Hosting with WebsiteOS (Linux Hosting)

Managing your Web Hosting Service

 

This document contains basic setup instructions and details on the features of your web hosting package. Topics covered by this article include:

  1. Accessing your WebsiteOS (our web control panel) 
  2. EasyMail Setup (if applicable) 
  3. FTP, File Manager and uploading using Microsoft FrontPage 
  4. Previewing your Site 
  5. DNS Management (transferring your name) 

1. WebsiteOS (Control Panel)

Each account comes with access to a web based control panel. This utility allows you to manage your account through your web browser. Your control panel is accessible at http://www.toast.net/services/hosting/manage.asp

Domain: yourdomain.com
Password: yourpassword

Once logged into the WebsiteOS, you will find many powerful tools to use for your domain name and hosting account. Each function of the WebsiteOS comes with its own detailed help menu. You can access help by clicking on the "?" located on the top right corner of each function.


2. EasyMail Email Setup

Your email accounts are managed through the WebsiteOS. To create your new email accounts, you first need to log in to the WebsiteOS with your login information (domain name and password). Then click on "EasyMail Setup." This function allows you to create, delete, forward and change the passwords of EasyMail accounts.

To configure your email program (i.e. MS Outlook, Netscape Communicator, Eudora) to receive your email, use the following information, substituting your domain name for "yourdomain.com". For detailed instructions click here
.

POP (incoming) Server: mail.yourdomain.com
SMTP (outgoing) Server: mail.yourdomain.com
Username or Login: user@yourdomain.com
Password: password you chose in EasyMail Setup
SMTP authentication: Enabled

If your email client doesn't support SMTP authentication we have "receive before send" authentication turned on. This means you have to check for new mail (POP or IMAP) before you can send messages. If you are using Microsoft Outlook/Express check the "Send and receive at startup" box, that way authentication is done automatically.

To check your mail online, use our WEB BASED email client by clicking on the "webmail login" at:
http://www.toast.net/mail. Using your email address and password, you may check your mail anywhere in the world.

Please keep in mind that your email will not function correctly until the domain name propagation process is complete. This typically takes 1-2 days from the day you register the domain.


3. Publishing Your Site

For a page to load automatically, it must be named: index.htm, index.html, index.asp, index.shtml, index.phtml, or index.php.

Also, you cannot upload FrontPage sites with a regular FTP client. You must use the FrontPage client (see below).

a) Using FTP
You will need FTP software. We recommend using the FTP client built into Internet Explorer 5.0 and above. Type the URL below into the address bar and it will prompt you for your password.

  • ftp://your-domain-name.com@216.251.43.98

    (Hosting Personal/Nickel, formerly Hosting-25/100, use 216.251.32.92)

To configure your FTP client (CuteFTP or WS_FTP) use the information below:

  • Host Name/Address: 216.251.43.98
    (Hosting Personal/Nickel, formerly Hosting-25/100, use 216.251.32.92)
  • User Name: <your-domain-name.com>
  • Password: <your-password>

Note that if you have your DNS switched to meganameservers, you will be able to specify your domain name for Host instead of the IP address.

Once connected, you will see the following directories*:

  • cgi-bin
  • logs
  • private
  • public

*Not all directories are available with all plans.

You'll want to upload your web site into the "public" directory. The other directories are for internal use and cannot be accessed by visitors to your site. Note: you will need to put CGI scripts into your "cgi-bin" directory and not the public directory.

b) Using File Manager

Login to WebSiteOS, click on Website Management, then File Manager.

You will see the following directories*:

  • cgi-bin
  • logs
  • private
  • public

*Not all directories are available with all plans.

You'll want to upload your web site into the "public" directory. The other directories are for internal use and cannot be accessed by visitors to your site. Note: you will need to put CGI scripts into your "cgi-bin" directory and not the public directory.

c) Using FrontPage

If you are using Microsoft FrontPage to design and publish your website, follow these instructions.

Installing FrontPage Extensions on the Website:

  1. Using your browser, login to the WebsiteOS at www.toast.net/members/hosting/
  2. From the left menu, click "Site Builders".
  3. From the menu that appears below, click on "FrontPage Manager".
  4. Within FrontPage Manager, read the warnings that are displayed. Click the "Next" button to proceed.
  5. Enter a FrontPage password. The FrontPage password is independent of your domain password and is used exclusively for accessing your FrontPage web with the FrontPage client. Click "Next".
  6. If you receive the status message, "[FrontPage appears to be ON]", then the installation was successful.
  7. To close FrontPage Manager, click the "X" in the upper right corner. To log out of WebsiteOS, click the red "X" in the upper right corner of the WebsiteOS taskbar.

Publishing Your Website

Once you have finished editing and saving your website using FrontPage, you can publish it to the web server using these steps:

  1. On the top menu, go to "File" and choose "Publish Web".
  2. If DNS has not been updated yet, publish to "http://domain.com.previewyoursite.com", replacing "domain.com" with your domain name. If DNS has been updated, publish to http://www.domain.com, replacing "domain.com" with your domain name.
  3. When prompted, enter the username and password to your new website. The username is contained in the account information e-mail we sent to you. The password was chosen by you when installing FrontPage extensions on the website.

d) Using EasySiteWizard

Use this free tool to create a professional web site without learning HTML or buying web design software.

  • Login to WebsiteOS, click on Site Builders, then click on EasySiteWizard.

4. Previewing Your Site

Preview your site is not available with the Hosting Personal/Nickel, formerly Hosting-25/100, packages. Once DNS propagates your website will be available for viewing.
If you are transferring a domain to our servers and wish to upload and preview your site before DNS propagation, our Preview feature allows you to do so.

Once everything is uploaded in the public directory, you can preview your site by visiting the following site:

http://yourname.com.previewyoursite.com/

Links using absolute URLs will not work, because DNS has not propagated. For example:

This link will not work.
<a href="http://yourname.com/images/yourimage.gif" mce_href="http://yourname.com/images/yourimage.gif">

Relative URLs, however, will work properly. For example:

This link will work.
<a href="images/yourimage.gif" mce_href="images/yourimage.gif">

For answers to any additional questions, please contact support at
support@toast.net or call 419-292-2200 (toll free: 1-888-862-7863).


5. DNS Management

At this point, your domain name resides on our name servers. The next step is for the entire Internet to recognize the location of your domain name. This process is called DNS propagation, and it typically takes 24 - 48 hours for all of the DNS tables on the Internet to be updated. You may not be able to view your website before this process is complete.

For Pre-Registered Domain Names Only
You will need to point your existing domain to these DNS servers:

  • Primary: ns1.meganameservers.com
  • Secondary: ns2.meganameservers.com
  • Tertiary: ns3.meganameservers.com

You would need to contact your "Domain Name Registrar" to complete the DNS modification for your pre-registered domain name.


For answers to any additional questions, please contact support at support@toast.net or call 419-292-2200 (toll free: 1-888-862-7863).