If you have any questions about anything in the FAQ, suggestions for new topics, or have a question that is not answered, please don't hesitate to contact us for free support, at support@metawerx.net.
If you print this FAQ, please also see the linked FAQ's for Servlets and Mail Setup using popular mail software.
Using Metawerx Hosting
The main way to contact support is by email to support@metawerx,net.
This will create an entry in our support system and also notify technicians immediately via SMS.
Tech Support: 1300 73 40 60 (Intl: +61 3 8676 0614)
Main office phone: 1300 88 40 60 (Intl: +61 3 8676 0614)
Mailing address for correspondence and account payment:
* If mailing from overseas, remember to use airmail for faster delivery
These details are also available on our Contacts page. (Click Contacts from the metawerx main page).
Email and telephone support are free of charge and we are happy to help you with getting started and with any problems you may experience using your site, features or our services.
Extended programming support, database development, site development and consultancy are also available at a reasonable price. This includes an on-site visitation service as well as remote development support for our international customers. Please see our Services page for more information on this type of support. We will discuss any costs with you before starting any work.
Full details of your account are available using the Accounts option within SiteWinder. Payment methods, your latest invoice, and a full account statement are available online.
If you have any questions regarding account payment, please contact us for assistance.
If you are going to be late with a payment, please contact us as soon as possible to ask for an extension. This will avoid cancellation of your account.
How do I add an extra account?
To add an extra hosting account, simply apply again using the Website Application Form. Once you are an existing metawerx customer, there are discounts for signing up additional accounts through us, so please mention your existing account code in the comments section to make sure you receive a discount.
How can I change to a different hosting plan?
To change plans, just contact our Accounts Dept (accounts@metawerx.net). You can increase your space or traffic limits at any time, add extra NT user accounts and groups, add or remove databases, or upgrade/downgrade to other hosting plans without paying any additional fees. You are not locked into your current hosting plan in any way, but if you change to a lower priced plan during a hosting period, any payments already made are not refundable.
You can upload your site either using SiteWinder (your online control panel - click Login on the main metawerx page), or using FTP software such as CuteFTP.
After signing up with metawerx, you will have received an email with an account code, password, and information on uploading your site.
To upload using SiteWinder, simply login using the details provided and go to the Files option. Help is also available within SiteWinder, but it is fairly simple to use. A list of files is provided, and there is a link for updating files next to each file, as well as a New File button for adding new files.
For FTP, log into the FTP site specified in the email, using your account name and password.
Windows 2000 also allows you to connect to FTP using Windows Explorer. You can connect to your site using this feature, and it will appear as a normal folder on your computer. This allows you to easily copy files to and from your site using Windows. To activate this feature, select "Map Drive" from a window in Explorer, and select "Connect using FTP" from the Map Drive Wizard. When prompted, enter the FTP site name, username and password provided in your Hosting Details email.
If you need any assistance uploading your site or getting started, please contact support@metawerx.net.
How do I use FTP / What is FTP?
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is the preferred method for transferring files over the internet.
We recommend CuteFTP as it is simple to install and use. CuteFTP can be downloaded from www.cuteftp.com
If there are other developers in your office who will be updating the site, you can use the NT Users feature in SiteWinder to add extra user accounts and assign them FTP priviledges. They can be provided with access to your entire site, or only the web-page areas (non private areas, no servlet access). This is a powerful feature of metawerx hosting software that you will probably not find at other hosting services.
Windows 2000 also allows you to connect to FTP using Windows Explorer. You can connect to your site using this feature, and it will appear as a normal folder on your computer. This allows you to easily copy files to and from your site using Windows. To activate this feature, select "Map Drive" from a window in Explorer, and select "Connect using FTP" from the Map Drive Wizard. When prompted, enter the FTP site name, username and password provided in your Hosting Details email.
If you need any assistance uploading your site or getting started, please contact support@metawerx.net.
Can I add FTP accounts for other members of my development team
If there are other developers in your office who will be updating the site, you can use the NT Users feature in SiteWinder to add extra user accounts and assign them FTP priviledges. They can be provided with access to your entire site, or only the web-page areas (non private areas, no servlet access). This is a powerful feature of metawerx hosting software that you will probably not find at other hosting services.
