What is Rhizome Web Hosting?

Rhizome Web Hosting was conceived as a way for Rhizome.org to serve our members while also generating much-needed revenue for the organization. Rhizome is reselling shared, dedicated, and collocated hosting services in partnership with Broadspire.net. For each Rhizome Member that signs up, Rhizome receives a percentage of the fees that are paid to Broadspire.

What is Rhizome.org's role?

Rhizome.org is a reseller. This means that we resell the services of another company, Broadspire.net, to our members. In exchange, we get a percentage of the fees our members pay to Broadspire.

Our role is to serve as your advocate. Although Broadspire will be providing customer service and techical support, we are here for you as well. If you have any problems with Broadspire, or are unsatisfied with the quality of your service, contact hosting@rhizome.org and we'll do our best to make sure you get the help you deserve.

We can also serve as your advisor. For example, we can help select the web hosting package that best meets your needs.

What is Broadspire.net's role?

As the host, Broadspire.net handles all billing, customer service and technical support matters. As a Rhizome Web Hosting customer, you'll sign a contract directly with Broadspire.net.

What services do you offer?

Through Broadspire.net, we offer a full range of shared, dedicated, and collocated hosting services. Full details are available online at http://www.datex.net/hosting.

How do I sign up?

To sign up for shared or dedicated web hosting services, go to http://www.datex.net/order. IMPORTANT: please be sure to mention Rhizome.org in the "how did you hear about us?" field of the signup form, and send an email to hosting@rhizome.org, so that we can earn our commission on your account.

How do I transfer my domain?

After you sign up for your account, you'll get an email from Broadspire.net customer support offering to assist in the transfer of your domain. In order to create the transfer request, they require the username and password of your Registrar's account (the agency you purchased the domain through). If you prefer, you can undertake the domain transfer process yourself.

Can I register a new domain through Broadspire.net?

Yes, if you want to register a new domain, you can do so when you sign up for your web hosting account with Broadspire.net. Broadspire.net uses Tucows' OpenSRS platform for domain name registration.

Do you offer UNIX or Windows hosting?

The plans that we're offering are UNIX-based hosting accounts. All of the standard UNIX development tools are supported here and each account includes secure SSH access, your own CGI bin directory, perl, C, and UNIX-SH support. Advanced accounts also have support for php and mySQL.

Can I install custom software?

Many sites run custom programs, but in order to make a shared environment successful, system administrators limit what can and can't be installed on the server. In nearly every case custom programs are not allowed because there is the possibility that a custom program could over-utilize the system's resources. Because it's difficult to accommodate these types of requests, if you have a custom program you should think about getting a dedicated server. However, there are usually a number of acceptable third-party software programs that most hosts will accept and support.

Can I install custom CGI scripts?

Yes, because each account has its own CGI bin directory, you can easily upload and use your own scripts.

Do you offer cold fusion hosting?

The Rhizome shared hosting plans are unix-based and there is no cold fusion support. If you require cold fusion you will usually need to have a dedicated server.

Do you offer support for java servlets or jsp?

The shared plans offered do not have java support. In a shared hosting environment, there are too many security and performance risks involved to allow the use of java servlets. If your site runs .jsp you will usually need to have a dedicated server.

Can I use custom COM objects?

Like the installation of customer software, the use of custom COM objects isn't allowed. The Rhizome hosting plans are also fully unix-based, not windows-based.

Can I use server-side includes?

Yes, all plans include this support.

Can I add media files to my shared site?

Yes, all plans include support for real media, midi files and Vivo. Unfortunately there is no support for Windows media files.

What if I have controversial content?

The general rule is that users can't post defamatory, scandalous, or private information about a person without their consent. If your content intentionally inflicts emotional distress on someone, violates trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights it is also not allowed. Users have to have content that is inline with acceptable use policies.

Is there SSL support?

Yes, most plans include SSL support.