Linux Web Hosting Manual & Guide
 


Chapter 5 - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS




What are all the files and directories in my home directory?

public_html............This is your web directory. Place all your web files in there.

www....................
This is the same directory. They are aliased/linked to each other.

public_ftp.............This is your anonymous ftp directory. Users can only download from this directory the files that you place there.

public_ftp/incoming....This is the anonymous user upload area.

public_html/webstore...This is the WebStore Shopping Cart directory.

public_html/webstore4..This is the WebStore 4.0 Shopping Cart directory.

_private...............This is part of MS Frontpage Extensions. DO NOT TOUCH.

_vti_*.................These are parts of MS Frontpage Extensions. DO NOT TOUCH.

public_html/cgi-bin....This is your cgi-bin directory. Put all of your own scripts here. This is not the location of the preinstalled scripts.

cpanel.................This is your Control Panel. DO NOT TOUCH. You may utilize the control panel thru: http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/login

.xfm...................This is your part of your Control Panel. DO NOT TOUCH. You may utilize the control panel thru: http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/login

.lists.................
This is your Mailing List information. DO NOT TOUCH. You may utilize the control panel thru: http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/login

.mail..............
....This is your Mail information. DO NOT TOUCH. You may utilize the control panel thru: http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/login




How do I run my own CGI programs?

Put your CGI programs in the cgi-bin directory.
  • The cgi-bin should automatically change the permissions to chmod 755 for you

A special note - this does not apply to frontpage webs, follow normal cgi instructions

The location of preinstalled scripts is /cgi-sys.




How do I use cgiemail, and Formmail ?

These programs can be set up through your control panel. The utilities are located in the CGI Script area.


CGIemail:This is a program that will email you the forms filled out from the web.


Formmail is a very easy to use form processor, simply place the following on any page after entering your domain.

<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="http://yourdomain.com/cgi-sys/FormMail.cgi">
<input type=hidden name="recipient" value="sales@yourdomain.com">
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="Order">
<input type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://yourdomain.com/">
<input type=hidden name="return_link_title" value="Back to Main Page">

Be sure to replace yourdomain, with your real domain name.

How do I use counters, clocks, and calendars ?


Please use your control panel CGI Scripts area to create a counters, clocks, and calendars. There is a huge selection of styles available.



How do I use the anonymous ftp site?

This is preset up with every account. Your anonymous FTP account is the public_ftp directory in your root directory. You can create user specified logins in your public_html directory thru the browser control panel interface.



How do I create email aliases and forwarders?

Please use your control panel to create an alias/forward.




How do I use the auto-responders?

Please use your control panel to create an auto-responder.


How do I see who is using my auto-responders?

The original email that that your visitor sent to receive your auto-responder message will wind up in your default mailbox, unless you set up a pop or forwarder of the same name as the auto-responder. You can then see who requested an auto-responder, by the email that you have received.


How do I create a mailing list?

Please use your control panel to create mailing lists.
There may be extra charges if your mailing list is very large - more than 1000 subscribers.




How do I use Real Audio(tm) and Video(tm)?

Real Audio(tm) and Video(tm) is available, see section 1.2.6


How do I change my login password?

Please use your control panel to change your passwords.

If you have telnet access to your domain, login and type "passwd" to change
your password. You can exit the telnet session by typing "exit".



How do I check the web usage stats for my domain?

Please use your control panel to check your stats. Numerous analysis programs are available in the Web/FTP Stats area of the control panel.


I need to configure my mail reading program so I can access my emails. What are the proper settings?

Assume your domain is fred.com

Smtp = mail.fred.com
pop = username@fred.com
*** Replace username with what the control panel gave you as your login.
from = anyname@fred.com
passwd = was chosen in "pass" field of control panel pop setup


What is the correct path to perl(and other programs)?

perl5: /usr/bin/perl
perl5.003: /usr/bin/perl5.003
perl5.004: /usr/bin/perl5.004
sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
date: /bin/date
java: /usr/bin/java
python: /usr/bin/python

Domain paths
using example if your domain was fred.com and username is fred

  • Main dir: /home/fred/public_html/
  • Cgi-bin: /home/fred/public_html/cgi-bin



What are the basic Frontpage settings?

Assume your domain is fred.com

location to publish to: fred.com
FTP server name: fred.com
Directory path: /home/fred/public_html/
or
Directory path: /fred/public_html/
Username: fred
Passwd: Same as control panel.


What are the basic Msql settings?

mSQL is installed, however it is not supported dueto the complexity of the program.


What are the basic Msql settings?
Please use your control panel to create error pages.
http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/login

Make a file called .htaccess in the your public_html dir. (if it exists just add the line)
Add this line:
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html
and you can edit /home/username/public_html/404.html


How do I use the SSL server for my order form?


Normally, any text(such as your credit card number) sent from your browser to the web server is sent as plain text. This means that a hacker could potentially intercept(however unlikely) the information sent from your browser and read it.
However, by using the secure server, the information is encrypted before it is sent from your browser. It would be practically impossible for anyone to decrypt it without knowing the key.
Please use the secure server only when necessary.

SSL Security covered in detail in section 3.5


Setting Up IMAP Mail Clients

Read
here