Pro Account Manual

There are three types of users on the Cobalt RaQ: the RaQ administrator, site administrators, and site users.

This chapter describes the functions normally performed by the site administrator. Site administrators can add or remove site users, create mailing lists, manage disk space, back up and restore files, and do other site-related administrative tasks. (These functions can also be performed by the Cobalt RaQ administrator.)

As a site administrator, you manage your site using any standard Web browser. Access the Site Management screen for your site by typing the URL http://IP address/siteadmin/ or http://www.domainname.ext/siteadmin/ into your browser. A prompt appears, asking you to enter your site administrator username and password. The Site Management screen provides access to the site administrator functions.

To go to a section of the Site Management screen, you click the section's button along the left side of the screen. These functions are described in the sections that follow.

User Management Section

The User Management section on the Site Management screen allows you to perform administrative functions related to site users - adding or removing users, entering and modifying user names and passwords, and managing users' disk space allocations, Telnet access, and e-mail aliases.

Adding a user

To add a user to a site, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Site Management screen.

2. Click User Management.

3. Click Add User.

4. Enter the information for the user.

Enter the user's name and password, set a total disk space allocation for the user, and enable Telnet access and enter email aliases (if appropriate - see the description in "Entering User E-mail Settings and Aliases"). You can also choose to assign the user to be the administrator for the virtual site.

5. Click Confirm New User.

Notes:

POP3 & Email
When you set up a new user, by default you are also creating a new POP email account - Email for newusername@yourdomain.ext and any email aliases you set up for this new user will be collected and stored in the new POP3 mailbox.
Collect the mail from www.yourdomain.ext + the Username & Password that was used to set the new user up with.

Users Website
The URL to connect to this new user account will be www.yourdomain.ext/users/username/ or www.yourdomain.ext/~username/

User's FTP
Your new user will be able to ftp to their webspace by using www.yourdomain.ext as the Hostname & their Username + Password - Their remote working (public) directory will be /web

Restricting User Access
You can restrict the new user to their own website area only by not checking the Administrator checkbox when setting their site up.
Important: If a new user is given Administrator rights, they will be able to access ALL areas of your account.

Entering E-mail Settings and Aliases

Because the law surrounding e-mail spamming is undefined and indistinct, until this year we have not allowed remote outgoing mail transport from the servers as it would leave us open to severe penalties and litigation if a client website breaks the rules and spams the net with unsolicited mail.
We have reviewed this situation during 2001 and have now turned on email SMTP for account holders.

IMPORTANT NOTE
In order to use SMTP (outgoing email) you need to be aware of how it works:

(1) All SMTP servers need to identify the sender for authorization to use it. Your dialup ISP's SMTP will know who you are because you will have logged in with your username & password upon connection.

(2) The SMTP server for your domain will not know who you are until you have sent it your username & password - As there is no mechanism to do this using standard email applications, you will normally get a Relaying Denied error sent back from the server, and the email will not get sent.

(3) In order to identify yourself to the server and get authorization to send mail you will need to Collect mail first from your POP3 mailbox. The server will now have identified you as an authorized user because your email application will have delivered your username & password to it.
The SMTP server is set up to retain this information and keep SMTP open for 15 minutes, during which time you will be able to use it for outgoing mail.
After 15 minutes, your authorization will be discarded by the server and you will need to collect email again in order to regain authorization.

The simplest method of using SMTP is to set your outgoing mail to your dialup ISP's SMTP sendmail address.

Collecting your email directly from the server.

Configure your e-mail client software for the POP3 to log into www.yourdomainame.ext

By default, we set your website up to accept mail for any alias @ your domain using the notation @www.yourdomain.ext in your email alias configuration.

Mail Forwarding and Vacation Reply

Individual users can choose to have their Cobalt RaQ e-mail forwarded to another e-mail account. Users can also choose to have a vacation-reply message that's automatically sent to each person who sends the user an e-mail. This feature is useful when users know they won't be reading or responding to incoming email messages for a period of time. As the site administrator, you can enter these settings for users (at their request) as described below in "Changing User Settings".

