META TAG FAQ for aboutyourbreakup.com

YourDomainHost FAQ v. 3.2
Revised January 2, 2000
Check for later revision here

aboutyourbreakup.com
Getting Started with Your YourDomainHost Account

For additional support resources, please visit:
YourDomainHost's Support Center
YourDomainHost's Hosting Manual

(NOTE: If we installed this FAQ for you, all path information should be correct. If you've updated a later version yourself, substitute the correct variable information for your account.)

Your Account Information:

Domain name: aboutyourbreakup.com
Server (machine) name: maia
WebControl Panel: http://aboutyourbreakup.com/cgi-bin/plusmail

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

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

infobots..........This is where you will need to put all your infobot text files. More Info

anonftp...........This is your anonymous ftp directory. More Info

.redirect..........This is the configuration file for mail aliases. More Info

How do I access my web-based control panel, and what can I do there?

Your control panel is located at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/cgi-bin/plusmail. The control panel provides practically all of the functions necessary to manage and maintain your account. In the "old days," it would have been necessary to telnet to your account and perform these functions with basic UNIX commands. If you don't know UNIX, and don't care to learn it, the control panel is a very convenient tool.

The control panel is menu-driven, and should be fairly easy to figure out. Detailed instructions for use are available by clicking the button labelled "Web Control - Detailed Instructions."

The functions available from the control panel include (NOTE: Additional charges may apply for some features):

  • Add Features
    • Add additional POP/FTP/Telnet logins to your account.
    • Add mSQL or mySQL database to your account.
    • Add a chat room to your account
    • Park additional domains to your primary domain.
  • E-Mail Redirects - set up your e-mail redirects here.
  • Simple Autoresponders - set up your infobots here.
  • Mailing Lists - use this to set up or edit a mailing list.
  • Subscribable Mail Lists - Use this to allow your customers to subscribe to your list via email.
  • Password Changes - use this to change the password for your POP logins.
  • Site Manager
    • View, create, edit, delete, move, or rename files and directories in your account.
    • Change permissions on files and directories.
    • Perform UNIX shell commands.
    • Upload files to your account.
  • Password Protect Directories - restrict access to specific directories.
  • Setup Scripts - install or reinstall the scripts that come with your account.
    • That's an Order - free single-page shopping cart.
    • Visitor Pro Guestbook - free guestbook.
    • Multi-user Forums - free, web-based bulletin board.
    • Pro Links Page - free-for-all links
    • Whois - free domain name query.
How do I run my own CGI programs?
Place your CGI programs in the cgi-bin directory.

PLEASE: Do not delete your cgi-bin directory or the files that are preinstalled there without asking us first. Most of those files are there for a reason, and removing them could have unintended consequences. Also, use caution when changing file or directory permissions. When in doubt, ask us first.

More information on CGI applications is available in the hosting manual.

How do I use CGIemail, and Formmail?


CGIemail: This is a program that will email the results of forms filled out from your web site.
Here's an example:
Create a text file called "example" in the main web directory.
This is the content of the file:

To: joe@aboutyourbreakup.com
Subject: example

This is a test message.
name: [name]
phone: [phone]

That is the file that will be sent to joe@aboutyourbreakup.com.
Now, cgiemail will automatically replace [name] and [phone] (any field within brackets) with the corresponding user supplied info from the web form. You MUST have the To: and the Subject: line followed by the blank line. Those three lines MUST be on the FIRST THREE lines.
Here is a part of the web form page called "example.html"

Your name?
your number?
etc...

If you want to have your own customized "success" page, place the following line in your form page:
It will then redirect to somepage.html.

Formmail is a very easy to use form processor.

Simply place the following on any page after entering your domain.






For full Formmail instructions click here.


How do I use the anonymous ftp site?

Your anonymous ftp site is completely different from your web site. When people ftp to your domain anonymously, they will see the following directories:
bin/
dev/
etc/
incoming/
lib/
pub/
"pub" is where you should put all your anonymously accessible files.
"incoming" is for the anonymous users to upload files.

For security the following applies
  • Only the incoming directory can be written to anonymously
  • Subdirectories are not creatable
  • The incoming directory is not readable by people dropping files there
You are responsible for any "pirated" software uploaded by the anonymous users. The anonymous ftp sites will be periodically monitored for any abuses.
You may ignore the other directories.

How do I create email aliases, and how do I redirect them?

