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| 1.
What is FTP?
2. What does "Unlimited FTP Site Updates"
mean?
3. What is the first step in setting up a website?
4. How do I gain FTP access to my site?
5. How do I "upload" and "download"
files using CuteFTP?
6. Where do I put the index.html file?
7. What does "updating the site" mean?
8. What is HTML, and what is an HTML editor?
9. How do I set up email accounts with my domain?
10. What about Email Autoresponders?
11. How do I set up an Email Autoresponder?
12. What is an email redirect account?
13. How do I set up email redirect accounts?
14. How can I track who is requesting email from my
Autoresponders?
15. What is a MailBot or ListServ?
16. How do I set up a MailBot?
17. How do I get a domain name?
18. Will you do the domain name registration for me?
19. What about reselling?
20. Do you allow "adult" sites?
21. How do I get access to traffic statistics for my
site?
22. Does dotxtra.net really offer unlimited hits?
23. What is dotxtra.net's policy on "spam,"
or unsolicited email?
24. What about Microsoft Frontpage 98?
25. Hey I just checked out my new site - and the counter
does not work!!
26. Do you have an 'uptime' guarantee?
27. Can you help me with my HTML, webpage, CGI programming,
etc?
28. How do I change my domain over to dotxtra.net from
my old hosting company?
29. Can I change a password to my email account, FTP
account, or main account?
30. Where are you located?
31. Do you offer tech assistance by telephone?
32. I don't want to learn HTML or design a web site
- can you design it for me?
33. I can't get my CGI script to work. HELP!!
1.
What is FTP?
FTP is File Transfer Protocol, an internet protocol
used to transfer materials over the Internet. It is
very fast, very efficient, and very reliable. |
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2.
What does "Unlimited FTP Site Updates" mean?
This means that you have access to your site via FTP over
the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can "upload"
files to your site - in other words, transfer files from
your computer to the dotxtra.net webserver on the Internet
- and you can also "download" files from your
site - in other words, transfer files from your site on
the dotxtra.net webserver, to your computer. |
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3.
What is the first step in setting up a website?
The first step is to gain FTP access to your site, and
upload the initial file to the proper directory. This
initial file is generally named index.html, and it is
the web page that will be returned when you call up www.yourdomain.com |
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4.
How do I gain FTP access to my site?
First, get the best FTP program on the Internet, which
in our humble opinion is CuteFTP. You can download it
at: http://www.cuteftp.com/
After it's installed, run the program (double click on
the yellow icon), and then click Add Folder - this is
where you will store your FTP site info. Then click Add
Site. In the panel that comes up, enter a name - call
it anything you want - ftp.yourdomain.com. Then in Host
Address, put: ftp.yourdomain.com. (Obviously if the extension
is NOT .com - if it's .nu or .edu or whatever, you would
use the appropriate extension) In User ID, put your User
ID - this is usually the same as the domain name - and
then in Password, carefully type your password - I say
carefully because it will be masked, so you won't be able
to read it - this password is CASE SENSITIVE!
Now click OK in the lower left of the panel, and you will
see your domainname in the right hand panel - highlight
it and click Connect - lower right part of panel. If all
goes well, the program will establish an FTP connection
with your site and take you to the htdocs/userid directory.
This is the right place to put your index.html file. |
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5.
How do I "upload" and "download" files
using CuteFTP?
CuteFTP is VERY easy to use, and has a very intuitive,
easy to use interface. The lower left panel is YOUR COMPUTER
- the lower right panel is THE REMOTE SITE - in this instance,
your dotxtra.net ftp site. Everything is drop and drag
- to upload, drag the appropriate file from the left panel
to the right panel. To download a file on the remote server,
simply reverse the process - drag the file on the remote
server - lower right hand panel - over to the lower left
panel. Easy! |
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6.
Where do I put the index.html file?
