| General
Questions QUESTION: Why would I receive a Forbidden message accessing my website? ANSWER: If this occurs it is generally for one of 3 reasons. 1. You don't have a properly named default page in your main directory. Acceptable file names are listed below: index.htm index.html default.html index.sht index.shtml index.cgi index.php index.php3 index.php4 2. The main directory permissions or the default page permissions are improperly set. Logging into your domain with telnet or SSH and changing permissions to a the directory or to your index.html file will fix this problem: chmod 711 index.html 3. When you receive your account the permissions are correctly set. But, if you changed the permissions with the Microsoft FrontPage Extension Permission Management Interface in your Web control panel, your site may not allow guests or visitors to browse. Also, if you try to use a normal .htaccess file in your main directory or if you try to use other forms of authentication (like PHP authentication), then you will get an error. Because our servers support Fontpage, you have to use FrontPage Extension Management to password protect directories. You should contact support if you are not sure what's causing the problem. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: What do I do if I forget my password? ANSWER: You can reset your password in your Web Control Panel. If you forget your password to your Web Control Panel, please contact technical support. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: Do I have access to Error-logs? ANSWER: Error-Logs are typically included with your domain as part of the standard features. You may download your raw log files from your Administrator Web Control Panel (at http://yourdomain/admin). Go to Services, then "Configure Apache Web Server." Then, click on "Log Files" in the menu. Once raw logs have been downloaded, you may open them in any word processor or text editor such as NotePad. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: How do I get my raw Access-Logs? ANSWER: Access-Logs are typically included with your domain as part of the standard features. You may download your raw log files from your Administrator Web Control Panel (at http://yourdomain/admin). Go to Services, then "Configure Apache Web Server." Then, click on "Log Files" in the menu. Once raw logs have been downloaded, you may open them in any word processor or text editor such as NotePad. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: Do you provide tech support? ANSWER: Yes, we will handle questions or concerns about your web site and the features we provide. However, we cannot provide help with HTML Syntax or CGI programming problems. We will try to be helpful and give advise whenever possible. If you ever need assistance, please e-mail us at support@mitchellmedia.com or you may call during business hours. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: What should I name the default page in my directories? ANSWER: It is very important that you name your home page, (the first page that you want visitors to see when they visit your web site), index.htm, index.html or index.php. When a browser visits your web site by typing in your domain name, i.e. www.yourdomain.com, the browser program will automatically search for a page titled index.htm or index.html (by default). If the browser does not find one, your visitor will not be able to access your web site without a specific page name to add to the domain URL. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: How do I upload files using FTP? ANSWER: When using WS_FTP (download here) Create a new profile. Under "Profile Name", enter your company name or simply your domain name. Enter your domain name in the field named "Host Name/Address:". Now enter your login for your account in the box corresponding with "User ID"--be sure to include your full domain name (i.e., user@yourDomainName.com). Enter your account password in the field named "Password". Finally, make sure that the "Anonymous" box is not checked. You may choose to select the box entitled "Save Pwd" this will store your password for future use. Now click the "OK" button near the bottom left of the window and you will automatically be logged into your account via FTP. Our Admin manual provides detailed instructions.
QUESTION: How do I create my own 404 Not Found Error Page? ANSWER: Simply create/modify the missing.html file in your main directory.
QUESTION: Where do I upload all the files pertaining to my web site? ANSWER: After you log into your account, please double click on the "mainwebsite_html" folder. This is where you will upload your Web site files. The default file in any directory should be called one of the following: index.htm index.html default.htm index.shtml index.php Upload CGI scripts to "mainwebsite_cgi." -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: How do I check Disk Usage? ANSWER: When you log into your Administrator Web Control Panel, you can see your current disk usage under "Site Summary." -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ >>CGI-SCRIPTS AND PROGRAMING LANGUAGES: QUESTION: What Perl Modules are supported? ANSWER: Any that are included with the normal Perl5 distribution plus the following: Mod_perl -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: How do I execute PHP scripts? ANSWER: Any web page you create that uses PHP should be saved with a .php (or php3 or php4) extension to be parsed properly.
QUESTION: What is the current version of PHP offered to clients? ANSWER: Currently PHP 4.1.1 is being used.
