FAQ | MAD Web™ | Website Design | Hosting

F A Q C O M M O N Q U E S T I O N S A S K E D

Our FAQ section answers questions that are aimed at MAD Web Design™ and also our sister

hosting company MAD Web Online™;

Q: What are the setup fees and monthly costs involved?

A: MAD Web Design recommends webhosting packages ordered through MAD Web Online™.

The full rates for hosting packages are shown on the MAD Web Online™ Hosting pages.

Q: How do I set up my email?

A: MAD Web Design™ clients using MAD Web™ hosting can set up POP Accounts,

Forwarders/Aliases, & Auto-Responders in the Web Browser Control Panel which comes with every

MAD Web™ hosting package. This can be done by yourself, and without any assistance from the

MAD Web™ staff, although we would be more than happy to manage this on your behalf.

Q: How do I upload my files?

A: All MAD Web™ hosting packages allow the usage of FTP, Telnet, SSH, File Manager, MS

FrontPage™, and other web development publishing programs, to upload files to your website.

Q: Is there a trial period or money-back guarantee?

A: This is not a valid option for MAD Web™ to operate as we are in this business for the long term

not just five minutes after making substantial investment in our and your future.

Q: How fast are websites set up?

A: MAD Web™ strive for a setup time of no more than 60 minutes per order. If an order is

placed during normal business day hours, orders may be processed in only a few minutes ready for

MAD Web Design™ to upload your web site.

Q: Does my website get a control panel?

A: Yes. Every MAD Web™ hosting package comes with a web browser based control panel.

The control panel includes many features including; email configurations, mailing lists, pre-installed

cgi scripts, databases, chat rooms, and much, much, more... The Windows NT™ account control

panels run on a Red Hat™ Linux backend, and feature email based features only.

Q: How am I billed?

A: MAD Web™ invoices you via email. You will receive an invoice for your web site design.

MAD Web™ service/account are purchased on line using the PayPal checkout secure system in

advance. Special arrangements can be made for custom billing requirements. MAD Web Design™

and MAD Web Online™ accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Bank Transfers,

and PayPal (tim@madwebdesign.co.uk).

Q: How much assistance do you provide for my website?

A: MAD Web Design™ will assist you with all support for services provided directly thru MAD

Web Design™. MAD Web™ design and MAD Web Online™ will help you with basic settings for

your email software and ftp client, as well as assist you with using the web browser control panel.

MAD Web™ are not responsible for teaching you how to use another company's products.

Example: We will assist you with the settings for using MS Frontpage™, but we will not teach you

how to actually use the product itself. You need to contact the software maker in such a situation,

who provides tech support for how to use their product. we cannot even attempt to support all the

thousands of software products on the market. We will attempt to provide some tech support for the

most popular programs our clients use.

MAD Web™ are not responsible for assisting with your own programs and cgi scripts. If you choose

to install your own programs and cgi scripts on your site, you are responsible fully for installing

them. MAD Web™ will provide support for any program or cgi script that we provide pre-installed

with your web hosting package.

MAD Web™ are not responsible for developing your website, including HTML and/or images that

you have created and uploaded. We will attempt to give a quick look at your design/development

problem, and offer a suggestion if it is a small issue. Anything complicated relating to

design/development is not the responsibility of MAD Web™.

Q: What if the hardware fails?

A: MAD Web™ stock replacement parts for all servers. MAD Web™ are always building new

servers for our shared hosting clients, as well as our dedicated server clients, so a full inventory of

parts is maintained. Hardware failures are uncommon, but they do happen, and are a part of the

hosting business. MAD Web™ repairs all failed hardware promptly, to minimize any downtime

caused by such.

Q: Are there any hidden costs?

A: No. All costs are stated plainly on our website. We do not hide fees in fineprint, or in our

monthly rates per service, are those due to increased disk space or bandwidth usage. Pricing for

such is plainly stated on our website. MAD Web™ very often will allow you to upgrade your

packages to the next size up, should you see an increase in disk space levels or bandwidth usage

for the current month, and not want to pay for such additional usage. Disk space usage and

availability, as well as estimated bandwidth usage, is available to you in the majority of the control

panel versions included with the hosting packages.

Q: What is Cpanel™?

A: CPanel™ is the brand name of the web browser control panel software that MAD Web™

utilizes on their web hosting packages.

Q: What happens if I decide to leave MAD Web?

A: You are free to leave at any time.

Q: May I have some examples of some sites designed by you?

A: MAD Web™ has an example page for review available to the public on it's website.

Q: Does my website have their own IP number or is it shared?

A: This depends on the type of hosting packages you order. Traditionally all MAD Web™

shared hosting packages come with a shared IP address. MAD Web™ dedicated servers have the

ability to utilize IP based, or IPless, virtual hosting configurations.

