Category: Hosting

Accessing and using the Xen virtual console

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Requirements for accessing the Xen virtual console

Your Cruzio VPS is managed through the Xen virtual console. To access the virtual console for your Cruzio VPS, you will need:

Connecting to the Xen Shell

Open your SSH client of choice and connect to vps1.cruziohost.com (you may need to replace “vps1” with the vps server your VPS is hosted on.)

Using PuTTY on Windows to access the Xen Shell

  1. Open PuTTY and enter the following settings:

    Host Name: vps1.cruziohost.com (you may need to replace “vps1” with the vps server your VPS is hosted on)

    Port 22

    Connection Type: SSH

  2. Click Open.

    You may be shown this message: “The server’s host key is not cached in the registry…”

    Click Yes to accept the server’s RSA key and store it in your computer’s memory for future sessions.

  3. At the “login as” prompt, enter your username and press the Enter key.
  4. You’re now prompted for your password. Enter your password and press the Enter key. You’ll now be taken to the Xen Shell.

Using Terminal on Mac OSX to access the Xen Shell

  1. Open the Terminal application on your Mac (you can find it in the Applications -> Utilities folder).
  2. Type ssh [username]@vps1.cruziohost.com (you may need to replace “vps1” with the vps server your VPS is hosted on.)
  3. You may be shown this message: “The authenticity of host ‘vps1.cruziohost.com’ can’t be established. RSA key fingerprint is (…) Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?”

    Type “yes” and press the Enter key. This permanently adds vps1.cruziohost.com to the list of known hosts on your computer.

  4. You’re now prompted for your password. Enter your password and press the Enter key. You’ll now be taken to the Xen Shell.

Using the Xen Shell commands

The following is a complete list of the commands available within the Xen shell. You can see this list at any time within the shell by entering the “help” command.

For command-specific help, run “help [name of command]”.

boot
Start the Xen guest, if it is not running.
console
Connect to the serial console of the Xen instance using GNU Screen.

To exit the serial prompt, type ‘Ctrl+]’

You may instead exit screen with ‘Ctrl+a k’, or ‘Ctrl+a d’.

exit
Exit the shell.
help [command]
Show help about the specified command, or all commands if no command is specified.
passwd
Change your login password (this will only change the Xen Shell password, not the VPS root password).
pause
Pause your instance. This will pause the Xen guest (your VPS).
quit
Exit this shell.
rdns [ipaddress some.host.name]
Set up Reverse DNS for allocated IP addresses.

When called with no arguments, show current reverse DNS details.

reboot
Reboot the Xen guest.
serial
Connect to the serial console of the Xen instance using GNU Screen.

To exit the serial prompt, type ‘Ctrl+]’.

You may instead exit screen with ‘Ctrl+a k’, or ‘Ctrl+a d’.

shutdown [force]
Shut down the Xen guest.

If the ‘force’ parameter is used, then we’ll forcibly terminate.

status
Show whether the Xen guest is running or not.
sysreq [string]
Send a ‘sysreq’ keystroke to the guest.

This allows you to try to cleanly shut down a hung instance, for example.

unpause
Unpause your instance, and start it running again.
uptime
Show the uptime information of your guest system and this host.
version
Show the version of this shell, and of Xen.
whoami
Show the user you’re connected to the host system as.

Adding a DNS record to your Website Hosting domain

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This document explains how to add a DNS record to your website hosted with Cruzio. Please note, these instructions only apply to Cruzio Website Hosting services. They do not apply to Cruzio Classic web hosting. If you have Classic web hosting, then you will need to contact Cruzio to have your DNS records modified.

Do not add or change DNS records if you are not aware of any reason why they should be changed.

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com/ and enter your domain name.  Click “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Enter your admin username and password and log in.
  2. Select the domain you want to add a DNS record to. If you are on host 6 or 7, you’ll find it by going to the main menu in the upper left corner, and clicking Domains.If you do not know what host number you are on, after you log into your control panel, look at the URL at the top of your browser. You will see it start with https://host followed by a number. That is the host number you are on.
  3. Click the DNS Settings icon. If you are on host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, this icon will be under the Services section. If you are on Host 6 or 7, it will be under the Web Site section.
  4. Under the Tools section, click Add Record.
  5. Select the type of record from the drop-down and fill in the values for the record.
  6. Click OK.

Adding a Domain to your Cruzio VPS, Creating a Virtual Server

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Requirements and Overview

Before following the steps in this procedure, you must complete the Post Installation Wizard procedure.

To begin hosting a domain name on your Cruzio VPS, you must:

  • Register a domain name, and configure its DNS (Domain Name System) settings;
  • Create and configure a virtual server for the domain name you’ve registered.

Registering and configuring DNS for a domain name

At a registrar of your choice, register a domain name. While still logged into your account at the registrar, configure the domain to use these DNS servers:

  • Primary DNS server: ns1.cruziohost.com
  • Secondary DNS server: ns2.cruziohost.com

Creating and configuring a virtual server

  1. Log in to your Virtualmin Control Panel at clientlogin.cruziohost.com:10000, replacing clientlogin with the login name you chose when you signed up.

  2. In the top left corner, click Create Virtual Server.

  3. On the Create Virtual Server screen, in the “New virtual server details” section, fill out the requested information:

    Domain name
    The domain name you registered.
    Description
    A simple description of the virtual server. This could be as simple as “domain.com”. If you’re running a server for a specific task, you may wish to identify it here for ease of tracking.
    Administration password
    A password specific to this domain.
    Server Configuration Template and Account Plan
    Your Virtualmin Control Panel comes with default settings configured. You can create custom templates and plans if you need them.
    Administration Username
    You can allow Virtualmin to auto-generate a username, or you can pick one yourself. (Auto-generated usernames are the domain name with the .com, .net etc. removed.)

  4. Look at the Enabled Features section and see if you need to change any settings in this section. However, for most installations, the default settings in these areas are fine.