When CuteFTP opens the site ftp.yourdomain.com, it initally
goes to the correct directory - usr/www/htdocs/userid
This is the place to put index.html/ Make sure you do
NOT put the file into one of the folders you see there
- put it UNDER those folders. Also put all your pictures
and other files for you site in this same directory. |
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7.
What does "updating the site" mean?
Basically what a webmaster does is download files from
a website, operate on them and/or change them with an
HTML editor such as Arachnophilia, and the upload the
changed file back to the site. |
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8.
What is HTML, and what is an HTML editor?
HTML is HyperText Markup Language - it is essentially
a kind of typesetting language, and is used to create
images on the web. Our recommended editor - for creating
and manipulating these images - is Arachnophilia. It is
freeware and can be downloaded at: www.arachnoid.com Read
the Help file, practice a while, and you'll pick it up
in no time. |
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9.
How do I set up email accounts with my domain?
One account is automatically set up when the domain is
set up - yourdomain@yourdomain.com However, you are entitled
to additional POP3 email boxes free of charge. Fill out
our secure encrypted form for each new POP3 Email box
you want. |
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10.
What about Email Autoresponders?
Email autoresponders are very useful in Internet commerce.
Essential, an autoresponder is a robot which resides on
your site, and does one thing - when it receives an email
- from anywhere - with its name on it - it sends its text
back to the source of that email. Uses for these little
robots are limited only by your imagination. |
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11.
How do I set up an Email Autoresponder?
It's a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it's
easy. First of all create a text file using an HTML editor
such as Arachnophilia - do NOT use Notepad or any other
word processing program - it will not work! This text
file is the text your Autoresponder will return to whoever
emails to it. Let's say it's called text.doc. Now, using
CuteFTP, upload the file text.doc to your HOME directory.
Note, this is NOT the same place you put your html documents.
Once the file text.doc is on the remote server in your
HOME directory, you must RENAME it so that it does not
have an extension. Do this in CuteFTP by going to COMMANDS,
then RENAME - rename your text.doc file, simply text Once
this is done, any email sent to: text@yourdomain.com,
will immediately receive an email back from text@yourdomain.com,
and the body of the email will contain the text file.
Please note also: make sure you do NOT have an actual
POP3 email box called text@yourdomain.com - this would
create a problem. Autoresponders are unlimited! Use as
many of them as you like. |
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12.
What is an email redirect account?
These "aliases" are simply lines of code in
your HOME directory which "bounce" emails from
one email address to another. Let's say you have a webpage
and you want people to email you, but you don't want your
personal email address to appear on the page. Solution?
Use a forwarding email account. Emails sent to Joe@yourdomain.com
(the address shown on the webpage) will automatically
be forwarded to joe@personal.com
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| 13.
How do I set up email redirect accounts?
This is similar to setting up Autoresponders, but with
one extra twist. First, use an HTML editor (NOT a word
processor!) to create a text file called redirect.txt
(or redirect.doc) in this form:
jim
gartner@aol.com
george goldsmith@isp.com
laura woo@dotxtra.net
default gourmet@gourmet.com
Once
properly renamed, this file will redirect any email
sent to jim@yourdomain.com to jstarnes@isp.com. Emails
sent to george@yourdomain.com will be remailed to gesmith@aol.com
- and so on. Any email that the system doesn't recognize
(default) will go to boyhowdy@howdydoody.com.
Several
caveats: when creating the above file, all aliases (jim,
george, etc) should be FLUSH AGAINST THE LEFT MARGIN.
The target email addresses (jstarnes@isp.com, etc) are
a couple of tabs over. Also important: NO spaces after
each target; no extra lines between aliases (i.e., make
this file single spaced!); and no extra line UNDER the
default line.
Now
UPLOAD your redirect.txt file to the HOME directory
- but be SURE to keep a copy of it EXACTLY as it appears
in your HOME directory! (You'll see why in a moment)
Now you must RENAME redirect.txt file - go to COMMANDS,
then RENAME - and then rename the file: .redirect Yes,
there's a leading period, and yes, no extension to the
file. That's all there is to it. Oh, one more thing.
