Frequently Asked Questions

General Inquiries

1. Can I access my website without the www.?
   
   Yes. You can access your website with or without the www
2. Do you host all top level domain names worldwide?
   
   Yes. All top level domain names will work with Ravand. example .com .ca .net .org .info .biz .us .co.uk .de
3. Does Ravand offer an E-Commerce solution?
   
   Yes, e-Merchant, which is a fully complete E-Commerce solution, is compatible with blue, brown and black plans.
4. How fast is Ravand's network?
   
   Ravand Server room is inside GT/360 datacenter which has a OC-192 Loop inside Canada and connected to all major ISPs in Canada. This network has 8 redundant connection to Verio and Cable&Wireless network to US.
5. Which payment methods do you accept?
   
   We accept credit cards
6. Will you place advertisements on my site?
   
   Absolutely not. We will not place banner ads, pop-up ads, etc. on your website.
7. How should I change my hosting company to Ravand ?
   
   You should contact domain registration provider and change the name servers of your domain to ns1.ravand.com and ns2.ravand.com. If you had any problem, please contact us.




Domain name registration

8. Who should be the administrative contact?
   
   The administrative contact should be the person or organization who is responsible and has the rights to administer the domain.
9. Who should be the technical contact?
   
   The technical contact is the person or organization who is responsible for the technical aspects of the domain (e.g. DNS). Typically, this is the host provider or ISP
10. Who should be the billing contact?
    
    The billing contact should be the person or organization who is responsible for the domain renewal and payment.
11. How long before my newly registered domain is available on the Internet?
    
    Domain names may take up to 72 hours (normal internet propagation time) until they are available on the Internet.
12. Do I have to purchase a hosting plan along with my domain name?
    
    No, Ravand web hosting is offered as a 'one-stop-shop' convenience and is not required for domain name registration.
13. Who owns my domain name?
    
    Ravand is a registrar and does not claim ownership over the domains registered. The owner of the domain name is the person who is listed as the registrant in our whois.
14. Your company owns a domain I wish to purchase. Would you be willing to sell it?
    
    Ravand is a registrar and does not claim ownership over the domains registered. You would need to contact the domain owner. This information can be found in our whois.
15. I know a domain is getting expired, how many days after expiration I can register the domain ?
    
    After the domain expires, normally all registries have some period called "grace period", which previous owner can renew domain without paying any penalty, in OpenSRS it is 40 days. Then it goes to redemption period which is 30 days, and then it goes to "Pending Deletion" which is about 6-7 days. So roughly it takes about 76-79 and not more than 80 days for a domain to get released to domain pool.




Web hosting

16. Can I host more than one domain on a hosting plan?
    
    Each plan is designed to host one domain however, you can use the free url forwarding feature to redirect additional domains to the one you plan on hosting.
17. How do I upload the files to my web space?
    
    You can either use FTP software (example CuteFTP) or you can use Web Page Design software (example Microsoft Front Page) to upload your web pages to the web space you have purchased from us.
18. Where do I get my FTP login information?
    
    Your ftp login information will be provide via email after you register a hosting package . If you lost the login information, still you can request the information through "forget password", which is in the main page.
19. What directories I am supposed to see once I am connected to my web space?
    
    You should see 2 different directories, and a file, they are:
    _private_[username] - This is where any database files will be stored.
    _virtual_[username]_logs
    index.htm - This is your homepage for your website. Replace the file that is currently there with your home page to put your site online.
20. What should I name my main page?
    
    Your main page should be index.htm,index.html,index.asp,default.htm,default.html or default.asp.
21. How do I cancel my webhosting?
    
    Request by email [email protected]. After we received the email, you will receive a confirmation email stating that your request is being processed. You will receive another email once the cancellation process has been completed (may take up to 72 hours).
22. Where is my Billing Control Panel?
    
    The billing control panel can be access from the main page by entering the domain name.
23. What is the Billing Control Panel for?
    
    The Billing Control Panel allows customers to view their hosting plan details, view billing statements and invoices, change credit card information, change customer password, and change customer email.
24. How do I change the domain name I have hosted?
    
    We will need the following information from you to change the domain name you have hosted. Please copy and paste the information below and email to [email protected].
    Domain name for web hosting:
    Username for web hosting:
    Password for web hosting:
    Last 4 digits of the credit card used to setup the web hosting account:
    Reason for change:
    Please allow 24-96 hours for the change to become effective and propagate.
    Charges may apply.
25. How do I upgrade or downgrade my hosting account?
    
    We will need the following information from you to upgrade/downgrade your web hosting account. Once we have received this information it can take up to 72 hours before the change is done. Please email the requested information below to [email protected].
    Domain name for web hosting:
    Username for web hosting:
    Password for web hosting:
    Last 4 digits of the credit card used to setup the web hosting account:
    New Plan name:
    Upgrade (Yes,No):
    Downgrade (Yes,No):
26. What type of OS (Operating System) is my web hosting account hosted on?
    
    Your web hosting account is hosted on top of the line servers that have Windows 2000 Advanced Server© installed on them.
27. What version of Windows IIS are your web hosting servers using?
    
    Our state of the art web hosting servers use Microsoft IIS© 5.0
28. How do I install my MS Front Page 2000 Server Extension on my account thru my Control panel?
    
    Please logon our demo control panel.
29. What component can be used to send an email from ASP application?
    
    Default Microsoft component CDONTS and Alternative components ASPEmail can be used to send the email from ASP application.
30. I have lost all of my emails in my computer, can I get a backup from them ?
    
