Carolinas.net Self-Help Center - "Getting Started Using your web hosting account"

Contacting us and Tech Support

• Contact Information
• E-mail contacts
• Phone contact
• Important URL's
• Tech Support Information

Brief Introduction (recommended for beginners)

• Brief explanation about your web hosting account
• Brief glossary of terminology

Working with your Virtual Server

• E-mail
• FTP
• Logging in with FTP
• Telnet

Contact information

E-mail contact is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Phone contact is available during weekdays from 9am-11pm EST.
When contacting us with technical support questions, please give us the following:

• Your domain name
• Your e-mail address
• Your name

This information will allow us to bring up your records to help facilitate answering your technical support questions.
 

E-mail contacts

SALES: sales@carolinas.net

Any questions regarding sales (server orders, special options, features, etc.) should be directed to the e-mail address above.

TECH SUPPORT: support@carolinas.net

Any and all technical questions (configurations, basic info., specific info., etc.) should be directed to the e-mail address above. Questions will be forwarded to the appropriate parties needed to answer your questions quickly. You can usually expect a response to your question(s) within a few minutes to several hours. Our support technicians answer e-mail 24 hours a day, so you should expect an answer relatively quick.

BILLING: admin@carolinas.net

Any questions regarding billing (changes, information, etc.) should be directed to the e-mail address above.

CGI HELP: support@carolinas.net

Any questions regarding CGI configuration or custom CGI programming should be directed to the e-mail address above. Please be aware that help for configuring your CGI scripts will be limited since CGI programming is not our primary function and most CGI programming is handled by our in-house programmers as an add-on service. You should always check with the original author of the CGI script you are using for any kind of help before asking us.
 

Phone contact

TECH SUPPORT: 704-672-1600
Hours: weekdays - 9am-6pm EST

Tier 1 tech support (basic) is available via this number. It is recommended that you e-mail any and all questions of a technical nature to: support@carolinas.net

PRE-SALES: 704-672-1600
Hours: weekdays - 9am-6pm EST

Questions about fees, prices, etc. for your server needs can be answered via this number. It is recommended that you e-mail any questions of a sales nature to: sales@carolinas.net

BILLING: 704-672-1600
Hours: weekdays - 9am-6pm EST

Billing questions and problems can be taken care of via this number. It is recommended that you e-mail any billing-related queries to:admin@carolinas.net or go to the Billing page at: http://www.carolinas.net/contact.html

Important URL's

The following is a listing of URL's that pertain to working with your Virtual Server:

• Frequently Asked Questions - about the internet and our services
• CGI library - collection of free CGI scripts to use
• Java library - collection of free Java scripts to use
• HOT Downloads - connections to software you should try
• Web Hosting Order form - order your web hosting account here

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Tech Support Information

Please attempt to e-mail any tech support questions to us FIRST.
Tech support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via e-mail.
Please remember that these are self-service accounts, tech support is available mainly for technical oriented questions regarding configuration of your server/web site.

For tech support questions, we will do one of the following:

• tell you how to fix the problem
• fix it for you
• have one of our tech support personally call you

Please be aware that our 1-800 number is NOT for tech support.

If you wish to call in your tech support questions, please call 704-672-1600.
Phone tech support is limited to Tier 1 tech support (basic configuration, general questions, etc.). Tier 1 tech support cannot answer questions regarding technical server information.
For specific technical information, please e-mail: support@carolinas.net
They will forward your questions onto the appropriate party to answer your questions. You can usually expect a response to your questions within a few hours at most. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please try to e-mail your questions again or call the tech support phone line.

Reminder: Please try to e-mail us your questions first before calling for tech support.
 

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Brief explanation about your web hosting account

Welcome to the wonderful world of web hosting. If you are currently a customer, congratulations, you now have a very powerful tool for your web site needs.. a web hosting account. We have provided the tools, the connectivity, and the server software to run and maintain an efficient web site. Our system administrators have engineered a fully functional web hosting account for your usage. You, essentially, have access to all parts of your account, from configuration files to your own CGI-BIN. Access to your web hosting account is provided 24-7 in the form of, FTP for uploading your web site to your account or modifying configuration files to your VSMT (Virtual Server Management Tool - commonly known as the "vpanel") for web site administration/configuration through a graphical user interface developed by our system administrators. Your web hosting account acts as a web server, mail server and FTP server, allowing you to utilize the functions of your web site to its fullest potentials through these conventions, as well as with all the utilities and tools provided by our system administrators that allow you to configure and modify settings for your site to achieve functions you normally can't find with some web hosting services. If you are a beginner to web hosting or the internet in general, it is advised that you find some of the rich online resources available on the Internet to help guide you in these first stages. Regardless, consider this Self Help section your "instruction manual" for your new virtual server and utilize the information provided.

