F.A.Q.'s - Frequently asked questions about web hosting.
What is web hosting?
What types of support do you provide?
Do I have 24/7 access to my account?
Does Noticeablehosting.com offer a money-back guarantee?
Which methods of payment are available?
What happens if I terminate a prepaid hosting plan after 30 days but before the actual paid period is up?
How do I cancel my account?
Help! I can't connect to my site, my email seems to be down, and I can't login through FTP.
What is a domain name?
What is a domain name registrar?
Do you host International domain names?
Can I access my domain address with or without the "www"?
What is a domain parking? How do I park a domain?
What is a sub domain? How do I create sub domains?
Can I have different domains pointing to different web sites in the same account?
How do I publish my web site?
What is FTP?
Why can't I login/upload via FTP?
How do I add an FTP account?
Do you support Microsoft FrontPage for publishing my web pages?
How do I create an FTP account for my sub domain?
How do I access my email?
How do I add an email/POP account?
What is an email redirect/forwarder/alias? How do I create one?
What is an auto responder? How do I create one?
How do I setup email for my parked and/or multi-hosted domains?
Where do I put all my CGI scripts?
What are the paths to sendmail, perl etc?
Will you help me install software/CGI scripts?
Are there any scripts that are not allowed on your servers?
The Secrets of DNS
Q.: What is web hosting?
A.: Web hosting is a term for having an Internet address (Domain Name) and web space for you to build and maintain your web site. Once you have a place to host your web site, people will be able to view your site on the Internet by simply typing-in your domain name into their web browser. A web hosting company is a company that specializes in "renting out" web space for people who are interested in having a web site on the Internet.
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Q.: What types of support do you provide?
A.: Support is provided via our support ticket system. Support Requests can be submitted 24/7 and all requests are usually be responded to in 2 hours or less.
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Q.: Do I have 24/7 access to my account?
A.: Yes! You can access your account at anytime
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Q.: Does Noticeable Hosting offer a money-back guarantee?
A.: Yes, we do offer a limited 30 day money-back guarantee. The limitation means that your account needs to be in good standing and bandwidth usage needs to be 2GB or less. This amount of bandwidth should allow any customer to test our services and shall protect us from bandwidth thieves who move from web host to web host. Thank you for your understanding
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Q.: Which methods of payment are available?
A.: We accept credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, American Express via PayPal) as well as checks from our customers.
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Q.: What happens if I terminate a prepaid hosting plan after 30 days but before the actual paid period is up?
A.: We will refund your money for any full month of non-used service time. However - we are not able to refund money for the current month of service.
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Q.: How do I cancel my account?
A.: Just submit a support ticket and we will take care of that for you. However - if you feel we were providing bad service and did not give you what you expected - please let us know. We will try to fix what we did wrong if possible - we will make up for it! We take our customer satisfaction very seriously and we will try very hard to meet and to exceed your high expectations!
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Q.: Help! I can't connect to my site, my email seems to be down, and I can't login through FTP.
A.: If you can read this and your own site is down, rest assured - the datacenter your site is in, is up and running. Our own site is located in the same datacenter as your own site. Second of all, please verify with your domain registrar that your domain has not yet expired. If your domain has not yet expired, please do a trace route from your machine to your account before assuming that a machine is down. This is because sometimes your site cannot be reached due to something that is beyond our control, such as a connection problem somewhere between your location and our servers, or an intermittent problem at your ISP's end, etc. - Doing a trace route would often help determine where the blockage is and whether we can do anything to help.
To do a trace route from your machine:
1. Bring up a dos prompt and type in "tracert yourdomainname.com/net/org/etc"
2. Hit Enter and let the trace route go its way - the trace route will display a list of "hops" within the path taken from your local machine to your account. These hops represent various physical locations along the path.
3. From the chart you should usually be able to tell where the cause of the "blockage" is.
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Domain Names and Domain Name Registration
Q.: What is a domain name?
