| FAQs
General
Hosting Plans
Online Backup
SSL Certificates
General
Can I pay with a Credit Card?
Yes you can. We accept American Express, Diners Club, JCB,
Discover, MasterCard and VISA.
What if I'm ordering from outside Australia?
You can pay by credit
card. If you have any questions E-Mail
info@itkeeper.com.au
Do
you use the one server for both hosting and backup?
Absolutely not. Both our backup server(s) and
our hosting server(s) have been specifically configured for their
individual tasks are are located in different geographic areas.
Hosting Plans
I
don't have a domain, how can I get one?
Domain Names are available from IT Keeper through http://domains.itkeeper.com.au
Do I need to sign a contract to use your services?
No. You can cancel your hosting account at any time. To
cancel, please email
sales@itkeeper.com.au
Do you only provide hosting to Businesses?
IT Keeper is able to provide website and email hosting
to both Individuals and Businesses alike. We are also happy to
accept International orders. Check our Store
for all of the available alternatives or E-Mail
info@itkeeper.com.au for more
information
How long after I sign up will I be able to start
uploading my website?
Within 4-6 hours of signing up you will receive a
welcome email with all the information you need to start uploading your
website, and to set up your email addresses. Just use the IP address
and details that are provided in the welcome email to upload your site.
When your domain name 'propagates' then you can start using your domain
name. Please note - propagation can take between 12 and 72
hours and is outside the control of IT Keeper
Can I use Microsoft FrontPage to design
my pages?
Yes, you can even use FrontPage Extensions
What are FrontPage Server Extensions?
FrontPage Server Extensions is a term, which refers to the files,
programs and specific way a Website is managed if it is using
FrontPage. Microsoft FrontPage has some unique features, such as the
ability to easily create hover buttons and search forms for your
Website. This is possible only when the FrontPage Server Extensions are
installed, because the features of FrontPage, such as hover buttons
etc., work in conjunction with the programs installed on our servers to
make those features work. Without the Server Extensions (programs),
your FrontPage site will not function properly. We are
currently using FrontPage 2002 extensions, which is backwards
compatible with previous versions of FrontPage
What version of FrontPage does IT Keeper support?
We support Microsoft FrontPage 2002, 98 & 97.
Can I upgrade or downgrade my hosting plan at any
time?
Yes and at no cost. Just send us an email sales@itkeeper.com.au
Does IT Keeper support any database solutions?
IT Keeper supports MS SQL 2000, My SQL and Microsoft Access.
All can be easily setup and managed via your web based Control Panel -
HELM.
What version of ColdFusion MX is used?
IT Keeper uses ColdFusion MX Version 7 Standard.
Are
any ColdFusion MX tags disabled?
Yes. The following tags are disabled. CFContent,
CFDirectory, CFExecute, CFFile, CFFtp, CFHTTP, CFObject, CFPOP,
CFRegistry
Are secondary MX value's allowed?
Yes. IT Keeper also operates redundant mail servers for those
clients who would like that extra piece of mind. This service
is available for an additional yearly charge. To subscribe to
our backup mail server or to obtain pricing, email sales@itkeeper.com.au
How does the redundant server work?
Mail is normally delivered to the primary server located in
Houston. Should communication links fail, or should the
server itself fail or become unavailable, email is automatically routed
to the redundant mail server and is stored. Every 5 minutes
the redundant server tries to connect to the primary server to deliver
the mail. In the event of an extended outage, mail can be
made available from the redundant server.
SSL Certificates
What is SSL?
The SSL (and TLS) protocols are the standard for encrypting
communications between users and SSL (secure sockets layer) e-commerce
sites. Data sent via an SSL connection is protected by
encryption, a mechanism that prevents eavesdropping and tampering with
any transmitted data. SSL provides businesses and consumers
with the confidence that private data sent to a Web site, such as
credit card numbers, are kept confidential. Web server
certificates (also known as secure server certificates or SSL
certificates) are required to initialise an SSL session.
Customers know they have an SSL session with a website when their
browser displays the little gold padlock and the address bar begins
with a https rather than http. SSL certificates can be used
on webservers for Internet security and mailservers such as imap, pop3
and smtp for mail collection / sending security.
What do you consider low volume, low transaction?
If you have a low volume website and you decide that your customer's
confidence is not affected at all by the brand behind the SSL
certificate or the volume of customers that would have an issue are
insignificant in number then StarterSSL is the perfect answer.
It is all about customer confidence. Whilst StarterSSL
technology is production grade, only you can really determine whether
your customers confidence will improve significantly if you purchase an
established brand like GeoTrust.
As a guide, typical customer transaction value is less than $50, and
volumes of transactions are less than 50 per week.
