Web Hosting FAQ
HKWebDesign.net prepares this web hosting FAQ by collecting some frequently-asked-Questions and the answers for our web hosting services. If you have any question which could not be answered by this FAQ, please feel free to contact us.
Q1. What is web hosting?
Q2. What kind of Web Hosting do I need?
Q3. What kind of web servers should I choose?
Q4. How many web space do I need?
Q5. Is your web hosting account named-based or IP-based?
Q6. Do you provide a "Control Panel" or some other utility to manage the website?
Q7. How can I monitor my disk space and bandwidth usage?
Q8. Can I install software to my web hosting account?
Q9. How much does additional bandwidth cost?
Q10. Can I upgrade my web hosting account as needed?
Q11. How do I upload files and web pages to my web hosting account?
Q12. Can I transfer it to your web hosting if I already have a website?
Q13. How long does it take to set up a new web hosting account?
Q14. Do I need to register a domain for my web hosting?
Q15. What kind of domain names can you host?
Q16. What domain name should I choose?
Q17. How do I get a domain name?
Q18. Who will have the domain ownership if I register a domain name with you?
Q19. How long does it take before my domain name is active?
Q20. Can I cancel my domain name and request refund after registration?
Q21. What should I do if I already have a domain name?
Answer Section:
Q 1. What is web hosting?
Ans: Web Hosting (or web host) is basically hiring of web space on a web server to host the website. This web space includes a certain amount of disk space (for the website, it's images, files, and emails, etc.) and bandwidth (the total amount of data per month that the website uses sending and receiving information to and from internet users). There are different web hosting plans with different storage. It should select the web hosting plan according to your business and web design requirements.
Q 2. What kind of Web Hosting do I need?
Ans: What kind of Web Hosting you need depends on what you want to do with your web site. If you want to set up an eshop or CMS site with an open source web application, you may require a database and the appropriate programming environment for that specific application (eshop web hosting or CMS web hosting, etc.). Most of our web hosting plans support MySQL database and PHP5. If you are not sure, please contact us for details.
Q 3. What kind of web servers should I choose?
Ans: There are two web hosting platforms: Windows Server and Linux Server. If you are familiar with IIS, ASP, ASP.net, VBScript, Microsoft SQL Server or Visual InterDev, you have to choose Windows Server. If you use open source application, PHP and MySQL database in your website, you may choose Linux platform. Actually, Linux platform is more stable and less inexpensive than any others. For general HTML website, the Linux server will be good.
Q 4. How many web space do I need?
Ans: If there are many photos, images, videos and files in your website, you may need lots of web space.
Q 5. Is your web hosting account named-based or IP-based?
Ans: Our web hosting plan is shared hosting where hosting sites share a single IP address with the site traffic directed to the appropriate hosting account. For most application, it needs not an IP-based hosting account except for anonymous FTP (file sharing) for your visitors and running scripts or software that requires a unique IP. If you would like to change a name-based hosting account to IP-based, you may purchase an unique IP address from us for your hosting account by paying an additional montly fee.
Q 6. Do you provide a "Control Panel" or some other utility to manage the website?
Ans: Our web hosting service provides an enhanced user interface and industry leading control panel (named cPanel) to facilitate users to manage the hosting account features.
Q 7. How can I monitor my disk space and bandwidth usage?
Ans: You may monitor your disk space and bandwidth usage from within your cPanel control panel.
Q 8. Can I install software to my web hosting account?
Ans: You may install software on your web hosting account except those items prohibited in our terms of web hosting services. However, we cannot guarantee its functionality and it will not be supported by our technical support staff.
Q 9. How much does additional bandwidth cost?
Ans: If you need additional bandwidth for your web hosting account, you will need to upgrade to a larger plan. The cost depends upon the plan you select. You may upgrade your web hosting account as needed.
Q 10. Can I upgrade my web hosting account as needed?
Ans: Of course, you can upgrade your account at any time by paying the difference between your current plan and your new plan. There are no extra fees involved in upgrading.
Q 11. How do I upload files and web pages to my web hosting account?
Ans: Files and web pages can be uploaded to the web server via FTP (File Transfer Protocol ). We suggest to use ftp program such as FileZilla. A tutorial is available for beginner users upon request.
Q 12. Can I transfer it to your web hosting if I already have a website?
Ans: It is simple to transfer your present website to our web hosting account. If you have a copy of your website, you may directly upload it via a ftp program. If you do not have a current copy of your website, you should be able to request the ftp information of your present site to download the whole site or a site backup from your current web hosting provider.
Q 13. How long does it take to set up a new web hosting account?
Ans: We generally can set up a new web hosting account within 24 hours upon receipt of your order and payment. Then, we will send you an activation notice with the account information via email. If your domain registration or transfer has not been completed, we may provide a temporary web address.
Q 14. Do I need to register a domain for my web hosting?
Ans: Domain is the address of your website to be found by visitors on internet. For example, you may access our site by the domain named hkwebdesign.net. International domain can be ended with .com/org/net and the domain for different country can be ended with .com.hk or .hk, etc. If you have no domain for your website, you may need to register a domain.
Q 15. What kind of domain names can you host?
Ans: We can host any domain name. However, we only offer a limited assortment of domains that can be registered. For details, please visit our domain registration page.
Q 16. What domain name should I choose?
Ans: It mainly depends on how you are going to use your domain. Your domain name should be memorable and reflect the name or nature of your business. If you are going to be telling people over the phone, choose domain that is easy to say and spell out loud. The domain name is important for search engine marketing. For example, if your company is "XYZ Garment Manufactory Ltd" and your main product is T-shirts, it is better for you to get a domain name like xyz-t-shirts.com than xyzgarment.com because your protential buyers may use "T-shirts" as the keyword to search the t-shirts manufacturers.
Q 17. How do I get a domain name?
Ans: For domain registration, you can obtain your domain name from us. For details, please visit our domain registration page.
Q 18. Who will have the domain ownership if I register a domain name with you?
Ans: When you register a domain name with us, you will have full ownership of your domain name.
Q 19. How long does it take before my domain name is active?
Ans: Since all Internet providers must update their records to reflect the new site's location, it may usually take about 12-24 hours to be active.
Q 20. Can I cancel my domain name and request refund after registration?
Ans: No. It is valid for the time frame specified and is non-refundable after the domain name is registered.
Q21. What should I do if I already have a domain name?
Ans: You should update your DNS record on your domain name to point to our name servers after receipt our web hosting account activation notice via email. It will take approximately several hours to 24 hours for the change to propagate throughout the internet and become active.
