Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I host my site(s) with you?

Because we take care of you. Personally. No call center rep who don't know (or care about) your history or situation. No factory floor just interested in quick and easy turnover but a personal one-to-one contact who will help you out and be behind you when you have problems.

Can I upgrade or downgrade from one plan to another?

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade from one domain plan to another at any time. There is no fee for upgrading or downgrading.

What happens if I go over my bandwidth/disk space quota?

We bill you overages: $5 per GB bandwidth over the plan and $5 per 100MB diskspace. There are different ways you can avoid the overages: (1) upgrade to the next available plan or (2) purchase extra storage space or bandwidth (available from either the Web Hosting or Resellers order pages).

How do I setup subdomains/aliases/domain-pointers?

Assume for this example that your domain is called mydomain.com. When we setup this domain we automatically setup a few domain aliases: www.mydomain.com, mail.mydomain.com and ftp.mydomain.com. Depending on your plan you may be able to create a number of subdomains. Subdomains are domains under your main domain. Say for example your domain is example.com, subdomains could for example be: gallery.example.com, forums.example.com, joe.example.com.

You may add aliases to your main domain. Aliases are also known as domain-pointers. Aliases are not based on your main domain name but use the exact same content as the main domain while keeping a different URL. Aliases are setup on request - simply open a ticket in the helpdesk with the alias you would like to add.

What are the advantages/disadvantages in using Microsoft Frontpage Extensions?

If you intend to use MS Frontpage it would probably be useful to have the Exntensions available on the webserver. MS FP has a simple user interface that allows a user to control aspects of the webserver such as for example access control.

If you are not using MS Frontpage as your HTML client and/or you wish to have standard .htaccess control you should not choose to use MS Frontpage Extensions.

MS frontpage is very buggy and we recommend NOT using it.

Do you accept International orders?

Absolutely! We are pleased to host customers from all over the world.

Can I pay with Paypal?

Yes, absolutely.

I dont' have (or want) a Paypal account - can I pay with my credit card?

Certainly! Just select "Credit Card" on the order form and you are instead redirected to 2CO, one onf the largest payment processor gateways on the Internet.

How do I cancel my account?

To cancel a subscription please login to your payment operator (Paypal or 2CO) and cancel the payment there. This effectively will cancel your account.

Do you provide hosting for adult sites?

No. We do not allow adult content on WebScorpion.com. There are many other venues on the Internet for that type of material, such as AdultHostSolutions.com. Serving adult material or pornography from our servers is a violation of the Terms of Service.

Do you have a demo available of your control panel?

You can see a demo of our control panels here:

Ensim

Plesk

(sites opens in new window)

The control panesl allows you to control and set almost all of the parameters available on your domain. It is also where you'll be able to setup mail aliases, access web-based e-mail, view site statistics, and protect access to directories on your website. There is online help for the control panels.

Do I get shell access?

Yes — though our servers are protected against plain telnet sessions. To get shell access you'll need to use a Secure Shell (SSH) client application. Several good ssh clients are available, some free and some commercial.

You can download a free copy of Putty from this page: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

SecureCRT is a commercial alternative with a 30 days fully functional evaluation available for download from https://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/index.html

Can I connect directly from my PC/workstation to my MySQL database on the server?

For security reasons we block direct access to port 3306 (MySQL) but you can setup SSH tunneling from your PC to your shell account, and via that access the MySQL server. We do not provide support for this, but there are many excellent websites explaining how to set it up. Try for example http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Windows_and_SSH.html.

Can I use my own nameserver?

You can use your nameservers or ours. Optionally you can have personal (vanity) nameservers (e.g. ns1.yourdomain.com) - see the individual plans for prices. You are responsible for registering your personal nameservers through the registrar with whom they registered their domain. After registration it will take 24-72 hours before your Nameservers are active.

Can I have anonymous FTP or SSL on my website?

Yes, but you'll have to convert to a unique IP based site (see the Web Hosting page for prices)

How much do you charge to install a SSL certificate?

Nothing. We'll even install you a selfcertified certificate for free. You will need an unique IP address for SSL however (see the Web Hosting page for prices).

Can I use standard .htaccess controls to directories and files?

If you don't use FrontPage or FrontPage extensions, you can use standard .htaccess control. If you use Frontpage you must use the FP Permissions Management Interface utility in your Ensim control panel to control file and directory access. You cannot use both. Do not manually create or edit .htaccess files if you are using FrontPage extensions as this will cause problems for Frontpage.

Can I add additional applications to my web site?

Within reason, yes, as long as they do not adversely impact the the server. However, if what you put up impacts performance or stability, the application will be removed.

If you're looking for a specific utility or common rpm, check with us first — in most cases we can easily add it to your domain.

What, specifically, do you do to prevent spam and virii from reaching our mail boxes?

All incoming mail is checked and tagged using Spamassassin and MailScanner/ClamAV antivirus. We do not delete spam, just tag it in a way that let you easily sort the mail directly on the server using a procmail script or in an email client such as Outlook. Any known virus detected by ClamAV are removed and the mail forwarded with a notice.

Can I use a standard .procmail to control my mail?

Yes. Procmail is installed and will use a local .procmail if found.

Can we ban specific IP addresses or ranges?

Yes. We can ban an IP address or range from the server. Please provide the details of any offence and the specifics of how you determined the IP address to ban and what steps you took to identify the source.

What if I forgot my password?

Just open a ticket in our helpdesk and we will reset your password(s). As long as you can get into your site control panel, you can change/reset most passwords yourself.

How do I set the system time?

We keep the base system time set in sync with a time server on "Coordinated Universal Time" (UTC). If your prefer to have your domain's time set to another time zone, please open a ticket in our helpdesk with the details.

What if I really messed up my site?

We take weekly backups of all sites and can restore your complete site, database(s) or individual files as necessary. In cases of repeated restores we reserve the right to charge a months fee per restore. Keep in mind this is not an archive. Only one set of backups is kept. It is the users responsiblity to maintain proper archives.

What about system maintenance?

Every computer system has to have system maintenance. Typically, we will keep the server running for as long as possible with with minimal reboots and changes. We maintain a better than 99.9% uptime.

I see company XYZ offering 600 GB disk space for $6.95 month - throwing in a free domain name. Why can't you do that?

Webhosting companies offering virtually unlimited packages are covered by the small print. Read the rules carefully and you will find all the things you are not allowed to store on the server - any form of copyrighted material of course, any music or video files (mp3/mp4/divx/avi files). They will all have an open-ended clause like "any activity that affect the safe running of the server" - that's basically a blank cheque right there making it easy to get rid of anyone who actually use the resources they offer. One even answer this question on their own FAQ page with the following statement: "Research shows the average web site is only 25MB."

One such hosting company with big flashy ads offering "Free domain name and setup" apparently for just $6.95 - but when you sign up you will see that to get this condition you need to sign for minimum two years. Anything less and they bill you $15 for the domain name and another $15 for setup.

It's all down to marketing. Call us old-fashioned but we decided from the beginning that we wanted to be honest and straight, no fancy footwork or creative marketing gimmick here!

Why don't you have any awards?

Marketing again. Virtually all the "awards" hosting companies use to look good are awarded by companies whose business it is to promote websites. Ad revenue pays for awards.

Anything Missing?

If you think there would be other good topics covered here, or additional "How To" or useful examples, please let us know and we will consider adding it to the FAQ! If you see any wrong information or "typos", please also let us know.