|
Where to
upload your files:
Configuring your
FTP clients:
Understanding the web site file
system:
CGI Based Programs:
The ins
and outs of DNS and how it effects
your domain:
Setting
up and managing Sub-Domains:
Setting
up Domain Email:
Where
to upload your files:
The Home Directory:
Your html files,
and or the files you want to make
accessible to the World Wide Web must
be uploaded to your account. When you
first FTP into your account, you'll be
taken to your "Home" directory. Don't
confuse this with your "web
directory." The home directory is
"not" accessible to the World Wide
Web; it's a private directory where
critical system files reside. DO NOT
delete files that have been created by
the system, otherwise your web site
may disappear into cyber oblivion!
The
public_html
and
www
directory - (Where web accessible
files are placed)
These are the two directories, where
files you want accessed from the web
must be placed. Open the folder "public_html"
, which is your "web accessible
directory." The folder named "www" is
actually a shortcut to public_html,
(both of them take you to your web
directory). Upload the files you want
accessible to your visitors and feel
free to make the appropriate
sub-directories you'll require.
Configuring FTP Clients:
Configuring Cute FTP
Based on version 4.2
Please note that
there are a number of older and
current versions of Cute FTP floating
around. As a result, some of the
instructions provided here cannot
possibly reflect all the versions,
which have been released in the past 5
years. The only small difference you
may encounter is where some of the
options can be found (depending on the
client version you're using). In any
event, everything is pretty well much
the same. Let's get started:
1. Open Cute FTP
2. Select
"File"
3. Select
"Site Manager"
4. Select
"New"
Options you'll see:
- Label for
site: Enter a name for this account.
For example,
"My Root Account."
- FTP Host
Address:
www.mydomain.com
- FTP Site
Username:
Your main system
login name
- FTP Site
Password:
Your main system
password
- FTP Site
Connection:
Port: 21
- Login Type:
Normal
Notes About Cute FTP:
There are a few
advanced features you may want to be
aware of. These features may need to
be enabled if you're having problems
accessing your site via an FTP client.
The following will explain:
Trouble accessing your site
via FTP:
This can sometimes occur if your
accessing the Internet from behind a
firewall, personal router, or using an
Internet connection sharing system
such as NAT (Network Address
Translation). This is often a class
case scenario in a home or small
office where several computers are
being shared by one Internet
connection. Symptoms include,
difficulty logging in via FTP, and or
maintaining a reliable upload or
download session.
Use
Passive Mode instead:
From your FTP
main interface, select:
1.
Edit
(from the main
dropdown menus)
2.
Settings
A dialog box
called "Settings" now appears. Select:
3.
Connections
4.
Firewall
This opens the
Connection/Firewall dialog box:
5. Check the box
that says
"PASV mode."
6. Click
OK
Don't touch any
of the other settings
Ignore
all other settings you see here except
for the "PASV_mode" setting!
Give it a try
and see how it works. If you're still
having problems, you should contact
your ISP to see if they can make the
necessary changes required for you to
access your site via FTP. There are a
vast number of network configurations
ISP's sometimes use, and some of which
that can cause problems for users
wanting to access the web beyond that
of a browser.
How to
view all files in your account (For
Advanced Users).
Advanced users
may want ability to view "all hidden"
files in their directories. While most
of these are critical system files,
there are a few, which can be manually
edited by "Advanced Users." This is
done by inserting an entry into the
"File Masking" feature in the client.
Unmasking Hidden Files:
1. Open Cute FTP
2. Go to the site manager
3. Select your account
4. Select
"Edit"
A dialog box
opens called "Site Properties":
1. Check the
"Enable Filter"
box
2. Click the
"Filter" button
3. Check the
" Enable Remote Filters (Server
Applied Filer) " box
4. In the
"Remote Filter" window, type this
command
-a
5. Click ok
That's it!
The -a command
will unmask "all" files in your web
account.
Final
Note:
NEVER REMOVE OR
ALTER FILES, WHICH HAVE BEEN CREATED
BY THE SERVER or C-Panel!! Unless
you're an advanced user, please leave
all files that have been created by
the system alone! Doing otherwise
could cause serious problems with your
account, and in some cases take it
offline completely. When in doubt
"ASK", do not Delete!
Setting Up WSFTP
Please note that there are a number of
older and current versions of WSFTP
floating around. As a result, some of
the instructions provided here cannot
possibly reflect all the versions,
which have been released in the past 5
years. The only small difference you
may encounter is where some of the
options can be found (depending on the
client version you're using). In any
event, everything is pretty well much
the same.
Setting up WSFTP:
1. Open your
WSFTP
client
2. The dialog
box "WS_FTP" Sites should display. If
not, click the "Connect" button.
3. Select
"New"
You should see
this dialog box:
You'll be taken through these
options:
1.
New Site/Folder:
Choose a name
for this account
2.
Host Name or IP
address:
www.yourdomain.com
3.
User ID:
Main system
login
4.
User Password:
Main System
Password
5.
Select
"Save Password."
6.
Select
"Finish."
Done! Your can
now FTP into your site
Notes About WSFTP:
Main Username
and Password:
The main
Username and Password was sent to you
in your welcoming email, and are also
the same ones used to access C-Panel.
If you've changed your
"main" Username and Password
before setting this up, then
use you must use them instead.
Trouble accessing your site
via FTP:
This can sometimes occur if your
accessing the Internet from behind a
firewall, personal router, or using an
Internet connection sharing system
such as NAT (Network Address
Translation). This is often a class
case scenario in a home or small
office where several computers are
being shared by one Internet
connection. Symptoms include,
difficulty logging in via FTP, and or
maintaining a reliable upload or
download session. If this is the case,
try "Passive Mode."
Setting Passive Mode:
1.
Open the
WSFTP account
manager
2.
Highlight your
account
3.
Select
"Properties"
4.
Select the
"Advanced" tab
5. Check the box
called
"Passive Transfers."
6. Click "OK"
Select passive
mode, click
"OK",
and try it again.
How to view all files in your account
(For Advanced Users).
Advanced users may want ability to
view "all hidden" files in their
directory. While most of these are
critical system files, there are a
few, which can be manually edited by
"Advanced Users." This is done by
inserting an entry into the "File
Masking" feature in the client.
Unmasking Hidden Files:
1. Open the
WSFTP
account manager
2. Highlight
your account
3. Select
"Properties"
4. Select the
"Startup" tab
5. In the
"Remote File
Mask"
window, enter -a
The -a
command will unmask all files in your
web account.
Final
Note:
NEVER REMOVE OR
ALTER FILES, WHICH HAVE BEEN CREATED
BY THE SERVER or C-Panel!! Unless
you're an advanced user, please leave
all files that have been created by
the system alone! Doing otherwise
could cause serious problems with your
account, and in some cases take it
offline completely. When in doubt
"ASK", do not Delete!
