ICS Engineering Web Hosting

There is a little more to a website than just getting one designed, or designing one yourself. What is needed in addition to the site files, is a server to host the website.

When a website is created, a domain name is registered with InterNIC through the use of a domain registrar. Registering your domain tells internet viewers' browsers where to find the files. The domain name is stored in the InterNIC's server databases, with the IP addresses of the server(s) which contain the DNS records and, thus the files to be served to the browser.

There is a specific order to accomplish tasks in an efficient manner. Below is a sample task list for setting up a website:

In the following pages, descriptions and how-to articles are provided to illustrate how to accomplish each step in the above chart. All of the services required are provided right here, on this website. Everything, and all the tools you require to find a domain name, register it, and create a hosted website, are all here. Please feel free to browse around. Our browse tool searches all of our html files for matching keywords, and provide a link to the pages containing the matching words. Use this or our Java menu system to navigate our site. If you cannot find the information you are looking for, please fill out a feedback form, so we may get back to you with the information you are lacking, but more importantly, to redesign our pages to incorporate the information you were looking for, be it important enough for others to view. Thank you for visiting our website!

See the following flowchart for a visual indication of the steps from the beginning to the end, which is a finished website, available on the internet:

Please call or email us if you require any additional information. Don't forget to check out our other pages in this web as well. There is an enormous amount of information contained within this web. Specifically, check out our FTP server for files, samples, code snippets and documentation. Check our Software Development section for tutorials, manuals, and how-tos.

Personal Website Hosting

All personal accounts (and all other accounts) offer the following options, as part of the hosting package. Please refer to Figure 1 below for a breakdown of available services, and the list of services that are offered for the plan you desire. Rates at the Personal Tier are $9.99 to $19.99. Domains with a .ORG extension may be eligible for free web hosting. Email us for details on the free web hosting plan for .ORG domains.

Some examples of a personal website might include a high-school website to keep your school pals informed and up to date with your life, and events and happenings. Or, maybe a web log, called a blog. A blog is a kind of personal website, but is more like a diary or daily log of one's life. Blogs are kept by individuals on a wide variety of subjects, and can be based on companies, political parties and/or entities, a school, a personal project, or anything else, that someone might feel like sharing with the world.

Lots of individuals use personal websites in order to post résumés on the internet. It's easier to maintain a resumè when its on a web page. When searching for employment, simply point the prospective employer to the web page. When having business cards printed up, it is commonplace for people to include a web link to their references.

There's no better way to share pictures, movies and other memorabilia with family members both local and distant than with a website. Microsoft FrontPage provides a template that will help you create a picture gallery page. If you're familiar with Microsoft Windows Media Player, and Movie Maker 2.0, then you know how to create movie content. Movie content can be streamed interactively, or on-demand. Either way, family members and friends can view your movie online from a link on your website.

These are only a few of the ideas floating out there for having a personal website. We are sure that you can think of many ways in which a personally managed web site will help you keep in touch with those that you can't be with all the time. With the personal website comes up to 5 of your own email addresses. If you choose to register your own domain (see Register a Domain) then your email comes and goes from your own personal domain. Check it out today. It can be a good project for the kids, or just something you can do yourself. What a better use of time when you're doing something you can share with others.

Small Business Website Hosting

We offer very affordable design and hosting packages for small business and commercial enterprises, and have the knowledge to integrate it tightly to your business model, while maintaining data integrity and security. Let us know what we can do for you today. Hosting at this tier ranges from $39.99 to $99.99 per month. Refer to figure 2 below for the breakdown of available services.

Small businesses typically rely on advertising in order to acquire customers. A website is a modern and easy way to reach your customers. Erase global boundaries by advertising your products and services on a well designed website. We can make use of any and all of the tools at our disposal to create the most exciting, cutting edge presentation to your customers that they have ever seen. With the availability of streaming audio, video and other forms of multimedia, you can wow them with special presentations, or use it to create instructional videos that can be accessed on demand in real time by your customers. There are database tools, shopping carts and other tools that are available for your development needs.