QUESTION: Can I run scripts outside of my cgi-bin? ANSWER: No, you must execute cgi scripts inside your cgi-bin directory. The path to your cgi-bin is http://yourdomain/cgi-bin/
QUESTION: How Should I set my file permissions on cgi-scripts? ANSWER: Executed via the web by anyone: chmod 755 Executed by only yourself through the command line: 700 You should use "chmod 777" sparingly. Files that would otherwise require world write access (e.g., guestbook pages) do not have to have this permission. Since the Perl script that will open and write to the file is executed under the owner's userid, and the file is also owned by the same user, then the file only needs to be writable by the owner, not the world. Finally, there are some freeware or perhaps even commercial Perl scripts which may require you to set a directory to rwxrwxrwx (chmod 777). Again, this is not necessary. Setting the directory permissions to 755 should always be sufficient.
QUESTION: Why does my script produce an ISE (Internal Server Error)? ANSWER: This can have many causes, ranging from incorrect permissions to syntax errors within the script. Check that the script actually runs by running it via a telnet prompt. Then check permissions and ownership: Does the main user of the domain own the script? Do the script and its parent directory both have 755 permissions? Was the script uploaded in ASCII mode, not binary? -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: What is the absolute path to Perl on the web servers? ANSWER: /usr/bin/perl
QUESTION: Do you upgrade Perl when new releases are available? ANSWER: Yes. Once a new build of Perl has been deemed as stable versus experimental, we will implement a upgrade across our network based on how it may effect existing scripts already in operation. We are currently using Perl 5.6.
QUESTION: What USERID do my PHP scripts run under? ANSWER: Your PHP script will run under your USERID and group.
QUESTION: What is PHP? ANSWER: PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language. It has a syntax familiar to both Perl and C. PHP-enabled web pages are treated just like regular HTML pages and you can create and edit them the same way you normally create regular HTML pages.
QUESTION: How do I install PHP on my domain? ANSWER: PHP is automatically installed on your domain. In fact, PHP is installed as an Apache Module. This is the fastest way for PHP to be executed on the server.
QUESTION: What version of Perl is installed? ANSWER: Currently we are using version 5.6
QUESTION: Can I compile programs written in C and C++? ANSWER: Yes, we offer the gcc compiler. The C and C++ compilers are integrated. Both process input files through one or more of four stages: preprocessing, compilation, assembly, and linking. Source filename suffixes identify the source language, but which name you use for the compiler governs default assumptions. You can get further docs on the compiler when logged into a shell by typing: man gcc (hit enter) Which will provide full syntax and options.
QUESTION: How do I access my mailboxes to check my email? ANSWER: The easiest way to access email is through a program such as Eudora or Outlook Express. Listed below is a example that assumes your domain is fred.com. Full name = Fred Smith Note: To use our SMTP servers, we will have to give your ISP access to sending mail through our servers. In other words, we use Spam control to keep Spammers away from sending e-mail though our servers. So, you may want to use your ISP's STMP servers to send out e-mail. To use our SMTP servers, send an e-mail to support@mitchellmedia.com and request that your ISP be added to the list of authorized ISPs.
QUESTION: How do I add POP email accounts? ANSWER: To add an e-mail accounts, use your Admin Web Control Panel, located at http://www.yourdomain.com/admin/. Go to "MailBoxes/Users" and find "Add User" in the menu.
QUESTION: What is the SMTP server setting for my POP? ANSWER: The SMTP setting is just your domain name with mail. in the front of it. Example: if your domain is fred.com then your SMTP server setting is mail.fred.com. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: What are the incoming server settings for my POP? ANSWER: The SMTP setting is just your domain name with "mail." in the front of it. Example: if your domain is fred.com then your SMTP server setting is mail.fred.com.
QUESTION: What is a redirect? ANSWER: A redirect is the same thing as an "alias." A redirect is a method of redirecting e-mail to another POP e-mail account either on our servers or any valid POP account hosted anywhere. For example, any mail sent to hot@yourdomain.com could be redirected to your your Hotmail account. Or any mail sent to webmaster@yourdomain.com could be redirected to you@yourdomain.com. To set up an alias, in your Admin Web Control Panel, go to "Services" and then edit "Sendmail SMTP Server." Then, find the "Add an Alias" button.