Understanding the web site file
system:
index.html and why you should use it:
This again is
where a number of newer webmasters
become stumped. They upload all of
their files and directories, and then
want to access them with their
browser, but forgetting to create
their welcoming page as index.html, so
here's what happens: They access their
site as http://www.mydomain.com/ or
using the associated IP number, for
example, http://test.html/, and what
they see is their entire file
directory structure! Yikes!… It looks
just like exploring the C drive on
your computer! You don't want visitors
seeing that, do you?
When you access your site by calling
it as
http://www.mydomain.com
or the assigned
IP (for example),
http://
217.74.132.26/,
the web server
looks for the "index.html" file as the
(default file) to be sent to visitors,
and thus this is why
http://www.mydomain.com/
by itself will
automatically display the home or
welcoming page. It's because the
server automatically looks for
index.html whenever a domain or
directory is called without a filename
appended to it such as this, http://www.mydomain.com/file.html
If it can't find index.html, it will
simply list "your entire web
directory" to everyone that access's
it, which is a MAJOR security risk!
ALWAYS, use an "index.html" file in
any directory you create, including
your "root" web directory. In general,
it's always a good idea to use "index.html"
as your main page in "all
sub-directories" of your account.
Forgetting to place an index.html in
your root web, or any subdirectory of
your web for that matter will
effectively leave all of its contents
viewable to the world.
Understanding case sensitivity:
Another small
detail, which can throw many newer
users into a tailspin. Unlike your
local PC, the Unix file system is very
particular about "uppercase" and
"lowercase" file names. Therefore, if
you were to install a script, (let's
say the wwwboard discussion forum) for
example), the name of this script
would be wwwboard.pl. If you name a
file picture file called me.jpg, then
this is what you must call it as.
Naming it me.JPG for example, (observe
the uppercase) tells a Unix web server
to treat it as a totally different
file name.
Unix file servers are exceptionally
fussy on this issue, so make sure you
pay close attention to "case' when
uploading files, or installing and
configuring cgi based scripts. The
same rule applies for all files
including your .html pages. Again, the
server treats .html and .HTML as two
entirely different files. Want to keep
in simple? Try to stick with lowercase
letters in all file names and
extensions.
Uploading your files in the correct
mode (ASCII or Binary)?
Uploading in the
wrong format for images or binaries
will result in a strange mess
appearing in place of the file. For
CGI scripts, this mistake has to be
the most common cause of that annoying
error known as the (Server 500 Error -
Malformed Headers), or something to
that lovely extent. While this can be
the result of many various programming
errors, the most popular amongst new
users are uploading their scripts in
the "WRONG" format. Your cgi scripts
"MUST" always be uploaded in ASCII
mode. Alternatively, if you upload an
image or .exe file, it must be done in
"BINARY" mode.
The difference between ASCII and
BINARY?
In short, html
or text based files are supposed to be
transferred in ASCII mode. Uploading
them in Binary mode will append ^M's
to the end of every line. In most
cases, this is OK, with html files
because your browser will ignore them.
BUT, with other text files such as cgi
scripts, uploading them in binary will
damage them, thus causing a (server
500 error). This is because binary
mode has added ^M's to the end of
every line, which are not supposed to
be in the program. This of course, is
what causes the additional message of
(Malformed Headers), which often
displays at the bottom of the "Server
500" message when a CGI script has
crashed.
Once again, BINARY mode is used for
transferring executable programs,
compressed files and all image/picture
files. If you try to upload an image
in ASCII mode, you observer a strange
mess appearing on the page where the
image is suppose to appear. ASCII mode
in this case, has corrupted the binary
coding in the jpeg or gif image. If
this happens, just re-upload it in the
Binary format
Setting your FTP client to
automatically detect ASCII and Binary
file transfers:
Most FTP
programs have "AUTO" mode, which will
tell the FTP client to automatically
detect the file type you're
transferring and will select the
appropriate mode. By default, most FTP
programs will attempt to transfer
everything in binary mode, but when
"Automatic" is selected, the FTP
client will check a list of known
ASCII extensions, (for example, .pl, .cgi,
.txt). If it detects one of these
extensions, it automatically switches
to ASCII mode.
By Default, most of the well-known
files to be uploaded in ASCII are
already entered, however you can
manually add additional extensions
that you would like to transfer in
ASCII mode by selecting the feature
called "Extensions." Here, you can any
additional extensions that will cause
the FTP client to toggle to ASCII mode
automatically upon detecting an
extension entered in its list.
Remember, you must set your transfer
mode to "Automatic" for this to work.
File types and what they represent:
Various file
types can effect both the behavior of
your files, as well as how the server
treats them. While there are numerous
file extensions, which represent a
host of various file types, we'll
stick to the basic ones in this quick
overview:
The
.html file:
This is one is
the most commonly used and the most
one of you are already familiar with.
Html stands for (hypertext Markup
Language). Essentially, it tells the
server, as well as the clients browser
to process and display the .html
coding in a way, which is meaningful
to the end user through a browser.
The .htm
file:
Many of you have
probably noticed this newer extension
appearing in place of the traditional
.html one. In short, .htm is most
often created, and or generated from
the Microsoft FrontPage web editor.
The two are essentially the same and
provide the same basic purpose. Unless
you're using FrontPage, you will
probably use the .html extension at
the end of your web pages.
The .gif
and .jpg file:
Most commonly
used because of its good compression
in web page images. Generally, .gif
files are the fastest loading, as they
remove a lot of information, which is
not required to maintain image
integrity, but to a point however.
.jpg will allow more flexibility in
compression and quality settings,
however can also result in larger
files.
The .CGI
and the .pl file:
.cgi and .pl are
most often used for perl scripts. Perl
scripts are small text based programs,
which are executed on the server end,
and will perform a host of interactive
functions for a web site. In short,
when a .pl or .cgi file is called, it
tells the server to process it using
the "Perl Interpreter." The Perl
Interpreter understands the
programming within the script, and
will perform the set of sub routines,
which will yield your desired effect.
This desired effect could be anything
from a simple web page counter, to
more complex programs such as
discussion forums, e-commerce
platforms, to online auctions. In many
cases, you can download these "ready
to go" scripts for free, and in others
you may have to purchase them.
FrontPage and FTP:
If you're
planning on using Microsoft FrontPage
to manage your web site, there are a
couple of issues things you may want
to keep in mind:
There are two worlds. The General Unix
hosting world, and the Microsoft
world. While this is not necessarily a
bad thing, Microsoft had indeed
decided to play by its own rules. As
a result, FrontPage does not always
conform to the rules of Unix, so you
should be extremely careful when
accessing a FrontPage web via FTP.
