Scripting - FAQ

How do I use SSL?

You must have your own IP to use SSL. You can purchase an IP address from the hosting package addons page.

After you have purchased your IP, you will be sent to a form where you will need to enter:
- Your Email address
- Domain password
- The Host that the certificate will be installed on (i.e. your domain or a subdomain)
- Company name
- Company division

We will then send you a CSR, which you will need to provide to whomever you are purchasing the certificate from. You will need to purchase a certificate for Apache + MOD SSL

You must then send us or upload the certificate, which we will install for you.

If you are still not sure how to go about installing SSL, we can take care of the entire process for you for a fee, including the SSL certificate itself. Contact us for more information.

Note: You can only have SSL on one domain per hosting account. This means that you can't use a separate SSL for an addon domain. You have to create a separate hosting account, get a separate IP address, and install a separate SSL certificate.

Do you support ASP?

No, our cPanel servers do not support ASP scripting. In any case, if ASP is a vital component to your website, we recommend a Windows server, on which ASP is more stable.

What is the cgi-bin?

Your CGI-BIN has already been set up at /public_html/cgi-bin/. This is the folder where you should upload all of your CGI or Perl scripts.

What is CHMOD?

CHMOD is a utility to set the mode (CHMOD = CHange MODe) of a file or directory. The mode dictates who on the system may access a file. The mode is also known as permissions. Most, if not all, CGI scripts need to have their permissions changed.

To CHMOD/change permissions in an FTP program, right click on the file and select "CHMOD" or "Properties," depending on which FTP program you're using.

What do the numbers mean?

644: owner can read and write, group/others can read only. This is the default setting for all files, and static files should remain this way.
666: all can read and write (known as "world writable"). This is set when a file, such a a guestbook, needs to have text added to it.
755: owner can read, write and execute, group/others can read and execute. Usually a CGI script is CHMOD to 755, so that it can be executed by visitors to the site.
777: all can read, write and execute. This is used when a file needs to be executed as well as written to, or when a folder needs to be written to.

Why does my CGI script produce an Internal Server Error?

This can have many causes, ranging from incorrect uploading or file permissions to syntax errors within the script.

1. Make sure you upload scripts in ASCII mode, not binary. If your FTP program is set to "auto-detect," make sure that the file type (.cgi or .pl) of the script is on the list of ASCII file types.

2. Make sure that the path to PERL is correct.

3. Make sure the permissions on both the script, any files it may use, and the cgi-bin/directory are all correct. Most Perl scripts require that you CHMOD them to 755. Files that need to be written to must be CHMOD 666 or 777.

4. Check the modifications you've made to the script, as you may have introduced syntax errors. Remember to escape special characters (such as @ or $) with a backslash \ if they're in double quoted strings. Compare your edited script with the un-edited original to see if there are any errors.

If none of these things helped, sometimes the person who wrote the script will provide support for it, although you may have to pay a fee.
Why does my PHP script produce an Internal Server Error?
If you are using .htaccess with php_ value_entries within it, you would receive an internal server 500 error when attempting to access the scripts. This is because with PHPsuexec, PHP is no longer running as an Apache module, so Apache will not handle those directives any longer. You can still have a .htaccess file with normal Apache options, but it can't contain PHP info. If you have PHP info in .htaccess currently, you'll need to remove the PHP info and create a php.ini file with the directives. To create a php.ini file, just open up a text editor, cut and paste the PHP lines from .htaccess and save the file. You can name the file whatever you wish when saving. Once done, upload the file to the directory where the script you're using is being accessed from and then rename it to php.ini See this link for help with the PHP directives: http://cvs.php.net/co.php/php-src/php.ini-dist.

Can you help me with my script?

We can certainly try, although, as we are not professional script programmers, we guarantee nothing. :)

If you need help, submit a support ticket or email us with a detailed explanation of the problem. Also include any relevant URLs.

Can you install a script for me?

If you would like us to install a script for you:
lsn 300 packages get one script installation free,
lsn 400 packages get three script installations free,
lsn 500 packages get five script installations free.

After the free installations, we charge a flat-rate fee of US$5 per script. Please contact us for details.

Please note that this only includes a basic installation. You will need to customise etc. the script yourself.