E-mail redirects are now easily created through the E-Mail Redirects function of your web-based control panel. If, for some reason, you want to do it the old fashioned way, follow these instructions:
You need to edit the .redirect file in your home directory.
Here is a sample .redirect file for aboutyourbreakup.com:

default example@aboutyourbreakup.com
webmaster example@aboutyourbreakup.com
sales joe@aol.com,mike@whatever.com
info robert@aboutyourbreakup.com
That will automatically redirect all webmaster@aboutyourbreakup.com emails to example@aboutyourbreakup.com, sales@aboutyourbreakup.com to joe@aol.com AND mike@whatever.com, and info@aboutyourbreakup.com to robert@aboutyourbreakup.com. All others will go to example@aboutyourbreakup.com.
Note that webmaster line isn't necessary, but it's better to specifically redirect it to example@aboutyourbreakup.com.

You can remove the default line if you wish to receive only e-mail that is addressed to a defined redirect or POP e-mail on your account.

It's important to note that the second column must be REAL accounts. You cannot redirect emails to an alias.

Please note that it takes a few minutes for the .redirect file to go into effect after you've updated it.
How do I use the infobots?

Again, your control panel has simplified the task of creating infobots. Just select the "Simple Autoresponders" button after logging in. Or, if you still want to do it the hard way...

Just create a text file and put it in the infobots directory. Let's say that the name of the text file is "info". Now, when you send mail to info@aboutyourbreakup.com, you will get the text file mailed back to you.

That's it. Try it out. There is no limit to the number of these infobots. Note that the name of the file is simply "info", and not "info.txt".

How do I see who is using my infobots?
Assume your infobot address is info@aboutyourbreakup.com. Just put the following line in your .redirect file. (It's important that you have the infobot installed before entering the address line in the .redirect file.)
info example@aboutyourbreakup.com

The original email message will be sent to example@aboutyourbreakup.com, and the original sender will get the infobot text.

How do I create a majordomo mailing list?

Majordomo is available at a nominal extra charge. For more information contact us. For full usage instructions, email the majordomo autoresponder at domo@safe-order.net
How do I use Real Audio?

Real Audio is available for a small extra charge (email sales for more info).

RealAudio is a real time audio transmission/player system. A digital audio stream is transmitted from the server over the internet to the destination and played immediately, rather than being stored to disk first and then played.

Each audio clip requires two files:

  • a metafile with extension .ram, and
  • the digital audio clip itself, with extension .ra.
The .ram file holds one or more lines of ASCII text, each of which references the .ra file to be played when the .ram file is accessed by the browser.

Entries in .ram files have the form:

rtsp://maia.host4u.net/aboutyourbreakup/name-of-clip.ra

Place your .ram and .ra files in the realaudio subdirectory under your web directory.

.ram files must be uploaded in ASCII mode while .ra files must be uploaded in BINARY mode.

You may then access these files at realaudio/file.ram under your www directory.

How do I change my login password?

(This is the password for your default POP, telnet, and FTP access.)
Telnet to your domain. After you've logged on, type "passwd" to change your password. You can exit the telnet session by typing "exit".

How do I change my control panel password?

Delete the file named plusmail_pass found in your root directory, then log in to your control panel. You'll be asked to enter a new login and password at that time. (You can either use the UNIX rm command from telnet, or the delete function of your favorite FTP client to delete the file.

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

Stats are updated nightly (shortly after midnight) and are displayed by week. You can view your stats by going to http://aboutyourbreakup.com/wusage with your favorite browser.

If you'd like to see the domain names of your visitors, rather than numeric IP numbers, simply insert a blank (empty) text file named dns into your wusage directory.

Extended referrer logs display referring URL, browser type, and operating system information about your visitors. Extended logs are available at a nominal monthly charge. E-mail sales@yourdomainhost.com for more information.
I need to configure my mail reading program so I can access my emails. What are the proper settings?

SMTP = aboutyourbreakup.com
POP = aboutyourbreakup.com
from = anyname@aboutyourbreakup.com
password = the same used for FTP

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

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

Domain paths

  • Main dir: /home/aboutyourbreakup/www
  • Cgi-bin: /home/aboutyourbreakup/www/cgi-bin
What are the basic Frontpage settings?

Destination Web Server: www.aboutyourbreakup.com
Destination Web Name: leave this entry blank
FTP server name: aboutyourbreakup.com
Directory path: /www/aboutyourbreakup
Username: aboutyourbreakup
Passwd: Your FTP password, or FrontPage password if we've assigned a new one.

Please review the detailed instructions for FrontPage in the hosting manual before uploading your web.

How do I add an mSQL or mySQL database?

mSQL and mySQL are sophisticated database engines.

Documentation for mSQL may be found at http://www.hughes.com.au.

Documentation for mySQL is available at http://www.mysql.com/.

Please note that we are unable to provide technical support on either of these applications. These are very complicated applications and their effective use requires a thorough understanding on the part of the user.

To set up an mSQL or mySQL database, select the Add Features function of your control panel.

How do I create my own "404 Not found" error page?

Simply create/modify the missing.html file in your main web directory.

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. Due to the encryption process, pages loading from the secure server will load more slowly than non-secure pages.