It's easy to damage the FrontPage web,
as well as it's associated server
extensions, and if it happens, you may
loose the ability to administrate it
from your FrontPage Explorer. To avoid
problems like this:
-
Do not alter, or delete files that
are part of a FrontPage web
-
Do delete, move, or alter
directories ending in _vtf. These
are the FrontPage extensions
The ultimate solution:
If possible, try to create your
FrontPage webs in sub-directories of
your root. For example, http://www.yourdomain.com/home.
This way, you can safely FTP into your
root account to perform other tasks,
while avoiding the FrontPage webs,
which are safely out of the way in
their own separate homes. Remember! DO
NOT delete any folders, which end in _vtf!
This will kill your FrontPage web, and
we'll have to reinstall the extensions
for you. For additional
information on FrontPage, please see
our dedicated tutorial on it.
Using CGI programming:
Where to place your CGI scripts:
Although there
is nothing dangerous about placing cgi
scripts in random directories
throughout your site, it's best if you
keep them in their own little home
known as the cgi-bin. This minimizes
security risks and allows you to
maintain your cgi programs from one
directory.
The path to Perl:
One of the first
things you must do when configuring a
script, is set the correct path to the
Perl interpreter, which is the engine
responsible for processing the script.
The path to Perl on our servers is:
#!/usr/bin/perl
The path to Sendmail:
Some programs
such as the ones, which send email
will need to know where the Sendmail
program resides on the server. The
script will typically have a setting
like this: $mailprog = '/usr/sbin/sendmail';
and will want you to set it
appropriately. Sendmail on our servers
can be found here: /usr/sbin/sendmail or
/usr/lib/sendmail.
Setting directories within your cgi
scripts:
When you
configure a cgi script for "any"
server, it may ask you to set
variables such as the base, relative,
and CGI directory/url settings. Here's
an "example" using Matt Wright's
wwwboard.pl script. Obviously, each
script may vary, but this should
provide you with some basic idea:
$basedir = "/home/yourlogin/public_html/wwwboard";
$baseurl = "http://www.webhostingproviderservices.com/wwwboard";
$cgi_url = "http://www.webhostingproviderservices.com/cgi-bin/wwwboard.pl";
Most scripts come with documentation
on how to set these directories.
Please make sure you read and
understand it before configuring the
script. New to cgi? Here is a page
with questions and answers to numerous
questions evolving around the inns and
outs of using cgi within your scripts:
http://www.w3.org/Security//www-security-.html
Another
excellent site, which provides step by
step chapters is:
http://www.cgi101.com/class/
Understanding File Permissions:
There are a
number of file permissions, which can
be used for a variety of different
purposes, however we'll limit this
tutorial to the ones most commonly
used. To begin with, it's important
you understand the three categories of
permissions, which are:
Owner Permissions:
The owner is
you. In most cases, this is not so
much of a concern, as you can only
obtain owner permissions in one of two
ways. 1. FTP into your account using
your Username and Password. 2. Login
via Telnet with the same information.
Group Permissions:
The represents a
group of users who have access to a
particular directory. For example, a
password protected directory, whereas
only members can access it upon
providing the correct Username and
Password. In this case, any
permissions you assign to "Group"
would be applicable to users with
access to that particular directory.
Public Permissions:
This is the most
important one of all. Public
permissions determine what your world
wide visitors can and cannot do with
your files. ALWAYS make sure you
understand what a particular
permission does before assigning it to
a file. If not, you may wakeup to find
your website demolished by some clown
who was snooping about and gained
access to your files.
Setting
File Permissions:
To set
file permissions:
1.
Login with your
FTP client
2.
Open the
directory where the file you wish to
set permissions on resides
3.
Right click on
the file and select CHMOD
A box similar to the one above
will appear
Observe how you can "select" the
individual permissions you want, or
simply enter the 3 digit number if you
know what it is. Most instructions
included with downloaded scripts will
tell indicate this to you.
By default, all
files uploaded to the server
automatically have permissions set to
644. The setting 644 is relatively
safe, as it provides "Read" and
"Write" access to the owner, while
limiting the rest of the public to
"Read Only" access.
When setting permissions for cgi
scripts, the most common permissions
setting is 755. 755 allows the owner
"Read and Write" access, while
allowing the Group and Public "Read
and Execute" permissions. So what are
we actually saying? In short, when
users access your cgi script, the
server has been instructed to grant
them permissions to "Read and Execute"
it. Sound scary? It's not actually…
Remember that a script is a program
that must be processed by the server.
As long as the script is written
properly, you can safely allow users
to execute it, and thus providing the
desired results. For example, if they
wanted to post a message to your
wwwboard discussion forum, then they
would need these permissions to
execute wwwboard.pl, which would write
their new message to an html file,
which is displayed on the main forum.
The new message would reside in a
directory on your site so other users
could view it. Most cgi, perl and
other scripts you'll be installing
come complete with instructions
telling you which permissions you'll
need to set them to.
WARNING!
Setting
permissions on files is a relatively
simple task, however MAKE SURE you
fully understand what it is you're
allowing the public to do with your
files. For example, some less
experienced users often make the fatal
mistake of simply setting ALL of their
files to 777. While 777 will
automatically allow executing
privileges, it also allows full "READ,
WRITE, and EXECUTION ability to the
entire world!!!!
This is how web sites get hacked!
While most visitors have good
intentions, all it takes is one person
whom snoops about your files seeking
an "Open Back Door." This could result
is them gaining full access to your
directories, which means they can do
anything from deleting your entire
site, to defacing it with obscenities.
New to cgi? Here is a page with
questions and answers to numerous
questions evolving around the inns and
outs of using cgi within your scripts:
http://www.w3.org/Security//www-security-.html
Using Server Side Includes - SSI
SSI works in
conjunction with a web page usually
with the .shtml extension. The .shtml
extension tells the server to do
something different with the web page.
When you append the .html or .htm
extension, this tells the server to
"read" the page only. The .shtml
extension tells the server to
"Execute" the page, in addition to
just reading it.
So, why would you want to execute the
page? There are various commands you
can program into a web page, which the
server will look for and parse when
the file is called as .shtml. In many
cases, this mode is used in
conjunction with Server Side Include (SSI)
tags, to call a CGI script. For
example, you have a visitor counter
script, and we'll call it count.cgi.
Every time someone visits your
website, you want the script to be
called, so that it logs the visitor
into a file.
To do this, you would place an SSI tag
into your web page. The tag in this
case, would look something like:
<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/count.cgi"
-->
This small tag, which is hidden in the
html coding of your page is telling
the server to:
1. Go to the cgi-bin
2. Execute count.cgi
That's it! The information has been
captured and processed by the
count.cgi script. Of course, that's
the short version of what happens. The
long version would no doubt, would
take us far beyond the scope of this
document.
