I. General Questions.
What is bluechip hosting?
Bluechip Hosting is a company looking to do what other web hosting companies will not: to provide people with a very high quality products and services. CPANEL and a number of other administrative tools are provided FREE. We strive to provide a higher quality service at a very good price.
Where can I get more information about you?
Well you can read our blog. Please be sure to check it out the Tech Blog to get updates about us, and to get helpful articles relating to running a successful website.
Who is bluechip hosting exactly?
We are not someone working out of their parents basement. We been around for over 13 years as an ISP (Internet Service Provider). We provide a number of services from Dial-Up internet, high speed internet access, E-mail services, secure file storage applications, web acceleration, content management, software developement, web-design, Voice over IP (VOIP) services, dedicated servers, and virtual private servers. We have the experience. We have the know how. We have the means. We will provide people with a quality product.
What is web hosting?
Web hosting is what holds the files and images that make up a website. This is referred to as a "domain name" such as bluechiphosting.com. We provide you the disk space on our hardware to run your site 24/7 and the means by which you can administer your account through the web.
What is a domain name?
A domain name, for example bluechiphosting.com, is used to identify a computer or group of computers on the internet. It is what allows us to use a human readable name (bluechiphosting.com) to tell computers where we want to go and what resource we wish to access, such as a website URL. These names make it easy for people to navigate to sites of interest without having to type in a complex looking number ( IP address)to reach a site.
What is a URL?
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locater or Uniform Resource Identifier associates a specific IP address to a common name, for example http://www.bluechiphosting.com.
What is an IP?
An IP (Internet Protocol) is what a domain name translates to and normally looks like 1.2.3.4. Sites using SSL certificates to do online purchases require you to have your own IP. We offer IP addresses to those who are interested for a setup fee of $10.00 USD and $2.99 each month applied to your payments.
What is an SSL certificate?
An SSL certificate stands for Secure Socket Layer. Basicly speaking, this is a way to make the data you input in a website completely encrypted, and unreadable by humans and sometimes computers. This allows you to ensure the security and integrity of data on a website, you wouldn't want anyone knowing your credit card information entered over the internet, having an SSL certificate ensures the data you enter is being sent over the internet securely.
Where can i get an SSL certificate?
We offer SSL certificates at the cost of $59.99 USD per year plus a one time $40 setup. SSL certificate REQUIRES you to have your own IP address.
What in the world is CPANEL?
PANEL is the leading control panel - control panel being a web based interface to control every aspect of your website and domain. It has the ability to modify your files, add new files, add new users, or new features such as one of our MANY add-ons like shopping carts, blogs, wikis, forums and much more. CPANEL allows an average computer user with all the tools necessary to do very complex processes with a click of a button! CPANEL is second to none when it comes to managing your website.
What are "these server side tools"?
Server side tools, normally never offered in free services are actually programming languages and databases, which REAL sites use to manipulate data. PHP is the worlds most popular programming language because its easy learning curve and can be used to create very nice dynamic websites and applications. MYSQL is the world leading open source database software used to store large amounts of searchable/indexable data to be used in any way based on the application.
Sounds a bit complex, is this too much for a beginner?
With our system, even a beginner, using CPANEL, can create a wonderful site, using the latest technologies and without much knowledge, or ANY previous knowledge of programming. As a matter of fact with a few key presses one could potentially have a very beautiful looking blog site attached to their domain using one of our many addons such as WordPress, an industry leading blogging software package.
What is a blog?
A blog is a user generated website with entries much like a journal, it can be used for a multitude of reasons, from showing pictures of your pets, to family pictures, or political debates, where others can join in. Its simply up to you to use such a feature, but you have the ability, if you desire, with a few button clicks right from your CPANEL control panel.
Will bluechip hosting teach me to make websites?
While we would love to, but unfortunately we cannot really teach you. We will provide you with resources to learn on your own. If you find it too difficult or time consuming, we can do web design for a reasonable fee.
What makes bluechip hosting different?
We offer a high a quality product, on a high quality network. Compared with normal users who are normally charged a lot of money for the product we are providing to you at a much lower cost. Not many companies will offer any customer CPANEL for a low cost, or provide users with REAL server side tools such as php/perl/mysql for such a low cost. Most importantly, we do not oversell our networks and servers.
What do you mean oversell?
You will find many hosting companies on the internet, they will promise you unlimited everything, or some outrageous disk and bandwidth limits, which is just purely for lack of better words, a lie. They put every customer on a network that is already at capacity, and a server that is already full. We offer you what we know you can use, not infinite limits that do not exist. Those companies expect you to pay and never use their systems. All you need is one or two of those websites to actually use the 'terabyte' of band width offered and the rest of the hosted sites suffer with inefficiency. We will not do that. We want you to enjoy our services and recognize we really are different.
You sure are giving away lot of services! what is the catch?
