Frequently Asked Questions:
How many websites can I host on a single Nitro server? A Nitro server can easily host hundreds of websites. (mt) Media Temple provides an unlimited domain Plesk license free of charge.
Can I install any third-party applications or hosting software I want? Absolutely! Although (mt) Media Temple cannot assist with the installation of third-party applications, you are free to install and use whatever software you like.
How do I enable root access to my Nitro? Root access is enabled by default. For security purposes, we do not send this password via email. So, you'll need to log into the AccountCenter and use the "reset" feature to create a new root password.
Can I get a Nitro without LAMP or the Plesk Control Panel pre-installed? Yes, that would be our (ve) Nitro. It comes without LAMP, without Plesk, and gives you the additional flexibility of choosing from these operating systems: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora or CentOS. Our Sales Team can explain the differences and help you decide which solution is best for your needs.
What are the charges if I exceed my bandwidth? If you exceed the bandwidth included with your hosting plan, you will automatically be charged for the overage at the rate of $0.15 per GB. We will alert you in advance via e-mail if our monitoring system projects that you will exceed your bandwidth allocation. You may also view a report of your current and projected bandwidth use during any billing cycle directly inside the AccountCenter.
What are the benefits of virtualization?
- Faster support and increased diagnostic capabilities by (mt) Media Temple support technicians.
- Web-based remote start/stop/reboot capabilities.
- Granular resource monitoring.
- Service monitoring with customizable notifications.
- Rapid up-scale and down-scale of resources.
- Rescue/emergency maintenance mode features.
- Detailed bandwidth reporting.
- Network spike protection.
- (mt) Media Temple managed kernel upgrades.
Why does (mt) Media Temple use Parallels' Virtuozzo virtualization? We want your applications to run faster and better than anyone else's. Virtuozzo is the most powerful, light-weight, high-performing virtualization available today. It has a more efficient strategy for isolation that uses less server resources and does not significantly degrade performance as load on the machine rises. Other virtualization products have a severe loss of efficiency as load rises and some eventually grind to a halt before you even have a chance to use all of your guaranteed resources! Virtuozzo will out-perform them in a very dramatic way, especially during traffic spikes and high-load conditions because it remains efficient all the way up to the cap on guaranteed resources. Also, there's a bonus with Virtuozzo: Bursting. Bursting is a frequent event where memory beyond your guaranteed allocation is automatically used by your applications. Bursting is far more efficient than regular memory use. So, your applications will respond to users much faster on Virtuozzo than on other virtualization systems. Turbo, anyone?
How is a Nitro server different than a (dv) server? Nitro refers to our top-of-the-line service. We've combined the appliance-like control and flexibility of a virtual server with the massive resources of a single-tenant physical server. For example: Many tasks such as restarting the server, stopping the server, and then powering it back up are all done through the Virtuozzo Power Panel right in your browser. So, you don't have to wait for someone at a data center to "flip the switch." Nitro has twice as much guaranteed memory allocation as the largest (dv) 4.5 and has the same software and control panels installed. The biggest difference? It hosts only YOUR applications. If you need a high-performance server with generous resource allocation and want to have it all to yourself, Nitro is the solution for you.
Do you provide automated migrations between the (dv) and Nitro? If you are currently on a (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server then you can easily scale up to Nitro via the AccountCenter. It's easy and completely automated. Likewise, if you need to scale down for awhile, you can make that happen instantly via the AccountCenter.
Does the Nitro offer a 32-bit or a 64-bit environment? The Nitro server is a 64-bit environment.
Which software is pre-installed on (dv) Nitro? The following software is included on each (dv) Nitro:
- CentOS 6 x86_64
- Apache 2.2
- MySQL 5.5
- PHP 5.4
- Perl 5.10
- Python 2.6
- Ruby 1.8
- Postfix 2.8
- Plesk Panel 11
- YUM package management
Do you offer Windows Operating System? No, we do not offer Windows at this time.
