Using your UNIX webspace

This page is here to provide answers to some common questions about NetBenefit UNIX web space.

1. How do I upload my web or WAP pages?

Having designed your pages, you will need to FTP them to your web space. If you haven't used FTP before, you might want to follow the FTP Tutorial first.
You should receive your FTP details in the confirmation email which has been sent to you. You need to ftp to your given ftp address, and log in with your user ID and password. Remember that usernames and passwords are case sensitive, and that it's VERY important to keep them secret!
Put your html pages and images directory into the "website" directory (the full path is "/home//website").
You can create as many subdirectories as you wish inside the "web site" directory.
Your home page should be named "index.html" and be in the main web site directory. This is the file that will be served when someone requests the URL http://www.yourdomain.
Make sure that you delete or overwrite our "placeholder" index.html page, or you'll not be able to see your own pages!
The web server treats filenames in a case sensitive manner. If you have a link to "/picture.gif" when the file is actually called "/picture.GIF", the image will not load and you'll get a broken image.
Any changes you make to your pages will be immediately visible to the world via the WWW, so you might want to test the site 'off-line' before uploading it!
All NetBenefit Web space can now be used for hosting WAP content too! And at no extra cost! Simply create a new directory called "wap" and upload your WAP files into it using standard FTP. Your WAP site address will be exactly the same as your web site, but with the addition of /wap/ on the end.

2. How do I upload my web pages from FrontPage?

To upload files using FrontPage, use the FrontPage publishing wizard. Click File, Publish and change the location to www.yourdomain. You will be prompted for your username and password.
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3. How do I use CGI scripts?

This is a fairly technically complex issue. Please read on, but you may need to call for help (on 0870 458 9500) if you are not familiar with CGI!
Your NetBenefit web space is fully CGI enabled. Any perl or shell scripts that you have can be uploaded to the "cgi" directory. Nobody will be able to view the source of your script in their web browser, unless you write a script to do that.
"but I've always been told to CHMOD 777 before..."
Not any more! Unlike most web servers, you do NOT need to set any permissions on cgi scripts or any data directories and files that the script needs to write to.
The FTP server knows about the cgi directory and will automatically set appropriate execute permissions for you. The web server will NOT run any script whose permissions allow writing by "group" or "others". Your cgi scripts run as your ftp login user, so you don't need to worry about setting world-writable permissions on any data files and directories that your cgi-script needs to write. You can safely ignore any instructions to the contrary that may come with the cgi script you are using.

Here are the paths to some of the more common programs needed by cgi scripts:

/usr/bin/perl
/usr/lib/sendmail
/bin/date

We have provided some handy CGI scripts in the /cgi directory that are ready for you to use:

A graphical counter - this will display as an image on your page in the popular "odometer" style, and will increase by one each time it is accessed. You can have a counter on as many pages as you wish. To display the counter, simply use a link like:

<img src="/cgi/nph-count?width=5&link=some-name">

The counter is a modified version of Heini Withagen's WWW access counter. It supports several other options - see the FAQ.

A 'form-to-e-mail' gateway. If you have a fill-in form on your web page, then this cgi script will e-mail the results to you every time someone fills in and submits the form. You need to add some hidden fields to your form for this to work - paste the following sample into your HTML page and change the bits in bold to suit your needs:

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="/cgi/email.cgi">

	<input type=hidden name=mailto value="YOUR-EMAIL-ADDRESS">

	<input type=hidden name=mailtitle value="A Subject For The Messages">

	<input type=hidden name=httpreferer value="http://www...your-url.../acknowledgment-page.html">

	... The rest of your form goes here ...

	</FORM>

This code contains the necessary hidden fields. These fields tell the cgi where to send the e-mail to, what subject it should have, and what page you want to go to after the user presses the "submit" button.

Image map capability.

An image map is a graphic on a page that contains clickable "hot spots". Depending on where you click on the image, your browser will go to a different page.

For most situations it is more convenient to use a 'client side' image map which can be created with HTML and unlike so-called 'server side' image maps, doesn't need any CGI scripting. Consult a good HTML reference, especially the entries on the MAP and AREA elements, for more details.

Sometimes, however, the older, 'server side' technique may be needed as well as, or instead of, the client side one. The two techniques are complementary and can be safely used together. This will most likely be the case if you are trying to construct image maps which work with older browsers. Some older browsers don't understand 'client side' image maps, so using the two types together represents an effective 'belt and braces' approach.

Server side image maps consist of two parts - the actual graphical image file, and a text file containing the co-ordinates of hot spots within the image. This is called a "map file", and has the extension ".map".

