Q. Can the User be allowed hosting MP3 files on its hosting account?
A: Yes, the user is allowed hosting the mp3 files, but it may not host any files with a copyright belonging to anybody else, unless it has the owner’s written consent.
The user must also remember that if the account exceeds 100,000 files or 20 GB of disk space, then the Company removes its account from the automated backup service, as per the Terms of Service.
Q. Is there any need to provide anti-virus?
A: There is no need for the company to provide anti-virus on a Linux box. The Company manages those, and the security team will handle all possible server threats. The Company provides anti-virus on Windows boxes but there is no need to provide anti-virus for an email facility. People already handle virus threats on their PC’s. Extra virus protection would just mean more waiting for the user while the same scan has been done twice.
Q. Are the servers PCI compliant?
A: The entire cluster servers that make up HostGator have updated for PCI compliance.
If the user finds any problems, then it can just get a scanning vendor to email them a report and provide that report to support@hostgator.com so that the company can fix anything that does not comply.
Q. Are the servers UNIX / Linux, or Windows NT?
A: All HostGator shared webhosting, reseller, and VPS accounts run on CentOS Linux, which is identical to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The Company dedicated hosting servers currently come with one of two default operating systems: Linux CentOS 5 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
Q. What is the Backup policy, does the company provide backups?
A: The Users are responsible for their backups and web content. The Company creates their own weekly backups on the shared servers, and the user can restore from those whenever required. However, it is not a proper procedure; the users should not entirely rely on the company to keep the content safe. Backups are scheduled on every Sunday and only the newest backups are kept. The Company makes no guarantees about their weekly backups, and the users need to pay a $15 fee to restore any of the HostGator backups. If the user can provide its own backup file, then there is no fee and it is free of cost. On the Dedicated Server Hosting Service, the company does not make any backups. The User can partition space on their hard drive for backups, or purchase a new hard drive for backups.
Q. Can the user get extra bandwidth and space?
A: For the Shared Web Hosting Services the user will not need extra disk space and bandwidth, as the company in fact does not limit those at all. In case of the Resellers account, if the user needs more bandwidth or disk space, it needs to upgrade to the next package by filling out the online upgrade form.
If the users need more bandwidth or disk space than their highest plan offers, they can purchase a second plan to accommodate the needs, or upgrade to a dedicated plan. In case of VPS, if the users need more bandwidth or disk space, then they need to upgrade to the next package by emailing sales@hostgator.com with their request. If the users need more bandwidth or disk space than the company highest plan offers, the users need to purchase a second plan to accommodate their needs. In case of the Dedicated Owner, the user can order an additional hard drive to achieve more disk space; the user needs to understand that the extra hard drive cannot transfer to another server. The user can order additional bandwidth, or else the company will automatically charge the user for every Gigabyte over the monthly limit.
Q. Do the company offer support in other languages?
A: The Company only offer support in English. However, if an employee here can speak the user language, the company allows them to do that. The best way is to use the company live chat program. Many of the agents can successfully communicate in a foreign language if they can read the user questions and have time to prepare a response in translated form.
Q. Does HostGator work with Macs?
A: Yes, it does. But in fact, everything on the user account works on the company servers, so it does not matter what the user personal computer uses.
Q. How much traffic can the User have?
A: There is no way to determine the maximum number of visitors to the user site can sustain. Each site is different and the amount of traffic the user can handle will depend on the resources each visitor is using. Once the Users are online, they can view their site statistics, like the number of visitors and which browser they use. The User cPanel includes a statistics program called AWStats.
Q. If the user needs to handle more traffic, what should the user do?
A: Shared, reseller, and VPS all handle the same amount of traffic. The best recommendation is to upgrade to a dedicated server, or a more powerful dedicated server.
Q. How often does the company update programs?
A: The Company updates each program as soon as the server administration team approves it. Often updates are “buggy”, and the company wants always to be sure of any updates not to cause any problem for the clients.
Q. Does the Uptime Guarantee?
A: There are few terms and condition that are being followed. They are
• If a shared or reseller server has more than 0.1% downtime during any month, the user may receive one month of credit for that hosting plan.
• The approval of the credit is at the discretion of HostGator and is dependent upon the company records.
• The Server maintenance does not count as downtime. Just because the user website does not work, this does not mean that the server has downtime. As long as the server is available to deliver the user content, then the guarantee met. It is the user responsibility to have working content.
• To request a credit, the user can contact sales@hostgator.com with justification. All requests must be made in writing via email.
• Uptime guarantees only apply to shared webhosting and reseller account owners. Dedicated servers covered by a separate and unique network guarantee.
Q. What control panel does the company use?
A: The control panel that the company uses is called the cPanel. If the users have Reseller or Dedicated Hosting, the company provides WHM (Web Host Manager) for managing multiple cPanels.
Q. What does fully managed mean?
A: This is the support that is provided to those user and the clients who have purchased fully managed account types. Fully managed support means that the company will handle about any issue or configuration request, the user may have with the client server outside of custom software or the script installations. A brief list of the things \the fully managed support of the HostGator covers, but is not limited to may be mentioned as below:
* It includes the Security audits.
* It informs for load problems or sluggishness in the network.
* It fixes the network related issues.
* It does the required to prevent the failures of a server to boot.
* It tells about hardware failures and fixes it.
* It installs the packages through package manager (yum, rpm).
* DNS Configuration is also included in it.
* Troubleshoot the script configurations and/or website errors is also included.
* It automates the tasks.
* It includes Firewall setup & troubleshooting.
* It includes E-mail configuration.
* It Upgrades & migrates the software (php, mysql).
