FAQ Menu

1. General Inquires
2. Domain Inquires
3. Hosting Inquires
4. Email Inquires
5. Payment Inquires
6. FTP Inquires
7. Server Inquire

General Inquiries:
Do you offer Internet access?
How do I contact you with further questions?
Do you offer a database system?
Which SSL technology do you offer?
Can I run cron tasks to update pages daily?
Do you support VRML 1.0 and 2.0 mime types wrl and mus?
Can I set up secure forms on my server?
Do you offer backward compatibility browser detection?
Do your virtual servers offer raw log files?
Can we set up password protected areas with htaccess?
Which languages are supported in CGI?
What version of Perl does VHS use?
Do you provide a CGI-BIN personal directory?
Do you charge additional fees for hosting a secure web site?
Does VHS offer SSI?
What cgi scripts are pre-installed on the server?
What is CGI access?
Help! My site is not working!

Domain Inquires:
Who is your Domain Registrar?
Do you have to have a domain name to sign up for a hosting plan?

Hosting Inquires:
What is a virtual server?
Can I access my domain address with or without the "www"?
How do I order a virtual server at VHS?
How long does it take to set up a Virtual Server?
Does VHS support Macintosh systems?
Can I resell my space to have subdomains?
How much is extra bandwidth and/or storage space?
Do I have to pay extra to have shopping cart with any server packages?

Email Inquires:
What programs can be used to access e-mail?
What is an Email alias and how many do I have?
What is Web Mail?
Is there a limit to how many Email accounts can be forwarded?
Can I use Bulk Email to promote my new VHS web site?
How do I manage my Email users?
Is sendmail installed on your servers?

Payment Inquires:
What type of payments do you accept?
What are your terms of payment?
What does it cost to transfer a domain name?
What additional fees do you have?

FTP Inquires:
Do you have FTP and FTP Anonymous access?
Do you have a limit on FTP transfers?

Server Inquires:
Will your virtual servers work with older browser versions and text-mode browsers?
What is your average server uptime?
What web server software do your servers run?
What are your server types?
How many client sites are put on each web server?
Can I run cgi scripts outside your CGI-BIN directory?
Do you support Java servlets (JSP)?
Do your servers support Cold Fusion?

Do you offer Internet access?
Not yet, however we are looking into Wireless Connections in the Midwest as a future expansion possibility.

Whom can I contact by phone or e-mail if further questions come up?
The quickest response will be sending Email to: sales@virtualhostingsolutions.com or you can call 1-866-VHS-HOST

Do you have a database system?
We use MySQL. MySQL is one of them most popular and easy-to-use database program. Visit www.mysql.com for more information.

Do you use Netscape's SSL technology?
No, we use Apache-SSL which is much more secure than Netscape SSL.

Can I run cron tasks to update pages daily?
Yes.

I would like to know if you support VRML 1.0 and 2.0 mime types wrl and mus?
Our server packages support these. You can set your own mime types with your .htaccess file or through your Domain Controller.

Can I set up forms for secure transmission?
Yes. This is a standard part of your package.

Do you offer backward compatibility browser detection?
Yes.

Does each virtual server have its own raw log files?
Yes. Each server has it's own raw log files. HTTP-Annalyze is offered as a standard feature which will report your Log Statistics, however you can download your log files for use in other statistic packages such as Web Trends, etc.

Can we set up password protected areas with htaccess?
Yes. You also have the ability to protect files and directories through your Domain Controller.

Which languages are supported in CGI?
Bourne, Shell, and Perl are all supported and available. VHS does not offer Java support as of yet.

What version of Perl does VHS use?
We recently upgraded our servers to Version 5.6.0

Do you provide a CGI-BIN personal directory?
Yes, all hosting accounts are provided a CGI-BIN.

Do you charge additional fees for hosting a secure web site?
No. All hosting packages offer secure server for free. This is a shared secure server you can access by https://host.virtualhostingsolutions.com/yourdomain/yourfile.html. If you prefer you can purchase your own Secure Cert and easily set it up through your Domain Controller. We are an authorized Partner of Thawte. If you order a Thawte Certificate, enter our partner name VIRTUALSOLUTIONS for a $25 discount.

Does VHS offer SSI?
Yes, SSI is available on our servers. Be sure that you call your files with the .shtml extension.

What cgi scripts are pre-installed?
We offer the following scripts on our servers: pgpmail.pl, formmail.pl and count.cgi

What is CGI access?
CGI scripts (Common Gateway interface) are used to provide functions such as counters, form responses, guest books, and many others. VHS gives you full CGI access on all server packages! You can run almost all server scripts on your Server Package, however you are responsible for your own programming.

Help! My site is not working!
Please check your www directory in the file manager and be sure your index page is named index.html, not index.htm.

Who is your Registrar?
Our Registrar is BulkRegister.com. It is a members only, B2B registrar that offers some of the most competitive registration fees in the industry. The most popular registrar is still Network Solutions, however with the competitive field wide open now, they are slowly loosing market share. All registrars must be accredited by ICAN (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) to offer top level domain names.

Do you have to have a domain name to sign up for a hosting package?
Yes, you must have a domain name to set up your account. You can register one at the same time you set up your account.

