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You will find answers to
frequently asked questions, support from other webmasters in the
message board, e-mail setup and configuration, and server configuration.
If you are unable to find the help you are looking for here, please
feel free to call us toll free.
FAQ's:
FTP HOWTO:
A step-by-step tutorial on
uploading your HTML documents
The FTP (File Transfer Protocol) file transfer system is versatile
as well as extremely useful. You can rename your files, upload,
download, and manage most aspects of your Web Hosting account
via FTP. If you are using a Web authoring software package that
handles the uploading of files to the server, such as Navigator
Gold, then the correct configuration may be somewhat different.
The following instructions assume that you are dialed up to your
Internet Service Provider as you normally are when browsing the
Web.
Uploading
To upload your HTML documents follow these steps:
1. Acquire FTP Software:
Make sure that you have an FTP client, usually supplied by your
Internet Service Provider or from the FTP software vendor.
2. Connect and log in
via FTP Software:
Different graphical FTP programs will vary somewhat in their interfaces
and menu layouts, but are generally similar enough that the following
instructions will apply.
Every FTP client will have
a place (a dialog box that automatically appears, or a menu selection
that brings up such a box) where you enter information regarding
which server on the Internet you want to hook up to. You may have
to hit a button labeled "Connect" in order to get this
box to come up. When you have found this box in your particular
client, there are three crucial pieces of information needed to
log you in to your account as the account owner. They are:
Host Name = yourdomain.com
Username = your_userid
Password = your_password
3. Other settings to watch
out for:
"Anonymous
Login" checkbox
Some FTP programs have a checkbox labeled "Anonymous Login",
or something similar. You want to be sure that this box is unchecked.
Having this box inadvertently checked will cause your client to
log in as an anony-mous user instead of the account owner, even
if you have entered your Virtual WebSite system administrator
login name and password in the ap-propriate places.
Initial Directories
Some FTP clients have value boxes that specify Initial Directories
and can cause your connection attempt to fail. It is best to leave
these boxes blank, or delete any default values that you may find
there.
Host Type
Generally "Auto-detect" is a safe value to have as the
specified host type, but if it does not work use UNIX.
With these settings in place,
click the Ok or Connect button to connect to your Virtual WebSite
system®.
4. Changing to the htdocs
directory:
Once you are logged
in to your FTP server you will see a listing of all of the files
and directories in your home directory, usually in a list box
on the right.
Next click on the htdocs
directory listed in the box with the other directories (most FTP
clients have 4 lists boxes, these are usually the 2 top ones)
and click on Change, or double click the directory.
5. Moving files back and
forth:
Now you should
be in your htdocs directory under your home directory. The next
step is to locate your files on your computer in the left set
of list boxes. Select the files you wish to upload in the local
machine list boxes on the left portion of your screen. Next, click
the Copy, Transfer or arrow button to up-load your files.
The procedure for retrieving
files from your account is the same as down-loading, you just
select the source and destinations in different list boxes.
6. How do I get my page
to load automatically?
You must name the
initial file that loads as your main "index.html". Be
sure to name everything in lowercase, not "INDEX.HTML".
Also note that files must be located in your "htdocs"
directory.
Please replace the initial
index.html file for the newly activated site with the one that
you create specifically for your web site.
7. How do I create sub-directories?
When making a sub-directory
you should use the make directory "MkDir" function key
located on your FTP program. Open up that directory and put in
all files that need to go in there.
8. How do I update my
web pages?
You can create
and maintain your web pages, images, and scripts locally and upload
them to the web server at your leisure via FTP. You can overwrite
existing files or transfer a new file.
9. Why aren't my graphics
showing up?
Make certain that
all graphics files are uploaded in binary mode. Use the "auto"
mode in your FTP program if it has that option. Make certain that
your graphics are properly saved in one of the following formats:
GIF or JPG. Web servers do not support any other graphics types.
Macintosh users need to upload all graphics files in Raw Data
format (not Mac Binary) with the appro-priate extension. Also
note that all text documents should be uploaded in ASCII text,
and that those files are case sensitive.
By far the biggest culprit
of missing graphics is due to improper path refer-ences in your
HTML documents. Often web designers will create their graphics
with a graphics program such as Adobe PhotoShop or Corel Draw
and save them into the default directory for that particular program.
In order to preview the graphics
on their own computers, they will naturally reference the drive
and directory where those graphics are located (for ex-ample:
c:/photoshop/images/sample.gif).
This works fine when they
are on their computer with those drives and direc-tories. However,
the virtual server does not provide service to a "C:"
drive and does not maintain a copy of the PhotoShop program or
its directory. There are two quick ways to fix this problem:
Move all your graphics files
into the same directory as your HTML document and re-reference
the graphics or edit all path references from your HTML document
and upload. (You will not be able to preview your complete HTML
document in this method).
10. The HTML page is garbled.
What's wrong?
It is important
to remember to send HTML (text) in ACCII mode and all im-age-format
files in Binary. In addition, if you are using Word or some other
text-editor locally for writing HTML, be sure to save the file
as text only, not a .doc file, for example. One should notice
that files in DOS can only be saved with a three-letter .htm extension.
After uploading via FTP, these files may be renamed (button) to
include the .html extension. All of this is basic, but results
in a majority of the FTP errors.
11. What should I do if
denied access via FTP?
Be sure to read
the FTP tutorial that comes with the FTP software. If you still
have trouble, send e-mail to admin@vpwebhosting.net
explaining the problem in detail. Be sure to include either your
user id and domain name as well as the current account password.
E-mail
Setup:
Server
Information:
Server Paths:
- Perl Path = /usr/bin/perl
- Sendmail Path
= /usr/sbin/sendmail
- Home Directory Path
= /home/yourdomainname or /home/www/yourdomainname
DNS Server Information:
- Primary Name Server
= ns1.vpwebhosting.net
Primary Name Server IP# = 209.217.135.50
- econdary Name Server
= ns2.vpwebhosting.net
Secondary Name Server IP# = 209.217.135.51
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