Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Know If The Domain Name I Want Is Available?

Use our Whois domain name lookup form located at the Domain Names area. This Whois form will check for ".com," ".net," ".org", ".lnfo" ".biz" ".us" and ".ws" extensions. You may also use our Domain Name Wizard. This wizard can help you select a domain name for your company by combining descriptive words that you enter and checking the availability of these combinations.

Do I need my own domain name to have a Web-site?

A2Z can register your domain name for as low as $7.95 per year. With your own domain name, it will be your trademark on the web and will provide a much more professional appearance for your web site. For this reason we no longer offer hosting services for web sites without a domain name.

What is the InterNIC ?

The InterNIC is responsible for the registration and routing of Internet domain names. Among other things, they ensure that duplicate domain names are not issued, and track each domain name during their registration period.

Do you register and host International domain names?

A2ZHOST does register the ".com," ".net," ".org", ".lnfo" ".biz" ".us" and ".ws" domain name extensions. For all other extensions, including additional International domain name extensions, please Click Here.

A2Z Site Solutions can host any international domain name (i.e. - .mx, .us, .uk, .tm, .de, .fr, .br, .in, .ca, .jp, .to, and any other extension in the world on our network!

When will my domain name be active?

Once your domain name has been registered (or transferred, if applicable), it usually takes about 24 to 72 hours before it becomes visible to all users of the Internet. All Internet providers must update their records (DNS tables) to reflect new site locations. This process is called propagation.

Do you provide services for non-profit Organizations?

We sure do. As long as your non-profit Organization complies with our Acceptable use Policy and Terms of Service. Please fax a copy of your NPO License or proof of NPO Status to our toll-free fax number (888) 330-5687 or our local fax number (541) 535-1371 and also include your email address or contact information, along with your web design and/or web hosting requirements. Our sales department will be back in touch with you shortly.

What Technical Support do you offer?

At A2Z Site Solutions we provide full and complete 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year assistance to our customers for all questions or support issues that they may have, regarding their web hosting service.

We do ask that you please go to your members area, and check your detailed online manuals, and also utilize the searchable FAQ's for your answers first. If you then do not find answers to your questions, then please submit a support request via your online "Help Desk", which is the most effective method for a speedy resolution to your support request or inquiry.

We do not provide technical support via telephone. Written inquiries or support requests via our "Help Desk" are the best possible method for resolving all questions and issues. Your issue or request can never be set aside shuffled or lost at A2Z. Your request receives a tracking number and can be tracked or traced at anytime, by you or our technical support staff. Also in our members area, we have applicable forms to be submitted to our tech department that deal with various issues, i.e. ODBC connections, account add-ons, upgrades, etc. etc.

We pride ourselves on supplying fast response times to your technical support and service needs.

PLEASE NOTE: A2ZHOST only provides technical support for our hosting services issues that we supply. We do not provide help with developing your Web-site, designing or HTML issues, unless we have been contracted to do so. We do not provide support for CGI programming or database architecture problems or issues, not directly related to the hosting services we provide.

If you have any questions in regards to the setup of any e-mail software programs, such as Microsoft, Netscape, Eudora, please visit our online support manuals for directions. We do not provide any technical assistance for these programs. You must call or contact the software's developer for their expert technical support.

If you have questions, problems or issues with Microsoft's FrontPage or any other third party software, you must call or contact the software company, developer or manufacturer directly for their support. The software companies and developers provide the expertise and technical support needed for their products. We do not provide support for these software programs.

Thank you !

Do you provide phone contact information?

Listed below are our Sales department phone numbers.
You may also visit our contact information area for other contact options: Contact Information

Telephone Numbers:

Sales Local:
(800) 449-6037
512.732.1274

Fax Numbers:

Sales Local Fax:
(888) 688-4494
512.732.0707

Outside of the United States you must dial the Country Code 1 & number:
Sales Telephone Number:

512.732.1274

Sales Fax Number:

512.732.0707

What access will I have to update my Web-site?

