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Frequently asked questions
Dedicated Servers FAQ
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- Can I save money by paying annually?
- Do you support Secure FTP?
- How long will it take to get my server online?
- How many sites can I put on the server?
- Is it possible to upgrade my server if I want a higher specification?
- What version of Linux/ php/ mySQL/ Apache/ Perl/ QMail do you install?
- Where do you house your servers?
- Can I buy my Microsoft Windows Server Licences elsewhere and give them to you?
- I want to run Windows SQL on my server, what licence will I need?
- What are the differences between the different versions of SQL 2005?
- What are the differences between the different versions of Windows 2003?
- What flavour of Linux do you use?
- What software comes as standard with the server?
- Which versions of Windows and SQL do you install on your dedicated servers?
- Can you help with uploading the latest patches?
- Do you offer a Service Level Agreement and if so what's included?
- Do you offer Load balancing?
- Do you provide firewall options?
- How can you help me manage my DNS?
- How do I calculate the amount of bandwidth Im using per month?
- How much is additional bandwidth?
- Is backup available?
- What amount of bandwidth do you get per calendar month?
- What stats packages do you provide? Do they come as standard?
- Can you notify me if there is a problem with the server?
- Do you offer 24-hour support?
- How can I contact you directly with any general questions?
- What is the 24 hour support telephone number?
Can I save money by paying annually?
Yes you can. If you pay for a year upfront we offer free set-up as standard, which means that you end up paying the equivalent of ten months instead of twelve, thereby getting 2 months free.
Do you support Secure FTP?
We don't support or set this up as standard. If this is something you are interested contact us 0800 4584545 and we can discuss your needs.
How long will it take to get my server online?
We keep a good quantity of servers in stock, which means we will have your server online within 5 working days of receiving your order, we keep you informed every step of the way.
How many sites can I put on the server?
This will depend on your requirements, obviously the less space you allocate to your websites, the more you can fit on your server, and vice versa.
Is it possible to upgrade my server if I want a higher specification?
Yes, you can even upgrade to a higher server before the end of your contract. We like to see our customers grow and we'll make it as easy as possible for you to design and build great-value solutions that strengthen your online business. To contact us about this call us on 0800 458 4545.
What version of Linux/ php/ mySQL/ Apache/ Perl/ QMail do you install?
These are the current versions of the software that we install onto our dedicated servers:
- Fedora Core 6
- php 5.1.x
- mySQL 5.x
- Apache 2.x
- Perl 5.8
- NetQmail 1.05
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Where do you house your servers?
We house our servers in the top 2 data centres in the UK, Telehouse Europe - London and MANOC - Manchester, facilities that are unsurpassed in the arena of data centres.
All our dedicated web hosting facilities are designed to provide optimum-operating environments, including controlled temperatures and humidity levels and state-of-the-art security systems.
Can I buy my Microsoft Windows Server Licences elsewhere and give them to you?
This is possible but thanks to the special relationship that UKFast has with Microsof, licences are now more affordable.
I want to run Windows SQL on my server, what licence will I need?
There are 2 ways of running a SQL database:
1. You can buy a license for a dedicated machine.
2. Or, you can run it off a shared machine with an existing license. This is certainly a cheaper solution but there is the possibility of other users slowing it down, which won't happen on a dedicated machine.
Call 0800 458 4545 to find out the best prices possible.
What are the differences between the different versions of SQL 2005?
A full comparison table of the differences between versions of SQL 2005 can be found on the Microsoft website.
What are the differences between the different versions of Windows 2003?
There are various differences and a full list of these can be found on the Microsoft Website
What flavour of Linux do you use?
As the most stable version we install Centos as standard. Designed for today's commercial environments we believe it offers our customers a reliable, secure, high performance platform from which to run their e-business.
As an alternative, we are able to provide Red Hat Enterprise, Fedora , Debian and Ubuntu.
What software comes as standard with the server?
