http://www.ascenthosting.com/forum/presales/ http://www.ascenthosting.com/forum/presales/topic-33/?recent=33 Hardware Administration We closely monitor all customer hardware to pro-actively identify and resolve any hardware issues in order to provide the highest possible levels of uptime and performance. We have physical access to all servers managed by Ascent, and have spare equipment on hand in order to perform quick replacements on bad hardware if neccessary. Ascent uses only quality hardware in all our dedicated, VPS and shared servers. Each server is built with Supermicro hardware and are properly cooled server-quality rackmounted servers. Software Administration We will do the complete installation and configuration of your server from start to finish. This includes configuring everything needed to start populating the server with your customers and web sites, including the configuration of cPanel, nightly backups (onto second hard drive), and all other neccessary software. We will pro-actively apply security patches to your server as neccessary only after communicating with you to arrange a convenient time. We closely monitor all aspects of the server in order to ensure the highest possible uptime, as well to provide you valuable insight on your server's performance.]]> generator=rsdiscuss&baseurl=http://www.ascenthosting.com&feed=forum&forum=presales&topic=33&post=33 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:54:43 +1000 http://www.ascenthosting.com/forum/presales/topic-24/?recent=24 How long will it take for my account to be set up? Your account will usually be set up within a maximum of six hours of order placement and payment during business hours (our time which is Australian Eastern Standard Time), and usually less than that. Setup time outside business hours generally occurs within a similar timeframe. Can I move my web site to Ascent from my existing host with minimal disruption to its availability? If your existing host provides you with CPanel and the ability to create backups of your home directory, then the process can be very quick indeed, with minimal disruption to your web site’s availability. Even if you don’t currently use CPanel, with a little pre-planning you can minimse disruption to the just the time it takes to upload your files and re-delegate your domain to our server. Simply download your site files to your local machine from your existing hosting account, so they are ready to upload to your new account via FTP as soon as it is set up. Then go to your domain registrar, log in and change your DNS settings to point to our nameservers (full details will be provided in your welcome email). Your new details should update (propogate) across the Internet within 72 hours. That’s it. We recommend that you don’t close your account with your current host until your domain’s new details are fully delegated so as to minimise any disruptions to your service. Generally around 7 days is sufficient/advisable for this purpose. Does Ascent maintain backups of my site files? Ascent is one of the few shared hosting providers we know of offering THREE levels of backup. 1. Your server is RAID mirrored, meaning it has three high performance hard drives not just one. When data like your web site’s html files, emails and databases is saved to the hard drive it is written (mirrored) to all three drives simultaneously. This insures you against hard drive failure. 2) Your server also has a (fourth) 400 GB hard drive, to which your data is backed up nightly. This is an on-site backup. 3) Weekly backups are encrypted and then sent to our secure, offsite Network Attached Storage Service, which for security and safety is located in a datacentre in another state entirely. So three levels of security will give you complete peace of mind is safe and secure. It’s what helps make us such a reliable host. Does your existing host provide this level of service? It is still your responsibility to maintain your own backups and store them off-site (such as your local machine) as we cannot guarantee the 100% integrity of backups. We offer plenty of tutorials, the knowledgebase and support forums are available here on site to help you with this and many other tasks. Does Ascent offer a choice of billing cycle? Yes. You can choose to pay for your account monthly or annually. Does Ascent require me to sign up for a minimum period? No, you can pay monthly. In addition we offer a pro-rated 30 day money back guarantee. What forms of payment does Ascent accept? Plans can be purchased with a credit card, we also accept payment via Paypal. Direct deposit is also available. Details required to make a direct transfer payment are contained in our invoice, which will be sent to you via email upon completion of signup. What is PayPal? Is it a safe and secure way to make purchases online? PayPal, the trusted leader in online payments, enables buyers and businesses to send and receive money online. PayPal has over 96 million member accounts in 55 countries and regions. It’s accepted by merchants everywhere, both on and off eBay. PayPal helps protect your credit card information with industry-leading security and fraud prevention systems. When you use PayPal, your financial information is never shared with the merchant. That means Ascent Hosting neither sees nor stores your sensitive information. Paypal is a free, convenient way to make purchases or send money. PayPal is accepted by millions of businesses worldwide and is the preferred payment method on eBay. What is Ascent Hosting’s support procedure? To receive support, please follow our procedure via the following steps - (1). Search the Knowledge Base and Support area’s of the forums for articles, tutorials or Flash video walk-throughs. (2). Then search through the entire forum database. (3). If you can’t find your solution, post your question into the Support forum. (4). If your support question is password sensitive or sensitive in general, please use our helpdesk at here. If you post a question into the Support Forum, be sure to let us know which server you’re on too. It’s difficult to match up client details to forum usernames at times. We ask you to post non-sensitive support requests in the Support forum rather privately via the help desk because the sharing of questions, answers, tips and tricks between all Ascent members will make everyone’s experience here a richer one. Sharing knowledge clearly benefits everyone. We monitor all forums closely and respond speedily to your questions no matter where they are posted - public or private. Of course, you are not obliged to post your question publicly if you choose not to - you are always welcome to use the helpdesk rather than the forums. For support, please don’t send personal messages [PM], or emails directly to Ascent staff. The PM feature is not for technical support. Any support messages received by PM box or email, are just replied with a friendly - “Please use the Helpdesk or Support Forum� response. All support that is not password sensitive or sensitive in any other way, should be posted into the “Support� forum for the betterment of the Ascent community.]]> generator=rsdiscuss&baseurl=http://www.ascenthosting.com&feed=forum&forum=presales&topic=24&post=24 Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:14:19 +1000 http://www.ascenthosting.com/forum/presales/topic-2/?recent=2 generator=rsdiscuss&baseurl=http://www.ascenthosting.com&feed=forum&forum=presales&topic=2&post=2 Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:52:17 +1000 http://www.ascenthosting.com/forum/presales/topic-1/?recent=1 generator=rsdiscuss&baseurl=http://www.ascenthosting.com&feed=forum&forum=presales&topic=1&post=1 Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:40:57 +1000