Host Excellence Hosting Manual June 26th, 2007
Table of Contents 1. Accessing the Control Panel... 6 1.1 How to access... 6 1.2 Billing system... 6 2. Control Panel Basics... 7 2.1 Your temporary index page... 7 2.2 Uploading your site... 7 2.3 Contents of your web space... 7 3. Domains... 10 3.1 Adding domains... 10 3.1.1 Registering new domains... 10 3.1.2 Adding domains to your control panel... 10 3.1.3 How to turn on/off web and mail services... 11 3.1.4 Configuring domains... 11 3.2 Removing domains... 11 3.3 Creating sub domains... 12 3.4 Domain aliasing... 13 3.4.1 Creating a domain alias... 13 3.5 Shared vs. Dedicated IP addresses... 14 4. DNS... 15 4.1 What is DNS?... 15 4.2 How to change domain name servers?... 15 4.2.1 Registered with Host Excellence... 15 4.2.2 Other registrar... 16 4.2.2.1 To locate your domain name servers:... 16 4.2.2.2 To change the domain name servers:... 16 4.3 How do I create custom DNS records?... 16 4.3.1 Removing the default DNS records... 17 4.3.2 Adding custom A records... 17 4.3.2 Adding custom MX records... 18 4.3.3 Adding custom CNAME records... 18 5. Creating, promoting and managing your site... 20 5.1 SiteStudio site builder... 20 5.2 Search engine submit... 20 5.3 WebShell file manager... 21 5.3.1 What is WebShell?... 21 5.3.2 How to use... 21 5.3.3 How to backup your site... 21 5.4 Webalizer, Modlogan and Awstats... 21 5.4.1 Webalizer and Modlogan... 21 5.4.2 Awstats and others... 23 5.5 Reverse trace route... 23 6. FTP... 24 6.1 What it FTP?... 24 6.2 Changing your FTP password... 24 6.3 Connecting to a FTP client... 24 6.4 How to navigate files... 25 6.5 How to transfer files... 25 2
6.6 FTP sub-accounts (Linux)... 25 6.6.1 What is it?... 25 6.6.2 Setting up an FTP sub-account... 25 6.7 Virtual FTP... 26 6.7.1 Enabling Virtual FTP... 26 6.7.2 Add a FTP user... 26 6.8 Anonymous FTP... 27 6.8.1 Configure anonymous FTP:... 28 6.9 Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities... 28 7. Adding features to your website... 29 7.1 Site settings... 29 7.1.1 Redirect URL... 29 7.1.2 Directory index... 29 7.1.3 Directory indexes... 30 7.1.4 Error pages... 31 7.1.5 Htprotect / Htaccess... 31 7.1.6 Server side imagemap... 33 7.1.7 Paths... 33 7.1.8 Ports... 34 7.1.9 MIME types... 35 7.1.10 Error logs... 35 7.2 Adding support for dynamic web content... 35 7.2.1 CGI scripts... 35 7.2.2 PHP scripts... 36 7.2.3 ASP... 36 7.2.4 ASP.NET... 36 7.2.5 ColdFusion... 36 7.2.6 Server Side Includes... 37 7.3 One click install scripts (Linux)... 37 7.3.1 Counter... 37 7.3.2 Guestbook... 37 7.3.3 Formmail... 37 7.3.4 Chat... 38 7.3.5 PhpBB (Linux and Windows)... 38 7.3.6 mnogosearch... 38 7.3.7 Fixing problem scripts... 39 7.3.8 Adding custom CGI scripts (Linux and Windows)... 39 7.4 FrontPage extensions... 40 7.4.1 Installation... 40 7.4.2 Configuration... 40 7.4.3 Fixing problems... 40 7.4.4 How to resolve common errors... 40 7.4.4.1 No extensions found on server or unable to connect to server... 40 7.4.4.2 We80.cnf... 41 7.4.4.3 Forms... 41 8. Managing traffic... 42 8.1 How do I change the traffic limit?... 42 8.2 Throttle policies... 42 9. E-mail... 44 9.1 Mailboxes... 44 9.1.1 Creating a Mailbox... 44 9.1.2 Configuring a mailbox... 44 3
9.1.3 Changing mailbox password... 45 9.1.4.1 Change password from the control panel... 45 9.1.4.2 Change password from the login page... 45 9.2 Configuring email clients... 46 9.2.1 Configuring Thunderbird... 46 9.2.2 Configuring Outlook Express... 46 9.2.3 Configuring Outlook 2003... 46 9.3 Forwards... 47 9.3.1 Creating a Forward... 47 9.3.2 Configuring a Forward... 48 9.3.3 Forwarding to multiple addresses... 48 9.4 Mailing lists... 48 9.4.1 Adding a mailing list... 48 9.4.2 Configuring a mailing list... 49 9.4.3 Adding subscribers to your mail list... 49 9.4.5 Adding moderators to your mail list... 49 9.4.6 Removing moderators from your mail list... 49 9.4.7 Securing your list... 50 9.4.8 Requesting white listing... 53 9.5 Mailbox alias... 54 9.5.1 Adding/Removing a mailbox alias... 54 9.6 Mail auto responders... 54 9.6.1 Adding an auto responder... 54 9.6.2 Editing an auto responder message... 55 9.6.3 Removing an auto responders... 55 9.7 Webmail... 56 9.7.1 How to use... 56 9.7.1.1 Login from the control panel... 56 9.7.1.2 Login from the login page... 56 9.7.1.3 Login directly to webmail... 56 9.7.2 Other webmail clients... 56 9.8 Troubleshooting... 56 9.8.1 Port 25 Block... 56 9.8.2 POP before SMTP... 57 9.8.3 Postmaster block... 57 9.8.3.1 What is it?... 57 9.8.3.1 How to get unblocked... 57 9.9 SPAM... 57 9.9.1 What is Spam?... 57 9.9.2 How we fight it... 58 9.9.3 How to reduce... 58 9.9.3.1 SpamAssassin filters in Outlook Express... 58 9.9.3.2 Thunderbird Spam Assassin Filters... 59 10. Databases... 60 10.1 MySQL... 60 10.1.1 Hosting MySQL databases... 60 10.1.2 Creating MySQL databases... 60 10.1.3 Changing MySQL disk quota... 60 10.1.4 Adding/Removing MySQL users... 61 10.1.5 Changing user passwords... 61 10.1.6 Changing user permissions... 61 10.2 phpmyadmin... 61 4
10.2.1 Editing MySQL databases... 61 10.2.2 Creating backups... 62 10.2.3 Restoring backups... 62 10.3 PostgreSQL... 62 10.3.1 Hosting PostgreSQL databases... 62 10.3.2 Creating PostgreSQL database... 62 10.3.3 Changing PgSQL disk quota... 63 10.3.4 Adding/Removing PostgreSQL users... 63 10.3.4.1 Adding PostgreSQL users... 63 10.3.4.2 Removing users... 63 10.3.5 Changing passwords... 63 10.4 PgSQL... 63 10.4.1 Editing PgSQL databases... 63 10.5 MSSQL (Windows plans only)... 63 10.5.1 Hosting Microsoft SQL databases... 64 10.5.2 Creating MSSQL databases... 64 10.5.3 Adding MSSQL database users... 64 10.5.4 Changing MSSQL disk quota... 64 10.6 ODBC... 64 10.6.1 What is ODBC?... 64 10.6.2 Creating a new DSN record... 64 10.6.3 Editing DSN records... 65 10.6.4 Deleting DSN records... 65 11. SSL... 67 11.1 What is SSL?... 67 11.1.1 Providers... 67 11.1.2 Shared vs. Dedicated SSL... 67 11.2 Installing an SSL certificate... 67 11.2.1 Using our shared SSL certificate... 68 11.2.2 Creating a temporary certificate... 68 11.2.3 Acquiring a permanent certificate... 71 12. Creating an online store... 76 12.1 Preinstalled oscommerce... 76 12.1.1 Setting up oscommerce... 76 12.1.2 oscommerce controls... 76 12.1.3 More information... 77 12.2 Shopping cart options... 77 12.2.1 Setting up other shopping carts... 77 12.2.2 How to setup... 77 13. Getting technical support... 78 13.1 Ticket center... 78 13.2 Live chat... 78 13.3 Phone support... 78 5