Since the file has a leading period, it is now INVISIBLE
to FTP! That's why you kept a copy! To update the file,
simply modify the copy you kept, upload it, and rename
it again, as above. Simple, nyet?
Use
as many of these as you wish - no extra charge! Uses
are endless. Many colleges now provide one of these
("joecool@harvard.edu") for every one of their
alumni - companies assign them to their favorite clients
- and on and on. |
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| 14.
How can I track who is requesting email from my Autoresponders?
You will often want to know who is requesting information
from your various Autoresponders. Tracking is easy.
Simply add an additional line to your Redirect file.
Let's say you have an autoresponder called info, that
sends information on your products. Add the following
line to your redirect file:
info
you@yourdomain.com
Now,
the autoresponder will send the info to whoever requests
it, AND the redirect line will send YOU a copy of the
requesting email - so you'll know who's interested in
the product. Great for building a mailing list of interested
prospects! |
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15.
What is a MailBot or ListServ?
A MailBot is a robot which resides on your site, and which
redirects a single email sent to it, to a list of email
recipients. There are companies out there specializing
in setting these up - many of them charge plenty for it
too! With your dotxtra.net Web Domain, however, you can
set up as many as you like - free! |
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| 16.
How do I set up a MailBot?
Basically, the MailBot is just a variation on the email
redirect account, covered in (.13) above - all the same
rules apply - it goes in the HOME directory, and you
must rename it .redirect - it's thus a file that is
invisible to FTP. Create it with an HTML Editor - NOT
a word processor. It will look like this:
myclub
jim@aol.com , joex@ix.netcom.com , sally@fugio.org ,
jimmiep@thorn.com , sevent@moet.com , bing@crosby.com
NOTE:
Now any email sent to: myclub@yourdomain.com will automatically
bounce from your domain, back to all the folks on the
list above. NOTICE: this is the drill: From the hard
left margin: alias name tab tab email space comma space
email space comma space etc If you alter the list, which
you probably will, to add and subtract members, be sure
to maintain the spaces and commas as shown here. |
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| 17.
How do I get a domain name?
It's very easy - you just apply for one. If you want
the USA 'com' 'org' or 'net' extension, go to this web
address to check and see if the name you want is available:
www.internic.net They will take your application online,
and you can generally begin using the name within a
few hours. Give them these name servers:
NS1.KAKAPO.BIZ
66.98.150.182
NS2.KAKAPO.BIZ
66.98.150.183
Internic
will send you an invoice for $70 which covers the first
two years. A less expensive choice is the nu domain.
Check name availability at: www.nunames.nu You can reserve
and pay for a year's domain registration ($25) right
on line with a credit card. |
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18.
Will you do the domain name registration for me?
Yes! We are Registrars! And we don't charge for this service
- it's FREE with the purchase of one of our packages (Click
for Details). We do ask that you check the availability
first and we can only register .com, .net, or .org domain
names. For other dot extensions, visit http://www.networksolutions.com
or attempt a web search for "domain registration"
and the dot extension you are attempting to register. |
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19.
What about reselling?
You may resell space in your domain. Of course there are
several ways to approach it. One is simply to sell directories
in your space - www.yourdomain.com/client1 and then www.yourdomain.com/client2
and so on. But - if you want to make some SERIOUS money,
check out our turn-key webhosting business opportunity
- it's brand new and it is INCREDIBLE! Details? Send a
blank email NOW to: resellers@dotxtra.net |
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20.
Do you allow "adult" sites?
Yes, but because of legal and traffic considerations,
there are a number of special rules we impose on adult
sites. First, we charge $49/month for sites containing
adult content, payable one year in advance (US$588). Second,
traffic is limited to 5 Gigabytes of transfer per month.
