PLANS STARTING AT $25/YEAR
including domain name

Frequently
Asked
Questions

GENERAL TOPICS / ACCOUNT INFORMATION

How soon will my account be setup and ready to use?
Accounts are usually activated within 24 hours, with an average time of 2-5 hours.

Once you set up my account, how soon will I be able to upload web pages?
How can I access my account at the beginning?
You can have access immediately for FTP upload transfers and viewing your web site can be done via a special web URL beginning with http://sherwoodhosting.com/~username. However, after your domain name (DNS setting) has propagated and become effective, you will want to use the domain name for all web and ftp accesses. Click here for more information on FTP.

If you want to get into the technical aspects of what features you have available to you, your first step should be to explore your control panels and its features. Login to your CPanel using your username and password, with the information provided in your welcome email.

Do you offer a money-back guarantee?
Of course! We offer a 30-day money-back hosting guarantee, should you not be completely satisfied with your account! The only portion of your payment that cannot be refunded is $10 if we have registered a Domain Name for you (you would still have ownership of that name).

Can I upgrade my account at any time?
How much do the add-ons cost?
Yes, you can request an upgrade (add-on) for your account at any time - the fee is prorated on a monthly basis. See our pricing chart for the various features in your plan that can be expanded.

What credit cards do you take?
We prefer personal check or PayPal, and at present we accept GoogleCheckout..

Do you offer phone support?
No, only online support via email, and job ticket requests.

If I already have a domain name, do I get a discount?
No. One domain name registration is included with the account and if you already have that, we'll be happy to transfer it to our registrar and give you free renewals, but we cannot offer a discount to our Plans.

Do you support CGI and ASP ?
We do not support ASP (Active Server Pages, a MS Windows server utility - we are Linux-based). However we support the more general server-side mechanisms: PHP, CGI, etc.

What happens if I exceed my quota?
There are several quotas involved with web, ftp, and email accounts. See All About Quotas

Why would my quota be exceeded, I'm not a large user.
From time to time due to improper user settings, you may exceed one of your quotas. This is unlikely to happen, however, unless you are a high-volume commercial user.
See All About Quotas

What currency are the prices in?
All prices listed are in US dollars.

Do I have to worry about renewing my domain name each year?
No, we have instructed our registrar to automatically renew your domain name each year, thus guaranteeing that you will not lose ownership of your name. If your account is in arrears, your domain name may not be renewed.

Will I have my own control panel (Cpanel)?
Yes, you will have your own control panel that can be accessed at http://www.mydomain.com/cpanel/
This allows you to control most of your domain's settings, such as control over email and ftp accounts, viewing web statistics and a lot more!

Is there more information for the CPanel functions?
Lots of information is available:

• Cpanel Tutorials (Flash)
• Cpanel FAQ
• CPanel help site by clicking here
• Tutorials (Quicktime format) showing the following details:

  Create a mail account in outlook express
  Creating a POP mail account
  Creating an AutoResponder
  Creating a default email address
  Creating a subdomain
  Password protecting a directory
  Managing databases with PhpMyAdmin
  Creating a MySQL database
  Creating Custom error pages
  Installing Front Page extensions
  

Can my web site include adult sites, eggdrop bots, etc.?
Any content deemed inappropriate by SherwoodHosting.com will not be hosted. Any addition of such content will cause termination of the account, any heretofore agreements, and all hosting activities.

Is there a minimum time contract/commitment required?
No contracts are required. All accounts are billed yearly at the beginning of the time period. You may cancel at anytime and there are absolutely no cancellation fees. Note that if you cancel your account, there is no prorated refund for the remaining months.

EMAIL TOPICS

What email programs (readers) are supported?
The CPanel WEBmail is the only officially supported email reader, although we offer information on how to set up other popular programs that run on your own computer. See more information.

How do I create a new email account?
See also CPanel Mail Manager and Getting Started and Summary of Email Hosting Features
1. Go to http://yourdomain.com/cpanel -> MAIL MENU -> Add / Remove accounts
2. Click Add Account (at the bottom of the window)
3. Type the information for your new email account's username and password.  
     Recommendation: make the QUOTA field blank
4. Click Create
Account Created

I can't send email via your server.  What's wrong?
Our SMTP servers are configured as "secure relays."
This means that you cannot simply reference "mail.mydomain.com" as an
outgoing mailserver unless you successfully log in via one of your pop3 accounts at "mail.mydomain.com" before you try to send. This is a mandatory setting
to prevent spammers from using our mailservers as havens for unsolicited email.
If you are getting a "relaying prohibited" or "disconnected by administrator" error,
it means that you haven't logged into the pop3 server at your domain before you
tried to send through the smtp server at your domain.
To log in, you need to check for mail first (receive mail, perhaps use the SEND/RECEIVE button).

