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Q: What is Web hosting?
A: Web hosting is the term that refers to the service involving
the placement of your Web site onto the Internet through
a computer (Web) server.
Q: How do I sign up for a hosting plan?
A: You can signup online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in
real-time. When you're ready to sign up, go to our hosting
pages, which can be found here:
Windows
Plans
Unix
Plans
Q: What is a domain name?
A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. For example,
the domain name cnn.com represents about a dozen IP addresses.
Domain names are used in URLs (Uniform Resource Locator)
to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL
http://www.sklservices.com.com/index.html, the domain name
is sklservices.com.
Q: I'm having trouble creating my Website. Can you help
me?
A: Yes, one option would be for SKL Services to provide
Commercial Website Design. If you would like us to design
your Commercial Website Site contact sales@sklservices.com
for more information. Option 2 would be to use on of the
many nice templates that come with all of our hosting plans.
This product is called Site Studio. To see a fully
functioning demo,
CLICK HERE. You can build a website that looks
very professional completely through your web browser.
It is a simple "point, click, publish" program
that is extremely easy to us.
Q: I'm having trouble with my user name and/or password.
A: First, make sure that you have entered both your user
name and password correctly into your FTP software. Your
host name or address will always be your domain name, i.e.
ftp.yourdomainname.com (or http://www.yourdomainname.com
if using Microsoft FrontPage to publish your site). Also,
be aware that your hosting account user name and password
are CASE SENSITIVE from your email that was sent to you
upon signup! If you forget your password, from the
control panel front page you can click "...forgot password"
link and it will be reset and emailed to the primary email
address on file.
Q: How do I access my Administrator Control Panel?
A: Each site on SKL Services has its own Web-based "Administrator
Control Panel" which allows you to manage your site
through a Web browser. To access your sites Control Panel,
go to http://www.yourdomainname/siteadmin, enter your user
name and password at the prompt, this will log you into
your sites Administrator areas where you can manage many
of your sites functions.
Q: What server platform do you run, and what types of
CGIs can I use?
A: We run
Apache utilizing HSphere (Red Hat Linux Servers) and
Microsoft Windows 2003. We can support CGIs
in UNIX binary (for Digital UNIX, OSF, and Tru64 UNIX),
UNIX Shell Scripts, Perl,
and PHP (an embedded HTML language).
We also support Windows NT scripts such as ASP and VBScript
for our Windows Hosting programs. These systems run on Windows
2003 Server and IIS 5.0. We also support JSP, Cold Fusion,
and MySQL, SQL 2000. Both platforms also support Miva
Merchant and OSCommerce shopping carts.
Q: I uploaded my Web site for the first time, and my
site is not appearing.
A: There is a default page in your root directory (yourdomain.com).
When you first login to your account with your ftp login,
you will be automatically dumped into the root directory
and will need to go into the directory with your domain
name. You DO NOT want to upload your primary site to the
root directory. Then, be sure that your home page
is named index.html (not index.html) which will overwrite
the default index.html page already in there. If your home
page must be named index.html, you will need to rename or
DELETE the existing "index.html" page that is
automatically placed in your Web space directory when your
account was created. By default, index.html is the "main"
page for your website and the server is configured as such.
Q: What software do you support?
A: We support the types of software below:
| Microsoft FrontPage
Users:
Customers with Microsoft FrontPage extensions installed
on their sites should use only the FrontPage
publishing feature to transfer files. Using regular
FTP can corrupt the extensions, disabling the functionality
of the FrontPage web and requiring that the site be
deleted to reinstall the extensions.
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If you use a product that is not mentioned above, please
see that products documentation or README file for support.
Q: What is a Web server?
A: A specially built computer connected to the internet
running server software specifically designed to serve web-content
to other computers and networks on the internet.
Q: What is a Megabyte?
A: A Megabyte (Mb) is a unit of storage, equal to roughly
the size of a floppy disk (actually 1.44 Mb). For example,
5 Megabytes can fit the entire works of Shakespeare (text
doesn't account for as much space as images), or about 30
seconds of TV-quality video.
Q: How do I know how much space my Web site is using?
A: Access your Administrator Utilities by logging into your
control panel at http://cp.sklservices.com:8080,
enter your user name and password that was sent to you when
you created your account. Once in, at the top you will see
your site setting defaults, including your disk space and
bandwidth usage.
Q: Do I need to know HTML to create a web page?
A: Yes, we strongly recommend that you learn the basics
of html, this will allow you to be more creative with your
web site design. You can also design your web site without
learning HTML but you will have to purchase or download
software to help you create your html pages, such as (Microsoft
FrontPage 98/2000/2002,
Macromedia Dreamweaver, or
Adobe Golive).
Q: How can I see how many hits my site is getting?
