Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers for all common situations.

Common Pre-Sales Questions

Can I change my hosting plan at any time?

Yes, you can upgrade or downgrade your hosting plans at any time to any package. You can bump up your package from small shared hosting to semi-dedicated or even to cloud and private server with ease. We will credit your remaining prepaid period and count it towards the upgrade. Just contact sales to help you upgrade today.

Can I chose CMS to be installed on my account later on?

Yes we can install any CMS of your choice later on when you feel ready. You can even install one or more yourself using our automated script installed in CPanel-> Softaculos. It features over 150 fully compatible web builders, tools and scripts that you may use when building your new websites. Our servers area LAMP stack compatible and you can run almost any PHP script with us since most common libraries are already pre-installed.

Can I host just a sub-domain with you?

Yes, If you know how to manage your DNS Zones then you can setup only parts of your domain to use our servers. For example you can setup sub-domains for “news”, “forums”, “Blogs”, “Galleries” and link to them from your existing website. You can also start developing on a “dev” sub-domain and then convert the website to “public” live version. Generally we suggest the DNS be delegated our our name servers since that would allow you to fully utilize the CPanel back-end and it’s built-in domain management options.

What is Shared Resources Cap?

Оur shared hosting plans are setup on physical dedicated servers which have physical limits in memory and storage. In general the servers are configured to have enough memory and storage for certain number of accounts for example one server can host up to 200 Maia Single accounts or 100 Maia Multiple accounts or just 10 semi-dedicated accounts. That way the total number of websites per server is maintained the same and thus the maximum load on the server is a bit below maximum capacity which prevents server overloads.

How fast are your web hosting servers ?

We invest the larger portion of the web hosting fee in highest quality server and networking equipment in order to provide you with the best possible service. All our servers are ULTRA-FAST QuadCore Xeon E5 systems powered with raided SSD Drives thus we guarantee the fastest page loading speeds in the industry.

I need custom hosting plan. Can you do it?

Yes, we can offer slight variations of the current plans based on what we have in stock. Please contact sales via live chat for more info.

Is dedicated IP included in the Maia Single or Multiple Packages?

No, dedicated IP is add-on purchased separately $2 per month or $24 per year. It is only included in the VPS and Dedicated Server Packages by default where you get 4 dedicated IPs per server.

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What brand of Server Harware is Maiahost using?

We’re premium partner with DELL. Most of our servers currently are top industry standard Dell Blade racked servers.

Can you register or transfer international domain names?

Currently our corporate GoDaddy.com account does not offer the registration and management of such domains as they require citizenship for that particular country or region in order to be eligible for registration. We can register and transfer only non-country specific domains. Note that price for transfer/renewal is different for each extension!

If you want to host international domains with us you can do so but your domain names must be managed in your own account with Godaddy or other registrars.

If I begin with monthly billing cycle, can I change at any time?

Yes, sure, you can change your payment plan at any time to longer terms. Just log-in to our billing area and change your subscription to quarterly or yearly or even multi-year period to save on your hosting! Longer terms are considerably cheaper and come with bonus options.

Do you offer a free website migration?

Yes, we can move your website free of charge to your new account with us. Just open support ticket to request it. See below in “General web Management Questions” for details.

Can you install non-english CMS scripts as free installation?

Yes, but to only the following languages “English, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian and Bulgarian” for now. Probably as we expand we would be able to support you in more languages

What is the allowed CPU share?

Based on the Fair Usage Policy and the Shared Resource cap for your account, you can utilize the CPU up to 100% for not more than a few seconds at a time. You can also utilize more than 1 Virtual CPU Core at a time but not exceeding more than 3 seconds at a time. Slowly executed applications cause CPU bottlenecks and reduce server performance dramatically and may even cause denial of service situations. For CPU intensive accounts we generally suggest cloud hosting or dedicated server packages depending on the specific needs for your project. Please contact sales@maiahost.com for more information.

What is the best deal right now?

Currently our pre-paid packages are cheapest. One year prepaid is about 50% cheaper compared to month-to-month payments. The longer the term the cheaper the price per month.

I need to have SSL certificate for my shopping cart. What do I need?

You need a) the SSL certificate itself and b) dedicated IP address for your account.

I would need dedicated ip address. How do I set it up?

We offer dedicated IPs as add-on to your accounts. They are charge $2 per month or $24 per year on top of your hosting package fee. Note that you can have only One Dedicated IP per account.

Where are your servers/data center located?

We currently have 2 data centers in the US and one in Europe. The US data centers are located on the largest internet backbone in Chicago, IL and the second one is located Los Angeles, CA. We have optic backbone connections to all major ISPs in the world thus the TTL is very fast.

Can you provide test account?

Yes, we can give you a test account to check out our Hosting Control Panel and software. Please note that the account is restricted and you may not be able to save all changes done, although you will be able to do so with a fully functional hosting account.

Please contact SALES via live chat to request the URL and username/password

New client Frequently Asked Questions

I just subscribed. What now?

Usually within few minutes after successful payment you should receive email with your hosting account information subject “Maiahost Account Information”. This email should include all your passwords for your account with us.