What email attachments are blocked when email is sent to our servers?
In order to protect our hosting clients from potentially harmful viruses, we routinely delete attached files with the extensions such that an email will arrive in your inbox with no attachments and no mention of the attachment having been deleted(sorry, that's the way it works):

ade, adp, ba[st], chm, cmd, com, cpl, crt, eml, exe, hlp, hta, in[fs], isp, jse?, lnk, mdb, mde, ms[cipt], pcd, pif, reg, scr, sct, shs, url, vbs, vbe, ws[fhc], bmp

A work-around to receive valid email attachments with these extensions is:

• Zip, Tar, or Stuffit (compress) the file such that it no longer has the filtered extension (Note: self-extracting compressed files often have the extension of .exe, so that would also be filtered)
• Simply rename the file to ".xxx" and then have the recipient change the name to the proper extension
• Use FTP to upload the file directly to a directory within your account.

How do I create email aliases, and how do I redirect them?
Simply use our online control panel to add these. http://mydomain.com/cpanel

How do I access webmail with my browser?
http://mydomain.com:2095/ (Replace mydomain.com with
your actual domain name) Log in with the pop account username
(Username@mydomain.com) and password that your in control panel(Mail Menu).

Alternative method: use a commercial (free) service like  Mail2Web.com  to access your pop email box from a browser. This also does not require installing any software on your system. You need to use the advanced login and enter the "username" as your username+mydomain.com (using the full email address and using a + (plus sign) instead of @ ) See the instructions at Mail2Web.com

How do I set up my account in Eudora or Outlook Express?
See instructions for setting up Eudora, Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger. (Other email client programs are similar.)  We supply this information as a courtesy and do not support details about the operation of these types of programs, sorry.

Advanced question:
What is the mailbox address "search order" for delivering email to my account?
SherwoodHosting offers quite a selection of options for managing email addresses within your domain name. The simplest of course is just to have a single POP mailbox, or a single forwarding address. But what if you have (by accident, or by advanced strategy design) duplicate addresses programmed via your CPanel mailbox options? The following is the "search order" that mail is sorted when it arrives at your domain name:

1. Forwards are processed first. Thus if you're on vacation, you can add a Forward and not have to delete your POP mailbox.
2. Pop mailboxes are matched next.
3. The Default Address (catch-all address, if-all-else-fails) is used if there is no match for Forwards or POP mailboxes.  (This is, of course, if you've set one up.)
4. Your Main Account name is used as a mailbox match if the above three do not match.

How can I forward to multiple email recipient mailboxes?
Unfortunately, we have not found a way to create a list via Cpanel forwarder entry. However, it's perhaps easier to just add multiple forwarders.

How can I set my default (catch-all) email address to forward to multiple recipients?
Again, we have not found a way directly to do this. However, you can forward to an intermediate username (example: "default@mydomain.com") and then create multiple forwarders for "default" to point to your various recipient addresses.

MAILING LISTS
Mailing lists can be used to send messages frequently to a large amount of people for things such as newsletters, product updates, and more. cPanel allows you to update and configure your mailing lists to easily send out information to large groups of people.

How do I set up a new email mailing list?
(1) Go to your Control Panel
(2) Click on the Mailing Lists
(3) Create a list in Mailing List Maintenance by clicking on "Add List".
(4) Add the name and the password of the list .
(5) Click Create.

Your list is now created.
Note for new accounts: your DNS must resolve before you can edit your list information.

Your server contains powerful mailing list software that runs on the "mailman" set of protocols.  Mailman allows you to set up a mailing list with a large number of configurable options, such as who is on the list, where mailing lists messages are sent, and whether you include welcoming messages to new subscribers.  You can provide your users with (1) an open mailing list in which users are able to email everyone on the list interactively (2) a closed list, in which you as the administrator have to approve posts, (3) or as a newsletter type system in which you can send out email to your users in bulk but users can't reply. 

Mailman has its own administration panel (which is seperate from cPanel) for user control and its options.  As such, its documentation is built into the mailman interface itself.  Please refer there for further information. The instructions below deal only with how to initially set up, modify, and delete a Mailman mailing list from your cPanel. List set up | List deletion

Once created, you can access the Mailing List Manager (Xcommand) by going to (yourdomainname.com/menu).  This allows you to:

Show a List of Subscribers
Show a List Log
Wipe a List Log
Search la ist of subscribers for a near match
Directly a subscribe/unsubscribe a user

You can get to the Mailing List Manager by selecting the list from under 'Edit List' in the Mail Manager, then selecting 'Mailing List Manager'. You will need to know the Maintainer email and password to administer the list. The results of the commands will be sent to the list maintainer's email address. 