  5. If you have specific IP addressing needs, configure the options in the “IP address and forwarding” section.

  6. Click “Create Server.” This process may take a minute or so. Once this process is complete, you should see a drop-down menu in the top left corner with your domain(s) as selectable options.

  7. If you wish to set up email for this domain, please visit our VPS email setup instructions.

For some tips on securing your virtual server, check out this helpful post by Cruzio Consultant Bryan Zimmer: Securing your VPS

Back up and restore MySQL databases

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Introduction

This information applies to Cruzio’s Website Hosting services. If you purchased Web and domain hosting with Cruzio after July 2006, you likely have Website Hosting services. Otherwise, you may have a Classic domain.

Many websites and Web applications use MySQL databases to store their content and settings. Learn how to protect your database by backing it up, and how to restore it in case of problems.

Back up your database regularly, so that you always have a recent copy to restore.

Be careful when restoring your backup to an existing database, since your backup will overwrite it. Make sure you are restoring the data you want to the destination you want. Otherwise, your website or application may become unusable.

Tools for backing up and restoring your database

Choose one of the tools below: Installatron, Control Panel Backup, or phpMyAdmin.

Installatron

Installatron is Cruzio’s one-click installer for Web applications, such as Joomla or WordPress.

Backing up with Installatron

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name. Select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. In the sidebar, click the Installatron link.
  3. Your Web application(s) will appear. Find the one you want to back up and click its “create backup” button.
  4. The Installatron backup wizard will launch. Click the Next button to begin.
  5. Select the files, directories, and database tables you want to back up. Click Next.
  6. Click Submit.
  7. Click Complete.

Restoring with Installatron

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name. Select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. In the sidebar, click the Installatron link.
  3. To the right of the Installatron page heading, click the My Backups tab.
  4. Your backup(s) will appear. Find the one you want to restore and click its “restore this backup” button.
  5. The Installatron restore wizard will launch. Click the Next button to begin.
  6. Select the files, directories, and database tables you want to restore. Click Next.
  7. Click Submit.
  8. Click Complete.

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Control Panel Backup

This backup tool is built into your control panel. It is limited to storing only a single backup per domain at any time.

The Control Panel Backup tool does not have a built-in restore function. You will need to retrieve your backup with an FTP application, and you will need to use phpMyAdmin to restore it.

Backing up with Control Panel Backup

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name. Select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. In the sidebar, click Backup Your Account.
  3. Your domains will be listed. Click the small icon under the B (for backup) column for the domain you want to back up.
  4. Select the directories and databases you want to back up. Click “Backup now!”
  5. To schedule a recurring backup, in the list of domains, click the small icon under the S (for scheduling) column for the domain you want to back up.
  6. If “Disable scheduled backup” is selected, click its checkbox to deselect it. Select the items you want to back up, set a schedule (an asterisk means it will repeat every hour, day of the week, or day of the month), and enter an email address for notification. Click the Schedule button.

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Restoring with Control Panel Backup

If you are not familiar with FTP, follow our instructions for Website Publishing with Filezilla FTP.

  1. Open your FTP program, and connect to your Web host.
  2. Navigate to the “backups” directory.
  3. Your database backup is a file ending in the extension “.mysql”. Download it to your computer.
  4. Follow the phpMyAdmin steps below for restoring your database.

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phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a sophisticated tool for managing MySQL databases. It is as easy to destroy a database as it is to back it up. Use with caution.

If you have a Classic domain, you do not have the ability to restore any MySQL database backups. You may want to contact Cruzio and request a migration of your domain hosting to Website Hosting services.

Backing up with phpMyAdmin

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name. Select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. Select the domain with the database you want to back up. If your Cruzio domain is on Host 6 or above, you’ll find the domain by going to the Main Menu on the upper left and clicking Domains.If you do not know what Host number your domain is on, after you log into your control panel, look at the address (URL) at the top of your browser. You will see it start with “https://host” followed by a number. That number is your domain’s Host number.
  3. Click the Databases icon. If you are on Host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, it will be under the Services section.If you are on Host 6 or above, it will be under the Applications & Services section.
  4. Choose your database by clicking on the database’s name.
  5. If you are on host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, click the “DB WebAdmin” icon.If you are host 6 or above, click the “Webadmin” icon.
  6. phpMyAdmin will open in a new window, so be sure your browser does not block pop-ups.
  7. In the sidebar of the phpMyAdmin window, click the database you want to back up.
  8. Toward the top of the page, click the Export tab.
  9. In the SQL Options area, under Structure, select “Add DROP TABLE” and “Add IF NOT EXISTS”. Leave all other options as they are.
  10. Near the bottom of the page, select “Save as file.” Optionally, in the “file name template” box, you can append the date, like this: __DB__01_01_2011
  11. At the bottom right, click Go.
  12. A file with the extension .sql should download to your computer. This is your database backup. Store it in a safe location.

Restoring with phpMyAdmin

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name. Select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. Navigate to your domain’s Databases screen, as you did above in steps 2 and 3 of the backup procedure.
  3. Choose your database by clicking on the database’s name. If the database name does not already exist, create a new database by first clicking the “Add New Database” icon. Make sure the “Database name” matches the name of the database you are importing. Leave “Type” and “Database server” as they are and click “OK”.
  4. If you just created a new database in the previous step instead of clicking on an existing database, you will need to create an admin user before you can access the new database. Click the “Add New Database User” icon. For “Database user name”, make it match the name you just gave your database. For “New password” and “Confirm Password”, enter what you want your database admin password to be. When done, click “OK”.
  5. If you are on host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, click the “DB WebAdmin” icon.If you are host 6 or above, click the “Webadmin” icon.
  6. phpMyAdmin will open in a new window, so be sure your browser does not block pop-ups.
  7. In the sidebar of the phpMyAdmin window, click the database you want to restore to.
  8. Toward the top of the page, click the Import tab.
  9. In the “File to import” section, click the button to browse and choose a file from your computer. In the window that pops up, navigate to the .sql file you exported when you were backing up. Double-click the file to select it.
  10. Once you have located your .sql database file, double-click it to open it. The file importing window should close.
  11. At the bottom right, click “Go”.
  12. You should see a message near the top of the page, letting you know whether the import finished successfully.