QUESTION: How do I use E-mail Redirects? ANSWER: Email Redirects are used to redirect email from one address to another. For example, you might have sales@yourdomain.com automatically redirected to your sales person’s personal email address, and support@yourdomain.com redirected to your support person’s personal email address, and so on. You may also have redirects set up to send email to more than one address. For example, you may have all email addressed to support@yourdomain.com redirected to all of the members of your support staff. You may have as many redirects as you like. To add an e-mail redirect or an e-mail alias, use your control panel, located at http://www.yourdomain.com/admin/. Go to "Services" and then edit "Sendmail SMTP Server." Then, find the "Add an Alias" button. Things to know: Your default e-mail address is yourdomain@yourdomain.com. All of your e-mail is sent to your default e-mail box, which is the user ID "yourdomain" (without the dot com extension). Any e-mail that is addressed to anyone@yourdomain.com will go to your default e-mail box. So, you can still tell everyone to send e-mail to yourname@yourdomain.com, and you will get this e-mail with you check your default e-mail box yourdomain@yourdomain.com. Again, anything@yourdomain.com will go to your default e-mail box, unless you set up an additional POP account or use a redirect. Then, only that name will be redirected to the additional POP account or to the redirected POP box, and all other email will go to your default POP box. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: Why would I get the error "userid already exists"? ANSWER: You share the server with other domains. Each users, Telnet, FTP or Email is setup as a user on the server. So receiving the message "The userid you requested is already in use by someone on this server, please select another" Just means that the USERID is already taken by another domain. A user name can only be used ONCE per server. To get around this problem, use a redirect or an alias to redirect email (e.g., sales@yourdomain.com) to one or more of your POP e-mail accounts.
QUESTION: What can I do if my domain is getting a lot of Junk Email? ANSWER: We currently offer specific SPAM filters so that you can block e-mail from certain Email adresses, Domain Names, or IP addresses. To setup a Spam filter, in your Admin OR your User Web Control Panel, go to "Services" and then edit "Sendmail SMTP Server." Then, find the "Spam Filters" menu item.
QUESTION: I cannot send email through my domain, what is causing the problem? ANSWER: There are generally two things that will cause this problem. First, our Spam Control is turned on, and your ISP is not on the list of approved ISPs to send e-mail through our SMTP servers. Please contact support@mitchellmedia.com to get your ISP on the list of authorized port 25 connections. Second, sometimes ISP's will block all port 25 traffic so they can control SPAM going through their system. In other words, some ISPs require that their users use their SMTP server to send out e-mail. Port 25 is the common port that is used for SMTP service on Internet servers. There are many large dial-up ISP's that do this, Concentric would be a good example. You will need to check with your dial up provider for more info. If you are in a situation where they are blocking port 25, for your SMTP setting just use the one your local ISP provided.
QUESTION: Why do I get an Internal Server Error when trying to publish to my website? ANSWER: There are a number of reasons this can happen, usually a re-installation of the extensions will solve the problem. You should contact support@mitchellmedia.com when this occurs. You can also go to your Microsoft FrontPage Extension Permission Management Interface in your Web control panel to check your FrontPage Server settings. In your Admin Web Control Panel, go to "Services" and then edit "Apache Web Server." Click on "Manage Users" and then "Microsoft FrontPage Extension Permission Management Interface." Your ID and password is your Admin ID without the @yourdomain.com extension and your normal Admin password.
