FAQ

Welcome to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ page). Below, we have tried to answer the most common questions visitors to this our Web site may have. If you find that your question is not answered on this page, please email us unsolicited@conflux.net.

Q1. How long have you been in business?

Answer: ConfluX, LLC. was incorporated in the state of Washington in April of 2002, however, they are the continuation of the Internet business unit of our former consulting corporation. We felt it was more benificial to our investors and to our clients to clarify the distinct natures of the two business units. Previously we provided ConfluX branded Internet services since January of 1996. We provided our services prior to that since August of 1991. Our longevity in the network consulting and Internet service industry is tough to match.

Q2. Can we still get high quality programming support from you?

Answer: ConfluX™ now refers programming needs to Dover Synergy, LLC. where the same programmers you have worked with in the past are. ConfluX will still coordinate all your needs and provide a one stop shopping place for you.

Q3. What about web design services?

Answer: ConfluX™ can provide simple web site design services, and if your needs exceed those of our in-house staff, we want to provide you with the best possible solution, so we will refer your needs to those third party designers we work with day to day. Again, ConfluX will coordinate all these activities to provide you a one stop shopping experience for your needs.

Q4. Why shouldn’t I just hire the staff you can’t directly supply? Won’t that save me money?

Answer: We do not excessively mark up our pass through services, and we have identified the suppliers of these services in advance to save you money. In addition, we deal with these groups daily and can probably get a better rate that you can directly. Our markup of their services is only to cover our very small expense of arranging the details, minor state tax considerations, and billing expense. Typically this is less than 1% of those line items unless there are unusual circumstances, such as requiring ConfluX staff involvement during installation and testing. We try our best to have ‘no surprises’ on your bill, and what we quote is what you get to the best of our abilities.

Q5. Does ConfluX provide the hardware for my colocated server needs?

Answer: ConfluX operates a very tight bottom line pricing business model. As such, we prefer that customers pay in advance for hardware. We can get very good pricing on the spot market for Sun Cobalt RaQ hardware, our preferred platform. Occasionally we can find refurbished hardware if you desire. We can also configure Windows Servers on preassembled or built-to-spec hardware.

Q6. So do I have to wait to get my website up and running if I want colocation services?

Answer: ConfluX will provide a virtual server for you on our equipment while we get your hardware in and set up. Why pay for the overhead of a supplier that stocks a large inventory of preconfigured systems when ConfluX can provide a comparable priced or even less expensive solution and still meet you time to market needs. Often the time to get a custom site put together will be longer than the time to set up your custom server.

Q7. Will it cost me more in service fees to use a virtual server then switch to my hardware colocatted at your location? Will it increase my sites downtime?

Answer: We do not charge service fees for setting up your colocatted server or for virtual site preperation. We also do not charge to move from one hosting plan to another, so a switch to a colocatted server from a virtual server is always free. The only exceptions are a small charge for custom built Windows Servers or a small fee to cover non-standard configuration requests, such as installing Microsoft SQL Server, installing custom software you supply, and other related items. We always let you know up front! If you choose to move from a virtual server hosted on our machines to a colocatted server that you own, we minimize the downtime (in some cases it is zero) and schedule the cutover to the low usage period for your site.

Q8. How many email accounts can I have with a virtual server?

Answer: ConfluX never limits the email accounts you can have with a virtual server. When you host a domain with us, you have a state of the art web based interface to manage your server through an encrypted connection. This interface allows you control over the accounts you create for your users.

Q9. Can I host a site with adult material with ConfluX.

Answer: We support First Amendment protected speech sites. As long as your site does not promote any illegal activity or is not in its operation violating the law, we can accomadate your hosting needs. We do have a few restrictions for adult oriented sites though, some of which follow: We require that you agree to use the Surf-Watch / Cyber Nanny / etc. tags on your site to mark it as adult oriented. We require that your home page have an explicit warning that the site contains adult content and that the home page itself does not have any adult oriented material, including the banner ads if any. We require that sites that are adult oriented be hosted on colocatted servers that you own. You may agreggate as many virtual sites on your own hardware as you desire.

Q10. Can I host my own web server operation at ConfluX?

Answer: ConfluX is already the home of several web server operations. We tend toward larger more sophisticated hosting operations ourselves, but we still want to serve all the community. This is one way. We also have specialized hosting outfits that cater to markets we do not pursue. If you have needs outside what we directly provide, we can refer you to quality people how can help you. We service ‘Meta-Hosting™’ through colocation services and dedicated connections.

Q11. I have special requirements; can ConfluX support my needs?

Answer: ConfluX supports many different customer situations. We host server farms, special computational equipment, load balanced servers, clusters, and much more. We can help you define a plan of action to meet your or your customers needs.