When should I upgrade to a dedicated server?
We will usually contact you with alternatives if
we feel you have outgrown a shared server. Web
sites that generate heavy traffic and use a great
deal of CPU time are candidates for a Dedicated
Server.
Do you handle all administration of the servers?
Our Dedicated Server proposal include 100%
setup and administration of your servers. This is
where we get very competitive. You need never
allocate your own resources for anything from
installing/upgrading software/hardware, to adding
mappings in IIS, permissions, SQL Server
admin, Webtrends, etc. You can go through us even
for the simplest day to day administration of
IIS/SQL Server, Cold Fusion, or anything related.
24X7 support is included for any
technical/service matters. We are also involved in
setting up proper backups for the NT/2000 operating
system and web content. This is our niche. Our
years of experience managing shared NT/2000 web/cold
fusion servers has made it possible for us to
quickly carry out these type of requests and
troubleshoot any problems that
may arise. Unless you have someone very well
versed with these services, setting up and
administering this type of configuration can
quickly consume valuable resources. Even with a
technician in house who can perform these
tasks, their skills may be better utilized
elsewhere!
Do we need to set up our own mail server with the dedicated server plans?
Email services such as email forwarding are
provided free of charge for Dedicated Server
customers. We also offer a limited number of Pop3
accounts as part of the service. Clients who have more demanding mail
server needs can also use our services in managing a dedicated mail server.
Do you offer administration services for our box?
Yes. Our administration package gives Dedicated
Server clients an out-of-the-box solution
tailored to their web server needs. Spiderlink
will set-up, maintain and administer your
dedicated Web, Cold Fusion, and SQL server.
What operating systems do you handle?
At the moment we are focused on handling servers
running the Microsoft Windows NT operating
system. We have years of experience with Windows
NT and NT related software such as Microsoft SQL
Server, IIS, Cold Fusion, Webtrends, and more.
Please contact us if you have any specific needs.
Do you handle load balancing for heavy traffic
sites?
Yes. We support Cold Fusion balancing accross
multiple servers for sites that depend on Cold
Fusion. We also support Local Director for those
sites requiring a hardware solution. Local
Director is a hardware/software solution for load
balancing Web/Cold Fusion server across multiple
servers.
Can your staff handle SQL Server related issues?
Relational database systems such as Microsoft SQL
Server is our business. Our staff has 10+ years
of experience working with such systems including
IBM DB2, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server.
What happens if the registry gets corrupt, or if
NT becomes inaccessible?
There are many things that can go wrong with an
NT installation. We make sure to backup the
registry and system files on a regular basis.
Without proper backups of the Windows NT system
directory and registry files, all settings could
be wiped out making it necessary to re-install
everything from scratch. We have years of
experience recovering from such disasters.
Do you handle SQL Server replication for our
dedicated servers?
Yes. If you have two or more dedicated servers
that require replication, we will handle all the
setup and scheduling tasks. We will always make
sure that we have a good understanding of your
application needs so that we can suggest the most
suitable replication methods.
Can I still have PCAnywhere access to my box?
Yes. Even though we provide complete administration on your server, you
can have full remote control access via PC Anywhere or terminal services
as long as you own the machine. We encourage you to gain access to the
machine whenever you want, but we only ask that you notify us of even the
most insignificant changes to avoid any potential problems.
Do we need to have a Firewall for our dedicated
Web server?
Firewalls are mainly used by companies that want
to protect their Internal network or Intranet
from the outside world. A company network is
typically made up of several workstations, with
sometimes hundreds or even thousands of end users
managing these machines. Even one badly
configured workstation can give a hacker access
to all resources on the network. A Firewall can
help prevent hackers from entering the company
network even if one or more workstations have
security issues.
Web servers meant to server content on the
Internet do not need to be behind a firewall. In
fact, most companies that have firewalls setup
will put their Internet Web server outside the
firewall. The big difference is that a Web
server is usually managed by a System
Administrator who can setup permissions properly,
and stay on top of operating system and
application upgrades.
Is our site potentially vunerable to the "ping of
death" security attack?