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Brief glossary of terminology

If you are new to web hosting or the internet in general, here are a FEW of the terms you may want to learn.

• ISP - (Internet Service Provider) provides connectivity to the Internet, usually via modem and dialup lines (we DO NOT provide ISP services)
• IPP - (Internet Presence Provider) provides presences on the Internet, usually provides web hosting and e-mail services (this is what we do)
• WWW - (World Wide Web) refers to the vast web sites and such that span the Internet
• POP - (Post Office Protocol) physical e-mail accounts you log into with a username
• 
  and password to pick up any e-mail sent/forwarded to that account
• Email Alias - aliasing allows you to have multiple e-mail addresses sent to a specific
• 
  POP e-mail account (ie. pick up webmaster@yourdomain.com, sales@yourdomain.com, etc. from
  one POP account rather than from several separate ones
• Email Forward - forwarding allows you to have e-mail forwarded from a specific address or POP account to another POP account (ie. have all e-mail sent to webmaster@yourdomain.com
• 
  sent to your POP account provided by your ISP)
• FTP - (File Transfer Protocol) this is how you will upload and download your web pages
• 
  etc. to and from your computer to and from your virtual server
• ASCII - used in FTP and the WWW, this is a type of file, usually any kind of file
• 
  that you can read (like a text file) falls under this classification (HTML files
  should be ASCII files)
• BINARY - used in FTP and the WWW, this is a type of file, usually any kind of file
• 
  that is unreadable as text falls under this classification (graphic images, sound
  files, etc. should be BINARY files)
• HTML - (Hyper-Text Markup Language) the name of the standard coding used to create
• 
  web pages, most web pages are written/coded in HTML
• Domain - this is the convention used to access a web site (www.whatever.com , etc.)
• 
  Domain names must be registered with InterNIC to be valid and usable on the internet
• Non-domain - this is usually a sub-site on someone's domain (www.whatever.com/subsite)
• 
  Non-domains do not have to be registered with InterNIC
• InterNIC - the regulatory agency that handles the assignment and database tracking of
• 
  active/inactive/available domain names. Each country has their own NIC registry service
  for handling foreign (or domestic) domain names.
• Propogation - a period after a domain name is registered or transferred when the domain name
• 
  is updated amoung all the nameservers found on the Internet around the world. This period
  usually lasts 3-7 days and may result in visitors not being able to visit the domain name
  until the period is over.

The list could go on and on, but these are some of the standard terms that you may find yourself using when dealing with web hosting. We may expand the listing with other terminologies, if needed. Otherwise, we recommend perusing through the internet for some online resources that can help you with the terminologies, if you are not familiar with them.

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E-mail

E-MAIL (Electronic Mail) is used for communicating by "mail" with other people on the Internet. There are many e-mail programs currently being used on the Internet, please note that our tech support is versed in using Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, Internet Mail, ACT, and Eudora Pro/Light and will not have information on how to configure/use other E-mail programs.
When setting up your e-mail program(s), the following settings will most likely be used when configuring the program.
(Please note e-mail accounts are provided for Business and E-commerce hosting accounts only)

Incoming (POP3) Server: yourdomain.com
(NOTE: DO NOT put 'www' or 'pop', etc. in front of the domain!)

Outgoing (SMTP) Server: yourdomain.com
(NOTE: DO NOT put 'www' or 'smtp', etc. in front of the domain!)
**Some Internet Access Providers require you to use their SMTP server. 

POP3 account/user name: youraccountname
(This would be whatever account you configured in your control panel)

You will most likely be prompted for a password when you first try to log-in to your mail server. This password that it prompts for will be the one that you chose when you first set up that particular POP3 account through your control panel.
 

