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Frequently Asked Questions

	My site seems to download slowly sometimes OR sometimes when using FTP or Frontpage, it just stops. Why is that?
	Why aren't my pages updating when I upload?
	What do I need to use SSI on my site?
	How do I use my shell, what are the commands?

My site seems to download slowly sometimes OR sometimes when using FTP or Frontpage, it just stops. Why is that?

There are a variety of factors that can contribute to occasional slow download speeds or time-outs. One thing that you can rule out is lack of bandwidth directly into the facility where your site is located.

If it seems that your site generally is always slow, it may be because you have images on your pages that are too large. A rule of thumb is to try to make images 20k or less. If you have larger images, try using image compression software which you can download free at www.download.com. Most new image editing programs such as Photoshop 5.5 or Paint Shop Pro will have JPG/GIF image compression included.

Way to check where the slow-down:

1) Check the path from your computer to your web site: When you download from your site, you are taking a path to get from your computer to your web site. This tool below will show the path that you are taking to get to your site and where the slowdown may be. To do so using Windows:

Go to START
Click on PROGRAMS
Click on MS-DOS PROMPT
Type TRACERT MYDOMAIN.COM (replace mydomain.com with your domain or IP address)

You will see output that has lines like this:

93 ms	81ms	55 ms	sl-bb11-pen-3-2.sprintlink.net	[144.232.5.73]
*	34 ms	567 ms	sl-bb13-pen-10-0.sprintlink.net	[144.232.5.158]
132 ms	200 ms	111 ms	pos3-1-0-155M.hr2.IAD.gblx.net	[206.132.253.50]

Each of the three numbers above are three attempts that your computer makes to get to that location. A * or any number over 350 is a sign of a slow link.

In the example above, the slow link is with SPRINT. If you see a slow link, we don't suggest you call your Internet provider and immediately report it. Occasional slow links on the Internet are common. However, if it is always like that, you may want to consider calling them.

2) Check the path from your web site to your computer: The return path, that is, going from your web site back to your computer, may take a different path altogether. To check the return path:

Go to your Control Panel
Click on "TRACEROUTE" or "Network Troubleshooter"
Follow the same guidelines for reading the output as the example above.

3) See how fast your Internet Connection really is. Your computer may say 53k, but your ISP may be overloaded.

If you want to use a graphical program to show trace routes from your computer, try Neotrace.

4) To test the speed from another part of the Internet (and not your particular location), try this monitoring service. We use this site often to check our network speeds from a 'third-party' location.

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Why aren't my pages updating when I upload?

When you upload new or changed pages, the changes should be instantaneous. If they aren't, please follow the steps below to determine the reasons.

Be sure you are uploading you web page files into the /public_html OR /www folder. Either will work. MS Frontpage users will not need to worry about this. When publishing or editing with FrontPage, it will automatically place the folders in the correct folder.
Try pressing Reload. If that doesn't work, try Shift+Reload to bring up the new page.
In your web browser, type www.your-domain.com/cpanel/. You should see a password box come up. If you don't, then your domain is still pointed at your old provider and you must move them to our DNS/nameservers.
Your Internet Service Provider (especially for AOL users) may be holding the old page on their servers. They do this to save bandwidth space. To see if this is the case, you should check this "third party" web site. After clicking HERE, just type in your domain name in the box as shown below. If the site shows up with the changes made, then you can be sure the problem is that your ISP is holding the old page on their server. You should contact them to remove this 'network page caching.'
If you still haven't solved the problem: In your Control Panel (yourdomain.com/cpanel), go into your "File Manager", and click on the WWW folder. The WWW folder is where all of your web page files should be.
- Find the file that you believe you have changed but is not coming up with the new information and click on it.

- View the file, and see if it is in fact the new file. If it's still has the old page information, then your software didn't upload the file or didn't upload to the correct directory. You should consult your software help material for upload help.

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What do I need to use SSI on my site?

For security purposes, we do not enable Telnet/SSH access by default. You must contact our support department or open a support ticket to enable this feature.
To connect using telnet, just connect to yourdomain.com

Please note that we strongly encourage the use of SSH instead of Telnet, to ensure that your login to the server remains secure. SSH is a powerful service which allows you to log into the server remotely to perform specific tasks. Common tasks include checking for new mail (via pine) or sending outgoing mail (via sendmail). Other common tasks include modifying file permissions, using compression utilities (tar and zip), and using editors (such as Pico or Vi) to modify files on the server side.

