Technical Stuff

We take pride in our commitment to providing the highest quality, most flexible, and most competitive Web Hosting Services available. When you place your website on our machines you can be assured that people around the world will have consistent, reliable access to your website 24 hours a day.

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Our computers are Pentium II Dual Pro 450 machines running Apache over Linux. You will be able to access and manage your website on our machines using Telnet and FTP or Fetch.   With our PlusMail Web Control Panel you can even perform some management functions using your web browser.  Our servers are connected to the Internet backbone over Multiple T3 Connections, each of which has a capacity of 45 MBPS (million bits per second).

What’s Your Level?
Okay…if you read the above paragraph and understood every word of it then you qualify as an advanced user. You will probably only need to use this manual as a reference tool to look up specific information.  If you cannot find the information you are looking for here, please feel free to contact us at support@samsilverhawk.com.

If you read the paragraph and understood some of it but not all, then you will probably want to take a little time to review a few things before diving in.  You will find  the comprehensive Index a useful tool for tracking down the information you need, when you need it.

Finally, if you read the paragraph and found it to be total gibberish, then it is strongly recommended that you take the time to read the explanations and instructions in this manual before you begin a new task that you are unfamiliar with.  If you are completely unfamiliar with Telnet and FTP, and have no desire to learn about them, you might want to go directly to the PlusMail Web Control Panel section. The PlusMail Web Control Panel will let you control virtually every aspect of your web presence from your web browser.

If you need to perform tasks that require you to use FTP or Telnet, or if you would just like the general knowledge of what they are,  then you should read the section titled The Novice WebMaster. It will give you a basic, but clear idea of what you will be dealing with, and take some of the mystery and confusion out of it all.

We have made every effort to cover all the bases in this manual, and make it as complete and informative as possible. However, please keep in mind that if you cannot find the answers you are looking for here, you should feel free to contact us at support@samsilverhawk.com.

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The Novice WebMaster
Ftp? Telnet? Unix? Linux?!!! HUH!?
Chances are pretty good that you access the Internet using a browser program. Chances are also pretty good that you use some version of Netscape,  Internet Explorer, or something very similar to those two biggies.  You may be wondering why I mention this cause, gee, is there any other way to access the Internet?? You gotta have a browser…right?? Well…no. You don’t. In fact, the gigantic, feature laden browser programs most commonly used today are just one type of program that you can use to surf the net. Granted, they provide the most visually appealing view of the Internet, and they are the most fun and entertaining to use with their image and sound capabilities. They are, in fact, largely responsible for turning the Internet into a place where people from all walks of life around the world now go to play, work, shop and learn.

Browsers are not the only programs you can use to access the Internet, they are certainly not the first, and, depending on what your needs and tasks may be, they are not always the best program to use either.  After all…your email program is great for email. But it isn’t necessarily the best tool to use if you want to write a book.  Your  browser is great for viewing the Internet, but it is not always the best tool to use for managing a website.  For that, you will want something simple, fast, and basic that will let you upload, download, and access files on your site quickly, easily and with a minimum of fuss and frills.  Telnet and FTP are the two tools that fulfill these needs best.

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Telnet
Telnet is a program that emulates a computer terminal, allowing you to view information on site rather than downloading it to your personal computer for viewing. This is extremely useful if you need to view large amounts of information, such as all the files and folders on a web site, or a library catalog for example. Imagine how long it would take for you to download a web page containing the entire catalog of book titles from just a city library! With Telnet, you are able to actually view the information on the library site, eliminating the download time.

Telnet is not graphics capable, does not play sound files and is not one tiny bit entertaining. But it is the best tool to use for certain tasks. You will have a white screen with black text, much like the old DOS screen only in reverse.  And, again like DOS, you will need to type in your commands. If you use Windows you will have a Telnet program already on your system. Go to Start, Programs, Run, and type the word "telnet" (no quotes) into the window.

FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. Like the name implies, it’s main purpose is to make transferring files from one computer to another as fast and easy as possible. And it is very good at it’s job!  Unlike Telnet, FTP is not a program. It is instead a  "protocol"  just like http is a protocol. Your browser program uses the http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) for viewing, reading, and translating HTML into the bright and colorful interactive web pages you see on your computer screen.  In order to use FTP you will need a program such as WS-FTP for Windows, or Fetch for Macintosh users.

Visually, you will not see either the imagery of a browser, or the blank white screen and black text of Telnet. Instead, if you are using WS_FTP,  you will see two panels, each with folders (also called directories) and files displayed. One panel will contain the folders and files on your computer. The other panel will contain the folders and files on the site you are logged into. If you are using Fetch, you will see something a bit different.

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Linux and Unix
An OS, or "operating system" is the program you use to operate and run your computer. By far the three most universally used and recognized by the average lay surfer are Windows in any version from 3.x to Win 98, NT, and Macintosh. Linux, and Unix are both operating systems as well. They don’t have, or support, all of the bells and whistles of the more popular operating systems, but that’s not what they are meant for.  These two operating systems are for serious stuff…for fast and dynamic data transfer…for allowing one computer to talk to others quickly and smoothly.  Not for personal entertainment. This is why server computers and many other types of businesses use Unix and/or Linux operating systems. They aren’t pretty, but they are smart, they are stable, and they are fast.

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Notice
Some of the text referring to CGI scripts was taken directly or adapted for our use from ReadMe files provided by the script designers. Many thanks to the folks at Matt's Script Archives for their excellent documentation!