You have unlimited access via FTP or FrontPage 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You can create and maintain your Web pages on your own computer and upload files to your Web site at your leisure.

What e-commerce solutions do you have available?

A2Z Site Solutions offers an excellent assortment of e-commerce solutions. SunShop Advanced and Simple Shop are two excellent shopping cart programs. We also offer the osCommerce and Agora shopping carts free with your web hosting accounts. We also offer SSL certificates, Merchant Accounts and LinkPoint Payment Processing. For more information we recommend visiting our e-commerce area.

Do you support Real Audio/Real Video?

Yes, we do support both Real Audio and Real Video. Most of our web hosting packages include Real Audio/Real Video capabilities. Please visit our web hosting areas and check the individual plans for this feature. We also provide additional real server space as an add-on for your account.

What support do you provide for FrontPage?

We support Microsoft FrontPage in several ways:
We include the capabilities to install and uninstall the FrontPage extensions within your web sites administrative control panel.
We point our FrontPage users to resources in our member support area and elsewhere that will help solve your problems, such as, publishing your FrontPage webs and learning techniques for getting the most from your FrontPage software.
We DO NOT provide direct technical support related to the use of your FrontPage software. User issues must be directed to Microsoft's Technical Support Team.

How are you connected to the internet and at what speeds?

Our network architecture is a complete Cisco product and is a Cisco Certified Network. We utilize fully redundant Cisco 7500 (redundant routers and redundant cards within the router) at the core and state of the art 3550 L3 switch / routers as border routers. To further maximize redundancy we utilize distributed 2924 XL EN switches to ensure that single chassis failure will have minimum downtime effects on our servers – unlike many of our competition who aggregate hundreds of servers in a single chafes based switch like the 6500 or 5500 which if it fails its cpu or power – it takes down many customers. This approach gives us maximum power failure protection and switch failure protection to distribute the load and risk.

We also utilize VLANS to prevent customer IP space hijacking and conflicts. By keeping our network as flat as possible – we minimize route convergence and latency in the backbone and speed the packets to the best provider through BGP4 on the core..

Our network is fully meshed and redundant with currently 2 backbone providers and a third coming soon. Our current network consists of a GIG to Abovenet and a GIG to Williams. By having less providers with a larger burst capacity we are able to handle DoS attacks better than many of our competitors that have chosen many smaller pipes. This is because a DoS attack will many times concentrate itself on one inbound or outbound connection and can swamp it if it is only a 100 meg or and oc3. We do not provision less than GIG circuits on the backbone any more. It also allows us plenty of room to fail back and forth from provider to provider without regards to where the traffic is going to prefer since any one of our links has far sufficient size to handle all of our traffic.

When our competitors claim that they're connected to the Internet through multiple connections, look closely. Chances are, their "multiple connections" are sold to them by a single provider, which means that if one of their routers goes down, their entire connection goes down!

Do you offer design or programming assistance?

Yes, A2Z Site Solutions designs custom personal web sites, business web sites and also specializes in re-designs and make-overs of existing web sites. We can also provide custom programming assistance for our customers, charged at a per project fee. Please email us with your requirements and the scope of your business or project. We will evaluate your request and provide a timely response. A2Z Site Solutions can also design business web-sites that include a complete e-commerce solution.

How does the 30 Day Guarantee Work?

If you are unhappy with our hosting services for any reason, you can cancel within the first 30 days and get your money back. That's how confident we are that you'll be happy with us as your Web host.

Can I use my Web-site for commercial purposes?

Yes, we strongly encourage you to open your business with us. The World Wide Web has become the most efficient and cost-effective means of making information available to the users of the Business and Internet community. Our available plans all include the features you will need to setup your online presence. Please read our "Acceptable use Policy" on accepted usage. If you have any questions about our policies and your business, please contact us so that we can clear up any misunderstandings.

Do you host Adult Sites?

