This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as questions. Please 1st visit the New Account page for help on getting started.  (This page was last updated: 04/30/2007 01:03 AM)

Uploading with FTP For non-Microsoft® FrontPage® users, an FTP Client is the most common method of transferring your files up to the server. Following these steps will ensure that your Web site is uploaded and visible on our servers, and allow viewers from the outside to visit your site easily.   Once the account is created on the server (usually one to two hours after signup), you should be ready to upload any files you have created for your web site. You can start by installing and running an FTP client, such as WS-FTP (for Windows 95/3.x users), Transmit or Fetch (for Macintosh users). Important Note for FrontPage users: Although we provide FTP access to FrontPage accounts, it is not to be used to upload your pages to your account. You should only use FTP to upload to your public ftp directory or to upload scripts to your cgi-bin directory. If you use FTP to modify your site (html files, etc.), you will run into errors the next time you use FrontPage to access your Web site, and the FrontPage extensions may become corrupt. Also, do not remove any files from your FrontPage account with an FTP client. The only files that you may remove with FTP are the files that you put there with FTP (cgi scripts and files in your public FTP directory). If your domain name is registered and fully functioning, then you can use yourdomain.com as the 'Host Name' to access your account with the FTP client. If this does not work, please try using the IP address for your account instead. In any case, you will be required to log into the server with your User Name and Password. Note also that logging in with a Web Browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer, will NOT give you access to the entire account. Only an FTP client will give you total access to your account space. You will find some files and subdirectories already present in your account space. We recommend not altering the subdirectories in any way (other than depositing files into them, or changing permissions). Until you upload your files, your default page is a Welcome page that we've created for you This page will disappear when you upload your index.htm/html file. Your index.html file is your 'Home' page, and any viewer who visits the site will see this file initially when entering your domain name on their browser. Now you can begin transferring files to the server, but please keep these points in mind when uploading: UNIX systems are case sensitive. So a file named test.txt would be a separate file from one named Test.txt. If you can't seem to find a file on the server that you just uploaded, check to see that you are using the right case. UNIX filenames also may contain almost any type of character, and sometimes this may confuse FTP clients. If you have trouble retrieving or linking to a file, try using wildcards in FTP to delete it, and replace it with a file that doesn't have spaces or other special characters in its name. Place all files which you want to access through a web browser into the /www sub-directory. The /home sub-directory is for private files which you do not want accessed through a web browser Our HTTP servers recognizes file formats by extension. This means a client retrieving a file named .htm .html .php will be told it is in HTML format. Make sure that you have the proper extensions when uploading your files. CGI scripts must be in the /cgi-bin/ subdirectory (inside your /www directory) and have file permissions set to 'executable'. (chmod to 755) Otherwise they will not run correctly. You should upload graphic files (such as .jpg or .gif files) in 'Binary' mode with FTP, and HTML or scripts in 'Ascii' mode in order to ensure that there are no extraneous 'control' characters in your scripts or pages. You may create an unlimited number of subdirectories (folders) within your account space to organize your site using the FTP command 'mkdir'. To have a page automatically load up when a browser goes to a directory, name a file index.html (make sure its lowercase) and place it in that directory. If an index.html file is not present, the Web browser will default to a list of all the files in that directory. This applies to the root directory as well.

Back to Top

Changing File Permissions File permissions allow you and others to access each file on your site for reading, writing, and executing. CGI scripts must be made 'executable' in order to function correctly, while HTML files should be 'readable' to everyone by default. If you need to change file permissions on a particular file or directory, follow these steps with WS-FTP for Windows: Right click on the file which requires permission alteration. Choose 'chmod (UNIX)' and left click. A window should appear:   Click on the check box next to the what you wish to enable. Access is split into three categories:   OWNER : you; the owner of the file. GROUP : all the other users on the system. OTHER : everyone else (people from the outside). Note that this works only with WS-FTP for Windows.

Back to Top

Why Your Page Won't Load If you find yourself unable to reach your Web site, please make a note of any and all error messages that you may encounter. These will be invaluable to us in determining where the problem is occurring. If you do not get an error message, then simply wait until the action times out, if possible, and tell us so when you contact us. Helpful Hints: Try to reach the www.onlinehelper.info technical support home page. Since this server is invariably up and running, it is a good indicator as to the nature of the problem. If you are unable to reach http://www.onlinehelper.info, then the problem is most likely an internet problem or a domain name registration problem, not a server problem. Try clearing out the 'Cache' of temporary internet files and the 'History' folder on your Web browser, since these can result in the viewing of older, non-updated versions of your Web site. Also, try hitting the 'refresh' or 'reload' button a few times. Try entering the IP address for your account and see if this brings the account up. If the IP works and the domain name does not, then we could be looking at an Network Solutions or Domain Name Server (DNS) problem rather than a problem with the servers. See if you can reach any site at all, or determine if you are unable to reach sites at random or specific areas of the country. This can aid in determining if the problem is internet or server related. Call a friend who uses a different ISP, and find out if the site is accessible to them. This can indicate whether or not the problem is connection- or ISP-related. Be aware that, in some cases, the rest of the internet may be able to reach your site just fine, whether you can reach it or not. Also be aware that there are COMMON internet slowdowns all the time, and often connection problems that resolve themselves in time. The nature of the Net is that it is very unstable and subject to change at any time. Go to the Network Solutions WHOIS Query page and look up your domain name. Make sure it is correctly pointing to our name servers (listed at the bottom of the record), and that the domain is not 'ON HOLD'. If you are getting a 'Forbidden: You do not have permission to access / on this server' message, your account may be mis-configured or disabled. Please contact our Sales Office for help with 'Forbidden' and "You Don't Have Permission To Access This Account" errors or pages. Give the problem some time. Sometimes and hour or two of patience will pay off and save you a phone call to tech support. Be sure to note the time the problem first began.

