CrossLink

Accessing Your Web Account

Thank you for choosing CrossLink to supply your Web/FTP hosting needs! In this document, we'll explain how to access your account via FTP in order to place your documents and files on the CrossLink Web/FTP server.

Contents

  1. How to access your account
  2. Advanced access (Corporate and Corporate Deluxe accounts only)

1. How to Access Your Account

To copy files from your computer to the Web server, use File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is the most common way to transfer computer files from one computer to another over the Internet. Which FTP program you use to connect to CrossLink's web server depends on what type of computer you are using and your personal preference. We'll present instructions for generic FTP, WS-FTP (Windows), and Fetch (Mac).

WS-FTP icon Windows: WS-FTP

WS-FTP Login Window
Figure 1. WS-FTP Login Window

Start up WS-FTP, and click the connect button. For "Host Name," type in www.crosslink.net. (If you have a Corporate account, type in the name of your server instead.) Under "User ID" type in your user name, and under "Password" type in the password to your web account. (This may be different from your main CrossLink password.)

Once logged in, you can upload files.

Files that you put in your www subdirectory are available via the web at http://www.crosslink.net/~yourname/. If you have a Corporate account, they are also available at http://www.yourserver.com/.

Files in your ftp directory are available via FTP at ftp://ftp.crosslink.net/pub/users/first-letter/userid/ and via the Web at http://www.crosslink.net/pub/users/first-letter/userid/ where "userid" is your user ID (such as "johndoe") and "first-letter" is the first letter of your user ID (If your user ID is "johndoe" the first letter is "j".) Text/Binary Toggle for WS-FTP

Figure 2. Text/Binary Toggle for WS-FTP

When you upload files, be sure you use the right transfer mode. Graphics, computer programs, compressed files and such must be uploaded in the "binary" mode while HTML, text, and imagemap files must be uploaded in "ascii" mode. The toggle switch for which mode you're using is in the lower right hand corner of the WS-FTP window

The Web Server is running a variant of Unix. This means you need to be aware that filenames are case sensitive. So, index.html is not the same file as INDEX.HTML which is not the same file as Index.HTML. If you're not sure what the practical consequences of that are, just use lower case and you won't have any problems.

The Web Server knows about five different "default" files. The default file is the web page displayed when the URL you type in has a directory but not a filename. For example, http://www.crosslink.net/~johndoe/ would cause the server to display the default file in John's www directory while http://www.crosslink.net/~johndoe/stuff.html would not. The default html files the server knows about are index.html and index.htm. The default server side include files the server knows about are, index-s.html, index-s.htm, and index.shtml. Server side include files are the ones you can put hit counters in.

Fetch iconApple Macintosh: Fetch

Open Connection Window for Fetch
Figure 3. Open Connection window for Fetch

When you start up Fetch, you will be presented with the Open Connection window. Type in www.crosslink.net. (If you have a Corporate account, type in the name of your server instead.) Under "User ID" type in your user name and under "Password" type in the password to your web account. (This may be different from your main CrossLink password.)

Once logged in, you can upload files.

Files that you put in your www subdirectory are available via the web at http://www.crosslink.net/~yourname/. If you have a Corporate account, they are also available at http://www.yourserver.com/.

Files in your ftp directory are available via FTP at ftp://ftp.crosslink.net/pub/users/first-letter/userid/ and via the Web at http://www.crosslink.net/pub/users/first-letter/userid/ where "userid" is your user ID (such as "johndoe") and "first-letter" is the first letter of your user ID (If your user ID is "johndoe" the first letter is "j".)

When you upload files, be sure you use the right transfer mode. Graphics must be uploaded in the "raw" mode, programs should be uploaded in "binhex" mode, and HTML, text, and imagemap files must be uploaded in "text" mode. When you select the file to upload you will be presented with these options.

Note: When you select "Text" format, Fetch will add the extension ".txt" to your filename. You should remove this before clicking OK.

Uploading a binary file with Fetch
Figure 4. Upload a "binary" file such as a GIF or JPEG

Uploading a text file with Fetch
Figure 5. Upload a "text" file such as a HTML page or .map Imagemap file

The Web Server is running a variant of Unix. This means you need to be aware that filenames are case sensitive. So, index.html is not the same file as INDEX.HTML which is not the same file as Index.HTML. If you're not sure what the practical consequences of that are, just use lower case and you won't have any problems.

The Web Server knows about five different "default" files. The default file is the web page displayed when the URL you type in has a directory but not a filename. For example, http://www.crosslink.net/~johndoe/ would cause the server to display the default file in John's www directory while http://www.crosslink.net/~johndoe/stuff.html would not. The default html files the server knows about are index.html and index.htm. The default server side include files the server knows about are, index-s.html, index-s.htm, and index.shtml. Server side include files are the ones you can put hit counters in.

Generic FTP (Unix, Windows, etc):

Generic FTP works like the other FTP programs except that you type in commands on the command line. Here's an example for connecting to the Web server:

> ftp www.crosslink.net
Connected to www.crosslink.net.
220 apollo FTP server (Version wu-2.4(1)
                Fri Jan 5 11:30:54 EST 1996) ready.
Name (www.crosslink.net:johndoe): johndoe
331 Password required for johndoe.
Password:
230 User johndoe logged in.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp>

Once logged in, you can upload files.

