Virtual Domain, or "Virtual Host"

The vast majority of Songbird's customers get a virtual domain (or "virtual host"). The fees for a virtual domain are partially for actual maintenance of nameservice for the domain, but mainly they support the many additional services that are technically enabled by a separate domain name. Songbird also includes a unique static IP address with each virtual host. While this is not necessary for pure web hosting, ssl and other services are facilitated by a unique IP address.

The web server is configured to support the existence of a separate directory structure, including a 'cgi' directory for scripts, a 'docs' directory where the web pages are kept, a 'logs' directory where the domain-specific web server logs are kept. In addition, if desired we include a 'data' directory for database info, an 'etc' directory for other stuff associated with the site; also one or more user home directories where the web site maintainers log in; multiple email addresses in the domain.

In theory it would be possible to break out these extra services and charge individually for them -- it might be possible to have an option for just a domain name and web site, with no extra services, for example. But such differentiation adds to the cost of administration and billing, and the rates are already low.