What is PowerPanel technology? The Power Panel software included with each Nitro allows you to stop, start, and reboot your server directly through your web browser. Using the optional Snapshot Backup add-on before performing delicate system administration tasks allows you to instantly revert back to your snapshot if your changes don't work out. The Power Panel also allows you to automatically re-provision your Nitro server to the exact state it originally came in at anytime.
What control panel is installed?
Our (dv) Nitro includes Parallels Plesk 11.0. For an overview of the Parallels Plesk 11.0 Control Panel, please see Parallels' website.The (ve) Nitro does not have a control panel. So, all administration tasks must be accomplished via SSH access and the Linux command-line or Power Panel.
What is battery-backed write-cache enabler? It allows for higher reliability and performance for writes. In real-world terms, it can make disk writes ten times faster, and if a system crashes, greatly reduces the likelihood of data corruption.
Which software is pre-installed on (ve) Nitro?
The following software is included on each (ve) Nitro:
- Your choice of Linux: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, or CentOS
- Perl 5.10
- Ruby 1.8
- YUM or APT package management (as appropriate to your selected Linux Distribution)
Can I host hundreds of websites on a single Nitro? Yes! A Nitro server can easily host hundreds of websites. (mt) Media Temple provides an unlimited-domain Plesk license free of charge.
Can I resell hosting services on a Nitro server? A Nitro server with the Plesk Control Panel provides an excellent reseller hosting platform. You can allocate separate resources for each client, provide them with individual control panel access, run your own private nameservers, and bill your customers using the free Plesk billing application.
How does (dv) Nitro help me resell hosting services?
- The main Plesk Control Panel is designed for reselling.
- Easily create customer accounts and subscriptions.
- Set restrictions for your customers as needed.
- Run private nameservers if you wish.
- Brand the control panels with your logo.
- Control panel for your customers enforces access restrictions.
- Use Plesk to set up and manage e-mail accounts.
- Offer your customers a choice of AtMail or Horde webmail client.
- Bill your customers directly (Plesk Billing license is included; just install the application).
- Application Vault enables your customers to easily install applications.
How does Nitro help me monitor server condition?
- Realtime and Historical Server Status information is available via the AccountCenter or API 24/7/365 so you can monitor and manage the resource use of your server.
- Power Panel provides access to controls for your virtual environment.
What guidance do you have available to help me get started reselling? Many (mt) Media Temple customers resell hosting services, so the best place for advice is in the (mt) Forums. Our Community Wiki also has some great articles. We encourage active contribution to the Forums and Wiki so please, jump right in!
What are the new features of Plesk?
- Navigation is more intuitive, enabling quick access to desired features.
- Application Vault offers more than 200+ applications and simple installation.
- Server Health monitoring in Plesk. This is in addition to Realtime Server Status in the AccountCenter.
- Faster loading of Control Panel pages.
- SiteBuilder is redesigned with drag-and-drop capabilities and 60 prebuilt templates to enable instant site creation.
- @Mail is the default email client. For any domain, you may easily switch to Horde if you wish.
- In-place upgrades of LAMP components are now easier and faster.
- Migration from cPanel and from earlier versions of Plesk is now much easier.
- Role-based access option. If you have customers, limit their access as you see fit.
- Multiple FTP accounts can be connected simultaneously.
- Billing license is pre-paid so you can install the billing application at any time.
- PCI compliance for panel and billing system helps e-commerce applications meet industry standard.
- More flexibility in reseller hosting plans, including multi-domain options and multiple add-on plans.
- Google Services for Websites includes support for Google Web Elements, Google Custom Search, Google Site Search, Google Page Speed and Google AdSense.
- Postfix support provides a more stable, secure and higher-performing e-mail experience, and switching from Qmail is quick and effortless.
- Total Control Backup is a completely revised Backup/Restore feature that gives you complete control.
- Fast CGI mode is now used to run PHP applications faster and more safely.