1. Accessing the Control Panel 1.1 How to access This manual will focus on management of your hosting account and features. You can log in to the control panel system at the following URL: http://manage.hostexcellence.com/ Once you login, the control panel can be accessed from the manage button by your hosting account. 1.2 Billing system All other features of the Billing and Administration System are further explained in our billing manual which is available at the following URL: http://www.hostexcellence.com/templates/he/docs/he_billing_manual.pdf 6
2. Control Panel Basics 2.1 Your temporary index page As soon as a domain is added to your account, a directory for your site is created on the server. This directory contains a temporary index page which is accessible from the internet. This page is just a default place holder that will be removed or replaced by your website once published or uploaded. 2.2 Uploading your site The contents of your website will be placed into a folder that is named the same as your site's domain name. The files and folders that compose your site must be transferred to the server. Many of the popular site design programs have built in publishing features that will simplify the upload process. Whenever possible, upload your site using these included features. For instance, if you made your site with SiteStudio, FrontPage or Dream weaver, use their integrated web publishing tools to upload your site. If you made your site with a text editor, or an application that does not include a publish feature you will need to use a freestanding FTP client, such as Filezilla, SmartFTP, or the built in file manager WebShell. NOTE: Site publishing tools do not remove your old web content from the server. For instance, if you used SiteStudio to upload a site with 15 pages and later you published an updated 7 page version of this site, the directory will have all the new pages and the old pages that have not been overwritten. If you publish many versions of a website, the site may become cluttered with old files, which can cause problems. WARNING: If you have a complete website, be careful not to overwrite it with a publish command. It is also highly recommended to make backups of your website and content often. 2.3 Contents of your web space Your root directory contains several default directories. Their names will differ depending on your plan, yet some of them are common for all plans. 7
Here are some of the directories that are automatically created: The logs directory It contains directories for each site with transfer logs enabled. Each such directory contains its own set of log files that are required to write and read the data about all visits to your sites. Deleting the Logs directory will cause the loss of the web statistics accumulated over the course of your site s operation. The virtual FTP directory This directory is created when you enable Virtual FTP Server and can be accessed by virtual FTP users to list and download its content. Deleting Virtual FTP directories will cause incorrect operation of Virtual FTP. However, you may harmlessly delete individual files in these directories. The ssl.conf directory This directory stores SSL pairs for all encrypted sites. Deleting the ssl.conf directory will result in incorrect SSL operation. The domain directory Each of your domains and subdomains are located in their own directories. They are named the same as your site's domain name. If you have more than one site, you will have several such directories. These are the directories where you will upload your.html files or any other files that you want to make accessible from the Internet. WARNING: Deleting any domain directory will delete your site and all content. Use extreme caution. The Webalizer or Modlogan directories Each of these directories is created by default or when the stat programs Webalizer and Modlogan are enabled from your control panel. Deleting these directories will disable your statistic programs and remove any accumulated site statistics. The cp directory This folder contains many of the help and example files used as you navigate our control panel. These files are not essential and can be deleted. The cgi-bin directory This is the default location that you place any CGI or Perl applications. You can modify which files and folders can be used. The images directory 8
The images folder is the location where the default index page images are placed. Deleting any of the files/folders in your web space can affect the performance of your website. 9
3. Domains 3.1 Adding domains 3.1.1 Registering new domains From the account control panel you can register a new domain anytime. Click the Add a Domain Name link to start the ordering process. 3.1.2 Adding domains to your control panel Once you register your domain you must add it to your hosting control panel. NOTE: When you first add your domain it will retrieve a new IP address and reset all web content, this will result in up to 72 hours of downtime during propagation. - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Click the Add new domain link to add a new domain to the list. 10
3.1.3 How to turn on/off web and mail services You can turn web and mail services on or off from your account control panel. WARNING: Please ensure you have a backup of all your web content before continuing. Turning off web service will remove your web content and release the assigned IP address. When turned on your site will retrieve a new IP address and reset all web content, this will result in up to 72 hours of downtime during propagation. To turn on/off web or mail services: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the list and click on the domain name. - You can click the on/off button beside web or mail service to enable/disable it. - Clicking the edit buttons for either service will let you configure the options for that specific service and domain. 3.1.4 Configuring domains To configure DNS, web, or mail services: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the list and click on the domain name. - You can click the edit button for either service to configure the options for that specific domain. 3.2 Removing domains You may for many reasons want to remove a domain from your account. WARNING: Please ensure you have a backup of all your web content before continuing. Removing a domain will remove all associated web content and release the assigned IP address. To remove a domain: - From the control panel click the domain icon. 11