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Backing Up Your Cruzio VPS

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Cruzio strongly recommends that you keep backups of everything, including your Cruzio VPS. The Virtualmin Control Panel on your Cruzio VPS has a backup system built-in to make this easy. Backups can be done as one-time backups or can be scheduled to run regularly.

To perform a one-time backup immediately

  1. Log in to your Virtualmin Control Panel at clientlogin.cruziohost.com:10000, replacing clientlogin with the login name you chose when you signed up.
  2. In the left-hand menu toward the bottom of the list, click “Backup and Restore”.
  3. Click “Backup Virtual Servers”.
  4. Under “Virtual servers”, choose which servers are to be included in this backup. The default is to back up all your servers.
  5. You can specify which elements to back up under “Features and Settings”. The default option is to back up everything.

  6. Under “Destination and format”, specify the name and location of the backup file and the format of the backup (single archive file for your whole VPS, or an individual file for each server). By default, the backup process will create a single file for each server, containing a backup of all files on that server, and will create these files in your storage space on your Cruzio VPS.

    You may also specify a remote FTP or SSH server to transfer the file(s) to, or you can opt to download the archive file(s) in your browser.

  7. Click “Backup Now”.

To schedule backups

  1. Log in to your Virtualmin Control Panel at clientlogin.cruziohost.com:10000, replacing clientlogin with the login name you chose when you signed up.
  2. In the left-hand menu toward the bottom of the list, click “Backup and Restore”.
  3. Click “Scheduled Backups”.
  4. Click “Add a new backup schedule”.
  5. Under “Virtual servers”, choose which servers are to be included in this schedule. The default is to back up all your servers.
  6. You can specify which elements to back up under “Features and Settings”. The default option is to back up everything.

  7. Under “Destination and format”, specify the name and location of the backup file and the format of the backup (single archive file for your whole VPS, or an individual file for each server). By default, the backup process will create a single file for each server, containing a backup of all files on that server, and will create these files in your storage space on your Cruzio VPS.

    You may also specify a remote FTP or SSH server to transfer the file(s) to.

  8. Under “Schedule and reporting”, select “Simple Schedule”, then choose the frequency of backups, depending on the frequency of changes to your site.

    You may also specify an email address to receive reports of backup activity.

  9. Click “Create Schedule”.

To restore from a backup

  1. Log in to your Virtualmin Control Panel at clientlogin.cruziohost.com:10000, replacing clientlogin with the login name you chose when you signed up.
  2. In the left-hand menu toward the bottom of the list, click “Backup and Restore”.
  3. Click “Restore Backup”.
  4. Specify the source file to restore from. You can also specify which elements to restore or not restore.
  5. Click “Show What Will Be Restored”.
  6. Review the proposed restore, and if satisfied, click “Restore Now”.

Changing your hosting passwords

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This information is for Cruzio Website Hosting services. If you got your web hosting before July 2006, please see the Classic Web Hosting FAQ.

To follow the procedures in this help article, you will need to know your Control Panel password. If you don’t know your Control Panel password, please contact Cruzio Support for help.

Changing passwords: a good website security practice

To keep your website or web application safe, it’s good practice to not only keep your site’s software up to date, but also to change your web hosting-related passwords regularly.

For other Internet security recommendations, please see Cruzio’s Security Tips.

Changing your Control Panel password

  1. Log in to your control panel.
  2. Click one of the following icons (different control panels use slightly different wording):
    • Under Tools, click Edit icon. OR
    • Under Account, click the Change Password icon.
  3. Enter your new password in the Password field, then enter it again in the Confirm Password field. Click the OK button.

Changing your FTP passwords

  1. Log in to your control panel. Under Domains, click the name of your domain (you may have to click a Domains icon before you see the name of your domain).
  2. Click one of the following icons (different control panels use slightly different wording):
    • Under Hosting, click the Setup icon. OR
    • Under Web Site, click the Web Hosting Settings icon.
  3. Under Account Preferences, enter the New FTP Password. Enter it again in the Confirm Password field. Click the OK button.
  4. Repeat for each domain in your control panel that has FTP access.

Changing your Web application’s administrative passwords

Here are the official instructions for changing your password in WordPress or Joomla. For other Web applications, please refer to the documentation for your application.

If you’ve lost your administrative password, see our instructions on resetting your Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal password.

Changing your email passwords

  1. Log in to your control panel. Under Domains, click the name of your domain (you may have to click a Domains icon before you see the name of your domain).
  2. Click one of the following icons (different control panels use slightly different wording):
    • Under Services, click the Mail icon. OR
    • Under Mail, click the Mail Accounts icon.
  3. Under Mail Accounts, click your email address.
  4. Under Tools, click Preferences. Under Mail Account Properties, enter your New Password. Enter it again in the Confirm Password field. Click the OK button.
  5. Repeat for each email address on your domain as desired.

Connecting to your Cruzio VPS via SSH

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Requirements for accessing your Cruzio VPS via SSH

To access your Cruzio VPS with SSH, you will need SSH client software, such as Mac OS X’s built-in Terminal application, or PuTTY for Windows (click this link to get PuTTY).

Connecting to your Cruzio VPS

Open your SSH client of choice and connect to clientlogin.cruziohost.com (replace “clientlogin” with the login name you selected for your VPS when you signed up).

Using PuTTY on Windows to access your Cruzio VPS

  1. Open PuTTY and enter the following settings:

    Host Name: clientlogin.cruziohost.com (replace “clientlogin” with the login name you selected for your VPS when you signed up)

    Port 22

    Connection Type: SSH

  2. Click Open.

    You may be shown this message:

    The server's host key is not cached in the registry…

    Click Yes to accept the server’s RSA key and store it in your computer’s memory for future sessions.

  3. At the “login as” prompt, enter root as your username and press the Enter key.
  4. You’re now prompted for your password. Enter your password and press the Enter key. You’ll now be logged into your VPS as root.