Let us assemble the tools and materials that you need to create an up to date presentation using cutting edge technologies. All our servers support all forms of media currently available today. Using Microsoft Office tools like Access, Excel, InfoPath, Word and Outlook, coupled with the Microsoft Office Software Development Toolkit, it is possible to integrate the functions and overall functionality of your web presentation with Microsoft Office components. Create a page that will allow your customers to schedule appointments, without your intervention. Create reminders, and insert them into your customer's personal Outlook calendars, so they won't miss your next grand opening extravaganza. Create exquisite color graphs and charts using Microsoft Excel, and place them on a web page with complete ease using Microsoft's FrontPage 2003. Simply create your table using Excel, then create a chart or graph of your choosing using Excel's advanced charting tools. Then, simply "drag and drop" the graphic onto your web page. From there, you can edit the table's contents, and modify the charts, all without the necessity of reloading Excel. If you're interested in integrating your website, or intranet with Microsoft Outlook, or any of the other Office tools available, just click on the link: Microsoft Office 2003 Software Development Toolkit.

Corporate Presence Website Hosting

There is no chart available for services or software at this tier. Anything we offer is available to you. Give us a call, or fill out our request for a quote form for more information. Please note, that in order to make such a claim, it is typically necessary that we host the sites on our servers. If you feel that your bandwidth requirements warrant placing your own servers online, we provide server co-location services. Fill out our form to request more information on this and anything else you require. Hosting at this tier is from $99.99 per month and up.

A corporate presence can be almost anything from a personal website, to a small business website, or it can be much, much more. A corporate presence almost always entails a corporate website that is presented on the internet, for your clients and customers to access. Typical applications for the internet website is customer service, product sales and/or endorsement and an offering of services. Couple this with an intranet website that is designed for your employees and staff, and you have a very powerful solution that can simplify the day to day demands of running a large company. Your intranet website is a second website, available on a different port, (websites routinely make use of TCP/IP port 80) and run parallel to the internet website. Some typical functions for your intranet include human resources, online forms that employees can download, and fill out, or even fill out and submit online. Make those vacation requests easier to manage by maintaining a public calendar and setting the rule set so that vacations are assigned on a first come, first served basis, preventing your company from ever being short staffed, or having too many employees on vacation at one time.

Using the programming resources available to us, we can build you a corporate presence and interface it at strategic or key points to your existing computer infrastructure, thereby preventing duplication of services such as maintaining client lists or corporate telephone books, and other dynamic, ever-changing needs. We can cascade an online entry into as many services as are available on your computer system today.

Let us build you an efficient, powerful and scalable application for your company today. We can come to your location, make an assessment of what is needed to automate or streamline all the corporate processes that are in use at your company. We can automate and simplify your human resources department, or create one if you don't have a department officially. We can write applications to perform process control and management by automating your factory and making sensor readings and controls available on a website. Through the use of .NET applications and strategically designed Active-X controls, we can simplify your corporate life. Ask us for a recommendation today. Why wait any longer?

Server Co-Location

In the event you need additional horsepower or bandwidth to run your internet application, consider placing your own server on our high-speed internet network. We can connect your server to our network hub and configure our network to allow your own server to handle your day-to-day business web transactions. If you have special security needs, or simply need specific disk space, server co-location may be a better choice. Whatever your special needs, we have a co-location package to fit.

Another option is to let ICS Engineering design your own server for you. We will guarantee you that it will handle all your requirements, and be virtually maintenance free. ICS will handle all of your maintenance requirements, or you can provide your own management team to handle your server needs. Using our in-house technicians and technical expertise in the server arena, we can construct a turn-key package consisting of a specially constructed server and network package and a custom written performance-driven software application and website to go with it. If your company is busy servicing your customer's needs and setting up a website, corporate presence or other type of web presence seems a long way away or just out of reach, let us put together a consulting team to determine your specific needs. We can build you a company-specific turn-key operation. We just plug it into our network, and away you go!

In the table below, you will find a server co-location plan that will fit your company's needs. If a turn-key solution is in your company's 's future, contact us today and we'll provide you with a custom solution that will be easy manage and operate. We'll do all the setup for you.

