontPage? A. Microsoft FrontPage is an Internet Web page authoring, creation and management tool. We only recommend the use of FrontPage when the site either exists as or is planned to be a FrontPage-enabled site; otherwise we suggest using Adobe's Dreamweaver. Q. What are the limitations of using FrontPage Server Extensions? A. FrontPage enabled sites can only be used on Windows Servers. Advanced server features are not available on Windows Shared accounts, but FrontPage Server Extensions are available.
Q. What is FTP? A. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP programs are used to transfer files from one computer to another. This differs from “downloading” files via a web browser because FTP can also “upload” files to a remote computer. Q. How do you use FTP? A. You need to have an FTP client program downloaded and installed on your computer. You will need to use “passive” mode for transferring files. Please see the documentation from your FTP program for further instructions in its use. Q. How do I connect to your server? A. Using your FTP program, you'll need to enter four pieces of information: The address, port number, username and password. The address that you'll connect to is www.yourdomainname.com, the port is 21, and your username and password are the same that you login with. Be sure to allow 24 – 48 hours after registration or adding hosting, so that your account can be set up. Q. Is anonymous FTP available? A. No. Q. What if I can't connect or get an access denied message? A. If you are denied access after entering your ID or username and password, check your welcome email to verify all of your settings. If you still experience problems, e-mail support@cavecreek.com for assistance.
Q. How do I administer my Windows Server 2003? A. Windows Server 2003 allows systems administrators to manage their server remotely through a Remote Desktop client. Remote Desktop clients are available for Windows, MacOS and Linx: Q. How do I completely disconnect a Terminal Services session? A. The Terminal Server Remote Administration Service only allows two simultaneous remote connections. Instructions for correctly closing your connection:
Q. Where can I find additional information about Windows Servers? A. Please refer to the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/default.mspx for a comprehensive and detailed listing of information on Windows Servers.
Q. What web services are available? A. On our shared Linux accounts, we offer Apache with PHP, MySQL, CGI, and Perl support. For secure SSL enabled accounts we also offer SSL certificate support and a dedicated IP address for your site. For Linux or other UNIX-like dedicated servers, all of the above are supported plus additional features. See our dedicated FAQ for more information. Q. What should I name my default document? A. The default document is the one that opens when you type either the domain name (http://www.yourdomain.com) or a directory (http://www.yourdomain.com/directory). The supported names are anything such as index.htm, index.html, index.shtml, index.cgi, home.htm or home.html. Q. How do I use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for secure transmission? A. It is quite simple to use our SSL capabilities here at Cavecreek. There are two ways to do this.
Q. Do you support server-side includes (SSI)? A. Yes, we support SSI. You need to use the file extension “.shtml” when naming your documents. Q. Do you support custom .htaccess directives? A. Yes, you can use RewriteRules, custom ErrorDocument directives, and custom Redirect directives if you so desire. Please remember to be very careful with these functions, they are for advanced users only.
Q. What is a bit rate? A. The term bit rate refers to the number of bits used per unit of time in continuous play digital media such as audio or video. Bit rate is quantified by bits per second (bps) to measure quantity/time and represents the amount of information that is stored per unit of time in the file. There are 8 bits per byte. Q. What are the Bandwidth limits for the service? A. Bandwidth is scalable depending on need. Our service can handle high capacity, high bandwidth streaming, and our sales representatives can give you a detailed quote for special network needs. Q. What formats can I use to deliver my media files? A. Some popular file formats that can be used for streaming are Windows Media, Real Media, Quick Time, Macromedia Flash and Shockwave. Q. What is Streaming? A. Streaming is a media delivery method used to deliver compressed content to consumers in a continuous flow, allowing consumers to view content before a download fully completes. This method is ideal for live audio and video formats such as radio and television, but is also used for on-demand content. The primary goal of streaming in any situation is to deliver content to consumers quickly. Q. What are the advantages to using Streaming? A. Streaming is advantageous for several reasons. Consumers can begin viewing their requested content right away instead of waiting for it to finish downloading. Streaming also doesn't require that your consumers have large amounts of disk space or memory available, as the content is discarded as soon as it has completed playing. Content owners have several options with streaming media, including the ability to adjust your data rate to meet the needs of your audience (low- or high-bandwidth users). Q. What is Progressive Download? A. With Progressive Download, the media is actually downloaded to a consumer's computer and played as it is buffered (loaded to memory). The primary goal of progressive download is consistent quality no matter the connection speed, meaning the file will play exactly the same from computer to computer. If your consumer has a high-bandwidth connection, it may appear to be streaming. Q. What are the advantages of Progressive Download? A. Progressive Download does have an advantage in that it offers high quality no matter the connection speed of the consumer. Even though play may be choppy during the download on slower connections, once the entire clip is downloaded the quality is the same as what a user with a high-speed connection would have. Progressive download can be ideal for short video clips, and the user can have the ability to pause, stop, rewind, and fast-forward that they won't have in streaming media. Q. Should I use Streaming or Progressive