Using Terminal on Mac OSX to access your Cruzio VPS

  1. Open the Terminal application on your Mac (you can find it in the Applications -> Utilities folder).
  2. Type

    ssh root@clientlogin.cruziohost.com

    (replace “clientlogin” with the login name you selected for your VPS when you signed up).

  3. You may be shown this message:

    The authenticity of host 'clientlogin.cruziohost.com' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is (…) Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

    Type “yes” and press the Enter key. This permanently adds clientlogin.cruziohost.com to the list of known hosts on your computer.

  4. You’re now prompted for your password. Enter your password and press the Enter key. You’ll now be logged into your VPS as root.

Remember, being logged in as root gives you total control over your VPS, but also the power to make detrimental changes.

Create a Wholesale Section in Classic ShopSite

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Create a Wholesale Section in ShopSite on a Classic Domain

This information applies to Classic Cruzio domain hosting. If you purchased Web and domain hosting with Cruzio before July 2006, you likely have a Classic domain. Otherwise, you may have Cruzio’s Website Hosting services.

» Website Hosting Wholesale Instructions

Introduction

This help page explains how to set up a wholesale section in your ShopSite store. (Wholesale is the sale of goods to other retailers for resale purposes.) It can be used to sell products in larger quantities, at different prices, and to change other details relating to your products as needed.

Creating a wholesale directory in your Web space

First, you’ll need to create a new area, or directory, to hold your wholesale page or pages.

  1. Launch an FTP program, such as FileZilla or CyberDuck. Using your FTP login and password (which may be different from your ShopSite login and password), connect to your domain’s Web space.
  2. In your FTP program, go to your pub_html directory.
  3. Look for your ShopSite directory, which should have the same name as your ShopSite username. Go to this directory.
  4. Inside this directory, create a new directory, and name it wholesale.

Protecting your wholesale directory with a password

You should keep your wholesale directory password-protected. If anyone tries to visit the wholesale area of your store, they will be prompted to log in with a username and password.

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name. Select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. Click the Manage URL Passwords button.
  3. In the Add/Change Password Protected URL section, enter the URL of your wholesale directory. For example:
    http://www.domain.com/shopsite-directory/wholesale

    where domain.com is your domain name and shopsite-directory is your ShopSite directory (the one that you created the wholesale folder in).

    In the Title section, enter any descriptive title you like. This is just for your own identification purposes and has no effect on your directory.

    Click “Add/Change URL lock.”

  4. Locate the “Add/Change User” section. From the drop down menu, select the URL you added in step 3.Create a username and password for your wholesale section by filling out the fields provided, then click “Add/Change URL user.”
  5. Password protection is complete.

Creating your wholesale page

Have Cruzio change the directory “owner”

Before you can proceed, you’ll need Cruzio to help you. So that your ShopSite can access your new wholesale directory, contact Cruzio and ask that we change the ownership of the wholesale directory to www. Please refer to this document when you contact Cruzio.

Add a new page in ShopSite

After Cruzio has made that change, you can use ShopSite to create a page to contain your wholesale products:

  1. Log in to your ShopSite admin page.
  2. Click the Pages icon.
  3. Create a new page by clicking “Add a Page”.
  4. Customize your wholesale page as you like.In the Advanced Info section, set “File name” to
    wholesale/filename.html

    where filename is whatever word you’d like, as long as it does not contain spaces or uppercase letters.

    When you’ve finished editing the page, click Save.

Add products to your wholesale page

Now, populate your wholesale page with products:

  1. Click the Products icon.
  2. If you have a wholesale product already created, click List All Products and locate your wholesale product. Select it and click Edit Product Info.If you do not already have a wholesale product created, click the Add a Product button.
  3. Locate the Product Pages section and click the Select button.In the list under “Product is not in these pages”, select your wholesale page and then click Add.Click OK.
  4. Customize the rest of the product settings as you wish. When you’re done, click Save Changes.
  5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for any additional wholesale products.

Publish the new page

Now, Shopsite just needs to recognize your new page. There should be a yellow tab in the upper right corner of the ShopSite admin page that says Publish. Click Publish, let it process, and it will say “Done!” when complete.

If you do not see the Publish tab, click the Utilities icon instead. Then click the Publish button. Finally, click the Regenerate button. It will say “Done!” when complete.

Your wholesale page is now online. To have a look at it, go to

http://www.domain.com/wholesale/filename.html

where domain.com is your domain name and filename is the file name you chose earlier for your wholesale page. You will be prompted for a login and password, which are the ones you set up earlier. Once you’ve logged in, you will be able to see your new wholesale page.

Inviting your resellers to your wholesale store

Contact your resellers, and provide them with the address of your new wholesale page, along with the username and password.

Creating a File Download Area on Your Website

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This help page explains how to use your domain hosted with Cruzio to transfer files to your friends and colleagues without having to give them login information to access those files. Instead, you create a download area on your website, to which you upload the files you want transferred. Then to transfer the file, you send an email containing a link to the file, which can then be clicked to download it.

Creating a .htaccess file

To set up this type of file transfer, you will need to include a .htaccess file in your domain. This .htaccess makes it so that a link to a file downloads the file, instead of just showing it in the Web browser.

  1. Start a new document in any simple text editor, like Notepad or TextEdit.
  2. Copy and paste the following code into that new file: 
    AddType application/octet-stream .extension

    In the code, replace .extension with the extension of the file type that you want to be downloaded. For example, if you wanted to transfer JPG files, it would say:

    AddType application/octet-stream .jpg

    If you wanted to transfer PDF files, it would instead read:

    AddType application/octet-stream .pdf

    If you plan to transfer multiple file types, include one line for each file type.

  3. Now save your new file. For the time being, save it as htaccess – Note that there is no dot in front of the file name. This is because if we included that dot now, it might make the file become hidden from view. If your text editor requires that you add an extension, try to save it as htaccess.txt – we will be renaming this later.

Setting up your download directory

Now that you have your .htaccess file ready, it is time to set up a download folder, or directory. You will put the files that you want to transfer in this directory.