WEB-RELATED TOPICS

Why can't I see my custom web access error pages?
After setting up the error pages in cpanel, you may need to adjust your browser settings to see this pages.

If you are using Internet Explorer:
Click Tools > Internet Options > Advanced and uncheck 'Show friendly HTTP errors'.

If you are using a different browser, check similar settings.

Where do i place my web files?
Place your web files in the /public_html/ subdirectory. Use an FTP program (or your FTP function within your web authoring tool) to upload your files once you've created them on your local computer's hard drive (disk). The top-level directory in your server account contains several subdirectories (folders):

• public_html - THIS IS IT -
  place all your web pages in this area (and subdirectories within)
• mail - don't mess here unless you're an expert and know exactly what you're doing; this is your incoming mail area, and you could easily delete mail messages headed your way.
• public_ftp - not applicable unless you're utilizing special FTP functions
• tmp - you won't be using this area, leave alone.
• www - A (Unix "linked") duplicate access method for publlic_html. This is included for some older web directory structures that need to access the web directory via the www directory. This usage of "www" as a directory has nothing to do with the "www" in a URL web address such as http://www.sherwoodhosting.com/ (see explanation below about "www." )
  Ignore this subdirectory and use /public_html/ which is the current standard across web servers.

Does size matter (upper/lower case) in filenames, URLs, and email addresses?
Upper/lower case does matter sometimes, as shown in the table below.

  Index of /    (a slash "/" with nothing following it signifies "top-level directory")
  Name                   Last modified          Size Description
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Parent Directory       31-Dec-2002    21:55 -
  cgi-bin/               31-Dec-2002    21:45 -
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Apache/1.3.27 Server

When there is no index.html file (or equivalent default-named main file) in the /public_html/ subdirectory, then the apache web server displays the directory listing of that (sub)directory. Possible situations that might cause this to occur:

1. If there used to be an index.html file there, it got deleted somehow
2. Check the search order of your index-like filename.
3. The index.html file might have been placed (FTP'd) in the wrong/mistaken directory. It should go in the /public_html subdirectory (folder) of the top-level. Maybe by accident you copied it into the top-level directory instead of /public_html.
4. Related bit of information:  To prevent a directory listing from being displayed when there is no index.html file, you can set a parameter in your Cpanel settings.

What is the search order of index-like "main" files at the top level of my site or in each sub directory.
When a URL web address contains no file name at the end of the URL (e.g., http://sherwoodhosting.com/ ), the Apache web server will look in the directory for the first file that is found in a predetermined list of index-like filenames. The order of this search for SherwoodHosting.com accounts is shown below. We still recommend just using the most common filename for the top-level file in a directory: "index.html"

(note the different ordering from index html vs. htm)

index.html index.wml index.cgi index.shtml index.jsp index.js index.jp index.php5 index.php4 index.php3 index.php index.phtml index.htm default.htm default.html home.htm index.xhtml index.perl index.pl index.plx index.ppl Default.html Default.htm home.html index.pdf

Notes:

• CASE MATTERS: make sure that you begin index (for instance) with a small i.   A file named Index.html will not be displayed by default as the home page (but the directory will appear).
• For our Apache server configuration, the following are never accessed in the search list as default main pages: main.*, home.html, Index.htm, Index.html, welcome.html
  You can use these filenames, but you would have to explicitly point to them in a link.
• You must avoid the words "root" or "roots" as a parseable syllable in a filename, for instance,
  "grassroots.html" or "grassroots.jpg" is okay, but "grass-roots.html" will not be found at all by Apache.
• When no filename is specified in a URL web address, AND there is noindex-like file that exists (one of the eight above), then a directory listing (often called an "index" of your directory(folder)) is presented to the viewer's browser. This file list may be considered a security leak for some sites that want to protect the names of files (especially image files as in "/images", and you can prohibit directory listings from being shown by Cpanel> Access Menu> Index Manager> and then select the directory(ies) you want to protect.

What is a parent directory?
In the structure hierarchy of directories (a.k.a. folders in Microsoft Windows terminology) on a hard disk drive, files are placed into directories and sub-directories. There is a top-level directory (and if it's really the top-level for an entire system, this is called the "root"directory), and it can have files and subdirectories at each directory level. A parent directory is the directory above the current directory.

