Hawk Host is a privately held Canadian company. We have no official affiliation with EIG or any of their hosting brands.

We offer Advanced DDOS Protection as a paid upgrade on all cloud web hosting, semi-dedicated, and cloud compute hosting plans in our Dallas, TX USA and Los Angeles, CA USA datacenters. You can find more details about our Advanced DDOS Protection on our site and blog at https://www.hawkhost.com/hosting-with-ddos-protection and https://blog.hawkhost.com/2021/06/08/advanced-ddos-protection-in-los-angeles-ca-and-dallas-tx/

If you are interested in adding Advanced DDOS Protection to your new hosting service the option to enable the addon will be presented during the signup on the order form. If you have an existing service with us and are looking to transition from your current hosting to Advanced DDOS Protected hosting please open a ticket with our billing department through https://my.hawkhost.com/submitticket.php

We fully support Zend Framework on all of our shared, cloud web hosting, semi-dedicated, and reseller hosting plans. While we do not have a system wide install available for use, all users are able to upload the framework themselves and run it from within their account. All of the required modules are loaded and Zend Optimizer is installed.

We recommend installing it through Softaculous which is available in your cPanel account. If you need assistance installing it please submit a ticket to our helpdesk.

In the event you need to localize your time via PHP for your applications/scripts/website, you can make the change easily via your .htaccess file. Please note the servers timezone cannot be changed however. For purposes of this article we'll be using cPanels File Manager, though these changes can be made via SSH or any FTP client (we suggest WinSCP). To change your timezone via .htaccess:

1. 1. Login to cPanel for your account, and in the top left finder search for File Manager.

1. 1. Select the File Manager icon, and you'll be greeted with a popup. On this dialogue, you'll want to select 'Web Root' for the directory also select 'Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)'.

1. 1. Once your File Manager opens, locate your .htaccess file and click it. Once highlighted, select 'Edit' from the top navigation. You will be prompted with another dialogue box, just hit 'Edit' to continue to the editor.

1. 1. Now that you're editing your .htaccess, add the following lines to your file:
      
      php_value date.timezone "America/Chicago"
      
      Replace "America/Chicago" with the timezone you wish to use. This will now change the timezone for your applications/sites to the one specified.

1. If you need a list of all supported timezones, please reference the following URL: Supported PHP Timezones

Our cloud compute packages include two options for web based control panels to aid in server management. The two panels currently available are DirectAdmin and cPanel/WHM. When your compute is first deployed your chosen control panel will come pre-installed and ready for use.

To access your cPanel/WHM panel:

WHM URL: https://1.2.3.4:2087 (Replace 1.2.3.4 with your compute IP)
Username: root
Password: Your compute root password (Refer to your "New Cloud Compute Information" email)

WHM User Guide: https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/
cPanel User Guide: https://docs.cpanel.net/cpanel/

To access your DirectAdmin panel:

DirectAdmin URL: http://1.2.3.4:2222 (Replace 1.2.3.4 with your compute IP)
Username: admin
Password: Your compute root password (Refer to your "New Cloud Compute Information" email)

DirectAdmin User guide: https://help.directadmin.com/

whois/ID protection will hide your private/personal contact details so they are not publicly exposed when performing whois lookups on your domain name. Disabling whois/ID protection will remove this protection so whois lookups will publicly show your domains underlying whois contact information. To disable ID protection:

1. Login to your client area at https://my.hawkhost.com/clientarea.php
   
   
2. Once you've logged in click "Domains" then "My Domains" from your main navigation menu:
   
   
   
   
   
3. From the "My Domains" page select the green "Active" button to the right of the domain name you're modifying:
   
   
   
   
4. From your domains details page click the "Addons" button on the left hand side navigation menu:
   
   
   
   
   
5. The following page will show you a button to disable whois/ID protection. Disabling whois/ID protection will remove privacy protection so whois lookups will publicly show your domains underlying whois contact information. The $3.00 fee you've paid for this service is non-refundable. You would need to pay $3.00 to re-enable the service once it's disabled. If you wish to proceed with removing protection click the red "Disable" button:
   
   
   
   
   
6. You will be prompted to confirm your decision. If you wish to proceed with disabling whois/ID protection click the "Confirm Cancellation" button:
   
   
   
   
7. You will receive a confirmation message "Addon Deactivated Successfully!". whois/ID is now disabled on your domain name:
   
   

whois/ID protection will hide your private/personal contact details so they are not publicly exposed when performing whois lookups on your domain name. Enabling whois/ID protection will activate this protection so whois lookups will not publicly show your domains underlying whois contact information and it will be hidden. The fee to enable this protection is $3.00 per year per domain name. The $3.00 fee is non-refundable.