  1. Log in to your Web space, using either an FTP program or your website’s File Manager. (Note: if you have Cruzio Classic hosting, the File Manager is not available, and you must use FTP instead.)If you are using an FTP program, make sure it is set to view hidden files. (Otherwise, any file starting with a dot, such as the .htaccess file, will be hidden from view.)In the File Manager or your FTP program, go to the root directory (the folder containing your website files) of your website. For Classic hosting, this will be the directory pub_html. For other hosting plans, this will be the directory httpdocs.
  2. In the root directory, create a new directory. Name the directory download, transfer, or whatever you prefer. For the remainder of this document, it will simply be referred to as the download directory. Once the new directory is created, go into that directory.
  3. Upload the htaccess.txt file you created earlier into your new directory. Now rename the htaccess.txt file to.htaccess — note that a period has been added to the beginning, and the file extension has been removed from the end.

Using your new download directory to transfer a file

Setup is now complete. You may start transferring files.

  1. Upload a file you want to transfer into the download directory that you just set up.
  2. Test it to confirm it works. Send yourself an email that includes a link to the file you just uploaded. For example, if you uploaded the file picture.jpg to your download directory on your website http://www.yourdomain.com, you would email this link:http://www.yourdomain.com/download/picture.jpgWhen you click that link in the email, it will ask if you want to download the file.
  3. Once you confirm it is working, send the email with the link to whoever you want to transfer it to. When you no longer need the file available for download, delete the file from your download directory to free up space on your website.

Making your download directory public or private

If your domain is with our Classic hosting, your download directory has been public up until now. This means that if you provided a link to the directory itself instead of a file in it, it would display a list of all the files in the download directory. You could then click any of the file names to download that file. This is useful if you want to provide one link for multiple files in your download folder. So for example, if you had your download directory on your website http://www.yourdomain.com, the link would look like this:

http://www.yourdomain.com/download/

Anyone who clicked that link would see the list of files in the download directory.

If your domain is instead with our Website Hosting services, the download directory you created is private. This means that if you tried to provide a link to the directory, it would give an error stating you do not have permission to access that directory. The only way anyone could get to any files in it would be if they had a direct link to a specific file.

It is possible to make the directory public or private depending on your preference.

  • If you want your download directory to be private, include one extra line at the beginning of your .htaccess file that reads: 
    Options -Indexes
  • If you want your download directory to be public, include this extra line at the beginning of your .htaccess file: 
    Options +Indexes

Cruzio Connection Settings

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Below are the general connection settings for use with Cruzio accounts. For more specific setup instructions, please see our other setup instructions.

The best source for settings information is on your original Cruzio Login Information. Contact Cruzio if you lost your information or forgot your login or password.

 

Fiber Settings
IP Address: Available on your “login info” sheet
Subnet Mask: 255.255.248.0
Gateway/Router: 63.249.72.1
DNS 1: 63.249.92.48
DNS 2: 216.173.128.13

 

Dialup Settings
Dialup user name Always ends in @cruzio.com
Dialup number (x2, V.90, 33.6) 459-9408
Nationwide dialup numbers Use the Find a Dialup Number tool
View specific dialup setup instructions for your computer…

 

 

Domain Name Server (DNS) Settings
Use “Server Assigned” DNS if you don’t have a static IP.
DSL Primary DNS 74.220.64.45
DSL Secondary DNS 74.220.64.55
Gateway for Static DSL Users Refer to your Cruzio Login Information
Dialup Primary DNS 63.249.93.131
Dialup Secondary DNS 63.249.95.6
Gateway for Dialup Users 63.249.93.129

 

Email Settings
The following settings are for @cruzio.com email accounts and for secondary mailbox domain accounts. These settings will work for computers, phones, and other handheld devices.
Incoming Mail Server (POP3 or IMAP)
Example: test@cruzio.com
Example: test@ebold.com		 mail.domain.com
mail.cruzio.com
mail.ebold.com
Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)
Example: test@cruzio.com
Example: test@ebold.com		 mail.domain.com
mail.cruzio.com
mail.ebold.com
Incoming Port Number 110 if using POP
143 if using IMAP
Outgoing Port Number 587
The outgoing (SMTP) port number defaults to port 25 for most email programs. If you have problems sending email, port 587 should work instead; Incoming and outgoing Password confirmation is required.
View specific email setup instructions for your computer…
Try Cruzio’s Email Setup Assistant…

 

Email Settings for Domain Name Customers
Incoming Mail Server (POP3 or IMAP)
Example: test@domain.com
Example: test@website.com		 mail.domain.com
mail.domain.com
mail.test.com
Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)
Example: test@domain.com
Example: test@website.com		 mail.domain.com
mail.domain.com
mail.test.com
View specific email setup instructions for your computer…

Cruzio VPS FAQ

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What is VPS?

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It’s a method of dividing up a server so that each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and each virtual server can be independently rebooted.

What can VPS be used for?

Just about anything you could do with your own server, you can do with Cruzio VPS, but without the expense and the hassle of maintaining hardware.

Running your own web server, hosting multiple domains, serious web development and testing. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Is VPS for me?

You’ll have a lot more control, but with great power comes great responsibility! With full root access you can definitely mess up your stuff. Then again, you have to start somewhere, and you can always reboot. At $30, our intro-level package is great for anyone wanting to get their geek on.

Where are your servers located?

Our VPS servers reside in our state-of-the-art data center in Santa Cruz, featuring redundant power and Internet connectivity.

If I go over my bandwidth cap, is all traffic blocked?

No, we won’t block any traffic. All our limits are soft. If you go over the cap, we’ll contact you with your options. If you’re expecting a spike in traffic, call us ahead of time and we’ll figure something out. Pricing for additional bandwidth starts at $10.95/month for 500 GB.

What are the hardware specs for the physical server?

Pretty awesome:
Dual Quad-Core 2.5 Ghz CPUs
SAS RAID 10 disk array
24 GB RAM

What distributions do you offer?