How can I create my own "error pages"?
You can create customized error pages, so when a user types in the wrong url, or enters the incorrect information, You can have nice looking error pages that may redirect them to another part of Your website instead having a visitor leave Your site discouraged.
Bad request
Authorization Required
Forbidden
Wrong page
Internal Server Error

The process is step-by-step and self-explanatory. Simply click on whichever error page You want to customize, enter your text or html code and click save.

Can you explain how the "www." prefix to my domain name works?
In these "modern times" the "www." prefix is rarely needed in a URL web address. In "www.mydomain.com" it is a server alias and is equivalent to just "mydomain.com" for all domains hosted by SherwoodHosting.com. You may run across a web site occasionally that is not set up properly or whose owners explicitly request not to allow just "mydomain.com" to be able to access their web site. As of this writing, "http://adobe.com/" will not resolve properly. Who knows why they choose to make people work extra to type in the additional www.

"www" is added in Apache and Bind to resolve to your domain automatically when omitted.
Note this entire topic discussion about "www" is not to be confused with subdomain or domain aliasing where you can place a subdomain prior to the domain name in the web address URL, such as in gallery.bershad.com

CGI & WEB PROGRAMMING TOPICS

What is a cgi-bin directory?
The cgi-bin directory holds cgi (common gateway interface) program files for use in advanced web programming applications. This directory is not used in most web sites.

What is the path to the perl interpreter ?
The path to the perl interpreter is: /usr/bin/perl.

What is the path to sendmail?
The path to sendmail is: /usr/sbin/sendmail.

Where to put CGI scripts?
Put your cgi-bin scripts in the public_html subdirectory named "cgi-bin".

Setting Up Forms that send back filled-in information to you: Form Mail
Note: our servers no longer support these versions of FormMail, we recommend you use the free script:
HiQFM

FormMail-clone.cgi (formerly smartmail.cgi) is a clone of Matt Wright's FormMail.cgi under a less restrictive liscense. It should behave almost exactly as FormMail.cgi, but it is completely written from scratch so there might be a few minor visual diffrences. The FormMail-clone.cgi script is already configured on our server for your account. The main html code to set up your form is based on:

<form action="http://your-domain.com/cgi-sys/FormMail-clone.cgi" method="post">

Note that FormMail-clone (or other variations) will only work if you use the same domain that the .html page appears on, AND the email address (to which the form data is sent) is on that same domain name. This is to prevent spam and hacker abuse.

An example form with fields is shown here.

If you would like a handy tutorial on using FormMail go to worldwidemart.com/scripts/readme/formmail.shtml (but note that we use "FormMail-clone.cgi")

Note: Please use this latest version to prevent spammers using your script at your bandwidth expense.

If you choose to write/adapt your own CGI script to perform this function, our system will support your code (if it's written correctly), but we cannot help you get it working. If the need arises, we reserve the right to update smartmail to comply with the latest security measures (against hackers). A change to our software might require you to edit the filename or path shown above.

With the above said, we recommend using instead the free PHP utility HiQFM. It hides the recipient email address (in the PHP config file), and does not restrict the recipient email address to be the same URL. It also allows attached files to be sent, and auto-responders. Note: we have not yet tested the latest Version 2 that is available.

Why am I getting the "Server: Error 500" message?
500 errors are typically something wrong in the syntax of your script. Most often times you should check to make sure you have the path to PERL correct. Currently we are running Perl5 on our servers.

The path to PERL is: #!/usr/bin/perl

Here are the paths to the common server resources that CGI scripts often require:
Date: /bin/date
Sendmail: /usr/lib/sendmail
Perl5: #!/usr/bin/perl
Serverpath: /home/username/domain-www/cgi-bin
Root path: /home/username/
     (puts you in the root of your account)
Domain directory: /home/username/public_html
     (puts you in your public_html directory)
Cgi-bin path: /home/username/public_html/cgi-bin/filename
     (puts you in your cgi-bin area)

What file permissions do I need for my CGI script?
CGIs must be set with executable file permissions, or requests
for the script from the web server will result in an Internal Server error.
Scripts that need to be executable should have their permission set with
chmod 755. This sets the file's permissions so that the file's owner may read,
write, and execute the file; and anyone else can only read and execute it.