How can I access my account WWW. website before switching the name servers ?

You can do so by overriding your computer’s hosts file with the IP we provided you in the account information email.

How can I register new domain name with Maiahost.com ?

Please open ticket to sales and include the domain name you want to register with us. Upon registration validation, we will provide you payment link and register it.

Where should I upload my website files? To which FTP folder?

For the main domain on this account the public visible part is the /public_html/ folder. If you have Add-On domains then their root folders are selected by you during Add-On domain setup.

How can I access the CPanel before switching my Domain Name’s name servers?

Please use the CPanel IP Address or Host Name link from the account information email.

How long does it take for a new registered domain name to be fully accessible?

If you haven’t accessed that URL before registering it, you should be able to access it immediately after receiving the account information email. Otherwise you may have DNS caching delay which takes up to 48 hours.

Can I transfer my existing domain name/s to my account with Maiahost.com?

Yes you can if the domain is a .com, .net, .org, .info, .net , but the whole transfer takes up to 7-10 days. To request one please open support ticket from our clients area and provide us with the domain name Authorization Code and ensure it is UNLOCKED for transfer.

I’ve added Add-On domain but can’t locate the website folder. Where should I store the files?

The root folder for addon domains are selected during the add-on process. You have two options: a) /public_html/addondomain/ or b) /addondomain/ in both cases you should be able to see them if you FTP the account.

Common Domain Name Related Issues

How can I find if my domain’s name servers are set correctly?

Go to http://whois.domaintools.com/(yourdomain name here) then scroll to NAME SERVERS section. If the name servers shown there are the ones we indicated in your Maiahost Account Information email, then the settings should be correct!

How long does DNS Propagation Delay takes?

DNS changes ARE NOT immediate as they require for the public DNS servers to pick up those changes. This is based on the domain DNS TTL which is generally 2 to 4 hours but may end up to 24 or even 48 hours of international domain names.

How long does it take for a new domain registration to be accessible?

Usually few minutes, but if you already accessed that domain before registering it then it might take up to 48 hours since your local computer may cache the dns response and thus not know that we had the domain registered after you queried it when it was not registered. There is a way of flushing the DNS cache but this option most of the times does not work since common ISPs have their own DNS caching which you can’t flush. Best option is just to wait few hours and it should work.

General Web Management Questions

How do I transfer my Website to your servers?

we offer free website transferWe offer free website transfers performed by our experienced webmaster staff. To request your website to be transferred you need to open support ticket to our “website transfers” department from our client’s area. Be sure to include in the message your source hosting account log-ins so that our support can gain access to the source files and move them over to us. Transfers are usually completed under 24 hours depending if you provided all the necessary log-ins. Please note that domain name transfers must be processed separately by opening ticket to Domain Manager. See below for more info on domain transfers.

How to transfer the Domain Name Registration to you?

domain name transferIn order to request domain name transfer you need to open support ticket to Domain Management from our clients area. In the support request you must provide the Domain EPP/Auhtorization Code which you get from the current domain registrar, then you need to Unlock the domain name from your Domain Registrar and change the domain name “Administrator Email” to ours – support@maiahost.com for speedier domain transfer. Domain transfers may require additional verification based on the registrar transfer requirements. Normally domain transfers are completed within 7 days from approval of transfer (after all info is provided) or shorter.

How to develop website without pointing the domain over to new hosting account

If you run Windows (any version)

go Start Menu -> Run then type in the command:

notepad C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

you will see something like this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

127.0.0.1       localhost

get the Maiahost Account Information email. Near the bottom of the email you will find something like:
======================================================
FTP Instructions:
======================================================

You can begin uploading your files immediately using:

Host: 173.236.79.234
Port: 21

The FTP Host address is the Shared IP Address number for your account. Copy that ip (on the example it is173.236.79.234) and then add a the following two lines where the domain name is your actual domain name not mywebsite.com as we have it in the example:

173.236.79.234 mywebsite.com
173.236.79.234 www.mywebsite.com

Save the changes and now you should be able to access it!

Changing Domain Name Servers to web hosting account

What are Name Servers:

The name servers setting on the domain name is what points the domain name to resolve to a particular web hosting server. Each server has its’ own pair of name servers which are unique.

How to change your name servers:
In order to change the name servers you must login to the Domain Management account with your active domain name registrar (may be your old hosting company or domain registrars such as GoDaddy.com, Enom.com, NetworkSolutions.com or others).

Alternative hosting option if you have DNS zone control option:
If you don’t want to point the name servers you must have DNS Zone Editing options. If so you can direct each entry to the IP address shown in your account and use CPanel->Subdomains *(Manager Tool) with the server settings on your account with us.

How to change Name Servers for GoDaddy.com registered domains

Login to your GoDaddy account
Click My Account
Click Manage Domains
Click on the domain name
Click the Nameservers icon that’s on top.
Click on Custom Name Servers
Change the Name Servers to the ones we’ve specified in the Maiahost Account Information welcome letter.

