Web-site uploading
How do I upload my web site?
Web
scripting and interaction with users
What operating system does the server run?
How do I get CGI scripts to work?
How
do I get PHP3 scripts to work?
Are Server Side Includes (SSI) enabled?
Performance and web-site analysis
How
busy is the server? Can I watch its traffic?
How busy is my site? Where are my weekly
site stats?
E-Commerce
How can my site take credit card payments?
How
do I access my mail using POP3?
The
POP3 server is at delysid.bltc.net (on port 110 as is
normal.) Use the same user name and password that we gave you
for FTP access.
If you have more than one email address ("alias") and
have asked for them to be sent to separate email boxes, each one
will have the same server but a different user name and password.
We will have sent these to you when the service was arranged.
For security reasons there is no automatic system for re-issue
- instead, please contact
us.
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I'm getting a lot of spam. Can anything be done to reduce it? Will I lose any messages?
The server uses three lists to block potential spam:
- RBL (Realtime Blackhole List) which blocks email from servers whose
owners are known to deliberately not conform with the spam- and mail-fraud prevention practices defined at http://www.mail-abuse.org.
- RSS (Relay Spam Stopper) which blocks email coming via "open
relays". An open relay is a server that allows anyone anywhere to
send email to anyone else anywhere else through it. Most spam is
sent this way. Mail servers can easily be configured to allow only
mail relevant to that server to pass through.
- DUL (Dialup Users List) which blocks email coming directly from
someone connected to the Internet via a modem or ISDN. Much spam
is sent this way. Legitimate email from dialup customers should be
going via their ISP's mail server which would not be on this list
and therefore not get blocked.
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How
can I have a mailing list for my site?
There are two sorts of mailing list. You should tell us whether you want 1) an "info list" to which only one person, normally you, posts announcements; or 2) a "discussion list" to which anyone on the list can post. You can have multiple lists under a single domain. A web-based administration tool allows you to subscribe and unsubscribe email addresses from the list. Alternatively, your subscribers can add or remove themselves via email.
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What domain name(s) should I register for my site?
Ideally, your domain name should be short, memorable and authoritative. If you are based in the UK, then it probably best to register the .co.uk and the .com; and perhaps also the .org and .net. We can set up your domains as separate hosts, or alternatively, they can point to the same address. You may also wish to register any likely misspellings of your domain, hyphenated and unhyphenated versions where appropriate, and any particular goods, products or services with which your company is associated. You can check domain name availability by going to http://www.checkdomain.com. Sometimes, if a domain is taken, it may be available on the secondary market, but prices are typically expensive. To register an unclaimed domain, you will need to send us the name you wish to appear as the legal registrant (i.e. the domain "owner"), your address, post-code/Zip code, phone number and an e-mail address. When you own a domain, it is also possible to set up an unlimited number of extra sub-domains i.e. subdomain.mydomain.com.
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How do I upload my web site?
We recommend that you first download CuteFTP. When you have installed the program, open it, then click on "file", then "site manager", then "new". Choose any label you like for your site. In the FTP host address field, type "www.mydomain.com". Then type the FTP username and password we have allocated you: a username and password ensures that only you can upload or modify files on your site. You can ignore the other fields. Then click "connect". The left-hand panel in CuteFTP represents your web site on your local computer; the right-hand panel represents your site on the Internet. You should try to keep them identically matched. To upload your site, simply select and then drag-and-drop your files from the left-hand panel to the right-hand panel in CuteFTP.
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What operating system does the server run?
Our London Telehouse server runs Debian, a free operating system using the Linux kernel.
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How
do I get CGI scripts to work?
Our
web server - Apache - is configured to recognize script and program
files in all document directories - i.e. anywhere you'd normally
put HTML files - with the extension either ".cgi" or ".pl". So
you don't need to put the files in a special cgi-bin directory
outside of your site.
Your CGI
files must have execute and read permission set
for "other" users in order to work. Otherwise you'll
get the "You don't have permission..." or "Premature end of script
headers..." error messages. To set execute and read permission
you can use a good FTP program - see the documentation for your
chosen one. Or if you have "telnet" access to your site,
send the file by FTP then login, find the file, and type something
like:
chmod a+rx myscript.cgi
The file must
also have UNIX-style line endings. Sometimes your DOS or Windows
computer may change these, so if you're FTP-ing from a non-UNIX
machine, it's best to use ASCII mode rather than binary. Naturally,
we'd recommend that you also get a good programming text editor,
like TextPad,
so the problem won't arise. Otherwise, once the file is uploaded,
login and type:
dos2unix myscript.cgi
Finally, if you
want to use Perl for your CGI you need this "magic string"
on the first line because Perl lives in different places on different
computers. So if you have downloaded a freebie script from the internet,
this is something you will have to change.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
You can run
your script with a simple link to its URL, like this:
http://www.mydomain.org.uk/myscript.cgi?extrainfo=likethis
or with a
form, in which case your form has the "action" set to
be the URL for the script, like this:
<form action="http://www.mydomain.org.uk/myscript.cgi">
<input name="extrainfo" value="likethis">
<input type="submit" value="Submit Query" name="submit">
</form>
If you have
problems getting your script to run, have a look at recent entries
in your "error_log" file, since that's where the error
streams from CGI scripts end up. Use a command like more
to page through the file, or just use tail to see the
last line. The file will have a name of the form:
/home/me/www.mysite.com-logs/error_log
For more
information on our web server and its capabilities, See the Apache RTFM pages
for a very brief explanation, or see the User's
Guide.
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How
do I get PHP3 scripts to work?
Name files with the extension ".php3"
instead of ".html" or whatever. The file will be passed
onto the PHP module in Apache.
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Are
Server Side Includes (SSI) enabled?
Yes.
Give files the ".shtml" extension.
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How
busy is the server?
Yes.
Go to http://delysid.bltc.net/mrtg/ to
see the traffic to and from our main apache web server.
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How
busy is my site? Where are my weekly stats?
Go to http://stats.bltc.net/
You enjoy full access to log files including referer and browser
fields via FTP and Webalizer graphical
analysis of these logs via the web. Note your website is accessible both as http://yourdomain.com/ and http://www.yourdomain.com/
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How can my site take credit card payments?
You will need a secure server to collect credit card numbers encrypted over the Internet.
The address under which your pages appear will be of the form https://www.yourdomainname.com. We will arrange to provide you with an SSL [Secure Socket Layer Web Server] certificate from an appropriate certifying authority.
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