- Click the trash can icon to the right of the domain name to remove that specific domain. 3.3 Creating sub domains A subdomain is a lower level domain. It is added on the left of the domain name, i.e. subdomain.example.com. You can create as many subdomains as allowed by your plan. Domains and subdomains have equal functional capabilities, including web site management, mail services, FTP, dedicated IPs, etc., share a DNS zone. To create a subdomain, go through the following steps: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - Click the add icon beside sub domains. 12
- Enter a new subdomain name and click create subdomain - This will result in the creation of the subdomain test.hetestdomain.com 3.4 Domain aliasing Domain aliasing, or domain stacking, is creating additional domain names that would point to the IP of a different domain. For example, if your domain name is example.com, you can register another domain name, for instance example.net and have it point to the location of example.com. This means, every Internet user who goes to example.net will land in example.com. A domain alias can have: - its own DNS zone - custom DNS records - separate mail service 3.4.1 Creating a domain alias - Register the alias, exactly as you register domain names. - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - Click the Add icon in the Domain Aliases field at the bottom of the page. - Enter the domain alias. This must be a fully qualified domain name, e.g. example.com: - Leave the create DNS zone box unchecked if the domain alias is registered on a different DNS server. The domain alias will not be maintained and mail service will be inaccessible for this domain alias. 13
- Check the create DNS zone if you want a DNS record for this domain alias to be created on this hosting server. You ll be able to create and edit custom DNS records for the domain alias and mail service. - You can set the alias domain up with its own mail service or it can be an alias to an existing email account. - Selecting new mail domain alias will set the new domain as a mail domain alias to the existing domain. 3.5 Shared vs. Dedicated IP addresses This is also called virtual hosting (shared IP) and dedicated IP hosting. Shared IP address: One IP address is assigned to several domains. There are a few limitations to this that revolve around the fact that you can only access the domain by its domain name, not the IP address. Dedicated IP address: One IP address is assigned to one domain. To access a domain you can use either the IP address or domain name. NOTE: Switching from a shared to dedicated IP address will delete your virtual FTP and SSL services. You can only switch from a shared to dedicated IP address if you have not exceeded your dedicated IP limit. To change the type of IP, do the following: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - Click the change to dedicated IP link in the IP address field. - If prompted, confirm the change by clicking "yes, I agree with the above". NOTE: After you switch from a dedicated to shared IP address, it will take up to 72 hours for propagation before the domain becomes available at the new IP address. 14
4. DNS 4.1 What is DNS? Domain Name System This is an Internet system that relates domain names into IP addresses. DNS can be considered something similar to a phone book. When you move from one location to another, your name stays the same, but your phone number may change. In order to point your name to the new phone number, you must contact the telephone service provider so they assign you the new phone number and update all directory information to reflect you as pointing to this new phone number. In this way, the IP address can be compared to a phone number: When someone calls http://www.example.com/, your ISP looks at the DNS server, and asks "how do I contact example.com?" The DNS server responds: "It can be found at 198.105.232.4". As the Internet understands it, this can be considered the phone number for the server, which houses the http://www.example.com web site. The DNS records for your domain are kept on a name server in a place called a DNS zone. When you register a domain by means of the control panel, all DNS records are automatically created for you, but in some cases you may need to setup custom records to your DNS zone. An example would be when you want all email to be processed by an external mail server rather than by the built-in mail system. However, such user intervention requires knowledge of DNS configuration and clear understanding of what is to be done. 4.2 How to change domain name servers? 4.2.1 Registered with Host Excellence If your domain is registered with us, there will be domain management options on the main page of the account control panel. From this location you can manage all aspects of your domains registration. You can also change your domain name servers. To change the domain name servers: - Click the domain registration manage button from the account control panel main page as displayed in the picture above. - Click the + sign beside Modify DNS Servers. The box will expand and you will have the option to change the default name servers. 15