The NT Users System allows you to add NT User Accounts on the server.
To set up a Group for a specific folder, you will first need to contact the accounts department to order the new group.
For example, you may have a Tomcat Web Application called "john" located at /private-cgi-bin/tomcat/john.
You would request a new Group for this folder, and we would create the group (eg: groupB) and set the security accordingly, allowing members of groupB to upload to the folder.
You would then add FTP users, and make them members of this group.
How do I access my Site Tools?
Your site tools, such as SQL/Administrator, Mail Administration, NT Users, Members and Servlet Configuration are all available from within the Tools menu in SiteWinder. Mail Administration is only available after transfer or registration of your domain name. SQL/Administrator is only for customers with a SQL/Server database.
To log into SiteWinder, go to the main metawerx page (www.metawerx.net) and select Login from the menu.
You can also access SiteWinder at http://www.metawerx.net/admin. It is a good idea to add this link to your Favourites Menu or Links Toolbar in Internet Explorer for quick access to your site tools.
Do you have any scripts/servlets for me to use?
Yes. There is a Form Handler system as well as other resources available from the Resources menu in SiteWinder.
The Form Handler is easy to set up and allows form submissions on your site to be emailed to your email address. This system can be fully customised to provide plain-text and HTML-based email responses to the user completing the form, as well as taking them to the next page you want them to see. The layouts of all emails sent can be customised using templates. See the Free Servlets/Scripts option in the Resources menu for more information. FormHandler and the other free servlets are pre-installed for all metawerx sites so they are easy to configure and use.
There is also an /examples folder pre-installed on your website which shows how to use some of the technologies available at metawerx. These examples are simple and easy to customise, and are a great way to get started with creating applications using technologies such as ASP, PHP, WML, JSP and Java Servlets.
a) What is the default page for a directory? When the user accesses your site without specifying a page name,
(eg: http://yoursite.com), or accesses a folder on your site without
specifying a page (eg: http://yoursite.com/folder1), the server will
look for the following pages (in order), and display the first one
that is found:
default.htm
As long as one of these files is provided in the folder, the user
will automatically see that page first, upon accessing your site
or folder.
To make a Java Servlet work as the default page for a site or folder,
you will need to specify a new "Alias" with the Servlet Configuration
Panel. Log into Servlet Configuration and click Aliases for help on
creating a new alias (help is listed at the end of that page).
Can I customise my 404 and other error pages?
IIS To customise an error page (for example the "404 - Page Not Found" error), simply download the corresponding error page, customise it, and upload it again.
There is a readme.txt file in the custom-errors folder which also explains how to do this.
The 404 error is stored in the file 404b.htm. All other errors are in files such as 500.htm
Error pages can be modified to include your company logo and other branding, as well as links back to your main site or information for the user to follow such as how to report the error to your support department. If you use a META-REFRESH tag on your 404 error page, you can return users to your main page automatically after a brief pause.
If you need any help understanding the custom errors, or customising them, please contact support@metawerx.net
Tomcat
Can I allow users to login to a restricted area on my site?
IIS If you want to create your own login system from scratch, you can also do this using any of the technologies provided as part of your site, such as ASP, PHP, JSP, or Java Servlets.
Tomcat To setup email addresses, you will need a domain name. You can transfer an existing domain to your metawerx account, or register a new domain through us for use on your site.
Once you have a domain, you can use the Mail Administrator from the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
The main address for your domain is "admin@yourdomain.com". As soon as your Mail Administrator is available, this address will be active. If mail arrives for an unlisted address, it will arrive at this mailbox.
Before you can collect mail from the admin@ account, you will need to set a password. To do this, click the admin@ address, then the Password button and enter your new password.
To add other mail addresses, use the Mail Administrator and click the Add Mail Address button.
Mail Addresses support collection using POP3, or can be forwarded to another mail address outside metawerx if you prefer.
Metawerx Mail also supports Mail Aliases (extra names or group-named addresses), Customer Mailing Lists for sending out to multiple targets at the same time, and Mail Blocks for filtering out junk mail or known email viruses.
For more information see the help on each screen in the Mail Administrator. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to contact our support department.
How do I add an email account?
To add mail addresses, use the Mail Administrator option in the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
Mail Addresses support collection using POP3, or can be forwarded to another mail address outside metawerx if you prefer.