With SSH access comes a shell. The shell you use simply acts as a layer of communication between the command-line and the Operating System. The command line passes arguments directly to the shell, where they undergo several tests. If successful, the command is passed on to the operating system and the operation is performed.

SSH is a service that runs on port 21 on our web servers. Using a SSH client, you will get the following set of messages when you login:

Red Hat Linux release x.xx
Kernel x.x.x on an xxxx
login: username
Password: ********

If your login was successful you will see:
Last login: Day Mon XX XX:XX:XX from some.hostname.com
bash$

In case you have not figured it out yet, your system login and password are required to connect to your account via SSH. The login and password is identical to that which is used to access your web-based control panel.

If you are new to SSH, we strongly suggest you read the following:

What SSH client do you recommend?
We recommend the use of SecureCRT from VanDyke Technologies, if you are using Windows 95/98/2000/NT. You can download it HERE .

How do I log into my account via SSH with this software?
Once you have downloaded and installed CRT, you can now log into your account via SSH. First, when you open your application, follow these steps:

Pull down the "File" menu;
Select "Quick Connect and you should see this window
Fill out the field with the information needed about your account.
Hit "OK" to connect.
When connected you will be prompted to enter your password.
Done.

What other SSH clients can I use on my account?
You may use any SSH client you wish. Use of SSH is certainly not restricted to our recommended software. There are dozens of high quality SSH clients to choose from, all of which have their benefits and downsides.

Where can I obtain other SSH client applications?

Tucows.com has a very large selection with good reviews of SSH clients.
Shareware.com has a large number of free SSH clients.
Download.com also has a good variety of SSH clients.

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How do I use my shell, what are the commands?

The following is a list of UNIX commands that you might find helpful when modifying your web sites on the server. Most UNIX commands have many options and parameters which are not listed here. For more complete information on using UNIX commands, you can refer to the online manual by typing man [command] at the UNIX prompt, where "[command]" represents the command you would like more information about. Other UNIX help commands you can type are [command] -? and [command] --help.

Example: man ls
This would bring up the help documentation for the "LS" command.

Note: When something is specified in brackets, such as [command] or [filename], it is used to indicate that you must input your desired information here. Do NOT include brackets in your command.

Navigating in UNIX

pwd	Shows the full path of the current directory
ls	Lists all the files in the current directory
ls -al	Lists all files and information
ls -alR	Lists all files and information in all subdirectories
ls -alR \| more	Same as ls -alR, pausing when screen becomes full
ls -alR > filename.txt	Same as ls -alR, outputs the results to a file
*ls .html**	Lists all files ending with .html
cd [directory name]	Changes to a new directory
cd ..	Changes to directory above current one
clear	Clears the screen
vdir	Gives a more detailed listing than the "ls" command
exit	Log off your shell

Moving, Copying and Deleting Files


mv [old filename] [new filename]	Move/rename a file
cp [filename] [new filename]	Copies a file
rm [filename]	Deletes a file
rm *	Deletes all files in current directory
*rm .html**	Deletes all files ending in .html

Creating, Moving, Copying and Deleting Directories


mkdir [directory name]	Creates a new directory
*ls -d /**	Lists all directories within current directory
cp -r [directory] [new directory]	Copies a directory and all files/directories in it

Searching Files and Directories


find . -name [filename] -print	Searches for a file starting with current directory
grep [text] [filename]	Searches for text within a file

File and Directory Permissions

There are three levels of file permissions: read, write and execute. In addition, there are three groups to which you can assign permissions: file owner, user group and everyone. The command chmod followed by three numbers is used to change permissions. The first number is the permission for the owner, the second for the group and the third for everyone. Here are how the levels of permission translate:


0 = ---	No permission
1 = --X	Execute only
2 = -W-	Write only
3 = -WX	Write and execute
4 = R--	Read only
5 = R-X	Read and execute
6 = RW-	Read and write
7 = RWX	Read, write and execute

It is preferred that the group always have permission of 0. This prevents other users on the server from browsing files via Telnet and FTP. Here are the most common file permissions used:


chmod 604 [filename]	Minimum permissions for HTML file
chmod 705 [directory name]	Minimum permissions for directories
chmod 755 [filename]	Minimum permissions for scripts & programs
chmod 606 [filename]	Permissions for data files used by scripts
chmod 703 [directory name]	Write-only permissions for public FTP uploading

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