Check out Parallels' website for more details on what's new in Plesk 11.0.
Is it recommended that I have a technical background to host with the Nitro solution? Customers using a Nitro solution should have an overall competency in IT and server administration or have someone to handle this internally.
Am I provided with a firewall? Yes, you can define your own Firewall rules using the Firewall module in Plesk or using iptables on the machine.
What if I need more than the allotted 3 terabytes of bandwidth? Should you exceed your included allotment of 3TB of network transfer, additional bandwidth usage will be billed at a rate of $0.15/GB.
Am I able to add more RAM? The Nitro is sold fully loaded. If you require more resources, you can stack multiple Nitro servers. Please contact our Sales Department if you are on an older Nitro with 4GB or 8GB of RAM.
Can I get more storage? Please contact our Sales Department for more information on storage.
Who is responsible for handling hardware components if they fail? (mt) Media Temple will monitor and maintain all aspects of the server hardware. If a hardware failure occurs, (mt) Media Temple will replace any faulty hardware in an immediate, reasonable time-frame. (mt) Media Temple will maintain an inventory of replacement components, and/or service contracts with hardware vendors to ensure that faulty hardware may be replaced in timely manner.
Does (mt) Media Temple provide backup services? (mt) Media Temple offers customers two self-managed backup options:
- Purchase Snapshot Backups as an add-on, please contact Sales.
- Run backups via the Plesk Control Panel.
What nameservers do you offer? Can I select private nameservers? Your server runs as an authoritative DNS server by default, based on the domains defined in the Plesk Control Panel.
What about spam protection? (mt) Media Temple provides the latest version of SpamAssassin.
What about other add-ons like shopping carts, e-commerce applications, or SSL certificates? The Plesk Application Vault now offers more than 200+ applications. Installation is simple and quick.
Am I able to create a backup with Plesk?
The Plesk Backup Utilities allow you to create, schedule, restore, download, and browse per-domain backups. This feature is available at no cost.
NOTE: If the Back Up option is greyed out, simply open a support request from the AccountCenter to have us set it up for you.
This tool is recommended to be used for more frequent backups, meaning weekly or even daily. It is an excellent tool when used in conjunction with the Snapshot Backups add-on. The main purpose of this tool is to have the ability to quickly and easily recover important data for one specific domain without affecting the state of the server overall. The backup utility retains website files, email users/email box contents, and databases. This tool does not back up any server configurations. However, you do have the ability to download the created backups locally, and it offers the option to automatically move the backups to another server via FTP.
What are the charges if I exceed my bandwidth? If you go over the bandwidth included with your hosting plan, you will automatically be charged for the overage at the rate of $0.15 per GB. We will alert you in advance via e-mail if our monitoring system projects that you will exceed your bandwidth allocation. You may also view a report of your current and projected bandwidth use during any billing cycle directly inside the AccountCenter.
Are the Plesk migration tools enabled by default? Yes. They are available by default, just like on our older (dv) servers.
Nitro has two types: (dv) and (ve). Which is better for me?
There are two essential differences:
LAMP & Plesk:
- (dv) includes LAMP and the Plesk Panel 11.0.
- (ve) is a bare-bones server without a LAMP stack or a web-based control panel. Consequently, Linux command-line skills are required to manage a (ve) Nitro.
OS Choice:
- (dv) is provisioned with CentOS 6.
- (ve) offers a choice of Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora or CentOS operating system.
Is there a money back guarantee with the Nitro? (mt) Media Temple will provide customers with a 7-day money back guarantee on the Nitro.
Will there be a discount if I prepay for a full year? Yes, if you prepay for the year we will provide a 10% discount.
What forms of payment does (mt) Media Temple accept?
We accept the following payment methods: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal, or wire transfer. If you are a US customer, you may also pay by money order or check.
Please let us know if you intend to pay via PayPal, money order, check, or wire transfer so we may email you special instructions. Any payment method requiring special instructions will need to be prepaid for a year.