A: We generate summary reports on a monthly basis and place
them in a directory in your site called "Webalizer".
You can access your monthly Web statistics at http://www.yourdomainname.com/webalizer.
You can also access your web statistics at any time by logging
into your control panel with the administrator id and password
and selecting the STATS icon within the Quick Access area.
Q: Do you support any database software?
No, we do not support database executables on our server
at this time. Only flat file databases. If you need special
package pricing for this, please contact us.
Q: How do I password-protect a directory or file?
If you need to password protect a file/directory, you can
do that with an .htaccess file (for Unix hosting).
Instruction on how to do that can be found here -
.htaccess instructions.
Q: Do I get an e-mail account with my Web hosting plan?
A: Yes, each hosting plan comes with a specified amount
of e-mail accounts. These accounts set up by default based
on the plan you setup. You have to configure them
in your email section of the Control Panel.
Q: How can I set up my email for my site to "catch
all" e-mail addressed to my domain, ie., anyname@mysite.com
(to catch mispellings, etc.)?
A: It is possible to create a "catch all" account
which will catch all of the mail for a given domain.
When you create a user you can specify a list of e-mail
aliases for that user as well. Instructions can be
found here -
catch all
For instance if you create a user named johndoe@yourdomain.com
and you want all mail for the yourdomain.com domain to go
to this user you would make his account the "catchall"
account. You would turn ON the catch all feature on
his account only.
Q: I could do CGI work much easier if I had a telnet
shell (access to the Web server via telnet). Do you offer
this?
A: In the past, we have offered telnet access to all clients.
Unfortunately, we cannot always trust everyone and we have
had security problems and hacking attempts in the past.
For this reason, we no longer offer telnet access by default
and it must be requested from within your Control Panel.
Instructions can be found here -
telnet access
FrontPage
Q: How do I activate FrontPage Extensions for my site so
I can use FrontPage to upload my files?
A: FrontPage Extensions are an option with each site on
SKL Services and by default are NOT enabled. You may enable
your FrontPage Extensions from within your Control Panel.
Instructions can be found here -
FrontPage
Q: How do I use Microsoft FrontPage?
A: Explaining how to use a software program such as FrontPage
is beyond the scope of this FAQ and is something we do not
do. Please contact Microsoft for support or visit their
FrontPage web help
located here.
Q: What versions of FrontPage do you support?
A: Our server supports FrontPage 98, 2000, XP and 2003.
Q: I'm having trouble using e-mail forms in FrontPage.
Can you help?
A: While we support e-mail forms, we strongly suggest you
use a CGI or PHP mail program. We cab assist you for
a small charge. These types of forms do not require
FrontPage and are extremely stable and easy-to-use.
If however, you do design a form in FrontPage, you MUST
publish that page in order for it to work correctly.
If you see a "FrontPage Component" message on
your form page when viewed in a web browser, try "saving"
that page again while in FrontPage explorer.
Q: FrontPage doesn't understand how to edit my .shtml
files (server-side includes). What do I do?
A: You need to add that file type in your FrontPage options.
Q: I want to display database information with FrontPage
and utilize .asp (Active Server Pages), is this possible?
A: To display database information in your web site, your
site must be hosted on a web server that supports Active
Server Pages (ASP) and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) - such
as a Windows Hosting package. Please contact us
if you cannot determine whether your purchased web package
supports ASP and ADO. (Unix - NO, Windows - YES)
Q: How do I enable or disable Active Server Pages in
FrontPage?
On the Tools menu, click Page Options, and then click the
Compatibility tab. Select or clear the Active Server Pages
check box. Note: If your web site already uses a database
and you disable Active Server Pages, the Results and Column
Value commands (Insert menu, Database submenu) will be unavailable.
Secure Site
Every SKL Services website comes pre-equipped with a Secure
site (SSL) option within the Control Panel. Secure sites
are encrypted websites (with URLs prefixed with https://)
and are typically used for confidential or sensitive information,
such as taking credit card orders online.
Please
click here for Secure Site (SSL) configuration and support.
CGI Help
What is a CGI script?
CGI's (Common Gateway Interface) are scripted programs that
provide an interface between a Web server and other programs
running on that server. They are commonly used to add interactivity
to a site.
PLEASE NOTE: CGI scripting can be a very complicated
process. We do not provide free support for CGI scripts,
so if you are not already familiar with CGI scripting, you
may want to read a book on the subject or find places on
the Internet with CGI scripting information. There are many
good resources for CGI scripts found on the web.
The scripts at Matt's Script Archive found at
http://www.scriptarchive.com are very good. Many of
our scripts come from here. Another excellent resource is
The CGI Resource Index found at http://www.cgi-perl.com
-- if you are not an expert, look for scripts that are very
well documented and come with step-by-step instructions.
