Frequently Asked Questions

The NearlyFreeSpeech.NET FAQ (*)

Our Service (*)

What is adjunct access?

What is the fine print on the "two cents" free trial?

What is a resource accounting unit?

How do I set up TLS (HTTPS) for my web site?

What is an alternate emergency contact?

How exactly are storage charges calculated?

Will bandwidth charges apply to my ssh usage?

What are the default directories created when I set up a new site?

What is resource billing?

How do I transfer something to another member?

How do I set up two-factor authentication for my membership?

How do I set up TLS using my own key and a third-party certificate?

If you want to secure your site with a certificate that you obtained from a third party for one or more aliases of your site (like example.com and/or www.example.com), that's very straightforward. You will typically need three things, each in PEM format:

These will typically be provided in PEM format, frequently with one file for each item. Once you have all three things, there are two very different ways to load them into our system.

First, you can set it up from our website. To do that:

  1. Go to the Site Information panel for your site.
  2. Select the "Upload TLS Files" action in the Action Box.
  3. Paste the PEM-format key, certificate, and intermediate certificates into the text box.
  4. Select the "Set TLS" button.

Alternatively, you can set it up from the command line. To do that:

  1. Make sure all three files are present on your site.
  2. Run a command similar to: cat privkey.pem cert.pem chain.pem | nfsn -i set-tls

In either case, you will see the results of processing the files you submit, and if the processing is successful, it will take effect within about 5 minutes. Applying TLS files is done on a per-alias basis, so if you have multiple aliases secured by different certificates, that is no problem and they will not overwrite each other.

It's also fine if you include extra intermediate certificates or put things in the wrong order; unlike humans, our system can read the files, and will do its best to figure it out for you and assemble (only) the proper ones in the proper order to get things working.

If you need to generate a key and CSR to get a certificate from a third-party certificate authority, you can do that from the command line:

  1. Generate a key by running a command similar to the following:
    • openssl genrsa -out /home/protected/ssl/www.example.com.key 2048
  2. Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) from your key, by running a command similar to the following:
    • openssl req -new -sha256 -key www.example.com.key -out www.example.com.csr
  3. Using your CSR, obtain a certificate for your site from the certificate authority of your choice.

The IP addresses listed for my site have changed since I last looked. Should I be concerned?

How do I cancel my membership?

To manage services for multiple entities, should I create multiple memberships or accounts?

How did my account get overdrawn?

Can I change the name of my _____?

How can people contribute funds to support my site?

If I want to start my site over, should I delete it and make another with the same name?

Why was I warned that my PayPal deposit is nonrefundable?

How come I can't ping/traceroute stuff on your network?

How do I sign up my friend for NearlyFreeSpeech.NET?

I tried to change my contact email address but I never got a confirmation email. How do I get another one sent to me?

You forwarded me a DMCA notification affecting my site. Now what?

What is maintenance mode?

How do I transfer something from one account to another on my membership?

How can multiple people manage services hosted here?

Why does my bank's website say you charged my credit card even though your site said the payment(s) failed?

What is the "Excess Non-Production Sites" charge?

I don't log in to your site all the time. How do I stay up to date on news and announcements?

How do I remove or replace my two-factor device?

How do I hand over control of hosted services to someone else?

How do I see what users I have granted adjunct access to my site?

How do I transfer funds between accounts on my membership?

How do I remove TLS?

What are the IP addresses of your name servers?

Is my website non-production, production, or critical?

What is unbilled storage?

What is account sharing?

Why can't I cancel my membership?

How do I change the contact email address I gave you when I created my membership?

How do I get a receipt for a deposit I made?

Is penetration testing of sites hosted here allowed?

How can I send funds to another member's account or site?

Since your service is prepaid, how do I know when to add funds?

Do you provide refunds for services already rendered?

What do I do if I find a typo or mistake in your documentation?

What is NearlyFreeSpeech's backup strategy for user content?

Will my site still incur charges if it is disabled?