How do I setup DNS for my domain? or How do I point my registrar to my new hosting package/site with you?

You have few options. (Based on shared hosting or dedicated server)

Shared Hosting:
1. If you have a shared hosting package with us (Any economy or business or unmetered plans), then look in your welcome email for the IP address of the domain. All you need to do is change the A-record IP address to point to this new IP address. In this case, you can handle this all on your own without needing to contact us. For example Yahoo Domains, allows you to do this easily by logging in to your small business account and going to the "Manage My Services" section.

2. If you have a domain name registered with fogHost, then simply open a support ticket and we will take care it. You do not need to do anything at all. Also, if you do not have a domain with us, you can click here to transfer it to us. It costs very low and you get a FREE year extension. If the domain is with us, then the nameservers are ns1.techmc.com, ns2.techmc.com, ns3.techmc.com and ns4.techmc.com. Always follow the instructions on the welcome email. Also if you have both web hosting and domains with us, we can offer FREE branded nameservers and the whois lookup will have your information! (ex. ns1.yourdomain.com)

We strongly recommend option 1 or 2 since this is the easiest and provides a place outside the main server network to resolve domains. Like we mentioned earlier if your registrar is FogHost or Yahoo or GoDaddy, they make it very easy to do this.

Dedicated Servers:
If you have a dedicated server you can do either one of the above two options or the following:

3. Setup your own name servers. You can do this through your registrar. This is a bit more complicated and not recommended unless you thoroughly understand DNS.

For both shared hosting and dedicated hosting, if any of the above options does not suit you, there is a fourth option: (Only for customers who do not have domain registrations with us and do not want to transfer domain to us and current registrar does not allow modification of A records. Please note that this option is the longest of all.)
4.Use our existing backup nameservers. Once you receive your welcome email with instructions, go to your registrar's control panel and enter in ns1.theplanet.com and ns2.theplanet.com for the domain's nameservers. Once this has been completed, open a support ticket with us for the domainname nameserver record creation. If you have a dedicated server, we will also need the IP address to point the domain to.

What types of services can I use my fogHost.com server for?
You may do what you like with the server as long as it confirms with our AUP. Installation of any software you like on the machine is permitted. Please do remember that any outside third party software is not supported by our technical support team.

How is my 1200GB or 1500GB of bandwidth per month measured?
We measure both in and out bandwidth on your server with no restrictions to either way.

How much do cold reboots cost?
Reboots are included for a low additional cost $5 per incident. You can pre-purchase 10 incidents at $2 per incident.
 

CGI SCRIPTS

What are the common settings/paths for my CGI scripts?
Most CGI scripts written in Perl will work on FogHost servers. For your scripts to work properly, you may need to change some paths or settings within the script to the following:

Perl 5 Location
#!/usr/bin/perl

Sendmail Location
/usr/lib/sendmail

Full or Absolute root path:
We recommend using the DOCUMENT ROOT environment variable to automatically insert the path in your Perl script:
$ENV{'DOCUMENT_ROOT'}

You may have to use "double quotes" around the path.
For example the full path to your www directory would be:
"$ENV{'DOCUMENT_ROOT'}/www"

The full path to your cgi-bin directory would be:
"$ENV{'DOCUMENT_ROOT'}/cgi-bin"

CGI File Permissions
Make sure all files and directories are set to chmod 755. The cgi-bin directory itself should be chmod 755.
 

CONTROL PANEL RELATED TOPICS

Where do I find documentation on how to use/get around in my control panel?
Please click here, to see specific information on how to manage your domain. Here you will find information regarding setting up and managing databases, DNS records, mail, subdomains, log files, log rotation, corntab tasks, application vault, accessing Mambo content management software etc.


Where can I find additonal documentation on using the control panel?
You can find more information in the following URL:
http://www.sw-soft.com/en/products/plesk75reloaded/docs/

What is a Robots.txt File?
Robots.txt is a plain text file that Search Engines use to see if there are areas within your Website which should not be indexed.  This file must be placed in your 'www' directory in order for a search engine to see it.
The sample below tells search engines not to index pages in the specified folders.

---- robots.txt (contents follow)
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /images
Disallow: /secret
Disallow: /members---- end (Contents above)

PHP SCRIPTING

What are the basics in PHP Programming?
PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.

What In The World is PHP in simple terms?
PHP is a scripting language similar to Perl that lets you create dynamic web pages. PHP can be inserted right into your HTML code. PHP-enabled web pages are treated just like regular HTML pages and you can create and edit them the same way you normally create regular HTML pages.

What does PHP stand for?
PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. This confuses many people because the first word of the acronym is the acronym. This type of acronym is called a recursive acronym.


PHP Basics (Using PHP)
In order to use PHP you must give your html files a .php extension instead of the regular .html or .htm extension. This tells our servers that you have PHP code within your pages so we can handle them properly. Once you have given your file a .php extension you can begin to use PHP code. PHP is placed between special comment tags within your HTML code.
Learning More
We recommend that you look at the official PHP website located at: http://www.php.net

PHP Troubleshooting
Q - I have placed PHP code within my HTML file and I see the code in my browser window or nothing happens.
A - Make sure the extension of your HTML file .php, Make sure you have enclosed your code between the PHP tags.