To enable whois/ID protection:

1. Login to your client area at https://my.hawkhost.com/clientarea.php
   
   
2. Once you've logged in click "Domains" then "My Domains" from your main navigation menu:
   
   
   
   
   
3. From the "My Domains" page select the green "Active" button to the right of the domain name you're modifying:
   
   
   
   
4. From your domains details page click the "Addons" button on the left hand side navigation menu:
   
   
   
   
   
5. The following page will show you a button to enable whois/ID protection. Enabling whois/ID protection will activate privacy protection so whois lookups will not publicly show your domains underlying whois contact information. The fee to enable this protection is $3.00 per year per domain name. The $3.00 fee is non-refundable. If you wish to proceed with purchasing whois/ID protection click the green "Buy now for $3.00 USD" button:
   
   
   
   
   
6. You will be prompted to confirm your decision. If you wish to proceed with enabling whois/ID protection click the large "Buy Now for $3.00 USD/year" button:
   
   
   
   
   
7. An invoice will be generated and you will be redirected to complete payment. Once payment is completed the whois/ID protection will be enabled on your domain. This can be confirmed by visiting the "Addons" menu (step 4) again or by performing a whois lookup on your domain name.

All shared, cloud web hosting, semi-dedicated, and reseller plans include SSH access. To connect to your account using SSH:

3) Open up PuTTY or your alternative SSH client and enter your domain name or accounts IP into the hostname/IP field:

4) Hit enter on your keyboard or press the "Open' button from PuTTY. The SSH connection will be established to your compute. You'll be prompted with a window to accept a certificate. Hit "Yes" as it is safe to accept this certificate:

5) From there you'll be prompted with a black screen asking for a login, then password. Enter your cPanel Username as the login name and enter the cPanel password from your "New Account Information" setup email. Keep in mind when you type your password nothing will be showing up - this is normal and it is being entered:

If you encounter any issues, please submit a support ticket with our compute support department.

If your credit/debit card are not accepted by our billing system directly you can use Paypal to process the payment. You do not need to have a Paypal account to take advantage of this and there are no additional fees for paying through Paypal. Please follow these instructions to complete your credit/debit card payment through Paypal:

1. Login at to your client area account to view your invoices
   
   
2. Navigate to your open invoices by clicking 'Billing => My Invoices' from the main navigation
   
   
3. Select the invoice you need to pay. On the invoice payment page switch your payment method to 'Paypal' and then click 'Paypal Check Out'. You will be redirected to paypal.com.
   
   
4. From the Paypal checkout/payment page, select the option titled 'Pay with a debit or credit card, or PayPal Credit'
   
   
5. Fill out your payment information accordingly and then click 'Pay'. Your payment will now be processed using your credit/debit card through Paypal. After a successful payment you will be emailed a receipt and redirected back to your Hawk Host client area.

If you experience any issues please contact our billing team with the error(s) you encountered.

Cloud compute services can complete bandwidth only upgrades directly through the client area. We offer upgrades in blocks of 1TB and 5TB priced at $10.00/mo per additional 1TB. To upgrade your cloud compute bandwidth:

1. Login to your client area at https://my.hawkhost.com/clientarea.php
   
   
2. Click 'Services' from the menu navigation, and from the dropdown select 'View Available Addons'
   
   
   
3. The Product Addons interface will show the 1TB and 5TB additional bandwidth packages. Select the compute you wish to upgrade from the dropdown and then click "Order Now"
   
   
   
   
4. You will be redirected to the cart to complete the upgrade and payment. Once the order is submitted the bandwidth will be upgraded within 10 minutes.

Please note: If your compute is suspended you will be unable to complete this upgrade. You will need to open a ticket with our billing department to complete a bandwidth upgrade on a suspended compute.

When transferring a .UK domain name from an old registrar to Hawk Host you will need to update the IPS Tag on your .UK domain. The IPS Tag to use when transferring a domain to Hawk Host is: NETEARTHONE

To complete a .UK domain transfer to us you will first place the transfer order through our website. Once you have placed and paid for the transfer order you would then login to your domain's current registrar control panel and change the IPS Tag to NETEARTHONE to complete the transfer process.

The "Optimize Website" feature that is commonly available on other cPanel based hosts is not available through our services as our webserver (Litespeed) automatically compresses/gzips content when possible. As a result it is not necessary to specifically enable that feature which is why the "Optimize Website" icon is not available in cPanel.