Currently we offer the choice of Debian Lenny or CentOS 5.

Can I purchase additional IP addresses?

Yes. $5 per month per IP.

Do you offer backups?

We maintain snapshot backups of all slices taken nightly. These backups are intended to protect customer data against a catastrophic multiple point hardware failure that circumvents the existing redundancy measures in place. These backups may not fully protect certain volatile data groups, notably MySQL or postgreSQL databases. In general, any data that is cached before being written to a file may not be fully protected.

Cruzio strongly recommends that VPS customers take advantage of the backup features in the Virtualmin control panel, which will enable you to create backups on your own schedule and keep them for as long as you wish. See our documentation on backing up your Cruzio VPS.

If you need data restored from Cruzio’s backups, there will be a minimum single charge of $100 for up to 1 hour of our engineer’s time and $49 for each half-hour thereafter.

Do you have redundant Internet connections?

Yes.

Can the VPS be failed over to another physical server or location in case of problems?

This feature will be available soon.

Can I upgrade sometime down the road?

Absolutely. No need to reinstall everything either.

How many domains can I host?

That’s a very “shared hosting” question. No limit. It’s all yours, do whatever you like!

File Permissions for Joomla Users

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This help page is for Joomla users who understand what file permissions are and the need to change them. Under no circumstances should you try to change permissions if you are not aware of any reason why they should be changed.

Why you may need to change file permissions when using Joomla

Joomla automatically designates who can access its folders. Usually the designation is correct, but some Joomla modules may not work under the default permissions.

For these modules, their permissions are most likely set to 755, which means that the Apache server can read, write, and execute, but the owner of the domain and others are only able to read and execute.

In order to allow the owner of the domain to edit a folder, change the permissions to 775.

How to change the file permissions

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name, then select “Control Panel” and click “Go”. Then log in with your admin username and password.
  2. Click on the domain whose file permissions you want to change. If you are on host 6 or 7, this can be accessed by first clicking Domains under the Main Menu in the upper left hand corner.

    If you do not know what host number you are on, after you log into your control panel, look at the URL at the top of your browser. You will see it start with https://host followed by a number. That is the host number you are on.

  3. If you are on host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, click the File Manager icon in the Hosting section. If you are on host 6 or 7, click the File Manager icon in the Files section.
  4. Next, locate the file or directory you wish to change the permissions for. Please note that the directory httpdocs is the main public directory for your website, so there is a good chance it will be in there.
  5. Once you have located the file or directory, find the Permissions column.

    The permissions are represented as three sets of symbols, for example, rwx r-x r-x. The first set is the Owner set, and this says what the Apache server can do with the file. The second set is the Group set, and dictates what both the Apache server and the owner of the domain name (you) can do with the file. The third set is the Others set, and determines what everyone else (such as users visiting your website) can do with it.

    Click the Permissions link to the right of your file or directory.

  6. Here you can designate who can access the folder and who cannot. To set permissions to 775 as described above, check the following boxes:

    Owner: Read mode, Write mode, Execute/search mode
    Group: Read mode, Write mode, Execute/search mode
    Others: Read mode, Execute/search mode

    Click “OK” to save changes.

How to Access phpMyAdmin

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This information applies to Cruzio’s Website Hosting services. If you purchased web and domain hosting with Cruzio after July 2006, you likely have a Website Hosting services. Otherwise, you may have a Classic domain.

» Classic phpMyAdmin Instructions

This help page explains how to access phpMyAdmin through your Website Hosting account. phpMyAdmin allows a user to create and manage databases, tables, fields, indexes, users, permissions, etc. Under no circumstances should you try to change an existing database if you are not aware of why it should be changed.

  1. Go to http://login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name, select “Control Panel” and click “go”. Then log into your control panel with your admin username and password.
  2. Select the domain on which the database you wish to access through phpMyAdmin is located. If you are on host 6 or above, this can be accessed by first clicking “Domains” under the Main Menu in the upper left hand corner.If you do not know what host number you are on, after you log into your control panel, look at the URL at the top of your browser. You will see it start with ‘https://host’ followed by a number. That is the host number you are on.
  3. For host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, look under the “Services” header and select “Databases”. For host 6 or later, look under the “Applications & Services” header and then select “Databases”.
  4. If you would like to create a new database, select “Add New Database” which is located below the “Tools” header and follow prompts.
  5. Under the “Databases” header, select which database you would like to manage.
  6. Find the “Tools” header and select “DataBase WebAdmin.” This will generate a pop-up window that will take you to phpMyAdmin. Be sure to disable any pop-up blockers you might have in place.
  7. Once phpMyAdmin is opened, select “Databases” which is a link located in the main window.
  8. Select the database name you would like to manage. You now have access to that database.

How to Add SPF Records for Website Hosting

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This information applies to Cruzio’s Website Hosting services. If you purchased web and domain hosting with Cruzio after July 2006, you likely have a Website Hosting services. Otherwise, you may have a Classic domain.  If you have a Classic domain, you will need to contact Cruzio if you want to add SPF records to your domain.

Setting up a SPF Record on your domain will help prevent spammers forging email from your domain. Learn more at openspf.org.

You can use the SPF Record Wizard to create a record to put on your domain.

Adding an SPF record in your control panel

  1. Log in to your domain control panel with the Cruzio Domain Tools.
  2. Select the domain name you want to create the SPF record for. If you are on host 6 or 7, this can be accessed by first clicking Domains under the Main Menu in the upper left hand corner.If you do not know what host number you are on, after you log into your control panel, look at the URL at the top of your browser. You will see it start with https://host followed by a number. That is the host number you are on.
  3. If you are on host 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, click DNS Settings under the Services section. If you are on host 6 or 7, click DNS Settings under the Web Site section.
  4. Under the Tools section, Click “Add record.”
  5. Under “Record type,” open the dropdown menu and choose TXT.
  6. In the field next to “Enter TXT record,” paste your SPF record. Click OK.

How to Modify the Hostname and Reverse Record for Your Cruzio VPS

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Cruzio, by default, sets up your VPS under our domain, in the form yourusername.cruziohost.com, where yourusername is your actual user name.

