Freedom servers offer many features and options that are not available anywhere else, and surpass traditional Web hosting and other so-called “virtual server” products in many ways, including:
Freedom. (Of course!) You are free to do almost anything on your Freedom server. The key concepts that allow us to provide you with this level of freedom at such an affordable price are our pre-defined Support Boundaries and the responsibility that you accept when choosing to venture beyond our supported configuration. Be sure to consult the Support Boundaries sections in this guide to understand the responsibilities you assume when exercising this type of freedom.
Shell access for users. Not only does your Freedom server provide you with shell access, but you can also provide shell access to the users that you add to your system. This allows your users to edit files, write and compile programs, query databases, and more – directly on the server instead of doing so offline.
Enhanced applications and services. Freedom servers allow you to run Internet server applications the way that they were designed to be run on dedicated solutions. We’ve included many of the most popular applications for Internet commerce with your product. Some of the open source applications are out-of-the box implementations, and others have been modified and enhanced by us to provide additional features and ease of use. Some examples include:
Apache - You get your own private, SSL-enabled Apache web server that runs as a standalone daemon and provides most of the popular modules. This allows for quicker response; enhanced security; high flexibility through dynamically loading modules, complete access to your Apache configuration files; and more!
Virtual Hosting capabilities – Why settle for one Web site when you can have 5, 10, 20 or more? Freedom servers allow you to host a number of Web sites on a single server, each with its own domain name.
ProFTP - Your ProFTP server provides both anonymous and authenticated FTP for you and your users.
MySQL - Our full MySQL implementation with TCP/IP networking support provides you a private SQL database server complete with powerful security (ACL) configuration and network access to your databases. When combined with the MyODBC database driver, you can even use ODBC programs such as Microsoft® Access® and Microsoft® Excel® to access the MySQL databases on your server. Also available are MySQL-ready development tools such as PHP, DBI/DBD drivers for Perl, and C/C++ programming APIs, allowing you to develop custom database applications.
Samba - The powerful Samba service allows you to divide your filesystem into "shares" that can be mounted as network drives on Microsoft® Windows® based PCs. This gives you and your users direct control of their files from their Windows desktops. Samba can even be used to allow users around the world to easily save their documents, spreadsheets, or other data to a single, shared Internet drive for fast collaboration across great distances.
Microsoft® FrontPage® Server Extensions - Your Freedom server provides both FrontPage 2000 and FrontPage 98 Server Extensions, a popular tool for creating Web sites quickly and easily.
Unsurpassed Security. Your Freedom server provides an environment that is far more secure than a traditional hosting environment. Some of the features that enhance your security include:
Private virtual disk - In contrast to traditional hosting environments, which merely provide you with space on a shared disk drive, your Freedom server has its own virtual disk that behaves just like a physical disk drive. The entire virtual disk belongs to you and you alone, and other virtual servers on the machine do not have access to it in any way.
Secure Access Protocols - Your Freedom server provides a number of secure access methods, including SSH (versions 1 and 2), SSL, Secure FTP (FTP over SSH2), SSL enabled POP and IMAP protocols, secure Samba access, and more.
MySQL ACL – The included MySQL database server includes an "Access Control List" (ACL) database, which allows complete database security configuration at the database, table, field, user, host, and function levels.
Reseller Access. Both our FATSI and VAdmin interfaces are reseller friendly, allowing you to log into a customer’s Freedom server as any of their users without needing to know their password. FATSI also provides diagnostic tools to help identify potential problems and even reboot the virtual server if necessary. These are must-have features for any reseller who provides technical assistance to their customers. For additional information about reseller access through FATSI and VAdmin, talk to your sales representative.