Back to Top

	The cgi-bin will automatically chage 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

For security the following applies

	Only the incoming directory can be written to anonymously
	Subdirectories are not creatable
	The incoming directory is not readable by people dropping files there
	You are responsible for any "pirated" software uploaded by the anonymous users. The anonymous ftp sites will be periodically monitored for any abuses.
	You may ignore the other directories. Back to Top     How do I create email aliases, and how do I redirect them? Email aliases can be created very easily using "email redirects" in Monstercontrols (yourrealdomain.com/cgi-bin/monstercontrols). They can also be set up or checked manually using the following info. 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 Admin@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 the 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. Try waiting at least 10 minutes before testing. Additional POPs can be created using Monstercontrols (http://yourrealdomain.com/cgi-bin/monstercontrols). Back to Top How do I use the infobots? Infobots, also called autoresponders can be easily created using "simple autoresponders" in Monstercontrols (http://yourrealdomain.com/cgi-bin/monstercontrols). To create or check them manually us the following instructions: 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". Back to Top How do I see who is using my infobots? 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. Back to Top How do I create a majordomo mailing list? For full instructions email our autoresponder at domo@site-secure.net There may be extra charges if your mailing list is very large (mail quota = 2000 emails per day on shared servers). Back to Top How do I use Real Audio? 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 having to be downloaded and  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 .rm or .ra and .rv for Real Video. 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: rtsp://sitedoctors.propagation.net/your-domain/name-of-clip.rm --stop-- pnm://sitedoctors.propagation.net/your-domain/name-of-clip.rm Note that "your-domain" should not include the suffix (.com, .net et.) Place your .ram in any folder you like. We suggest however that you create a folder named "real" and place them there. There is already a  folder named "realaudio". All of your media files (.rm, .ra and .rv) files need to be placed in the realaudio folder under your web directory. .ram files must be uploaded in ASCII mode while .rm, .ra and .rv files must be uploaded in BINARY mode. To play or link to your file/s be sure to link to the .ram file rather than the actual media file. This will allow the file to be streamed over the Internet. Back to Top How do I change my login password? Telnet to your domain. After you've logged on, type "passwd" to change your password. You can exit the telnet session by typing "exit". Back to Top How do I check the web usage stats for my domain? Stats are updated once a week. You may check your stats by going to http://yourrealdomain/wusage with your favorite browser. Back to Top 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.com From = anyname@fred.com passwd = the same used for FTP/telnet Back to Top 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 example.com Main dir: /www/example/ Cgi-bin: /wwwte browser./example/cgi-bin Back to Top What are the basic Frontpage settings? Assume your domain is example.com: Location to publish to: http://example.com/ (note if the domain is not active use the IP number that you received) Username:  example Passwd:  As-sent-to-you (the FP password is separate from the telnet/ftp/POP password) If you need the FP password reset please contact Support. For more info please see the online manual at: http://onlinehelper.info/manual/addons.html#3 Back to Top 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. /usr/local/Hughes/bin/msql database-name Back to Top How do I create my own "404 Not found" error page? Simply create/modify the missing.html file in your main web directory. Back to Top 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. https://machine.site-secure.net/example/anypage.html The above page would be accessed from the normal web server as: http://example.com/anypage.html Your cgi-bin dir is: https://machine.site-secure.net/cgi-example/ *SPECIAL NOTE FOR FORMMAIL.CGI* If you are using formmail.cgi thru the secure server, you MUST use the following url: https://machine.site-secure.net/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi Here's an example: <FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="https://machine.site-secure.net/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi"> <input type=hidden name="recipient" value="sales@yourrealdomain.com"> <input type=hidden name="subject" value="Order"> <input type=hidden name="return_link_url" value="http://yourrealdomain.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://machine.site-secure.net/yourrealdomain/yourorderform.htm Back to Top How do I use the maillists directory? Refer to the online manual for help with these. Back to Top

SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PROBLEMS

 

	Access logs
	Dialup Accounts
	Error logs
	Cgi-bin scripts
	Perl scripts
	Anonymous ftp
	Setting permissions
	Dont have permission
	I get a forbidden when accessing my web pages

Access logs

"I get errors such as

Literal @sdfsdf now requires backslash at ./test.rob line 2, within string
Execution of ./test.rob aborted due to compilation errors."

For security the following applies

	Only the incoming directory can be written to anonymously
	Subdirectories are not creatable
	The incoming directory is not readable by people dropping files there