Billing FAQ

Administrative FAQ

What charges will be on my first bill?

Your first bill will include any setup fees and prorated monthly charges for the services you ordered. The reason we prorate the monthly fees is to have our customers on the same billing cycle (currently the last day of the month). Please be aware that no services will be provided until we receive your first payment.

What are the acceptable payment methods?

We currently accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and check payments.

Will I automatically receive monthly statements?

We will automatically send out monthly statements via email. These statements will contain a summary of your active services, charges, and payments. If you are paying by check, you will be instructed to send payment by a certain due date. If you are paying by credit card, you will simply receive confirmation that your payment has been fulfilled.

Will I receive paper statements via postal mail?

We do not provide paper invoices at this time. You will receive email invoices which you can print and archive for future reference.

What other billing communications can I expect to receive?

We will send out late notices, credit card expiration notices, declined credit card notices, and other pertinent billing information that may apply to your account. It is important to always keep your email address in our system current in order to receive these important messages.

If I exceed the bandwidth included with my plan, how will I be billed?

Our systems will automatically track the bandwidth you have used with your plan. If it is deemed that your account has exceeded its limits, you will be charged accordingly on your next billing cycle. Your monthly statement will also include summarized information about your overages.

If I don’t pay my bill, will my services be suspended?

We will make reasonable efforts to contact you and collect payment before we take any action. If we are unsuccessful in collecting payment from you, your services will be suspended until payment is received. A setup fee may be required to re-activate your service.

Do I have to sign a long term contract to become a customer?

By default all our servers come with a one year term agreement. We do not make you sign long term (2 or 3 Year) contracts beyond one year unless there are customized hardware, software and/or services included in your configuration that require special handling. You will notified of this in a case by case basis. In addition to this, you do have to agree to our Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy in order to use any of our services.

If I cancel, will I be entitled to a refund?

No, we do not issue refunds for pre-paid services. If you wish to cancel, you must do so before the next billing period. Please read our Terms of Service for more information.

 

How long will it take to get my new server?

We keep a significant inventory of servers and components that are readily available for provisioning. Once your first payment is received, we will typically provide login information within a few hours. Due to high demand, add-ons for customized servers may be subject to availability. If we cannot provide you with service within 24 hours, we will contact you and provide an estimated time frame.

Will I have administrator access to my server?

Yes, you will have full administrative rights to your server which gives you complete control. You will have 24/7 access to your server and you will be able to install, configure, and uninstall applications as you please.

Will InternetDynamo have administrator access to my server?

We will keep the username and password initially assigned to your server on file; however you have the ability to change it. We will regularly access your server for support, updates and monitoring unless you specifically request us not to do so. If you decide to remove administrative access to your servers from us, we will gladly abide and if you need us to provide you with support you can do so by providing us with an administrative account for us to use.

How will I access my server for management?

The most common way of accessing your server is through the Terminal Services Client or Remote Desktop Connection. You will also be able to access your server via the Windows Server 2003 Web Interface (if enabled) or any other means that you have configured like VNC, PC Anywhere and others.

Can my server be upgraded in the future?

In most cases we can provide CPU, memory, and storage upgrades, however these are all subject to availability. In most cases, there will be charges associated with those upgrades and they must be scheduled in advance. Please call or email us for more details.

I’ve been with you so long and my server is getting old, do I have to pay to get upgraded?

We have certain customer loyalty programs in place that may apply to you. Please inquire with us to find out if you are eligible for a free server refresh. It is our goal to keep our customers happy and their servers running effectively.

What kind of monitoring does InternetDynamo provide?

We will ping your server every five minutes to verify that it is responding. If we suspect that the server has gone offline, we will investigate the problem. If it is deemed that it is related to our network or infrastructure, we will take action to recover service immediately. It is important that you notify us in advance of any activities that will cause extended downtime, so that we are aware of them beforehand.

Included in our services are advanced monitoring features that allow us to monitor in depth portions of your application like SQL, Exchange and specific web pages.

How is bandwidth usage measured?

We collect traffic statistics from your switch port and store it in a database. Once this information is collected, it is imported into our billing system and the appropriate charges are applied to your account. Typically, the imports are done on a daily basis, but for certain types of services they are done monthly. The charges are normally applied on your billing date.

Do you restrict my server’s throughput?

Unlike other companies that limit your server’s throughput to 10 Megabits or less, we don’t feel that we should place any bottlenecks within our network. Your server is connected to our network via a full-duplex 100 Megabit Ethernet connection. This ensures optimum speed for both internal and external traffic. You will be allowed to make short "bursts" on the network. If you will be using a high rate of "constant" bandwidth and require guaranteed throughput, you will need to subscribe to a guaranteed bandwidth circuit plan.

Can I connect my servers together, creating a back-end private network?

We realize that some customers may benefit from private back-end connections. All of our servers have dual network adapters and the second port can be used for this purpose. Please inquire with us regarding your custom network needs.

Do I need to install a DNS server? Can I use your DNS servers?

Domain Name Services are a very important part of the Internet. In order to ensure fast response times and maximum up time, it is recommended to have at least two fast and reliable DNS Servers responding for your domains. We understand that some of our customers may only have a single server, which may not be sufficient. While you can run DNS on your own server, we provide DNS services free of charge to all of our customers.

Will you register my domain names for me?

We currently do not register or transfer domain names. We recommend using one of the many domain name registrars for new registrations or transfers. You can find a list at http://www.registrarstats.com.

Can I install my own software on my server?

You can install your own software on your server provided the operating system supports the software and you have the proper licensing for the software you are installing.

If I am selling virtual web hosting using my server, do I need a unique IP address for each web site?

You do not need a unique IP for each web site. You can host multiple sites on the same IP using the host header configuration in IIS. The only time you will need a unique IP for each site is when you are using SSL. This is because you can only install one secure certificate for each IP address.

How many IP addresses do I get? How many can I get?

By default, you are given 1 IP address with every server. However, you can purchase an unlimited number of additional IP addresses for your server at any time. When requesting additional IP addresses, we may ask that you provide information on your IP address usage for justification purposes.

Will you make backups of my server?

We do not back up servers as part of the standard plans. It is your responsibility to keep backups of all the content and data that you store on your server. Each server has the Backup Utility for Windows installed by default which allows you to make backups of the entire server, specific files, and even system state.

We recommend subscribing to our Managed Backup service so that you can backup your data to a reliable location. This service will also be useful if you ever need to revert back to old data. By special request, we can also burn a copy of your backup files to CD or DVD and mail them to you. Please contact us for more details.

How can I make sure my server is secure?

There are several tools that can help you make sure your server is secure:

Use Windows Update to check for and install any necessary patches - visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com using Internet Explorer on your server.

Configure Automatic Updates on your server by right-clicking on “My Computer” and selecting properties. Choose the “Automatic Updates” tab to configure automatic updates.

Use the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer regularly. It will assess vulnerabilities and fixes for your server. This is especially important if you have other software such as SQL or MSDE running on your server, because it checks for updates that Windows Update does not check for. The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer is available free directly from Microsoft.

Minimize the amount of software you install and make sure it is from a reliable source. You should also test software on a local machine prior to installing on your server.

Minimize the services you run. Don’t run unnecessary services.

Use complex password combinations and change them regularly. Always store them in a secure place.