How do I run my own CGI programs?
Put your CGI programs in the cgi-bin directory.
Make sure you upload them in ASCII mode. Change permissions to
755 for the script (chmod 755 script-name) Access them via
http://www.mydomain.com/cgi-bin/script-name

What is a Robot and why should I like them and when should I exclude them?
Robots (a.k.a. spiders, harvesters, crawlers, diggers) are search engine software programs that explore as much of the web as possible and catalogue keywords and search terms for search engines such as google, yahoo, altavista, northernlight. If you look in your web visitation log files, you'll see that various robots have crawled around your pages (this is good!).  You want to set up your web pages to make it easy for robots to find the terms you want to be known by. Sometimes you don't want pages to be catalogued (such as pages for your clients' eyes only). Read more about Robot exclusion at robotstxt.org

FRONTPAGE

How can I activate (install) FrontPage support on my account?
Go to http://mydomain.com/cpanel        ->       Frontpage Extensions

How do I use FrontPage 2000 to publish my website?
Before you can publish an html file to your web site with FrontPage,
you must either have a page already created, or create a page. To create a
page with FrontPage, follow these simple steps:

With FrontPage open, choose File --> New.
Type in "This is a simple test"
From the menu bar, choose File --> Save As.
Name the html file.(If this file is to be your homepage, be sure to name it index.html) Once you have the file saved to your hard drive, you are ready to publish the file.

Publish Your Web Page
From the menu bar, choose File --> Publish Web.
Click on the Options button
In box below Specify the location to publish your site to: enter the full URL for your site.
If this is the first time you are publishing your site, select Publish all pages...
Select Include subwebs. (Obviously, you will have put your real domain name instead of 'mydomain.com')
Click the Publish button.
Enter your username and password.
Click Done.
If you have entered all the details correctly, FrontPage 2000 will then publish your site.

The default page still shows up even after I have uploaded my index page.
You MUST DELETE the default page before your index page will show up.
See also search order of the commonly used top-level filenames for index-like pages.

I get an error 500 internal server error when trying to view my site.
The most common cause is the use of FTP in uploading FrontPage generated webpages. This can damage the FrontPage extensions. In this case the FrontPage extensions will need to be reinstalled. This can be done in your control panel.
If You are utilizing FrontPage to create Your site You must use the file upload feature in the FrontPage program to deliver these pages to the web server. If FrontPage webpages are transferred by another FTP client, FrontPage extensions will become damaged.
And even though the pages may be successfully uploaded, they will not be viewable
(translatable by a web browser) due to a corrupted code.

Getting error - "Root Web Busy"
FTP to your site and remove the "service.lck" file in /www/_vti_pvt. This usually happens when an FP session is interrupted before completion.

Server timing out when publishing large sites.
This difficulty arises when the uploading link times out in the process of copying the web to our server. The only suggestion Microsoft has offered so far is to break the main web into a group of sub webs on your PC, then upload these individually.

Getting Error - "Front Page Extensions not Installed"
We often see this error being reported even when the extensions have been installed. If you get this error, please reinstall the FrontPage extensions from your control panel.
NOTE: The extensions are easily corrupted.
Please use only FP Explorer to update your web site on the server, not FTP.

I published my main front page but it's not there!
This will happen when the "Destination Web Name" is filled in when publishing to our server.
This box should be left blank. If you put any other name in this box it will create a subdirectory off of your root web and copy all of your files into it. Your site will exist under a subdirectory instead of at the top level /www (a.k.a. /public_html) where it should be.
See also similar information about index.html pages.

My counter, bbs, guestbook, etc isn't working.
These problems are generally due to incorrect permissions on either the directory, file(s) or cgi script(s) that are associated with them. Please don't change the permissions of your files or directories unless you have a specific reason for doing so and you know what effect it will have on your site.

My forms won't work through the Secure Server.
The call to a cgi script using the Secure Server must not be within a webbot. Use a normal cgi call in your html script for Secure Server calls.

My search bot doesn't return any results.
The /www directory must be world readable AND you need to recalculate links BEFORE publishing (or after editing directly on the server). If it still doesn't work: FTP to the server and go to the /www/_vti_txt/default.wti directory. Delete any files that begin with "ALL.". Don't delete any other files. Then using Windows Explorer, do the same thing on your PC. Recalculate links, test locally with your browser and publish

FP starts the Web Publishing Wizard when I try to publish.
Cancel the operation and reinstall the FP extensions. They have been damaged.

Why is my page renamed on the server when I publish?
The "Default Document" of your web is automatically renamed by the server to what is required by the configuration of the server. For example, if you've named the main page "index.html", it may be renamed "default.html".  Just check the links to your main page to make sure they refer to it the same way. See Search order of index-like filenames.

