UNIX WEBSITE DOCUMENTATION: Unix Pro (also known as Silver, Diamond)

index

TRANSFER OF FILES

Note: FTP is the best and most foolproof way of transfering files. Our server will update all FTP'ed files. Files are automatically made ready for internet use and viewing (unless otherwise specificied by you).

USING CGI

OTHER CGI SCRIPTS (INSTALLING YOUR OWN SCRIPTS)
Where do I put my USER-CREATED CGI programs?
Our servers have the capability to run CGI scripts based on Perl, Unix SH, KSH, CSH, and C/C++ languages. Perl is our language of choice as it is a world standard and is well suited to CGI. In addition, Perl code does not require manual compilations whereas C/C++ code must be compiled on our web servers prior to use:

In order to run CGI programs, two conditions must be met:

  1. The script must have an extension of .cgi in all cases .
  2. If Your script does not work, the script must be marked as executable. This is done with the chmod command. If you are logged in via Telnet, use chmod 755 If you are logged in via FTP, use quote site exec chmod 755 scriptname.cgi in the appropriate directory. This may not work well with all FTP clients; if you have trouble, please log in via Telnet to change the permissions manually.

    3. A note for users of Frontpage:  If you use FP you must chmod files and directories with 775 instead, to avoid conflicts.

    IN ADDITION:

  3. If you have a custom CGI script that you need to use, simply upload it to your personal "cgibin". Here are some helpful tips to follow when installing Perl scripts:
How do I see the errors from CGI programs?
Errors from CGI programs normally go into the Web server's error logs, or sometimes they go nowhere at all. They do not normally go to your Web browser. The error messages given for the failure of a CGI script are very generic and distinctly unhelpful.
Perl Scripts, Using
Standard script conventions are used when writing scripts on the PRO-SERIES servers. Although it is important to transfer scripts (esp PERL) using ascii transfer protocol and not binary protocol to prevent unwanted characters.

Perl and shell programs are self-compiling and can be utilized immediately after transfer to this directory/folder. IMPORTANT: All scripts must have a .cgi extension.

JAVA, Compiling: Sendmail, Where is it Anyways?
The physical location of sendmail on your pro-series server is normally:
typically /usr/bin/sendmail

if yours is not present there you can locate it with the following TELNET command:

which sendmail or whereis sendmail

Using my Email Account

Setting up email for Eudora Email Software version 3:
Setting up email for Eudora Email Software version 4 or later:
Setting up email for Outlook, Netscape and Microsoft:
Mail Forwarding:
Now controlled by your online control panel.  Click here for information on how to access it.
PINE: Sending Email Directly from your account Shell::
Pine is a special email program built into your account shell (telnet of SSH logon).  It is accessible via the lowecase command pine after you logon to your shell.  Its best use it to delete old email or spam that may clog up in your main mailbox.  But you can also send email direcly from it in case of emergency when normal POP programs may fail.

Pine will access your main mailbox, none of your secondary boxes.  To send, receive and delete mail follow the straightforward commands that appear on the screen when you activate the pine command.  For details information on pine, visit this website.

Changing your email and return addresses in pine:

Before sending email with pine it is important that you set the email address you want your receivers to see, otherwise pine will default to an return email address that is 99% of the time not what you want.  To do this, enter pine.  Press S for setup and then C for Config.

You will see a list of a lot of options.  Most should not be touched.

  1. Select personal-name, press return, enter your name and then press return again
  2. Select user-domain, enter your domain name minus the www (example: webcs.com), and then press return
  3. Scroll along way down the options (very long way) and you will see an item called customized-hdrs.  Select it by pressing return and then enter the following corresponding to your real name and the email address you want receivers to reply to::: For example we will assume your return address is bunny@ears.com and your name is Peter Rabbit:


    4. From: "Peter Rabbit" <bunny@ears.com>

    Now press return

  4. Select E for exit and your configuration should be setup properly.  You are ready to send email with pine.
Setting up a signature via pine:

Press S for setup and S agian for signature.  Enter your signature which will appear at the bottom of all emails send through pine.  Press control-E to exit when you are done.

