Hosting FAQs
  • F.A.Q: General Technical

    General technical information about servers and common options.
    If you're just setting up your site, this is a good place start.

    1. How do I set up my own "404" error page?
    2. I'm new at this. How do I upload files for my site?
    3. I'm still learning how to do HTML code. How can I change the underconstruction page when I go to my site?
    4. What is FTP?
    5. How do I set up my included email POP accounts?
    6. How do I remove POP email accounts after I have created them?
    7. I need to configure my mail reading program so I can access my emails. What are the proper settings?
    8. How do I change my login password?
    9. What is Telnet?
    10. What are all the files and directories in my home directory?
    11. What is the correct path to perl (and other programs)?
    12. What is Linux / Unix OS?
    13. How do I run my own CGI programs?
    14. How do I use Real Audio?

    1. How do I set up my own "404" error page? - Top

    A file already exists in the www directory of your server. It's called missing.html. You can edit it to your liking, or create your own. As long as it's called missing.html and it's in your root www directory, the server will display it whenever someone tries to access a page on your domain that does not exist.

    - Updated: February 27, 2000

    2. I'm new at this. How do I upload files for my site? - Top

    Congrats!! Your new web host account has just been activated and you received our welcome message with all sorts of technical information ... now you are really confused.

    Relax ... it's not that complicated to start building your site. Now we will assume that you have the basics of HTML down, but are not quite sure on how to get those pages uploaded to your site.

    1. You will need to obtain an FTP program to make the uploads. Information on FTP programs is available from our FTP tutorial.

    2. If you have just registered a new domain name (or transfered), you will need to enter the numeric IP address that was sent in our welcome letter for the field labeled Host Name. Just enter the numbers exactly as they appear.
    NOTE: After your name has been fully registered, you would use "yourdomain.com, yourdomain.net, yourdomain.org, etc." in this field.

    3. Enter your User ID and password.

    4. Press OK.

    5. The program should log into your site. Follow your program's instructions for uploading. NOTE: Your web pages should go in the directory of "www." Your home page should be called index.html, index.htm, etc.

    We said this was "down and dirty." More detailed instructions are available in the Online Manual Section New Version, under the topic "Accessing Your Account." If you're still a bit confused ... email us and we'll walk you through it.

    - Updated: February 23, 2000

    3. I'm still learning how to do HTML code. How can I change the underconstruction page when I go to my site? - Top

    Just create a simple HTML page to welcome visitors and upload it to your /www directory. It should replace the "index" page that currently says your site is under construction. It is called index.htm

    - Updated: February 27, 2000

    4. What is FTP? - Top

    FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. Like the name implies, it’s main purpose is to make transferring files from one computer to another as fast and easy as possible. And it is very good at it’s job! Unlike Telnet, FTP is not a program. It is instead a "protocol" just like http is a protocol. Your browser program uses the http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) for viewing, reading, and translating HTML into the bright and colorful interactive web pages you see on your computer screen. In order to use FTP you will need a program such as WS-FTP for Windows, or Fetch for Macintosh users.

    Visually, you will not see either the imagery of a browser, or the blank white screen and black text of Telnet. Instead, if you are using WS_FTP, you will see two panels, each with folders (also called directories) and files displayed. One panel will contain the folders and files on your computer. The other panel will contain the folders and files on the site you are logged into. If you are using Fetch, you will see something a bit different.


    - Updated: February 27, 2000

    5. How do I set up my included email POP accounts? - Top

    1. Go to your web control panel at:
    http://yoursite/cgi-bin/plusmail

    2. Select "Add Features" (it's on the upper left side of the panel).

    3. You'll need to set the screen to Add on requested POP (it should default to this setting when the page displays)

    4. Right below it, enter the user name you would like (i.e. myname for the pop account of myname@mysite.com)

    and then the password in the box below it.

    (Ignore the directory portion)

    5. Click on setup

    Repeat this for the other accounts you would like to set up.

    To use the pop boxes you will most likely want to set up an email client program such as endora ... . You can find information about setting up email programs in our online manual

    - Updated: February 23, 2000

    6. How do I remove POP email accounts after I have created them? - Top

    You will need to contact support to have them removed from your account.