Q: What type of support do you offer? Average Response Time?

A: MAD Web™ offer support to our clients 24/7/365 via email, Skype, Google Talk and phone.

We strive for response times of no more than a few hours. Response times of just a few minutes are

quite common during normal business hours.

Q: What are the hardware specs of the servers?

A: Every server at MAD Web™ has different specifications. Whenever a server reaches what

we feel to be the limit, another server is built. MAD Web™ are constantly upgrading the server

hardware on their network. If more drive space, memory, or faster processors are needed, they are

added in at that time. The average shared server is a QUAD XEON processor system, with 4048MB

RAM, and RAID hard drive(s). All MAD Web servers run spare hard drives for backup requirements.

Q: Can I have adult content on my website?

A: Yes, you can have adult content on your websites.

Q: May I view your Terms Of Service?

A: The MAD Web™ terms of service, including policy and service guidelines, are available

online.

Q: Do you support International domain names and clients?

A: MAD Web™ can host all international domains on its servers. MAD Web™ can accept

foreign clientele, just please be advised that all correspondence must be conducted in English. The

client is responsible for handling the registration process of foreign domain name(s). This must be

pointed to nameservers on the MAD Web™ network as assigned, or you can use other nameservers

and route the domain name to the IP address (if you purchase a dedicated IP address) you are

assigned. MAD Web™ cannot handle the foreign domain registration process for you, due to the

fact that we do not speak all of the potential foreign languages that may be involved. MAD Web™

will assist you however, with any technical information need to accomplish this.

Q: How do I transfer my domain name?

A: MAD Web™ will attempt to file the necessary electronic forms for your domain name

transfer with Nominet or InterNIC etc. If MAD Web™ are unable to file such with your specific

domain name registrar, MAD Web™ will send you instructions on how to do such yourself, including

all necessary technical details. Clients may opt to not have MAD Web™ handle the domain name

transfer, or to delay doing such, as an option on the web hosting order form required for signup.

Q: What if my site breaks your "acceptable usage policy" rules?

A: Users' sites may be suspended for violations of policy, or if extreme, or second time

offenders, sites may be cancelled. Each occurrence is dealt with on a case by case basis, and we

try to work things out with every client. Notifications will be sent, if MAD Web™ take any action on

your account.

Q: What if I want to upgrade my website?

A: You may upgrade or downgrade your MAD Web™ hosting package at any time. You will be

required to pay the difference in the setup fee for your current plan, and the plan you are upgrading

to, should you decide to choose a larger plan. You will then pay the new monthly fee for the new

account package that you select. The option to downgrade an account is only available on the

annual renewal.

Q: How is my website monitored?

A: MAD Web™ maintain internal and external monitoring systems for every server in the MAD

Web™ Data Center. The servers are checked every 5 minutes via network monitoring software. MAD

Web™ monitors uptime as well as individual features and services running on each server. MAD

Web™ staff are notified via alarms, email, screen pop ups, and paging, if a problem occurs.

Q: What is the uptime?

A: MAD Web™ strive to maintain a 99.5% network and server uptime service level. This

uptime percentage is a monthly figure, and does not include any scheduled hardware/software

upgrades, nor "Acts of God". Our definition of "Act of God" includes; fire, flood, tornado, earthquake,

telco fiber issues (ie...Verizon™ cutting a fiber line somewhere), backbone peering point issues

(ie...Unet™ having a router go down in Virginia that wipes out internet service for the entire East

Coast), hard drive failure (faulty hardware is rare, but cannot be predicted nor avoided), as well as

network floods, hacks, and attacks. If MAD Web™ fail to meet it's 99.5% uptime guarantee, and it

is not due to one of the above reasons, partial downtime credits will be made available to each

client, upon request, on a case by case basis. MAD Web™ do not credit a full month's service if we

only have 99.4% uptime. This would not be financially healthy for MAD Web™, and in turn would

only negatively affect the service level MAD Web™ provides to you. "Partial refunds for partial

downtime" is our standard policy.

Q: What is your connectivity to the Internet?

A: MAD Web™ are connected to one of Chicago's premier hosting providers, providing reliable,

scalable solutions for customers of all sizes and services. Located in the carrier-neutral Equinix

Chicago Data Center, MAD Web™ have access to all the major carriers in Chicago without the need

for local loop circuits. Fore more information check this page.

Q: Do you have battery backups and generators?

A: Our Network Operations Center is backed up and protected by UPS (Uninterruptible Power

Supply) systems. In a very rare case of utility outages, our auto-start generators start automatically,

taking over for the UPS system and supplying all necessary power for our Network Operations

Center. APC™, Tripp-Lite™, & Liebert™ UPS Systems provide the power backups, along with

Kohler™ generator systems.

Q: What kind of security does the MAD Web Data Centre have?

