Shared IP Hosting is about sharing the resources of one computer among many users.
This has become possible since the introduction of multiple core processors, loads of
computer memory and super sized hard disks.
Our Shared IP is hosted on Quad Core CPU machines with 8 Gigabytes of memory and
2x250 Gigabyte hard disks. The hard disks are in a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)
configuration where disk 2 backs up disk 1 in a mirrored arrangement. This means that whatever
is written to the first hard disk is instantly written to the second hard disk. The idea here is that
should one hard disk fail then the other can take over as the primary hard disk with minimal data loss.
The IP part of Shared IP simply refers to the Internet Protocol Number that we use at the data centre.
Our IP which is also your IP is 63.247.70.236. Try pinging it from time to time to see if it is online ;-)
If there is a problem with the server it may need to taken off line for a short amount of time. When this
happens, it is usually unexpected. Unfortunately, this also affects all the websites resident on that server
in that they will not be available for viewing during the time that the server is off line. This also happens
should there be a problem with the software or processes that are running on the server.
It is quite acceptable for a server or a software problem to occur occasionally. It becomes unacceptable
if your website is off line too frequently or for too long.
We use leading data centres in the United States that do everything to keep the hardware online 24/7.
You will often see this uptime quoted at 99.99% reliability. Just be aware that that number, often quoted
as a feature of web hosting, is the hardware uptime not the website uptime. Unless you ping the website
constantly, I don't know of another way to test the uptime of a website. We use hosting providers that are
staffed 24/7 and monitor both the server and the software configurations constantly and respond rapidly to
any problems to ensure that any interruption to services is kept to a minimum.