eCommerce Web Hosting

eCommerce web hosting requires a safe and secure environment for your visitors, whereby sensitive or confidential information, such as credit card details, is encrypted and sent over a secure connection. The standard for such encryption is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).

Full SSL support is provided with all business, personal and dedicated web hosting plans.

Shared Secure Server

FastVirtual provides a shared secure server as standard with all web hosting plans. This is immediately available for use and requires no special configuration or uploads. Simply point your browser to our shared secure server with your domain name as a suffix. All normal content on your web site will then be securely available to your visitors.

Although the shared secure server is capable of meeting all SSL web hosting requirements, for ecommerce purposes we recommend that you purchase your own SSL certificate. This will then be available under your own domain (https://www.yourdomain.com) and will help to establish confidence in your site.

Costs Involved in Using SSL

There are no costs involved in using our shared secure server.

SSL under your own domain (https://www.yourdomain.com) requires that you purchase your own SSL certificate. This confirms that you are who you say you are, and is necessary for SSL to to function correctly.

This process requires us to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and that you have this signed by a Certification Authority (CA), such as VeriSign, Thawte or GeoTrust. The signed certificate is then installed on your domain.

A CSR can be automatically requested from the "Hosting" area of your control panel. The process involves a $25.00 setup fee, which includes the installation and configuration of your issued certificate.

FastVirtual supports VeriSign, Thawte and GeoTrust certificates, as well as others. VeriSign charge $349.00 ($449.00 for companies outside the US) for a standard one-year certificate, Thawte charge $199.00 and GeoTrust charge $169.00. Two year certificates are optionally available.

Maximum Security Through Stronghold

FastVirtual uses Stronghold-powered secure servers; a derivative of Apache (our normal web servers). Stronghold is stable, reliable and utilizes the most robust authentication protocols available today.

Fully Compatible and Easy to Use

Every effort has been made to ensure our secure servers behave identically to our normal web servers. All content uploaded to your web site is also available securely, either via the shared secure server, or via your own domain (if you have purchased your own SSL certificate). Not only does this simplify web site development, but also saves valuable web space by avoiding duplicate content.

FastVirtual's secure servers are fully compatible with the ecommerce shopping cart and storefront systems included with our Gold, Platinum and Platinum Plus plans, as well as many other ecommerce applications.

Need More Information?

Further information about ecommerce web hosting, including details on how to apply for your own secure certificate, is available in the Secure Server Guide. You may also wish to see our eCommerce FAQ, which covers general SSL and ecommerce web hosting questions.