PLEASE do not use the .shtml extension
on "all" of your web pages unless it's
absolutely necessary. With a busy web
site, this means that every page must
be executed, as opposed to just read.
This as you can appreciate, can add
considerable memory and CPU load to
the system. As always, read the
instructions that came with your
script carefully. They should
provide specific instructions on how
to configure the script, as well as
the SSI tag.
The ins
and outs of DNS and how it effects
your domain:
Understanding DNS and Name Servers:
This is an area,
which causes a great deal of confusion
amongst both webmasters and end user
clients. Before we go any further,
let's look at this quick analogy: DNS
can be considered something similar to
that of a phone book. When you move
from one location to another, your
last 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, which will assign
you the new phone number. In addition,
they update all directory information
data basis to reflect you as pointing
to this new phone number.
What is
DNS?
DNS stands for
"Domain Name Server." The domain name
server acts like a large telephone
directory in that it's the master
database, which associates a domain
name such as (http://www.mydomain.com)
with the appropriate IP number.
Consider the IP number something
similar to a phone number: When
someone calls
HTTP://WWW.webhostingproviderservices.com/,
your ISP looks at the DNS server, and
asks "how do I contact
webhostingproviderservices.com?" The
DNS server responds, it can be found
at: 38.102.33.100. As the Internet
understands it, this can be considered
the phone number for the server, which
houses the HTTP://WWW.hostdragon.us
web site.
Where are all of the DNS records kept?
This is slightly
more complicated, but for the purpose
of this overview, we'll try to keep it
as general as possible. There are 2
basic places DNS records reside:
International Root name servers (13
exist throughout the world)
Your domain register, where your
current DNS settings reside.
When you register/purchase your domain
name on a particular "registers name
server", your DNS settings are kept on
their server, and in most cases point
your domain to the Name Server of your
hosting provider. This Name Server is
where the IP number (currently
associated with your domain name)
resides.
The entire hierarchy is somewhat
involved, but in short, the world Root
Name Servers can be considered the
master listing of all DNS records, and
there are currently 13 of them in the
world. These name servers are where
all the master DNS records are kept.
The DNS server of your ISP will
typically query the Root Name Servers
once every 24-hours. This is how they
update all of their DNS tables, which
in turn, resolve www requests to the
IP number of the server they reside
on.
Changing your Name Server settings, so
your domain points to your
hostdragon.us
account:
Your "Name
Server Settings" must be updated to
point to your account on
webhostingproviderservices.com. You
originally purchased your domain name
from a register, and this register is
where your current DNS settings
reside. That is, unless you
transferred your domain name to an
alternate register, in which case, you
would control your DNS settings from
there.
The "Register" your domain resides on,
communicates your 'current' DNS
settings with the International Root
name servers, which is turn share this
information with ISP's, routers, and
cache engines around the world. In
essence, it's like a worldwide
directory that other computers can
refer to when they want to match a
domain name with its associate IP
number. This IP number is how the
particular server your website resides
on is located.
Accessing your domain manager:
Simply go to
your domain registers web site, and
look around for links, which point to
something like, domain manager, manage
domain, or something of that
administrative nature. In your
welcoming email, you were sent DNS
settings, which look similar to this
example:
NS1.hostdragon.us
38.102.33.100
NS2.hostdragon.us
38.102.33.101
Most of the newer registers such as
the (OPEN SRS) based entities have
turned this into a 5-minute process.
You simply login to the register,
select 'manage domain' and you'll be
presented with an option to update
your new DNS numbers. Contrary to
popular belief, Network Solutions
'now' also provides an online
interface to change these settings, so
this process with them is no longer as
complicated as it use to be, however
it's still not as simple as the OPEN
SRS based systems. If your particular
register 'does not' provide a domain
manager of some type, then you'll need
to send them a message requesting a
change of DNS. This is an unlikely
scenario, as most every register now
allows you to manage your own domain
settings from a web based interface.
Once you've accessed the "management
interface" of your domain name, look
for a setting, which says "change or
manage DNS settings." In most cases,
you can simply cut and paste the DNS
settings we've sent you directly into
the spaces, which correspond to your
DNS management settings. Remember, the
DNS settings we're displaying here are
an "example."
The 3 to 4 day propagation period -
Understanding what happens during this
time frame:
In short,
patience is a virtue. Remember what we
talked about earlier in this chapter
regarding the shear size and scope of
the worlds DNS system? In short, when
you change your DNS settings, these
new settings must propagate throughout
the worlds DNS servers. It also means
that every ISP (Internet Service
Provider), must update their DNS
records to reflect these new changes,
which in most cases, is done
automatically every 24 hours, but not
always however...
Where do the Root Name Servers receive
their information from?
The Root Name
Servers will query "domain registers"
several times a day. Domain Registers,
being entities such as Network
Solutions, and the newer OPEN SRS
based systems. The Root Name Servers
will gather this information from the
many registers now in existence, and
update their master records
accordingly. Now your ISP must access
the Root Name Servers, and update
their DNS records, which reside on
their 'local' DNS server. This process
is fully automated and most ISP's will
check the Root Name Servers for
updates every 24-hours. Beware
however, that some lame ISP's will
delay this process for as much as 2 to
4 days in some cases. If that happens,
it will no doubt cause additional
confusion, as everyone else will be
reaching your new account on our
servers except you. This is because
your ISP has not updated their DNS
records, and or have not cleared their
DNS cache, which means they'll still
be pointing your domain name to your
old server. If it's a new domain name
you've registered, then you'll receive
a blank "Site Not Found Page."
DNS Cache and your ISP:
There is also
the issue of DNS cache, which is
something we won't go into great
detail about here, but here's the
short version. Every time you access a
site from your ISP, they cache the
URL, as well as its associated IP
number. If their network is properly
setup, these DNS cache records should
"Expire" at least every 24-hours. If
they did not (which is often the
case), you'll experience this: You
enter your http://www.mydomain.com/
URL, and it keeps taking you back to
your old server account.
In a large number of cases, it's the
result of an ISP who "Did Not"
configure their servers to "Expire"
the DNS cache records at the
appropriate intervals. Unfortunately,
this adds additional confusion to
their clients, and especially the ones
whom are trying to point their domain
name to a new server. Yes, it will
make you want to scream sometimes,
however if you understand whom is
actually at fault, then you'll know
who to scream at :)
The DNS propagation process is not
limited to ISP's!
HA.. Just when
you thought you had it all figured
out! Unfortunately, there's more
folks. The Internet itself must
update/clear its DNS cache as well.
