Secure Web Hosting

Web hosting is a service that allows the uploading and storing of data, documents & files on to our web servers. That information can then become accessible to visitors via the internet.

Most websites use an application or 'framework' to assist with managing, displaying & protecting that information.

• Popular web applications include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, SilverStripe, Magento and Craft CMS.
• Popular frameworks include Laravel, CodeIgniter, Symfony, CakePHP, Yii, Zend and Angular. Some web applications will themselves use frameworks.

Web hosting services provide the resources for these applications and frameworks to operate.

Arrow Technology web hosting services also include an email service. You do not need to use our email services and many organisations choose to have a more complete email service such as with Google or Microsoft.

You need to consider the purpose of your website. For example, if you plan to publish many images and videos, you will need more disk space. If you expect a lot of traffic to your site, then you might need a higher request limit. A busy online store might require extra web hosting resources so the store framework can work more efficiently, or to allow longer running background tasks extra time to complete.

There are a variety of hosting plans with corresponding prices. You will probably want to compare plans from various web hosting companies. Bear in mind that these various services might provide different features and reliability.

Arrow Technology web hosting services offer some unusual features:

• Daily website backups of both files and database, with a long recovery history.
• Website replication to another web server for quick failover in the event of a web server fault.
• SiteSentinel automated monitoring and website protection.
• Monitoring of various performance, error & attack metrics; reviewed by real humans.

Arrow Technology hosting plans have various advance payment options, where you can either pay monthly, quarterly or yearly in advance.

The more you pay in advance, the lower your monthly rate will be.

For most hosting subscriptions you will need to automatically pay using credit card. We do not store your credit details but used a secure tokenised payment system using the New Zealand based Flo2Cash credit card processing service. You can amend or remove your credit card details at any time.

By arrangement we can also accept automatic payments by direct bank transfer. To ensure your subscription does not get suspended due to non-payment, this must be an automatic payment.

When selecting web hosting services, pricing is not always what it seems. Make sure you investigate the true cost of prospective hosting plans before making any commitments.

Unexpected or hidden fees is something to consider when selecting a hosting plan. The first fee to look for is the setup fee. Many hosting plans charge a setup fee when you first purchase the plan. With most hosting companies, a setup fee is for the provisioning of the hosting service and does not cover website installation or configuration.

Arrow Technology does not charge setup fees and can provide an website installation/configuration/migration services by quotation. Some websites may eligible for free migration; please contact us to find out more.

Another fee to look for is for excessive and over usage. Some web hosting services offer plans that claim to offer unlimited features, but in reality there will always be limitations due to physical constraints and fair uage policies. It is important to know what costs there might be for exceeding limits. Some hosting plans will charge you for the amount of server resources you used over the limit, others may automatically upgrade you to a higher plan that allows your exceeded limitations.

Arrow Technology does not charge for over usage because we continually monitor for these sorts of issues and will see earlier signs of possible over usage. Depending on the specific resource that was over used and your hosting plan, you may find you will either be restricted, or allowed to over use and be notified. We will assist you with choosing an upgraded your plan if that is necessary.

Additional fees for domain name transfers are often overlooked. If you already have websites that you will be transferring to your new web hosting account, make sure you don't have to pay any fees to do so.

If your domain is registered with a full domain name registrar, it is unlikely your domain name will need to be transferred and it will probably only need an adjustment.

If your domain name is registered through your current web hosting company then it may need to be transferred to a full domain name registrar. Please contact us with your domain name details if you would like Arrow Technology to check for you.

You can optionally choose to transfer your domain name to the Arrow Technology managed domain name service. We do not charge transfer fees and you will only have the normal yearly domain name registration renewal fee when it next becomes due.

The following are included:

• Support for any aspects of you managing the web hosting service.
• Website errors caused by an interaction with the web hosting service. This might include selecting suitable settings from the web hosting control panel.
• Notifying of website errors that are detectable and have an affect on site/server security or performance. Does not necessarily include mitigation or rectification of such errors.
• Support for email issues that are using Arrow Technology hosting services.

The following are not included, but may in some instances be provided free of charge when it is quick to do. More involved or ongoing tasks can be provided as a charged service:

• Full management of your hosting service.
• Full domain name services management. If you use the Arrow Technology managed domain name service then that does include some basic management.
• Website installation/configuration/migration.
• Website application/framework support.
• Website error analysis, except support is included when those errors are caused by an interaction with the web hosting service.
• Support for an email service that is not using Arrow Technology hosting services.

For websites with special features, management or servicing requirements we can provide a customised hosting plan. This might be for a website where you want additional monitoring of non-security related aspects that relate to the website operation, or to cater for something that your existing hosting service does not provide.

Whilst we have a variety of automated monitoring services, they may not include specific aspects that you would like to monitor. We can develop customised automated monitoring complete with notifications.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Server uptime indicates the amount of time that a web server is fully functional and online. If a server crashes or goes offline, all of the website and email services hosted on it will become non-functional until the problem is resolved. Server uptime is a direct indicator of the reliability and consistency of a web hosting provider.

Most web hosting providers will indicate they have more than 99 percent uptime. Typically a server uptime guarantee will exclude scheduled maintenance. There are always going to be some updates that will interrupt the hosting service. These interruptions are normally brief (just a few minutes), quite rare and take place during hours when websites are less busy (early morning NZ time).

If you have been experiencing frequent downtime then you may want to switch web hosting providers. Every time your website becomes unavailable you are potentially losing visitors and money. This is especially true if you are operating an eCommerce online store website.