    - Updated: March 21, 2000

    7. I need to configure my mail reading program so I can access my emails. What are the proper settings? - Top

    Assume your domain is fred.com

    Smtp = fred.com
    pop = fred@fred.com
    from = anyname@fred.com
    passwd = the same used for FTP


    - Updated: February 23, 2000

    8. How do I change my login password? - Top

    Telnet to your domain.

    After you've logged on, type "passwd" to change your password. You can exit the telnet session by typing "exit".



    - Updated: February 22, 2000

    9. What is Telnet? - Top

    Telnet is a program that emulates a computer terminal, allowing you to view information on site rather than downloading it to your personal computer for viewing. This is extremely useful if you need to view large amounts of information, such as all the files and folders on a web site, or a library catalog for example. Imagine how long it would take for you to download a web page containing the entire catalog of book titles from just a city library! With Telnet, you are able to actually view the information on the library site, eliminating the download time.

    Telnet is not graphics capable, does not play sound files and is not one tiny bit entertaining. But it is the best tool to use for certain tasks. You will have a white screen with black text, much like the old DOS screen only in reverse. And, again like DOS, you will need to type in your commands. If you use Windows you will have a Telnet program already on your system. Go to Start, Programs, Run, and type the word "telnet" (no quotes) into the window.


    - Updated: February 27, 2000

    10. What are all the files and directories in my home directory? - Top


    www - This is your web directory. Place all your web files in there.

    infobots - This is where you will need to put all your infobot text files.

    anonftp - This is your anonymous ftp directory.

    .redirect - This is the configuration file for mail aliases.

    - Updated: February 22, 2000

    11. What is the correct path to perl (and other programs)? - Top

    perl5: /usr/bin/perl
    perl5.003: /usr/bin/perl5.003
    sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
    date: /bin/date
    java: /usr/bin/java
    python: /usr/bin/python

    Domain paths
    using example if your domain was fred.com

  • Main dir: /www/fred/
  • Cgi-bin: /www/fred/cgi-bin


    - Updated: February 22, 2000

    12. What is Linux / Unix OS? - Top

    An OS, or "operating system" is the program you use to operate and run your computer. By far the three most universally used and recognized by the average lay surfer are Windows in any version from 3.x to Win 98, NT, and Macintosh. Linux, and Unix are both operating systems as well. They don’t have, or support, all of the bells and whistles of the more popular operating systems, but that’s not what they are meant for. These two operating systems are for serious stuff…for fast and dynamic data transfer…for allowing one computer to talk to others quickly and smoothly. Not for personal entertainment. This is why server computers and many other types of businesses use Unix and/or Linux operating systems. They aren’t pretty, but they are smart, they are stable, and they are fast.
    - Updated: February 27, 2000

    13. How do I run my own CGI programs? - Top

    Put your CGI programs in the cgi-bin directory.

  • The cgi-bin will automatically change the permissions to chmod 755 for you

  • Its important because of the apache wrapper being run that scripts and there directories be chmod 755, chmod 777 will not work

    A special note - this does not apply to frontpage webs, follow normal cgi instructions





    - Updated: February 22, 2000

    14. How do I use Real Audio? - Top

    Real Audio is available for a small extra charge (email sales for more info)

    RealAudio is a real time audio transmission/player system. A digital audio stream is transmitted from the server over the internet to the destination and played immediately, rather than being stored to disk first and then played.

    Each audio clip requires two files: a metafile with extension .ram, and the digital audio clip itself, with extension .ra. The .ram file holds one or more lines of ASCII text, each of which references the .ra file to be played when the .ram file is accessed by the browser.

    Entries in .ram files have the form:

    pnm://your-domain.com/your-domain/name-of-clip.ra

    Place your .ram and .ra files in the realaudio subdirectory under your web directory.

    .ram files must be uploaded in ASCII mode while .ra files must be uploaded in BINARY mode.

    You may then access these files at realaudio/file.ram under your www directory.


    - Updated: February 22, 2000

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