When we say the Internet, we mean the
numerous intermediate "points of
access" you're routed through before
reaching your final destination. For
the most part, these intermediate
points of access consist of "Internet
Routers" and "Internet Caching
Engines." These too, maintain their
own DNS cache, which assists them in
routing traffic/resolving URL's to the
correct destination IP's. Don't worry
though, as Internet routers are
usually faster at clearing their DNS
cache than ISP's are.
What to expect during this 2 to 4 day
propagation period:
In most cases,
the propagation process will take at
least 48 hours to complete. The first
thing that happens is the "World Root
Name Servers" will check all of the
various "Domain Registers for updates.
Ok, so now the Root Name Servers have
done their job. The rest of it is up
to the many ISP providers who "should
be" updating their DNS records (at
least every 24 hours), but a number of
them will not.
Side effects that can be expected
during the propagation time frame:
It's perfectly
normal for strange things to happen
within the 48-hour propagation period,
but sometimes longer. While we could
provide a full list of all the
anomalies that can occur during the
DNS propagation period, we'll stick to
some of the most common scenarios that
most people experience:
HELP! My
friends can reach my new site, but I'm
still being directed to the OLD ONE!
This is a class
case of your friends ISP (who did
update their DNS records), but yours
unfortunately did not. As a result,
your ISP is still pointing your domain
name to the old DNS record, which is
your old hosting account. Wait a
couple of more days, and if it appears
that everyone but you can access your
new account, then contact your ISP and
tell them to expire their old DNS
cache records.
WOW! http://www.mydomain.com
was taking me to my new
webhostingproviderservices.com
account just a minute ago, but when I
try it now, I'm being taken back to my
old hosting account - what's up with
this?
In all
likelihood, your ISP may be in the
process of clearing their DNS cache,
and or updating their local DNS server
records. During this small interval,
it's normal to fluctuate between the
new and old web site, as the old DNS
records may not have completely
expired from their cache yet. Give it
another several hours and it should be
fine.
HEY! My new
site comes up for me, but my friends
are being directed to my old one!
Break out the
coffee and donuts, and consider
yourself lucky. Your ISP is on the
ball and updates DNS records/ clears
DNS cache in short regular intervals.
Your friends may be using an ISP,
which is not as fast, and or efficient
at doing so. The only remedy for this
is time. Eventually, the other ISP's
DNS cache will expire and be replaced
with the updated DNS records.
What's going
on with my email? When I try to access
it, I receive a "host does not exist"
or a "cannot authenticate" error
message.
This can happen
for a number of reasons, but in most
cases, it's because your new DNS
records have not fully completed the
propagation process yet. Consequently,
you may be trying to access your old
email account on your "old server",
which you may have already cancelled,
or it's in a state of DNS flux, which
means it points to the new server one
moment, and the next, points back to
the old server.
Give it some more time and it will
eventually settle down. In the
meantime, consider accessing email
from your account using the WebMail
based reader. If your domain has not
propagated as of yet, you can access
your email account via WebMail with
your IP number. Example:
http://12.23.36.78:2082/neomail/neomail.pl
This will allow you to access your
default mailbox on your account.
Replace the IP number with the one we
sent you, and do not remove the :2032
port number in the URL.
Microsoft
FrontPage will not accept a Username
and Password, or displays the error
message (FrontPage Extensions Are Not
Installed).
While you should
be able to access FrontPage with your
associated IP number (until your
domain is resolving to our servers),
this is not always the case. FrontPage
can behave in a number of different
ways depending on which direction the
wind is blowing. In some cases, it
will allow you to initiate an upload
session, but upon asking for your
Username and Password, will not
recognize them. If this happens, the
best thing to do is wait until your
domain name is answering to our
servers. One thing we know for sure,
is FrontPage will work without much of
a problem if you're using the full
www.mydomain.com URL to manage your
site with. Feel free to try it with
your IP, but we cannot guarantee it
will work.
It's been
over a week. Everybody else can access
my new site except me!
Was your domain
originally hosted by your ISP? If so,
they may not have deleted this entry
in their DNS files. This results in
you, and or anyone else accessing the
net from this "particular ISP" being
directed to your old web site on their
servers. A number of ISP's forget this
small detail, which can result in
weeks of utter confusion and
frustration. If this is happening to
you, contact your ISP and make sure
they've made the necessary changes to
their DNS records.
Checking your DNS update status
(outside of your ISP):
In the event
you're becoming impatient, and or are
wondering if the rest of the world
outside of your ISP can access your
new site, you can proxy yourself to
another network and test it there. In
many cases, you'll be surprised to see
your site responding perfectly, yet
when you attempt it directly from your
ISP's servers, it does not exist.
There are several services, which
allow anonymous surfing across the
net. While this is not the intent
here, they can be used for trouble
shooting domain resolution problems.
How? Because they proxy you through
their network, which means your URL
requests are controlled by "their" DNS
cache records. These services
update/expire their DNS cache far more
often than ISP's, which makes them
well suited for testing your domain
name through a network, which operates
with the latest DNS updates across the
web.
To run this check, you can try
accessing your site through one of
these two services:
https://www.safeweb.com/o/_s:top.php3
http://www.anonymizer.com/
Both of them
allow you to enter a URL, and proxy
your request through their servers. If
your site is accessible from these
servers, then chances are, your ISP
has yet to expire their old DNS cache
records.
Working on your account during the DNS
propagation period:
You can still
work on your new account until your
domain name finds it way to our
servers using your "IP Number", which
was included in your welcoming email.
Your IP number is how your new domain
will be identified on our servers.
Using it at this point will provide a
means for you to access your account,
as well as test your new site by using
something like http://
38.102.33.100/~username/
(obviously you'd replace it with the
IP number we sent you).
One easy way to check and see if your
domain is answering to our servers
yet, is to create a file called
"test.html" and place
it in your web directory. Keep
checking the URL http://www.yourdomain.com/test.html
and see if it works. When it does,
you'll know your domain name is
answering to your account on "our
servers", and has been officially
transferred.
The personal DNS (for advanced
webmasters).
Personalized
Name Servers are generally used by
webmasters who will be reselling web
hosting accounts, and want to add a
professional look to their DNS. Why?
If you're reselling accounts under
your own entity, you could use our
name servers, which would be sent to
your customers in the form of:
NS1.hostdragon.us
38.102.33.100
NS2.hostdragon.us
38.102.33.101
Not bad, but what if you want your DNS
settings to appear as a part of your
company? Let's say your company was
www.yourwebhost.com. If you desire,
you could setup your own custom
branded DNS, which could display as:
NS1.YOURWEBHOST.COM 38.102.33.100
NS2.YOURWEBHOST.COM 38.102.33.101
This provides a somewhat more
professional look to your customers
when sending out your DNS settings in
a welcoming email. In addition, if
someone does a WHOIS lookup on your
domain name, it appears as your
personal DNS, as opposed to the
company you're reselling for. Not
really a big deal, but some webmasters
do not want to advertise the host
they're reselling for, as they feel it
does not portray a professional and
independent look.
