General Website Enquiries

What are my ftp details?

Your ftp details are displayed in your Members Area https://secure.freedom2surf.net in the Website section.




How do I publish pages to my website?

You can publish pages using ftp in a variety of ways, as long as you are connected to the internet. The most common are:

• From your website builder program.
  There should be a publish option which will prompt you for your ftp details.
• By using an ftp program.
  You can download ftp software as shareware or to buy. This is quite a good way of managing your website files as they are usually easier to view.
• From the command line.
  Start by typing
  ftp ftp.yourdomain
  Different operating systems will have slightly different file manipulation commands.
Once you are connected via ftp you will be able to transfer your files.
If you are using Frontpage, the http protocol should be used instead of ftp, see below.

Website Statistics and Logs

What is the Webalizer?

The Webalizer is a program which generates useful reports about your website activity. It allows you to see a number of statistics such as:

• The number of hits your website has
• The most commonly requested files
• Where your visitors are coming from
• How did your visitors find your site
• What are the most common entry and exit pages
Plus more!



How do I access my Webalizer?

To view your website statistics please:

• Login to the freedom2surf members area
• Select the website option
• For each website you have there wil be a link towards the bottom of the page which says: Webalizer




What is the difference between hits, files, pages and visits?

Hits is the number of all the individual requests made to the website. This includes all .html files, image files, scripts and individual frame sets regardless of whether the actual request is successful or not.

Files is the actual number of requests which have resulted in transfers from the website. This is difference from hits since hits includes requests for files which do not exist and for files which have not been modified and are therefore cached by the requesting side, eg, if a connection is made through a Proxy Server.

Pages is the number of actual pages requested. This does not include hits from graphic images within a page for example.

Visits is the number of actual visitors to your website.



Can I access the actual webserver logfiles?

If you want to perform a different type of analysis on your website hits you can download the actual raw webserver logfiles. These are stored on a daily basis in apache extended format and can be used in a wide variety of website hit analytical systems.

To access these files login to the freedom2surf members area and click on the Raw Logfiles link. You can then select the required logfile you'd like to download.

Please note - these are stored in compressed gzip format.



Where can I get more information about the Webalizer?

You can visit the Webalizer home page at: www.mrunix.net/webalizer

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

What version of PHP is supported?

The latest version installed on the freedom2surf webservers is PHP4 version 4.2.2



Where do I put my PHP scripts?

You can place your PHP scripts anywhere in your website. You should place your scripts where they make most sense for your website organisation.



What file extension should my PHP scripts have?

The webserver recognises a PHP script by its file extension. It is recommended that your PHP scripts be in a file ending with .php (.php3 is also supported for backwards compatibility).



Where is my base directory?

Each website has its own base directory. Where possible always use relative filename mappings. If you *must* use a full path please derive from the $DOCUMENT_ROOT environment variable in your script. This will ensure that your website works reliably even if it is moved to a different directory by freedom2surf.

Your base directory can also be found by logging in to the members area and clicking on website - towards the bottom is a help section with useful information.
Here is a sample script which outputs your base directory:

<? echo $DOCUMENT_ROOT ?>




Is PHP running in SAFE MODE?

Yes. The PHP engine is compiled as a safe mode enabled Apache module. This makes it execute PHP scripts extremely quickly and safely. If the safe mode is too restrictive for your requirements, eg: you want to create a file upload script, then the php cgi engine can be used instead.

To run the slower cgi version of PHP your php file should end in .cgi and include at the top of the file the line:

#!/usr/bin/php

For more details on cgi scripts please see the Perl section of this FAQ.



Which additional modules are included in PHP?

The following modules have been made available within the PHP environment:

• XML for the latest XML based content
• GD with FreeType and PNG providing dynamic graphics
• Encryption/Decryption routines using mcrypt
• IMAP support for Internet messaging interface
• Database connectivity though MySQL




Where can I get more information about PHP?

