We hope you find the information on our website useful in your decision when searching for your perfect cloud hosting solution. If you have not found all the answers you are looking for on our main pages then this FAQ should help! Please contact us to discuss any further questions or concerns you may have, we would be delighted to answer your questions and discuss your cloud hosting requirement in order to tailor a solution that is right for you.
This page is regularly added to as more questions about our cloud hosting are received.
Cloud Hosting FAQ
What is the difference between a Cloud Server and a Dedicated Server?
The UnitedHosting Cloud has two key differences over traditional dedicated servers. Firstly we gain portability by using a shared central storage (SAN) which allows your virtual server to move seamlessly from one physical server node to another. This central storage allows for self-healing high availability, as the cloud will automatically move your server to another node in the event that your last node experienced a fault or needs to be taken down for maintenance. Secondly Xen virtualisation technology is used to allow several smaller virtual dedicated servers to exist on one physical machine together, which is why you can start with an extremely affordable smaller server and scale up as demand requires (you can also scale a single server within the cloud to a much larger system than a traditional single server would allow).
So is my cloud server still dedicated to me?
Yes! Different providers use different virtualisation technology and they all have different ways of creating virtual servers. We utilise Xen which gives you a true enterprise grade virtual dedicated server environment, with dedicated guaranteed resources all of your own! We give you full root access to your server and it can be fully customised and optimised to your needs, unlike shared hosting servers and other types of VPS servers on the market.
Can I use all the resources I pay for?
As with all UnitedHosting products we do not oversell or oversubscribe our cloud infrastructure. We do not use words like 'shared' or 'burstable' when describing our cloud hosting because all the resources you are quoted are 100% dedicated to your cloud server.
Do I need to be technical or have any experience to use your cloud?
No, all our cloud hosting includes full server management in the price you pay. You can treat your cloud server just the same as any of our shared hosting products if you like, it is supplied ready to use and we even include cPanel which you have probably used before to quickly and easily manage aspects of your website hosting. You do not need any additional technical knowledge and UnitedHosting will look after you and your server 24x7.
Will my cloud hosting include cPanel WHM and it's features?
Yes, your cloud server will be provisioned for you running cPanel WHM control panel, so you will be familiar with the control panel and all of its features from day one. All of the features mentioned on our standard shared and reseller hosting pages will be installed and ready to use on your cloud server.
What is the minimum contract?
We do not have any contract period on our cloud hosting servers. You can sign up today with FREE setup, and cancel any time you wish with no exit fee's or termination notice periods.
How quickly can I upgrade my server?
Your server can be upgraded or downgraded in just a couple of minutes. If you operate a site which has large fluctuations in traffic such as a seasonal ecommerce store which spends half the year busy and the other quiet then our cloud is perfect as it allows you to purchase resources only when you need them, and scale back and save money when you don't, all without the extended downtimes of traditional server upgrades/downgrades.
I don't see what I am looking for on your website, help?
We can tailor a cloud server to your exact needs. If the slider on our site does not offer you a cloud server size that you are happy with, please contact us so we can build you a tailored server to your exact requirements.
What is a vCPU?
Our cloud hosting packages quote you a specific number of vCPU's (virtual CPU), RAM, disk space, and monthly bandwidth. The UnitedHosting Cloud has plenty of CPU to spare, which is why even our smaller plans include 1 whole vCPU. This is effectively 1 whole processor dedicated to your package (2.4Ghz). Larger packages include more vCPU's. You will not have to worry about processing power on the cloud, the most important metric is how much RAM (memory) you use. Modern PHP/MySQL scripts such as Magento use a lot of RAM, so RAM is really how you need to decide on the package you buy. We are happy to help recommend a plan to you, and you can always start small and upgrade later.
How many websites can I host on my cloud VPS?
You can host as many websites as you like on your cloud server, we do not define any set limit. You will just need to ensure the size of your cloud server is always sufficient for the amount of resources your sites use. Your cloud server can be upgraded or downgraded at any time to suit the number of sites you intend to host.
How many IP addresses do I get with my cloud VPS?
Each server is deployed with 2 IP addresses to start with. 1 is for the hostname, and the other is for the "ns2" nameserver. Remember we setup your server ready to use, including nameservers to point your domain name to. You can order additional IP's from us if you justify there need (such as making an IP based site for SSL) and we charge a small monthly cost the same as dedicated IP addresses cost on our other hosting services.
What level of support can I expect?
UnitedHosting grows on reputation alone, as with all our products and services you will have full access to our friendly and knowledgeable 24x7x365 support team. You can contact us anytime for a prompt and helpful response direct from an expert.
When and how much do you charge me?
We charge you monthly on the same day of each month based on the day that you signed up with us. The exact amount will depend on the size of cloud server you are using when we invoice you for that month.
Will you move my websites from my current hosting to your cloud?
Yes! If you have an existing hosting plan or server with UnitedHosting, or you use cPanel based web hosting with another hosting company our team would be happy to take care of migrating your sites on to a new UnitedHosting cloud server free of cost!
Do you keep a backup of my cloud server?
Included as standard we take one daily, and one weekly snapshot of your server disk. These snapshots allow you to roll back your cloud server to a previous state at any time. You can also take an "on demand" snapshot of your server anytime you like from your control panel. For the ultimate backup we recommend taking our r1soft CDP addon with your cloud server. This provides 4x per day backups of your server to an offsite location, held for 2 weeks (thats 56 versions of your data) and allows you to restore an individual file, database, or entire website at any point in time rather than having to roll back the entire server to a previous snapshot.
I already have a VPS elsewhere, why are your cloud servers more expensive?
When comparing solutions it is important you compare apples with apples.
Firstly our Cloud servers are not 'just another VPS'. Ordinary VPS servers have no built in redundancy and are simply a slice of a traditional dedicated server. UnitedHosting Cloud servers do not exist on just a single piece of hardware, instead they make use of a large scalable cloud of hardware which is hardware and network failure tolerant.
Secondly all our Cloud VPS servers include full management, cPanel WHM, and are deployed in a fully optimised and secured state. Adding server management of this quality, backups, and a control panel license to your traditional VPS elsewhere will certainly increase the cost beyond the pricing we charge for a Cloud server which includes the lot!
I read about some cloud hosts having a lot of downtime, how is UnitedHosting different?
Cloud hosting really revolves around the central shared storage (SAN). Unfortunately good quality purpose built SANs are not cheap, which leads some providers down the path of "going cheap" on the SAN - this is a fundamental flaw on such a critical part of the infrastructure. Not only have we invested in high-end enterprise SAN units, but we also run 3 of these for a single cloud. We have two redundant raid10 SANs running in active-active mirroring of each other, as well as a 3rd redundant backup SAN taking regular snapshots of the primary pair. Not only is there redundancy built in with RAID10 disks inside the SAN, but our setup allows us to recover from 2 SANs failing!
This page is regularly added to as more questions about our cloud hosting are received.
