Chapter Two - Control Panel

This chapter gives a brief description of the different options available in your Control Panel which is available at http://yourdomain.com:2082 When you receive your IP address, you may also use http://IPaddress:2082 until your domain name is ready. Note that not all of the features may be available to you. Feature availability is dependent upon which account type you have. Please refer to our Hosting Plans section where you can see which options are available for your specific hosting plan.

Control Panel Entry Page
Account Management
AnonFTP
Archive Manager
Billing History
Change Password
Counters
File Manager
Formmail
Help
Mail Manager
Mailing List
Mime Types
MS Frontpage
MySQL Database
Nameserver
Network Trouble Shooter
Newsletter
PGP
PGPMail
Protect Directories
Redirect URL
Search Engine
Shopping Cart
Site Creation Tool
Site Statistics
SSH Telnet

Control Panel Entry Page:

When you enter the control panel, it is divided into three areas. The upper left hand corner shows your account status, disk quota, how much disk space you have utilized and how much is remaining in your plan.

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Account Management:

The Account Management Option will give you a detailed description of you Account Information. It includes your username, your package option, your activation date, contract length, etc.

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AnonFTP:

This Option sets up anonymous FTP to allow users to upload and download files to and from your site. Please refer to Chapter 8 of the Online Manual for more detailed information.

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Archive Manager:

The Archive Manager will allow the user to backup and compress their files. For example, if you have a number of files for which you wish to keep a backup, you can select all the files, then create a backup file that contains all of them in compressed format. Note that the compressed file will count against your disk quota.

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Billing History:

This Option will show this account's entire billing history. It will also display your current payment balance.

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Change Password:

This will allow the user to change their password. Note that this will change the ftp and Control Panel password, but *not* the email password. To change the email password, use the Mail Manager. Please refer to Chapter 13 of the Online Manual for more detailed information.

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Counters:

From this option, you can verify that the counter program is installed for your account. Also, you can find directions for setting up a counter on one of your pages. Finally, after the counter has been installed on your pages, you can set the value of the counter from here.

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File Manager:

The File Manager is a very powerful feature. It allows you to manipulate all the files in your web site. You are able to create, delete, and move your files. You can also upload files from your local PC to the server in File Manager. Plus, you can edit the HTML in any of your files from this option. Everything you need to manage your site can be found in this feature.

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Formmail:

Formmail allows you to use a form to receive email from your users. Directions for using Formmail can be found under this option. Please refer to Chapter 11 of the Online Manual for more detailed information.

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Help:

There are three options under the "Help" icon:

Getting Started: The Getting Started Page is the one that you are currently in. It give a brief summary of all the features of the Control Panel.

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Mail Manager:

The Mail Manager is where you can manage all aspects of your email accounts. You can add, edit, and delete email accounts. You can also change the password on any of your email accounts. Plus, if you have Mailing Lists installed, you would go here to set them up. Finally, this is where you go if you wish to set up email aliases. Please refer to Chapter 6 of the Online Manual for more detailed information.

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Mailing List:

This Options allows you to install the Mailing List program. After it has been installed, you need to create and maintain your mailing lists with the Mail Manager. You can also remove the mailing list program after it has been installed if you do not wish to use it. Please refer to Chapter 6 of the Online Manual for more detailed inforamtion.

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Mime Types:

MIME Types allows you to set certain programs to be used for specific extensions. For example, all files that end in .ram would be set to use Real Player on the user's PC. Most users do not need to use this feature. Also, note that you cannot use this feature if you have Frontpage Extensions installed. You would need to use Frontpage itself to perform this function.

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MS Frontpage:

The MS Frontpage option allows you to install Frontpage extensions - which are necessary in order to use Frontpage with your site. You can also verify that they are installed, or remove them if you do not wish to use them anymore. Please refer to Chapter 7 of the Online Manual for more detailed instructions.

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MySQL Database:

MySQL is a database engine that you can use with your web site. This feature of the Control Panel will allow you to create a new MySQL database, and manage it. You will be able to add/edit/delete tables, fields, and values. You can also run queries on the database if you need to. We do not provide technical support in using MySQL outside of what is provided on your control panel. Please refer to MySQL's Web Site for complete tutorials and troubleshooting solutions and documentation. This is an excellent resource.

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Nameserver:

Using this feature, you can set up your own virtual Name Servers, which allows you to register your site using name servers with your own domain name. This feature is only available with our reseller account.

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Network Trouble Shooter:

The Network Trouble Shooter allows you to perform a traceroute from our server to your local PC. You may also trace from your web site on our server to any other location on the Internet. A traceroute shows the path that information travels over the Internet to go from one location to another. If you are experiencing slowness or problems when connecting to your web site, you can use this to see a snapshot of where the problem is occuring.

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Newsletter:

This option will display the different issues of the company newsletter.

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PGP:

This option will allow you to set up your PGP key on the server. This allows you to use PGP in your scripts or with our PGPMail script.You must first have PGP installed on your local PC, and create a PGP key pair before uploading the key to the server. 

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PGPMail:

PGPMail is simply the Formmail script, except that it encrypts the email via PGP before it is sent to the client. This option includes directions for using PGPMail. Note that you must upload your PGP key before you can use this script.

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Protect Directories:

Using this option, you can password-protect any directory you own. This will prevent users from viewing the contents of a directory unless they have permission. You can set any number of users using this feature. Note that you cannot use this feature if you have Frontpage Extensions installed. You would need to use Frontpage itself to perform this function. Please refer to Chapter 10 of the Online Manual for more detailed information.

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Redirect URL:

Redirect URL allows you to set up a redirection so that user that type in one URL will automatically be sent to another URL. Note that you cannot use this feature if you have Frontpage Extensions installed. You would need to use Frontpage itself to perform this function.

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Search Engine:

This feature will allow you to install and manage the WebGlimpse Search Engine on your site. This Search Engine will allow your users to perform searches on your web site.

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Shopping Cart:

The Shopping Cart feature installs or removes the AlaCart Shopping Cart program on your site. After it is installed, you are given directions for managing the Cart.

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Site Creation Tool:

This is a graphical web-based program that gives you the ability to set up your web site from scratch, without any knowledge of HTML, or the use of a program like MS FrontPage. After the site is created, you can make it your main domain's page, or you can have it be a subdirectory under your main domain.

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Site Statistics:

The Site Statistics feature gives you access to your site's web statistics, such as hits, transfers, etc.

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SSH Telnet:

If you need telnet access to our servers, it can only be done using SSH. We have it set up t o use RSA authentication. You will need to create a key using your PC's SSH software, then use this feature to upload the key to our servers. Once it is uploaded, you will be able to connect to our servers using SSH. More information is available in Chapter 4 of our Online Manual.

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