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Windows 2000 Technical Support
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TROUBLESHOOTING
Lockups During File Transfers
The Situation: "My web site locks up completely from time to time, mostly when I'm publishing or FTPing updates to my site. How do I prevent this from happening?"
Suggested Action: This problem can occur when FTP or FrontPage transfers fail to complete properly. Network problems, configuration issues, and unexpected power outages can all cause this kind of interruption. To alleviate the problem, try using the following methods:
For FTP
When sending updates to the web site, try not to overwrite existing files during the process. Instead, rename the target file (or files) to be replaced with some temporary name before uploading. For example, if index.asp and mybooklist.htm are going to be overwritten with newer files, rename the old files something like index.bak and mybooklist.bak. After successfully uploading the new files, the old ones can be deleted. This way if the upload hangs, the original files will still be intact.
For FrontPage
FrontPage users should make sure that their publishing sessions don't hang in the middle of the transfer, as this can cause the same problems as FTP breakdowns.
General Advice
- Always disconnect from your FrontPage site and close out any FTP sessions appropriately before disconnecting from a dial-up connection.
- If the web site is totally non-responsive, please contact EZHost.BIZ and file a request to have the site restarted.
For further assistance, send an email to EZHost.BIZ
Default Documents
"I have an index.htm and an index.asp in my web, but when users try to access the site, their browser brings up the wrong page! I want the web server to deliver index.asp by default, not index.htm. What do I do?"
Suggested Action: Since IIS (Internet Information Server) supports multiple default document names, having more than one document with one of those accepted names in a single directory confuses IIS. IIS remedies the situation by only displaying the first document it encounters with one of those accepted names. To fix the problem, make sure that the desired default document is the only document in its home directory that has a "default name." Other files with "default names" (default.htm, index.htm, index.asp, default.asp, index.html, etc.) should be renamed.
Valid default docuemnts are (in this order): default.asp, default.htm, default.html, index.asp, index.htm, index.html, home.asp, home.htm, home.html
Site Deems Slow
The Problem: My web site is unusually slow.
Before contacting technical support, try a couple of the procedures below:
First, bring up a command prompt. In Windows NT, this can be accomplished by going to the "Start" button, then selecting "Run" and typing cmd. In Windows 95/98, there should be an "MS-DOS" icon for the command prompt option on your "Start" menu. Unix users can just use a shell session.
Make sure you are connected to the Internet before performing this procedure.
- Type ping www.yourdomain.com; substitute your web site's domain name for "yourdomain."
C:\>ping www.ezhost.biz
Pinging www.ezhost.biz with 32 bytes of data. Anything under 300 ms
milliseconds) is considered good on average.
- Type ping www.yourdomain.com -l 1500 .
C:\>ping www.ezhost.biz -l 1500. Anything under 300 ms milliseconds) is a good time. 1500 bytes is the size of a normal packet.
If you were to see this:
C:\>ping www.ezhost.biz -l 1500
Pinging www.ezhost.biz with 1500 bytes of data: (took
55555 to time out):
Request timed out.
Reply from 63.249.159.38: bytes=1500 time=471ms TTL=118
Reply from 63.249.159.38: bytes=1500 time=441ms TTL=118
Request timed out.
Then there may be a routing problem. To find out whether the problem is us or another company’s routers, do
a tracert by typing tracert www.yourdomain.com.
The results will look something like this:
C:\>tracert www.ezhost.biz
13 www.ezhost.biz 43.160 ms 45.825 ms 44.267 ms
These are excellent trace times. If you have trace times like these, then the problem is most likely the server. However, if you have trace times of 300 ms or greater, or if you see a "*" in place of a time, then the problem is not with the server, but with either a router you are going through or your dialup provider. Please note that the slower your connection is (14.4Kbps modem, 28.8KBps modem, etc.), the slower your initial trace times will be. These times should gradually average out later in the tracert.