Note: A vacation-reply e-mail is sent only once per day to each sender.

E-mail Aliases

Each registered user on the Cobalt RaQ must have a unique username (e.g., mary, john). This username is used to send or retrieve e-mail. When a username is already taken by another site (for example, username mary exists and her e-mail goes to mary@abc.com), you can add a new user with a similar name (maryb) and configure the server to receive e-mail with the desired name (user maryb receives mail for mary@xyz.com). The user then enters the desired "return address" in his or her e-mail software.

Note: To address a user by an alias, a sender must always include the hostname in the recipient's e-mail address, e.g., alias@hostname.domainname.com, even if domainname.com is in the "Receive e-mail addressed to" field in the e-mail parameters table (in the Control Panels/Services section of the Server Management screen).

Click here to see a step by step page on how to set up an e-mail account using Microsoft's Outlook Express.

Changing User Settings

To change the name, password, disk space allocation, or Telnet access for an existing user, or to make an existing user the site administrator, click User Management on the Site Management screen, then click the pencil icon for the user. Enter the changes you want in the Modify User table.

To set up or modify the e-mail options for an existing user, click User Management on the Site Management screen, then click the envelope icon for the user. In the table that appears, you can enter a forwarding e-mail address, email aliases, and an automatic vacation reply. These options are described in "Entering User E-mail Settings and Aliases".

If you want to remove a site user, click the trash icon for the user. To confirm that you want to remove the user, click OK in the confirmation dialog box that appears.

Site Settings Section

In the Site settings section of Site Management, you can see the domain name and IP address of the site, change the disk space allocation for the site, and choose the frequency with which Web usage reports will be generated. If CGI has been enabled for your site (by the RaQ administrator), you can turn CGI on or off for all the site's users.

CGI allows users to have Web sites run programs that dynamically generate HTML pages in response to specific user inputs. CGI scripts can be created on a user's desktop computer and then transferred to the Cobalt RaQ with an FTP application (as explained in Using Services on a Site). CGI scripts must have a .pl or .cgi filename extension.

FTP Settings Section

FTP in general:

There are many FTP applications on the market that are suitable for accessing your domain for ftp (file upload/download) purposes - If you don't already have an ftp application available the we have WS_FTP available for download at this address: Download WS_FTP

FTP SETTINGS
Access your website for ftp setting the Hostname or Address using either your web address www.yourdomain.ext or the IP address of your server, ie; 213.239.42.6
The remote (public) directory that you will upload your public files to is /web (enter /web into the Remote Folder option of your ftp application).
If you don't enter a remote directory into your ftp application, you will enter the website in the first User's Web directory ie; www.yourdomain.ext/users/username/web - From here you'll need to go back 2 directory levels to get to the main public web directory.

ANONYMOUS FTP
As the site administrator, you can enable the anonymous FTP server for the site, set limits on the size of files that can be uploaded, and set the number of simultaneous users. This feature allows users without passwords to download and upload files via FTP, up to the specified disk-space limit.

To change the FTP settings for your site, click FTP Settings on the Site Management screen, enter the setting you want, and then click Save Changes.

To download files via anonymous FTP, log onto the site with the username "guest" or "anonymous" - you don't need to enter a password. When you log on with one of these usernames, you'll enter the directory /home/sites/sitename/ftp/ . (This directory can be accessed via the URL ftp: //IP address/ .) The site administrator can post files here for downloading via FTP client software or a Web browser.

To upload files, you must use FTP client software (for example, Fetch) and access the directory /home/sites/sitename/ftp/incoming/. Once you've uploaded a file, you (as a guest) can't see it or access it on the FTP site. However, all registered site users with Telnet/shell privileges can access it.

The size limit specified for FTP uploads is the total amount of disk space allocated for FTP uploads. If this number is set to 0, guests cannot upload to the FTP site.

