Knowledge Base

• What is FTP and how do I get it?
• What do I do with the FTP Hostname in my Welcome Email?
• How do I use FTP?
• How do I configure my FTP Software?
• Acceptable File Names
• What should I do if I'm denied access via FTP?
• How do I transfer files?
• How do I configure WS_FTP?
• Just how do I start building my site?
• Can I change my FTP user-ID and password? They do not seem to be working.
• How do I upload my Web pages with Fetch?
• Why can't I login or connect using FTP?
• My browser says the HTML page "has no content"?
• It appears that my links are not working. What could be wrong?
• The HTML page is garbled when I browse it. What's wrong?

• What MIME types does Hosting 4 Less support?
• What Is RealAudio?
• What are the restrictions and specifications for RealAudio with my account?
• Can I use Hosting 4 Less RealAudio service for Live Broadcasts?
• How many simultaneous streams does the Hosting 4 Less RealAudio server handle?
• How do I create and offer RealAudio content from my Website?
• How can I improve the playback quality?
• How do I receive stereo sound with the RealPlayer 5.0?

• How does Hosting 4 Less provide for CGI services?
• Where can I find path information for my CGI?
• How do I troubleshoot CGI scripts on my own?
• My CGI script is not working.
• My CGI script is slow.
• Where can I get a CGI library or version update?

• What can I use to setup a database?
• What about using databases other than Cold Fusion (NT) on my Website?
• How do I use Allaire Cold Fusion Enabled Servers?
• Where do I get support on MySQL?

In the Welcome Email you receive from Hosting 4 Less, you will find information identifying your Hostname along with your User ID and Password.  Using an FTP client like WS_FTP, you can connect to your Hostname, log into Hosting 4 Less, and upload your website's pages for viewing on your site.  This process, also known as "publishing", is the way you get your pages up onto the web server for visitors to see when they type your URL into their web browser.

How do I use FTP?

Transferring between our server and your hard drive is simple:

1. Make sure you are in the proper directories on both (you can move around your local hard drive double-clicking on subdirectory folders or double clicking the ".." which will move up one directory from your present location.
2. Click once to highlight the relevant file(s) - you can use the SHIFT key to select more than one sequential file or hold down the CTRL key to select specific files to transfer.
3. Click on the proper left or right arrows to begin transmitting.

How do I configure my FTP software?

The following information is contained within your account activation notice and is needed to connect to your Website via FTP:

FTP HOSTNAME
USERID
PASSWORD


The hostname tells your FTP software to connect to the web server upon which your Website resides. In general, the process of configuring the various FTP software programs is the same. We recommend WS_FTP for PC computer users and will be using it in the upcoming examples.

Each time you run WS_FTP the Session Profile window will be displayed. A profile contains the information needed to connect to your web site. Creating a profile now will eliminate the need for you to configure the software each time you wish to connect to the web server via FTP.

To create a new profile:

1. Click the "New" button and enter a generic profile name at the top of the Session Profile window. Enter the User ID, password and hostname for your Website.
2. Be sure to select "Auto detect" for the Host Type.
3. It is best to select "Save Password" and "Auto Save Config" to maintain these settings for future use. All other fields can be left blank. You are now ready to connect to the web server.
4. Click "OK" to continue.

1. When you connect to the web server, you will connect directly to the root ("home") directory of your account.
2. WS_FTP will display a split screen where files on the left-hand side are within your own computer.
3. You will see several folders on the right-hand side such as bin and cgi-bin, which are landmarks noting a successful connection to your Website.
4. You can transfer files directly to the home directory of your account and/or create subdirectories.

Just how do I start building my site?

After successfully transferring files to your space on a Hosting 4 Less server, most FTP programs include a module such as RmDir, MkDir, etc., which you will use to start 'treeing' your site from your root directory.
Note that the default page "Welcome new customer!" is called index.html in your root directory. You cannot Rename this file because the I.P. Pointer (and thus your DNS registry) points to this directory. If you'd like to change the name, please contact Support at Hosting 4 Less at 888-818-0444, and request the change. However, this name does not appear in your URL. Thus, you can keep this file in your root and just tree from there.

The most common setup is to use MkDir to create some directories such as: Graphics, HTML, etc. and place the files in the appropriate place. Or, you can set up the file system on our server exactly as you have locally on your local hard drive. Either way, make a backup of your Web content on your local hard drive. Hosting 4 Less backs up the entire server, but you are ultimately responsible for the integrity of all data on your site.