For more information see the help on each screen in the Mail Administrator. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to contact our support department.
How do I change my email password?
To change a password for one of your email accounts, go to the Mail Administrator option in the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
Next, select the address you want to change, then click the Password button. Enter the new password and click save.
Password changes take effect immediately.
Mail Aliases allow you to setup addresses such as sales@ and info@ which can be forwarded to one or more email addresses at your domain.
To create a Mail Alias, first go to the Mail Administrator from the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
Next click the Create Mail Alias button. Enter a name for the Mail Alias, and select all the email addresses this alias should be linked to.
When an email arrives for the alias, it will be forwarded to each of the email-addresses you have selected.
For more information see the help on each screen in the Mail Administrator. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to contact our support department.
How do I add a junk-mail filter or block addresses?
There are four types of mail block you can add. These are mail-to, mail-from, mail-subject and mail-reply-address.
Each type of mail-block is described in the Mail Blocking screen to help you decide which type of mail block to add.
To add a new Mail Block, first go to the Mail Administrator from the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
Next, select the type of Mail Block to add and click the appropriate link.
You will be prompted to enter the details of the block, for example if it is a mail-from block, you will be asked to enter the email address you want to block.
For more information see the help on each screen in the Mail Administrator. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to contact our support department.
How can I change between mail forwarding and collecting mail using POP3?
You can change between mail-forwarding an collecting your mail using POP3, by either adding or removing a mail-forwarding address for a specific email account.
If there is no forwarding-address listed, the mail must be collected using POP3. If there is an address listed, the mail will be forwarded to that address.
How can I change my mail forwarding information?
You can change your mail forwarding address for a specific mail account using the Mail Administrator from the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
First select the email account you want to change. A form will appear showing the current mail-forwarding address, or an empty field if the address is set up for POP-3 collection.
Enter the new forwarding address and click Save to proceed. If there are messages currently waiting for collection, these must be collected using POP3 and will not be automatically forwarded after entering a forwarding address.
How do I collect my mail using POP3?
Each time you create a new email account, and leave the mail-forwarding address empty, the Mail Administrator will show you the settings for POP3 collection.
It is important to note that when setting up your mail software, you should use the full email address, and not just the account name. For example, "user@domain.com", not "user".
Your SMTP server should be set to your existing ISP's SMTP server. This is because we have closed mail relay services to prevent senders of junk mail / SPAM from using our servers to relay their email. You can send emails from your site through our SMTP server, but not from a dial-up or external address.
Your POP3 server should be set to mail.yourdomain.com.
How do I set up Microsoft Outlook?
Please see the topic titled "How do I collect my mail using POP3". We will soon be adding a separate page with diagrams showing exactly how to setup your mail using specific Mail Software such as Outlook and Eudora.
How do I set up Microsoft Outlook Express?
Please see the topic titled "How do I collect my mail using POP3". We will soon be adding a separate page with diagrams showing exactly how to setup your mail using specific Mail Software such as Outlook and Eudora.
To send email from home or your office, you should use the SMTP server you were provided with by your Dial-up Internet Service Provider. The metawerx SMTP servers have been closed off from relay-mail to prevent senders of junk mail / SPAM from using our servers to relay their email. You can send emails from your site through our SMTP server (mail.metawerx.net), but not from a dial-up or external address.
How can I send email from my site using FormHandler?
FormHandler is installed on your site and can be used to automatically mail form submissions from your site to your email address.
This system can be fully customised to provide plain-text and HTML-based email responses to the user completing the form, as well as taking them to the next page you want them to see. The layouts of all emails sent can be customised using templates. FormHandler and the other free servlets are pre-installed for all metawerx sites so they are easy to configure and use.
First create your form using HTML and upload it to your site. Next add an entry for the form using the Servlet Administration tool in SiteWinder.
Full instructions are available in the Resources Sections under Free Servlets / Scripts, including a list of all features and an example for creating an email-template if you want to customise the layout of the emails that are sent to you.
If you need any help, just let us know at support@metawerx.net.
How can I send email from my site using ASP?
ASP can be used to send email using CDO (Collaborative Data Objects). An example of sending an email using ASP is available in your /examples folder. If your site was created before the example was created, please download the latest examples pack from the Resources section in SiteWinder.