Microsoft FrontPage Support
Because of Microsoft policies, we are not able to provide technical support for the FrontPage client. We can only verify that the FrontPage server extensions are working correctly. However, we have provided you with the following information as a courtesy. Should you need further assistance with FrontPage, please visit: http://support.microsoft.com/support/office/inprodhlp/contents/frontpage/tocfptochhc.asp
An automated help file is also available for download at:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/office2000pro/help/1.0/WIN98/EN-US/auto2000.exe

STREAMING MEDIA

How can I use real audio / video?
See tutorial on streaming audio.
WE DO NOT have Real Audio server software running on our servers. However, you can stream Real Media files by following these instructions: You will need to create a .ram file that calls your real audio/video file. The .ram file is a text file with an absolute URL. This URL will need to be :http://mydomain.com/filename.rm
Typically you'll create a realaudio file subdirectory under domain-www, and put all your audiofiles there. Then your .ram file, a.k.a., metafile, will contain an address with this format:
http://mydomain.com/subdirectory/filename.rm
The "subdirectory" is a subdirectory of your domain's public_html directory. So for example:
http://mydomain.com/musicfiles/music.rm
Notice: The above address goes in the .ram/metafile, not in your HTML code. Your HTML code calls the .ram/metafile. Then the .ram/metafile is used to call up the .rm/realmedia file.
So for example, your HTML code would look something like this:
"Click here to listen to music".
For further support and information, please visit: http://www.real.com/

FILE MANAGER

What is the File Manager function within the control panel?
The File Manager Option within your Control Panel provides powerful features similar to FTP, Windows Explorer, and other file directory applications.
It will handle many of the functions that an FTP or Telnet client will handle, all from within your web browser. Functions such as setting permissions, uploading files from your hard drive, creating and editing html files, and creating subdirectories.
Note: some system-oriented files, such as .htaccess, are visible only via the File Manager (and not via an FTP directory listing).

How can I use File Manager?
When you click on the File Manager feature inside your Control Panel, you will find that the screen is divided into three frames.
The left frame will show you your directories and files.
The upper right hand frame is your action frame.
The lower right hand frame is your trash folder.
Within each directory, you will see links to create a new file, create new folder, or upload files.
These actions pertain specifically to the directory that you are currently in.
You will also see a column of numbers to the right of each folder and file.
The far right column are the current permission settings for that specific folder or file.
The column to the left of the permissions is the actual size of that file or folder.
When you click on the graphic next to the text link for a folder in Your Control Panel, it will open that folder and display the files and folders within that directory.

EXAMPLE:
Click on a Folder to navigate. Click on a Name to view its properties.

(Current Folder)
Create New Folder
Upload file(s)
.autorespond 755
.entropybanner 755
.htmltemplates 755
.htpasswds 755
.neomail 700
.trash 700
catalogs 755
cpanel3-skel 755
mail 750
public_ftp 755
public_html 755
tmp 700
www 755
Create New File
.lastlogin 0 k 644

When you click on the actual text link for a folder or file, actions for that directory or file are displayed in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
If You were to locate your public_html folder and click on the text link for it. You will see the actions for the folder appear in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
The actions are pretty self-explanatory, so we'll forgo explaining what each do. However, if you located a file rather than a folder within your directory listing and click on the text link of a file, you will see that the action screen will change to the specific actions pertaining to actual files and you will notice that the actions that you can perform for files are quite different from those of a folder.

By clicking on Show File, a new window will open and show you what the file actually looks like in your browser. By clicking on Edit File, you will be taken to a window where you can actually edit the html code within the file itself and save the changes. You can also change the permissions for the file, copy, move, delete, or rename.
Remember, DO NOT DELETE OR RENAME any files that the system creates. Also remember, any files that you want available on the World Wide Web must be placed within your public_html folder.

PASSWORD

How can I change an FTP password?
Go to Your Control Panel at http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/ and click on Change Password and follow the instructions. If you are unable to access your Control Panel because you've lost your password, You will need to submit a Technical Support Request Form: we can either provide You with a new password or reset Yyour old one (you must provide us with the old one to reset it).
Passwords are one way encrypted, therefore, we can't even pull up your password.

How do I change Passwords for Email Accounts?
Go to Your Control Panel at http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/ "Add / Remove accounts" and click on Change Password button and follow the instructions.

STATISTICS   (USAGE LOG ANALYSIS)

How can I see a statistics for my site?
This feature inside your Control Panel provides You with valuable information regarding visitors to your site. Click here for an example of the Cpanel statistics menu.

Analog
Analog produces a simple summary of all the people who have visited your site. It is fast and provides great light weight statistics.

AWSTATS is the best organized and easiest to read of the visitation statistics displays.

Webalizer
Webalizer is a more complex stats program, which produces a nice variety of charts and graphs about who has visited your site. This is probably the most popular stats engine available today.
You can also view this information in the logs from your Ftp Site (if you have one).

Last Visitors
This will show you the last 300 visitors who came to your site, and some interesting information about them.

