Gossamer Host Managed Hosting
What is Managed Hosting?
Managed Hosting means we take an active role in managing your server so that you can focus on running your site and growing your business without having to worry about server-side issues. We provide Managed Hosting with all of our hosting packages, so that you can enjoy trouble-free service and peace of mind.
What do we do?
We have the tools and expertise to constantly track the performance of our servers: both hardware and software. We closely monitor indices like CPU usage, memory utilization, hard disk space, system load, and others in our efforts to monitor and optimize server performance for your site's particular requirements.
Features
Hardware Monitoring
Gossamer Host has developed a set of monitoring tools that allow us to keep tabs on our hardware components continuously, 24 hours a day.
We pro-actively monitor hard drives, and if it looks like a drive is going to fail, we will swap it out with a brand new one.
Our hardware monitoring tools closely track indices like CPU usage, RAM utilization, disc space, system load and others in our efforts to optimize server performance for your site's particular requirements.
Should the monitor detect potential problems, our technical support staff are alerted by the monitor and can take preventive measures.
Software Monitoring
As with hardware monitoring, Gossamer Host has also developed a set of tools to constantly keep an eye on software performance like server load, MySQL functionality, mail status and web server status among many other variables.
Our automated monitors check each piece of software on your server to confirm that not only is it running, but it is responsive. If the software doesn't respond properly, it is automatically restarted and a technician is notified.
Performance Monitoring
We monitor many aspects of our servers including: CPU usage, System Load, Bandwidth usage, Mail traffic and much more.
From your control panel, you have full access to see how your server is performing, as well as a one year history. We actively monitor these charts to help determine when servers are overloaded or underutilized. The information is also used to determine trends in usage, and in planning future growth.
Bandwidth Monitoring
We monitor many aspects of our servers including: Bandwidth usage, System Load, CPU usage, Mail traffic and much more.
From your control panel, you have full access to see how much bandwidth your server is pushing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, as well as a one-year history. We actively monitor these charts to help determine when servers are overloaded or underutilized. The information is also used to determine trends in usage, and in planning for future growth.
Security Updates
Gossamer Host takes a pro-active approach to security on the server.
Our engineers ensure that both the software and operating system used on your server are kept up to date and all security patches are applied in a timely manner.
Security is a major concern, and we strive to provide as secure a hosting platform as possible. Our hosting platform has passed third party penetration tests without problems.
Software Updates
We regularly update and maintain all software used on the server including: Apache, MySQL, Perl, PHP, Qmail and more. If there is software you need that isn't available, we are happy to add it in.
Backups
Not content with keeping one daily backup of your files, we run incremental backups, allowing us to retrieve files from any of the last seven days.
On a Gossamer Host server, you can restore any version of any file backed up over the previous seven days.
Optional Off-site Backups
Should even our incremental backups not be sufficient for your business requirements, we can offer optional off-site backups where your data is backed up to a location on the other side of North America.
This option ensures that should there be any unforeseeable events like an earthquake in Vancouver, our secondary backup facility in Toronto would still maintain your data safely.
Software Optimization
All software on the server is optimized for maximum performance given your specific application and tailored to the unique requirements of your site.
One of the primary areas of optimization is MySQL, which we will configure to ensure top-notch database performance. Another is Qmail, where our optimizations focus on fast, reliable mail delivery to keep up with the e-mail requirements of your domain.
We also look at benefits that may be derived from switching your Perl applications to run under mod_perl. If found to be beneficial, we are able to quickly and efficiently configure mod_perl on your server to deliver up to ten times faster performance for your Perl applications.
24x7 E-mail Support
We provide 24 hour e-mail support should you have any issues relating to your hosting account. In the event of emergencies such as the server going down or your site being rendered unavailable, we are automatically notified by our monitoring software and will usually have responded to the problem prior to your noticing it.
Scalability
As your business grows and expands, Gossamer Host is ready to move with you. Our servers and hosting platform are set up in a modular fashion, allowing us the flexibility to meet your changing needs.
From a starter shared account to our strongest single machine to clustered solutions that spread the load across multiple servers, Gossamer Host will be with you every step of the way.
3rd Party Scripts
Because we're programmers by training, and have been creating and selling web applications since 1995, we know a fair bit about the optimum setup of such applications.
We can help you optimize the scripts which are running on your site so you get maximum performance out of them.
