Hosting Environment

Administration

• Maintenance: ET takes care of all maintenance activities related to our servers. This includes system software updates, virus protection signature updates, replacement of any failing hardware elements, reboots and more.
• Monitoring: Server status is monitored 24x7, triggering escalation procedures in the event of anomalies.
• Data Backup: ET backs up all data on a daily basis. Your information is protected.
• Data Base Administration: ET assumes all responsibility for database administration related activities.

Security

ET implements best practices security measures to ensure the safety and confidentiality of your end user data.

• Firewall: All servers, applications and data are protected by firewalls. ET uses ICSA certified firewall solutions employing stateful packet inspection technology. ICSA is the trusted authority in independent security assurance. Hardware-based solutions ensure low packet latency, high performance and high availability.
• Encryption: ET standard offering is 128 bit encryption end-to-end from application servers to the desktop to protect against interception of data at any point on the Internet or end user network.
• Dedicated hardware: The ET application runs on dedicated hardware owned by ET.
• System Engineering and Installation: All servers and software are installed by ET staff.
• Software Updates and Patch Administration: Updates and patches are applied by ET staff.
• Performance Engineering: ET closely monitors system performance and network performance to ensure the best possible response times.

System Software

ET is based on the following platforms:

• Windows 2000 Server: ET utilizes Windows 2000 as core element of our hosting platform. For server-based applications, Windows 2000 provides a stable, partitionable and scalable platform.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000: ET utilizes SQL Server 2000.
• Microsoft IIS 5.0 with Active Server Pages: ET utilizes the Microsoft IIS environment for hosting. Coding is done in .asp and employs both Visual Basic and Java scripting.
• Backup Software: ET uses Veritas Backup solutions.
• Virus Detection: Servers are fully protected with virus detection software. Signatures are updated daily.

Servers

Providing highly available ASP services requires processing performance, monitoring and redundancy features that go well beyond standard business class computers. ET servers deliver. Our standard platforms are data center hardened with specialized features for continuous operation

• Chassis: All servers have a rigid rack-mount chassis and are supplied by Dell.
• High Availability Features: Standard chassis include all of the following high availability features:
  • Error Checking and Correcting Memory
  • Disk Mirroring or Raid 5 Storage
• Alarm Monitoring: The standard chassis is instrumented to provide hardware monitoring of critical indicators used to proactively avoid outages. The alarm triggers are raised when conditions are deteriorating but before a failure occurs. Visual and audible alarms provide alert and draw attention for prompt proactive response.
  The following conditions are monitored:
  • Low Voltage
  • High Temperature
  • Fan Failure