SteelFarms.net Web Hosting

To create a new virtual server:

1. Login to WebMin (https://webmin.steelfarms.net:44076/)
2. Click Servers
3. Click VirtualMin Virtual Servers
4. Click Add New Virtual Server
5. Enter the domain name (without the www).
6. Enter a decription (this is optional)
7. Leave the rest of the settings as the defaults
8. Click Create Server VirtualMin will create the new virtual server, which includes a directory located in $home/domains, where $home is your home directory on the server, e.g. chuck. Files for your virtual server get placed in its public_html folder, NOT the public_html folder which is located in your home directory. The necessary configuration changes will also be made, and as long as the DNS information is setup correctly, pages will be served immediately.

Creating user accounts is handled through the VirtualMin module. When logged into Webmin, select the Servers tab and click Virtualmin Virtual Servers. Click the domain that you want to create a user account for. Click Edit Mail Users button Click Add a User to this domain Enter the required information and click Create.

Some notes: FTP Access If you want the user to upload files through ftp, then make sure check the ftp box. This will only allow them to place files in their own folder on the server, by default. In order to allow them to upload files to the server’s public_html folder, you will need to modify the permission on that folder to allow group write access.

Subdomains can be created just like creating any other domain through VirtualMin. The complicated part is giving someone else the abiltity to upload files to the subdomain. The method that I have found best (and requires the least amount of effort on my part) is to: Create sub.domain.com through webmin like you would any other domain Create a user on that domain with ftp access Login through ftp as the new user Create a folder named public_html Login to the server with your account via ssh Change do the domains directory (should be domains/sub.domain.com) Delete the public_html directory (rm -rf public_html) Create a link to the user’s public_html directory (ln -s home/user/public_html) Done. If you don’t want to give another user access, you can just leave the original public_html directory and upload files through your ssh account. Note, subdomains may require DNS setup as well. I have added wildcard DNS entries for most domains, but not all.

Every domain has statistics automatically compiled. They are available at www.domain.com/stats. For instance, the statistics for chucksteel.com are at http://www.chucksteel.com/stats

If you are using my name servers, they are: ns1.geodns.net ns2.geodns.net Be sure to let me know that you’re going to use mine so that I can add your domain to the name servers. That process has not been automated.

SteelFarms.net provides webmail with all domains in the form of the Horde framework. Users can access Horde by visiting http://webmail.domain.com, where domain.com is your domain name, e.g. you could visit http://webmail.steelfarms.net/.

An important note is that you must set your From address in order to send mail. To do this:

1. Login to Horde
2. On the left hand side menu, click Options
3. Click Global Options
4. Click Personal Information
5. Enter your full name as you would like it to appear on outgoing mails
6. Enter your email address
7. Click Save Options

Note that if you do not set a from address, you will receive an error when trying to send mail.