PHPBB FORUMS

How do I ban users from my phpBB forum?
1. Login to the phpBB Administrator area (http://www.yourdomain.com/phpbb/nfphpbb/admin/
2. From the left window frame, click the Ban Control from the User Admin area
3. From the onscreen prompts to ban either or both of a specific user or an individual or range of IP addresses or hostnames. These methods prevent a user from even reaching the index page of your board. To prevent a user from registering under a different username you can also specify a banned email address. Please note that banning an email address alone will not prevent that user from being able to log on or post to your board. You should use one of the first two methods to achieve this.

How do I control the usage of usernames in my phpBB forum?
To control usernames which will not be allowed to be used, please follow the instructions below:
1. Login to the phpBB Administrator area (http://www.yourdomain.com/phpbb/nfphpbb/admin/).
2. From the left window frame, click the Disallow names from the 'User Admin' area.
To add a disallowed username:
(i)Enter the disallowed username.
(ii)Click Add.
To remove a disallowed username:
(i)Choose the disallowed username listed in the pull-down menu.
(ii)Click Delete.
Please Note: Disallowed usernames are allowed to contain a wildcard character of *. Please note that you will not be allowed to specify any username that has already been registered. You must first delete that name then disallow it.

How do I delete an old phpBB forum topic?
To prune old phpBB forums, please follow the instructions below:
1. Login to the phpBB Administrator area (http://www.yourdomain.com/phpbb/nfphpbb/admin/).
2. From the left window frame, click the Pruning link from the Forum Admin area.
3. Select the forum from the pull-down menu and click Look up Forum.
4. In the Forum Prune box, enter the number of days that should pass before the topics with no activity should be deleted.
Please Note: If you do not enter a number then all topics will be deleted. However, it will not remove topics in which polls are still running nor will it remove announcements. You will need to remove those topics manually.

How do I change my phpBB settings?
1. Login to the phpBB Administrator area (http://www.yourdomain.com/phpbb/nfphpbb/admin/
2. From the left window frame, click the Configuration from the General Admin area
3. The following General Board Settings may be configured:
Domain Name
Server Port
(The port your server is running port 80. Do not change this.)
Script path
(The path where phpBB2 is located relative to the domain name)
Site name
Site description
Disable board
(This will make the board unavailable to users. Administrators are able to access the Administration Panel while the board is disabled.)
Enable account activation
User email via board
(Users send email to each other via this board)
Flood Interval
(Number of seconds a user must wait between posts)
Topics Per Page
Posts Per Page
Posts for Popular Threshold
Default Style subSilver
Override user style
(Replaces users style with the default)
Default Language
(English is the only option currently.)
Date Format
(The syntax used is identical to the PHP date() function.)
Enable GZip Compression
Enable Forum Pruning

The following Cookie Settings may be configured:
(These details define how cookies are sent to your users' browsers. In most cases the default values for the cookie settings should be sufficient, but if you need to change them do so with care -- incorrect settings can prevent users from logging in.)
Cookie domain
Cookie name
Cookie path
Cookie secure
(If your site is running via SSL, set this to enabled, else leave as disabled)
Session length [ in seconds ]

The following Private Messaging settings may be configured:
Private Messaging
Max posts in Inbox
Max posts in Sentbox
Max posts in Savebox

The following User Forum and Basic Settings may be configured:
Max number of poll options
Allow HTML
Allowed HTML tags
(Separate tags with commas)
Allow BBCode
Allow Smilies
Smilies Storage Path
(Path under your phpBB root dir, e.g. images/smiles)
Allow Signatures
Maximum signature length
(Maximum number of characters in user signatures)
Allow Username changes

The following Avatar Settings may be configured:
Enable gallery avatars
Enable remote avatars
(Avatars linked to from another Website)
Enable avatar uploading
Maximum Avatar File Size
(For uploaded avatar files)
Maximum Avatar Dimensions
(Height x Width in pixels)
Avatar Storage Path
(Path under your phpBB root dir, e.g. images/avatars)
Avatar Gallery Path
(Path under your phpBB root dir for pre-loaded images, e.g. images/avatars/gallery)

The following COPPA Settings may be configured:
COPPA Fax Number
COPPA Mailing Address
(This is the mailing address to which parents will send COPPA registration forms)

The following E-mail Settings may be configured:
Admin E-mail Address
E-mail Signature
(This text will be attached to all E-mails the board sends.)
Use SMTP Server for E-mail
(Choose YES if you want or have to send E-mail via a named server instead of the local mail function.)
SMTP Server Address
SMTP Username
(Only enter a username if your SMTP server requires it.)
SMTP Password
(Only enter a password if your SMTP server requires it.)

4. Click Submit when you are done configuring the above options.

How do I restore my phpBB database?
To retore your phpBB database, please follow the instructions below:
This will perform a full restore of all phpBB tables from a saved file. If your server supports it, you may upload a gzip-compressed text file and it will automatically be decompressed. WARNING: This will overwrite any existing data. The restore may take a long time to process, so please do not move from the Restore page until it is complete.

1. Login to the phpBB Administrator area (http://www.yourdomain.com/phpbb/nfphpbb/admin/).
2. From the left window frame, click the Restore Database from the General Admin area.
3. In the 'Select a file' box, enter the location of your backup file or click the Browse button to find your file.
4. Once you have entered the backup file, click Start Restore.

Please Note: If your backup file is in compressed format (.gzip), you are not required to uncompress it before restoring it.