A good point of reference is www.php.net. This site also has a number of good PHP related links in www.php.net/links.php3.

Other useful sites for php scripts are: www.weberdev.com, www.hotscripts.com, phpclub.unet.ru, www.devshed.com and phpclasses.upperdesign.com.

Perl CGI Scripts

Where is the Perl executable?

The Perl executable can be found in: /usr/bin/perl

The perl version is: 5.6.1



There's no cgi-bin directory?

The freedom2surf webservers allow you to place your Perl scripts anywhere on your website. A common place to put them is in a directory called cgi-bin although this is not necessary.



What file extensions should my scripts have?

The webserver recognises a Perl script by its file extension. Your perl scripts should be in a file ending with .pl or .cgi



What file permissions should my scripts have?

The file permissions are set automatically by the webserver so manual settings of file permissions should not be needed.

Perl scripts have their file permissions set to 755 or -rwxr-xr-x.

Note, manually chmoding your scripts to make them group or world writable will result in your scripts failing to run properly.



Where is my base directory?

Each website has its own base directory. Where possible always use relative filename mappings. If you *must* use a full path please derive from the DOCUMENT_ROOT environment variable in your script. This will ensure that your website works reliably even if it is moved to a different directory by freedom2surf

Here is a sample script which outputs your base directory:

#!/usr/bin/perl

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Document Root is: ";
print $ENV{'DOCUMENT_ROOT'};




What is the path for sendmail and date?

The path for sendmail is: /usr/sbin/sendmail

The path for date is: /bin/date

Hint: If ever sendmail seems to not send mail, but you don't get an error message, check in your freedom2surf mailbox - bounced messages will often end up there.



My Perl Script isn't working! I keep getting Internal Server Error?

There are many reasons why you might get this error. You should check each of the following is okay:

1) Have you uploaded the script in FTP ASCII mode
2) Does your script start with the line: #!/usr/bin/perl?
3) Does the script filename end in .pl or .cgi?
4) Ensure the script is not writable by others.
5) Ensure the directory the script is in is not writable by others.
6) Does the script output the correct content type as the first line output? (eg: print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";)
7) Has your base path been set correctly?

If all these checks are okay then there is probably something wrong with the script. Please debug this in your own environment before placing on the freedom2surf webserver.



Are Server Side Includes (SSI) supported?

Yes. Your filename should end in .shtml for the SSI engine to take effect.



Where can I get more information about Perl?

A good point of reference is www.perl.com

To understand how a Perl script is executed on the freedom2surf webservers take a look at the apache suexec documentation.

Some good places for free Perl scripts are: www.cgi-resources.com and www.hotscripts.com.

Database Integration

Which databases are supported?

MySQL support is available.
The current installed version is:


• MySQL version 3.23.24




How do I create my database?

To create your database:

• Logon to the freedom2surf members area
• Go to Your Website Details section
• Click on Enable Database
From here you can choose your database engine and password.

Your database will then be ready for you to use the next day.



How do I manage my database?

Your database is managed through the freedom2surf members login area. Once you have enabled your database a new option called database is made available which will contain useful information about your database as well as a link to a web based database management system.

From here you can create tables, upload and download information, browse your database and more.

Remote access via client database utilities is not possible as the databases are located behind a firewall.



Help! How do I access my database?

Once you have created your database you can integrate dynamic database content into your website using PHP. Typically your PHP script will require the following information:

• User name
• Password
• Database name
• Server name
• Server port
These values (except for the password) are available from the database menu option in the freedom2surf members area.

Note: All the fields must be completed fully for the database connection to work.



What should the MySQL connect string be?

The PHP syntax for connecting to your freedom2surf database server is:

mysql_connect("servername:port", "username", "password")

Perl is currently unsupported due to major performance issues when compared to PHP.



Where can I find more information?

Some good places to look are:

The official MySQL website - www.mysql.com

For a list of all the PHP MySQL commands - http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php