Acceptable File Names

The Hosting 4 Less operating system is case sensitive. In other words, the file name "faq.html" is NOT the same as "FAQ.html". If your HTML code references a faq.html, but the actual file name is in uppercase, this will result in a File Not Found error. This applies to directory names as well.

To prevent errors, we suggest naming all files in lowercase. Spaces and special control characters are generally not a good idea. The underscore character ("_") is acceptable and recommended in place of spaces. You should never use special characters ( ! @ # $ % ^ & * : ' ) in file names. We suggest that you keep the length of file names to a minimum. The tilde character (~) cannot be used in directory or file names.

Notes to Mac Users

Select "raw data" transfer mode when using Fetch to transfer both HTML and images. PageMill may add either a .bin or .txt extension to your files which must be removed in order for such files to load properly.

What should I do if I'm denied access via FTP?

If you can access your account Control Panel, but cannot access your account via FTP, the FTP configurations may be incorrect.

If you are denied access AFTER entering your User ID and password, you may be using the wrong password. Check the activation notice sent to you via E-Mail when the account was first set up. If you changed your password and it doesn't seem to be working, contact support by telephone at 888-818-0444 to reset your password.

If you cannot connect at all, or connect and then "hang", there may be problems with connectivity. Hosting 4 Less Technical Support can help you track the problem. Since Hosting 4 Less is not a dial-up Internet Access provider, we give you access to your site via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is designed to provide you with access 24 hours a day.. As such, you can create and maintain your web pages on your own computer and upload files to your web site whenever you wish. We recommend using an excellent shareware program called WS_FTP.

You may not need an FTP program if you are using:
Microsoft FrontPage
DeltaPoint's QuickSite
Netscape Navigator Gold
HotDog
NetObject's Fusion

Fetch (For Macintosh)

How do I configure WS_FTP?

1. Enter the Profile Name. This is just a name for this particular location.
2. Host Name/Address. Enter the Domain Name or the IP Address for your Hosting 4 Less account.
3. Host Type. UNIX (Standard) is fine for all types of OS's, including NT.
4. User ID. Enter your login name.
5. Password. Enter your Hosting 4 Less password.
6. Click OK to connect.

To upload your files to the server:
On the LOCAL SYSTEM, locate the directory on your computer that your web files are located. Once you have located them, highlight any or all of the files you wish to upload. Click the "--" arrow button to copy the file(s) to the server.
For HTML and TEXT documents, you should upload using the ASCII option.
For IMAGE files or any NON-TEXT documents, you should upload using the Binary option.
A dialog box will come up telling you the progress of your file upload. Once this is complete, you should see the file(s) on the REMOTE SYSTEM.

To download files from the server to your machine:

1. Locate the file on the REMOTE SYSTEM.
2. Highlight the file.
3. Click the file and drag it to the correct area.
4. Click CLOSE or EXIT when you are finished.

Links for more information, see:
Ipswitch

Can I change my FTP user-ID and password? They do not seem to be working.

You cannot change your User ID, but you may change your password. Your control panel has a provision built in for changing your main password. The change will take place in real time.

1. Double Click on your Fetch icon.
2. From the Menu bar click on File and select New Connection.
3. You will see the following window Next to Host: Type in your shell server.
4. Please refer to your Account Information Form (AIF) for your shell machine.
5. Next to User ID: type in your login name.
6. Next to Password: type in your password.
7. Leave the Directory field blank.
8. Click on OK.
9. You will now see the following window:
10. Double-click on the www/ folder
11. Now you will need to click on Put File...
12. Select the file you want to upload and click on OPEN.
13. Make sure your file name does not have an extra extension after html such as .txt or .bin.
14. Click on OK.

Why can't I login or connect using FTP?

FTP problems can have very simple causes. Often the cause is a mistyped password, or the caps lock key is inadvertently left on, but sometimes the reasons can be more complex. Try these steps when you encounter problems reaching your Website via FTP:

1. First check your username and password. Your username must be typed in lower case. The password must be typed exactly as shown; like most items on a UNIX server, it is case sensitive. Often, in a non-serif font, I (capital eye), l (lowercase "L") , and 1 (the number one) Look very similar, or exactly the same, as is also the case with 0 (zero) and O (the letter "O").
2. Call Hosting 4 Less Support at 888-818-0444 and report any error messages you are getting.
3. Sometimes erroneous configurations on the ISP's end can prevent you from logging in. If this is the case, we can usually give you the information necessary for your provider to resolve the problem.

