Frequently Asked Technical Questions/Problems
I've uploaded my pages, but I still see the "under construction" page on the web.. what gives? The most common cause of this problem, is uploading to the wrong directory. You MUST upload either to your "www" directory, or to a subdirectory within the www directory, to have your files visible on the internet. If you are still seeing the "under construction" page we installed on your account when you access your site with your browser, then you haven't replaced the "index.html" page with the new main page of your site. 
I'm getting a "Forbidden - you don't have permission to access..." message. Why? You will get this message if the directory you're trying to access doesn't have an index.html or default.html page. To solve this problem, simply rename the main page of your site "index.html" or "default.html" etc...
Why is my site working with Internet Explorer, but not with Netscape? This is a very common problem for new designers. It is normally caused when your url's (web addresses) and/or file names include spaces. While Internet Explorer is a very forgiving browser for designers, Netscape is not, and it does not understand spaces in your paths, and file names. For example, a .gif (picture) named: "a cool picture of my cat.gif" should be renamed: "cat.gif" , and a url (or image source) like: "http://www.mydomain.com/cat stuff/cat pages.html" must be changed to something like: "http://www.mydomain.com/cat-stuff/cat_pages.html"
How do I use the anonymous ftp site? Your anonymous ftp site is completely different from your web site. When people ftp to your domain anonymously, they will see the following directories: bin/ dev/ etc/ incoming/ lib/ pub/ "pub" is where you should put all your anonymously accessible files. "incoming" is for the anonymous users to upload files. For security the following applies
You may ignore the other directories.
How do I create email aliases, and how do I redirect them? The easiest way to do this, is through your control panel: Go to: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail and follow the directions there. We have left the old method of doing this here (below) just in case anyone would like to know: Assume your domain is "example.com". You need to edit the .redirect file in your home directory. Here is a sample .redirect file for example.com:
default example@example.com
webmaster example@example.com
sales joe@aol.com,mike@whatever.com
info robert@example.com
That will automatically redirect all webmaster@example.com emails to example@example.com, sales@example.com to joe@aol.com AND mike@whatever.com, and info@example.com to robert@example.com. All others will go to example@example.com. Note that webmaster line isn't necessary, but it's better to specifically redirect it to example@example.com. It's important to note that the second column must be REAL accounts. You cannot redirect emails to an alias. Please note that it takes a few minutes for the .redirect file to go into effect after you've updated it. Ask us to create additional real email(POP) accounts.
How do I use the infobots? The easiest way to do this, is through your control panel: Go to: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail and follow the directions there. We have left the old method of doing this here (below) just in case anyone would like to know: Very simple. Just create a text file and put it in the infobots directory. Let's say that the name of the text file is "info". Now, when you send mail to info@example.com, you will get the text file mailed back to you. That's it. Try it out. There is no limit to the number of these infobots. Note that the name of the file is simply "info", and not "info.txt".
How do I see who is using my infobots? The easiest way to do this, is through your control panel: Go to: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail and follow the directions there. We have left the old method of doing this here (below) just in case anyone would like to know: Assume your infobot address is info@example.com. Just put the following line in your .redirect file. Its important that you have the infobot installed before entering the address line in the .redirect info example@example.com The original email message will be sent to example@example.com, and the original sender will get the infobot text.
How do I create a majordomo mailing list? First, go here and order it. We will then unlock your control panel, and email you instructions on how to set it up. There may be extra charges if your mailing list is very large(>1000 subscribers).
How do I use Real Audio? Real Audio is available for a small extra charge (click here to order) 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.
How do I change my login password? The easiest way to do this, is through your control panel: Go to: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail and follow the directions there. We have left the old method of doing this here (below) just in case anyone would like to know: Telnet to your domain. After you've logged on, type "passwd" to change your password. You can exit the telnet session by typing "exit".
How do I check the web usage stats for my domain? You may check your stats by using your control panel: Go to: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail Or, by going to http://yourdomain/wusage with your favorite browser.