Netscape Mail

Open Netscape Browser
Go to Options menu bar and choose Mail and News Preferences
Choose the Servers tab:

a. Outgoing SMTP should be the mail server address of your dial-up company
b. Incoming POP server should be yourdomain.xxx (substitute your domain name)
c. POP3 username is the account you set up in your IMail Administration Page

Click the Identity tab:

a. Enter your name
b. Enter your full e-mail address
c. Enter your reply e-mail address

Click Apply
 

Internet Mail Setup

Open Internet Mail
Go to Mail menu and choose Options
Click the Servers tab and enter your personal information
Outgoing SMTP server should be the mail server of your dial-up account
Incoming POP server should be the yourdomain.xxx (substitute your domain name)
In the Log On Settings, enter the mail account username and the password you set for that account
Click Apply
 

Outlook Express

Open Outlook Express
Go to Tools menu and choose Accounts
Select the Mail tab and the Add button
Setup Wizard will appear. Follow the Wizard until Finish is selected
Repeat above steps to create multiple e-mail accounts in Outlook Express
 

Eudora Mail Setup

Go to tools, options
Click getting started:

a. Set the pop account to user@mail.domain.com
b. Set real name to the name you want to display when sending e-mail
c. Set the return address as the e-mail address you want people to reply to (usually user@domain.com)

Click hosts, set the SMTP server to the one that your ISP provides
Everything else should be set up correctly.
 

Netscape Communicator Mail

Open Netscape Communicator
Go to Edit menu and choose Preferences
Click on Mail and Groups and the + sign adjacent to it
Click on Identity and enter your name and mail address
Click on Mail Server and enter the following:

a. Incoming POP should be yourdomain.xxx (substitute your domain name)
b. Outgoing SMTP should be the mail server of your dial-up company
c. Choose the POP3 radio button under Mail Server Type

Click OK

 

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FTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used for transferring files (HTML pages, graphics, etc.) to/from your server. We suggest using programs specifically designed for FTP'ing (transferring) your files. Listed below are some suggestions for FTP programs to use. Please note that our tech support is versed in using WS_FTP and will not have information on how to configure/use other FTP programs.

For Windows(tm), we suggest the following ftp program: WS_FTP from Ipswitch, Inc.
You can get a shareware (evaluation) copy of WS_FTP from: ftp://ftp1.ipswitch.com/pub/win32/ws_ftple.exe

For Macintosh(tm), we suggest the following ftp program: FETCH
You can get a copy of FETCH from: http://tucows.tierranet.com/mac/files/Fetch-3.0.3.hqx
 
 

Logging in with FTP

Based on the assumption you are FTP'ing with WS_FTP (as recommended above) the following section will give you a basic run-down on how to configure and use WS_FTP for transferring files.

1. You will need your FTP user name and password from Carolinas.net. This should be sent to you via e-mail after you have set up your web hosting account.
2. You will need to start up WS_FTP. You should first be prompted with a "Session" dialog box.

 

You will start configuring WS_FTP in the following areas:

• Profile Name: This is any name you wish to identify your ftp information.
• Host Name: Your IP address ("IP #" in your initial e-mail)
• Host Type: Automatic Detect
• User ID: Your login name ("Login" in your initial e-mail)
• Password: Password (BE SURE to put a check in the Save Password box)
• The remaining entries should remain empty.

Your WS_FTP screen should look something like what is displayed below.  
 

- Click the "OK" button and WS_FTP should start logging you into your FTP site. If there are any login error messages in the message box in the lower part of the WS_FTP screen, please check your IP #, Login, and Password (the password is CASE sensitive, meaning 'YOURPASSWORD' is different from 'yourpassword', we suggest that you cut-n-paste your password DIRECTLY from the inital e-mail we sent you ["NEW SERVER INFORMATION"] into the WS_FTP password area).

- Once you have correctly ftp'd to your server. You will see your server directories in the right-hand window.

1. Double click the 'www' directory.
2. Then, double click the 'htdocs' directory.
3. This is where you will ftp your files.

(Note: When setting up your HTML files, BE SURE name your homepage (your main page) - 'index.htm'
Files are case sensitive. If you document says MYFILE.HTM then your file must be saved as MYFILE.HTM not myfile.htm.

Any subdirectories you would like to create may be created in the 'htdocs' directory.

• The 'MkDir' button creates a directory.
• The 'RmDir' button removes a directory.

 
FTPing with Netscape Communicator

When ftping using Netscape Communicator you must use http://www.yourdomain.com for the location to publish to:
If the graphics or other files are already on the server you can Select None when ftping.

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Telnet

Telnet is a very powerful tool for logging directly into a server to perform advanced (and some basic) features like compiling a program, archiving files, etc. Most likely, if you don't know what Telnet is.. you don't need it. Actually, most telnet features (like CHMOD, which is used to change file permissions) can be done through a good FTP program and through the virtual server control panel. For more info contact support@carolinas.net

 

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Contact us:
To place an order now call: 1-704-672-1600
or use the on-line order form