Personal name servers are offered to
clients whom are a part of our
(reseller program). If you're not a
reseller, please use the standard DNS
settings we provided you. There is no
superior advantage to having your own
name server unless you're a reseller,
and or a web designer who is also
planning on hosting the websites they
build.
Setting Up Sub Domains
What is a Sub-Domain?
A sub domain is
one, which resides under your
top-level domain name, but in many
ways behaves as a "totally independent
domain". You'll observe that many of
the larger corporations use these, as
they're somewhat more professional
looking, and do a better job of
creating an independent precedence for
service or product lines, which appear
as separate web entities.
Example: You're a GM dealer with a
site such as GM.com. You sell
everything from Pontiac's to
Cadillac's. To better organize your
online presence, you could create sub
domains for your various automotive
lines. These would appear as
http://pontiac.gm.com/
or
http://cadillac.gm.com/.
Also note that
in most cases, the domain need not be
called with the http:// or www
protocol. pontiac.gm.com can be
called exactly how it appears here.
Setting up a sub domain:
Thanks to
C-Panel, this task has been made
easier than ever and can be achieved
as follows:
1. Login to
C-Panel
2. Select
Sub Domains
3. Enter the
name
of your new sub
domain
4. Hit
"Add"
That's it! Your
new sub domain is now ready for use.
To find it, login to your "main web
directory" through C-Panel by
selecting "files" or simply use your
favorite FTP client. You'll see it
residing as another directory. Upload
your files to this directory just as
you would with any other. For example,
if you created pontiac, then a
directory called pontiac is what
you'll be looking for.
Independent cgi-bin
All new sub
domains are created with their own
independent cgi-bin. This means your
new sub domain operates independently
of everything else, and is almost like
having a whole new domain. Feel free
to configure all cgi scripts, which
are pertinent to the functioning of
this sub domain. A nice feature, as it
saves your main cgi-bin from becoming
cluttered and somewhat disorganized;
especially if you utilize a lot of cgi
programming.
Independent email for the new sub
domain
- (In final
development)
Yes, you'll observe duplicates of all
"configured pop email accounts"
appearing beside the sub-domain, and
or all sub-domains you've created.
Now I know you'll be tempted to use
(what appears to be) a perfectly good
email address's, BUT please "Don't!"
This is a feature that is in final
development. While it may look
somewhat confusing at first glance,
it's really not. In the near future,
you'll be able to configure these
email accounts for use with your
sub-domains. For example, if you
configured support.yourdomain.com,
then you'll be able to use the address
mailto:tom@support.canada000.com.
For the time being, please configure
email address's that correspond to
your standard "top-level" domain, and
just ignore the sub-domain
duplicates. ALSO: Any duplicate
sub-domain email address's you see
appearing in your pop mail setup
configuration "DO NOT" count towards
your allocated number of pop mail
boxes we've provided.
Configuring Domain Email Systems:
Adding a Pop Email account:
The difference between private pop
mail accounts, and simply using the
"Catch-All" method:
There are two
kinds of email address's you can use,
starting with the "catch all" method:
With the catch all method, you don't
have to worry about setting up
individual pop mail accounts. Simply
set your email client to your
"default" email address (displayed in
C-Panel), and "all" email sent to
anything@yourdomain.com will land in
this box, or whatever you've set your
default address to. This is an easy
way to catch all email sent to your
domain.
In your Email client, feel free to
configure multiple outgoing accounts
at many-different-names@youdomain.com.
It really doesn't matter, as
everything@yourdomain.com will land
in the default account. Therefore,
you would configure all of your email
accounts with the "same" Username and
Password as your "Default domain Email
Account."
EXAMPLE: Let's say you want to receive
mail from mailto:dianne@canada000.com
and mark@yourdomain.com. If both of
these addresses are the ones you'll be
using, then the only thing that
changes is the address - the Username
and Password is "always" the same.
The pop email account method:
In this case, you configure a
"private" pop email account for one or
many users who will be receiving and
sending email from your domain. Once
an email address is configured as a
pop mail account, it operates
privately and independently from your
main standard/default mail system. Any
mail sent to a private pop mail
account "can only be received" by
logging into that account with the
separate username and password you
have assigned it.
Your default
"catch all" account will not intercept
any mail being sent to a pop mail
account, which is what makes it
'private'. Pop 3 accounts are useful
if there are a number of people (for
example employees) who would each need
a private email account.
This way, everyone at your company can
utilize private email. The default
email address plays a slightly
different role in this case: If a
sender uses the 'wrong' Email name or
syntax, then that message would bounce
to your "default catch all" account,
and at which time, you could probably
figure our who the sender was trying
to contact. They do however, have to
at least send it to your correct
domain name, (i'e',
oops@youdomain.com).
This would end
up in your "default" mailbox.
How to configure a pop mail account:
1. Login to
C-Panel
2. Select
"Add/Remove
accounts"
3. Select
"Add Account"
4. Enter an
email name
5. Select
"Create"
Just enter a
name, (the
@yourdomain
part is added
automatically)
That's it, done!
Your private pop 3 email account is
now ready for use. If you're a little
lost on how to manually configure an
email account into your mail reader,
please see the detailed tutorials on
how to configure Outlook and Netscape
mail readers.
SPECIAL
NOTE!
If you've
enabled Sub-Domains, you'll observe a
duplicate email account appearing,
which corresponds to each sub-domain
you've added. Please ignore these
duplicate addresses for the time
being. This is a new feature under
development and will soon enable the
ability to configure email accounts
for your sub-domains. For example, if
you configured support.yourdomain.com,
then you'll be able to use the address
mailto:tom@support.canada000.com.
For the time being, please configure
email address's that correspond to
your "regular"
domain, and just ignore the sub-domain
duplicates. ALSO: Any duplicate
sub-domain email address's you see
appearing in your pop mail setup
configuration "DO NOT" count towards
your allocated number of pop mail
boxes we've provided. In short, just
ignore them for now :-)
Setting Your Default Email Address:
It appears
pretty simple, but read through this
documentation, as this controls much
more that you'd expect. As mentioned
in the previous chapter, your "default
email address" is the one, which can
be used as a "catch all", or in other
words, to "catch all mail", which is
addressed to
anything@yourdomain.com.
Using a catch
all can be a blessing and sometimes a
curse.
The "catch all" is excellent if you
have a high frequency of people whom
mistype your email address, as these
addresses (even though mistyped), will
simply be bounced to your "catch all"
or "default" email account. That is,
providing they at least managed to
spell your domain name properly :)
If you're not
planning on using multiple "private
email boxes", then you can keep life
very simple - just configure the
default email address in your mail
reader and leave it at that. This
way, you'll receive everything sent to
your domain. There are indeed pro's
and con's to this method, which will
be discussed in this tutorial.