Note: The 50 per week example figure is simply a commercial guide and
not a technical restriction. Technically the StarterSSL certificate
will not be restricted - they are industry standard 128 bit
SSL certificates. However it is our opinion that sites
conducting more than 50 transactions will require a Professional Level
SSL certificate due to the increased likelihood that the website's
customers will expect SSL from a well known internationally accepted
SSL brand.
What browser
versions are compatible with StarterSSL, ChainedSSL Wildcard and
FreeSSL?
StarterSSL is compatible with IE 5.01+, Netscape 7+, Mozilla 1+ and are
single root install certificates (they do not use chaining technology),
meaning that they are compatible with SSLv2 and SSLv3. Single root
certificates are also more widely accepted by web servers with some web
servers not accepting chained root technology.
ChainedSSL Certificates are compatible with Internet Explorer 5.01+,
Netscape 7+, Mozilla 1+. ChainedSSL certificates use chaining
technology and requires the webserver to be SSL v3 or above compatible.
How long are
the your SSL certificates valid for?
StarterSSL certificates are valid for either 1, 2 or 3 years.
ChainedSSL Wildcard certificates are valid for 1 year.
Our Professional Level Certificates from GeoTrust are available for up
to 5 years.
When your SSL certificate expires and you wish to renew with us, we
will give you instructions on how to renew with us.
How long does
it take to issue my Certificate?
If you need an SSL certificate right away, you have options.
If you can wait 3-5 days, you can get certificates from established
vendors that use slow traditional validation methods.
However, immediate certificates use alternate validation methods.
Please review our information on validation to familiarize yourself
with standard methods and question your vendors when in doubt.
StarterSSL, ChainedSSL are issued immediately.
What is browser ubiquity or browser recognition?
Browser ubiquity is the term used in the industry to describe the
estimated percentage of Internet users that will inherently trust an
SSL certificate. The lower the browser ubiquity, the less people will
trust your certificate - clearly, if you are operating a commercial
site you require as many people as possible to trust your SSL
certificate. As a general rule, any SSL certificate with over 95%
browser ubiquity is acceptable for a commercial site.
Ubiquity is however not the only consideration in deciding whether one
SSL certificate is better than another. Many companies running high
transaction volume web sites need to maximize customer confidence and
therefore buy certificates from well known, long time security vendors
and mostly use the major players e.g. GeoTrust and Verisign who are all
WebTrust compliant.
If you have a low volume web site and you decide that your customers
confidence is not effected at all by the brand behind the SSL
certificate, or the volume of customers that would have an issue are
insignificant in number, then StarterSSL or ChainedSSL Wildcard
certificates are ideal.
Can I see
which Certification Authorities have their own Trusted CA root present
in browsers?
Yes. Your browser contains a Trusted CA root certificate store. You can
access this by opening Internet Explorer, then go to Tools,
select Internet Options, select the Content
tab, click Certificates, select the Trusted
Root Certification Authorities tab. You will then see a
dialog box presenting a list of all Certification Authorities who own
their own Trusted CA roots (you can examine the root certificate by
double clicking it):
GeoTrust owns the Equifax root (Equifax Digital Certificate services
became GeoTrust in 2001).
FreeSSL.com's
StarterSSL product owns its own root. FreeSSL.com purchased the
USERTrust Network root a number of years ago.
FreeSSL.com's ChainedSSL Wildcard product uses an intermediate
certificate issued by the USERTrust Network root. FreeSSL.com purchased
the USERTrust Network root a number of years ago, making it the only stable
chained root certificate available on the market today.
Can I secure
multiple subdomains with a single Certificate?
An SSL certificate is issued to a fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
This means that an SSL certificate issued to "secure.itkeeper.com.au"
cannot be used on different subdomains, such as "www.itkeeper.com.au".
To get around this restriction we have available ChainedSSL Wildcard
Certificates. Wildcard Certificates allow you to secure multiple
subdomains on the same domain name, thereby saving you time and money,
and of course you do not need to manage multiple certificates on the
same server.
So with a single certificate issued to *.yourdomain.com you could
protect:
• www.yourdomain.com
• secure.yourdomain.com
• etc.yourdomain.com
What validation
processes does IT Keeper use?
A trust hierarchy demands that entities "vouch" for each other.
Companies that issue SSL certificates are in the business of
establishing that entities on the web are, in fact, who they claim to
be. The potential for criminal activity on the web (in relevance to SSL
anyway), is in online ‘hijacking’ of sites or
connections to siphon encrypted data. Persons so inclined can easily
"copy" web site interfaces and pose as well known vendors, simply to
collect these data.
SSL certificates work to prevent this through ensuring that www.abc.com
is, in fact, ABC Co. In the “real world”, we use
identification procedures like photo ids, telephone calls and papers of
incorporation to know with whom we’re dealing. If products or
services are defective, buyers can seek recourse. In the
“online world”, companies wishing to use SSL
certificates must prove to the certificate authority that they have the
right to present themselves online as ABC Co.