Full documentation for CDO can be found on many ASP-related information sites on the internet.
How can I send email from my site using Servlets/JSP?
Java Servlets can use the Java Mail API to send emails. For examples and full documentation, please see the JavaSoft website, or search for JavaMail using a search engine.
The JavaMail API is too complicated to be described in full here, but can be used quite easily to send simple emails using a servlet.
The address of the mail server to use in your application when running on our servers is mail.metawerx.net, port 25.
If you have a domain attached to your account, you can also use mail.yourdomain.com.
When testing on your local environment, you will not be able to send mail through the metawerx mail server.
Can I host my clients site(s) at a discounted rate?
Each additional site you add has no setup fee.
Additionally, for each new site you host with us, you will receive either:
Can I host my clients site(s) at my existing site?
Your clients sites may be hosted within your existing site, using either (IIS) a folder or a subdomain of your domain name, as part of the main site or (Tomcat) a web application using a special method (see Sub-Sites).
If you want to add a full domain name for your client, you will need to upgrade your account to the Commercial Plan or add a new hosting account for them.
If you choose to add a new hosting account for the client instead, you can earn a commission after they pay their first invoice, or have the first 3 months free if you will be running the site yourself. New accounts come with a separate SiteWinder login account, Mail Administration, Java Servlets and all the usual features of a metawerx site.
Can I refer clients to metawerx and earn a commission?
If you refer a customer to metawerx and let us know about them in advance, or apply for a site on their behalf, we can credit your account with the amount of their setup fee and first 3 months hosting fees after they pay their first invoice. To apply for this commission, please mention it when completing the application so we know to credit your account.
Can I invoice my own clients, or will metawerx invoice them?
New accounts are added using the Website Application Form, and require a billing address to be entered. If you want to invoice the client yourself, enter your billing address and we will send the invoice to you instead. You can then separately invoice your client adding any extra charges for services you are providing them, as well as selecting whether to provide them with their SiteWinder password or just an FTP login.
There are two ways to do this.
Tomcat doesn't allow a subdomain to be mapped to an individual web application inside a host, and IIS contains only one web application, therefore it is not possible for this to be provided automatically by us or by the servlet container.
The two methods are as follows:
Method 1 - New Account
A new account, using the Budget Plan ($33 AUD/month, $18 USD/month), which has a new host, new username/password etc.. This host can access the database(s), so if your existing plan uses a database, you can use new Budget Plan accounts to all access the same DB, or optionally put them on a Developer Plan or Database Plan to get a separate database
- this option comes with 3 months free hosting because you are creating an existing account
- invoicing can be combined from this option onto your main account, where it will appear as a subcharge, meaning you can have all charges on a single invoice if you prefer
- an additional traffic and space allotment is included, as this is a new account
Method 2 - Redirector Servlet
On your main account, you can create a servlet for redirecting requests, and a mapping in server.xml which checks incoming requests to "/" and maps requests through to separate, named applications
For example:
- you have 2 subdomains on your account, as well the "www" subdomain. These are named (for this example) "sub1.domain.com" and "sub2.domain.com"
- you would create three applications in the Tomcat Manager, named "main", "sub1" and "sub2" (or whatever you like, these will appear in the URL)
- your root application would contain nothing, except a servlet mapped to "/" which would handle the redirection to the appropriate application
- when a request comes in for the root application, your servlet checks the Host header sent with the request
- if the Host header is "sub1.domain.com", it redirects to sub1.domain.com/sub1
The advantage with this approach, is that you can have multiple subdomains, each pointing to separate web applications, all in the same host, and all using the same hosting plan. Note that you may need to upgrade your plan if your traffic or disk-space increases substantially.
The disadvantage is that it's a bit more work creating the redirector servlet, and if you were to manually go to www.domain.com/sub2, sub1.domain.com/sub2, or sub2.domain.com/sub2, they would all show the sub2 application, because they are all pointing to the same application.
How do I add a SQL/Server database?
To add a SQL/Server database, you will need to purchase a Database Pack. Each Database Pack (or Database Plan account) comes with one SQL/Server datasource. Costs for adding an extra Database Pack are listed on our pricing pages.