You’re done

After the change is done, you will not be able to immediately access the website/domain if you had previously accessed your website within the past 6-12 hours. This is called DNS re-caching delay. If you don’t want to wait you can try to force DNS refresh on your local computer.

How to Force DNS Cache update on Windows Computer:

go to your Desktop or Control Panel
select My Network Places and right click to see the sub-menu
click on Properties and a new menu will appear
select Local Area Connection (may be different if you don’t run shared internet with router) and hit the Repair button

NOTE: This will refresh your local dns cache, but if your Internet Provider has caching enabled then it may not update the proper dns values and you still won’t be able to access the website until the ISP dns cache is updated.

How to: Backup MySQL Database

Go to CPanel->PHPMyAdmin then find the database name from the drop down menu and select it. You will see the current database tables and data on the left. From the tabs on the right Click on EXPORT, then select as FILE. You can do also ZIP Archive — for larger databases.

This process may take from few seconds up to minutes depending on the size of your database and number of rows.

You should be prompted to save a file containing this archive when the export data process is finished. If you get timeout error please try again, if that does not work contact the Server Administrators for manual backup.

SSH and SFTP access restrictions

SSH and SFTP access is optional to VPS and Dedicated Server clients, it is NOT included with our Shared Hosting plans, although it can be provided on a need-to basis. If you need it please contact our Tech Support and they may be able to assist you in getting access.

Where can I find my FTP information?

Your Account Information Email contains the root ftp username and password for your account. Note that the server host is your domain name and the port is 21 (standard). The info listed in the email under “FTP and CPanel account information” as the main FTP account is the same as the CPanel user/pass.

How can I set up new FTP account for my webmaster?

Go to CPanel->FTP Manager then Accounts You must enter username and password, as well as folder which this user will be able to see/upload files in. For website only access please use /public_htm/ or / for full access. Note additional ftp users can be created but they have the main domain name of your account added to the username example: username@mydomain.com. Note that if you add ftp account to an Add-on domain then the ftp username will hold the MAIN domain name instead of the new domain.

How can I upload my website files?

You have two options, to use FTP Client software (requires installation on your computer), or via the build in file manager in CPanel->File Manager. We strongly suggest you use the CPanel File Manager since it supports Archiving methods for .tar.gz and .ZIP which can speed up your file transfers from minutes to seconds. You can zip up your files into an archive then upload and extract it on the server times faster than uploading all files by FTP as FTP is overburdened if files are small and many.

Which FTP client you recommend?

We use the free software FileZilla which can be downloaded from http://filezilla-project.org/download.php

Where should I upload my website files?

In most cases that will be the /public_html/ folder, all parent folders are NOT publicly visible!

Common Content Management Systems FAQ

What is CMS?

CMS is the short for Content Management System. This is basically a pre-made website software that you can modify/add text and images. Generally CMS is for everyone who does not know much about web development but wants to build own website.

What is the best blogging script your company offers?

The most popular and easy to manage is WordPress. We also offer a bit more professional ones as TYPO3, but in general wordpress is considered the best.

Is it possible to have both Joomla and WordPress on my account?

Yes, you can have up to 5 different scripts installed at a time per website. You can choose the main website one from the signup page and install the rest via the CPanel->Softaculos or contact our tech support team to install it for you. In general we suggest you use one software and install plug-ins to expand functionality instead of running multiple installations of different software. That way you will have one integrated log-in instead of multiple independent sites.

I see you offer different CMS software. Which one is the best?

While most CMS software is specialized there are only a few that offer the flexibility to fit any need and based on our own experience we believe that WordPress should be considered the the King of Content Management Systems. WordPress was traditionally used for Personal Blogging tool in its early days, but lately it improved to become fully functional website content management system great for corporate, personal presentation as well as easy to build electronic store. We strongly suggest using WordPress if you are new to the web development as this would allow you to easily expand your website content later on while you learn.

I want to build a small website for my company which CMS should I choose?

In general Joomla is very easy for small companies as it has pre-build corporate look to it, although we suggest using WordPress with a nice free template from our template partners as this would give more overall flexibility as your content grows.

Can you move my existing CMS to my new account with maiahost?

Yes, if its PHP/MySQL then yes. We can transfer it free of charge, just open ticket to “website transfers” and well do it within few hours.

What are Cron Jobs?

This automated scheduler able to run a specific script/s at a predefined time frequency – minimum each 5 minutes, maximum each day. It is configured from CPanel->Cron Jobs and has a nice wizard to help you determine the run frequency.

What is the minimum time occurrence I can use?

It depends on the nature of the script that you wish to run. Commonly web email checking should be run every 15 minutes of every hour but non-priority tasks should be run each hour or each day. We had clients run processes even less than 15 minutes but sometimes they end up overlapping which can cause major performance degradation.

What is the best way to run PHP scripts using Cron Jobs from CPanel

Use the php -q /home/(username)/public_html/(filename example cron.php). Note that if you use lynx http://www.(domain).com/(script) will NOT run properly!

Still have questions?

Please feel free to contact us via Live Chat and we will help you out immediately.

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