Error Log
This will show errors in your site, images not loading, missing files, etc. This is very useful for debugging a cgi script.

MySQL

See also MySQL Cpanel information.

How can I manage my database via a web interface?
We have installed a powerful web interface that makes it very easy to administer your database. This interface, called phpMyAdmin, is based on the PHP scripting language and lets you create, drop, edit, and manage tables and data in your database.
You can read more on phpMyAdmin by going to http://www.phpwizards.net

How do I use PHP to connect to MySQL?
To merely display the information in your database without the use of a form to call a php script, you simply create your HTML document as you would any other web page but instead of the extension of .htm or .html you need to name the file with the extension .php.  Then within the document itself the section that you'd like to be the PHP code, you begin it with .

How do I use phpMyAdmin?
Go to http://yourdomain/cpanel -> SQL Database -> phpMyAdmin.
Note:
phpMyAdmin does not stop the user from entering incorrect syntax, therefore it will accept a line like the one below even though it is incorrect:

Bad:
ALTER TABLE bmt_userinfo ADD first_name TEXT (25) not null , ADD last_name TEXT (25) not null , ADD address1 TEXT (100) not null , ADD address2 TEXT (100) not null , ADD city TEXT (30) not null; However the same line minus the text length does work:

Good:
ALTER TABLE bmt_userinfo ADD first_name TEXT not null , ADD last_name TEXT not null , ADD address1 TEXT not null , ADD address2 TEXT not null , ADD city TEXT not null; This is because "TEXT" is a set length.
[The thing to remember is that any syntax that will not work on the command line will not work in phpMyAdmin either.] A good place to find out correct syntax for a command that you want to perform is:
http://www.mysql.com/doc.html

How can I create a mysql database?
Go to http://yourdomain/cpanel -> SQL Database, add a new database and don't forgot add a user into the database.

Do you have any additional help files for beginners for mysql database management?
Additional information that will help You manage MySQL is located here:
MySQL Technical Help Forum http://www.tek-tips.com/gthreadminder.cfm/lev2/4/lev3/27/pid/436/

MIME TYPES

What are mime types?
This feature is not available for FrontPage users. If any Mime types are needed, FP users will have to be added using FrontPage.

The MIME Types option in your Control Panel allows you to set certain programs to be used for specific extensions. In easier-to-understand terms, MIME Types help your web server to identify what type of file is being requested by your browsers. For instance, when the web server gets a request from a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, for a file that ends in .html, the web server knows that it is an html document because that extension is stored in the Mime Type. If the web server gets a request from a browser for a file that ends in .gif, the web server knows that it is an image because that too is stored in the Mime Types. This applies to every file, image, application, etc. that may be requested by a web browser. If the extension is not stored within the Mime Type, the web server will not recognize it and will not be able to assist the browser and that particular file type will not be viewable by the user.

Mime types are identified by the server by the following format:

subtype/type extension

For example, adding the following two Mime Types will allow users to view ipx images on your web pages:

application/x-ipscript .ips

application/x-ipix .ipx

application identifies the subtype, x-ipscript identifies the application, and .ips identifies the extension used for that application.

For more information on Mime Types you can visit: http://www.qnx.com/~chrish/Be/info/mime-types.html

CRON TABS

Why won't my cron job run?
Check your command expression, use the full path to command.

How do I set up a cron job?
Go to http://yourdomain/cpanel -> Cron Jobs

BACKUPS

How can I create a backup?
This option in Your control panel allows you to compress your directories and/or files located in Your account. This is an excellent way to backup Your own files. It will serve as double protection should anything ever go wrong with our backups.
We cannot guarantee the quality of our backups as these are geared more toward restoring an entire server. We HIGHLY recommend that You make it common practice to backup Your own web pages. In the event that we are unable to recover Your pages, You will be able to restore Your own pages. In control panel go to "Access Menu" then "backup" save the backup file to Your hard drive for safe keeping.

If You ever need to restore the "Backups" from your harddisk file, just return to this part of Your Control Panel and select "Restore Backups".

DOMAINS & TRANSFERS

Overview
When you register your domain name, it is listed in a worldwide directory mechanism that uses NameServers to point your web site visitors to the server where your web site files are stored. The pointer is called the DNS field (or setting or pointer). You (or we) can change that DNS pointer in your registry record to point to your web hosting server, such as SherwoodHosting.com. When a change is made to the DNS pointer, the change is edited in the registrar's database and then through a series of steps is propagated worldwide to all internet (connectivity) service providers, such that when your customer tries to view your web site from their browser, their ISP (such as AOL, BellSouth, Comcast, Charter, Verizon, etc.) looks up in its copy of the DNS tables where the server is for your domain name. Various types of DNS servers and DNS caches are used along the way to catalogue this information.

