SWCP Let's Encrypt, $ 0.00/yr. on SSL Certificates

Let's Encrypt has been added on Dec 3, 2020

🔐 Domains protected :	1
💳 Payment Methods :	Credit / Debit / Prepaid Cards
✍️ Support Options :	EmailHelp DeskPhone / Toll-Free
⚑ Targeting :	US

See also initial Let's Encrypt plan location on their website!

📜 Plan description

📄 Editorial Review

Southwest Cyberport (SWCP) is an independent Internet and hosting company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with roots going back to 1994. Operating as Southwest Cyberport, Inc., the company has more than three decades of experience with Internet connectivity, Unix and Linux systems, networking, website hosting, servers and business IT services. Mark Costlow has been closely associated with the company for many years and serves as its president.

SWCP has retained the character of a technically oriented regional Internet provider rather than turning into a mass-market hosting brand. This is noticeable in the combination of Shared Web Hosting, VPS, Private Cloud Storage, Online Backup, Email Hosting, Domain Registration, DNS, SSL Certificates, WordPress maintenance, mailing lists, FTP services, Colocation, Internet access and IT consulting. Businesses in New Mexico can therefore combine hosting, connectivity and technical support through the same company.

Shared Web Hosting runs on a Unix-based redundant web farm rather than depending on one standalone shared server. Website requests can be handled by multiple web servers, while the underlying data resides on centralized storage. Individual web servers can consequently be removed for maintenance or upgrades without bringing the complete hosting environment offline.

The Starter hosting package includes 50 MB of storage, 1 GB of monthly transfer and one mailbox. Basic increases capacity to 1 GB of storage, 10 GB of transfer and six mailboxes, while Pro provides 10 GB of storage, 50 GB of monthly transfer, 16 mailboxes and up to ten MySQL databases.

Those allocations are modest compared with modern mass-market shared hosting, particularly the 50 MB Starter package. SWCP is a better match for customers interested in technical continuity, backups and local support than for users primarily searching for very large disk quotas.

Nightly backups, offsite archives and generator-backed infrastructure are important parts of the hosting service. The storage environment also incorporates RAID, snapshots, local backups and copies held separately from the primary systems.

Application support varies by hosting package. WordPress and Coppermine are available with Basic hosting, while Pro expands the application choices to include WooCommerce, Wikimedia, Drupal and Pydio. A lightweight VLWCMS website-building environment and a form-to-email tool are available for simpler websites. Domain-based email aliases can also be administered through the customer management system.

VPS Hosting provides four predefined resource levels. The Small VPS includes 1 GB RAM, 20 GB disk space and 250 GB monthly transfer. Medium provides 2 GB RAM, 40 GB disk and 500 GB transfer. Large increases capacity to 4 GB RAM, 80 GB disk and 1 TB transfer, while Extreme provides 8 GB RAM, 160 GB storage and 2 TB monthly transfer.

The VPS range is not positioned as ultra-low-cost commodity cloud computing. Resource prices are considerably higher than the cheapest unmanaged VPS providers, but SWCP combines the service with local infrastructure expertise and optional administration. Customers that add system administration receive operating-system maintenance, daily off-server and offsite backups and 24/7 server and service monitoring.

Private Cloud Storage is based on Nextcloud and gives businesses a privately hosted alternative to large public file-storage platforms. Each environment operates from an SWCP-hosted VPS in Albuquerque rather than simply giving the customer space inside a generic shared storage account.

The Stratus configuration includes 2 CPUs, 2 GB RAM and 20 GB storage. Altostratus increases this to 2 CPUs, 4 GB RAM and 80 GB storage, while Nimbostratus provides 4 CPUs, 8 GB RAM and 320 GB storage. SWCP handles the server-side environment while customers retain control over their own files and users.

Nextcloud supports file synchronization and sharing, access permissions, photo sharing, calendars, contact synchronization and collaborative storage. Daily backups are included, with additional copies retained offsite. This makes the service particularly useful for smaller organizations that want a managed private cloud without having to administer the underlying Linux server themselves.

Online Backup operates through the SWCP BUS service and supports desktop computers as well as servers. Backup jobs can run automatically, with email notifications reporting successful or failed operations. Data is compressed and encrypted before transmission.

Windows desktop systems, Windows Server, macOS and Linux are supported. Server-oriented backup can also protect applications and databases including Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and Lotus Notes/Domino.

Backup storage can be replicated between two geographically separated secure facilities. Customers retain control of their encryption keys, while files can normally be restored online without a standard restoration charge. Physical seed-loading and recovery options are also available when transferring very large data sets over an Internet connection would be impractical.

Email Hosting includes standard mailboxes, authenticated SMTP and webmail together with spam and virus filtering, forwarding, automatic replies and configurable whitelist and blacklist rules. Additional mailboxes can be purchased separately, and hosting customers can maintain unlimited domain-specific aliases.

Webmail choices include Roundcube, Horde and Twig. Mailing-list hosting is available through Mailman, giving SWCP a broader email feature set than a basic mailbox-only service.

Domain Registration is handled through OpenSRS, part of Tucows. Numerous generic and country-code extensions are supported, together with DNS management and domain transfers. Multi-year registration is available, and WHOIS privacy can be added for extensions where registry rules permit it.

SSL Certificates range from free Let's Encrypt certificates for websites hosted at SWCP to commercial certificates intended for business, validation and wildcard requirements. A small initial setup charge can apply to Let's Encrypt installation, while commercial SSL certificates have annual fees according to certificate type.

The WordPress Monitoring and Update Service adds managed maintenance for WordPress websites hosted at SWCP. WordPress core, plugins and themes are checked regularly, and backups are made before updates are installed. If an update causes problems, the website can be rolled back.

Security monitoring also covers suspicious administrative accounts, unexpected PHP file modifications and known vulnerabilities. Compromised WordPress installations covered by the service can be cleaned, restored and patched without a separate recovery charge. This is particularly useful for small businesses that rely on WordPress but do not have an administrator maintaining it every day.

Server Colocation is available in Albuquerque for customers that prefer to own their physical servers while relying on SWCP for rack space, electricity, cooling, network connectivity and monitoring. Remote assistance and system administration can also be arranged, including server reboots, software work and Unix/Linux administration.

The company operates primarily in English, with services priced in US dollars (USD). SWCP retains a distinctly technical and traditional Internet-service-provider character. Some services and interfaces are more conservative than those of newer hyperscale cloud companies, but the combination of local infrastructure, experienced Unix/Linux personnel, backup services and direct human support remains valuable for customers that prefer a long-established independent provider.