1. The server Looks up the IP address you're connecting on and gets the name of the machine.
2. The server then looks up the machine name to get the IP address, and it wants the IP address and machine name to match.
3. If they don't, the server refuses the connection.
4. If they do match, the server will ask your username and password, and will let you in if the username and password are correct.

It appears that my links are not working. What could be wrong?

The most common reason for a link not working is that the file does not exist in the location specified. This can mean either of the following:

• Wrong case - UNIX is case sensitive, and if your file calls for "TEXT.HTML", it is not the same as "text.html".
• The link points to a file on your hard drive, and unless the user has the same file by the same name, in the same place, on his own hard drive, he or she will not see what you intended.

Why does my browser say the HTML page "has no content?"

Most likely, you are running a text editor (like Microsoft Word) during the construction process and sending the HTML pages via FTP while the file is still open in the text editor. If you leave the page open in the editor (especially Word), FTP (especially WS-FTP) doesn't have anything to read and thus send to the Hosting 4 Less server -- other than a filename. The Browser, in turn, doesn't find anything. Close the documents in the editor first and save them. Then, FTP to our server and the Browser should find the pages without incidence.

The HTML page is garbled when I browse it. What's wrong?

It is important to remember to send HTML (text) in ASCII mode and all image-format files in Binary. In addition, if you are using Word or some other text-editor locally for writing HTML, be sure to save the file as text only, not as a .doc file, for example. Sounds simple, but it's easy to miss. One should notice that files in DOS can only be saved with a three-letter .htm extension. After FTPing, these files must be renamed to include the .html extension. These actions will correct the majority of FTP errors!

• type=application/octet-stream exts=bin,exe
• type=application/oda exts=oda
• type=application/pdf exts=pdf
• type=application/postscript exts=ai,eps,ps
• type=application/rtf exts=rtf
• type=application/x-mif exts=mif
• type=application/x-csh exts=csh
• type=application/x-dvi exts=dvi
• type=application/x-hdf exts=hdf
• type=application/x-latex exts=latex
• type=application/x-netcdf exts=nc,cdf
• type=application/x-sh exts=sh
• type=application/x-tcl exts=tcl
• type=application/x-tex exts=tex
• type=application/x-texinfo exts=texinfo,texi
• type=application/x-troff exts=t,tr,roff
• type=application/x-troff-man exts=man
• type=application/x-troff-me exts=me
• type=application/x-troff-ms exts=ms
• type=application/x-wais-source exts=src
• type=application/zip exts=zip
• type=application/x-stuffit exts=sit
• type=application/x-shar exts=shar
• type=application/x-tar exts=tar
• type=application/mac-binhex40 exts=hqx
• type=application/x-director exts=dcr,dir,dxr

• type=audio/basic exts=au,snd
• type=audio/x-aiff exts=aif,aiff,aifc
• type=audio/x-wav exts=wav
• type=audio/x-pn-realaudio exts=ra,ram
• type=audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin exts=rpm
• type=audio/x-midi exts=mid

• type=image/gif exts=gif
• type=image/ief exts=ief
• type=image/jpeg exts=jpeg,jpg,jpe
• type=image/tiff exts=tiff,tif
• type=image/x-cmu-raster exts=ras
• type=image/x-portable-anymap exts=pnm
• type=image/x-portable-bitmap exts=pbm
• type=image/x-portable-graymap exts=pgm
• type=image/x-portable-pixmap exts=ppm
• type=image/x-rgb exts=rgb
• type=image/x-xbitmap exts=xbm
• type=image/x-xpixmap exts=xpm
• type=image/x-xwindowdump exts=xwd

• type=text/html exts=htm,html
• type=text/plain exts=txt
• type=text/richtext exts=rtx
• type=text/tab-separated-values exts=tsv
• type=text/x-setext exts=etx
• type=text/x-speech exts=talk

• type=video/mpeg exts=mpeg,mpg,mpe
• type=video/quicktime exts=qt,mov
• type=video/x-msvideo exts=avi
• type=video/x-sgi-movie exts=movie
• type=video/vdo exts=vdo
• enc=x-gzip exts=gz enc=x-compress exts=z

• type=magnus-internal/imagemap exts=map
• type=magnus-internal/parsed-html exts=shtml
• type=magnus-internal/cgi exts=cgi
• type=magnus-internal/php exts=phtml