How do I transfer my domain to your servers?
SherwoodHosting can transfer your name for you when we set up your hosting account. If you would rather do it yourself, you'll need to have the primary and secondary name servers (in your domain registration records) point to ours. Your account activation email will contain the Nameserver information for the servers your account is on (see next question).

Once the nameserver (DNS) information is submitted to the registrar, it will take 24-48 hours for the DNS record to update in the registry database. This is the standard time and cannot be accelerated because that's life on the internet!

How do I "point" my domain names to use SherwoodHosting servers?
If you have us register your domain name, we do this step automatically. (But if you do your own registration, beware of remembering to renew your registration.) In order to to have our servers respond to your domain name (and thus be hosted with us), you need to have the primary and secondary name servers (DNS) point to our server name (below). Your account activation email will contain the DNS Nameserver information for the servers your account is on.

Primary Name Server: NS1.SherwoodHosting.COM
Secondary Name Server: NS2.SherwoodHosting.COM

Once this information is submitted to the registrar, it will take 24-48 hours for the DNS record to update in the internet registry database and become "visible to the world."   This is the average time. No one can hurry this information propagation process, it just happens.

We cannot make the change for domain names that you've registered on your own because we don't have the registration username and password, and we aren't listed as a Tech or Admin contact for the Domain registration record.

How do I change registrars?
We will typically change your registrar for you, since your domain registration (using our registrar) is included in your yearly hosting fee. The stages of a typical transfer, using the automatic verification process that many now have in place, are:

1. SherwoodHosting makes the request for registrar transfer
2. New registrar starts the process: Transfer status: Transfer in Process - Acquiring Current Whois for Transfer Verification
3. Transfer status: Awaiting auto verification of transfer request (verification means an email is sent by our registrar to the domain owner to confirm that the transfer is wanted)
4. Transfer status: Auto verification of transfer request initiated (see email that is sent below)
   From: info@transfer-approval.com [mailto:info@transfer-approval.com]
   Subject: Domain Transfer Request for MASSAGEKEYWEST.COM

   Dear Customer,

   You are receiving this notice because you are listed as one of the contacts for the domain name mydomain.COM.

   We have received a transfer request to move this domain to from a different registrar.
   Please click on the following URL link and let us know if you approve OR disapprove this domain transfer:
   

5. Transfer status: Domain transfer initiated and awaiting approval (this means the above email's link was clicked on and the "approve" button was clicked on; the registry record is then flagged for transfer, and the losing registrar must then "notice" this flag (no notification is sent), and then send an additional email to confirm that the domain owner wishes for the name to be transferred).
6. Transfer status: Transfer approved
7. Transfer status: Losing Registrar contacted for actual transfer
8. Transfer status: Transfer Pending - Awaiting Release by Current Registrar
9. Domain name transfer completed successfully and ready for management

We cannot emphasize enough to beware of remembering to renew your registration if you are managing it yourself.

The actual automatic approval for transfer is accomplished via an email sent to the domain owner's email address of record. The email usually comes from "info@transfer-approval.com" and contains a link for the owner to click on to confirm the transfer approval. This link approval mechanism is valid only for a few days. Some losing registrars will send a comlpicated and convoluted email message that seemingly tries to trick you in to renewing with them instead of approving the transfer, so you must read the text carefully.

HTACCESS

What is .htaccess?
Important Note: Do not edit the .htaccess file if you are using MS Frontpage! Frontpage uses the .htaccess file, and editing it may cause errors in your configuration.

The .htaccess file can be placed in one or more of your /home/$user/$domain-www subdirectories. Among other things, this file can be used to restrict access to other files and web pages.
When a request for a web page is made, the web server first checks for an .htaccess file. The server begins this check by looking for .htaccess in the root of the current web directory, and on down the directory tree until it reaches the directory where the requested file resides. Since the placement of the .htaccess file determines when it is executed, this fact can be used to restrict access only in certain subdirectories.

Web information about htaccess:
javascriptkit site     Apache tutorial site     FreeWebmasteHelp     HurricaneHelp
Encrypted Password Generator for htpassword files

How do .htaccess and FrontPage interact?
If you're running FrontPage, you cannot custom-edit the .htaccess file. You'll either create a security hole or break FrontPage. There are no other options. This includes ANY .htaccess file in your domain, including one in the cgi-bin. [Having said this, please note that a .htaccess file may be used in any directory within the webspace that is not owned by the user; for example, a directory owned by root]

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