This is done through a variety of means in different SSL products. For
simplicity’s sake, consider the method started and championed
by Verisign, as the ‘traditional’ model. The
process involves certificate petitioners faxing in their articles of
incorporation, and then waiting several days to be granted a
certificate to do business online under that name. There is a fair
amount of overhead related to this task, as these credentials are
examined and reviewed, and full-service products in this arena can cost
hundreds of dollars.
There are newer, lower-cost alternatives in which certificates are
issued more quickly. These certificates verify that the certificate
holder is the owner of that domain, ensuring customers that URL
“owners” are who they claim to be.
There are also other validation options, like two-way, real-time
telephony. Certificate applicants are required to provide telephone
numbers, and certificate authorities call to verify basic information,
yet another way to seek recourse in the event of problems.
As part of the provisioning process with StarterSS and, ChainedSSL
Wildcard, your business will be registered with ChoicePoint* and
assigned a ChoicePoint Unique Identifier (CUI) — equivalent
to a DUNS number. The CUI provides a corporate profile to your Internet
users through information imbedded in your certificate. The business
registration profile initially contains the basic self-reported
information from your CSR — your Domain, Company Name,
Division, Country, State and City. ChoicePoint will allow relying
parties to view and purchase additional data about your company. With
the ChoicePoint Unique Identifier, industry-recognized domain control
authentication, and two-factor telephony authentication, both of these
products add further validation to forge the strongest real-time
authentication process on the market today.
*ChoicePoint is a leading provider of
identification and credential verification services. For more info
about Choicepoint go to www.choicepoint.com.
Online
Backup
Do I need to sign a contract
to use your online
backup service?
Yes, for larger plans. 3 month agreements are required with all online
backup plans paid quarterly in advance. Please email
sales@itkeeper.com.au
for a copy of our agreement.
Does IT Keeper scan online backup
files for viruses?
Yes. All files are scanned for viruses. Please note
that we use a leading third party AntiVirus product. Reliability of the
AntiVirus scanning will depend on the effectiveness of the third party
product.
Do you only provide online backup
services to Businesses?
IT Keeper is able to provide online backup services to
both Individuals and Businesses alike. We are also happy to
accept International orders. Check our
Store
for all of the available alternatives or E-Mail
info@itkeeper.com.au if you are unable
to find the information you need.
What platforms does your online backup
client software support?
The IT Keeper online backup client operates on Windows
95, 98, NT, XP, ME, 2000, and 2003. If you are a Mac or a
Linux user, the best alternative is to copy the files you require to be
backed up to a Windows based machine on your network, or simply map
these drives to an existing Windows based machine.
How much space do I need to install the
online backup client?
The online backup client software is compact and will
only consume around 10Mb of disk space.
I have 5 computers - do I need to install
the online backup software 5 times?
Not necessarily. The online backup client
supports mapped drives, meaning that you can install the software once
and access all other computers on your network from the one location.
How long will the online backups take?
Typical incremental online backups that only process
changed data should take between 10 and 60 minutes each night depending
upon how much data has changed.
Do I need a broadband Internet connection?
No but we do recommend it. A number of our
clients use a dial up modem to backup their data. This is
perfectly acceptable, however please remember that the online backup
process may take a little longer as a result.
Can I just use FTP to restore the data?
No. You must use the online backup client
software. As the data stored on our servers is encrypted, you
must first decrypt this information before restoring.
Can I restore a single file?
Yes. The online backup client software
provides for the ability for you to search through any number of
existing backups sets, to obtain the file you are after. For
example, you may even restore all files matching *.xls, which will
result in the restoration of all Microsoft Excel files.
My computer has been stolen, how do I
restore?
In this case you simply re-install the online backup
client software, select Disaster Recovery when prompted, enter you
encryption key and all information you select will be restored.
Are there any hidden costs?
Not from us. Please note however, that if
your Internet Service Provider (ISP) charges for uploads, you should
factor this cost into your planning. Then again, there are
many ISP's that don't charge for uploads the easiest solution could be
to shop around. For Australian customers: http://www.broadbandchoice.com.au
Do you charge separately for the data I
send to your server?
No. Unlike other providers who charge as much
as 8c per megabyte of transferred data our service does not levy any
data charges.
Are Service Level Agreement's available?
Absolutely. The IT Keeper Remote Backup
service is available 100% of the time.
How important is my encryption key?
Very Important. Without it, your backup data
will remain encrypted and unreadable. All data that is
selected for backup is encrypted before leaving your
computer. We have no way at all of reading this information
should you lose your encryption key.
Where are your online backup servers
located?
Our data centre is located in Brisbane, Queensland.
Why do I need to backup my business data?
Put simply, to ensure you stay in business.
Read more about why you need to backup here.
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