The only thing you need to do, is enjoy our services, that is the catch. We know if your site succeeds, we succeed.
II. Billing Questions.
What kind of billing options exist?
Currently we accept PayPal payments, and credit card payments.
Will you accept a check or money order?
Currently we will not accept check or money order, not even E-checks, because of the nature of our business and volume. Paypal accounts are very easy to establish, and credit cards are easily obtained. anything with a VISA/MASTERCARD logo is accepted, such as check cards from banks.
How will I be billed?
Depending on what exactly it is that you purchased, we will bill you monthly for the fee of your hosting package. If you bought a domain, this is a once a year cost based on the price of your domain, so if you purchased a domain through us, and have free hosting, you would only be billed the purchase of your domain, and a year later to renew it so you can keep your domain name.
What other things may I be billed for?
There is a possibility you could be billed for going over your bandwidth quota, but you will have advanced notice by E-Mails and can choose not to pay the fee, this will however make your site offline until the next billing month cycle begins for your account. However rest assured we do not overcharge for bandwidth like other companies. We know what bandwidth costs. We offer you quality network connections and quality servers, You wont be paying for an over sold network.
I want to know, exactly what I am being billed for, where can i see this?
We have built a very easy to use, client management area. From the client management area, you may view your Client Dashboard where you can update your billing information, address, change your credit card information, order new products, add additional services to your current account.
How do I access the client management area?
The client management area is available from direct login on our front page using your e-mail address and password you chose when you signed up, or by clicking Here to login once logged in you will see your Client Dashboard. Click here to see screenshot of the client dashboard.
I lost my login password! What do I do?
You can request your password to be resent to you, on the Client management area. enter your e-mail account, which is also your login and the system will send you your password. Should you have lost the password to your account you will have to contact us directly with a trouble ticket to resolve this problem.
Is my billing information secure?
Right from the get-go, bluechip hosting takes security very seriously. From the beginning of the signup process. We store your information based on 128-Bit algorithms in binary (non-human-readable) format. Our servers are backed up and stored securely on a daily basis. You should know your information and privacy is secured to the highest possible standards.
Do I need a new account for everything I purchase?
Normally no. Once you have your username you@youremail.com, you can login to our Client management area. and make new purchases on the upper right corner. New Order Screenshot. There are a few things that may require it's own account, if you have questions regarding that, feel free to contact us.
How do I cancel my account?
While we are sad to see you go, we have made this a simple thing for everyone to do, it can be easily done by you online, by logging into the Client management area and then following these easy screenshot steps, step 1 step 2 step 3. To summarize, just login to your client management area, hit "View orders" at the top, hit "View" next to the account you want to cancel, hit the "Cancel Account" link, Fill out the short form, and hit the "Submit Cancellation Request" button.
I signed up for a FREE account, but it doesn't work?
For security reasons FREE accounts need to be processed and take normally from 4-8 hours to be activated (although usually within 15minutes). Once activated you will recieve your login information via the e-mail you signed up with. You can avoid this process by initially purchasing an instant activation addon.
III. Technical Questions.
What is CPanel?
CPanel, is the Internet's leading edge of control panel for end user domain administration. It allows people to do complex functions in a few clicks of a button using their web browser. We are using the latest CPanel version which is 11. It adds a beautiful interface for end users.
How do I add my web site files to my account?
The simplest way to add your files is through FTP, please make sure to use ftpusername@yourdomain.com to login via FTP. CPanel however does offer a very easy to use file manager, in which you can use to create, delete, modify any file you want, as well as upload directly from your computer.
What FTP software should I use?
You can use any FTP software you wish, there are many to choose from for windows, MACs, and UNIX/Linux. For example: Cute FTP,Smart FTP, WS_FTP etc. Please makre sure to use ftpusername@yourdomain.com to login via FTP.
Do you support register_globals in PHP?
Yes, we do support it, however we suggest you find a solution for PHP that does not require you to use register_globals, for it is proven to be quite insecure. If you do use register_globals, it would be good to let us know you are doing so by a simple e-mail or anything out of courtesy to us. Please note: register_globals is disabled by default and you have to use an .htaccess file to turn it on.
How do I enable register_globals on my Account?
Please take caution when using register_globals and only use it when it completely necesary. To enable register_globals on your account insert "php_flag register_globals on" without quotes into your .htaccess file in your www or public_html folder.
Register globals doesn't work for me?
Some of our sites use PHP suExec, and you must use an actual php.ini in your directory with the line register_global = On in it, that is all you would need. Any additional php flags can be used there as well.
What is an .htaccess file?
The files .htaccess are "distributed configuration files" and they provide a way to make configuration changes on a per-directory basis. A file, containing one or more configuration directives, is placed in a particular directory/folder, and the directives apply to that folder, and all the subdirectories thereof. The most common use for an .htaccess file is to provide basic web based authentication to a folder, however you can do many things such as invoke mod_rewrite rules and other complex features.
