SUPPORT AREA


Please always check out this page first to see if you find the answer/s here. We have also added a "Tips and Suggestions" section. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to e-mail them and we will post them if deemed appropriate:
support@cpanel-host.com.


Below, please find all of the basic info about your account — as well as some special "Tips and Suggestions." But most issues are very well explained in the cPanel Support Manuals (click on "index"!); please always consult this manual first. The manual is especially helpful because it gives a graphical representation of exactly what you have to do to perform the most popular tasks in cPanel.


DNS settings
If you already own your domain name, you have to change its DNS (Domain Name Server) settings with your domain registrar to the settings we gave you in our welcome message.
Once you make these changes, it will take 12-48 hours for them to propagate Internet-wide, at which time your domain name will start pointing to our servers. If you are registering your domain name on our site, then these DNS settings already point to our server. Before the DNS has resolved to our servers, you can preview your domain at:

      https://server-3.com/~myusername/
      http://server-9.com/~myusername/
      http://server-12.com/~myusername/
      http://eu-server.net/~myusername/
      (myusername stands as placeholder for your actual cPanel domain username)

How to access my domain control panel?
You'll want to login to cPanel to do such things as view web stats, setup email addresses, MySQL databases, etc. To login to cPanel (after the DNS has resolved), go to:

      http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel/

      (substitute your actual domain name for *yourdomain.com*)

Then enter your username and password (given to you in our welcome email). This will not work until your domain name has fully propagated to our servers. But prior to this, you can login to cPanel using the Primary Nameserver IP number, like this: http://172.93.109.242/cpanel; be sure to check our welcome email to see what the shared IP for your account is.

Shared SSL Certificate
For signup pages, online billing gateways, and other eCommerce projects you might want to have an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) site to encrypt transmission of your customers' data. We have created a shared SSL certificate (GeoTrust) solution that is compatible with over 96% of all Web browsers - you don't need to purchase your own cert.
Upload all the files that should be accessed as SSL secured pages to the public_html folder (where all other HTML files go as well), and access them at the following https://... address:
      https://secure.server-3.com/~myusername/filename
      https://secure.server-9.com/~myusername/filename
      https://secure.server-12.com/~myusername/filename
      https://secure.eu-server.net/~myusername/filename
      (
myusername stands as placeholder for your actual cPanel domain username;
      
filename stands as placeholder for the actual HTML or ASP file)
We are more than happy to change the username for your domain account.  E.g., rather than "Carl" or "Erica" etc. you might want to consider a username such as "sales-k" or "acct3") to make the https URL to your signup site look more professional.


E-Mail: Outlook, Eudora, and Other POP Programs

The basic settings for these should be:
Mail Server:  MyDomain.com  or  mail.MyDomain.com
SMTP:    MyDomain.com  or  mail.MyDomain.com
                     
...whereby 'MyDomain.com' stands as a placeholder for your actual domain name
Username:  <Your e-mail username for this e-mail account>
Password:  <Your e-mail password for this e-mail account>

Troubleshooting:
If these settings do not work for you, then the ISP you use to connect to the Internet has most likely blocked Port 25, so you cannot use your own mail server for OUTGOING mail (SMTP) while connected via their network. Some of the ISPs who do this are Earthlink/Mindspring, AOL, USA-Starnet, and MSN. Microsoft, for example, gives an explanation (as regards to their own blocking) and solution:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q302339
The solution is to use your ISP's SMTP settings for outgoing mail (in the case of MSN this is 'smtp.email.msn.com'). BUT MAKE SURE TO KEEP YOUR DOMAIN AS THE MAIL SERVER FOR INCOMING MAIL!


FTP

Use the following information with your FTP program:
Host name:  yourdomain.com   [your actual domain name!]
Username: Same as control panel
Password: Same as control panel

Paths
Your Perl path is:   /usr/bin/perl
    The first line in cgi and perl scripts should therefore be:  
#!/usr/bin/perl
Sendmail:  /usr/lib/sendmail  or  /usr/sbin/sendmail
Serverpath:  /home/username/public_html/cgi-bin
Root path:   /home/username/   puts you in the root of your account Domain
directory:  /home/username/public_html    puts you in your www directory
cgi-bin path:  /home/username/public_html/cgi-bin/filename    puts you in your cgi-bin


Tips and Suggestions

Pre-installed cgiemail Script: There is just one pre-installed script. You will find it in the cgi-bin folder: this is "cgiemail" – a script written in C. The cgiemail script is an alternative solution to "FormMail.pl." It is pretty simple to use ... you should be able to use it by just looking at our example: please look at the source code of our own "Contact Us" page. The content of the form is send to a TEXT file, here called "request.txt," by the following line:
    
<form action="http://cpanel-host.com/cgi-bin/cgiemail/request.txt" method=POST>
The "request.txt" file, however, resides in the "public_html" folder! In the first line of this TEXT file you determine to which e-mail address it is send then. Further info and readme text can be found at MIT's site.

Spam Protection: Please note that you will have to install "SpamAssassin" from the cPanel control panel to activate Spam protection. Each domain owner can enable or disable SpamAssassin.

Advertising Your Site: You'll find tons of info about this issue on the Web, and you may know more about this than we do. Here just the very basics:
Yes, it makes a difference if you submit your site to search engines and directories like Yahoo! or if you don't. We strongly suggest to either buy a license for the program
WebPosition Gold - or to use a service that uses it - it is simply the best. But by now more and more search engines and directories, certainly all the big ones, are charging to list your site. According to our experiences it does pay out very well to invest a decent amount. The place to go is LookSmart (and its British version LookSmart.co.uk) as well as Overture and ah-ha.com, covering several search engines that together make up for 80% of all searches. Before you submit your site you want to make sure that all the HTML tags in the header are just right. Use mentioned WebPosition Gold or a free service offered by Scrubtheweb (go to the VERY bottom of these pages and enter your URL). Also try SelfPromotion.com or Ray's OptiMet.net (hosted on one of our servers) -- all offer plenty of webmaster tools to promote your site, the last two for free.
In addition to search engine and directory listings you should get listed in a couple of Web hosting directories ... ad banners, however, generate little income, although they are useful to create brand name recognition.

Billing Your Customers: You may already have your own system set up ... if not, by far the best, easiest and fastest (immediate) solution is 2CheckOut.com which integrates a shopping cart with a credit card processing system in one package. Except for a one time $49 setup fee there are no further monthly fees (quite different from almost all other billing services). A similar solution is available from PaySystems. Those with much of their customer base in Europe may want to check out WorldPay.com and BIBIT.com. Also consider to add PayPal with low fees, but do not rely on PayPal alone - you might then loose prospective customers. BASIC Networks (that's us) also offer together with e-Online Data an e-commerce billing solution that make use of the popular Authorize.Net software to bill your customers and arranges a merchant account for you. You can use their shopping cart systems and easily integrate it into your Web site.

 



Home | How to? | Domain Registration | cPanel Plans | Multi-Domain Hosting | Dedicated Servers | SSL Certs | Contact

© Copyright 2002– BASIC Networks Corp.   All rights reserved.