Use the following url to access your pages via the secure server:

https://plus36.safe-order.net/aboutyourbreakup/anypage.html

The above page would be accessed from the normal web server as:

http://aboutyourbreakup.com/anypage.html

Your cgi-bin dir is:

https://plus36.safe-order.net/cgi-aboutyourbreakup/

*SPECIAL NOTE FOR FORMMAIL.CGI*

If you are using formmail.cgi thru the secure server, you MUST use the following url:

https://plus36.safe-order.net/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi

Here's an example:






The last two line allow a link back to your main page - thus they get a report of what they ordered and a link. We made the modification for you already

It's important that you call your order page thru a secure URL in order for it to work properly.

Ex: https://plus36.safe-order.net/aboutyourbreakup/yourorderform.htm

How do I use Mail Lists and Subscribable Maillists?

You can add both subscribable and manually-edited mail lists from your WebControl Panel. These mail lists are capable of handling up to 1,000 addresses. Note: Only emails of 75KB or less can be sent to the mail list.

You can password protect your mail list so that only people who know the password can send mail to the list (otherwise, anyone can send mail to all members of the list.) To password protect your mail list, put a password in the top line of your maillist (above all e-mail addresses) and when you send email, put the same word in the top line of the email body. Make sure you are using strictly text format when sending e-mail -- otherwise it will not work.

Maillists

Maillists are a very popular way for people to send and receive information of a particular type. For example, you might wish to add all of your customers to a mail list, then notify them all of upcoming sales or specials with just one email flyer.

To set up Maillists with your PlusMail Web Control select the Maillists button from the panel menu.

  • New Maillist: To create a new maillist select New Maillist and type in a name for your new maillist. You may name it whatever you like but do not enter an extension.
  • Edit Maillist: To edit an existing maillist select Edit Maillist, then select the maillist you wish to edit from the pop-up menu.
  • Delete Maillist:To delete an existing maillist, select Delete Maillist, then select the list you wish to delete from the pop-up menu. (deletions are permanent and cannot be reversed or undone.)
  • Add/Edit/Delete: Once you've selected your action, click on this button to put it into effect.
  • Add: If you selected New Maillist you will now have a page with entry boxes for email addresses. When you are finished adding addresses to your list be sure to click on the Add to List button to add your entries to your new list.
  • Edit: If you selected to Edit Maillist, the maillist you chose will now be displayed for you to edit. When you are finished editing your list be sure to click on the Edit Maillist button to save your changes.
  • Delete: If you selected to Delete Maillist, the maillist you chose will now be deleted.
Subscribable Maillists

A subscribable maillist is one that people may join on their own, without the need for you to manually enter their email address. When one member of the list sends an email to the list, all members of the list get a copy.

To set up Subscribable Maillists with your PlusMail Web Control select the Subscribable Maillists button from the panel menu.

  • Email Address to Subscribe: This is the address people will email to join your list. You need simply add a note to your webpage such as "to subscribe to this maillist send email to subscribename@aboutyourbreakup.com.com". You may use any name you like, but it should be different than the name you give the list itself. Enter only the name or title, such as join or info.
  • Name Of Maillist: This may be whatever you like but should not be the same as the name one must email TO to subscribe.
  • Message Subscribers Receive: This is the message new subscribers will receive to confirm their subscription.
  • View/Edit Subscribable Maillists: Use this option to view or edit an existing maillist.
  • Edit or Delete: Select the function you wish to perform for a particular list. Remember, deletions are permanent and cannot be reversed or undone.
  • If you select to Edit a list, the current message and members of the list will be displayed for you. You can add or delete members from the list and edit the confirmation message. When you are finished editing your list be sure to click on the Edit Subscribable Maillist button to save your changes.
SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PROBLEMS

Problems Uploading Web Files

"I just uploaded my web site, but I can't view the pages -- your Coming Soon page is still there."

  1. Make sure that you're uploading your files into the www directory structure of your account.
    • If you're using FrontPage to publish your web, make sure that your Destination Web Server is set to www.aboutyourbreakup.com.
    • If you're using FTP to upload your pages, make sure that you navigate to the www directory before you upload your pages.
  2. Make sure that your home page is named properly. Acceptable names (in order of priority) are: index.cgi (must be called with a CGI application), index.html, index.htm, index.shtml (if using server side includes), or index.sht (with server side includes.) If FrontPage extensions are installed on your account, you may also use default.html or default.htm as your home page. If your home page is named using one of the above names, but our default Coming Soon page is still being displayed, delete the file named "index.htm" from your www directory.

Access logs

"I can't find my access log!"

It's the file named access-log in your home directory. This is the directory you are in when you first logon using telnet.

"How can I download my access log? It looks like a directory.

Try using your FTP client's "Get link as file" function.

