PurpleStone.co.uk Services

The following is a in depth breakdown of the services we offer, you are invited to read it before proceeding to the registration page, where you will be able to calculate a quote, based upon your own options. If you'd prefer not to read a large quantity of text, you can review the bullet points.

FTP Space (TLS/SSL secured)

PurpleStone.co.uk is primarily a source of FTP space, even our most basic options support FTP. Not only that, we enable you to create unlimited FTP accounts, that you could pass on to your family and friends. Even sell on to your clients. Each account you create will appear as a seperate directory within your main storage space, if you wish you can create more than one FTP account for a specific directory. This gives you the flexibility to use your storage space for whatever you need, and with our detailed statistics, you can even keep tabs on how much the various accounts you create are being used, or request a complete breakdown of which account downloaded what. Additionally all FTP transactions take place over TLS/SSL secured channels, so your passwords and data cannot be easily intercepted.

Domain Hosting (Run many domains from one account)

A key feature of PurpleStone.co.uk is the ability to host services for your domains. Combined with our services, we give you the ability to make our servers look like yours. A website hosted on our servers will bear your domain names, plus your users can login to email and FTP services using your domain name. In fact if you choose, your clients need never know that PurpleStone.co.uk is where your systems are hosted. However currently we do not provide DNS record hosting.

Web Serving (Apache, Mysql & PHP)

PurpleStone.co.uk runs the Apache web server, and for 50p a month, you can enable files from your storage space to be served as webpages through that server. We also provide Mysql and PHP for those seeking to create sites with dynamic content. If you're not a web designer yourself, don't worry. Our services cater for you as well, you can create an FTP account for your web designer that only allows them to access the files of the specfic domain name they are working on for you, no longer is there any need to provide your main password to a designer, just so they can install your website. Additionally, for each domain you host, all files pertaining to email & web hosting are kept seperately, allowing you to easily see the distinction.

Whilst each account only comes with one Mysql database, we understand that larger applications require more space, and so we allow our customers to purchase additional databases

Email Hosting (Spam & Virus checking, SSL secure)

PurpleStone.co.uk runs a powerful email service. All accounts recieve 3 POP boxes as part of their standard deal, and more can be bought if nessacery. But we also offer unlimited forwarding, so if you already have a seperate POP box, you can forward mail there, instead of storing the mail on our servers. Obviously POP enabled email addresses can use our SMTP service to send mail, but unlike other companies we also offer SMTP for forwarded addresses, so no longer do you have to reveal your real email address when you reply to your forwarded mail. All incoming email is scanned for Viruses and Spam, however we offer our users the option to change these settings on a per address basis. So if you want an email address that isn't spam spanned, you can set it up, we even allow you to adjust the sensitivity of our scans, just in case you find the default settings are wrong for you.

Also unlike some other companies, we allow you to setup individual passwords for your email addresses, both forwarded and POP, using this feature you are able to pass on email addresses to your own clients, and give them direct control over their email options through our website. They can setup automatic copies of mail to other addresses, as well as set auto-responders and change their password. Finally, all our SMTP and POP3 connections to our clients is performed over SSL secured channels, protecting your email from prying eyes.

Subversion Repositories (using HTTPS & WebDAV)

For those who run software development projects, what better than a version controlled repository for your files? Operated over HTTPS, our subversion server will allow you centralise your project in a secure fashion. You can even link the repository to your own domain name, and assign your own users.

Shell Access (SSH)

For those who just need more out of a server, we offer shell access. From our shell you can do most things imaginable, including running software of your own. Have you got a web service that needs a home? We can help. From talkers to IRC relays, please contact us directly to discuss your needs.

Detailed Logging (Alerts sent to your inbox)

All our users recieve detailed logs through our web-front end. We monitor all our services, and unlike many other service providers we also monitor login attempts and scan user directories for viruses. So from our logging center not only can you monitor your websites performance, but how many emails your users are sending and recieving, and whetever or not someone is attempting to break into your account. In particularly severe cases you'll get emailed directly with a warning, or possibly have your login temporarily disabled. Far better than discovering one morning that your account has been hacked, and all your files corrupted.

Bandwidth Caps (No need to be cut off)

Unlike some other hosting companies, we allow our customer the option not be cut off as soon as their bandwidth is expended. Nothing is worse than having your site become popular, only to overflow your bandwidth quota and have it offline for the rest of the month. Whilst for some users, this is a desired behaviour to keep costs low, for those that value availiblity of their site, we allow for ‘over drafts’ and ‘reserves’ of bandwidth. So that you can keep some in a pot for emergencies, or simply know that if your limits are exceeded, your site will be alright till the morning. Of course, users can purchase extra bandwidth at anytime, and our automated emails should provide plenty of warning.

Help and Support

We offer a lot of detailed help information directly on our website, and in most cases, you should be able to solve your problem by looking through it. But customers also have the option of contacting our team directly, we're more than willing to answer your questions, just drop us a line and we'll do our best to get back to you within the day