Setting your default/catch all email
account:
Note:
By default, or
until you change it, the default email
address will be the same as your
"login name."
1. Login to
C-Panel
2. Select
"Default
Address"
3. Select
"Set Default
Email Address"
4. Enter a
desired
default email address
Just enter a
name, (the
@yourdomain
part is added
automatically)
Select
"Change"
and you'll see a
confirmation box, which displays your
new default email address. That's it-
done!
Remember:
In order to
receive mail, which finds its way into
your "Default Mailbox", you must
configure the default address in your
mail reader. If you don't, then all
mail, which bounces to this address
will sit on the server unread. This
is easy to do in Outlook Express, as
it allows you to configure and monitor
multiple email accounts. Email
readers such as Netscape on the other
hand, are limited to "one" email
account. Actually, you could
re-configure your mail reader to check
your default email box every few days,
but who wants to be bothered with that
trouble? We suggest using an email
reader, which allows you to configure
multiple email accounts.
The
Webmail Alternative:
You can also
check your default email account, or
another other mail account by logging
into it through the "WebMail"
interface. Simply select the "WebMail"
icon at the bottom of C-panel, and log
in to it using your "Main
Account" Username and
Password. This will allow to to check
your default email box, as well as
other mailboxes without having to
configure them in your mail reader.
In fact, using any pop accounts
"Username and Password" will log you
into that particular account through
the "WebMail" interface.
The downside of enabling "Catch All":
Problems can
sometimes arise when Spammers or junk
mailers use this feature as a means to
pump their trash into your mailbox. As
long as the "catch all" is enabled,
then all they must do is send to
whatever@yourdomain.com
and it will
reach you.
On the other hand, if you're using
"specific pop email accounts", you
could opt to disable the "catch all",
which would mean that "only visitors
or associates who you've given a
specific address to" can send mail to
a particular email account on your
domain.
In this case,
everything else, (that you have not
configured as a pop mail account) is
bounced back to the sender. In our
opinion, we suggest leaving your
"catch all" enabled for the time
being. If Spammers begin sending
random junk messages using
anything@yourdomain.com,
then you can disable your "catch all"
feature.
Disabling your "Catch All Feature"
Instead of
entering a (syntax legal name), use
illegal syntax, which will effectively
disable your email "catch all." For
example, using characters, which are
known as 'illegal' to the email system
such as (>>>????)
will work just fine. These are
characters, which cannot be used in an
email address, which in effect, will
render the "Catch All"
feature useless. Go to your "change
default email address" and add
something like the above as default
name.
What
happens now?
When Spammy or
Jimmy junk mailer attempts to use a
random email address to Spam you, it
will be bounced back to them. That is,
unless they happen to get a hold of
one of your "legitimate pop email
account names", in which case, you'd
have a different problem on your
hands. Yes, you could either deal with
it, or change the address.
Here is what now happens to a sender
using anything@yourdomain.com :
This is what the
sender would receive. Please note that
a classic, but annoying junk mail
example is being used here:
This message was
created automatically by mail delivery
software (Exim).
A message that you sent has not yet
been delivered to one or more of its
recipients after more than 24 hours on
the queue on
yourdomain.com.
The message identifier is:
14m7gv-0007gl-00
The date of the message is: Mon, 04
June 2001 01:23:02 -0400
The subject of the message is:
MAKE
MILLIONS FAST!
The address to which the message has
not yet been delivered is:
anything@yourdomain.com
Delay reason: error in alias file
/etc/valiases/anything@yourdomain.com:
missing or malformed local part
(expected word or "<") in "******>>>"
(Bad
email syntax)
No action is required on your part.
Delivery attempts will continue for
some time, and this warning may be
repeated at intervals if the message
remains undelivered. Eventually the
mail delivery software will give up,
and when that happens, the message
will be returned to you.
So what actually happened here?
When the "Catch
All" email address (******>>>@yourdomain.com),
attempted to process an incoming
message from
anything@yourdomain.com,
and then forward
the (junk message in this case) to the
"catch all/Default" email address, it
freaked out, and said forget it!!
The default email address was set to
******>>> in this case, which is
clearly an email address using
"illegal characters", so the sending
process was aborted. Therefore, the
mail system bounced back the above
error message to the sender. There are
numerous tricks and special recipes
you can 'manually' write into the Unix
email system for doing essentially the
same thing, however through C-Panel,
this would certainly seem the easiest
way of accomplishing the task.
Configuring Email Auto Responder's
What is an Email Auto Responder?
Email auto
responders will automatically send a
customized auto response (that you
compose) to any visitor whom emails
the address configured with one. More
specifically, automated responses are
sometimes used to send additional
information about your service or
product by having a visitor email
something like
moreinfo@yourdomain.com.
In most other cases, they are used to
send a 'courtesy reply' to anyone whom
sends a query to your companies main
email address. When visitors email
this address, they recieve a response
such as: Thanks for contacting our
company! Someone will be returning a
response to your question soon. If you
require immediate assistance, please
call 555-222-1212. Thanks!), and
so forth.
There
are two types of Auto Responders:
The
silent Auto Responder:
In this case,
you configure the responder to send
the desired information when it's
emailed, however you 'do not'
receive copies of the inquiries that
people originally sent. This method
is typically used if you have a
product and want people to email an
address for additional information on
it. You simply tell them to email
moreinfo@yourdomain.com,
and they receive
additional information on it. Again,
you 'will not' receive receipts of the
visitors emailing the auto responder.
If you want to do this, please read
the next paragraph.
The Auto
Responder that sends you the original
inquiry:
In this case,
the auto responder is setup to work
with a (currently configured pop
email account). Now, the sender
receives your automated response, and
you receive their 'original
inquiry'.
How to
setup an Auto Responder:
1. login to
C-panel
2. Select
"Auto
Responders"
3. Select
"Add Auto
Responder"
4. Enter the
"Email
Address"
to send the auto response
5. Enter a
"From"
name, (for
example, my company)
6. Enter a "Subject", (for
example, thank you)
7. Enter your message in the
"Body"
area
Select "Create"
and
that's it! Your auto responder is now
online. To test it, email its address
and see if you receive the auto
response. If you've configured it to
an existing pop mail account, you
should receive 2 responses. The first,
which is your inquiry, (that you just
sent to yourself), and the second,
which will be the automated response.
Remember!
If you want to
receive the "Incoming Inquiries" in
addition to sending the automated
response, then add an email address,
which is "already" configured as a
"pop email account." If you "do
not" wish to receive the original
incoming inquiry, then simply enter a
name, which "Is Not" configured as one
of your existing pop mail accounts.