The following high-performance software will be installed on your systems as standard:
| Software | Description | Windows | Linux |
| MySQL | A comprehensive, open-source database server |  | |
| PHP | HTML embedded scripted language used to create dynamic web pages | | |
| CGI (Perl) | A useful interface that allows web servers to perform data functions and interact with users | | |
| Apache | A secure and efficient web server over which you have complete control | | |
| A mail server for fast, effective e-mail | | | |
| Wu-FTPD | A popular FTP server facillitating rapid file transfer | | |
| FTP server | A popular program facillitating rapid file transfer | | |
| VNC Access | Popular, remote connection software for full control over your server | | |
| ASP | An application enabling the creation of interactive web content | | |
| CDOSYS | An integrated e-mail component for use with ASP scripts | | |
| IIS | A secure and efficient web server over which you have complete control | | |
However, this may change when there are new offers - you may end up with MORE inclusive softwares.
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Which versions of Windows and SQL do you install on your dedicated servers?
We offer the following versions of Windows Operating system:
- Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition
- Windows 2003 Server Web Edition
- Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition (per processor licence)
We offer the following versions of SQL:
- SQL 2005 Workgroup edition
- SQL 2005 Standard edition
- SQL 2005 Enterprise edition
- SQL 2008 Web edition
- SQL 2008 Workgroup edition
- SQL 2008 Standard edition
- SQL 2008 Enterprise edition
All Licences are available on a monthly payment option taking advantage of Microsoft's Service Provider's Licence Agreement (SPLA).
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Can I get additional IP addresses?
Yes, additional IP addresses are available for SSL, custom application, online banking applications etc. They come in bundles of 4, 8 or 10 and start at £75.00 for 4 .
How do I manage my backup?
Performing regular server backups is a must for every business that uses online applications for email, databases, websites or ecommerce. Your business cannot afford to lose this vital information.
UKFast's intelligent backup facility guarantees that all business-critical data is backed up right up to the moment catastrophe strikes, ready to serve again. Call us now on 0800 458 4545 to make sure your covered.
UKFast managed backup features:
- Weekly full system state server backup
- Daily incremental server backup, including your system state ?Intelligent, burstable quota starting at 50GB per server and up to 200GB ?Option to choose customised managed backup ?Full management of your server backup solution and completion of the recovery process
How do UKFast's burstable quotas work?
Your standard backup quota is 50GB and UKFast allows this quota to burst to 200GB. We are enabling you to actually use 300% more space than this. The caveat is that your usage MUST fall below 50GB once in any 14 day period. Should your total usage not fall below this 50GB limit in any given 14 day period, your backups will fail and it will no longer be possible to restore your data. In this situation, your Account Manager will contact you to establish exactly what your required quota is and to discuss how to put this in place.
The intelligent, burstable regime ensures a flexible quota sufficient to provide ongoing and uninterrupted backup for 87% of the UKFast client base.
Customising your backups, it's the intelligent choice:
Choose a time that suits your server usage - if your quietest time is 4pm, then that's when we'll run your backups.
By customising your backups to only include the relevant files and folders, you gain several benefits:
- You will be able to backup ALL files which YOU consider to be mission critical.
- The time taken to complete a backup is significantly reduced - any impact on your server whilst your data is backed up is minimised.
- The time to restore data is significantly reduced - the quicker data can be restored to your server, the sooner you will be online and fully functional.
Top Tips on backups
- Tell UKFast what time is best for you for backups to run to reduce the impact on your server
- Nominate which specific folders and files you wanted to be backed up to ensure your quota is not reached and backups run successfully
- Take a dedicated backup server to increase the flexibility of backup implementation
- Request cross datacentre backup for increased resilience and business continuity
Restrictions and limitations
- Backup is restricted to a weekly retention period.
- Incremental backups are based on time stamps. If you move files into an existing directory or move a whole directory into the backup fileset after a Full backup, those files will probably not be backed up by an Incremental save because they will have old dates.
Can you help with uploading the latest patches?
We are able to offer maintenance services to our entire server customers - when relevant patches have been released and UKFast have received notification; we regression test all releases in a virtual environment before installing the patches to reduce any potential disruptions.