A.: A domain name is your identity on the Internet. The most common domain names are those ending with .com, such as "microsoft.com" and "IBM.com". There are other domain names extension such as .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us etc. - A Domain name generally refers to the combination of a second level domain and a top level domain. In easy terms, it is the name “Your Business Name.com”. A domain name technically points to a domain not a web server or specific machine on the internet. The name 'www.Your Business Name.com' is not a domain name, but actually points to a specific computer named 'www' within the domain 'www.Your Business Name.com'.
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Q.: What is a domain name registrar?
A.: A registrar is an organization that is in charge of registering domain names for individuals and organizations. Each country usually has its own domain name registrar and the rules and regulations for registering domain names in different countries vary.
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Q.: Do you host International domain names?
A.: Yes, we do host international domain names. All you need to do is to register the domain name that you want with the country’s domain name registry or an authorized reseller.
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Q.: Can I access my domain address with or without the "www"?
A.: Yes, you will be able to access your domain address with or without the "www" in front of the domain name. When a web site visitor types in "http://www.yourdomain.com" or "http://yourdomain.com" (where yourdomain.com refers to the name of your domain name), they'll be taken to the main page of your site.
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Q.: What is a domain parking? How do I park a domain?
A.: Domain parking is basically having multiple domains pointing to the front page of your site. To park a domain, submit a support ticket. A one-time fee of $10.00 will be charged afterwards.
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Q.: What is a sub domain? How do I create sub domains?
A.: A sub domain is basically a domain name within your current domain (*.yourdomain.com). Each sub domain can be pointed to different directories in your web site. To create sub domains, simply login to your to your account control panel and click on "Sub domains". To add a sub domain, just type in the sub domain name on the blank field and click on "Add". The server will generate the new sub domain for you. You will not need to create any folders in advance - the system will take care of that for you.
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Q.: Can I have different domains pointing to different web sites in the same account?
A.: Yes, these are known as "Domain Pointers" in our system. Depending on your web hosting package you get a specific number of free domain pointers. Please submit a support ticket to have a domain pointer installed. You will need to add an "index.cgi" (can be provided by us) to your root directory on your main account to avoid misdirection. Our support team will explain the necessary steps to you once it is the case.
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Q.: How do I publish my web site?
A.: You can publish your site using an FTP software to upload your HTML pages. The files should be uploaded to a directory called public_html. The filename of your home page should be index.htm or index.html. The web server will automatically send the file at path /home/username/public_html/index.html when a browser specifies http://www.yourdomain.com where yourdomain.com refers to the domain name that you have registered. To upload your files via FTP, use the following information in conjunction with an FTP software:
FTP Server: yourdomain.com
Username: your username
Password: your password
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Q.: What is FTP?
A.: FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, which is a way to transfer files from one computer to another. In this case, the transfer occurs between your desktop and our server. When you move your HTML files from your computer to our server, the process is called "uploading" files. When you retrieve any files from our server to your desktop, the process is called "downloading" files. An FTP client/software is a software that helps you in uploading and downloading files. You need to install the FTP client in your desktop. Some examples of these FTP software will be WS-FTP (for Windows) and Anarchie (for Mac).
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Q.: Why can't I login/upload via FTP?
A.: If you encounter this problem, please make sure that you have entered the correct info such as your domain name, your username and password. If you still have problems, submit a support ticket and we will be glad to help you out.
To upload your files via FTP, use the following information in conjunction with an FTP software:
FTP Server: yourdomain.com
Username: your username
Password: your password
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Q.: How do I add an FTP account?
A.: If you would like to add a new FTP account, simply access your web site control panel at http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel, click on "FTP Manager ->FTP Accounts -> Add Accounts". Type in the login and password and click on "Create" button. The server will generate a new FTP account and a referring sub folder for you.
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Q.: Do you support Microsoft FrontPage?
A.: Yes we support Microsoft FrontPage 2000 and 2002. When opening an account you can request for Microsoft FrontPage extensions to be enabled for your account. This allows you to publish your web site using Microsoft FrontPage, and also to use dynamic FrontPage objects including FrontPage forms and scripts.
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Q.: How do I create an FTP account for my sub domain?
A.: All you need to do is to create an FTP account which has the same username as the name of your sub domain.
