Welcome to our Frequently Asked Question 

Everything you always wanted to know about website design,  (but were afraid to ask!)

Click here to read our frequently asked questions, and find out the answers.

What is web hosting?
What is a domain name?
What is shared (virtual) web hosting?
What happens to my domain name when I switch hosts?
What is domain parking?
What does Web space and Bandwidth transfer mean?
How do I pay for web hosting?
What is uptime?
Should I use a Unix or Windows based server?
How can some hosts offer so much high transfer limits yet charge so little?
Are there any extra costs involved in hosting a secure site?
I don’t have any experience in making a website, where can I get help?
What is MySQL?
What is PostgreSQL?
What is PHP?
What  types of control panels that Hostingneedz use?
What is the difference between an affiliate and a reseller?
What is SSL and how does it used?
What are digital certificates?


What is web hosting?

Web hosting is the process of placing the files that make up your website on a web server for it to be published and served on the World Wide Web.  There are two main types of web hosting; free and paid.  Free web hosting is provided by companies that give their users a limited amount of storage and transfer.  In exchange for this service, the company often places banners on the websites for their own advertising purposes.  Paid web hosting usually involves the use of a domain name to direct internet users to your website, no banners or advertisements, and more storage, transfer and extra features.

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What is a domain name?

A domain name is a combination of letters and numbers that identify the location of your website.  An example of a domain name is “Yahoo.com”.  In order to get a domain, you must first register it.  This process usually includes, deciding on the right name with a correct suffix (.com, .net, .org, .gov), making sure that the name is available and then choosing the appropriate registrar.

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What is shared (virtual) web hosting?

Shared or virtual web hosting is the most common way to host websites.  It means that a web hosting company will have one or more servers serving multiple websites.  This allows the web hosting company to use resources more efficiently and provide cheaper rates.  The downside of this is that if one website is constantly using a large amount of resources, the other websites on the server will not receive the same amount.  Alternatives to shared web hosting are: dedicated, and co-location 

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What happens to my domain name when I switch hosts?

When you register a domain name, it belongs to you.  Regardless of where you registered it, you own that domain name and can freely move it around to whichever host you prefer.

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What is domain parking?

Domain parking allows you to reserve a domain name for a cheaper rate and some registrars even let you park it for free.   Another to ensure that your domain name will not be registered by anyone else is by registering it yourself even if you do not have a web host yet.

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What does Web space and Bandwidth transfer mean?

Web space is the amount of room your files take up on the server.  Depending on your package, this will vary.  HTML and text documents don’t usually take up much room whereas multimedia files such as pictures, sounds and videos tend to use up more.  Bandwidth transfer is measured by how much your visitors are allowed to download before you reach your monthly limit.  A lot of visitors going through a lot of your pages can create a lot of transfer.

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How do I pay for web hosting?

HostingNeedz accept MasterCard and Visa, American Express, via PayPal and checks* via mail.(*any returned checks are subject to a $35.00 administrative charge)

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What is uptime?

Uptime is the percentage of time that your website will be up and running.  Presently we advertise 99.9% uptime leaving just a few minutes to reboot the server.

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Should I use a Unix or Windows based server?

Your decision should be based on what type of features you need.  If you’re using IIS, ASP, VBScript, Windows Media, Microsoft SQL Server and don’t have any knowledge of Unix based solutions, you would be looking to use a Windows based server.  Although Linux based systems are most common among web hosts, as they provide many shared-hosting features, have a good history of stability and performance, and most importantly, Apache and Linux are free.

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How can some hosts offer so much high transfer limits yet charge so little?

Most website do not use half the space or the bandwidth alloted for each domain name and most hosting companies know this so when they offer you more they know that you don't need it.

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Are there any extra costs involved in hosting a secure site?

If you want to use Certificate Authority such as Verisign and Thawte, you will have to pay additional fees.

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I don’t have any experience in making a website, where can I get help?

You can use online tutorials to help you make your own website or We can create a website for you.  Prices for websites vary by the functionality and professionalism of the desired website.

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What is MySQL?

MySQL is the most popular open source database server in the world with more than 4 million installations powering websites, datawarehouses, business applications, logging systems and more.

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What is PostgreSQL?

Like MySQL, PostgreSQL is another open source database software.

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What is PHP?

PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.

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What types of control panels that HostingNeedz use?

Hostingneedz use most popular control panels CPanel, Plesk, Ensim’s WEBppliance,.

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What is the difference between an affiliate and a reseller?

Affiliates usually charge you for the initial setup of your hosting account then let the web host they are affiliated with to do the monthly billing, tech support etc.  Resellers on the other hand, handle everything themselves, the only thing that differentiates them is that they don’t provide the hosting service themselves.

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What is SSL and how does it used?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is the standard internet protocol for secure communications.  It is a connection-based protocol that uses encryption to offer authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation.  SSL is used typically between server and client to secure the connection. 

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What are digital certificates?

Certificates are digital documents that validate the authenticity of both parties.

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