The image map facility uses the map file to tell it which areas of your picture are hot spots. Your web server understands maps in the CERN format, so if you have a program that creates maps, you should must make sure they are in CERN format and not the NCSA format. The map files should be situated in your cgi directory. To add hotspots to an image called menu.gif, with a map file called menu.map add code like:

<a href="/img/menu.map"><img _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" _fcksavedurl=""/img/menu.map"><img" src="menu.gif" ismap></a>

4. How do I use server-side includes?

Your web server supports the full range of Apache-style Server-Side Includes. To let the server know that it should parse a particular page (through a Server-Side Include) you need to give that file/page a ".shtml" extension.
SSI commands are embedded into your HTML as special comments. Some examples follow. A full description of Apache's SSI syntax can be found in the Apache documentation.
For the time and date that the current page was last modified, use code like:

This page last modified:

We have put together a number of useful examples that you can paste straight into your pages to do a variety of things. Give them a try!

5. Do I need FrontPage extensions on my web server?

Only if you have created your site using Microsoft FrontPage. This is Microsoft's rapid web site development tool, which gives you a quick and easy way to create your web pages and publish them to your web space.

The active content in FrontPage-created sites (e.g. forms) relies on the presence of certain components on the web server. These enable the active content to function, and allow FrontPage to connect to the server to publish your files.

You can request FrontPage Extensions to be added to your web site at any time, by using the Frontpage utility provided in your statistics directory (http://www.>/stats/)

If you are not using FrontPage to author your site, then you do not need FrontPage extensions on your web space.

If you add them by mistake, you can still continue to use your site as normal: you will just notice some extra redundant files and folders have appeared on your website. You can easily recognise these files and folders as, with the exception of postinfo.html, they all start with an underscore (_). You can safely remove these files, folders and their contents if you do not wish to use FrontPage.

6. Why can't I telnet to my web server?

In order to make your web server more secure, we don't allow telnet access. To make up for this, we have arranged for the FTP server to set up appropriate permissions on all files you upload. We are also working on a web-based environment for debugging cgi scripts - watch this space!

7. Can I split my web space into different virtual servers?

You can use your space in any way you want. If you have separate divisions within your company, for instance, you might like to split your web space into a separate site for each division, each with it's own URL, for example:

What you can't do is to have different domains pointing to different home pages within your web site, i.e:

since each of the above requires a separate virtual server to be set up. The reason for this is that it ensures that our virtual servers achieve their peak performance for ALL users!
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8. Can I have FTP space?

We don't sell FTP space separately, but you can include items in your web space for people to download using their browser.
Let's say you want people to be able to get the latest version of your software, and it's in a file called "thelatest.zip". Put this file in your web site directory, and link to it from a page in your site just like any other link:

<a href="/thelatest.zip">The _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" _fcksavedurl=""/thelatest.zip">The" Latest</a>

All modern browsers will automatically detect this as a file to be downloaded, and ask the user where they would like to save the file on their local hard disk. The extensions recognized by browsers as files to be downloaded include .zip, .exe, and .hqx.

9. What statistics are available?

We provide a graphical statistics page showing who looked at what on your site and when. It's there to help you track what your site visitors are looking at, which can be very useful information! It is updated every night. You can find it at:
http://www.your.domain/stats/.
Your statistics are password protected so that nobody else can read them, so you'll need your ftp password to gain entry to the statistics area.
Detailed information on the statistics provided and examples can be found here.
For those who prefer to do their own analysis of the statistics, the raw server log files are also available via ftp from your web site. You'll find those in the "logs" directory. The full path to this directory is:
/home//logs/
These logs are now located at weblogs.netbenefit.com.You still need to use an FTP client, the host name will be weblogs.netbenefit.com and the username/password will be to your FTP details.

Log files are archived each month - you'll find a set of files from previous months which have been compressed with gzip for easier downloading. You can unzip them with winzip or similar utilities.
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10. Can I have Real Audio or Real Video on my web site?

Shared and Dedicated RealMedia Streaming plans are available for all customers. Contact us for more details.
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11. How do I register my site with the search engines?

You can publicise your site by adding it to the many search indexes found on the Web. Most of the popular search engines, such as Alta Vista, Yahoo, Webcrawler, etc. have an "Add URL" link for you to register your site with them online. For those with slightly less free time on their hands, you can purchase SubmitWolf Pro or subscribe on-line to Submit It to submit your URL to multiple search engines.
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12. Can I get help designing my web pages?

There are many tutorials available on the web and in book form that cover all aspects of web design. Try going to Yahoo and searching on 'html help' or go to Amazon, the well known online bookshop, and search under 'html' and 'web design'
If you are looking for a professional company to author your site, try looking a the lists published in popular magazines such as 'Internet Magazine' and '.net'
If you have any additional questions please email support@netbenefit.com.
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13. What does temporary hostname mean?

If you try to connect to your website on the same day that you purchase it, you may not be able to connect using the hostname 'ftp.yourdomain' or 'www.yourdomain'. If you experience problems, you can use the temporary hostname for your site:
[UserID].vs.netbenefit.co.uk (e.g. if your UserID is web1234, use web1234.vs.netbenefit.co.uk)
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14. Are files on UNIX webspace case sensitive?

UNIX based servers and are case sensitive (unlike PC's), - the filename, which it is given on the server, might not match the case, which you refer to it in your html files - some experimentation might be necessary to get the site working.
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