For example:
If your sub domain is johndoe.yourdomain.com, you can create an FTP account with username "johndoe" so that you can access the sub domain johndoe via FTP.
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Q.: How do I access my email?
A.: You can access your email via any email client software (Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, Pocomail, or via your web browser through the control panel.
Default Address
Your account comes pre-configured with your main account username as the default address. A default address is the place where all unrouted (unspecified) email addresses based on your domain goes to.
For instance, if your domain is domain.com, and your main account username is domain, then any email that goes to johndoe@domain.com or Sue@domain.com would end up at your main email account domain, unless they've been set up otherwise.
To access email that goes to your main email account, simply set up the following in your email software:
Email Address*: youraddress@yourdomain.com
POP/Incoming Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com
SMTP/Outgoing Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com or your ISP's mail server
Username: (your main account username)
Password: (your main account password)
* where "youraddress" can be whatever you want, unless you have created your own email accounts or aliases with that name.
User-Created Email Accounts
If you've created your own email accounts via the online control panel, set up the following in your email software:
Email Address*: username@yourdomain.com
POP/Incoming Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com
SMTP/Outgoing Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com
Username**: username@yourdomain.com
Password: user password
* where username@yourdomain.com is the email account that you've created.
** you must enter the entire email address here, rather than just the portion before "@yourdomain.com".
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Q.: How do I add an email/POP account?
A.: To add a POP account, simply login to your web site control panel via http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel and click on "Add/Remove Accounts". Next, click on "Add Accounts" and enter the username and password of the new account. Click on "Create" button. The server will generate a new POP3 Email account for you.
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Q.: What is an email redirect/forwarder/alias? How do I create one?
A.: If you already have an email account username@yourdomain.com and you would like to receive emails directed to sales@yourdomain.com in your username@yourdomain.com mailbox, you can simply use the Email Redirect/Forwarders/Aliases feature. You can have as many forwarders as you like to any single POP3 Email account. To enable this feature, simply login to your web site control panel via http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel and click on "Forwarders". Next, click on "Add Forwarder". There will be two blank fields, fill in the left-hand-side blank with the missing part of email address that you would like to forward emails from (e.g. sales). Next fill in the right-hand-side blank with the full email address where you would like to forward emails to (ie username@yourdomain.com). After that, click on "Create Forward".
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Q.: What is an auto responder? How do I create one?
A.: An auto responder is an automatic email generated to a sender when a certain email address receives mail. To add an auto responder, simply login to your web site control panel via http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel and click on "Auto responders". Next, click on "Add Auto responder". Enter your auto responder email in the first field. In the "From" field, enter the name that the response should appear to come from such as "Support - Your Business Name" or "Sales Department" . In the "Subject" field, enter what you would like the default subject to return to the user as in their email response. In the "Body" field, place the actual message that should be sent to the recipient. Click on the "Create" button. The server will generate a new auto responder for you.
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Q.: How do I setup email for my parked and/or multi-hosted domains?
A.: Currently all email send to a parked or pointed domain will only go to default account of the domain where the other one is parked on top. Pointed or parked domains cannot have their own mail accounts at this time!
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Q.: Where do I put all my CGI scripts?
A.: You can put all your CGI scripts that you need to execute into your cgi-bin directory. Use file extension .cgi or .pl for all your cgi scripts. The directory permissions are already set to 755, so you may simply upload your scripts, assign (chmod) execute permissions (755) to them and you are good to go!
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Q.: What are the paths to sendmail, perl etc?
A.:
Sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
Perl: /usr/bin/perl
Date: /bin/date
Whois: /usr/bin/whois
Web directory: /home/username/www
Cgi-bin: /home/username/www/cgi-bin
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Q.: Will you help me install software/CGI scripts?
A.: Yes, we can help you install software/CGI scripts. Depending on the complexity of the installation and your script we might have to charge you for work that goes beyond normal support. In most cases our installation help is free.
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Q.: Are there any scripts that are not allowed on your servers?
A.: The following are banned from installation onto our servers, due to the risk of abuse or the nature of the software and its negative impact upon the servers.