For more information regarding the management of your domain registration through Host Excellence, please refer to the Domain section of the Billing Manual. 4.2.2 Other registrar You can usually change your domain name servers at the registrars website or by contacting the registrar. Your name servers with us are sent in the initial hosting account email and can also be found in the hosting account control panel. 4.2.2.1 To locate your domain name servers: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - The primary and secondary name servers are listed on this page similar to what you see below. 4.2.2.2 To change the domain name servers: - Log in to your domain registrars website - Look for the domain or hosting settings area. - There may be an option such as change DNS or update name servers - You should see 2 or more boxes to place name server information. You will place the information you found when you located your domain name servers into these blanks. - It can take up from 24 to 72 hours for propagation before the site is accessible. 4.3 How do I create custom DNS records? Custom DNS records are required to manage any outside server through our name servers. This can be useful in many instances, such as when setting up an outside mail server or to map a domain to a different server. 16
4.3.1 Removing the default DNS records Removing the default DNS A or MX records will make your site inaccessible. For this reason the only way to remove the default dns records is to turn web or mail service off. This will remove all hosting content and release your ip address. 4.3.2 Adding custom A records An A record gives you the IP address of a domain. This allows users that visit www.example.com to go to the right IP address. It can also be used to map a domain to a different server or a sub domain to the correct IP address. To add a new DNS A record, do the following: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - Click the edit button to the right of DNS configuration. - Click the add DNS A record link. 17
Name: Enter the prefix to map. This will be accessible at the prefix.domain.com. TTL: Set how many seconds will elapse before the record is refreshed in the DNS cache (a time to live period of 86400 is recommended). Data: Enter the IP of the web server. 4.3.3 Adding custom MX records Custom MX records should be added when you want to use your external mail servers to process your e-mail. To use your external servers instead of those you get by default, you need to disable mail service on the Domain Settings page. To use the external mail servers in addition to those you get by default, you need to keep mail service enabled in the control panel. The priority of the custom MX record will define whether your external servers will act as primary or secondary. For instance, if you set the priority of the custom MX record higher than 10, your external mail server will be used as secondary. If you set the priority of the custom MX record lower than 10, your external mail server will be used as primary. In the first case, your mail will be sent to your external mail server until it goes down or becomes otherwise inaccessible. Then the default mail server will take over. To add a new DNS MX record, do the following: - From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - Click the edit button to the right of DNS configuration. - Click the add DNS MX record link. Name: Your local domain name. If you leave the name field blank, all mail will be redirected for the base zone. Data: The priority the record and mail domain name (not the IP) mail will be forwarded to. IMPORTANT: To add an MX record for the base domain, leave the name field empty. 4.3.4 Adding custom CNAME records CNAME records are used to map aliases with domain names. To add a new DNS CNAME record, do the following: 18
- From the control panel click the domain icon. - Select the domain from the domain list if you have more than one. - Click the edit button to the right of DNS configuration. - Click the add DNS CNAME record link. Name: The alias you give to the real host name. TTL: Set how many seconds will elapse before the record is refreshed in the DNS cache. Data: The real name of the host you create an alias to. This must be an official host name. It can t be an alias. A CNAME-record should always point to an A-record to avoid circular references. 19
5. Creating, promoting and managing your site 5.1 SiteStudio site builder Before you pay a fortune to a web design studio or waste hours making a nice looking web site in FrontPage, consider our online site builder that will create you a professional website in a matter of minutes and automatically post it to your directory on the server. To start SiteStudio: - Click the SiteStudio icon in the control panel. - Click the launch icon for the desired domain. - Then follow the on-screen instructions. 5.2 Search engine submit So your site is up and running? Help others find it among the millions of websites on the Internet! Our search engine submission tool is a quick and easy way to make the search engines aware of your site. To start the Search Engine Submit utility: - From the control panel click the submit URL icon. - Select the domain to submit. - On the page that appears, check the engines to register the site with and fill in the requested fields. Contact Email: Most search engines require a contact e-mail address. Key Words: Some search engines provide the possibility for entering additional keywords your site can be searched by. Description: This text will show to Internet users as a description of your site in the list of search results. Time-out: This is the time you allow for registering one site with all search engines. If this period is too short, the site will get registered with only a few search engines. - Click the submit button. Be patient while the server processes your request. WARNING: Avoid submitting to a large number of web sites at a time or the browser will time out before the program has finished. NOTE: This tool will send a request for the search engines to index your website in their search engine pool. This is a supplemental tool, and is only as reliable as the search engine you are submitting to. We can not guarantee that they will honor this request. It can take more than a month for your site to be indexed, if it will be at all. It is generally considered more effective to go to the individual search engine sites and request directly to the search engines. There are many governing factors that determine search engine placement, and submission alone is normally not enough in the current competitive market to attain top level placement in major search engines. Tactics such as the use of keywords, active 20