Publishing Web Pages

For information on publishing Web pages on the Cobalt RaQ, see "Developing Web Pages" and "Publishing Web Pages Via FTP".

Using Services on a Site

This chapter describes the functions that site users can perform on the Cobalt RaQ. As a site user, you can change your user name and password, set e-mail options, monitor your directory's disk space usage, back up and restore your files, send and receive email, and create and upload Web pages and other files.

Managing Your Personal Profile

You manage your directory using any standard browser. Access your directory by typing the URL http://IPaddress/personal/ into your browser. You must enter your user name and password.

When you access your directory, the Personal Profile screen appears.

Modify User

This section allows you to change your full name and password. Click Modify User on the Personal Profile screen to access a table where you can change these settings. When you're finished, click Confirm Modify.

E-mail

The E-mail section of the Personal Profile allows you to select email options. To set your e-mail options, access the Personal Profile screen (as described above), then click E-mail. In the Email Settings table, you can select the e-mail options that are described in the next two sections.

Having Your E-mail Forwarded

You can choose to have your Cobalt RaQ e-mail forwarded to another e-mail account. All you need to do is enter the destination account in the "Forward E-mail To" field in the Email Settings table.

Setting an Automatic Vacation Reply

You can also create a vacation-reply message that's automatically sent to each person who sends you e-mail. This feature is useful when you know that you won't be reading or responding to incoming e-mail messages for a period of time.

To set up a vacation reply, follow these steps:

1. Type the URL http://IP address/personal/ into your Web browser, and then enter your name and password when prompted.

2. Click E-mail on the Personal Profile screen.

3. Click the check box labeled "Vacation / Autoresponder Email Reply" to turn it on.

4. In the scrolling field, type the text of the message you want users to receive while you're away.

5. Click Save Changes.

Note: A vacation-reply e-mail is sent only once per day to each sender.

Usage Data

The Usage Data section of the Personal Profile displays a Disk Usage table showing the total disk space occupied by your files, the amount of available disk space, and your total disk space allocation. To access this table, just click Usage Data on the Personal Profile screen.

Backup

As a site user, you can back up your Home directory. To do this, go to the Personal Profile screen, click Backup and read the on screen instructions. When you're ready to perform the backup, click Backup My Home Directory.

Using Cobalt RaQ E-mail

You must configure your e-mail application to send and retrieve e-mail from the Cobalt RaQ.

Make sure the following information is entered into your e-mailprogram:

1. E-mail address. The format is either

username@domainname, or

username@hostname.domainname,

(e.g., myname@raql.cobaltnet.com) where:

username is the user ID assigned to you (for example, "myname")

hostname is the name assigned to the Cobalt RaQ (for example, "raq1")

domainname is either the "official" domain name that is registered with InterNIC (for example, "cobaltnet.com"), or an intranet domain name specific to your network. (Obtain this information from your system administrator.)

2. SMTP Server. Use your ISP's SMTP Server.

3. POP3 Server. The format is hostname.domainname (e.g., "raql.cobaltnet.com" ).

Note: Occasionally, an e-mail application asks for an incoming mail server. The incoming mail server would be the POP3 server for the domain which is www.domainname.ext.

Additional Info:
E-mail FAQ

Developing Web Pages

You can create complex Web pages using any of the standard HTML editors and the HTML publishing capabilities of many popular desktop productivity applications. You can create and link the Web pages themselves on your desktop computer, and then move them to the appropriate subdirectory in the Cobalt RaQ via an FTP application (as described below).

CGI Scripts

The Cobalt RaQ supports CGI scripts, such as those written in Perl version 5.0, C, or other languages. If CGI is enabled for your site (in the Site Settings section of the Site Management screen), then you can add CGI scripts to work with your Web content.

This enables you to develop highly interactive, powerful Web-based applications by building server-side CGI scripts that generate Web pages in response to specific user inputs. These applications range from simple scheduling and conferencing applications to sophisticated electronic commerce solutions.

