Why is Layered Technologies offering low-priced Self-Managed products?

Layered Technologies recognizes the need to stay competitive in today’s marketplace. We want to offer our customers the greatest variety of services at the most competitive price possible. Offering Self-Managed dedicated server plans for those customers who don’t require technical support or assistance managing their hosting solution allows us to keep our support costs low and in turn provide you with savings and focus the energy used for managed hosting in other areas of our business.

By focusing on our self-managed server product line, customers can take advantage of the freedom to setup their host exactly how they want or use quality 3rd party control panel applications along with our quality hardware, reliable and high-speed secure network large quotas of tier 1 bandwidth - with less technical support, at a lower price than our competitor server solutions. Why should you pay for something that you can do yourself?

Our Self-Managed Dedicated Hosting service is best suited for our customers who have extensive System Administration expertise to self-maintain and self-manage their dedicated servers. This option provides customers with full administrative/root access to their server providing them the freedom and tools to customize configurations and install 3rd party or proprietary applications. Self-Managed servers are perfectly suited for customers requiring specific custom OS setups. Full administrative control of their server to install and manage specialized or custom applications.

No one beats Layered Technologies when it comes to operating system selections. We offer many different types of operating systems both open source and 3rd party licensed. For high performance, stable and secure solutions we offer FreeBSD and NetBSD, For highly secure out of the box solutions we offer OpenBSD for flexible solutions to use with various 3rd party control panels we offer many flavors of RedHat based Linux operating systems along with others such as Debian, CentOS, Gentoo and more. We also a full line of Microsoft based Windows and SQL server solutions.

What's the catch with your Self-Managed plans?

No catch; you get exactly what you pay for. We achieve this incredible value by focusing on what you really need - a great dedicated server solution with large bandwidth quotas at a very competitive price. If you feel this is not your profile, please take a look at our Layered Tech Managed plans which are available through our large group of resellers that offer additional support in various languages and for all types of operating systems, control panel and 3rd party application solutions.

If I purchase a server will you install 3rd party applications for me or keep my system up-to date with the latest security updates?

No, to allow for lower costs we will only support the hardware, network connectivity and some basic OS support on our dedicated self managed servers. We will not setup and install 3rd party applications or provide support for 3rd party applications licensed through us. We will try our best to assist you with 3rd party licensed applications but will not guarantee support.

If I purchase a firewall with the Self-Managed service, who is responsible to manage the firewall device?

Layered Tech IDC's security engineers can manage your firewall and administer a standard security policy for a monthly fee. A default security policy is implemented and any required changes to this policy based on your server configuration or application requirements are a fee-based service. As a self-managed client if you did not choose to have the device managed you would admin the device yourself and be responsible for the updates and maintenance of the devices.

If I am a Self-Managed customer and I am unable to load a Software/CD/File myself, will Layered Tech IDC load this onto my server?

Yes. Layered Tech staff can load the software onto your server for a minimal fee. You also have the choice to rent a KVM over IP unit to remotely install any applications.

What components are included in a Self-Managed server operating system install?

All of our servers are provisioned, installed and setup in 24-72 hours (estimated) from the time that we confirm payment. The majority of our servers are deployed within this time frame, although depending on the configuration of the server and the current work load, the deployment may take a little longer.

Why are some operating systems marked as "Supported" and others marked "Un-Supported"?

Operating systems with "Supported" next to them have been tested to install and run with no known problems on all of our hardware platforms. Our support staff is generally more versed with these operating systems allowing us to provide a higher level of support when necessary. These operating systems typically also have better support for 3rd party control panels or other applications.

Operating systems with "Un-Supported" next to them have not been fully tested on our hardware or have known problems with our hardware. We offer to install these operating systems with the disclaimer that we will provide no support for the operating system or guarantee system stability, security or system availability using that operating system with our various hardware offerings.

Can I customize my server?

Yes, however any customization needs to be approved by your sales rep at time of purchase; however, customers may install third party software as long as it’s compatible with the current operating system offerings and is not in violation of our terms of services / acceptable usage policy.

Will I get Administrator access?

Yes, Administrator (root) access is part of our Self-Managed product. You have the freedom to setup the server with as many domains, customers and applications as the server will allow. If during the management of your dedicated host and need a operating system re-install we can perform the installation for you to your specifications or allow you to "Load your own OS" via our KVM-over-IP network and "PEZ" OS Loader systems. There is additional charges for operating system re-install and possible additional monthly license fees if you choose a 3rd party licensed operating system, control panel or application.

What kind of Support is included?

ONLINE TICKET SYSTEM BASED SUPPORT ONLY, (through our service request center at http://support.layeredtech.com/home/) Self-Managed server support is limited to: Reboots, Billing & Licensing Inquiries, Network Problems and Hardware Failure. We will replace any faulty hardware 100% at no extra cost to you in 24 hours or less. Majority of the time we have replacement hardware in stock and ready to go allowing for minimal downtime during hardware failures. All Layered Technologies clients are responsible for maintaining current backups to guard against loss of data. We provide no guarantees for your data integrity at any time we also provide no guarantee that you will be able to restore data after an operating system reload has been completed. ALWAYS KEEP CURRENT OFFSITE BACKUPS of all your personal, private and client data.

Hardware and network connectivity-specific maintenance and support are included in the product offering. Varying levels of technical support beyond hardware and network connectivity are available as a fee-based service.

Is Layered Technologies responsible for moving my domain(s) to my new server?

NO. You will be responsible for uploading your site to your new server. You must have at least one registered domain before you can sign up for a server.