- UltimateBBS (all versions)
- Ikonboard (all versions)
- Greymatter (all versions)
- IRC Egg Drops & IRC related programs. (chat software)
- Proxy Servers
- nph-proxy
- The Anonymizer
- formmail.pl
- lstmrge.cgi
- Shell, SSH, Telnet Scripts and Shell, SSH, Telnet Alternatives
- Any script that uses & processes a massive number of flatfiles or large flatfile databases.
This list is by no means complete and the list will be added to from time to time.
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The secrets of DNS
Change your DNS info on your domain name
You need to basically tell your domain name to "point" to the Noticeable Hosting servers. This is done by changing the DNS information for that domain name.
You will need to access the site that you purchased your domain name from and there should be a member's section. This will require a Username and Password [that you received when you bought the domain name]
Then find the section that says something like "Change or Update DNS info". You then replace the information that is currently there with the name server information that came with your welcome email. You'll see 2 name servers and 2 IP addresses.
By entering this information, you are instructing that requests for your domain name are directed to the Noticeable Hosting servers. It could take up to 3 days for your domain to be fully propagated and for your site to be accessible via your domain name.
If you can't find a Member's section on the site that you purchased the domain name from, email their support staff and tell them what you want to do etc.
By re-delegating your DNS info for your domain name, you are in effect hooking your domain name up with the Noticeable Hosting servers and any requests for your domain name will be routed to the Noticeable Hosting servers.
Access your domain before propagation
To access your sites before the domain has propagated, simply access via the server's IP address and the ~username of the account. So, that would be http://serverIP/~username.
Details of your server's main IP are in your welcome email.
Domain Propagation antics!!
A lot of support requests that we receive at the Helpdesk is about domain propagation and clients not being able to view their newly created sites. This article will go about trying to explain what is happening and why you can't view your new site whereas someone else can view your site.
You've just opened your new account here and you've gone along to your domain register and you've updated the DNS info for that domain so that it now points to your account on the Noticeable Hosting server that you're on. Your site will not become visible by the domain name for probably 48 hours. Why is this taking so long, you ask? Basically all the ISPs around the net have to update their DNS cache and this takes time.
Why does it take so long? There are various reasons, but some studies have suggested that there are literally millions of DNS Servers that need to be notified of the new information!
Propagation takes two forms, changes to your DNS Zone and changes to your WHOIS information. The WHOIS is the master record that tells every DNS Server in the world which is the authoritative server for your domain. A change to your WHOIS information (done my your domain registrar) can take up to 72 hours to propagate fully. A change to your DNS Zone information typically affects only a handful of servers, and so is done much more quickly.
You can also access the site via the http://SERVERIP/~username. Check the "SERVERIP" from your welcome email.
A common question we get is that why can I access the site but my client cannot access the new site. The answer to this is that your ISP has updated its DNS information and the ISP of your client has not yet updated their DNS info. Hence you are looking at the new location of the domain name, whereas your client will still be looking at the old location.
Use this page to check the whois and other name server checks for your domains - http://www.verisign-grs.com/whois/. Just because you can see the updated information on this page, this doesn't mean that your site is viewable at its new location by everyone from around the net. True domain propagation takes up to 72 hours, maybe even longer.
So, hang in there and ride out the domain propagation waiting game.
What is Propagation?
Merriam-Webster defines propagation as:
the act or action of propagating : as a : increase (as of a kind of organism) in numbers b : the spreading of something (as a belief) abroad or into new regions c : enlargement or extension (as of a crack) in a solid body
For our purposes, definition B is most appropriate. Quite literally, propagation is the time during which your DNS Zone information is spread abroad to servers that didn't know about it before.
Why does it take so long? There are various reasons, but some studies have suggested that there are literally millions of DNS Servers that need to be notified of the new information!
Propagation takes two forms, changes to your DNS Zone and changes to your WHOIS information. The WHOIS is the master record that tells every DNS Server in the world which is the authoritative server for your domain. A change to your WHOIS information (done my your domain registrar) can take up to 72 hours to propagate fully. A change to your DNS Zone information typically affects only a handful of servers, and so is done much more quickly.
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