Bad tracert times are often the result of router problems at one or more of the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that your network is attempting to send packets through. The "*" that appears in place of some times means that a router is dropping packets completely. As soon as a router drops a packet or slows down, the other routers "downstream" will appear slower or appear to drop packets, too. This chain reaction can be initiated by failing hardware, abnormally high network traffic, or both. Users with more than one Internet account will often notice that
tracert results will look different on each machine they try. This phenomenon occurs because different Internet providers channel their packets through different routers. There is very little that can be done about this as each Internet provider is a self-regulating entity (the Internet is a non-homogenous network constructed from hundreds of thousands of participating providers). Poor routing in one area doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is experiencing the same problem. All companies route either through MAE-East or MAE-West. MAE-East/West are "gigaswitches" -- pieces of equipment that route enormous numbers of packets. If one of these gigaswitches fails, people all across the world experience slowdowns and outages as a result of the network traffic backlog.
A company called Datametrics
makes an especially useful visual tracert utility that users may wish to try. The tool is called VisualRoute, and it requires a working Java Virtual Machine to run. (Any Windows 95 system with Internet Explorer 3.02 or later on it should be fine, as should any Windows NT machine with Internet Explorer 4.01 or greater installed. Users who do not have either of those products installed on their computer should read the Java directions at the VisualRoute home page.) The actual VisualRoute install file can be downloaded from http://www.visualroute.com/download.html.
VisualRoute is a straightforward tracert utility in most regards -- just enter the IP address or domain name you wish to trace in the input box provided, and the program will attempt to analyze all network traffic between the user's current ISP and the target ISP. What makes VisualRoute special is that it provides a global map with diagrams showing each "hop" on the route's path. VisualRoute will also attempt to explain why certain "hops" are not directing traffic properly. (Note: make sure that the "graph guesses" box is always checked to receive the maximum amount of debug information possible).
Other Helpful Links
Troubleshooting Domains
The Situation: There seems to be a problem with "mydomain.com." I know that the domain transfer has been completed, but every time I try to access my domain name address, I go to my old web site or get an error. If I enter my new IP address instead, I go to the correct site. Is there something I've missed? Why does "mydomain.com" still point to my old address?
The The solution: Although the Network Solutions transfer has been completed, not all ISPs may have updated their DNS (Domain Name Server) cache yet, which is why "mydomain.com" still points to the old address. Ask for the ISP in question to refresh its DNS cache, or wait for it to autorefresh or propagate (which could take between six hours and seven days).
DATABASES - ACCESS
Troubleshooting - access DSNs
There are several different problems users may experience when using Access Databases.
- If you receive the error: "No Data Source Name" the code is trying to call a database that does not have a DSN connection. In this case, try the following:
- If a DSN has been setup, please confirm that the DSN called in the code corresponds to the DSN that was sent to you.
If you have tried these two suggestions, and continue to recieve the error, please contact Technical Support.
- If you receive the error: "Database is Read Only" or "Couldn't Lock File" the database permissions are set incorrectly. This could be the result of several different problems.
- FrontPage users occasionally experience this problem when uploading new or modified databases with FrontPage. FrontPage changes the configuration of the database when it is uploaded, so that information can be read from, but not written to the database.
- The database original database resides in the root directory or a directory not specifically for databases. (For best results, create a folder specifically for databases. This will allow manual uploading or replacement of an existing database without configuration changes by Technical Support.)
In either case, please contact our support staff and we will make the necessary modifications.
Add a DSN
Database use is included with our hosting services. If database access is not included in your hosting package, please visit
EZhost.BIZ hosting plans page
ODBC
In order to have an ODBC database set up for you, please contact our sales department. The sales department needs the following information to set up the connection for you:
- Your site's IP address or domain name
- The physical path of the .mdb file relative to your content root, for example: /www123_4/db/db1.mdb
- The desired name for the new DSN (Data Source Name): The DSN is a connection made by the ODBC server to a specified database. This connection is then assigned a name which can be called by ASP (Active Server Pages), Cold Fusion, or other programming/scripting languages to manipulate the database.
Other notes
- Try not to use generic names for your database and DSN, such as Database.mdb
- If you do not specify a DSN, one will be assigned to you.
