|
Where
to upload your files:
Configuring your FTP clients:
Understanding
the web site file system:
CGI Based Programs:
The
DNS Point to Host Hifreehand:
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.yoursite.com/wwwboard";
$cgi_url = "http://www.yoursite.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
DNS your domain point :
The
DNS point to The Host Hifreehand
NS1.romyenhost.com 69.57.152.164
NS2.romyenhost.com 69.57.152.165
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.canada6000.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"</ |
