FAQ Answers - the Toowoomba Website knowledge base

1. I've opened a hosting account with Toowoomba Website. How do I upload files to my new webspace?

   · You will need an FTP client (FTP program).
   · use the login details of hostname – ftp.toowoomba.ws and the username and password for your account
   · All your web pages and graphics must be uploaded into the PUBLIC_HTML or WWW folder
   [back]

2. I purchased an email-enabled hosting package from Toowoomba Website. How do I setup my domain email?

   · Once logged in to your control panel, go to the email section.
   · Click manage accounts. Here you can create new email accounts based on your domain name, as well as editing existing ones. Remember, we can create all your email accounts for you if you wish to use our Blue Ribbon Service.
   
   * Note: as part of the control panel operation, a 'default' email account is created based on your control panel username. It is a good idea to disable this account as it can collect email, including junk mail, and gradually fill up with unwanted material. YOU CANNOT DELETE the default account, however you can stop it collecting email:
   · Currently we have FIXED this situation for all clients by disabling the default account.

   CREATING MAIL PROFILE: Use these instructions to configure your email client; they were intended for Outlook Express but can be adapted to any email program:
   Email Server Settings:- (note that incoming mail server is a POP3 server)
   · incoming: (POP3) mail.toowoomba.ws   +   outgoing: (SMTP) mail.toowoomba.ws
   Incoming mail server:-
   · account name: (the full email address)
   · password: (the password for this email address - you either created this password when you created the account, OR if we created the account for you, it is the password we gave you.)
   Outgoing mail server:-
   · (select) 'my server requires authentication'
   · (go to - settings)
   · (select) 'use same settings as my incoming mail server'

   You can choose to use your ISP's SMTP server for sending out emails, and we understand that a Telstra policy makes this mandatory for Telstra BigPond users. In that case, the outgoing server authentication setting would of course be different from the incoming mail server.

   IF YOU PREFER to use IMAP for your incoming mail, our servers will allow this. Use the same settings as above except that you should refer to your email client 'help' to configure the account for IMAP. [back]

3. How do I collect my email via webmail?

   · Log in to your control panel, then go to the email section.
   · Click 'manage accounts' (NOT webmail)
   Go to the account you wish to view
   · Click 'read webmail' – enter password for that email account and you will be able to login
   --> · Click one of the email clients shown
   If this is your first access to this webmail account, you may be asked to enter some initial information and submit. Then you will be able to read your mail and perform other actions. [back]

4. How do I redirect email from my domain email address to the email address my ISP gave me?

   · Go to the email section of your control panel and select 'forwarders'. Type in the domain address you wish to forward from, and add the address to which you wish to redirect emails.
   * Note that if you set up an email account of the same name as the address to be forwarded from, domain email will collect on the server. If you don't want the domain email to build up and reduce your server space, don't set up the email account - only the forwarder. [back]

5. How do I send out bulk domain emails to a mailing list?

   The first thing to bear in mind is that the Toowoomba Website mail servers will not send bulk mail of more than 100 emails. This applies to any emailing you might do using your domain email account(s).
   There is a mailing list program available within your control panel - it is a popular product though not recommended for professional emailing campaigns. For these we suggest you use our Blue Ribbon email newsletter Service.
   · To use the mailing list program, log in to your control panel and go to the email section.
   · Click 'mailing lists' and from here you can create your mailing list. Don't forget to make a note of the password. [back]

6. I already have a domain name. How do I link it to my new Toowoomba Website webhosting space?

   This is called delegation and you will need the access details for your domain name. This usually means going to the website of the domain's registrar and opening your account with an id and/or password that you received when the domain was first registered. When you have accessed the domain administration, you need to find where the Domain Name Servers (DNS) can be changed. Alter the first two DNS settings to ns1.toowoomba.ws and ns2.toowoomba.ws respectively. Alternatively, you can get us to make the change through our Blue Ribbon Service. [back]

7. How do I register my website with Google?

   To ensure your website has been submitted to Google (instructions valid as at the time of writing):
   · Go to www.google.com.au and click 'About Google' then click 'Submitting your Site' and follow the instructions. [back]

