Q: Where is my website or server hosted?

A: Vortx hosts all our external servers in a secure data center. Our Seattle facility is ideally located outside the Seattle Fault Zone and liquefaction area, and is designed and constructed to sustain a seismic event while maintaining business functions. Superior network connectivity with Seattle’s robust optic loops keeps latency low. The availability of more than ten internet service providers gives both flexibility and redundancy. 55 MW existing electrical capacity, 45 onsite generators with one half million gallons of onsite fuel storage, and a carrier vault system supported by more than fifty miles of embedded, secure conduits, combine with industry-leading hosting services to provide customers with the ultimate in security and reliability.

• 2000 amps 480v Input Power
• 4 x 500Kva UPS Battery Backup Units
• 2000Kw Diesel Generator with Onsite Fuel Storage Redundant Liebert 30 Ton HVAC Units
• Pre-Action Dry Pipe Fire Suppression
• Proximity Security Badge Access
• Digital Security Video Surveillance
• Three 10Gigabit Redundant Fiber connections

Q: How will I be paying for hosting?

A: When registering for hosting you will be asked for credit or debit card information and will authorize Vortx to charge the monthly hosting fee to your card. The fee will be charged in advance of the month of service. Supplemental charges incurred during that month will be invoiced.

Q: What is the difference between Managed and Unmanaged Hosting?

A: All managed hosting plans from Vortx are fully set up, customized and maintained by our expert staff with no interaction required from the customer. This includes setting up a secure server for your website, maintaining software updates and OS patches, routinely checking error logs for indications of future failures, and full off-server backup. Every server and website on a managed hosting plan is remotely monitored for availability and our on-call technicians are notified 24/7 in the event of any outage. Customers with Managed hosting plans will not be provided root access to their server.

Unmanaged hosting plans only include support for hardware failures. They do not include any server setup beyond the initial provisioning of the operation system. Security configuration, software updates, server maintenance and backups are the sole responsibility of the customer. Customers with Unmanaged hosting plans will be provided with root access to their server.

Q: When is your maintenance window and how much downtime can we expect on our site?

A: To ensure that the Vortx servers are secure and running at their optimal capabilities, our engineers perform server maintenance on Wednesdays, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. PST. This maintenance may only impact the availability of a server for a brief period of time and maintenance may not be required for every server.

Maintenance includes, although is not limited to, such activities as adding, removing or replacing hardware on servers, bringing new servers online, applying software updates to servers, applying security updates issued by the manufacturer, correcting problems with software, or installing new software on servers. Maintenance windows are generally used to perform non-urgent work. Urgent work will always be scheduled as quickly as possible with as much notification as possible and may be performed outside of the regular Wednesday maintenance window.

Q: How do I contact support and what hours are you available by phone?

A: Our Network Services department is available to take support requests and troubleshoot server related problems Monday – Friday from 8:00am – 5:00pm PST. Support is also available by email 24/7 by emailing networksupport@vortx.com.

Q: On your Shared Hosting plans, what does Memory Allocation mean?

A: Memory Allocation is a private section of server memory in which only your website runs. This prevents other websites on the same Shared server from affecting your site’s performance.

Q: Does Vortx host email?

A: No, Vortx doesn’t host email for our clients. However, we do provide a service to migrate your existing email accounts to Google Apps. Click here to read more about this service and purchase Google Apps directly from our website.

Q: What happens if I use too much disk space or data transfer?

A: Vortx will not take down your website if you have exceeded the allotted disk space or data transfer. You will receive an overage charge on your next invoice based on the following scale: $10 per 1000MB for additional disk space $1.25 per 1000MB for additional data transfer.

Q: Does Vortx provide DNS Administration?

A: Yes, Vortx provides DNS Administration for our hosting clients at no additional charge.

Q: Can Vortx register and administer my domain name?

A: Yes, Vortx is equipped to register and administer your domain name on your behalf. We ensure that your domain’s contact information is kept up to date, and your domain name will never expire without your prior approval.

Q: What are Vortx's security practices?

A: Vortx feels very strongly about ensuring that all of its sites are secure. There are extra steps that site administrators need to take in order to protect their data and it is the store owner’s responsibility to ensure that these and other security precautions are taken. All sites should have documented and enforced password policies, apply Windows security patches as needed, maintain physical security of the server, etc. All sites need to begin pursuing PCI compliance as well, since merchant gateways are constantly becoming more strict in their regulations.

One of the benefits to having Vortx host your site is that we will ensure it is secure by doing all of the following, included in your monthly hosting fee:

• Make sure that your web settings do not allow directory browsing or direct file retrieval! This should be standard security procedure for any host, and we verify that the anonymous internet user account does not have rights to browse files on the site.
• Remove (with your agreement) extraneous files that are not used by the software, such as .psd files, .sln files, .csproj or .vbproj files, etc. This operates on the same principle as turning off or removing unnecessary Windows services on servers to shrink the total attack surface, making your website more secure.
  
• Remove any of the folders that the original download may contain that are not necessary for the running of the site.
  
• Use SSL.
• Set permissions properly on your website.

If you are hosting with Vortx, for an additional one-time fee of $100, we will also implement the following extra precautions:

• Rename the /admin folder to something unique to your site so it cannot be easily guessed.
• Use IIS Integrated Authentication on your admin folder.
  
• Use CAPTCHA images on your admin site.
  
• Create a custom error page and set in your web.config files.

If you choose to have your site hosted elsewhere, we encourage you to take advantage of our Security Best Practices. For a fee of $50, Vortx will audit your site and provide you with an estimate for implementing the precautions listed above. A typical estimate would be $100-$200 but may not always be the case with every site. Please note that before conducting the audit, Vortx will require access to your server and web folders.