promotion and links to your site from other sites should always be employed for optimal results. 5.3 WebShell file manager 5.3.1 What is WebShell? WebShell allows you to copy, move, delete, and rename files and directories in your home directory on the server. You can also use it to upload, download, compress and decompress files as well as preview them in the browser. To launch WebShell: - From the control panel click the WebShell3 icon. 5.3.2 How to use The WebShell application is very useful for navigating, accessing and modifying your site files and folders. It is similar in function to any FTP application. Once open you will see a list of files. The folder named the same as your domain name is the public files that compose your site. You can select multiple files or folders to perform various tasks to. 5.3.3 How to backup your site To backup your site files: - Check the box next to the files and folders to be archived and downloaded. - Click the archive button in the top level menu. An archive form shows to the right with a name of the zipped file. - Click the create button to proceed. - You can then click the file icon beside the created archive file to download it. 5.4 Webalizer, Modlogan and Awstats 5.4.1 Webalizer and Modlogan Webalizer and Modlogan are popular web statistic programs that track the actions of users to your site. To access Webalizer or Modlogan, do the following: - Click the stats icon from the control panel. - Click the off icon for the stat program and domain you wish to have stats for. - If the stat program is already turned on, click the magnifying glass to be redirected to your web statistics page. NOTE: The Webalizer and Modlogan directories are located at http://domain.com/webalizer or http://domain.com/modlogan which is web accessible. If you wish to make you statistics private, you can setup password protection on the directory through Htprotect or Htaccess. (Linux only) Once they are enabled it will take between 24-48 hours for your web statistics to start working. Webalizer stat labels Hits Any request made to the server which is logged, is considered a 'hit'. 21
The requests can be for anything; html pages, graphic images, audio files, CGI scripts, etc. Each valid line in the server log is counted as a hit. This number represents the total number of requests that were made to the server during the specified report period. Files Some requests made to the server, require that the server then send something back to the requesting client, such as an html page or graphic image. When this happens, it is considered a 'file' and the files total is incremented. The relationship between 'hits' and 'files' can be thought of as incoming requests and outgoing responses. Pages Pages are, well, pages! Generally, any HTML document, or anything that generates an HTML document, would be considered a page. This does not include the other stuff that goes into a document, such as graphic images, audio clips, etc... This number represents the number of 'pages' requested only, and does not include the other 'stuff' that is in the page. What actually constitutes a 'page' can vary from server to server. The default action is to treat anything with the extension '.htm', '.html' or '.cgi' as a page. A lot of sites will probably define other extensions, such as '.phtml', '.php3' and '.pl' as pages as well. Some people consider this number as the number of 'pure' hits... I'm not sure if I totally agree with that viewpoint. Some other programs (and people :) refer to this as 'Pageviews'. Sites Each request made to the server comes from a unique 'site', which can be referenced by a name or ultimately, an IP address. The 'sites' number shows how many unique IP addresses made requests to the server during the reporting time period. This DOES NOT mean the number of unique individual users (real people) that visited, which is impossible to determine using just logs and the HTTP protocol (however, this number might be about as close as you will get). Visits Whenever a request is made to the server from a given IP address (site), the amount of time since a previous request by the address is calculated (if any). If the time difference is greater than a pre configured 'visit timeout' value (or has never made a request before), it is considered a 'new visit', and this total is incremented (both for the site and the IP address). The default timeout value is 30 minutes (can be changed), so if a user visits your site at 1:00 in the afternoon, and then returns at 3:00, two visits would be registered. NOTE: In the 'Top Sites' table, the visits total should be discounted on 'Grouped' records, and thought of as the "Minimum number of visits" that came from that grouping instead. Note: Visits only occur on PageType requests, that is, for any request whose URL is one of the 'page' types defined with the PageType option. Due to the limitation of the HTTP protocol, log rotations and other factors, this number should not be taken as absolutely accurate; rather, it should be considered a pretty close "guess". KBytes The KBytes (kilobytes) value shows the amount of data that was sent out by the server during the specified reporting period. This value is generated directly from the log file, so it is up to the web server to produce accurate numbers in the logs (some web servers do stupid things when it comes to reporting the number of bytes). In general, this should be a fairly accurate representation of the amount of outgoing traffic the server had, regardless of the web servers reporting quirks. 22
NOTE: A kilobyte is 1024 bytes, not 1000 :) Top Entry and Exit Pages The Top Entry and Exit tables give a rough estimate of what URL's are used to enter your site, and what the last pages viewed are. Because of limitations in the HTTP protocol, log rotations, etc, this number should be considered a good "rough guess" of the actual numbers, however will give a good indication of the overall trend in where users come into, and exit, your site. 5.4.2 Awstats and others Many customers are not satisfied with the limited reporting capability of Webalizer and Modlogan and look for something more. There are many other programs out there that will report much deeper in certain areas. Most of these programs can be installed in your web space and configured to work with our service. Many use Awstats with great success to provide the advanced statistics they require. 5.5 Reverse trace route This network troubleshooting tool allows you to ping any Internet host from your hosting server. In other words, you can use this tool to determine if a host is reachable and how long it takes for the signal to go all the way through. To launch the reverse trace route tool, do the following: - On your control panel page, click the reverse trace route icon. - In the form that appears, enter the host name or the IP address of the server you would like to ping. - Select the timeout period. If you see the connection is slow, select a bigger period. - Click trace and wait for the result. - The next page will show all the hosts that were passed to reach the target server. 23