8. How do I find out how many hits my website has received this month?

   · log on to your control panel and go to the 'Stats' section
   · click 'AwStats Stats'
   · You can select the month you are interested in. Note that 'hits' means how many times the server has received a request for an object and there can be 10 or more objects to each web page. Therefore, hits is not a good measure of site activity. It is better to look at the 'page views' as this shows the actual number of pages looked at/number of times pages were looked at. [back]

9. How can I add ecommerce to my website?

   There are a number of 3rd-party systems that have become very popular, the best known being PayPal. Using these systems usually means you don't need to have a credit card merchant account. Toowoomba Website can add an easy to use PayPal system to your site, allowing the entry screen to be protected by Secure Sockets Layer.
   Additionally, Toowoomba Website has its own Ezy ecommerce system for people with existing merchant accounts who do not want the expense of building a customised system. Please register your interest by       [back]

10. Help! my website doesn't work and my website developer has gone walkabout

    Paul Rigby Communications, which runs Toowoomba Website, may be able to help. Call us on 46 321153 or [back]

11. Why can't I create a database in phpMyAdmin?

    Databases can only be created via the MySQL Admin link in cPanel. This ensures that any database you create is tied to your account and is accessible only by those users you authorise. [back]

12. How do I get support for systems installed by Fantastico De Luxe?

    All the systems installed via Fantastico are supplied 'as is' and are unsupported through cPanel or by Toowoomba Website. This means you will have to go to the original developer for information or training, or hire an expert in the system you wish to use. [back]

13. How do I back up my website?

    User backups are recommended, even though server backups are refreshed on Sundays. In your cPanel, go to Site Management: Backup and within this section you will find a number of ways to backup. It is especially useful for backing up your databases. However you will need a program that can uncompress the .gz backup file (eg. PowerDesk).
    Another way to backup a database is to enter your cPanel, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on phpMyAdmin. This facility allows you to do a lot with your database, including backing it up. In phpMyAdmin, click 'Export'. In the export page, click the link marked 'Select all' to select all of the tables in the database for export. The radio button selected below should be 'SQL'. Select the other items you need - follow the instructions given for your particular application. However, it is usually important to select the check box for 'add DROP TABLE' in the group labeled 'Structure' and the 'Export type:' should usually be set to 'INSERT'. Check the 'Save as file' group, then type a name for the database and click the button labeled 'Go'. Then select a location to save your database to.
    NB. Selecting 'add DROP TABLE' means that if the copy of the database you create is later imported, the tables in the imported copy will overwrite tables of the same name in the target database. You should be careful to keep track of your databases, and make sure you only import and export the correct databases for your task. [back]

14. Why does the amount of disk space I use, keep creeping up?

    You may notice that your disk usage shown in cPanel keeps increasing, even though you have not added extra content to your site. First, check that you are not collecting junk email in your default mailbox (see above). If this is not an issue, you should be aware that the cPanel web stats (including two systems we do not use at Toowoomba.ws) automatically save extra files every month. Unless these are purged, they will build up over time. To purge, use your FTP client and login to your account. Click to go UP a directory level and find the folder called 'tmp'. Delete any files you like from the folders named 'analog', 'webalizer' or 'webalizerftp'. But be much more careful about deleting any files from 'awstats' folder as these produce the stats displayed in your cPanel. The awstats filenames give the month and year of the statistics they contain. Only delete a month's file if you are SURE you will never need to refer to that statistical information again. (If you prefer, get us to purge unwanted files through our Blue Ribbon Service.) [back]

15. How do I improve the security of my site?

    There are a few tools in your cPanel that can help increase security. Go to Site Management: Web Protect allows you to protect folders with a username and password; while Index Manager allows you to prevent people seeing directory listings. If the indexes are 'off' for any particular folder, people will not be able to see what files are in the directory if it lacks an index file. Please note that the cPanel documentation was incorrect for our server at the time of writing, where the documentation described the 'No Indexes' setting as "Any browser that accesses this directory will see a list of all files in the directory". We advise that you always test security settings prior to taking your website into full production. [back]

16. Something bad has happened to my site - can you help?

    We are always ready to respond to clients who have a problem, however we can only give material help if the difficulty is a failure of the hosting environment, such as a breach of our firewall. Should the problem be due to malicious exploitation of the website application you are using, such as those provided through Fantastico in our cPanel, this is not our responsibility. The same goes for security breaches that occur due to malware in your PC accessing your hosting space. We advise that you always ensure your PC is scanned with up to date malware protection. [back]

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