If at anytime you want to update,
edit, or delete an auto response,
simply go back into "Auto responders"
and you'll see the current responders
configured, as well as options beside
each of them to change or delete.
Blocking Unwanted Email Messages:
From time to
time, you may experience either a junk
mailer or some other menacing
individual whom keeps sending you
annoying email messages. C-Panel has a
built in feature, which allows you to
block these email messages in a
multitude of different ways. You can
block them by:
- Sender
- Subject
- Message Header
- Message Body
Of course, if
all you want to do is block one
specific email address, then you don't
have to worry about getting fancy with
it - just enter the email address to
be blocked, and that's it, done!
How to
use the block email function:
1. Login to
C-Panel
2. Select
"Block an Email"
3. Select
"Add Filter"
If all you want
to do is block a single email address,
then simply leave the "current default
setting" as is, and enter in the email
address to be blocked. For example,
annoying-nolife@nothingbettertodo.com
Click
"Add Filter",
and that's it done!
When you click
"Back" or login to this feature next
time, you'll see the list of email
address's, and or expressions you've
blocked. Beside each one of them will
be a "Delete" option, so that you can
remove the block from your account at
a future time. NOTE:
When you block an email address, or
some other keyword, this filtering
will be enabled on "All Email
Accounts" within your domain.
Advanced Blocking:
For those of who
whom experience frequent problems with
junk email messages, you'll be please
to see this option provides a broad
range of blocking options. Instead of
having us try to explain every last
one of them here, this is a feature
you'll really want to experiment with
yourself.
Doing so, will allow you to become
familiar with the ways that email can
be blocked, and will also help you
with customizing a recipe that works
best for your domain. Play around with
the settings, and try to block words,
or phrases based on the From Name,
Subject, or Message Body Text. Now,
send an email to your account and see
if the terms and criteria you selected
are providing the filtering you want.
It may take a little time to master,
but it's fun, and a great way to
broaden your abilities on web site
administration. FINAL NOTE:
If you're totally new to email
blocking, and wish to explore its full
potential, we highly suggest you test
it before launching your site. This
way, you don't have to worry about
accidentally disrupting email for your
entire domain.
Hint:
Unless you're 100% sure of what a
setting will do, always delete it when
you're finished, or until you have
time to run a series of tests on it.
You want to ensure it's blocking what
it's supposed to, and not
legitimate email messages!
A big
junk mail problem:
If you're
experiencing a high volume of junk
mail, then there's a good possibility
Spammers are taking advantage of your
"catch all" option. To disable this,
please see our tutorial on "Default
Email Address."
Email Forwarding:
Email forwarding
is a feature, which forwards an email
that originated from your domain, to
another email address. The forwarding
address can be another email address
within 'your domain', or to an
'external email' address, (for example
to your home ISP email account). There
are two types of email forwarding:
Forward
silently to another address:
In this case,
the email address from your domain
(setup for forwarding) will divert all
messages to the forwarding address
you've selected, and without sending
you a copy of the original message.
For example,
you@yourdomain.com
will
automatically forward all messages to
you@mindspring.com.
Pretty straight
forward. (no pun intended).
Forward
to another address, but also send you
the "original inquirey":
This is the
method most commonly used. For
example, you have two other partners
who wish to receive all incoming
inquiries to the company. Perhaps
you're the one who responds to them,
but your counterparts would like
copies of the incoming activity as
well. The method for accomplishing
this is pretty well the same as above,
except in this case you would
configure one of your "existing pop
email accounts", as that is how you'd
receive a copy of the original
incoming message.
Example: When
General@company.com
(your companies
main address) is mailed, you would
typically be the only one to receive
the response, however if you've
configured forwards for your two
counterparts (Bob and Mary), then
bob@doodles.com
and
mary@yourdomain.com
could also
receive a copy of the incoming
messages.
How to
setup a mail forward:
1. Login to
C-Panel
2. Select
"Forwarders"
3. Enter a
configured pop
email account
name if you want
to recieve original inquiries.
(Enter a none configured email address
if you do not)
4. Enter the
email address
you want it to
relay a copy of the message to
5. Select
"Add Forward"
All
messages will now be forwarded to the
forwarding address, and with a copy
sent to you
Need to Forward to more than
one person?
Simply repeat the above process using
the same address you've setup as the
forward, and enter the additional
recipients you would like to send a
copy of the message to. All email
forwards will be listed in your "Email
Forwarder" administrator. You can
delete forwards when you no longer
require them,
Testing
your forward.
If you want to
test your new mail forward, it's
recommended that the email account
you're testing from "is not" one of
the accounts you're using in
conjunction with the forwarder you've
just setup. For example, if you've
configured
harry@yourdomain.com
to forward
copies to
bob@doodles.com
and
mary@yourdomain.com,
then send a test
message from an email address, other
than one of the addresses you've just
setup, otherwise it can somewhat
confusing in figuring out which
message was coming from the actual
forward, and which was the original
sent from you.
Accessing your mail through the web
based interface
C-Panel
extends the versatility of its email
system by allowing you to access any
one of your email accounts through its
own web mail interface. You have the
choice of accessing all mail through
the web, or any of your private pop
email accounts. Gone are the days of
having to create several email
accounts on various free html based
mail systems, as now you have your
own, which operates from "your
account."
Accessing your mail through the web
mail interface:
1. Login to
C-Panel
2. Select
"Add Remove
Accounts"
Beside the email
account you wish to access, Select the
"Read WebMail"
button. A
username and password prompt will
appear, and are the same as the
username and password you created with
that particular account. NOTE:
Remember to use the "full' email
address as the account login name
for the account you're accessing.
The
first screen you'll see:
If it's the
first time you're accessing this email
account through WebMail, a setup
screen appears. Actually, all this
really does is display how you'll be
identifying yourself in email
messages. Everything is pretty much
the same as what you setup the
"original pop mail account" with,
however check it closely and make sure
everything is appearing as you want
it.
Does
everything look correct?
If so, then
click "Save" and a dialog box pops up,
which confirms your settings as being
saved successfully. Click "Continue"
and you'll be taken to your WebMail
inbox. To the top left of the screen,
you'll observe the following icons.
Clicking on any one of them will do
the following.
Notes:
|
 |
Compose a new message |
|
 |
Refresh the screen |
|
 |
View user preferences |
|
 |
Open address book |
|
 |
View or add new folders |
|
 |
Empty your trash folder |
To delete or
move a message, select the small box
beside it. Select where you which to
place it using the drop down menu (top
right of screen), then click
"Move".
-
Open address
book,
allows you to add and edit email
address's . You can also export your
Outlook or
Netscape Address Book,
which equips
your account with all the email
address's
you currently use.
|
