Knowledgebase

Getting Started

Changing Passwords ( see also Password Administrator )

The first thing you should do when you get notice of your new account, is change your passwords.  Your initial access passwords are sent to you by regular, unencrypted e-mail.  Although the chance of this e-mail being intercepted by a malicious hacker is very small, it does exist.

Technical Note... The server owner and the Appies™ support team only has access to your Appies™ password*.  All other passwords on the system are encrypted and cannot be viewed or retrieved.  If you forget any passwords, all you need is your Appies™ password to be able to reset your other passwords.

To change your passwords. Visit your Appies™ Web Site Manager and click "Security" >> "Password Administrator". Enter your new password and select the areas that this password will be in effect by checking the check boxes. Click "process".  All password changes go in effect immediately.

Remember... Your Appies™ interface uses SSL encryption.  Any passwords or other information you enter in Appies is sent securely through the Internet to your server.

Moving Over Domains

In today's World Wide Web, registrar's give customers the control they need to effectively and easily register and move their domain names. A registrar is a company who maintains a database of top level domain names (.com, .net, .ca, etc.).  All domains publicly accessible must be registered with a registrar.  New domains must be registered using the correct name servers while domains that are already registered need to be modified to reflect the correct name servers.

Registering new domains. If you nor anyone else has your chosen domain currently registered, visit your favorite domain registrar and follow their instructions on new domain registrations.  When prompted for the name servers, use the following information that was sent to you when your hosting account was set up.

Modifying existing domains. If your domain is already registered, you just need to modify the name servers to the ones provided.  Follow the instructions on your registrar's website.

The next step. If this is your primary domain for the server, this is all you need to do. Your domain has been sent to the name servers when the account was registered. If this domain is an additional domain, meaning it is not the domain , then follow the step by step instructions in the chapter "Virtual Hosting".

Remember... Registering or moving a domain is NOT instant. Although our name servers reload data every 15 minutes, registrars and the global registry often take much longer to resolve and propagate your domain. A wait of 72 hours is the standard from the time the domain is registered or modified with the registrar.

Setting Up E-mail

To minimize the chance of losing any e-mail, your account has been setup by default with a catch-all alias that forwards all mail sent to that domain to the e-mail address you have registered with. If this is acceptable for the time being, there is no need to make any immediate changes to your e-mail. However, if you are ready to take advantage of some very advanced e-mail features, read on. This chapter is to serve as an overview of the mail system only, for details see the chapters on the specific tool/feature.

Understanding e-mail lingo. Let's first make sure you have a basic understanding of how the Appies� e-mail system works and the difference between the tools/features. Here is a quick reference:

• POP Accounts. A POP account is an actual file that holds all of your email sent to you. It requires a username and password to retrieve via an e-mail client using POP3. By default, your username is a POP account on the server that can accept outside mail.
• Aliases. An alias is a fully qualified e-mail address that forwards to another e-mail address or POP account. This can forward to a local address (on the same server), one using a different domain, or "/dev/null" to be sent directly to the trash. Aliases can have only one forwarding address.
• List Accounts. A list account is used when you have one address that you want to forward to two or more addresses. The recipients of these lists are hidden from the other recipients.
• Autoresponders. An autoresponder is a special alias that acts as a "trigger" when a message is sent to it.  The autoresponders send off pre-written messages of your choice to the senders of the trigger messages.  You have several options that can be set for autoresponders that give you full control.
• Spam Filters. Spam filters can be placed on POP accounts (all except for default server POP account -- your username) and allow you very detailed and specific filters to help you eliminate spam before it is saved in your POP account.
• SMTP Server. Through SMTP you can send Internet mail to any location on the Internet using any e-mail client software such as Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Mail, or any other.
• POP3 Server. Through POP3 you can retrieve your Internet mail from any location using any e-mail client software such as Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Mail, webmail, or any other.

Remember... Your main username is also a POP account. This is not included in your list of POP account however because it is also your main shell account on the system, so it cannot be deleted.  You also cannot use spam filters your master POP due to its path.  You can, however, direct to the POP account if you wish.

POP3 and SMTP setup. Most of the time you will want to use your own server's POP accounts and SMTP setting (if possible).  In general, free accounts provided by your ISP are not as reliable as your own business accounts on your own server. However, many ISPs today do not allow their customers to send e-mail (use SMTP) from an outside server.  Make sure you check with your ISP to see if this is the case.

Here is the setup for Microsoft's Outlook e-mail client. Most other e-mail clients are very similar. Before you do this however, create a POP account on your server.

Step 1: Select "Tools" >> "Accounts" 

Step 2: Select "Add" >> "Mail" 

Step 3: Enter the Display name
This can be anything you would like it to be. 

Step 4: Enter your E-mail address
This can be address you would like to show your e-mail as coming "From". 

Step 5: Enter the POP3 and SMTP server
Your incoming main is POP3, so leave that default. For incoming server it is best to enter your IP address for faster access and to avoid possible domain name resolution issues. 

Step 6: Enter account username and password
Your account name is your username of the POP account which you are using.  The password is the password of the POP account you are using.  Keep remember password selected so you are not prompted each time you download e-mail and make sure Secure Password authentication is not checked. 

Finish the setup by selecting your Internet connection speed, then you are done.

Creating / Uploading Your Website

There are three main components of getting a Web site online; 1) getting the server 2) creating content and 3) uploading content.  You have already taken care of step one, let's discuss steps two and three.

Creating content. There are two basic schools here the first being do it yourself and the second pay to get it done.  Only you can make that choice based on your exact needs.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do you have enough artistic talent to make your own Web site?

Do you have enough technical know how?

Is your time better spent on other activities?

Do you enjoy creating content?

Do you have a budget for content creation?

Is it worth spending money on?

Do you want a fairly generic site or a highly customized one?

To best answer these questions, here are some things to consider:

There is much software out there that does most of the work for you and requires little technical and artistic know how.

Content development is not that expensive and very competitive.

Uploading content. If you already have your content created you can use the following applications to upload your content.  Keep in mind that there are just a few examples mentioned here.  Many other options exist but these are the most common.

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP).  Obtain any FTP client software ( try searching download.com for "FTP" - we recommend FTP Voyager ) and use the following settings from your welcome e-mail.  Put all web content in your "html" directory and any sub directories off of that directory. Do not change any files in your "appies" directory or your Appies™ Website Manager may no longer work properly.
  
• Appies™ Web Site Manager File Manager.  This is a fast and simple way to upload files securely through your Web browser. This method works best if you do not have many files to upload, since Web based file upload can be a bit cumbersome.  Click "File_Management" >> "File Manager" then click on the folder where you would like to upload files to.  Look for the "upload local file to folder" input box and click "Browse" to find your local files. After you have selected your file(s), click "Process".

Our support team  can also assist you with moving your Web site.  This includes checking to make sure script paths are compatible, programs are adjusted if needed, databases are properly transferred and more.

Remember... Websites rarely requite modifications when moved, but this can happen due to different paths and platforms. It is best to fully test the site before changing your IP address.