How it works: When signing up, ask your friends to select “referral” and enter the email address you use to access your Open Hosting account. We’ll contact both parties to confirm, and after 30 days automatically credit your account.

Your referral may participate in any promotion running at the time they create their account. Our referral program is open to all existing clients.

Please email sales@openhosting.com with any questions.

Behind the scenes, the dashboard issues two API calls. The first API call creates a blank drive of equal size to the one you wish to copy. And, the second API call copies the contents of the original to the new drive.

The demo@openhosting account contains a drive called “source-drive.” To create a copy of this drive we need to know it’s UUID and size. A simple call to the API returns this information for all drives in the account:

$ ./openhosting.sh drives/info
status active
name source-drive
drive 1181a421-e490-47c7-96a4-b29b5d6abe44
encryption:cipher aes-xts-plain
user d2d23ab0-4b3f-4b73-858f-4d2c9c2262c4
size 1073741824

Alternatively, by pressing the “configure” button on the dashboard, the drive’s UUID is displayed just above the name.

Now to create a drive of the same size using an API call documented on our API page:

$ ./openhosting.sh -c drives/create << EOF
name source-drive-copy
size 1073741824
EOF

Following execution, the API returns the new drive’s UUID, which we need for the final copy command:

status active
name source-drive-copy
read:bytes 4096
write:bytes 4096
drive 26df0e85-9f9b-4862-931b-644a31dd7df7
encryption:cipher aes-xts-plain
user d2d23ab0-4b3f-4b73-858f-4d2c9c2262c4
read:requests 1
write:requests 1
size 1073741824


The copy command requires two arguments, the DRIVE to which you are copying and the SOURCE of the copy;

./openhosting.sh drives/DRIVE/image/SOURCE[/CONVERSION]

Before executing, be sure both drives are unmounted. In this particular example, the call would be:

$ ./openhosting.sh drives/26df0e85-9f9b-4862-931b-644a31dd7df7/image/1181a421-e490-47c7-96a4-b29b5d6abe44

This call produces no response. You can can check on the status of the copy by checking the dashboard or asking the API:

$ ./openhosting.sh drives/26df0e85-9f9b-4862-931b-644a31dd7df7/info
status active
name source-drive
read:bytes 1182932992
user d2d23ab0-4b3f-4b73-858f-4d2c9c2262c4
write:bytes 1643388928
drive 26df0e85-9f9b-4862-931b-644a31dd7df7
encryption:cipher aes-xts-plain
imaging 52%
read:requests 288802
claimed 0003eba7-21ba-4dfc-9f69-3137c6c13937:imaging:30476
write:requests 401620
size 1073741824

Copying is 52% percent done, and when it completes the copy will be bootable.

This is a case where our principles are aligned with the best interests of our clients and the best interests of Open Hosting. SOPA threatens to infect the Internet with a virus worse than anything that could be written in code.

Join us and take action to stop this harmful legislation.

Where do your elected representatives stand?

Enable the Open Hosting firewall with an exception for Remote Desktop…

Both the Open Hosting platform and Windows 2008 have their own firewalls, which are controlled independently. Our firewall is optional, but highly recommended, especially with Windows. Theirs is standard. Another key difference is that our firewall is implemented at the platform-level, which mean traffic is blocked before it contacts your server.

If you’ve purchased a firewall from Open Hosting and you intend to access Windows over the Internet by Remote Desktop, you’ll need to add an exception in our firewall. To do so:

1. With the server shut down, go to the Server Configuration page and enable Firewall.
2. Specify the ports to open in a space-separated list as “[transport]/[port number]“. For our purposes, you’ll enter “tcp/3389″ to open TCP port 3389, which is the default port for Remote Desktop Protocol.
   
3. Save your changes, and start the server.

Enable Remote Desktop using VNC…

VNC is very useful for diagnosing a sick server that won’t boot (and therefore, won’t run Remote Desktop) and it is very useful for configuring a new server. But, it can’t compare to Microsoft’s Remote Desktop for everyday usability.

To enable Remote Desktop on Windows 2008:

1. Use VNC and connect to the server.
2. Start the Server Manager (right-click on My Computer and click Manage).
3. Click Configure Remote Desktop.
4. Select an option and configure users, if needed.

