Below are a number of answers to the most common questions our clients ask:

How do I upload my website?
The best way to upload your site is with an FTP client. We recommend using the free/opensource FileZilla which can be downloaded from here;
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Remember to put your files in the /httdocs directory and to either replace or delete the index.html file.

What is the address to login to the control panel?
If you site is up and running on our servers replace mydomain with your own domain name.

https://www.mydomain.com:8443

Remember to go to https and not http. If your domain is not yet delegated or working go to the address given in your joining email.

Why can't I access the control panel?
You need to make sure that you can access port 8443. For security reasons our control panel works on this port. You will need to have your firewall let you access this port. If you are on a managed or corporate network speak to your network administrators to allow you to access port 8443. Also when prompted about the site security certificate select to accept this certificate to continue.

Where can I find more detailed help on using my Plesk control panel?
The online user manual is available here. Alternatively, you can download the PDF version here.

How do I login to webmail?
An administrator email account will be created and the details will provided in your welcome email when you sign up. You can log into your webmail using the URL in the following format http://webmail.yourdomain.com.

More detailed information can be found in your welcome email.

How do I move my existing hosting to Netvantage?
Once you have setup your new hosting with DST Web Hosting you will need to find out who you registered your domain through and then go to their site and login to manage your domain name. A password and username for your domain should have been given to you when your domain was registered. On their website there should be a place where you can change your DNS servers to ours (i.e. ns1.dstwebhosting.com, ns2.dstwebhosting.com) which are listed in your welcome email.

If you do not have a username and password simply contact the people who registered your domain name and ask them how to delegate your domain.

I have delegated (or pointed) my domain to your name servers. How soon will it become active?
It can take up to 24 hours for a .au domain to propagate through out the Internet. .com and other global domains can take up to 48 hours to propagate through out the many servers of the internet although often it can be much quicker.

How do I preview my new website before I delegate or point my domain name?
To preview your site for testing purposes before domain delegation click on the Site Preview icon in the control panel.

How do I upload my site with FrontPage?
By default we do not enable MS FrontPage extension on new accounts as most users do not use them. If you would like them enabled simply let us know and we will set them up for you.

What are the features of my account?
You can find this information here

What are all the directories for in my account?
The most important directories are in bold

httpdocs - is the most important where your website files go
cgi-bin - this is where perl scripts go
error_docs - you can customise the error message files in here that come up when some one clicks on a broken link for example
private - you can put private files in here that can't be accessed from the web
httpsdocs - is for secure https files which you can use if you are on our premium hosting plan
subdomains - any subdomains you create will be found in here
web_users - when you create logins for web users their files will go in here
statistics - here you will find statistics and raw log files of people accessing your website
bin - in here are commands that you can run from the command line if you have SSH access
conf - files can be changed here by the administrator to change certain settings with your hosting setup
etc - various administrator configuration files are stored in here
lib - various library files are in here
tmp - system temp files are stored in here
usr - files to do with SSH access are in here
anon_ftp can be used if you have a dedicated IP address to allow people to download files from your site via FTP anonymously - eg if you were sharing free software

What happens if I go over the data quota in a month?
If you go over quota your account will not be disabled or limited in any way. You will be billed at our standard rate for each gigabyte or part there of above your allotted quota.

Are there any alternatives to using SSI?
Yes, check out PHP. Much of what you can do with SSI you can do using PHP. The development community for PHP is giagantic, so there will be more and more applications that will be using in the years to come.

Can I install external software on the server?
We do not allow outside software or programs to be installed on our servers. This is to preserve the security and integrity of our servers while maintaining optimal performance. Since many websites share one server, additional software for one site, might adversely effect the peformance other sites on the same server as well as create additinonal security concerns. Also, all the software we are currently running on our servers has first been thouroughly tested to make sure it does not present any performance or security issues. The bottom line is that we do not offer any kind of custom hosting options.

How can I back up my databases?
Backing up your database entails getting an SQL dump for your database. Using phpMyAdmin, this is done by clicking on the Export link in the top of the main window. Just make sure you have the "Add 'DROP IF EXISTS'" box checked.

How can I check the usage of a domain within the control panel?
Here's how to do it:

1. Log into the control panel
2. Click on the domain
3. Click on Report
4. Choose 'Full Report' from the drop down menu
5. Report shows complete usage and limits

How can I force all unresolved email to bounce back with a specific message?

1. Log in to your control panel.
2. Select the domain name that you want to apply the change to.
3. Click on PREFERENCES.
4. Under "Mail to nonexistent user:", check the radio button for "Bounce with phrase:", - then enter the text that you want your unresolved email to display when they bounce.
5. Click on UPDATE.

How can I send all unresolved email to one "catch-all" email address?

Log in to your control panel.
Select the domain name that you want to apply the change to.
Click on PREFERENCES.
Under "Mail to nonexistent user:", check the radio button for "Catch to address:", then enter the address where all unresolved email should go. You can enter either one of your domain's POP3 or email redirects or an outside email address.
Click on UPDATE.

This will create a catch-all email account for all undefined/unresolved email addresses. Any other email accounts that you create for this domain will override this catch-all email address.

If you require further support, please send emails to support@dstwebhosting.com. All questions are welcome.