Error logs

"I can't find my error log?"

Error logs are not installed by default. If you need access to error logs, e-mail support@yourdomainhost.com to request them.

Cgi-bin scripts

"Where do I put my cgi-bin scripts?"

Put them in the subdirectory cgi-bin which should be under your www directory.

Perl scripts

"I am being told file not found"
"I am being told No such file or directory"

Upload your Perl script in ascii mode, not binary mode.

"I get errors such as

Literal @sdfsdf now requires backslash at ./test.rob line 2, within string
Execution of ./test.rob aborted due to compilation errors."

Place a "\" before such offending @ characters. This is an incompatibility between Perl 5 and Perl 4.

Anonymous ftp

"Where should I store files for anonymous ftp access?"

Put files in the directory named anonftp/pub. This will allow a file to be accessed by a customer with ftp://yourdomain.com/pub/your-file-name.

For security the following applies

  • Only the incoming directory can be written to anonymously.
  • Subdirectories are not creatable.
  • The incoming directory is not readable by people dropping files there.

I get a 403 Forbidden error when trying to access my site.

This error is generally because you have not placed a default page in the main www directory.

A default page must be called index.htm (or .html, .shtml, etc.) and it should be your main page. Make sure that you upload it to your www directory, and not your root directory.

How can I get help?

We provide support for all server-related technical issues. E-mail support@yourdomainhost.com for assistance.

A comprehensive manual covering most areas of interest related to your account usage, features, and troubleshooting is available at http://www.hostingmanual.net.

We do not provide support for the HTML language, scripting languages, configuration and usage of third-party scripts, etc. However, we encourage you to post questions of this nature, as well as general server-side support questions, on the Hosting Manual Forum. We'll provide assistance on non-supported matters here, as our time and capabilities allow.

FREE SCRIPTS

These scripts are preinstalled on new accounts. Older domains may install newer scripts through the WebControl Panel's Install Scripts function. You may also reinstall these scripts at any time to return them to their default state (useful if the script stops working, for example.) After installation, you may access further instructions at the URLs provided in the script description.

All freeware scripts are made available in working order when installed from WebControl. We cannot offer support in regards to customizing or troubleshooting these scripts. If you change the default settings, and the script becomes non-functional, just request a reinstall from WebControl.

Please note: We often upgrade the preinstalled scripts that we offer as better scripts become available. Check the Setup Scripts and Detailed Instructions sections of your WebControl Panel for the latest available installs.

Let's Take an Order! Single-Page Shopping Cart

Installation and usage instructions for your That's an Order single-page shopping cart may be found at http://aboutyourbreakup.com/lto.htm.

Domain Name WHOIS Query

Installed at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/cgi-bin/whois.cgi, this script queries the appropriate domain name registrar for up to 17 top-level domain (TLD) domain names.

VBPro Guestbook

Point your browser to http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/vbpro/ for complete instructions.

Forum (BBS)

Browse http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/forums/cgi-s/ for instructions.

Free-for-all Links Page

Allow visitors to post links to other web sites. Browse http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/links/manual.htm for instructions.

Postcards

Allow visitors to send friends electronic postcards. This is a ready to run script with several pictures and sound files set to run. Knowledgeable clients will be able to customize their pictures. Available at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/cards.

Pollit Vote / Survey

Add a vote/survey questionnaire to your account, and display the results graphically. View it at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/pollit

Power Search

This is a full featured, boolean logic search script that performs its searches based on an index of all the pages in the site. The script is very light weight resource-wise and very fast at returning results. Instructions may be found at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/pagesearch/ .

SFE PageSearch

Another full featured search script. Instructions may be found at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com/search/instruct.htm/ .

Quiz Master

This freeware scripts allows you to create up to 25 multiple choice questions from your browser. Visitors can take the quiz, and view their results. Information is available at http://www.aboutyourbreakup.com.com/quiz.

Graphic Counter

Count page hits to your web site. Instructions available at http://aboutyourbreakup.com/counter/.

Where Can I Find More Perl/CGI Scripts?

We maintain one of the largest and most comprehensive directories of free and commercial Perl and CGI scripts at The Perl Archive . You'll find over a thousand scripts suitable to almost every imaginable purpose here.

Variables used in this FAQ:

This information is only relevant if you have installed an updated version of this FAQ on your account. If we installed this FAQ for you, the variables below have already been configured for your account, and the variable names ($DOMAIN, $DOMAINSHORT, $SERVER) will not be referenced in the FAQ content. If the variable names are referenced elsewhere in this document, simply make the substitutions as described below to use the path information.

  • $DOMAIN = your full domain name (e.g., yourdomain.com)
  • $DOMAINSHORT = your domain name without the extension (e.g., yourdomain)
  • $SERVER = your server's machine name (this information is provided on the main page of your control panel)