To resize —and we only ever recommend increasing— a disk on which Windows is installed, it is necessary to first resize it from Open Hosting’s dashboard, and then from within Disk Management in Windows. Here’s how:

1. With the server shut down, go to the configuration page for the drive you wish to resize.
2. Resize the disk by moving the slider or entering the new size in the entry box. Click Resize.
3. At the Control Panel, start the server to which the drive is attached.
4. Once the server has booted, launch Server Manager (right-click on My Computer and click Manage), go to Storage, and then Disk Management. You should see your drives, as well as the unallocated disk you’re adding.
   
5. Right-click on the drive you wish to expand, and select Extend Volume… This will take you through the wizard. Once completed, you should see your drive with the newly allocated disk space.

To welcome the new year, for January of 2012, we’re going to match your first month of purchases up to $50.

To be eligible for this promotion, open an account between January 1st and February 1st of 2012 and purchase services by February 1st. We’ll match your spending up to $50 for the entire month.

For example, open an account and:

• Spend $30 and we’ll deposit an additional $30.
• Spend $50 and we’ll deposit additional $50.
• Spend $100 and we’ll deposit additional $50.

To receive your credit, please email support@ after opening an account and purchasing services.

Happy 2012!

1. With the server shut down, go to the configuration page for the drive you wish to resize.
2. Resize the disk by moving the slider or entering the new size in the entry box. Click Resize.
3. Finally, all of our pre-installed servers have a script located in /etc/rc.d/rc.local that will resize the server’s filesystem. As root, execute the following two commands:
   # touch /.resizeroot
# reboot
   On reboot the filesystem will be resized.

Alternately, if you’ve built the server yourself you can add the below to your rc.local and follow the steps above:

if [ -f /.resizeroot ]; then
while read DEV DIR TYPE INFO; do
[ "$DIR" = "/" ] || continue
case "$TYPE" in
ext[234])
resize2fs -p "$DEV"
rm -f /.resizeroot
;;
esac
done fi


What Is Cloud Hosting?

There are two parts to our definition of cloud hosting:

1. Cloud Hosting Is Hardware As Software Let’s deal with the first part of our simplified definition of cloud hosting – that “cloud hosting is hardware as software.” Imagine that hardware resources, like memory and processing power, are replicable and portable like software. This special quality of software allows for its replication almost without effort or expense: the creation of 100 copies of a file is done as easily as two. However, this is not the case with RAM modules or CPUs; they need to be purchased and installed, interrupting the operation of the server. With cloud hosting, hardware seemingly assumes the flexibility of software; for example, memory and processing power can be multiplied and moved from server to server at anytime. The seeming transformation of hardware into a portable and replicable resource is realized by rendering a likeness of actual server hardware – virtual hardware. The guest operating system* is presented with access to hardware surrogates, including virtual memory, virtual processing, and virtual disk. The real hardware remains concealed and isolated from the guest operating system. For example, 64GB of actual RAM might be presented as two individual banks of 20GB, with 24GB withheld and reserved for future use. By controlling the presentation of the actual hardware through the use of virtualization, cloud platforms can dynamically allocate resources to guest operating systems. A cloud platform, like Open Hosting’s, allows you — and your applications, via our API — to request and modify hardware resources as if they were software. Want more memory? Disk? Such resources can be adjusted without having to wait for a technician to power-down the server, open the server, install new RAM modules, and power-on.

2. Cloud Hosting Is Remote Computing The second part our definition states that “cloud hosting is remote computing”. The critical point is cloud hosting is more than the virtualization of hardware, but the subsequent packaging of these resources as a remotely accessible service. The service can be private and closed to the public. For instance, many large organizations operate private clouds for just their purposes. Or, more commonly, it is a public retail service, like Open Hosting. The point is virtualization isn’t enough: remote accessibility is key.