Many of these common vulnerabilities such as
the "ping of death" have been
overcome by the latest service packs issued by
Microsoft. The ping of
death is a type of network packet that causes
certain operating system
TCP/IP stacks to choke and hang the entire
system. This is a non-issue with
Windows NT's latest service packs.
How can we prevent a 'Denial of Service' attack from affecting our servers?
DOS and DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks
such as the ones that brought down Yahoo and Amazon can be very difficult
to avoid. The attacker basically brings the network down by flooding it
with large amounts of traffic. If the attack is coming from one computer,
it's easy to determine the IP address and then deny access to that
particular address at the Web server level and restore service. If the
attack is coming from multiple servers, as was the case with Yahoo,
Amazon, and others, it's a different story. In this case certain types of
network packets are hitting the network from several different sources.
Basically, the way it works is the attacker installs a malicious program
on multiple servers which then send multiple requests to the target to
flood the network. Attackers can install these programs on hundreds of
compromised machines, which means that hundreds of unwitting
participants can be involved in the attack.
This kind of attack is usually detected at the router level. All the
network packets must pass through the router before hitting your machines,
so with properly set router rules, this kind of attack can be avoided. The
entire network is at risk in this type of attack, not just the target
machine. Although a firewall can detect this kind of attack to a specific
server(s), services may still be inaccessible because of flooding to the
network. The Network Operations specialists at our computer facility have
many years of experience in filtering out this type of nuisance.
Why Windows 2000 Advanced Server?
Windows 2000 Advanced Server is ideal for line-of-business and e-
commerce applications where scalability and high availability demands
are most critical. It provides integrated system scalability through
enhanced symmetric multi-processing (hardware scaling or scaling up).
As well, the two Windows Clustering technologies -- Cluster Service
and Network Load Balancing -- contribute added availability and multi-
system scalability (software scaling or scaling out). Combined with
relatively inexpensive PC hardware, Windows 2000 Advanced Server
gives organizations a powerful and scalable alternative to more
expensive proprietary solutions.
Please explain licensing for Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
You need a server license for each server within a Windows 2000
Server-based network and a Windows 2000 Server Client Access License
(CAL) for each client computer that is used by an authenticated user
or that uses Windows 2000 Server Services.
The majority of customer scenarios will require the same number of
Windows 2000 CALs as they would with Windows NTŪ Server 4.0.
Authenticated use by applications. Customers whose applications use
Windows 2000 authentication or directory credentials will require
CALs. Many such customers have already purchased CALs for other
services such as file and print. But for those who do not have CALs
for other purposes, CALs will be a new requirement.
Authenticated Internet access. Customers with Internet sites using
Windows 2000 authentication will require CALs for authenticated users
connecting to their sites. Such customers may comply with this
licensing requirement by purchasing CALs in "Per seat" or "Per
Server" mode. Or, they may opt to purchase the new Internet Connector
license for unlimited Internet CALs as long as the devices are used
by "Internet users" on a single server. Access to Internet sites by
anonymous users does not require a CAL.
We recommend you use Per/Server Licensing. This allows users to have a
set number of devices connected to a licensed server at a given time and
customers need a sufficient number of CALs for that server to cover all
the concurrent users of the server.
A Windows 2000 Server CAL is associated with a particular server. This
alternative allows concurrent-use licensing: If customers decide to use
the server in Per Server mode, they must have enough Windows 2000 Server
CALs dedicated to that server to accommodate the maximum number of clients
that will connect to that server at any one point in time. The server
assigns Windows 2000 Server CALs temporarily to client computers; there is
no permanent Windows 2000 Server CAL associated with a specific client
machine. If a network environment has multiple servers, then each server
in Per Server mode must have at least as many Windows 2000 Server CALs
dedicated to it as the maximum number of clients that will connect to it
at any one point in time. Under this option, the customer designates the
number of Windows 2000 Server CALs that apply to the server during setup.
How does Microsoft licensing work?
Check out the following link to Microsoft's web site for more
information:
a
href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/advancedserver/howtobuy/pri
cing/model.asp">http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/advancedserver/ho
wtobuy/pricing/model.asp