6. FTP 6.1 What it FTP? FTP or file transfer protocol is a common way to transfer files to and from servers. It is also a common way to share accessed to files with others. Many web publishing applications use FTP to connect and upload to the web server. Most FTP clients are compatible with our service, including the following Filezilla, SmartFTP, CuteFTP, Fetch, Cyberduck, Dream weaver, Publisher and FrontPage. Address: This is the domain name or IP address of the FTP server. Port: 21 is the most commonly used port for FTP connections. Username: A username is a required unless you are using anonymous FTP. Password: A password is also required unless you are using anonymous FTP. 6.2 Changing your FTP password To change the FTP password: - Go to your control panel. - Click the FTP manager icon. - Click the icon beside password to change the current password. 6.3 Connecting to a FTP client Using a FTP client can be very simple to use, if you have the basics. This guide will focus on using Filezilla to transfer files. This information applies to most of the popular FTP software. To connect to your FTP server: - After starting up your ftp client you should be given an area to enter your logon information. Address: This is the domain name or IP address of the FTP server. Port: 21 is the most commonly used port for FTP connections. Username: A username is a required unless you are using anonymous FTP. Password: A password is also required unless you are using anonymous FTP. - Once you enter your information you can click connect to initiate the connection process. 24
- If the connection was successful you will have a list of the files and folders located in your website root directory. 6.4 How to navigate files Navigating in Filezilla: - Navigating the files and folders in Filezilla is very similar to using the file manager on your home computer. - To change the current folder either on your machine or on the server, just select a tree item in the appropriate tree. 6.5 How to transfer files Transferring Files into Filezilla: - You will see two views the local and the remote view. - Navigate the remote view to the location you would like to place the files you upload. - Navigate the local view to the location of the files you wish to upload. - You can upload or download a file by double-clicking on it. It will be added to the transfer queue and the transfer will start automatically. - Alternatively you can also drag the files from one side and drop them on the other side. 6.6 FTP sub-accounts (Linux) 6.6.1 What is it? The simplest way to authorize your friends or colleagues to work with particular directories of your account is to create FTP sub-accounts. An FTP sub-account is a combination of a username and a password, which gives full FTP permissions to a single directory, without giving access to the root directory, other directories or the control panel. No dedicated IP is required for FTP sub-accounts. 6.6.2 Setting up an FTP sub-account To create a new FTP sub-account: - Click the FTP Manager icon from your control panel. - At the bottom of the page that shows, find FTP subaccounts and click the Add icon. 25
- On the next page, enter the FTP login and password that will be used by this other user, and the directory this user will be restricted to. The directory must be relative to your home directory. If you leave the directory field empty, FTP subusers will have access to your whole home directory. - Once complete you can click the edit icon beside an existing username to see the details of that user. Transfer FTP: This shows the amount of traffic used by an individual ftp sub-account user. Home Directory: /hsphere/local/home/(ftpusername)/(folder name) Host Name: The host name is the direct web server address, which can be used in place of the domain name to log on. 6.7 Virtual FTP Virtual FTP provides more possibilities than a FTP sub-account. You can give your Virtual FTP users access to more than one directory and specify a different set of permissions for each directory. Virtual FTP users log right into your root, but can enter only those directories you allow them to enter. 6.7.1 Enabling Virtual FTP - On your control panel page, click the domains icon. - If you have several domains, choose the one you wish to enable virtual FTP for. - On the page that appears, make sure you have a dedicated IP. - Go back to your control panel page and click the FTP service icon. Enable FTP for this domain: - On the next page, add a server name for the new virtual host. This name will appear in the welcome message when guest users connect to your server with FTP clients. Also, enter the e-mail address by which FTP users can reach you with questions or comments. 6.7.2 Add a FTP user 26
- Click the Edit icon for FTP for this domain - Click the Add icon for Virtual FTP Users and create a new Virtual FTP User: - Click the Add icon for Virtual FTP Directories and enter the name for the new Virtual FTP Directory: - End it with a slash, e.g.: Dir1/. The location must be specified relative to root. To create a virtual FTP directory inside a different directory, include the path, for example Dir1/UserDirs/. - On the same page, specify permissions to this directory: Read: check to allow file downloads from this directory. Write: check to allow file uploads to this directory. List: check to allow viewing / browsing the contents of the directory. It is usually used jointly with Read. Grant Permissions to all users: check to grant these permissions to all your Virtual FTP users. If you leave this property unchecked, you will have to define permissions on this directory individually for each Virtual FTP User. - Click the Edit icon next to the directory you have just created. If you haven't granted the same permissions to all your Virtual FTP Users, you can specify permissions for each of them individually. - If you have chosen to grant the same permissions to all users, you can skip this step. 6.8 Anonymous FTP This feature allows you to give public FTP access to a dedicated directory in your account. A special directory is created in your root, and its content can be viewed and 27