Files that you put your www subdirectory are available via the web at http://www.crosslink.net/~yourname/. If you have a Corporate account, they are also available at http://www.yourserver.com/.

Files in your ftp directory are available via FTP at ftp://ftp.crosslink.net/pub/users/first-letter/userid/ and via the Web at http://www.crosslink.net/pub/users/first-letter/userid/ where "userid" is your user ID (such as "johndoe") and "first-letter" is the first letter of your user ID (If your user ID is "johndoe" the first letter is "j".)

When you upload files, be sure you use the right transfer mode. Graphics and programs must be uploaded in the "binary" mode while HTML, text, and imagemap files must be uploaded in "ascii" mode. Here's how to set those two modes:

ftp> binary
200 Type set to I.
ftp> ascii
200 Type set to A.
ftp>

You can get a directory listing with dir, download files with get, upload files with put, and change directories with cd.

ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
total 1130
lrwxrwxrwx   1 johndoe  webuser        31 Jan 17 00:03 ftp ->
                              /apollo2/ftp/pub/users/j/johndoe
drwxr-xr-x  13 johndoe  webuser      1024 Feb  4 11:56 www
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> cd www
250 CWD command successful.
ftp>

The Web Server is running a variant of Unix. This means you need to be aware that filenames are case sensitive. So, index.html is not the same file as INDEX.HTML which is not the same file as Index.HTML. If you're not sure what the practical consequences of that are, just use lower case and you won't have any problems.

The Web Server knows about five different "default" files. The default file is the web page displayed when the URL you type in has a directory but not a filename. For example, http://www.crosslink.net/~johndoe/ would cause the server to display the default file in John's www directory while http://www.crosslink.net/~johndoe/stuff.html would not. The default html files the server knows about are index.html and index.htm. The default server side include files the server knows about are, index-s.html, index-s.htm, and index.shtml. Server side include files are the ones you can put hit counters in.


2. Advanced access (Corporate and Corporate Deluxe accounts only)

Corporate and Corporate deluxe customers may also log in to the server with "telnet" and use the Unix shell prompt. You will need to this to create and compile CGI programs. If you're not familiar with Unix, we recommend that you purchase a book on the subject; an introduction to the Unix operating system is beyond the scope of this document.

It is possible to use PERL CGI scripts without telneting to the server. You must set the first line of the perl file to #!/usr/bin/perl, you must change the file permissions (via chmod) to 755 and you must change the filename so that it ends with the extension .cgi. Your PERL CGI script will not work at all unless you do all three of these things. If you have followed these instructions and still can't get your PERL CGI script to work, please read about debugging your CGI programs.

Where to put CGI programs

You can put CGI programs in any directory inside your account's www directory except directories that include /cgi-bin or /icons somewhere in the path. The program's filename must end with .cgi and the permissions must be set to 755 for the program to work. (see below).

Executable permissions

Each digit in the file permissions (the 755) represents a user class. The first digit is your permissions for accessing the file (or the file's owner if the file is not yours). The second digit is your group's permission to access the file (other web users but not the server program). The final digit is everyone else's permission to access the file. To calculate the value of the digit, start with 0 and add 1 if you want the program to be executable, 2 if you want the program to be writable (as opposed to read-only) and 4 if you want the program to be readable. So, 755 (the value your CGI program should be) means: Read, write, and execute by you, read and execute by other web users (not the server), and read and execute by any users (the web server).

.cgi filename extension

All CGI programs must end with the extension .cgi and must be both readable and executable. They do not need to be in any special directory in order to work, however please be aware that the directories /cgi-bin and /icons are redirected to the public icons and cgi-bin directories, so if you try to put files there, it won't work.

The way to do set the file permissions varies depending on the type of FTP client you're using:

WS-FTP icon Windows: WS-FTP

CHMOD via WS-FTP
Figure 6. CHMOD via WS-FTP

To use the CHMOD command with WS-FTP, click on the file listing window with the right-hand mouse button. This will bring up the FTP Menu. Select "FTP Commands" and then "SITE". Finally, type in the command chmod 755 program.cgi where "program.cgi" is whatever program you want to change the permissions on.

Newer versions of WS-FTP also have a chmod command on the menu bar that you access with the right-hand mouse button. This command will work as well.

Fetch icon Apple Macintosh: Fetch

To use the CHMOD command with Fetch, look under the "Remote" menu and select "Send FTP Command" down at the bottom. This will bring up a dialog box where you can type in the command. Type in site chmod 755 program.cgi where "program.cgi" is whatever program you want to change the permissions on.

CHMOD via Fetch
Figure 7. CHMOD via Fetch

Generic FTP (Unix, Windows, etc):

There are several ways of using the CHMOD command with a general ftp client. Each FTP client may use slightly different commands, however, so you may need to check the documentation for the one you are using. Normally, you would use chmod 755 program.cgi where "program.cgi" is whatever program you want to change the permissions on. Sometimes you need to use site chmod 755 program.cgi or literal site chmod 755 program.cgi instead.

ftp> chmod 755 program.cgi
200 CHMOD command successful.
ftp> site chmod 755 program.cgi
200 CHMOD command successful.
ftp> literal site chmod 755 program.cgi
200 CHMOD command successful.
ftp>
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