* Custom apache configurations (mod_python, mod_ruby, mod_wsgi) is also included,
* It includes installing Perl/PECL module/extension.
* It configures backup files.
* It setups the Google Applications.
In addition to all above, there are many more services included and the list is still longer. The HostGator accounts that get fully managed support are:
* Shared webhosting
* Reseller hosting
* VPS hosting if it includes cPanel
* Dedicated server purchased online
Q. What file system does the companies use on Linux?
A: Linux supports many different file systems, but common choices for the system disk include the ext* family. The Company file system is ext3.
Q. What is Server Load?
A: Load expresses how many processes are waiting in the queue to access the computer processor. Of course, this is calculated calculate for a certain period and the smaller the number, the lower will be the load.
Q. What is the best coupon code for the user?
A: The user can find the company current coupon code while placing their order. The coupon will automatically appear after the users choose the billing cycle for their new plan. The 20% off coupon can be used by new and existing customers. It only applies to new orders, and only includes the months of hosting (not domain registrations) that are part of its initial order. If the user signs up for more than one month on the shared plans, the company does discount all of the months. For the Dedicated and VPS customers, the user will not be able to use the 20% off coupon and pay annually or semi-annually. The user cannot sign up for more than one month of dedicated or VPS on the company website. Therefore, the coupon is only good for the first month.
Q. What makes a username or password invalid?
A: The rules for the user hosting user name and password are:
* Username must be alphanumeric and start with a lowercase letter. (Min length: 3. Max length: 
IMPORTANT: Username may not contain hyphens or spaces.
* Password must be between 3 and 15 alphanumeric characters starting with a lowercase letter.
The underscore and dash characters are also acceptable but the password cannot contain any part of the username.
Q. Where can the user get help with Design and Coding Issues?
A: The Company does not offer a service like this at HostGator. Currently, the company must refer the user to the technical freelance networks, such as www.elance.com, www.odesk.com, www.getafreelancer.com and www.getacoder.com to locate someone to assist them.
Q. Why do they not allow overselling?
A: Almost all resellers are offering overselling. Clients have great uptime, and servers are fast. As more time goes by the server, it becomes more and more filled from resellers using what they have purchased and downtime gradually gets worse. People who purchase reseller plans with overselling enabled are going to use all of their disk space and bandwidth given enough time. The host has no control over future growth. If the user wants to do overselling, they need a dedicated server, but remember that can only fill the server with so many sites before the CPU and RAM become overloaded.
Q. Will the user existing email accounts transfer over as well?
A: If the previous hosting company of the client uses cPanel, then the company migrate the current email boxes and messages. Otherwise, it will not be able to transfer any email accounts. In such a case, the company recommends the users to archive their old emails and create new mailboxes with the same names with the new host.
Q. How can the user archive its emails?
A: The fastest method is to setup a POP3 connection via Outlook or another mail client. As soon as the user receives using POP3, every email received permanently saved to the user computer.
Q. Will the company place ads on user site?
A: HostGator.com will not place ads on the site of the user. That is the one of the many advantages for the user of having a paid host.
Payment & Fees
Q. Are there any hidden costs, or setup fees?
A: The Company has done away with all setup fees. There are no hidden costs or setup fees attached to any HostGator.com hosting plans. There are some optional upgrades and services, which can be viewed at company Account Add-ons page.
Q. What is the Bandwidth policy and prices?
A: Bandwidth is the amount of data that can transfer to and from the user account in one month. Every time someone downloads a 10 kB file from the user website, it is computed as a use of 10 KB of bandwidth from the user account. In addition, every time someone visits the user site, it downloads the home page and uses that much bandwidth. Bandwidth reset on the first of every month, except for VPS. VPS bandwidth calculates by billing cycle, not calendar month. In case of the Shared Web, the user needs not to request more bandwidth, as the company does not limit the bandwidth for the user in this account. In case of the Reseller, similar to shared web hosting.
If the user needs more bandwidth or disk space, it must upgrade or order a new hosting package. In case of VPS, if the user needs more bandwidth or disk space it can contact sales@hostgator.com with a request to upgrade to a higher level plan. In case of the Dedicated Hosting Account, the user can buy extra bandwidth for 30 cents per gig (pre-paid). For this, the user needs to email sales@hostgator.com to pre-pay for bandwidth. The Company charge 50 cents per gig for bandwidth overages. Overage reports come monthly from the company datacenter, and the user will automatically invoice.
Q. Can the user upgrade at any time? How much does it cost?
A: Yes, the user can upgrade at any time. It is free to upgrade and the only charge would be the price difference in the plan the user upgrade.
For example, if the user has already paid $9.95 this month with its previous plan at HostGator, and the new plan is $14.95 per month, the user only needs to pay the $5.00 difference. If the user upgrades halfway through the month, the company will charge a pro-rated amount of $2.50, and the normal $14.95 will charge next month.
Q. How can the user pay for hosting during sign up?
A: If the user wants to pay with credit card and bill automatically, then it can choose the credit card option during sign up. The user will be asked for the card information immediately.
If the user wants to use any method of payment besides credit card, then it can choose PayPal during signup and complete the order. Now the user can pay online at http://hostgator.com/billing and pay with PayPal, or can send a cheque, money order, Western Union, or EFT.
Q. Is tax included with the user monthly or yearly plan?
A: If the user is outside of Texas, then tax is already included in the price. The customer should keep in mind that all costs are in US Dollars. Any new customers with a billing address in Texas would be required to pay a state sales tax on top of the initial invoice (currently 8.25%). This will not affect current customers and would not apply to recurring charges.
Q. What forms of payment does the company accept?
A: The Company accepts MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, PayPal, checks, money orders, cash, Western Union and bank transfers (EFT).