If you’re using Virtualmin, there is no real reason to change this, but if you’re planning to use your Cruzio VPS for Zimbra hosting, or some other reason where you’d rather have the name of the VPS be yourhostname.yourdomain.com, or even yourdomain.com, here are the steps to take to make it so.

To change the hostname

On Debian:

  1. Edit /etc/hostname
  2. Edit /etc/hosts
  3. Reboot.

On Centos:

  1. Edit /etc/sysconfig/network
  2. Edit /etc/hosts
  3. Reboot.

To change the reverse record

  1. Log into the Xen shell.

  2. Issue the command

    rdns

    to view your current entry and find your IP address.

  3. Issue the command

    rdns IP_address yourhostname.yourdomain.com
  4. Reverse DNS entries can take a couple of hours to propagate.

How to put ShopSite page links in custom order

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ShopSite makes it easy to link your store pages to each other. However, there’s no simple way to put those page links in the order you prefer. If you take the time to follow the procedure below, though, you can order your page links however you like.

The instructions below assume you have ShopSite Manager or Pro. If you only have Starter, you don’t have the PowerEdit tool, so you’ll need to change settings for each individual page, one at a time.

1. Log into your ShopSite control panel and go to Pages. Select all your pages and click PowerEdit.

2. In the Information box, select Link Name. Below, select Individual. Click Proceed.

3. Give each page a Link Name that is the text you want to appear in the page link. Save Changes.

4. Select all pages and click PowerEdit. In the Information box, select Name. Below, select Individual. Click Proceed.

5. Give each page a Name that starts with a number. I suggest names like “1: books” and “2: cds” etc. etc. (You may even want to number by 10’s or 100’s so that you can insert other pages between them in the future.) Of course, number them in the order you want the links to display. Save changes.

6. Select all pages and click PowerEdit. In the Layout box, select Display Name? Below, select Global. Click Proceed.

7. Uncheck the Name Toggle. Save Changes.

8. Select all pages and click PowerEdit. In the Layout box, select Order. Below, select Global. Click Proceed.

9. Set Order to Ascending. Save Changes.

10. Select all pages and click PowerEdit. In the Layout box, select Pages Sort Field. Below, select Global. Click Proceed.

11. Set the Page Sort Field to Name. Save Changes.

What you’ve just done is given each page a “behind-the-scenes” name that is not displayed on the page, but controls where the link to that page shows up in the list of links.

Joomla Administrator Login Page is Blank

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This document is for users with a Cruzio domain who are unable to log into their Joomla admin control panel. The Joomla login page is completely blank instead of asking for the Joomla username and password.

To fix your Joomla login page:

  1. Go to login.cruzio.com and enter your domain name, select “Control Panel” and click “go”.  Log into your control panel with your admin username and password. This username and password can be found in the information provided when you first set up your domain. If you do not have this information, please call Cruzio Technical Support at 831-459-6301 option 2 and ask for your domain login information.
  2. In the “Custom buttons” section, click the Installatron Applications Installer button.
  3. Find Joomla in the list. To the right of it, select “View/edit details.”
  4. Go to the second box provided on this page. The title of this box may vary depending on what title was given to Joomla when first installing it. If no custom title was created, it will default to “My Joomla Information”. In this box, click “Edit these values and files”.
  5. Go down to Configuration File 1. Use the Web browser’s “find” feature to locate the following line:var = 0;
  6. Delete that line and replace it with:var $force_ssl = 0;
  7. Click the “Save all” button.

The Joomla admin login page should now display correctly.

Keeping your website secure

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Malware can infect our websites, not just our personal computers. The basics of protecting your website include:

  • Keeping your computer secure
  • Using strong passwords
  • Keeping your website’s software updated
  • Making regular backups in case of disaster

Read on for details, and for more suggestions.

Basic Security Measures for your Website

Keep your computer secure

Start by keeping your computer secure, so your website passwords don’t get stolen by malware. Follow Cruzio’s Security Tips.

Take extra care on public Internet connections

Generally, do not manage your website from a public wifi connection. Others using the same connection could learn your passwords while you’re logging in to your website, or using FTP.

The exception: it’s fine to log into and use your domain’s control panel, since it uses encryption (notice the https in the browser address of your control panel—s stands for secure).

Set strong passwords

Set strong passwords for your website’s control panel, administrative user account, and FTP access. And if your website is compromised, change them. Follow these instructions for changing your hosting passwords.

Keep your website software up to date

Old web software often has security vulnerabilities that make your website an easy target. Web applications like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are miraculous software that make building and maintaining a website so much simpler—but you must keep your copy of that software up to date.

Installatron does upgrades, not just installs

If you installed your site software using Installatron, then use Installatron to apply upgrades. It’s fast and easy. Installatron makes a backup of your site right before upgrading, too, so in case something were to go wrong, you could quickly and easily restore the previous version.

Plugins count too

If you’ve installed any plugins or extensions to your web application, make sure you keep those items up to date as well. Plugins are like mini-applications, and they need the same care as your main web software.

Back up your website

No matter how many precautions you take, there’s always the possibility that your website may become compromised. If or when that happens, you’ll want to have a recent site backup in good shape.

Back up your website on a regular basis, but only when you’re reasonably sure that the site is in a healthy state. If your only backup is infected with malware, you’re not going to want to use it to restore a damaged website. You can use a free scanner to check your site’s health, though a good result is not a guarantee.

Installatron backups

If you installed a web application with Installatron, then use Installatron to create backups. It’s very easy, and you can keep multiple backups if you wish. Installatron backups also have the advantage of being very easy to restore.

The other control panel backup tool

If you installed or built your website manually, use the “Backup Your Account” link in your control panel’s sidebar. Click the icon under the B column to create a backup. Check the boxes of all the items you want backed up. Note that you can only keep a single backup on the server at a time, and that there is no restore tool. Just like you built your site manually, you’ll have to restore it manually as well.