downloaded, but not uploaded. Anonymous FTP becomes available only after you create a Virtual FTP server. 6.8.1 Configure anonymous FTP: Skip this step if you are already using a dedicated IP. - On your control panel page click the domains icon - If you have several domains, choose the one you wish to enable virtual FTP for. - On the page that appears, switch to dedicated IP. Skip this step if you have already enabled Virtual FTP. - Go back to your control panel page and click the FTP Service icon. - Enable FTP for this domain: - On your control panel page, click FTP Service, then enable Anonymous FTP for the domain you want: - You can also enable Anonymous FTP on the FTP virtual server page. 6.9 Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities If you want to allow anonymous FTP users to upload files, enable Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities by doing the following: - Enable Anonymous FTP - At the bottom of the FTP virtual server page you will find a new option to enable anonymous FTP upload facilities: NOTE: This will create a dedicated directory inside the Anonymous FTP directory. The Uploads (Windows based plans) / Incoming (Linux based plans) directory will have only 'upload' permissions, so you can not downloaded or viewing the content. 28
7. Adding features to your website 7.1 Site settings The site settings allow you to control many features of your website. 7.1.1 Redirect URL This allows you to redirect your domain to a different domain or IP address. With this feature you can redirect visitors from one URL to another. When a visitor tries to connect it will redirect them to the address specified here. Example: If you were to put http://www.demo.com/products in the Redirect from: field and http://www.demo.com/new_products.html in the to field, it will redirect visitors of http://www.demo.com/products to the http://www.demo.com/new_products.html page. NOTE: URL path must be an absolute path, not a relative path. It is not possible to use this method to redirect to a sub pages within the same domain, only to a different domain or IP address. 7.1.2 Directory index This allows you to set your own index pages instead of the one we have set as default. In other words, you can tell your visitors' browsers which page to load when they type your base domain name (http://domainname.com/). Default index pages index.html index.php default.html Example: If a visitor goes to your site http://www.example.com, the first page to open will be http://www.example.com/index.html. However, if you set welcome.html as the directory index, the page to open will be http://www.example.com/welcome.html. You can specify multiple index pages in case different folders have index pages of different names. Make sure to enter the full list of indexes you would like to have in your configuration. To set your custom directory indexes, do the following: - On the control panel page, click Web Options. 29
- Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the Web Service page, scroll down and find the directory indexes option and turn it on. - In the box that appears, enter the names of the files that will be treated as indexes. Put file names in descending order of priority and separate them with spaces (e.g. index.html cgi.bin about.html index.php). - At the top of the Web Service page, click the Apply link for the Server configuration to change. - The changes will take effect within 15 minutes. To edit the list you have made, click the Edit icon next to the Directory Indexes. On Windows hosting these changes will happen immediately. 7.1.3 Directory indexes The index page is the first page entered on your site. If for any reason it is corrupted or missing, the system can automatically control what is displayed. Switch the radio buttons to enable or disable this option. Disabled: This causes the server to refuse to list the files and folders of a directory if an index file is not found. Enabled/Fancy: When pointed at a directory, the server looks for a file called index.html; if found, that is what is sent back. If it's pointed at a directory that doesn't have an index.html, the server will perform "fancy indexing" and return the following HTML: - Set the title and main header to "Index of dir" - The header file for this directory, if any - A list of the files in this directory. Each file name is a link to the file. The first file is "Parent Directory". Last modification date, size, and an icon indicating the types of file included. 30
NOTE: We recommend you keep this option to disabled and instead keep an updated index file that list the files stored in your site. 7.1.4 Error pages Use this utility to define what will be done if a requested page on your site is missing or fails to open for any other reason. In order to specify your own Error Documents, you need to be slightly familiar with the server returned error codes: To configure Error Pages, do the following: - On the control panel page, click Web Options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the Web Service page, scroll down to find the Error option and click the Add icon on its right. - In the form that appears, enter the error document settings: Message or URL: Enter the message the visitors will get or the URL of the page that they will be taken to if the requested page is not found. Type: Specify if the text in the previous field must be treated as a URL (Redirect) or as a text message (Message). Windows users will get a slightly different form: 7.1.5 Htprotect / Htaccess NOTE: HtProtect is only available on Linux hosting packages. HtProtect utility allows you to password protect any directory on your site so only authorized visitors can open its content with their browsers. Htprotect is a feature which is located inside of WebShell: To add password protection to a directory, do the following. - On the control panel page, click the Webshell3 icon. 31