- You must have the .mdb file uploaded for the DSN creation to take place.
SQL
In order to have an SQL database set up for you, please contact the sales department. The sales department needs the following information to set up the connection for you:
Login: This is your www123_4* administrator account login.
Pass: This is your pre-assigned password which corresponds to your www123_4* login.
Space: Size of the database to be upsized to the SQL server.
Name of the DSN: The DSN (Data Source Name) is a connection the ODBC server makes to a specified database. This connection can then be called by programs written in ASP, Cold Fusion, etc. via the assigned name.
Upsizing to SQL
The Situation: What is the process to migrate tables (schema and contents) from Microsoft Access to Microsoft SQL Server?
Suggested Action: It's easiest to just export the Access database into SQL Server via Access 2000. A copy of the original Access database is all the tech support staff needs to facilitate the change-over.
DATABASES - SQL
Error while transfering a SQL Databases
The Situation: "I can access my web site just fine, and I can attach to and browse the SQL server just fine using Enterprise Manager. However, I'm receiving a login error when I begin the 'transfer' from my local SQL server to the SQL server. What's going wrong?"
Suggested Action: Due to restrictions with SQL you have to have SA (SQL administrator) on the server you are transfering to. The best way to transfer a SQL database over is to do a SQL dump of the database and FTP it to your account. Once this is accomplished send us to notify us that you need it restored and where to find it in your site content.
Database size
The Situation: "I need to set up a couple of databases for me on the SQL Sever. Both are quite large. Are there any additional costs associated with this?"
Helpful Information: Due to the resources and methods involved in running and administrating SQL servers, SQL server space doesn't fall under the normal web space plan.
POP3/SMTP SERVER NAMES
POP3/SMTP Server Names
The Situation: "What's the name of our POP3/SMTP server?"
Helpful Information: Our mail servers follow the naming convention mail.domainname.com, where domainname is the Internet domain of the hosted web site. This is valid for incoming and outbound mail.
Auto Responders
The Situation: "I'd like to have my Imail user account generate an automated reply whenever someone sends e-mail to my address. How do I do that?"
Suggested Action: (For the following directions, the e-mail account name
example will be used.)
- Log in to the Imail administrator as example and go to "Change Vacation Message."
- Enter the outgoing message to be sent and save it. Messages longer than 1000 characters will have to be sent as text file attachments. Our technical staff will have to manually add these kinds of messages.
Make sure that messages don't exceed 1000 characters! There is a known bug that will cause the web administration interface to become inaccessible if a message of this size is saved.
Administration
This answer is under construction and will be availble shortly.
Logging In
To login to the e-mail administration interface, you will need to use a frames-capable web browser. In the location bar, type the following address: http://www.yourdomainhere.com:8383
Be sure to replace yourdomainhere with your actual domain. You must also type the http:// prefix to successfully connect.
- The login screen will appear. The left frame displays the status of your server, letting you know that all services are running.
- Click on Logon in the main frame. In the authentication box that follows, type your account name and password. These should match the account name and password you use to FTP into your server or use Microsoft FrontPage. If you cannot login successfully.
- In the main frame, the menu of available options will appear if you have successfully logged in. From here, you can add and remove mail users, aliases, and change information for mailboxes.
- When you have finished with mailbox administration, remember to click
[Logoff], located in the main menu frame.
Tools Overview
Upon logging in to the Administration page, a table showing your account name, full name and mailbox size will be displayed. Underneath this, all users will be presented with the following options for their personal mailbox.
- Change Password
Change and confirm the user’s password.
- Change User Information
Change the user information that gets published in a directory by the LDAP server.
- Change Finger Information
Change the information in the user’s plan file. This information is provided in response to a Finger request.
- Change Mail Forwarding Information
Set a forwarding e-mail address to which all the user’s mail is sent.
- Change Vacation Message
Enter a vacation message that will be sent once to each user that sends mail to this user’s account. The presence of a message in the text window activates the vacation message. If the text window is left empty, the vacation message is disabled.
