Acenet In 2018: How Would Acenet Clients Review Them?

Acenet Web Hosting

Acenet Web Hosting was founded in 2003 and has been providing high quality web hosting since then. They are based in Dearborn, Michigan, but service customers across the United States.

Services and Specializations

Acenet offers a wide range of shared, VPS, reseller, and dedicated hosting services.

Acenet offers only one shared hosting plan, with above average technical specifications and an abundant compliment of features:

• NginX + Apache Web Server
• mod_rewrite Apache module
• XCache PHP file caching
• MPM-Worker Apache multithread handling
• FastCGI
• MySQL 5.5 with InnoDB
• PHP Selector – Choose between multiple version of PHP
• Perl
• Python
• cPanel
• Webmail
  • Horde
  • Squirrelmail
  • Roundcube
• SSH Access
• CGI
• cURL
• ImageMagick
• phpMyAdmin Database Access
• AWStats Site Statistics
• Raw Access Logs
• File Manager
• Cron Jobs
• Password Protected Directories
• Custom Error Pages
• Hotlink Protection
• IP Deny Manager
• Redirect Manager
• Email Forwarders
• Email Autoresponders
• IMAP/POP3 Access
• Custom php.ini Support

The cPanel comes loaded with Softaculuous script installer, which makes it easy to set up WordPress, Drupal, and many other site applications with little or no technical expertise.

Shared hosting plans can upgrade to a dedicated IP address.

Acenet’s Virtual Private Server plans, which they refer to as “Cloud Servers,” are designed to provide “Infrastructure as a Service” to technically savvy companies. They have a wide range of offerings here, delineated based on raw specifications like number of processors and storage space alloted.

They also provide a small selection of dedicated server plans, with costs relative to the specific machines being rented.

Acenet also offers SSL certificates and Merchant accounts through partnerships with 3rd-party providers.

Data Centers and Technology

Acenet is focused on providing the highest quality technology that it can, with a commitment to fast, reliable hardware. They even make a point to let potential customers know that all hosting companies use the same basic software and offer the same features — it is really the hardware that sets one company apart from another.

Acenet uses machines with the latest generation Intel Xeon processors, along with RAID-10 Solid State Drives (SSD). Their shared hosting plans run CloudLinux 6 (VPS and Dedicated customers can choose their own operating system).

Datacenters are monitored 24/7, and have redundant power, climate control, and memory backup systems in place. They also have redundant backbone connections to the internet. Fire suppression systems are designed to put out fires without damaging any electrical components.

Acenet also uses shortest-path routing. Rather than configuring their system to take the cheapest path when routing data to visitors, Acenet sends data via the shortest path, minimizing site load times.

Support and Customer Service

Along with a focus on providing the best technology, Acenet puts on a strong emphasis on customer service with strong technical expertise.

Acenet does not provide a 24/7 phone support line. Rather, they use an online ticketing system that allows them to more easily prioritize issues. They boast response times to trouble tickets averaging 15 minutes.

Every member of Acenet’s customer service and support team is a Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA), which means they are highly qualified to troubleshoot any issues that may arise. RHCSA is one of the most respected and thorough certifications for network administrators.

Security, Backups, and Monitoring

Acenet regularly backs up it machines as part of its regular server administration — to mitigate any risk associated with its own activity. However, it does not provide customer-centric backup for files and data stored on its servers. Customers are responsible for their own data backup to protect against customer activities and mishaps.

Servers, network connections, and the physical building itself are monitored 24/7 by Acehost staff. Multiple redundant systems are in place to automatically takeover in case of a failure at any point. This includes server hardware, networking equipement, internet trunk lines, and physical building requirements like climate control and power.

Uptime Guarantee

Acenet offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This is subject to most of the same restrictions that other uptime guarantees are subject to:

• it does not cover customer-caused outages
• it does not cover internet outages
• it does not cover scheduled maintenance outages

However, aside from a weak guarantee about future uptime, Acenet also boasts historic 99.9% uptime, certified by a 3rd-party monitoring service.

Costs and Payment Policies

Shared hosting costs are a little above average, but not unjustifiably so, given the quality of technology. Virtual Private Server (Cloud) and Dedicated plans are also on the higher side of reasonable, but the VPS plans have multiple service level tiers, making it possible to easily buy only as much server as is needed.

Acenet does not offer deeply discounted first year rates as some hosting providers do, but they do provide a discount on their monthly rate for customers who purchase a year at a time.

Summary / Conclusions

Acenet is a high-quality host, best suited for customers who care enough about speed and performance to pay a little extra for it.

While beginning bloggers and small brick-and-mortar businesses probably don’t need the extra power, technically savvy web developers and publishers will likely find Acenet exceeds their expectations for web hosting.