We do not provide hosting services to adult sites or any sites that contain pornographic or sexually explicit material or any site that links to these types of sites. If you feel that your site might fall under these restrictions, we suggest that you contact us first to avoid any misunderstandings. We reserve the right to judge which sites fall under our restrictions, and we have the right to suspend service to any site that we determine to be in violation of our guidelines, or in violation of the law. Please read Acceptable use Policy on accepted usage and also our Terms of Service.

Do you place any restrictions on use or content of web sites?

We do not allow our web servers to be used for ILLEGAL MATERIAL, UNSOLICITED MAILING, or THIRD PARTY NEWS FEEDS. We do not provide hosting services to adult sites or any sites that contain pornographic or sexually explicit material or any site that links to these types of sites. If you feel that your site might fall under these restrictions, we suggest that you contact us first to avoid any misunderstandings. We reserve the right to judge which sites fall under our restrictions, and we have the right to suspend service to any site that we determine to be in violation of our guidelines, or in violation of the law. Please read Acceptable use Policy on accepted usage and also our Terms of Service.

What is an abusive practice?

Anything that is forbidden in the Acceptable use Policy and also our Terms of Service.

What is Virtual Shared Web Hosting?

Basically Shared Web hosting, is a way to place and feature your online presence throughout the world via the internet, at a fraction of the costs of installing and maintaining your own connections and equipment.

Shared Web Hhosting with A2ZHOST means:
We provide the high performance Web Servers with an excellent software bundle to enhance your web-site.

Your web site is located on a powerful shared web server with other web sites. The web server environment and resources are shared, yet the individual sites are completely separate.

A2Z limits the amount of web sites on their servers, but many hosting companies cram as many as possible into the machine, which provides poor performance during busy internet activity.

We provide the high bandwidth connectivity that delivers your site with the speed and reliability, you should expect from your web hosting provider.

We have a 99.9% availability history to ensure that your online presence will be available without interruption.

We provide the best online support available, with a 30 day money back guarantee, if you are not completely satisfied with our services.

How do I set up an account?

After deciding on your hosting package and type, you may either:
1.) Proceed to the order form. (which is fast and secure)
or
2.) You may print out the appropriate order form. and fax the completed form to our sales office. Our sales office fax number is located on the printable order forms. Be sure to fill out the online order form completely prior to printing the page out. After successfully printing the page you may cancel the online order by closing your browser.

Do you have a reseller program?

Yes we sure do and its probably the best deal available on the web. Visit our reseller plan area for our great deals for resellers or anyone wanting to host their own web sites.

Can I resell space within my account?

No, our web hosting plans do not allow for the reselling of web space. But we do offer some great plans that are designed for this purpose. Visit the reseller's area to view the available plans.

Can I change from one plan to another?

Yes you may. You can upgrade or downgrade your account at any time and we do not charge a fee for this service.

All upgrades will incur the pro-rated difference between the monthly fees of the accounts.

To upgrade or downgrade your web hosting account, please go to the Support Area and then select your support link, then select the upgrade secure online form, fill out all sections and submit.

Is there a discount for pre-payment?

Please refer to the respective area for the hosting plan that you are interested in ordering. The available discounts will be listed at the bottom of that page. All of our hosting plans do offer discounts.

How long does it take to set up a new account?

Accounts are usually set up and active within 24 hours and often much sooner. Once an account is set up, an activation notice will be sent to you via e-mail including a userID, password, IP address, email account information and a link to your control panel.

You can begin uploading files to your new web site immediately thereafter. New Domain names or transferred Domain names will be given a temporary URL to access their site via the Web, prior to the completion of either domain registration or transfer with InterNic.

What Nameservers should I use for my domain name?

Listed below are our nameservers to use.
For all web hosing accounts use:
DNS1.A2ZSITESOLUTIONS.NET IP Address: 63.247.76.59
DNS2.A2ZSITESOLUTIONS.NET IP Address: 63.247.76.60

Does it cost anything extra to move my domain to A2Z?

