Real Value Network - Tech FAQ's

Technical Support Frequently Asked Questions
(for commercial domain and sub-domain accounts)

• What are all the files and directories in my home directory?
• What type of technical support do you NOT provide?
• How do I run my own cgi programs?
• How do I use the anonymous ftp site?
• How do I create email aliases, and how do I redirect them?
• How do I use the autoresponders/infobots?
• How do I see who is using my infobots?
• How do I use Real Audio/Video?
• How do I change my FTP/TELNET login password?
• How do I check the web usage stats for my domain?
• What are the proper settings to configure my POP email accounts?
• What is the correct path to perl(and other programs)?
• How do I create my own "404 Not found" error page?
• How do I use the secure server for my order page?
• How do I use the Mail list directory?
• Where's my Java Chat?

What are all the files and directories in my home directory?

When you connect to the root or "home" directory of your account via ftp, you will see the following system files & directories/folders which are landmarks suggesting a successful connection:
    File/Directory Name          Description
    -----------------------------------------------------------  
    .bash_history                System File
    .bash_logout                 System File
    .bash_profile                System File
    .bashrc                      System File
    .htpasswd                    Encrypted Password File
    .redirect                    Email Re-Direct Variables File
    .screenrc                    System File
    access-log                   System File
    anonftp                      Anonymous FTP Directory
    infobots/                    AutoResponders Directory
    maillists/                   Mailing List Directory
    pass                         System File
    www/ <-----------------------Place Your Web Pages In Here!
All your HTML files and subdirectories should be placed in the www directory. Your CGI-BIN is also located in the www directory.

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What kind of technical support do you NOT provide?
We do NOT provide any technical support relating to HTML syntax, Java programming, JavaScripting, any software or script installations, CGI programming, the re-editing of pre-installed CGI-scripts (we offer pre-installed CGI scripts "as-is"), nor any other non-network related aspect.

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How do I run my own cgi programs?
Just put your CGI programs/scripts in the cgi-bin directory. It's located under your www directory. To acccess your cgi script you would either "GET" or "POST" to http://yourdomain.com/cgi-yourdomain/yourscript.pl or you can place your cgi scripts in the www directory and name them with the .cgi extension. If you name them with the .cgi extension, you can then access them as http://yourdomain.com/example.cgi

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How do I use the anonymous ftp site?
Your anonymous ftp site is completely different from your web site. When people ftp to your domain anonymously, this means they are accessing the public ftp portions by typing ftp://yourname.com. They will see the following directories:

bin/
dev/
etc/
incoming/
lib/
pub/

"pub" is where you should put all your accessible files for the public to view and download. Place the files for public download like so ftp://yourdomain.com/pub/your-file-name

"incoming" is for the anonymous users to upload files. You are responsible for any "pirated" software uploaded by the anonymous users. Remember "pirated" software is strictly prohibited on any Real Value Network web hosting accounts! The anonymous ftp sites will be periodically monitored for any abuses. You may ignore the other directories.

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How do I create email aliases, and how do I redirect them?
Assume your domain is "example.com". You need to edit the .redirect file in your home directory. Here is a sample .redirect file for example.com:

default example@example.com
webmaster example@example.com
sales joe@aol.com,mike@whatever.com
info robert@example.com

That will automatically redirect all webmaster@example.com emails to example@example.com, sales@example.com to joe@aol.com AND mike@whatever.com, and info@example.com to robert@example.com. All others will go to example@example.com. PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT alter the default. The first line of your .redirect should not be altered or your real email(POP) accounts will malfunction.

It's important to note that the second column must be REAL (POP) accounts. You cannot redirect emails to an alias. Please note that it takes about 5-10 minutes for the .redirect file to go into effect after you've updated it. Ask us to create additional real email(POP) accounts!

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How do I use the autoresponders/infobots?
Very simple. Just create a text file and put it in the infobots directory. Let's say that the name of the text file is "info". Now, when you send mail to info@example.com, you will get the text file mailed back to you. That's it. Try it out. There is no limit to the number of these infobots. Note that the name of the file is simply "info", and not "info.txt".

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How do I see who is using my autoresponders/infobots?
Assume your infobot address is info@example.com. Just put the following line in your .redirect file. Its important that you have the infobot installed before entering the address line in the .redirect

info example@example.com

The original email message will be sent to example@example.com, and the original sender will get the infobot text.

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How do I use Real Audio/Video?
Real Audio/Video is available for a small extra charge

RealAudio/Video is a real time audio/video transmission/player system. A digital audio/video stream is transmitted from the server over the internet to the destination and played immediately, rather than being stored to disk first and then played.

Each audio/video clip requires two files: a metafile with extension .ram, and the digital audio clip itself, with extension .ra. The .ram file holds one or more lines of ASCII text, each of which references the .ra file to be played when the .ram file is accessed by the browser. Entries in .ram files have the form:

pnm://your-domain.com/realaudio/your-domain/name-of-clip.ra

Place your .ram and .ra files in the realaudio subdirectory under your web directory.

.ram files must be uploaded in ASCII mode while .ra files must be uploaded in BINARY mode.

You may then access these files as realaudio/file.ram under your www directory.

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How do I change my FTP/TELNET login password?
Using Telnet software, login to your domain. Your username is yourdomain without the www or .com. Your password is the same as your FTP password. After you've logged on, type "passwd" and follow the simple instructions. You can exit the telnet session by typing "exit".

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How do I check the web usage stats for my domain?
Stats are updated once a week.
You may check your stats by going to http://yourdomain/wusage with your favorite browser.

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What are the proper settings to configure my POP email accounts?
Mail server username: Whatever is before the @ sign within your POP email address. For example, if your POP email was sales@example.com then your Mail server username would be "sales".

Outgoing mail (SMTP) server: yourdomain.com
Incoming mail server: yourdomain.com

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What is the correct path to perl(and other programs)?
perl5: /usr/bin/perl
perl5.003: /usr/bin/perl5.003
perl5.004:/usr/local/bin/perl5.004
sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
date: /bin/date
java: /usr/bin/java
python: /usr/bin/python

Domain paths
using example if your domain was fred.com

Main dir: /www/fred/

Cgi-bin: /www/fred/cgi-bin

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How do I create my own "404 Not found" error page?
Simply modify the missing.html file in your main web directory.

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How do I use the secure server for my order page?
Normally, any text(such as your credit card number) sent from your browser to the web server is sent as plain text. This means that a hacker could potentially intercept(however unlikely) the information sent from your browser and read it. Therefore, by using the secure server, the information is encrypted before it is sent from your browser. It would be practically impossible for anyone to decrypt it without knowing the key. Please use the secure server only when necessary. When you FTP to your site, you will notice a file called faq.html within your www directory. In there, it explains how to access your secure space. Access this information by typing http://yourdomain.com/faq.html#16 using your favorite browser.

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How do I use the Mail list directory?
Email the following autoresponders for help

To build a mailling list from responses to your infobots.

To Use plusmail system for simple listserver type operation

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Where's my Java Chat?
We provide Java Chat programs for use on your domain. Extra charges apply for use of this feature. If you have applied for basic Java Chat, look on your website for a chat directory. It will already be configured for your server. To join the chat, with your browser, go to:

http://www.yourdomain.com/chat

The page can be customized, but leave all the tags alone that have to do with <APPLET CODE>.
These rooms are capable of up to 20 users at one time.

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