Each SQL/Server database comes with a new datasource, database login and password, and also provides access through the SQL/Administrator to execute queries and perform database operations.
Where do I upload my MS-Access database(s)?
Your database file can be installed anywhere on your site, but the usual location is your /database folder.
If uploaded to your /private folder or other restricted-access folders, you may have trouble accessing the database unless the user is logged in through the NT Users system.
For security, we recommend uploading your database to your /private-cgi-bin folder, as this folder is not readable over the web.
How do I access my SQL/Server database from Servlets/JSP?
To access SQL/Server databases from Servlets or JSP, you will use JDBC. You can either use the Microsoft SQL/Server JDBC Driver (which is free), or the driver we provide free of charge, which is optimized for our hosting environment. For an example, please mail our support department and we will send you our DSTestServlet example servlet. The servlet needs to be modified before use to include your login name and password, and also includes important developer information for JDBC programmers.
How do I access my SQL/Server database from ASP?
There is an example of accessing your SQL/Server database from ASP in the /examples folder on your site. If you have deleted this example, or cannot find it, please download the latest examples pack from the main menu of the Resources Section.
How do I access my MS-Access database from ASP?
There is an example of accessing your MS-Access database from ASP in the /examples folder on your site. If you have deleted this example, or cannot find it, please download the latest examples pack from the main menu of the Resources Section.
How can I execute queries directly on SQL/Server?
To execute a query directly against your SQL/Server database, you can use the SQL/Administrator tool from the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
Click the Execute SQL link and enter your query. You can enter multiple queries separated with semicolons or the GO statement, in order to bulk-update your database with new records or modify table structures directly without writing a servlet or ASP script. Results are displayed for each query after you click the Execute button.
You can also request a free SSH remote connection tunnelling account, which allows you to connect to our server using an SSH client such as PLink.
This allows you to use a SQL/Server client on your own machine to manipulate the database from your own office, and is quite easy to set up.
How can I execute queries directly on MySQL?
To execute a query directly against your MySQL database, you can use the MySQL/Administrator tool from the Tools menu in SiteWinder.
Click the Execute SQL link and enter your query. You can enter multiple queries separated with semicolons or the GO statement, in order to bulk-update your database with new records or modify table structures directly without writing a servlet or ASP script. Results are displayed for each query after you click the Execute button.
You can also request a free SSH remote connection tunnelling account, which allows you to connect to our server using an SSH client such as PLink.
This allows you to use a MySQL client on your own machine to manipulate the database from your own office, and is quite easy to set up.
How do I add SSL to my website?
To add SSL and use the https:// protocol, you will need to purchase an SSL certificate. We recommend Thawte and Verisign certificates.
A Thawte certificate costs approximately US $125 to purchase. We do not charge extra hosting fees or setup fees for your SSL hosting. We can also purchase the certificate on your behalf, at a cost of US $160. For this we will need a copy of your business registration certificate and payment in advance for the certificate purchase.
To order your certificate, you will need to ask us to create a Certificate Request for you. We will produce this information on the server and forward it to you by email to use when purchasing your certificate. Thawte or Verisign will forward the certificate back to you after processing your request, and you can then send us the certificate for installation on your server.
If you have any questions about this process, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@metawerx.net.
METAWERX PTY LTD
Level 8, 350 Collins St
Melbourne, VIC, 3000
Australia
How do I set up a special folder for someone to upload files using FTP?
b) How do I make my main page show automatically?
c) What is the order of default pages?
default.html
default.asp
default.wml
default.jsp
default.shtml
default.cfm
default.chtml
default.swf
index.htm
index.html
index.asp
index.wml
index.jsp
index.shtml
index.cfm
index.chtml
index.swf
welcome.html
In your /private-cgi-bin/custom-errors folder, you will find an HTML page for every HTTP error.
Tomcat users can customise their error pages using entries in the web.xml file.
This can be done in a number of ways. The easiest ways are to use either your Members System (which allows the user to login using a login page), or the NT Users System (which allows the creation of NT Users to restrict access using HTTP-Authentication).
Create a security realm, and enter the user names and roles in the security XML file (see Tomcat documentation for examples).
- if the Host header is "sub2.domain.com", it redirects to sub2.domain.com/sub2
- if the Host header is "www.domain.com", it redirects to www.domain.com/main