    No. We never take backup of email messages. As soon as you download your emails via your pop3 client, they get deleted in the server. because of high volume of changes in the messaging system, we can not and will not backup mail messages.
31. I use CDONTS on my site, but it does not work on your server.
    
    It means your host is being set on Windows 2003 server and you need to change your code to make it compatible for 2003 server. Please visit the WEB KB in your control panel. Also you may look at this article : http://www.activeservers.com/Apps/KB/vitem.asp?ID=430
32. How do I set up SQL Snapshot Replication?
    
    For a step-by-step guide, visit "Setting up Microsoft SQL Snapshot Replication" page.




Domain transfer

33. What is a registrar transfer?
    
    A registrar transfer is the transfer of a domain name from another registrar to Ravand. This allows you to take advantage of our great support, free services, and low renewal costs. You can transfer your domain to us as long as it has been with your current registrar for more than 60 days and is not expired.
34. What happens when I submit a registrar transfer?
    
    When you submit a registrar transfer, an e-mail is sent to the administrative contact's e-mail address that you have set with your current registrar. In this e-mail is a link to a page that allows you either Accept or Decline the transfer. You need to accept the transfer within 5 days of receipt of this e-mail. Once you accept the transfer, we send a request to your registrar asking them to transfer the domain to us. At this point, your registrar may or may not send you an e-mail asking you to accept the transfer. Your registrar has up to 5 days to decide whether to transfer the domain or not. If your registrar has not accepted the transfer within 5 days, the transfer expires.
35. Will I be charged a transfer fee if I transfer a domain name from another registrar (e.g. Network Solutions or Register.com)?
    
    Ravand does not charge a transfer fee, but we do require a 1 year renewal at lowest price.
36. Will I be charged a transfer fee if I transfer a domain name from Ravand to another registrar (e.g. Network Solutions or Register.com)?
    
    No. We will not charge you to transfer your name away from us.
37. How long does it take to transfer a domain name from another registrar?
    
    Registrar transfers can take up to 5 business days after you confirm the transfer via the email that is sent to the administrative contact.
38. Where do I find the online registrar transfer web page on your web site?
    
    https://secure.ravand.com/domainname_transfer.cfm
39. I am trying to resubmit my transfer, but I am getting an error. What is happening?
    
    This is happening because you already have a transfer in progress. You will need to wait 5 days until the transfer has expired to resubmit.
40. If I transfer my domain, will I still receive the free Ravand features?
    
    Yes
41. How do I transfer ownership of my domain to another party?
    
    To change the ownership of a domain name, all you need to do is change the whois information as well as the username and password for that domain name through the account manager
42. Do I need to do a registrar transfer to change the ownership of a domain name?
    
    Transferring ownership of a domain does not require you to change domain registrars if you do not wish.




DNS Control Panel

43. What is the DNS Control Panel?
    
    The DNS Control Panel allows you to create address and mail records for your domain.
44. What is an address record?
    
    An address record has two fields: a host name field, and an IP address field. The host name field can be something like www or mail. So if someone typed www.yourdomain.com into a browser, they would be taken to the IP address associated with that record. This IP address would be wherever your site is located at.
45. What is a mail record?
    
    A mail record determines where any mail sent to your domain goes. A mail record has two fields: a host name field, and an address field.
46. Can the address field for the mail record contain an IP address?
    
    No. This field must contain the name of the mailserver that you want your mail to go to.
47. I have mail.mydomainname.com in the address field of my mail record, but I am not receiving my mail. What is wrong?
    
    You will need an address record with the host name mail. This address record will need to have the IP address of your mailserver in the IP address field.
48. How long does it take for the DNS Control Panel to update?
    
    All updates will take 24-72 hours to propagate.
49. It has been more than 72 hours and my changes have not take effect. What is wrong?
    
    You may have made a mistake making entries in the DNS Control Panel. Please contact [email protected]. with your domain and the entries you made into the DNS Control Panel.
50. Do I have to enter in URL Forwarding records in the DNS Control Panel?
    
    No. Our DNS servers are updated automatically when you activate any of those free features. Altering records in the DNS panel after setting up a free feature may cause your free service not to work.




URL forwarding

51. What is URL forwarding?
    
    URL forwarding allows you to point your domain name to any URL, such as a free hosting service or another domain name that you have hosted somewhere.
52. How long does it take for URL forwarding to be activated?
    
    Normal activation time is 24-72 hours.
53. What is the URL Redirect option located in the URL Forwarding section?
    
    The URL Redirect option lets you take full advantage of your web page's Meta Tag information. When you use the URL Redirect option you will lose the masking and cloaking feature of URL Forwarding. In addition when you use the URL Redirect option your source code will be able to be viewed.
54. How do I set up my URL forwarding?
    
    will need to login to your account control panel
55. Does Ravand place banner ads or pop-ups on URL forwarding?
    
    No, Ravand does not use banner ads or pop-ups.
56. Can I use URL forwarding if the DNS are not Ravand's?
    
    No. If you wish to use our Free URL forwarding, the domain name servers(DNS) must point to Ravand DNS




WHOIS

57. What is the WHOIS?
    
    The WHOIS is a utility that allows people to see the contact information and owner of a domain.
58. How often does Ravand update its WHOIS server?
    
    Our WHOIS server is updated every 3-7 days.
59. Is WHOIS server updated real-time?
    
    Yes
60. Can my WHOIS information be hidden from the public?
    
    No. The ownership and contact information for your domain is public information.