You can confirm gzip compression is enabled on your sites by viewing your request headers or ask our team through a support ticket to provide that information.

We currently offer snapshots of cloud computes in our Los Angeles USA and Hong Kong locations. Snapshots are not yet available for computes in our New York City USA, Dallas TX USA, or Singapore locations.

A snapshot is a point in time backup of your compute which creates an image of the entire compute as it exists when the snapshot is created. Snapshots can be used to revert a compute in its entirety to a previous date from when the snapshot was created. This is not an incremental or individual file backup.

To purchase snapshots for your Los Angeles USA or Hong Kong compute:

1. Login to your client area at https://my.hawkhost.com/clientarea.php
   
   
2. Once you've logged in use the main menu navigation to select "Services" and then "My Services":
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click the green "Active" button to the right of the listed compute service which will be enabling snapshots:
   
   
   
   
4. On the following page select the "Upgrade/Downgrade Options" link from the left side "Actions" menu:
   
   
   
   
5. From the Upgrade/Downgrade page enter the number of snapshots you would like the ability to create. The price is $5.00 per snapshot:
   
   
   
   
6. Click to continue through the cart and complete payment for your snapshots to enable the feature for your compute.
   
   
7. Once payment is completed your ability to create snapshots will be enabled. Please refer to this KB article for a guide on how to use compute snapshots.

All shared web hosting, semi-dedicated, and reseller hosting plans have full PHP control through the PHP Selector interface in cPanel. This interface will allow you to modify your site's PHP versions, enable/disable PHP extensions, and also modify PHP settings.

Changing PHP Versions

1. Login to cPanel for your hosting account and use the search to find the "Select PHP Version" interface:

2. From the Select PHP Version interface select the "My domains" menu:

3. Use the provided dropdown to select your new PHP version. Click "Set as Current" to make the selected PHP version your account's new PHP version:

Enabling or Disabling PHP Extensions


1. Login to cPanel for your hosting account and use the search to find the "Select PHP Version" interface:

2. From the Select PHP Version interface select the "Extensions" menu:

3. The "Extensions" interface will provide a list of all available PHP extensions for your account. Use the checkbox next to each extension to enable or disable as needed:

Adjusting PHP Settings (memory limit, upload file size, execution time, etc.)

Common PHP settings include:

• Max execution time (max_execution)time): How long your PHP script can run before it times out and the process is killed
• Max input vars (max_input_vars): Number of variables in a GET/POST request that will be accepted
• Memory limit (memory_limit): The maximum amount of memory (RAM) a single PHP script/process can use
• Upload max filesize (upload_max_filesize): Sets the limit for how large an uploaded/attached file may be when processed through a PHP script

1. Login to cPanel for your hosting account and use the search to find the "Select PHP Version" interface:
   
   
   
   
2. From the Select PHP Version interface select the "Options" menu:
   
   
   
   
3. Use the provided forms and dropdown menus to adjust your PHP options as required by your scripts/software:
   
   
   
   
4. When you make changes you will see a dialogue menu in the top right of your screen confirming the changes were saved:
   
   

PHP Path for cron jobs or other scripts

The correct path to use for PHP cron jobs or other scripts which require the PHP path is: /usr/local/bin/php

Please see below for a breakdown of each departments official hours. Please note any department that is not staffed 24/7 has availability outside official hours, but that is subject to change:

Helpdesk (https://support.hawkhost.com) and Email Availability:

Support: 24/7 via helpdesk and email ([email protected])

VPS Support: 24/7 via helpdesk and email ([email protected])

Sales: 24/7 via helpdesk and email ([email protected])

Billing: 24/7 via helpdesk and email ([email protected])

Abuse: 10AM-8PM EST Monday through Friday via helpdesk and email ([email protected])

Tier II / Management: 9AM-11PM EST every day via helpdesk

Please Note: Our escalated support/billing departments, along with management departments, are reserved for issues that fall outside the scope of our level 1 departments. Please allow for additional time between replies/resolutions for any escalated issues as they usually require a more thorough investigation.

Livechat Availability:

Support: 10AM-6AM EST Monday through Friday

VPS Support: Not Available (Helpdesk/Email Only)

Sales: 10AM-6AM EST Monday through Friday

Billing: 10AM-6AM EST Monday through Friday

Abuse: Not Available (Helpdesk/Email Only)

Tier II / Management: Not Available (Helpdesk/Email Only)

Please Note: There are periods throughout the posted times where livechat will not be available. This can be due to a higher than usual chat/ticket volume or agent availability. Please submit a support ticket if chat is not available during the posted hours.