- On the top navigation menu select the button which says protect. This will open a new window that allows you to select the directory you wish to apply the protection to. - Group files are used if you need multiple people or groups of people to have access to a resource. This is optional and usually only required by advanced users. - Once you click on this you will be given two different options which would be to close or create, also if you already have users you can edit or delete those as well. - Once you have added the needed users use the close button to go back to the previous screen. - The default supplied valid user requirement is usually the best choice for the novice user. You can also list the users who specifically have access. - You can add any external.htaccess information to the page labeled optional. 32
- The Htprotect file must be saved to take affect. - Click the save icon on the left. - An overview screen will appear on which you can see all your information, prior to clicking the save button. - Your changes should take affect immediately. 7.1.6 Server side imagemap This feature allows your server to regard files with a specific extension as map files. In other words, the server checks the file with the specified extension to define the links of an image (unlike a client-side image map, which uses the info inserted into the HTML code) and reports back to the browser where to go. To add an imagemap file extension, do the following: - On the control panel page, click Web Options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the Web Service page, scroll down to find the Server Side imagemap option and click the add icon on its right. Enter the file extension beginning with a dot: 7.1.7 Paths Linux Perl /usr/bin/perl ImageMagick /usr/x11r6/bin/ (/usr/x11r6/bin/mogrify) Convert is at /usr/x11r6/bin/convert 33
Identity is at /usr/x11r6/bin/identify PHP /usr/local/bin/php Sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail Date /bin/date Python /usr/bin/python Python2 /usr/bin/python2 CURL /usr/bin/curl Ffmpeg /usr/bin/ffmpeg Home Directory /hsphere/local/home/<username> Replace <username> with your username Windows Perl c:\perl\perl ImageMagick c:\program Files\ImageMagick Home directory D:\home\<username> Replace <username> with your username 7.1.8 Ports A port is a special number present in the header of a data packet. Ports are typically used to map data to a particular process running on a computer. Below is a list of commonly used open ports on our network: HTTP 80 HTTPS - 443 POP3-110 SMTP - 25 IMAP - 143 mysql - 3306 PostGreSQL - 5432 MSSQL - 1433 FTP 21 34
7.1.9 MIME types This utility allows you to define file formats that are not defined in web browsers. This enables the browser to display or output files that are not in HTML format, just like it displays simple text files and.gif graphics files. To add a definition for your own file format, do the following: - On the control panel page, click web options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the web service page, scroll down to find the MIME type option and click the add icon on its right. - On the page that appears, enter the extension for the file type: Begin file extension with a dot. The MIME type must comply with MIME type specifications, e.g.: text/rtf or video/mpeg. 7.1.10 Error logs If you turn the error logs icon on it will keep a history of the errors received from scripts ran on your site. 7.2 Adding support for dynamic web content 7.2.1 CGI scripts To add CGI support, you will need to create a CGI alias or, in other words, specify a CGI file extension and a CGI handler for it, for instance Perl. For example, you can specify that all.cgi files must be treated as executable Perl scripts. To add a CGI alias, do the following: - On the control panel page, click web options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the web services page, scroll down to find the cgi-bin option and turn it on. Now all files in the cgi-bin directory will be treated as CGI executables. This is the directory to place all your CGI scripts. - On the web services page, scroll down to find the CGI option and click the add icon to the right. - Enter an extension beginning with a dot and select the handler from the list: 35
7.2.2 PHP scripts You can add support for your own PHP scripts. To add PHP support, do the following: - On the control panel page, click web options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the web service page, scroll down to find the PHP option and turn it on. Skip this step if you are using a Windows-based plan. - On the web service page, click the add icon that has appeared next to the PHP option. - On the page that appears, enter an extension for your PHP pages beginning with a dot, for instance.php4. Select the MIME type from the list. - At the top of the web service page, click the apply link for the server configuration to change. The changes will take effect within 15 minutes. 7.2.3 ASP To add support for ASP (Active Server Pages) in a Windows-based account, do the following: - On the control panel page, click web options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the web service page, scroll down to find the ASP option and turn it on. 7.2.4 ASP.NET To add support for ASP.NET in a Windows-based account, do the following: - On the control panel page, click web options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the web service page, scroll down to find the ASP.NET option and turn it on. 7.2.5 ColdFusion To add ColdFusion support in a Windows-based account, do the following: - On the control panel page, click web options. - Select the domain if you have more than one. - On the web services page, scroll down to find the ColdFusion option and turn it on. - If you need to add custom file extensions to be handled by ColdFusion, click the Add icon that has appeared next to the PHP option: - On the page that appears, enter an extension for your PHP pages beginning with a dot. 36