Users who have Host Administrator access enabled (in the user properties) will see these menu items:
- View Monitor Access Log
Shows each access attempt to the IMail Web Messaging server and to the IMonitor web server.
- View Monitor System Log
Shows logons to the mail server and to the IMonitor web server and shows the status of services.
- View IMail System Log
Shows IMail Server send and receive mail transactions.
- View IMail Syslog Log
Records transaction and debug information when enabled in each of the servers (for example, POP3 and SMTP).
Select from the items above to learn more about their function.
Add New User
Login to the I-Mail interface with the administrative username (usually the default www123_4 style username you use to login to FTP or FrontPage).
Click on User Administration.
Click on the 'Add User' Button.
You will then see numerous fields, but this document only covers the most pertinent fields.
- UserID
The account you want mail sent to. If you want mail to go to support@
yourdomain.com, The user ID would be support.
- Password
Enter the password for this mailbox. This password will be used to check mail, and to login to the Imail web interface to change user information and reset passwords.
- Confirm Password
Re-enter the password you typed under 'Password'.
- User Information Fields
These are optional but are helpful to track who uses which mailbox.
- Max Mailbox Size
This is the maximum amount of space the mailbox can hold, in kilobytes. The default is 0, which means unlimited space. If a value other than 0 is set, and the maximum mailbox
size is reached, the oldest items in the mailbox will be deleted automatically.
- Max Num Messages
This is the maximum number of messages the mailbox will hold. The default is 0, which means an unlimited number of messages. If a value other than 0 is set, and the maximum number of messages is reached, the oldest items in the mailbox will be deleted automatically.
- User Cannot Change Password
Checking this box will not allow the mailbox owner to change the password for that account through Telnet or the Imail interface. The administrator can always change passwords.
- Allow Web Access
This will allow them to connect via browser, the same way the administrator does, but when they enter their login and password, they will only see the Personal Information Category. They will not be able to add, modify, or delete users. They will be able to modify their own passwords and personal information (unless otherwise specified limited by the above fields).
Add an Alias
The Situation: "I need to configure an e-mail alias to forward mail from one address to another. How do I do that?"
Suggested Action: Imail offers two different mail services. The most common service is the POP account, which provides an actual "mailbox" on the system that holds messages for a given user name. The other option -- aliasing -- allows users to create an address that redirects mail to another existing
e-mail account. This works both for e-mail addresses at the host site and e-mail addresses at other sites.
For example, assume that a user wants mail for sales@domain.com and info@domain.com to go to a single existing e-mail address -- webmaster@domain.com. The user could create aliases for "sales" and "info," then point both of them to the POP account "webmaster."
To create an alias:
- Log in to the IMail interface with the administrative user name (this is usually the default www123_4 style user name used for FTP and FrontPage functions).
- Click on "User Administration."
- Click on the "Add Alias" button.
- Two fields will appear:
Alias:
Destination:
- Under "Alias," type just the name that mail should be forwarded from. For example, to forward mail from sales@yourdomain.com to another e-mail address, use the name sales in the "alias" box.
- Under "Destination," type the full e-mail address that all mail under the "Alias" section should go to. For instance, to send the mail from the previous sales@yourdomain.com example to the existing e-mail account webmaster@yourdomain.com, configure the fields like this:
Alias: sales
Destination: webmaster@yourdomain.com
- Click "save." When the system finishes, click "Return to Admin" to continue adding and modifying users or aliases.
E-mail Password Changes
The Situation: "If I change my password on the mail server, is it also changing my NT password (and therefore my FrontPage/Visual InterDev/AuthentiX password)?"
Suggested Action: Changing a password on the mail server does not change any NT Domain or Workstation passwords. Customers should inform our technical staff if they change the Imail administrator password, so we can update our records and for troubleshooting purposes.
FAQ
Changing The Administative Username/Password
The Situation: "I need to have my administrative user name and password changed. Can that be done?"