Gigabytes over this limit will be billed at $12/Gigabyte.
We reserve the right to ask for a deposit for traffic
overage in advance if your site is high volume. Third,
all content must be strictly legal in all jurisdictions;
we reserve the right to shut down any site with no refund
for any violation of this rule. We do not offer refunds
on adult sites. We use a special signup form for Adult
Sites - find it here. |
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21.
How do I get access to traffic statistics for my site?
Very easily - go to this URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/logs
You'll find detailed reports in various formats on your
traffic, including where hits are coming from, at what
hours of the day, month, etc. Also you'll be able to tell
which files are being requested. Essential for fine tuning
your web marketing strategy! |
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22.
Does dotxtra.net really offer unlimited hits?
For the vast majority of domains, traffic never becomes
an issue and yes, within reason, you should never worry
about the number of hits your site receives, but as a
practical matter, no provider can provide you with unlimited
resources for a fixed price. Bandwidth costs money, and
unlimited amounts of it are not available to anyone. Therefore,
we set a limit of 5 gigabytes of transfer per month on
your domain - anything over this we bill at $12/gigabyte.
We reserve the right to shut down any site without notice
that is in arrears on payments for overage on traffic. |
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23.
What is dotxtra.net's policy on "spam," or unsolicited
email?
The sending of unsolicited commercial email, or "spam,"
is strictly prohibited. We have a "zero tolerance"
policy on spam, and reserve the right immediately to terminate
without warning any domain, without refund, that sends
out unsolicited commercial email, in any amount. |
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24.
What about Microsoft Frontpage 98?
dotxtra.net's servers fully support the Microsoft Frontpage
HTML Editor and Publisher. However, there are two ways
to approach using Frontpage 98. If you want to PUBLISH
your web pages to your dotxtra.net domain using Frontpage,
we structure your domain as a Frontpage domain. This has
some downsides - for example, Frontpage basically takes
over the domain - it disables FTP, and it disables Telnet
access as well. In other words, once you convert your
site to full Frontpage - both Editor and Publisher - ONLY
Frontpage can be used to access your domain. Many of our
clients prefer to use the Frontpage Editor only, and then
use an FTP client such as CuteFTP to upload webpages -
this is in our opinion the 'best of both worlds.' |
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25.
Hey I just checked out my new site - and the counter does
not work!!
Most everything will work on the site immediately; the
counter and a couple of other functions, however, are
set to begin working when your 'alpha' name begins answering
- if your site is brand new, this will take 24 to 48 hours. |
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26.
Do you have an 'uptime' guarantee?
Yes. We guarantee that your site will be up a minimum
of 99.9% of the time. If we fail in any given month, you
receive one full free month of hosting service. |
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27.
Can you help me with my HTML, webpage, CGI programming,
etc?
Time permitting we give advice via email on these issues
but remember, we are providers of webspace and can help
you with 'content' only as time permits. |
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28.
How do I change my domain over to dotxtra.net from my
old hosting company?
First: go to www.networksolutions.com and enter your domain
name in the WHOIS system - check to see if you are the
Administrative Contact - if you are, you can change over
to our servers right online if you originally registered
with Network Solutions. Change to our DNS servers, which
are: ns1.kakapo.biz
66.98.150.182
ns2.kakapo.biz
66.98.150.183
If you are NOT the Administrative Contact you must get
in touch with the old hosting company and get them to
do the change. If you did not register with Network Solutions,
you must go to whichever site/company that initially registered
your domain. |
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29.
Can I change a password to my email account, FTP account,
or main account?
Yes, you can do this yourself easily. Be aware, however,
if you change your password, we will not be able to go
in and fix some problem on your site without your telling
us the new password - OR - we may have to go in and change
your password ourselves. To change your password, open
a telnet client such as CRT and go to: yourdomain.com
You will log in as a user, say: someuser and you will
have to give your password. Once you're in, type this
command: passwd someuser then just follow the prompts
to change the password. |
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30.