Download? A. That really depends on your needs as a content provider. If you are broadcasting live shows, or offering longer movie downloads, streaming may well be the option for you. Alternately, if many of your users are on low-bandwidth connections and your media clips are limited to a few minutes, you may want to consider using a progressive download system. Or, perhaps you will need a mixture of both to provide the best service to your consumers? No matter the need, our friendly sales representatives can help you with finding the right balance for you. Q. What types of media would I use Streaming for? A. Streaming has endless possibilities. You can use it for video clips, movies, music, radio shows, pod casts, live events and more! Q. How do I encode a file for Streaming? A. Video or audio editing software can often export to streaming formats. Examples are Windows Media Encoder, Flip4Mac, QuickTime Pro and Macromedia Flash. Q. What is the difference between On-Demand Streaming and Live Streaming? A. On-Demand Streaming involves streaming pre recorded events and media from the website. This scenario is often used with media libraries or pay per view and membership style sites. DRM is easily managed with this option. Live streaming involves streaming media directly from the server at the time of recording. This situation is often used for live entertainment and social events as well as press conferences and the like. DRM can be accomplished on live streams provided the computer capturing the stream is also doing the encoding. Q. How are licenses delivered for Streaming? A. Files are protected by Windows Media Encoder and placed on the server for streaming. Licenses are requested when users download the file or tune into the stream. Q. How much server space do I need for Streaming? A. This depends on the size of the media library. For a rough estimate you can multiply the bit rate by the number of seconds of total media. If you have 100 films, each 30 minutes long and encoded at 200 kbps, there are a total of 36 million kilobits (100*(30*60)*200) and since there are 8 bits in a byte and 1024 kilobytes in a megabyte, the total storage required is 4,394 megabytes—roughly 4 gigabytes. Q. How much bandwidth do I need for Streaming? A. This depends on the bit rate and the number of simultaneous connections. You can multiply your anticipated connections and the bit rate they are encoded at. So, if you anticipate 30 simultaneous visitors at your peak time watching videos encoded at 200 kbps, then a total 6 megabits per second of upstream bandwidth are required during that peak time.
Q. I received an email that says “Please investigate the appended UCE complaint and take appropriate action.” Why? A. This notification is sent when an email is reported by a recipient as SPAM. Our abuse system receives a complaint, identifies the client by IP, domain, or other information in the header or body of the email, and sends you this notification. Q. How can I remove a consumer from my mailing list if you don't give me the email address? A. The complaints and notifications of abuse are sent to you to help you identify issues. They are not intended to be used as a subscription cancellation service. If you are receiving these complaints there is most likely something unclear with the emails that you are sending and the notifications serve to give you a heads-up so that the problem can be corrected. Check to make sure that your subscription process is opt-in and that the cancellation procedures are clearly marked and included in every email that you send. Q. I'm sending emails, but they aren't SPAM. Why are they being reported as SPAM? A. Your email may be unclear in stating its purpose or the recipient's subscription status. When sending emails to consumers, please make certain that you follow a few simple rules to prevent confusion as to the origin of the emails:
Q. I do send Unsolicited Bulk Email, but I make certain that it complies with the US CAN-SPAM Act. Why do you call this SPAM? A. The US CAN-SPAM Act outlaws the sending of SPAM with false or misleading sender information along with other specified conditions. We do not distinguish between legal or illegal SPAM, and our Acceptable Use Policy specifically prohibits the sending of SPAM and does not differentiate between compliance and non-compliance with the US CAN-SPAM Act. Q. My mailing list is opt-in, why do I still receive complaints? A. We recommend using what is often called a “closed-loop, confirmed opt-in” process. This ensures that your consumer really wants to receive emails from you and lowers the risk that they will perceive your messages as SPAM. Q. I have a closed-loop subscription process already, but I'm still receiving complaints. Why? A. Make sure that the process for removing consumers from the mailing list is included in every correspondence sent to mailing list members. A link that automatically cancels subscriptions when clicked is preferred. Alternately, you can link to a site specifically geared to cancelling subscriptions or include an email address for subscription cancellation. Any cancellation actions initiated by the consumer should be completed immediately. Q. I received a list of consumers from a third party. How can I make sure that these consumers really want to be included on my mailing list? A. First, check the process that the third party uses to collect information and answer these questions:
Q. I've received a lot of notifications from your organization; do I have to respond to every one? A. Typically, yes. We need to know what you are doing to correct the problem. If you receive an unusually high number of complaints or notifications, please respond to three or four of them and acknowledge the overall issues, along with telling us what you are doing to resolve the problem. Q. Can you send the notifications to more than one email address? A. Unfortunately we cannot. However, you can set up an alias on your end that will forward the notifications to more than one person. If you choose this option please make sure you contact us to give us the alias email address. Q. What if I don't answer the notifications? A. Our Acceptable Use Policy strictly prohibits sending SPAM. If you ignore the notifications that we send we must assume that the complaints are justified and your account could be terminated. |
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