Server Co-Location Services Available

Computer equipment that is customer supplied must meet configuration requirements in order to be safely and properly connected to our network of servers. All computers supplied by you must contain a server operating system such as Linux, Unix (any distribution you wish to provide) or Microsoft Windows Server 2003®, Enterprise Edition, DataCenter Edition, Standard Edition or Web Edition. Other operating systems like Microsoft Windows XP®, Millennium®, or 95/98 are not server operating systems and cannot be hosted on our network. Microsoft Windows Server 2000® is a legacy operating system and is not supported on our network. If you have a Microsoft Windows Server 2000 server you wish to be hosted on our network, for a nominal fee, we can upgrade your operating system to Windows Server 2003.

All equipment that is customer provided must be configured for network use. In other words, the operating system must be pre-configured for network use. A network card properly installed and configured is a must. We cannot host your server if it isn't network ready. If you require additional services to make your server network ready, or just aren't sure what hardware you should use, we can install and set it up for you for a nominal hardware cost.

Equipment must also contain all the application or administration software that you wish to use. ICS does not install applications or software on customer-provided equipment. If you require that we install applications from time to time as a maintenance function, we can do that for you. However, if there any technical difficulties encountered in the installation of any software packages on your equipment, it will be your responsibility to contact the manufacturer of the application software and obtain the solution or patch to make the installation succeed. ICS Engineering cannot act as a go-between between our customers and their chosen software vendors due to licensing constraints.

The computer box is all that is required. We do not set up our servers with monitors, keyboards or mice, as we design hardware that does not require these space occupying devices that may never be used. We have no use for such devices. All our servers are administered remotely. Although, for us, remotely means through a staff member's computer workstation, it may mean something different for you. All of the servers we build are configured for remote web administration, password protected, of course, and with a unique address and port configuration. Secure SSL connections are also available to meet your security concerns where remote administration is involved. Secure remote administration ports must be SSL port 443. There cannot be a choice of port when using SSL, as SSL requires the use of port 443.

Domain registration is required in order to co-locate any server. Depending on the co-location package you choose, domain registration may be included. Any license fees for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Flash, Shockwave or any other authoring or server software are the customer's responsibility. We can provide the software, but any license fees must be paid in advance of use if the software. If the software is customer provided, proof of valid licensing, whether per device or per seat is required. We cannot operate a server where the software or operating system is not properly licensed. ICS accepts no liability for customer licensing or lack thereof.

Domain Names

The root of the internet, by which virtually all websites are known is a domain. A domain is a name that has a use-specific suffix. There are .com domains used by commercial enterprises. The .net suffix is typically used for websites that are operated by companies that offer networking solutions, or are Internet Service Providers. Below is a chart of the other domain suffixes currently available:

Currently Available Internet Domain Suffixes
Suffix	Typical Use
.com	Represents the word "commercial," and is the most widely used suffix in the world. Most businesses prefer a .com domain name because it is a highly recognized symbol for having a business presence on the Internet.
.net	Represents the word "network," and is most commonly used by Internet service providers, Web-hosting companies or other businesses that are directly involved in the infrastructure of the Internet. Additionally, some businesses choose domain names with a .net suffix for their intranet Websites.
.org	Represents the word "organization," and is primarily used by non-profits groups or trade associations.
.info	Represents credible resource Web sites and signifies a "resource" web site. It's the most popular suffix beyond .com, .net and .org.
.biz	Represents small business Web sites.
.tv	Represents rich content/multi-media Web sites, commonly used within the entertainment or media industry.
.us	Represents American Web sites and is the newest suffix. It has the largest amount of available names in inventory.
.cc	Originally the country code for Coco's Keeling Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.ws	Originally designated as the country code for Western Samoa, but is now commonly used as an acronym for "Web sites." It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.bz	.bz was originally designated as the country code for Belize, but is now commonly used by small business who can't get the name they want using the .biz suffix. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.vg	Represents the country code for the British Virgin Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.gs	Originally the country code for the South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.tc	Originally the country code for the Turks & Caicos Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.ms	Originally the country code for Montserrat. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.name	The only domain suffix specifically designed for personal use. It is commonly used for easy to remember e-mail addresses and personal web sites that display photos or personal information about an individual.

Table 1. Domain Suffixes

To add personality, or professionalism to your website project, register a personal domain. There is a utility on this website that will allow you to try different ideas and combinations of numbers and letters. When you come up with an idea for a domain name and can't find a registered version of it in the internet, you can register it yourself for your own website use. Add personality and ease of remembering your web address by using personalized domain names.