Locations/Extensions
Scripts can end in any extension if they are in your
cgi-bin directory. Outside of that directory, they must
end in .cgi.
Make sure that your scripts are "executable."
If you have scripts that are not located in the "cgi-bin"
directory, you must set those permissions manually using
FTP software. We highly recommend that you keep all of your
scripts in your cgi-bin directory.
Thoroughly test your code. Use a "Perl checker"
which can be downloaded at (http://www.perl.org).
If you've already tried to run a CGI script on your Web
site, you can click the "Show Log" links on the
left menu to view any errors.
Windows Notepad
A Note About Windows... If you edit your scripts using Notepad,
make sure you have word wrap turned off. Otherwise, Notepad
will add a Control-M to the end of every line, which will
cause your script to fail with "Premature end of script
headers" because Unix is unable to find /usr/bin/perl
due to the Control-M added to the first line. This
is why we recommend you use WordPad instead.
To
remove Control-M from a file, you can use this script:
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Remove Control M's ^M
# Matt Wright
# Version 1.0 (http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/)
# Created on: 10/95 Last Modified on: 12/7/95
while () {
$_ =~ s/\cM\n/\n/g;
print $_;
}
# To use this script, type: % rm_cont_m.pl infile
outfile
# This script will remove those pesky control M's
off of the end of your
# scripts after you have edited them in DOS or Windows.
# The infile should be the name of the file you want
to remove control
# m's from and the outfile should be a different file
where you want to
# redirect the output to. Don't use the infile as
the outfile or it will
# remove your original file.
# If you do not specify an outfile, then the script
will print the contents
# to the screen.
# Ths script has no error checking, and is very simple. |
This will remove all Control-Ms from the file
or script.
WEBCASTING
What is a webcast?
Either a live or "on demand" always on transmission
of video or audio delivered over the internet, to a defined
group of viewers, or broadcast to the public at large.
What is streaming?
Video and audio files are large - much larger than web pages.
It used to be the case that to see a video file, the whole
file had to be downloaded to the end users computer, then
the video played from the computer hard drive - needless
to say this took a long time. Streaming technology allows
us to download the first part of a video or audio clip,
then the clip starts playing and downloading at the same
time. The download of the clip should always be ahead of
the point that is playing - if the download falls behind,
the video will pause and wait for the "buffer"
to re-establish - this is know as "buffering"
What is encoding?
Encoding is the creation of a video or audio clip in a traditional
medium - video tape for example - to a computer file that
conforms to any of various streaming protocols.
Generally we recommend the Windows Media format as it is
the most popular, and the Windows Media Player comes STANDARD
with the various Windows operating systems.
We can take any tape format, and also most digital formats
including MPG, although we strongly advise against providing
MPG's due to the inferior quality of files that will result,
and the increased time it takes to provide streaming files
from MPG will result in an extra charge.
Just encoding a video clip is a fairly straightforward process,
however encoding that clip as well as it can be is not,
as subjective elements such as speed of movement, color
variation, audio properties, etc. come into play, and often
only experience can tell us how something can be encoded
best. One of the most important elements of encoding is
taking into account the delivery mechanism at the time of
production - wide sweeping landscapes are not much good
for a webcast, as much of the detail and subtlety will be
lost - tight shots, big titles are all imperative at the
time of production.
What is hosting?
Streaming media cannot effectively be delivered from a standard
HTTP server (where most web pages come from for example)
- a dedicated server with fast processors, fast hard drives,
lots of memory and dedicated streaming software are required.
SKL Services only offers streaming space on a special dedicated
servers.
What is bandwidth?
Bandwidth is most easily described as the amount of data
that can be transmitted from one point to another (usually
from a server to an end user in this case), over a given
period of time. The bigger the bandwidth, the faster a file
can be transferred between the two points.
Can I encode my own projects, and just stream from your
servers?
You are more than welcome to produce, encode and provide
your own footage - we will provide you with all the necessary
information for what is required. However it is a requirement
of SKL Services that a reasonable proportion of your project
is viewed by SKL Services to ensure that your footage does
not contravene any broadcast or censorship laws or regulations
- this is to guarantee the security of the servers, and
all those hosting material with SKL Services.
Can you watch a webcast over a modem?
You can watch a webcast over a modem, but don't expect too
much. A modem is the slowest form of data communication
commonly available, so webcasts are limited in how much
detail they can convey - please go to our samples page for
an example.
SECURITY
How do I know that my content won't be seen by people
I don't want to see it?
There are various security options available, from password
protection of content to only being able to see content
from specific locations.
Can streaming get through firewalls?
There are various techniques that can be used to get through
firewalls - please contact us to discuss what options are
available here.
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