QUESTION: How do I publish with FrontPage? ANSWER: After you have built your web pages on your computer, you will be ready to publish them. Basically, this just means that you will upload them to our server. Once this is done, your pages will be viewable from the web. Launch FrontPage Explorer and open the web you’ve created on your computer. From the menu at the top of the window, select File, then Publish. A) If this is the first time you are publishing to our servers, select More Webs and enter the location where you want to publish your FrontPage web. Frontpage support FTP upload as well as WWW upload. To use FTP to upload your files, type the following as your location: ftp.yourdomain.com. To use WWW to upload your files, type the following as your location: www.yourdomain.com. Hit Return (Enter) on your keyboard. B) If you have published to our servers before, your "Destination Web Server" (ftp.yourdomain.com or www.yourdomain.com) will appear in the Publish window. IMPORTANT: If you use www.yourdomain.com as the Destination Web Server to publish to our server, leave the "Destination Web Name" blank. You will be asked for your USERNAME and PASSWORD. This is your domain's User ID and your FrontPage Password (which may be different from your regular Telnet/FTP/POP password). If you're not sure what it is or if you aren't allowed past this point, you can do the following: 1. Check your FrontPage Server settings in your Admin Web control panel. In your Admin Web Control Panel, go to "Services" and then edit "Apache Web Server." Click on "Manage Users" and then "Microsoft FrontPage Extension Permission Management Interface." Your ID and password is your Admin ID without the @yourdomain.com extension and your normal Admin password. 2. Contact support for help. Our manual does not
include much information on Frontpage. Microsoft provides a manual at
the following URL:
QUESTION: Are FrontPage Extensions supported through the secure server? ANSWER: Yes, you can view
any file on your Web site through our secure 128-bit SSL security certificate
by going to the following URL: You will be able to
call secure forms using the following URL:
QUESTION: Do you support FrontPage98, FrontPage 2000 and Frontpage 2002? ANSWER: Yes, the FrontPage 2002 extensions are backward compatible.
QUESTION: Why does FrontPage seem to hang, and even time out when establishing a connection? ANSWER: There are a number of reasons why FrontPage hangs, the biggest reason is related to the amount of data in your WWW directory, both in size and number of files/directories. The more files/directories and size of data, the longer it will take FrontPage to log in. Large amounts of data (> 50MB) or a large number of files or directories ( > 500) can cause FrontPage to severely hang and even timeout. If there are connectivity problems between your ISP and our servers, then this can also lead to FrontPage hanging or even timing out. When you have these problems we recommend creating a number smaller subwebs to break your web site up so it does not take FrontPage as long to run through its configuration or recalculate links.
QUESTION: Will all the FrontPage extensions work on my account? ANSWER: Yes, all the standard extensions FrontPage offers will work on your domain. You will not be able to use the ASP or Microsoft Access database integration at this time. Although they are now offered as easily integratable languages within the FrontPage program, they are not part of the server extensions and require separate software to work properly. You may request to be put on a Microsoft Windows 2000 server, which will accept ASP and an Access database. Please email sales@mitchellmedia.com
QUESTION: What are FrontPage Server Extensions? ANSWER: FrontPage Extensions are CGI programs which provide the server side implementation of FrontPage. The extensions allow your local computer to properly communicate with your domain through the http protocol using (RPC).
QUESTION: Do you support smil and rtsp files? ANSWER: Yes, these files are supported.
QUESTION: Can I do live broadcasting on my account? ANSWER: This is a feature of the Real Networks server that we currently do not support.
QUESTION: What is the first step in using Real Audio/Video? ANSWER: The first step is the audio or video file which has an extension of .ra (RealAudio) or .rm (RealMedia). You create this file from your audio or video source using the RealEncoder or RealProducer. The second step is creating the metafile with the extension .ram. The ram metafile is simply a text file containing a special URL telling the Real server to send your audio or video clip to the browser. The call for the hosting server is as follows: rtsp://yourdomain.com/name-of-clip.ra The clip will either be a .rm or .ra depending on the media type. If you want to automatically play several video or audio files one after another, list each file on a separate line in the metafile: rtsp://yourdomain.com/name-of-clip1.ra rtsp://yourdomain.com/name-of-clip2.ra rtsp://yourdomain.com/name-of-clip3.ra Upload your Ram and .ra or .rm files to the /realaudio sub directory in your web directory. When you FTP these files it is important that the Ram files be transferred in ASCII mode and the .ra or .rm files be sent in BINARY mode.
QUESTION: What is RTSP protocol? ANSWER: RTSP, or Real-Time Streaming Protocol, is a protocol developed by Real Networks. Just as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the best protocol for transferring large files, RTSP is the best protocol for streaming multimedia applications.
QUESTION: Where can I find full documentation on Miva software? ANSWER: Miva provides documentation in the form of PDF files. Miva Merchant manual (1.1 MB) For web based instructions use our complete Miva merchant manual. You can find another Miva Manual on the left navigation bar. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: How do I install Miva E-Commerce software? ANSWER: If you ordered an Miva e-store account, your account comes with the Miva E-Commerce software pre-installed, just log into your WebControl System at http://your-domain.com/cgi-bin/plusmail and select script install then check Miva Merchant and hit submit. The software will be installed within 15 minutes and you will find a directory called /Merchant2 for Miva Merchant. Your next step will be to register the product. Go to the following URL and do the initial registration and configuration - http://your-domain.com/Merchant2/setup.mv Use the Merchant Wizard to help with Miva Merchant.