In order to register a domain, you must first find a name that is allowed and available. A domain can only contain alphanumeric characters and the hyphen ("-") character. No other characters are allowed in a domain name. Certain characters are used to perform certain operations. For example, a pound sign ("#") is employed by website designers and servers to designate a bookmark. If there are multiple objects on a single page that requires referencing from multiple alternate locations, bookmarks are employed. This page makes extensive use of bookmarks. There is also a 24 character limit on our servers for a domain name, including the suffix. Anything longer simply will not fit in the configuration field on our servers. Some servers may accommodate longer names. If you simply must have a domain name that is longer than 24 characters, contact us for ways to implement it.

Visit the domain registration servlet application on our website. Follow the steps given to successfully register your domain today. Remember, domain names can only be used once, so get yours today before someone else around the globe beats you to it. Add some personality and name recognition to your website now. Simply find a unique name that meets the internet restrictions, pick a domain suffix that is representative of your website, and then go to our registration form. the charges shown for domain registration are charged by Network Solutions, our domain registrar. The charges are set by ICANN and are not negotiable. ICS Engineering simply forwards any funds collected to Network Solutions in order to pay for your domain registration. See the chart below for associated domain registration costs:

Domain Registration or Transfer Fees
Transfer domain to our servers, one year.	$19.99
Transfer domain, two year registration.	$39.98
Transfer domain, three year registration	$59.97
Register new domain, 1 - year.	$34.99
Register new domain, 2 - years.	$59.98
Register new domain 3 - years.	$74.97
Register new domain 5 - years.	$99.95
Register new domain 10 - years.	$149.90
Register domain 100 - years.	$999.99

Table 2. Domain Registration Fees

Virtual Domains

Virtual Domains are also a good choice for personal websites, blogs, for school projects, or for kids' websites. A virtual domain can be any combination of alphanumeric characters and does not require internet registration. This means that there isn't a cost associated with a virtual domain. The cost of any virtual domains or subwebs in included in the package price, if you are purchasing a package deal from us.

A virtual domain is merely a subfolder or directory off one of our domains. Currently available domains are icsaz.com and icsaz.net. An example of a virtual domain would be http://www.icsaz.net/your_virtual_domain. This would be the parent directory or folder for your website, with any directory paths after the initial one representing subwebs or folders within your website. A typical inner folder would be /images. This is where most website designers store the images and pictures used in the design of your website. It groups the image and media files together, making them easier to inventory, upgrade and maintain. Or, for a school project, a typical virtual domain tree might look like this:

The www.your_school.org would be the registered domain, where Teacher A's Class, Teacher B's Class and Music Lab are subdomains to the registered domain, or virtual domains that are run and managed separately from the administrator of the parent domain. ICS Engineering provides virtual domains at any of the domain addresses we currently have registered. We currently are looking at strategic domain registrations in order to provide you, the customer with a wide choice of virtual domains to choose from. If you have a suggestion for a public domain that we can register and put in service as a virtual domain, don't hesitate to ask. Depending on the domain, and whether we deem it appropriate for public offering or not, there may be a small charge involved, although, probably not. As stated previously, it depends on the particular domain name you have in mind...

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Co-locate your own server	Install Server 2003 and your website that we design.*	$99/month
Co-locate a server leased from ICS	Build and lease you a server. Install Server 2003 and website.	$149/month (12 mo. min.)
Co-locate a server ICS will build for you	Build and sell you a server. Install Server 2003 and website.	$599 + $99/month (12 mo. min.)
Co-locate your own server turn-key.	Design turn-key solution. Installed on your equipment*	$199/month (12 mo. min.)
Co-locate leased server, turn-key.	Design turn-key solution. Lease custom built server.	$259/month (12 mo. min.)
Co-locate an ICS built server turn-key.	Design turn-key solution. Purchase custom built server.	$599 + $199/month (12 mo. min.)
Packages include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, required network hardware, Microsoft IIS 6.0, your website, bandwidth of up to 1.5 Mbps, domain registration, DNS setup and monthly maintenance.

ICS Engineering Website Hosting