Server maintenance and patch updates are included as standard in our PROproprotection managed hosting solutions. PROproprotection guarantees the ultimate in online security and performance - unmatched by any other UK provider.
Do you offer a Service Level Agreement and if so what's included?
UKFast Service Level Agreement is a demonstration of our continuing commitment to the very highest standards of customer service, support and care - to learn more about what features are included in our SLA click here.
Do you offer Load balancing?
We are able to offer load balancing solutions to our dedicated server customers - to learn more about load balancing click here.
Do you provide firewall options?
Yes. we offer four different levels of firewall protection, designed to suit your varying business needs: Shared Firewall, Software Firewall, Managed Firewall and Dedicated Firewall solutions.
For further information on Firewalls click here.
How can you help me manage my DNS?
With SafeDNS- designed in-house by our R&D department - it's an easy to use control panel gives you the autonomy to manage your DNS, controlling what you host and where. You can even get this product FREE with PROprotection.
How do I calculate the amount of bandwidth Im using per month?
Simply by logging into your control panel. We monitor your bandwidth usage round-the-clock using cutting-edge Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) technology, which is capable of sorting bandwidth usage by day, by week or by month.
To calculate your monthly usage simply add the Average IN and OUT values displayed on the MRTG diagram. Then multiply this figure by 0.3348. The end result will give you your transfer rate per month, measured in gigabytes (Gb's).
For example, if it displays 42.9 IN and 14.3 OUT the calculation is as follows:
42.9 + 14.3 = 57.2 kb/s
57.2 x 0.3348 = 19.15 Gb's/per month
How much is additional bandwidth?
Should you use more than your allocation of bandwidth a month you will be billed just 1 penny for each additional 1MB unitthat you use.
You can view your monthly bandwidth statistics simply by logging into the control panel for your account or alternatively if you envisage an necessary increase due to an marketing activity you are doing you can simply order your bandwidth in advance and dramatically cut costs, simply call us up and we can make the changes.
Is backup available?
Yes. We offer three different levels of backup protection, designed to suit the needs of all businesses and budgets: Standard daily or weekly backup, and Advanced Veritas backup. Click here for full information on Backup solutions.
What amount of bandwidth do you get per calendar month?
From 50Gb per calendar month, but additional bandwidth is also available, should you need more - see How much is additional bandwidth? for more information.
What stats packages do you provide? Do they come as standard?
For server and bandwidth data we use MRTG Stats, which is offered as standard. You also get web statistics with all GraphiteRack servers, for which we use AW Stats.
Can you notify me if there is a problem with the server?
Yes, we offer an proactive uptime monitoring solution that allows you to be notified via SMS should your server fail. you choose between With PROproprotection this service is included, plus you can add any additional services on top of the standard montioring of FTP, PING, SMTP, HTTP and POP3.
Do you offer 24-hour support?
Yes and, unlike many of our competitors, its totally free and unlimited. When choosing a hosting partner, it's important not to be seduced by low prices. You should always check whether they charge for 24-hour support, because otherwise you could be left with a hefty, unexpected bill next time your server crashes. With us you can enjoy the total confidence that whatever the time, night or day, if your system goes down our skilled technicians will be on-site to resolve problems - and at no extra cost to your business.
How can I contact you directly with any general questions?
Simply ring 0800 458 4545 and our team will answer your questions between 8 - 8 pm Monday- Friday.
What is the 24 hour support telephone number?
You will find the Emergency support telephone line number located in your Client Control Panel. It is also on the details we send out with your dedicated server solution. If you do not have access to either of these, please call the Tech Support Helpline between 8.00am and 8.00pm and we will be happy to give it to you.
Accelerate your website, call UKFast today 0800 458 4545 or
Request a server quote
Need help with your server?
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0800 458 4545
Don't just take our word for it
“The website is considerably faster now and our customers are much, much happier, which shows in our conversion rate which has increased by 27%.”
“Now that we’ve seen the dramatically positive effect a faster, more reliable hosting solution can have on a business, we’re convinced of the value of a good host like UKFast.”