QUESTION: I just installed Miva 2.0, how do I get to my administration screen? ANSWER: If you have completed your set-up, you should find your administration screen by going to your new v2.0 URL. http://www.yourdomain.com/Merchant2/admin.mv However, if you haven't completed your setup yet, you will not be able to get to your administration screen. You will have to start with 'setup.mv'. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: How do I upgrade Miva Merchant? ANSWER: If you are entitled to a Miva Merchant upgrade and have obtained your license through us, you can do the following: Log into your WebControl System Select Script Install Select Miva Merchant and click submit Allow 15 minutes for the upgrade to occur Goto http://yourdomain.com/Merchant2/upgrade.mv Enter your password to complete the upgrade -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ QUESTION: What type of support do you offer on Miva E-Commerce software? ANSWER: We provide basic Miva support; however, Miva provides direct support to all valid license holders of their products. Users may contact shier support department via telephone (9:00 - 5:00 PST) by calling 858-490-2570 and choosing option 3, or by emailing support@miva.com. We will help as much as possible in answering your questions concerning the Miva E-Commerce software. We have trained staff members that are familiar with its operation, but there may be instances when we will need to refer you directly to Miva.
QUESTION: Do you support w3-msql? ANSWER: Yes, we support w3-msql lite.
QUESTION: Can I use ODBC with mySQL? ANSWER: At this time we do not support ODBC.
QUESTION: How do I connect to mySQL using mySQLPerl Module? ANSWER: Use the following outline to connect and begin querying the mySQL server from a Perl script. Remember that you cannot connect to your databases remotely due to security concerns. You can only connect from localhost. 1. Declarations You must require the mySQL package for your script to function properly. Do this by including the following line in your code: use Mysql; 2. Connect to the
Database Somewhere near the beginning of your script, you need to make
your initial connection to the database server. Using the following form,
substitute your database, username, and password for the examples to connect
successfully. Mysql->connect('localhost.localdomain', 3. Executing a Query You are now ready to begin querying the database server. [Most problems that you may incur will generally occur due to invalid permission settings for the specified user.]
QUESTION: Can I use JDBC with MySQL? ANSWER: If you have Tomcat installed, i.e., if you have purchased Advanced Hosting, then JDBC is allowed.
QUESTION: How many databases can I create? ANSWER: We allow 4 individual databases that you can create using your WebControl System.
QUESTION: How do I connect to mySQL through PHP? ANSWER: Use the following outline to connect and begin querying the mySQL server from within your PHP scripts. Remember that you cannot connect to your databases remotely due to security reasons. You can only connect to them form localhost. 1. Connect to the mySQL Server Use the following statement to connect to the database server. Substitute the username, and password for ones you have created in the WebControl System. MYSQL_CONNECT('localhost.localdomain','USERNAME','PASSWORD'); 2. Select Your Database Use the following statement to select the database you wish to connect to. Make sure you substitute the example with your database name. mysql_select_db("DATABASENAME"); 3. Executing A Query You are now ready to execute your queries. (Most problems that arise with your scripts will be due to incorrect permission settings.)
QUESTION: What are the Telnet commands to access mySQL? ANSWER: Using PhpMyAdmin from you control panel is probably the best way to manage your MySQL databases. PhpMyAdmin is intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. But, you also have shell access to MySQL. Use the following outline to connect and begin querying the mySQL server from a Telnet or SSH shell. You cannot connect to your databases remotely due to security concerns, you can only connect from localhost. 1. Connect to the
mySQL Server servername:> mysql -u USERNAME -p 2. Connect to the Database mysql> use DATABASENAME; 3. Receiving Help mysql> help QUESTION: Do you support PhpMyAdmin? ANSWER: Yes, PhpMyAdmin is
preinstalled on your server. PhpMyAdmin is intended to handle the administration
of MySQL over the Web. -------------------------Back to Top------------------------ |