What is a virtual server?
Having a Virtual Server is very much the same as setting up your own computer on the Internet with out the expensive hardware and connection fees. You have your own domain name (http://www.yourname.com) and your own IP address (Internet Protocol). You have your own Email address, (you@yourname.com). For all intents and purposes, the average person surfing the web would never know the difference between a site hosted on your own server box or a virtual server.

Can I access my domain address with or without the "www"?
Yes, you can access the domain address with or without the "www" in front of the domain name.

How do I order a virtual server at VHS?
You can easily order a server by filling out a our secure online order form. Your virtual server will be set up within 20 minutes of the time you register..

How long does it take to set up a Virtual Server?
Your Virtual Server will be set up within 20 minutes of using our online Secure order form! You will be assigned a user name and IP address that you can use immediately until your domain name is set up or transferred.

Does VHS support Macintosh systems?
Sure. You can use the Fetch program to transfer files from your MAC to our system. You can also use the POP e-mail programs like Eudora, Claris E-mail and Netscape Mail.

Can I resell my space to have subdomains?
We do not allow hosting of more than one account per IP as of now. You can have pointed domains but we do not allow the sharing of web space.

How much is extra bandwidth and/or storage space?
It is $10/gig per month with a limit of 10 gig total/month. Additional disk space is $5/month for 20MB of extra storage space. Up to 300MB total.

Do I have to pay extra to have shopping cart with any server packages?
No, the standard shopping cart is included with Advanced and Professional packages. In the next two months we will also offer an upgraded shopping cart system that offers real time credit card solutions. This will be offered as an upgrade item.

What programs can be used to access e-mail?
All POP clients can be used: Outlook, Eudora, Pine, etc. You can use any program which downloads the files from our server onto your computer. You can use mail user agents which run on our servers (such as pine), with a special configuration. You cannot use IMAP programs.

What is an Email alias and how many do I have?
An e-mail alias means if you send mail to anything@yourdomain.com, that address is aliased to whomever needs to receive it. It can be one person or multiple people, however you set it up. You can have as many as you want - Unlimited!

Is there a limit to how many Email accounts can be forwarded?
You are only limited to the number of Email accounts your plan has.

What is Web Mail?
Virtual Hosting Solutions' new web mail is a web based system that performs the same functions as your POP Email account, only it can be done online and through your browser. Once installed you can send, receive, and view all the mail from your Email account from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Your web mail can be accessed by going to www.yourdomain.com/up.

Can I use Bulk Email to promote my new VHS web site?
Spamming is in violation of our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). There are legal and ethical issues involved in mass mailing of unsolicited Email Any violations of our AUP can result in having your account suspended or shut down with in 24 hours of the violation pending an investigation.

How can I manage my e-mail users?
To add or delete POP boxes, use you Mail Manager in your Domain Controller at http://yourdomain.com/menu. All functions of the Email are controlled here.

Do you have sendmail installed?
Yes, it is available on our servers.

What type of payments do you accept?
We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. You can also pay by check. The system is set up for convenient payments on credit cards. You can change your billing information at anytime in your Domain Controller. Checks need to be posted within 10 days of the billing date to avoid interruption in your service. Credit card payments are automatically taken out on the due date.

What are your terms of payment?
We offer monthly, quarterly, biannual and yearly payments. Discounts are offered for Quarterly - 5%, Biannual - 10%, and Yearly - 20% when paid up front.

What does it cost to transfer a the domain name?
There is no fee to transfer a domain to our servers. If you would like to transfer a domain to our Registrar to take advantage of our low $18 yearly domain fees, then the cost is only the first year fee. ($18)

What additional fees do you have?
The only additional fees are:
Excess Bandwidth- $10.00/GB/month (1 GB = 1000 MB)
20 MB Disk Space- $5.00/month
10 POP Email accts. - $4.00/month
Parking- $10 one time setup fee/domain
Virtual Name Servers for Non Reseller Account - $10/month
  (or additional nameservers after your first one on the top packages)
Subdomains - $10 setup, $2/month/subdomain

Do you have FTP and FTP Anonymous access?
Yes, we provide both services on all accounts except the Basic account. Anonymous FTP is not available with the Basic account.

Do you have a limit on the FTP transfer?
No. There is no limit on how often you can update your website.

Will your virtual servers work with older browser versions and text-mode browsers?
Since you have your own IP on your Virtual Server, Lynx type browsers will work with your server.

What is your average server uptime?
Our servers have an unprecedented 99.6% uptime rating. They are monitored 24/7 by our NOC staff.

What web server software do your servers run?
Apache 1.3.6

What are your server types?
Our servers operate with Linux Redhat, UNIX servers.

How many client sites are put on each web server?
It truly depends on the server load of each server. This number can run between 250 - 500 sites per server. We like to keep our peak CPU load at 10% or less at all times. To achieve this we may move accounts to other servers if needed to balance the load.

Can I run cgi scripts outside my CGI-BIN directory?
No, all cgi scripts must be kept in the CGI-BIN directory.

Do you support Java servlets (JSP)?
Yes, we have just installed Java Servlet Zone and Servlet Manager on all server packages with the exception of the Basic package. This feature can be access through your Domain Controller.

Do your servers support Cold Fusion?
Not at this time.