A: The MAD Web™ Data Centre in Chicago, IL USA is a high security facility. Double metal

security doors, with interior gating, protect the main entrance to the facility. The windows-less

facility has advanced security, fire, temperature, and flood alarms, directly piped into the Security

Monitoring Company via phone, cellular, and internet connections. A 16-camera digital video system

monitors the interior and exterior of the Data Center. This video system is monitored internally at the

facility and externally from the MAD Web™ Support office. The video data is recorded live both on

and off site, and stored for several months ahead. Visitors cannot gain access into the facility

without employee escort. The physical servers and equipment area is secured from the visitor's area

by huge metal doors, as well as metal sheeting and bullet proof glass walls. Armed guards are

planned for the future, but not a necessity at this junction.

Q: What about software upgrades?

A: MAD Web™ handle all software upgrades/patches on the shared hosting servers. We fully

follow all trends in the industry, and monitor all support/bug announcement groups. If a new bug or

security vulnerability is found, MAD Web™ immediately upgrades our systems. Microsoft™

regularly release patches for the Windows™ based systems, and MAD Web™ auto-updates the

Linux systems every night from security patch websites. As new software is released, including new

versions of operating systems, MAD Web™ evaluate the new software. If the software's new version

does not have any security issues, or bug problems, the upgrade is implemented.

Q: What if the server my website is on gets hacked or attacked?

A: Individually hacked websites are rare. If such occurs, usually they are a target for a reason;

hate sites, pirated software, etc... MAD Web™ do not host such websites. If such material is found

on a MAD Web™ server, it is deleted immediately and the user's account cancelled. Usually the

target is the whole server itself. Hackers usually go after a server just to say that "they did", or to

use the server to bounce off of to hack something more important. Rarely are any users' files on the

server damaged, erased, or modified. For this reason, once a hacker is detected, a server can

usually be cleaned up and the hacker locked back out within a matter of hours. At that time the

server is restored to full security levels, as if the hack has never occurred. Most hackers get into a

system thru valid user accounts. We recommend you use complicated passwords for your account.

MAD Web™ strictly reviews all orders for new clients, to make sure they are legitimate.

Unfortunately, some fake orders do get thru the system, and that is one way a hacker can gain

initial access. MAD Web™ runs security checks on the servers daily, so even if a hacker does get

in, they are found and dealt with quickly. Most hackers are not malicious, they are just playing or

testing their abilities. If an individual attacks the whole MAD Web™ Data Center, measures are in

place to cut off such floods and attacks automatically at the backbone level and the router level.

Mad Web™ also uses firewall technology to fend off most common methods of flooding and attacks

to the network.

Q: How is extra bandwidth billed?

A: MAD Web™ maintains software on every server and on the switches to monitor individual

website usage and server-wide usage. Bandwidth is billed per Gigabyte (GB) over your monthly

allocation, rounded up to the nearest Gigabyte. Usually between the 3rd and 5th of the month you

will receive your bandwidth overage billing, if applicable, for the preceding month's usage.

Q: What is included in my website package?

A: MAD Web™ provides full hardware, software, support, and system administration for your

MAD Web™ shared hosting solution. The software provided includes the operating system, ftp &

email software, web server software, and a control panel. MAD Web™ even includes free e-

commerce shopping cart software. Everything you need to conduct business on the Internet, or

maintain a personal website, is included in your MAD Web™ hosting solution.

MAD Web™ will provide basic support on services/software that we provide you with your account.

MAD Web™ does not develop your website for you, nor provide tech support on how to use software

products that we do not provide to your directly...even if we do support them. We are always more

than willing to help you if we can though with external issues, time permitting...

Q: How many sites are currently running on per server?

A: MAD Web™ does not have a set quantity of domains running on each machine. We find

that ten domains can utilize more resources than 200 others. MAD Web™ monitor each server's

performance levels and attempts to maintain a low server load average and high cpu availability. As

needed, MAD Web™ will upgrade the hardware, to increase server performance. Individual domains

that become to much for the server to handle, and utilize too much server resources, are moved to

servers set up specifically for such resource intensive accounts.

Q: Why should I choose MAD Web as my webhost?

A: Simple. MAD Web™ maintain one of the most feature rich hosting packages on the market,

so advanced that many hosting companies cannot compete. MAD Web™ were one of the first

hosting companies in the industry to offer technical support via Instant Messenger, as well as to

offer high bandwidth packages (20GB+ per month) to the general public. MAD Web™ offer Cpanel™

& WebHostManager™ on it's packages, the premier software in the business.

Q: How do I get started?

A: Simple! Just select your New Account on the MAD Web™ web sites after consulting with

MAD Web™ (if MAD Web Design™ or MAD Web Online™ are managing your new web site), once

your payment has been processed You will receive details shortly afterwards about how to proceed

with your new MAD Web™ Hosting Account!