Generally, no. We offer a managed solution and would therefore control root access to maintain the integrity of your server. During installation, access can be granted for you to manage the server temporarily however an audit will take place to ensure the server meets minimum requirements to be supported.

We can provide you with application accounts and groups on a server so that you can manage the components of your solution if this is needed.

No. Load balancing is generally done via server in your application and we can configure this for you. SSL offloading is not possible and is either done on the specific server, or by the load balancer. We can configure the SSL certificates for you if you require.

We currently use Fedora Core 8 as a base solution, however most versions of open source Unix can be catered for.

Windows 2003 server (Data Centre Edition) can be supplied with Microsoft's Web Platform, including ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, Silverlight, and Internet Information Server (IIS).

While our deployment of windows comes with SQL Server Express, we can also provide the 64 bit chassis server options with SQL Server (Standard Edition).

All costs will include the relevant licensing and support costs.

Once all the paperwork has been sorted out and payment agreed, we can deploy your servers inside an hour.

How long does it take to do the paperwork? well, this depends on the complexity of your solution, and can range from an hour to several weeks.

How many do you need? We can discuss any large applications individually, however a relatively simple 4 or 5 server solution is generally not a problem.

Not really, not yet. This site is a very bespoke application designed specifically for the needs of our business. Maybe once the site moves out of beta we may release it to the world, but until then the only way to secure a copy is a pretty hefty one-off license fee

Yes. If you are staying on the same architecture type (i.e. 32 or 64 bit) then this can be performed in a couple of hours from a previous backup.

If you need to change the architecture from 32 bit to 64 bit, this normally takes about a day and you will still be running a 32 bit operating system, just on the 64 bit hardware.

Going the other way will involve a new server and new software install by you. Similarly if you want to move to a 64 bit operating system from the 32 bit edition.

We require an infrastructure plan that outlines how you intend to deploy the servers in your solution.

Don't panic if you are scared of PRINCE2 or PMI based documentation, we like to keep things simple

Generally a picture of where each server sits and how it connects to the other servers will do for starters, and in addition a shopping list that defines what each server will have. We will help you though this process from start to deploy.

We take your privacy very seriously and abide by the data protection acts in the United States of America and in Europe. We will not provide any of your details to a third party unless legally required to do so.

Please bear in mind that some details may become public domain, for example if we register domains in your name.

The cost of the server includes the hosting costs, runtime of the server, hardware management and transfer of data though the web up to the fair usage amount for the instance.

There is additional cost built into the hosting charge for maintenance. The level of maintenance service depends on the instance type, but ranges from 2 to 4 days. This maintenance includes things like responding to alerts, patches to the operating system, general housekeeping and ensuring any in place backups are operational.

Generic remedial action is also included however if we find a problem that requires a charge or an outage we will inform you first where possible.

For a more in-depth look at what's included and what is not, please look here.

This depends on the type of storage you are using. The standard storage that comes with the server is not backed up by default - if the server fails, this data will be lost.

Persistent storage is attached from a disk array and it is allocated to you. This storage can be moved around servers as you require, and will persist in the event of the server it is attached to failing.

It is a contrived acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart". Why do we need it? well there are some very unpleasant people out there and to protect parts of this site, we need to ensure you are you... and not an automatic spam bot looking to sell us Viagra.

The CAPTCHA images on this site take the form of a sum of 2 digits. If you need to do anything and you are prompted with this, just add up the the numbers and enter that value in the box provided. The numbers are always added together, although rotation may make it look like a multiplication - it is not.

They look like this:

Generally we monitor the servers for accessibility and usability. This means we ping the server, and monitor CPU and disk space. Our support team are alerted if any of these cause a problem. Provision can be made for you to have access to the data statistics if you wish, but we would normally just alert you to things that are causing a problem.

For an additional support charge we can provide a regular report for all the servers in your solution outlining data from the last 4 weeks.

As we operate in the United States of America and in Europe we abide by the hosting laws there. Generally gambling and pornography are legal, but there are restrictions.

We will abide by any legal request to shut off a server if it violates any law.

We use servers primarily based on the east cost of the United States of America. We are in the process of deploying to an EU based data centre at the moment and this will be online by the end of the year.

We would recommend that you encrypt any sensitive data you may store with us as you are responsible for your own data under any relevant data protection act in your country of presence/operation.

Well, due to our privacy contract we can't tell you who our clients are on this website, however we use our own service for all our US based work if that helps

If you do need references we can arrange for you to contact some of our clients for this purpose.

You can define a list of users that will be able to access your servers, generally on a per project or application level, but you can do it at a server level if you need this level of segregation.

The Kane IT Systems Support team also have privileged access, and they are all bound by our code of conduct and practice - this means we are committed to ensuring your data is safe and secure, and would generally not need access to your data.

Generally speaking, we are also happy to sign most confidentiality agreements your company may require.

We would recommend that you encrypt any sensitive data you may store with us for piece of mind all round.