Using Email Autoresponders:
Autoresponders allow users to get information automatically through email. They are AUTOMATED mailboxes.

For instance:

if a user wanted your pricing information or a product catalog sent to them they would just send an email to a specific address and the requested information would be sent automatically to them in seconds.
An example:
EMAILING THIS ADDRESS: info@yourdomain.com will automatically send you a message when you mail it.
HOW AUTORESPONDERS WORK IN YOUR ACCOUNT:

MREPLY is a powerful system for email autoresponders and mail-lists.  Your pro-series account uses your .mreply.rc (which is a script) and .domains file (discussed above in the forwarding section) to create autoresponders using the MREPLY system.

Any line in your ".domains" file with the following format (#) is accessible via mreply.

info@yourdomain.com #

The # sign as the destination address means forward this to Mreply, which will process the .mreply.rc file in your home directory. This file is an intermediate shell language that will allow you to setup auto-responders. By default we have setup a number of default autoresponders into your account which require no modifications in the .mreply.rc and .domains files.

info@yourdomain.com is an example of an autoresponder which is already setup into your account.  It routes to Mreply and sends a small auto-response message. Try it now by sending an email to info@YOURDOMAIN.com.  The message received back should look like the following

Yo <name of the person sending the mail to you> this is coming from your .mreply.rc file in your home directory. it is an auto-responder and its really cool, Jim

To edit this default message go into your "packets" directory.  This is where all of your autoresponder messages lie.  The following default files correspond to your pre-existing autoresponders:

info @yourdomain.com                info.txt
sales@yourdomain.com               info2.txt
webmaster@yourdomain.com           info3.txt
support@yourdomain.com             info4.txt
billing@yourdomain.com             info5.txt
So just edit your info.txt file and the autoresponder message for info@yourdomain.com will change to whatever you would like.  Please note that whenever altering, uploading or downloading your .mreply.rc, .domains or info.txt files make sure to make a backup before altering and also only transfer in ASCII transfer mode.

HOW DO I DELETE A AUTORESPONDER:

Simply delete the "#" line in your .domains file that corresponds to the autoresponder you want to delete.

HOW DO I CREATE MORE AUTOREPONDERS OR ALTER THEIR NAMES?

We recommend downloading the .mreply.rc and .domains file (in ascii mode) and editing it with Notepad or other simple text editor. Word processors wll add unwanted formatting tags. In your .mreply.rc file, search for the third iteration of the word "info". You should be in the "Who are we?" section. The "serviceAddress" is the address that will be stamped as the "From:" address on the response sent back to the originator. The "ownerAddress" is where the original incoming mail will forward to by default. DO NOT use an autoresponder address for the "serviceAddress" or the "ownerAddress". This can cause a mail loop which could crash the server.  You will notice five "if to" statements that correspond to the addresses listed above. If you wished to replace the info@xyz.com autoresponder with bob@xyz.com , do so like this:

.if to bob
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder
   .end
.endif

If you will be using similar addresses, remember to place a @ sign at the end to keep the server from matching the wrong line:

.if to bob@
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder
   .end
.endif

.if to bobby@
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder2
   .end
.endif

If you wish to specify a forwarding address other than the default "ownerAddress" (DO NOT use an autoresponder address, we're not kidding!) , do so like this:

.if to bob@
   .forwardall !hithere@aol.com
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder
   .end
.endif

The Text file that is sent as a response is specified further down in the "LABELs" section. There, each "insert" statement coresponds with a "autoresponder" number:

.label autoresponder
   .insert $HOME/packets/info.txt

.end

.label autoresponder2
   .insert $HOME/packets/info2.txt

.end

And of course, make sure to alter your .domains file to account for any name changes or additions.  For instance, if the autoresponder info@yourdomain.com was changed to pricing@yourdomain.com, you would need to change the .domains line from:

info@yourdomain.com #
to
pricing@yourdomain.com #