What is an IP?
An IP is what a domain name translates to and normally looks like 1.2.3.4, sites using SSL certificates to do online purchases require you to have your own IP, we offer IP addresses to those who are interested for a setup fee of $10.00 USD and $2.99 additionally every month applied to your payments.
Why would I need an IP?
There may be a time where you might require your own IP address for your web site or parts of your site. The most common reason will probably be a shopping cart, or the ability to apply an SSL (secure socket layer) certificate to secure your site to use as previously stated, a shopping cart. This is a must for anyone interested in doing any kind of online transactions.
How do I send E-mail?
You must configure your e-mail client (Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc)to use an SMTP server. This is normally designated as 'something'.yourdomain.com, in your e-mail client properties.
What is SMTP?
SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is the method in which e-mails are sent, commonly people believe incoming and outgoing mail are the same process, but it is not.
Do you require SMTP authentication?
While we do not require you to use SMTP authentication, you should always use SMTP authentication when it is available, and for our systems it certainly is available, and will make e-mail usage easier.
Is there a web mail system?
Yes, you can use one of our pre-configured web mail systems in which you can choose, Horde and SquirrelMail. The options to configure and choose these are witin your CPanel Login.
Do you support POP3/IMAP?
Yes we support both, POP3 and IMAP. You could use any E-mail client of choice, outlook,outlook express, eudora,thunderbird etc.
What is PHP?
PHP stands for PHP Hypertext Pre-Processor. It is one of the most widely used and supported scripting language on the internet. You are allowed to use PHP on our systems, please make sure to name your files with the .php extension.
What is Perl?
Perl is the Practical Extraction and Report Language. It is also a dynamic programming language like PHP. Perl is used quite often for many cgi-scripts. It has very advanced string manipulation functions. Perl files must normally end with .pl extensions to be invoked by mod_perl.
What is Python?
Python is a dynamic object-oriented programming language that can be used for may kinds of software tools. It includes many extensive standard libraries. While we support python through mod_python, steps need to be taken for it to function properly.
How do I enable python for my site?
You need to edit your .htaccess file to include the following:
AddHandler python-program .py
PythonHandler testprogram
PythonDebug On
Change the name "testprogram" to your application name without the .py extension. Please note this is case sensitive and should be typed in without spaces before or after each line.
Now make a file called testprogram.py and add the following:
from mod_python import apache
def handler(req):
req.send_http_header()
req.write("Hello World!")
return apache.OK
You should see Hello World! as your page results, please note the indentations for it is required.
Do you support Ruby on Rails?
Yes! We have recently moved to newer versions of CPANEL and now offer Ruby on rails on all accounts!
Do you support Frontpage extensions?
Yes, while frontpage is actually not very good for speed overall of our servers, it is supported, but it is not available for Free hosting, only to basic and advanced hosting.
Do you support media streaming?
You could potentially setup something to stream media with, such as MP3s or RealAudio, however we do not have a streaming media server, you would have to create a script or place .ram files on your webspace.
What Hardware does bluechip use?
We use certified hardware, normally from HP, and prefer to use Quad (4CPU) Xeon processors (CPU) systems for doing web hosting. We use at least SCSI RAID 0+1 on all systems. Our servers networks normally reside on at least a 100MBit uplink on Cisco hardware.
Do you perform backups?
Yes we perform backups, on a server wide basis, so this means that in the case of a disaster, we can recover the entire system, this however does not mean that users can request their data they deleted from 5 months before because of an accidental deletion of files.
Can I run my own Backups?
Yes, CPanel allows you to do a backup of your files,databases and E-mail, and download to your computer.
Do you allow crontabs?
Yes, the basic and advanced hosting packages, give access to crontab on a per user/site basis. Crontab allows you to schedule tasks at any time of the day, week, or month.
How do you calculate bandwidth?
While many companies claim to give unlimited bandwidth, we do not advertise such a false statement. We calculate bandwidth that an account uses accurately. If you have a file that is 102.4kb in size, that adds up to 102.4kb transferred, should this file be downloaded 10 times, it will add up to 1024kb which is equal to 1megabyte/1MB of bandwidth. Everything that is transferred goes towards you bandwidth quota.
What do you do when bandwidth exceeds the limit?
You will receive, E-mail notifications stating you are at 80% threshold of your bandwidth, at this time you could choose to purchase a bandwidth increase, or you can let your bandwidth run out, and it will make you site inaccessible, until the new month comes, in which your bandwidth quota is then reset.
I need more help, where can I find more assistance?
We are providing some basic HOWTOs, which can be accessed through our support page. We will continue to add more walkthroughs and useful tips and tricks to our site to help you make your website succeed. Be sure to check often, for we will continuously add more tutorials to our site.
All information provided is subject to change.