“Cloud Hosting!” Behind the marketing of this phrase, there’s an assumption that the definition is commonly understood. Yet, maybe this isn’t the case. As evidence, we regularly receive inquires from folks wanting to migrate their existing applications to a cloud host, often for no obvious technical advantage. They just want cloud. This has happened before.** In the late 1990s, Sun Microsystems ran TV advertisements for Java, their new computer programming language. By 2000 everyone wanted Java. Most folks didn’t know what it was, but they believed it to be a connection to a shimmering future. Ten years on, and it is cloud hosting. Not since Sun’s launch of Java has the general public been so excited by a technical innovation that they often don’t understand. Everyone wants cloud. Unlike Java, which was then the property of Sun Microsystems, cloud hosting belongs to no one. It is simply a way of organizing computer resources. Still, the expression “cloud hosting” — sometimes just “cloud”— is today’s Java largely by the efforts of firms like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. Apple has the iCloud. Microsoft’s ‘To the Cloud’ campaign promotes Windows Live. And, Amazon wants your media for its Cloud Player and Cloud Drive. Used correctly, cloud hosting is a truly awesome way to control the computational resources supporting your application. And, at Open Hosting, we are committed to the accurate and honest marketing of this technology.

* Guest operating system are operating systems accessing virtualized hardware. In the case of Open Hosting, our clients’ operating systems run as guests on much larger host machines.

** Just as they share propitious timing, ambitious objectives, and huge marketing efforts, Java and cloud hosting share the same core technical innovation, virtualization.

1. There are two billing methods: Subscription Billing and Burst Billing (sometimes known as “Utility”).

 

2. Resource pricing varies based on billing method.  Subscription Billing charges less per resource unit. This means, resources like CPU, memory, and disk cost less when purchased by Subscription. For example, a month’s use of 1GB of disk costs $0.125 by Burst and $.10 by Subscription.

 

3. Subscription pricing further varies based on the amount purchased. Simply put, the longer the subscription, the greater the discount: enjoy a 10% discount with a 6-month subscription and a 15% discount with 12-months. Where a month’s use of 1GB of disk costs $.10 for a 5-month subscription, it only costs $.085 for a 12-month subscription.

 

4. A subscription can be for any number of days or months and can be increased or extended at any time. The quantity of any subscribed resource can be easily increased. Likewise, the length of the subscription can be extended. The difference between what you’ve previously purchased and the updated subscription are calculated at checkout; you pay the difference.  Please note that we don’t offer refunds on subscriptions.

 

5. Subscription Billing gets you the best pricing. And, it is best suited for folks who want servers of stable configurations running around the clock.

 

6. Burst Billing lets you use what you want, when you want. For this flexibility, Burst prices are 25% greater than Subscription prices. The elasticity of Burst Billing is best for folks with changing or unpredictable needs. For instance, during application development or for those applications that experience spikes in activity. And, for those folks who use our API to dynamically tailor utilization, Burst is best, too.

 

7. The billing options are complementary, often best operating together.  If you opt to purchase resources by subscription, it is highly recommended that you keep a balance on account with us. Should a subscription expire (and you don’t have automatic renewal enabled), your servers will stop and your static IPs will no longer be yours. But, before stopping your servers, the platform will first attempt to keep them running under Burst. This only works if you’ve a positive balance. In this way, the platform can draw against your prepaid balance to keep your servers running while you renew your subscription.

 

8. All resources can be purchased by Burst or by Subscription, except Microsoft licenses, which can only be purchased by 30-day subscriptions.

 

9. While trials require a credit card, Open Hosting accepts several payment options, including credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and American Express), Google Checkout, and PayPal.  Optionally, for large payments, we accept bank wires.

 

10. Once you enter and save your credit card information it can’t be viewed — not even by us.  We are PCI compliant.  Your credit card data is stored with Authorize.net and we’ve no way to view it. Without the ability to edit, if you want to update any aspect of your card information, select “Pay with new Credit Card” and reenter.

    

This promotion has expired. All of our promotions can be found here.

For November, we’re going to match your first month of purchases up to $50.

To be eligible for this promotion, open an account between November 1st and December 1st of 2011 and purchase services by December 1st.  We’ll match your spending up to $50 for the entire month.

For example, open an account and:

• Spend $30 and we’ll deposit an additional $30.
• Spend $50 and we’ll deposit additional $50.
• Spend $100 and we’ll deposit additional $50.

To receive your credit, please email support@ after opening an account and purchasing services.