Foote Francis offers secure hosting services or, if required, are able to organise co-location for your hosting requirements at your request.

F2 provides secure, state-of-the-art hosting services, which makes it easy for us to co-manage your content and data needs.  Security is via SSL encryption, which is an ongoing annual cost as listed on the pricing information page.

Our hosting maintenance and support service also includes additional, ongoing Joomla! security maintenance and support services that are integrated within the monthly hosting service.  The hosting service essentially removes the ‘Light’ ($18 / month) and ‘Standard’ ($22 / month) hosting plans, and places all clients on a revised ‘Heavy’ hosting plan ($55 / month), which has been renamed as the ‘Joomla! Maintenance Program’. This hosting and maintenance service includes:

• Monthly hosting for your organisation’s website domain, including 1 GB server space, 2GB traffic per month (excess traffic charged at 11 cents / MB) and unlimited e-mail addresses;
• Monthly backups to offsite F2 data storage facilities and/or to your organisation’s internal data storage facilities using the Joomla!Cloner backup component (additional, scheduled backups will be available at $11 / scheduled backup);
• Upgrades to the core Joomla! content management system framework to the latest version in the series currently being used by your organisation. I.e. upgrades to the 1.0.x series or the 1.5.x series, when available;
• Free re-installation/restoration of your Joomla! database and website files, should this ever be required.
• Ongoing security checks, bug checks and liaison on your behalf through to the various developers’ support forums.
• Discounted upgrades to 3rd party components, when required and following a quotation, provided at $50 / hour (ex GST).
• Monthly work reports on service maintenance and tasks performed.

Joomla! is like any other software application and needs to be kept up-to-date to prevent vulnerabilities from being taken advantage of, particularly in a web environment, however we recognise that it is sometimes impossible for clients to keep their software updated on our hosting facilities themselves, which is why we’re introducing these additional services for automated backups and ongoing Joomla! upgrades, including 3rd party Joomla! component support if required.  Note that F2 provides hosting infrastructure for our clients as a means of eliminating the ‘go-between’ necessary sometimes when hosting with a 3rd party provider.

Please note that we will not be providing hosting for organisations without this now-standard and combined Joomla! hosting, support and maintenance service, and will be happy to advise you of alternative hosting arrangements and help in the transfer of your website to its new location when required should you choose not to proceed. Please keep in mind that if you move your website hosting to another provider, you will still need to keep your software up-to-date and backed up, and if you need F2 to perform an update you will be charged at our normal support rates.

Finally, please note that Foote Francis Pty Ltd is NOT responsible for your website content and data, and it is up to you to make sure that you are backing up your website regularly via whatever means you choose. We will, of course, advise you of the most appropriate solutions available.