I need to configure my mail reading program so I can access my emails. What are the proper settings? Assume your domain is fred.com Smtp = fred.com pop = fred@fred.com from = anyname@fred.com passwd = the same used for FTP For settings for particular email programs, please see our on-line manual and/or our customer service desk
What is the correct path to perl(and other programs)? 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
For more info, please see our on-line manual and/or our customer service desk
What are the basic Frontpage settings? Assume your domain is fred.com Location to publish to: fred.com (note if the domain is not active use the ip# we assigned) FTP server name: fred.com Directory path: /www/fred Username: fred Passwd: As-sent-to-you For more info, please see our on-line manual and/or our customer service desk There is a complete FrontPage tutorial which you can access from your support desk (you can create a support desk account by going to the customer service desk)
What are the basic Msql2 settings? Msql2 is a database engine, docs may be found at Hughes SQL We dont provide technical support on this because of its complexity, the basic access path is below To use this you must submit your domain name and a database name to us, so we can set it up for you for machine you put your system name. This is the name that the prompt says when you log into the shell
How do I create my own "404 Not found" error page? Simply create/modify the missing.html file in your main web directory.
How do I use the SSL server for my order form? Normally, any text(such as your credit card number) sent from your browser to the web server is sent as plain text. This means that a hacker could potentially intercept (however unlikely) the information sent from your browser and read it. However, by using the secure server, the information is encrypted before it is sent from your browser. It would be practically impossible for anyone to decrypt it without knowing the key. Please use the secure server only when necessary. Assume your domain is example.com. Use the following url to access your pages via the secure server. Note: Your particular server may differ from this info. Your particular server (machine name) will be on the main page of your control panel when you login. (http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail) https://plus40.safe-order.net/example/anypage.htmlThe above page would be accessed from the normal web server as: http://example.com/anypage.htmlYour cgi-bin dir is: https://plus40.safe-order.net/cgi-example/*SPECIAL NOTE FOR FORMMAIL.CGI* If you are using formmail.cgi thru the secure server, you MUST use the following url: Note: Your particular server may differ from this info. Each domain is setup with it's own faq page similar to this one, for you to use. https://plus40.safe-order.net/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi Here's an example: <FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="https://plus40.safe-order.net/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi"> <input type=hidden name="recipient" value="sales@yourdomain.com"> <input type=hidden name="subject" value="Order"> <input type=hidden name="return_link_url" value="http://yourdomain.com/"> <input type=hidden name="return_link_title" value="Back to Main Page">The last two line allow a link back to your main page - thus they get a report of what they ordered and a link. We made the modification for you already. Its important that you call your order page thru a secure URL in order to work properly Ex. https://plus40.safe-order.net/yourdomain/yourorderform.htm For MUCH more info, please see our on-line manual and/or our customer service desk
SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PROBLEMS
Access logs "I can't find my access log!" They are in your home directory, this is the directory you are in when you first logon. 2.1.2) Error logs "I can't find my error log?" We don't keep error logs for performance reasons. Cgi-bin scripts "Where do I put my cgi-bin scripts?" Put them in the subdirectory cgi-bin which should be under your www directory. Perl scripts "I am being told file not found" "I am being told No such file or directory" Upload your Perl script in ascii mode, not binary mode. Sometimes it seems like this is asked about once a day, so we're going to repeat it, loudly.
Put files in the directory named anonftp/pub.
This will allow a file to be accessed by a customer with
ftp://yourdomain.com/pub/your-file-name.
Setting permissions "Hey, how do I stop people who are not in my group from reading a directory?" Type chmod o-r directory while you are in the directory above it. "I don't care if people in my group can read my directory, but I don't want them to write in it!" Type chmod g-w directory while you are in the directory above it. "Who is in my group?" In general, each domain has its own group. If you find you are in the group users, let us know if you wish for your domain to have its own group. "Tell me more about permissions, they sound neat!" To list the access permissions of a file or directory, type ls -ls *. r=read access, x=execute access, w=write access. The first three letters apply to you, the second three letters apply to your group, the last three letters apply to everyone else. Execute access enables you to run programs or enter directories. Examples of using chmod:
PEOPLE PERMISSIONS
u = the file's user (or owner) r = read access
g = the file's group x = execute access
o = others w = write access
a = the user, the group, and others.
chmod a+w = let everyone write to the file
chmod go-r = don't let people in the file's group or others to read
the file
chmod g+x = let people in the file's group execute the file
Don't have permission to access /
This error message means that you are missing your index.html file. Note that files that start with a "." are hidden files. To see them, type ls -al at shell prompt. If you wish to ftp this file in, go to the /home/fred directory assuming your userid is fred. I get a forbidden when trying to access my site This error is generally because you have not placed a default page in the main directory. A default page must be called index.htm, or default.htm and it should be your main page.
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