Where are you located?
dotxtra.net is a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaCraft,
Inc., located at 15814 Champion Forest Drive #310, Spring,
Texas 77379. We have been in business for 9 years. We
maintain our servers at a secure facility professionally
monitored 24/7. dotxtra.net branch office is located in
Austin, TX. |
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31. Do you offer tech assistance by telephone?
Sorry, we do not provide technical/sales assistance by phone at the moment. We are keeping our running cost very low to provide best price of our services. Hence, we are not able to provide phone support at this time. |
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32.
I don't want to learn HTML or design a web site - can
you design it for me?
Yes! We offer highly competitive design services through
a network of talented professionals. Email us at sales@dotxtra.net
for more details. |
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33.
I can't get my CGI script to work. HELP!!
Here are some tips on CGI:
*Scripts
must be made executable with chmod 755 filename
*Any
script must end in .cgi to ensure execution.
*Scripts
that dont respond with Content Type tag as firsLIne,
must be named nph-Scriptname.cgi . The nph- stands for
non-parsed-headers.
*Perl
5 is located at /usr/bin/perl perl 4 is at /usr/bin/perl4.036
, make sure the first line has this right.
*Perl
scripts will REFUSE to run if uploaded in binary from
a non-unix computer. Make sure you upload scripts in
ascii mode only!!!
Perl
4 scripts usually will need to have any @ or $ escaped
with \ character to be perl 5 compatible. ie print "webmaster\@yourdomain.com"
The
directory cgi-bin is reserved for our shared cgi directory.
Your cgi(s) are called from your cgi-bin with an alias.
This is the only way the server can distinguish between
the main cgi-bin and the cgi-bin in your /www/htdocs
directory.
Example
Alias
Let's
say your domain is joe.com.
Use
FTP to go to: ftp.joe.com
You'll
find a folder there in your main directory called cgi-bin
That
is the cgi-bin for joe.com
Now
let's say you upload a script to that cgi-bin, called
script.cgi
The
ALIAS address of that script is now: http://www.joe.com/cgi-joe/script.cgi
NOTE
WELL: The address is NOT: http://www.joe.com/cgi-bin/script.cgi
In
setting up your script, you will need the PATH - the
path of the above example is: /www/htdocs/joe/cgi-bin
Yes
this is confusing but you must get it right for the
script to work!
index.cgi
is valid, as a directories home page for a cgi script.
Like wise you could replace index.htm with index.shtml
to use PARSE(Server Side includes).
Server
Side Includes only work in files with .shtml extension.
The execute bit and read public bits must be on to use
.shtml.
.shtml files need to have their permission changed to
755 -- chmod 755 filename.cgi
Cool
server variables
If
you can't figure out why it doesn't work , run it from
the command LIne, or rename it to nph-Scriptname. You'll
see more error messages.
CGI
is programming, don't be mistaken into thinking it is
as easy as HTML. It isn't. We have a list of consultants
well versed in CGI and would be glad to work for you
on a consulting basis.
If
you are going to use perl, buy a Perl book. If you can't
figure it out, ask us and we will help you by email
on a time permits basis.
There
are many documented examples in /www/htdocs/cgi-scripts
If
You Are Unable to do your own cgi scripting and setup
You can try
CGIMALL
http://cgimall.com This is a great place to shop for
free scripts that they will install for you very reasonably.
Other
Sources For Learning Cgi Are:
http://www.visca.com/clueless/
http://ednet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Mathews/cgi/start.html
http://members.aol.com/LiVeShOtNj/graphics/cgihelp.htm
http://www.metronet.com/perlinfo/scripts
http://www.metronet.com/perlinfo/other-archives.html
http://www.metronet.com/1h/perlinfo/other-archives
news:comp.lang.perl.misc
news:comp.lang.perl.announce
Introduction
to Perl
Kira's
CGI Cookbook
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