How To: Virtual Web Hosting

 

Once your virtual server is setup, you may begin accessing it immediately. We will notify you by e-mail that your server has been setup and will provide you with the IP address, logon name and password. You may change your username and password whenever you feel it is necessary using the control panel.

Accessing Your Server Before Your Domain Name Is Propagated

Chances are that your domain name will not be propagated by InterNIC for a few days. Until it is your account can be accessed by using the IP address. After your domain name has been propagated you can access your server using either the IP address or domain name. Please note: You will NOT be able to view your web site using your browser and the IP address. You will be able to use FTP and control panel using the IP address

FTP

After you have created your web pages use an FTP client to upload the pages. When logging on to the server with your FTP client, log on to yourdomain.com. Enter your logon name and password provided to you as the user name and password.

After logging in, you will notice several directories and files on your virtual server. The directory you will be primarily using is the "www" directory. Aftr changing to the /www directory you will then see the directories "cgi-bin" and "htdocs". The "cgi-bin" directory is where you should put your CGI scripts and is where the preinstalled scripts are located. The "htdocs" directory is where all of your web page files should be located. You may make new directories within these two directories as needed. For example, you may make a directory to store image files in the "htdocs" directory in order to keep things organized. A note about the directory structure, when creating your web site and pages, remember that the files and directories you put in the "htdocs" directory will be displayed by the server to browsers as http://www.yourdomain.com/your files or http://www.yourdomain.com/your directory/your files. It will also show files in your "cgi-bin" directory as http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/your files.

After logging in, upload your web pages and graphics. Be sure to upload the HTML pages text files, and Perl scripts using the ASCII mode and graphics files in the binary mode. Using the incorrect transfer mode is very often the source of trouble when trouble shooting a web site. BE SURE YOU ARE USING THE CORRECT TRANSFER MODE FOR YOUR FILES!

File Naming

When naming your web pages be sure you have named the main or home page "index.htm" or "index.html". Remember that files are case sensitive so be sure that your links and filenames match exactly.

Control Panel

The Control Panel allows you to manage you virtual server.. To access it, point your web browser to http://www.yourdomain.com:10000/ (you can substitute your IP address if your domain name hasn't been propagated yet). When prompted enter you logon name and password.

E-Mail

For domain accounts e-mail accounts, aliases, and forwarders can be set up by you using the Control Panel. You can also delete or manipulate them at your will.

To create a new e-mail account log into your control panel. Under the "System" tab click on the "Users & Groups" icon.You will see a list of existing users under your account. Click on the "Create a new user" link. On the following page you should enter your new users name, and password. When entering the password be sure to type it into the "Normal Password" box and not the "Pre-encrypted" box. This rule applies when changing the password in the future as well. For an e-mail only account choose the "/bin/false" shell option, if this will be an FTP and e-mail account choose the "/bin/sh" or "/dev/zero" shell option (you will have one or the other). On this page you can also set options for when the password for this account will expire. Leave these options blank if you never want the password to expire. After completing the page save the new user and your new e-mail account has been created.

To create or set an e-mail alias/forwarder log into your control panel. Under the "Servers" tab click on the "Sendmail Configuration" icon, then the "Address Mappings" icon. Enter the e-mail address to be aliased/forwarded and then the e-mail address where the mail should be forwarded to. You can also set all mail coming to your domain to be forwarded to a single e-mail address. Save it and your new alias/forwarder has been created.

When configuring your e-mail client to receive and send e-mail using your e-mail accounts, use your domain name (yourdomain.com) as the POP (incoming) server and SMTP (outgoing) server. Do not put the www. in with the e-mail server name.