You can develop CGI scripts on your desktop machine, and then transfer it to the Cobalt RaQ by means of any FTP-based application that allows permission bits to be set to "Executable." Use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to upload .cgi and .pl files. You should use ASCII mode to upload CGI files. Once the file is on the Cobalt RaQ, use your FTP program (or use the Telnet command: chmod 755 filename.cgi) to make the script executable.

The path to Perl is /usr/bin/perl. In order for users (other than the RaQ administrator) to add CGI files, CGI must be enabled for the user's site (in the Site Settings section of the Site Management screen). CGI scripts must use .pl or .cgi filename extensions in order to be executed by the Web server.

Publishing Web Pages Via FTP

After creating your Web pages, you can publish them on theCobalt RaQ using FTP.

First, make sure you have the following information:

The hostname or the IP address of your Cobalt RaQ.
Your username and password.
A filename of your choice to save as your main page (the default is index.html).

Then launch your FTP software, establish an FTP link to theCobalt RaQ, and then upload your HTML files. If you need help,consult the instructions for your FTP application.

You can download WS_FTP here -- Download

By default, the files you upload via FTP are stored in your personal directory, the directory path for which is

/home/sites/sitename/users/username

where sitename is the first 12 characters of your site name, and username is your user name.

Note to site administrators: To post Web pages for your site, you must upload to the directory /home/sites/sitename , which is two directory-levels higher than your personal directory. (Only the site administrator or the RaQ administrator can upload to this directory.) Unless you specify this directory, your Web pages will be stored in your personal directory, which will be accessible on the Web at http://sitename/users/yourusername/ - not at http://sitename/.

Using Telnet

Telnet access is available - it can be turned on for individual users by the site administrator (via the User Management section of the Site Management screen). Telnet should be used by advanced users only - users who want to run shell scripts or use shell commands. An advanced user is someone who is proficient in the internal workings of the UNIX operating system.

Directory Structure

The disk on the Cobalt RaQ is partitioned into four segments. Most of the available disk space is on the partition mounted from /home. It's best to do most of your work under this partition. By default, quotas are turned on in this partition, and they're used extensively by the Cobalt system software.

Virtual Site Home Page

The document root for the virtual sites' Web page content is:

/home/sites/sitedir

The directory sitedir is the first 12 characters of the virtual site name (i.e., it's the virtual site name truncated to the first 12 characters). For example, the virtual site

www.cobaltnet.com would have a document root of

/home/sites/www.cobaltne/

because www.cobaltne is the first 12 characters of the site name www.cobaltnet.com.

Only the Cobalt Raq administrator or the site administrator can upload to this directory.

Web content in this directory is associated with the URL http:// sitename/. For example, a file saved as:

/home/sites/sitedir/tesdir/test.html

would be accessed via the URL:

http:// sitename / testdir / test.html

Note: Sitename refers to the IP address or hostname.domainname of the corresponding viritual site.

User Home Page

When users on the main site are created by means of the Web-based administration screens, the user's home directory is created in:

/home/sites/www.domainname/users/username

The content of their Web pages (which is stored in their home directory) can be viewed at:

http://www.domainname/users/username/

When users on a virtual site are created by means of the Web-based administration screens, the user's home directory is created in:

/home/sites/www.domainname/users/username

The content of their Web pages (which is stored in their home directory) can be viewed at

http://www.domainname/users/username/

CGI Bin for Users

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

Current Perl version is 5.004_4

The full server path to your web is: /home/sites/www.domainname/web/directoryname/etc/

You can save and run CGI files in any directory on your website, as long as CGI is enabled, and the CGI file is chmod'ed as executable, and the file ends with a .pl or .cgi extension.

The Web server is configured to execute CGI scripts using a wrapper program (cgiwrap), which preserves the permissions set for the executing script. For more information regarding this security precaution, visit:

http://www.umr.edu/~cgiwrap/57

Further enquiries to support@uktrading.net