Your school’s website is not just important in terms of having a presence online or a portal packed with valuable information, it’s a means of making a positive first impression, whilst delivering a safe, secure and smooth user experience for regular users. You can learn more about each of our main web services below:
Our web hosting packages make it possible for your website(s) to be accessed, and this reliable service delivers reliable and flexible managed hosting services, with two tiers available:
With our basic service, you get DNS hosting and 1Gb of disk space, with the ability to host multiple domains – all with secure web access. We have many schools and organisations currently on this plan and it’s a perfect match if you’re seeking hosting for a simple website that can be easily established and maintained, without large amounts of content required.
Our unlimited web hosting service gives you everything the basic plan includes but with unlimited disk space. This essentially gives you access to all the server space required to create and maintain your website. With no limit in place, you have plenty of room to grow and develop your website as required.
With both of these levels, our service is entirely based on cPanel software running on a Linux operating system whilst the service supports languages and technologies like PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, HTML, MySQL, PostgreSQL and limited support for ASP. There are plenty of other advantages too:
Content management systems like Joomla and WordPress are simple to setup through a single select and install process.
For complete simplicity, each website is accessible via a direct URL rather than an IP address.
It’s possible for websites to be accessible via HTTP or HTTPS/SSL (if a valid Secure Server Certificate is installed).
For website initiation and maintenance, data upload is available via FTP or via an administrator control panel which allows for file upload/download.
Considerations
To maintain a high level of security on your website, schools are responsible for and encouraged to keep any CMS or associated plugin code up-to-date. CMS suppliers such as Joomla and WordPress provide regular security updates which should be applied as soon as possible after release. It’s also important to note that there are a number of dependencies, such as:
emPSN also offers a DNS hosting service, allowing your school to publish and manage DNS records on a central nameserver, supported by secondary nameservers to ensure high availability. The nameservers are all situated on the JISC / Janet Network, whilst they are geographically separated to minimise fire risks or network connection failures.
SSL Certificates
SSL certificates are incredibly important for schools, especially in terms of protecting their websites from intruders. On installing SSL, every fragment of information is encrypted, meaning the data is well protected and can only be ‘unlocked’ by the intended recipient (browser or server). Not only does it help to boost defence against hackers and attackers, it improves trust among your website visitors, whilst helping to boost search engine rankings – with Google rewarding websites that have HTTPS-enabled.
In partnership with Janet, emPSN provide SSL certificates that are Organisation Validated (OV). OV certificates are typically used for standard HTTPS/SSL type services supplied with a Common Name (CN) and the main advantage is that it’s an important step above domain validation in terms of the trust it creates. OV certificates can also have multiple Subject Alternative Names SANs, permitting use of multiple named systems. We can obtain OV certificates from Janet on your behalf on the basis that the domains being used are registered in the schools name, or the schools organisational name.
Extended Validation (EV) certificates, Unified Communications (UC) and Wildcard (*.Domain) are available from the Janet service also, but at present these are not available to schools. Although Wildcard certificates are not available, certificates with multiple Subject Alternative Names (SANs) can be supplied with OV certificates.
Offering competitive rates and 24/7 customer service support to ensure you get the best possible service.
