frequently asked questions
Hosting
What is hosting?
Why host with Red Carrot?
What does my hosting fee cover?
Hosting
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What is hosting?
Once a website has been built, the next stage is to put it ‘live’ on the web. In order to do this, the site must be uploaded onto a web server.
A web server is a computer that is constantly switched on and connected to the internet. This computer holds one or more web pages and can be found by typing in a domain name (such as www.redcarrot.co.uk). When somebody such as yourself requests a page on this site, your computer uses various internet systems to find the web server and the server pulls the page out of its memory and sends it to your machine.
People that have a web site have two choices; to set up their own web server, configure it and leave it permanently on and connected to the internet so that people requesting the site can access it day and night or, much more easily, get another company to "host" the site for them. This is essentially what hosting is.
In addition to keeping your website live, the web server also provides any email services that are associated with your domain name. Each time you send or receive an email, it passes through the server where it is routed to the appropriate destination.
All of this activity requires lots of storage space and large amounts of bandwidth, which incurs costs.
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Why host with Red Carrot?
Our web servers are leased from a large, reputable provider, and are situated in a purpose-built high-security data centre with a high-speed direct link into the backbone of the internet. Hundreds of customers rely on us to keep their websites and emails running smoothly, and we take this responsibility very seriously.
Red Carrot retains full administrative control over each server, and we are able to configure the machines exactly as we require. Why is this important? As the web evolves over time, our clients are asking us to create websites with increasingly complex functions and features. Having the ability to install new software and add new features to each web server means we can remain at the cutting edge of web design.
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What does my hosting fee cover?
Your annual hosting fee covers the costs that are incurred in keeping your website live on the internet and your emails running, day and night.
At Red Carrot, we charge all customers a flat rate of £200 which contributes towards the large amount we pay each year to lease our servers. The money also covers additional services that we consider to be necessary such as nightly backups of all sites in case of hardware failure, security updates and fixes, and spam and virus protection.
Our web servers are configured to integrate easily with common email applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Windows Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird, and in addition we also provide our own web-based email system which conveniently allows access to your email from any internet-enabled computer, anywhere in the world.
Domains
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What is a domain name?
The Domain Name System (DNS) helps users to find their way around the Internet. Every web server on the internet has a unique address – just like a telephone number – which is a rather complicated string of numbers. It is called its "IP address" (IP stands for "Internet Protocol").
But it is hard to remember everyone's IP address. The DNS makes it easier by allowing a familiar string of letters (the "domain name") to be used instead of the arcane IP address. So instead of typing 213.165.85.82, you can type www.redcarrot.co.uk. It is a "mnemonic" device that makes addresses easier to remember.
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How do I register a domain?
The good news is that Red Carrot oversees the domain registration and renewal process on your behalf, and there is no need to get too caught up in the technical complexities of DNS. We’ll register your chosen domain and configure it to point to your website, and we’ll oversee the renewals when the time comes. If you have already registered a domain name through another company then we can easily transfer it to our control.
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Who owns my domain?
When we talk about "owning" a domain name, we are really talking about the exclusive right to use that name. It is not possible to own a domain name outright, and you will have to pay a periodic renewal fee to keep this "right to use" your domain name.
As far as Red Carrot is concerned, the domain name is yours. For administrative purposes, it is easier for us to retain control of the domain whilst providing you with web hosting and email services, but should you ever wish to move away from us then we’ll happily transfer your domain to your chosen provider.