Registrars do not charge a fee to change a domain names nameserver information. We will help you in the transfer of your domain name to A2Z, if you would like.

How do I transfer my existing Web-site to A2Z?

Complete the following steps:

  • Place your order and open an account with A2ZHOST.

  • Be sure to check the Domain Transfer box.

  • You will receive your account information via email from A2ZHOST as soon as we receive payment.

  • You can then transfer your existing Web site to your new account established at A2Z or if you have a webmaster you can transfer this information to the appropriate source, to have your web site transferred.

  • You must also remember to change your domain names nameserver information to reflect our DNS servers.

Listed below are our nameservers to use, depending on the hosting platform that you have chosen.
For all UNIX web hosing accounts use:

DNS1.A2ZSITESOLUTIONS.NET IP Address: 63.247.76.59
DNS2.A2ZSITESOLUTIONS.NET IP Address: 63.247.76.60

Will my site have any downtime if I move it from another provider?

As soon as we setup your account you will be able to access it via a temporarily address. With this access you can upload your files to your new account and setup your email accounts. This means that your site will be up even before the domain switch is made so there will be no downtime.

Can I have FrontPage, FTP AND CGI on my Web-site?

Your web site control panel includes the capability to install and uninstall FrontPage extensions.

You must use caution and you must understand the risks involved. FTP and CGI is considered a non-standard FrontPage site, this implementation is not recommended or supported by Microsoft. If you are not careful, you can easily overwrite the FrontPage extensions and destroy the integrity of your Web-site.

How do I request features or add-ons?

We provide all customers with a personalized control panel to set up e-mail items, ftp accounts, and much more. You may also add additional account features through the main web site order form.

Do you have a control panel?

We have without a doubt the best control panel available for all of our hosting accounts.

You can manage your Web site, files, email and FTP services, and much, much more through our intuitive, web-based control panel.

Through the control panel we also provide comprehensive documentation and useful resources to help you administer your Web site.

For your security, the control panel is password-protected.

You may try out our Cpanel control panel demo here: Cpanel Demo
Username: demoa2z
Password: demoa2z

Also visit our support area for some great Flash tutorials on using Cpanel.

Could I have a description of your web servers?

General Server Information (all platforms)

Quad Xeon 2400MHz processors

1 GB SDRAM or higher

Multiple SCSI hard drives amd backup IDE drives

Multiple 100 MB Ethernet cards

Perl

PHP4

Server Side Includes (SSI) enabled

Whats Available On Your UNIX Servers?

Please visit our UNIX Plans Area's for an in-depth description of all included features.

What methods of payment do you accept?

Online accepted methods of payment are:
A2Z is proud to accept VISA, MasterCard and AMEX payments through the secure online services of LinkPoint. We also accept ATM/Debit cards that display the VISA or MasterCard emblem.

Also offered is the option of making your payments with all major credit cards and ATM/Debit Cards through the secure services of PayPal, which also accepts international payments in these countries.

Offline accepted methods of payment are:
Telephone orders placed with VISA, MasterCard and AMEX. We also accept Debit cards that display the VISA or MasterCard emblem.

Check orders faxed or mailed directly to our sales office.

We also accept money orders and wire transfers.

Note: If you pay by check, money order or wire transfer, payments must be in US currency and these accounts will not be setup immediately. There will be a slight delay.

How can I pay for my account?

First option: Your credit card will be billed automatically or you will have a choice of using our secure transaction link to make your payments with VISA, MasterCard and AMEX. We also accept ATM/Debit cards that display the Visa or MasterCard emblem.

Second option: You may select the PayPal link and pay your invoice with your Visa/MasterCard or ATM/Debit card.
You may pay your invoice offline via:

Third option: Mail your payment with a check or money order directly to the A2Z Site Solutions billing department.

Fourth option: We also now accept direct bank deposits. (Please contact our Billing Department for details on this payment method)