Frequently Asked Questions

1. Servers

Can I upgrade or downgrade an existing VPS?
How is your HDD storage configured – do you use SAN’s?
What is your uptime guarantee / SLA?
Which virtualisation platform(s) do you use?

2. Networking

You have 1Gb/s burstable uplinks. Will I really get 1Gb/s?
What happens if I exceed my bandwidth allowance?
Do you support IPv6?
How many IP’s can I have per VPS?
Is network access restricted, and do you block ports?

3. Backups

How secure is my data?
How does your backups feature work?
How much will backups cost me?

4. Support

How much tech know-how do I need?
Do you offer VPS admin management plans?
How quickly are support tickets answered?
What happens if I break my VPS?

Can I upgrade or downgrade an existing VPS?

Absolutely! Our VPS platform is designed with upgradability and expandability in mind. Should you find your VPS too small and you need more resources, upgrading is as simple as 1 click and it’s usually completed in 10 minutes^. Similarly, if you wish to downgrade a VPS, that’s also a 1 click process and takes around 10 minutes^.
(^During working hours)

How is your HDD storage configured – do you use SAN’s?

All data is stored on in-server RAID disk arrays, for ultimate speed and resilience. We do not currently use SAN arrays to store data as we find them to be unreliable, even when configured in a dual + failover environment.

What is your uptime guarantee / SLA?

Although we aim for 100% uptime, sometimes things break. We guarantee that each node (that’s the hardware your VPS is hosted on) will have no less than 99.9% server and network uptime per month. Nodes are monitored every minute by Pingdom and we base our uptime levels on their results.
Should the uptime level for the node you’re hosted on fall below 99.9%, we’ll give you service credit in accordance with our uptime guarantee as our way of saying sorry.
(credit requests must be submitted to us before 8th of following month)

Which virtualisation platform(s) do you use?

We currently use Xen (mixture of PV and HVM) for all VPS servers. During our beta-testing and pre-launch process we tested all major virtualisation platforms, and found the fastest & most stable results from came from Xen.
We are trialling KVM virtualisation currently. If you would like to join the trail, please submit a ticket.

You have 1Gb/s burstable uplinks. Will I really get 1Gb/s?

It’s unlikely you’ll ever get a full 1Gb/s bandwidth. Although every node is networked via 1Gb/s uplinks, this uplink is shared between other VPS servers on the node. The maximum attainable speeds will vary between different protocols/applications, and the remote host/connections.
The uplink speed you experience is dependent on the port speed you’ve chosen for your VPS server. You can choose between 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s or 1Gb/s burstable port speeds, as per your requirements.

What happens if I exceed my bandwidth allowance?

We give very generous bandwidth allowances, though we know all too well that a sudden burst in visitors can mean huge amounts of unsuspected traffic. If reach your bandwidth allowance, we will temporarily suspend your VPS until you purchase more bandwidth or upgrade your VPS package. – Or you can wait until the start of the next month, when the bandwidth counter is reset.

Do you support IPv6?

Yes – but it’s still in ‘experimental’ stages. Our software and hardware configurations are raring to go, but we’re held back by networks and peering. France and Germany have fully working IPv6 networking. UK is expected to have working IPv6 by Q1 2012. Philadelphia has no working IPv6.

How many IP’s can I have per VPS?

We have a fair use soft limit of 3 IPv4 addresses per VPS, and 50 IPv6 addresses per VPS. All IP’s must be justified before they are issued. Should you need more IPv4 addresses and have sufficient justification for their use, you can contact us and request more. The IPv6 is a hard limit, and cannot be increased.

Is network access restricted, and do you block ports?

We do not restrict network access to your VPS in any way; you are free to use your VPS however you like – as long as it does not violate our Terms & Conditions.
We do not directly filter or block any ports – though our France cloud has common IRC ports blocked by our data centre.

How secure is my data?

VPS data is stored locally on each node, on redundant RAID Hard Disk Drive arrays. If a HDD in the array fails, we can hot-swap it over without downtime and your data will continue to be protected. You can also purchase monthly, weekly or daily backup slots for ultimate peace of mind.

How does your backups feature work?

Our backup solutions are purchased in slots of ‘snapshots’. You can configure backups to run on a scale anywhere from daily to weekly to monthly, and choose whether to overwrite existing backups or create a new snapshot (depending on how many backup slots you’ve bought).

How much will backups cost me?

Backup snapshots are charged at a flat rate of £5 per slot per VPS. If you want to backup your VPS once monthly, a single snapshot of £5 per month is required. If you’d like to backup once monthly and once per day, two backup snapshots are required – so £10 per month.

How much tech know-how do I need?

Our VPS servers are ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. We have plenty of 1-click Operating System and control panel/pre-installed software templates requiring very little configuration, and if you break your VPS you can easily reinstall it. We also have bare operating system templates for the more experienced or adventurous user.
We’ll give as much help with your VPS as possible, but if you require lots of support you’ll need to look at a ‘managed’ solution whereby our tech team will look after your VPS for you.

Do you offer VPS admin management plans?

Yes we do! Our VPS servers come unmanaged by default, but you can add a part-managed service for £14.99 per month, or a fully managed service for £39.99 per month.
Please see our VPS Management Plans page for full details.

How quickly are support tickets answered?

Support tickets are answered on average within 15 minutes of the ticket being opened. Our statistics show most support tickets are resolved and closed within 4 hours of the ticket being opened. Our working hours are 8:30am – 10:30pm (GMT London) 7 days a week, and we obviously can’t answer support tickets when we’re off-duty.

What happens if I break my VPS?

If you break something on your VPS and it no longer works correctly, you can simply re-install your Operating System/Template from within CloudControl. If you have purchased backup snapshots on your VPS, you are able to restore your VPS to a previous configuration which will hopefully resolve the issue. Or, if you have a managed service, you can contact our tech support team who will look in to the issue for you and try their best to resolve it.