Additional Security Measures for your Website

Website Security Consultants

Maybe you have limited time for reading, researching, and implementing security measures for your website. If you want to enlist someone to handle it for you, hire a consultant with experience in website security. You can check the Computer and Internet Services section of Cruzio’s Guide for local professionals.

Plesk Error When Logging into Domain Admin Control Panel

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This help is for users trying to log into their domain at cruzio.com and are unable to do so, instead getting an error that begins with the following:

ERROR: PleskMainDBException
MySQL query failed: Unknown table 'sd' in where clause.

In order to fix this, after attempting to log in, take a look at the address of the error page. You will see something similar to the following:

https://host2.cruzio.com:8443/?previous_page=login_up

Leave the first half of the link in there, even if it varies slightly from the above, and delete everything after the :8443/. So, in this example, you would be left with:

https://host2.cruzio.com:8443/

Then, after the :8443/, add:

domains/domains.php3?cmd=clearFilter

So, in this example, you would now have:

https://host2.cruzio.com:8443/domains/domains.php3?cmd=clearFilter

Hit Enter or Return to load this page. It may load without frames. To fix this, hit the “Back” button on your Web browser to load the previous page. The issue will be resolved.

Redirecting a Web page or site with .htaccess

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This help page explains how to redirect a single web page, a directory of web pages, or an entire website to a new web address, using the .htaccess method.

See Cruzio’s redirect overview to decide which redirect method you should use.

Please proceed with caution. If you make mistakes, your website may become unreachable.

What is a .htaccess redirect, and why should I use it?

With the .htaccess (pronounced “dot-aitch-tee-access”) redirect method, also known as a “301 redirect,” you create a special configuration file on your site containing a redirect “directive” (instruction to the web server).

When someone visits the redirected web address, the web server will obey your directive and automatically redirect them to the new address.

Benefits of a .htaccess redirect:

  • Automatically redirects links and bookmarks to a web page at its old address to the new address
  • Preserves search engine rankings (such as Google PageRank) for the redirected web page
  • Lets you create multiple redirects in the same place

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Redirecting a single web page

  1. Log in to your web space, using either an FTP program (such as Filezilla or CyberDuck) or your website’s File Manager.  (Note: if you have Cruzio Classic hosting, the File Manager is not available, and you must use FTP instead.)  If you are using an FTP program, make sure it is set to view hidden files. (Otherwise, any file starting with a dot, such as the file we are about to create, will be hidden from view.)In the File Manager or your FTP program, go to the root directory (the folder containing your website files) of your website.
    Type of web hosting Name of root directory
    Website Hosting httpdocs
    Classic pub_html

     

  2. In the root directory, look for a file named .htaccess (including the dot at the beginning).If you do not already have a .htaccess file in the root directory, create a file there named .htaccess including the dot at the beginning, and with no file extension at the end.Note: if you create or copy a file named .htaccess on your computer’s hard drive, you may not be able to see the file. Files beginning with a dot are typically hidden from view. Instead, if you need to work with a file on your hard drive, name it htaccess (without the dot, and without any extension). You can rename it to .htaccess after you upload it to your web space.
  3. Open the .htaccess file for editing.To create a redirect, add the following code anywhere in the file: 
    RewriteEngine On
Redirect 301 /pathto/oldpage.extension http://yourdomain/pathto/newpage.extension

     

    In the code, make these changes:

    For this: Substitute this:
    pathto the path to the directory containing the page
    (for example, “produce/fruit/apples”)
    oldpage the filename of the page you are redirecting
    extension the page’s extension, if it has one
    (for example, “html” or “php”)
    yourdomain the page’s domain at the new address, even if you’re not changing the domain
    (for example, “joesfreshproduce.com”)
    newpage the filename of the new page

     

    Notice that you start the old address with only a slash “/”, with no domain. Start the new address with “http://”.

    Save the changes to your .htaccess file.

    If the file is not already in the root directory of your website, upload it there. Then, if the filename is not .htaccess, including the dot, change the filename. If there is an extension (like .txt) at the end, remove it.

  4. To view the redirect, enter the old address into the address bar of your web browser. If it does not forward right away, click the refresh button of your web browser and it should update.

Your permanent web page redirect is active!

The next time a search engine visits your site, it will update its records with the page’s new address, while preserving the page’s search rankings.

What if I only need a temporary redirect?

To create only a temporary redirect, use “Redirect 302” instead of “Redirect 301” in your .htaccess code.

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Redirecting a section of your website

We will use the .htaccess method to redirect a section (usually called a directory) of your site.

Follow the instructions for redirecting a single page, but use code like this in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
Redirect 301 /pathto/olddirectory/ http://yourdomain/pathto/newdirectory/

Note: if you redirect to a directory that does not contain an index file, you may get a 403 Forbidden error. In this case, either create an index file in the destination directory, or add this line to your .htaccess file to turn on auto-indexing:

Options +Indexes

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Redirecting your entire website to another website

We will use the .htaccess method to redirect your entire website to another site.

Follow the instructions for redirecting a single page, but use code like this in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
Redirect 301 / http://newdomain/

Make sure you include a space before and after that first lone slash.

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Redirect example: Joe’s Fresh Produce

Joe sells produce on his site, joesfreshproduce.com. He has a web page he uses to sell his tomatoes. He used to have the page in the fruit area of his site, but his site visitors missed it, because they were looking for tomatoes in the vegetables instead.

Joe decided to move the tomato page. He moved the file tomatoes.html from the fruit directory to the vegetables directory.

Joe wanted people looking for the page at its old address to find it at the new one, so he decided to create a redirect. He added this redirect code to the .htaccess file on his site, joesfreshproduce.com:

RewriteEngine On
Redirect 301 /fruit/tomatoes.html http://joesfreshproduce.com/vegetables/tomatoes.html

 

More shoppers are finding Joe’s tomatoes now. The long-time customers who had bookmarked the old tomato page are automatically redirected to the new page. Links from other sites to the old tomato page automatically go to the new page. Joe’s tomato sales are up!

» back to top