Suggested Action: Users' administrative logins and passwords are both generated by our technical staff initally, unless specified at the time of your original order. The original administrative user name is hard-coded for internal tracking purposes. Because of this, it cannot be changed. However, an additional administrator's account can be created for users who require a more "friendly" account name. This service does require a one-time setup fee. The password may be changed, however a per incident setup fee may be imposed for this based on your frequency of the request.
To file a request for a new administrative account or password change, send an email to support@ezhost.biz
Password Protecting Web Directories
The Situation: "One or more directories on my web site need to be password-protected. How do I accomplish this?"
Suggested Action: There are three primary options users can choose from to protect their web content.
Create an NTFS Account (using User Manager for Domains)
Our technical support staff can create a Windows NT user account and restict the permissions on one or more folders so that only the designated user will be granted access. This solution works well for a couple of users, but for larger numbers of subscribers, our support team recommends the use of AuthentiX-ISP. More detailed information regarding AuthentiX can be found at http://www.flicks.com/.
Authentication via AuthentiX-ISP
AuthentiX allows multiple users to be stored within a single user database for your website. This is separate from Windows NT's user database as well as other website's AuthentiX databases. Access can then be given access permissions on one or more restricted folders by users or groups. For more information about this product, please consult the Flicks website.
ASP, Cold Fusion, Etc.
ASP (Active Server Pages) and other scripting languages can be used to create web-based security applications that permit or deny access based on passwords or other programmatic criteria. Users with Cold Fusion installed on their web site can write similar applications in that language. For more information about implementing such a system, consult one of the many ASP resources on the web, such as http://www.activeserverpages.com/ or http://www.asphole.com/.
Domains - Registration & Transfer
The Problem: I need to know the IP addresses for your DNS servers so I can do my own Network Solutions transfer or registration. I assume the information is the same as what Network Solutions has listed for hostingsupport.com, but I want to confirm it.
The Solution: This is the DNS information:
ns.propagation.net
216.221.160.10
ns2.propagation.net
216.221.162.106
Please use No326-ORG as the technical contact for your domain. This will allow usto make any necessary changes with Network Solutions in a timely fashion on your behalf.
FRONTPAGE
FrontPage Webbot and E-Mail
The Situation: "I'm using FrontPage's built-in form support to save data to a file and send e-mail with the results to specified address. My data is being stored correctly on the server in a text file, but I never receive the e-mail. What's wrong with my form?"
Suggested Action:
1. If your website doesn't have a DNS (Domain Name Server) entry, some mail servers along the delivery route may reject the e-mail. This is only an issue with mail servers that rely on reverse DNS lookups to authenticate mail (reverse DNS lookups are used as a form of anti-SPAM protection -- if a domain name is invalid, the server assumes the message contains a fraudulent user@host address and deletes the bogus mail).
This is an uncommon problem that can often be difficult to diagnose. Users who suspect their e-mail is being lost due to missing DNS entries should file a request via email to support@ezhost.biz so that our technical support staff can remedy the situation.
2. If website does have DNS entries, but the Internic domain modification (transfer) has not been completed, and the mail is being sent to user@yourdomain.com (instead of your ISP dialup account), the mail is being sent to our webserver. Make sure that the mailboxes have been set up, and check the mail by IP address until the name has been transferred.
STATISTICS
LiveStats
To view your stats for your domain please visit http://servername.propagation.net:8080 (where "servername" is the name of the server that your domain is hosted on). Type your IP address into the Server ID box.
Raw Access Logs
To have this feature enabled please contact our support department.
UTILITIES
Index Server
The Situation: "I'd like to begin using Index Server for my web site searches. What do I need to do to start using it?"
Suggested Action: Customers will first need to submit a support request via email to support@ezhost.biz to enable Index Server for their site. Once our technical staff has configured the web server, customers can write custom IDC/HTX files, or use FrontPage 98's search components. We recommend using FrontPage98 to add a search.
This functionality is only available under IIS 4.0.
Hit Counter
This page is still under construction. Currently no hit counter is avaialble if your are not using Microsoft FontPage. An ISAPI hit counter is being evaluated and will be available shortly.
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