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    FASTHOSTS - SSL settings?

    Hi Folks...

    Firstly the good news, I've got Actinic running quite happily on a Fasthosts domain.

    I've seen references to it being best run on one of their Linux servers but searching through previous posts, that seems to give problems with the SSL so tried to get it up on the Envisage 2003 server.

    It will cope with that quite happily (you need it to be an ASP enabled server though). If anyone else is having problems, the network setup export file is below:

    HTTPPROXYMODE 0
    HTTPPROXYADDRESS
    HTTPPROXYPORT 80
    HTTPPROXYUSER
    HTTPPROXYPASSWORD
    FTPPROXYMODE 0
    FTPPROXYADDRESS
    FTPPROXYPORT 21
    FTPPROXYUSER
    FTPPROXYPASSWORD
    SCRIPTID 1
    SCRIPTEXT .pl
    SMTPHOST smtp.worldwigs.com
    WEBSITEURL http://www.worldwigs.com/
    IGNOREPASSIVEERRORS true
    PATHTOPERL c:\perl\bin
    CATALOGURL http://www.worldwigs.com/acatalog/
    CGIBINURL http://www.worldwigs.com/cgi-bin/
    PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG e:/domains/w/worldwigs.com/user/htdocs/acatalog/
    CODEBASE ./
    FTPHOST ftp.worldwigs.com
    FTPUSERNAME
    FTPPASSWORD
    PATHTOCGIBIN /worldwigs.com/htdocs/cgi-bin/
    USEPASSIVEFTP false
    FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG /worldwigs.com/htdocs/acatalog/


    It seems that putting the info in directly gets round the error pop up regarding 'changing folder permissions'.

    However, now that I know it'll run on the 2003 server, I'd like to use the SSL space that I've also got with FH.

    Unfortunately when trying to run the web config, I again get this 'changing permissions' error.

    I'd rather not go to the extra expense of shared SSL when I've got the FH SSL folder sat there, so has anyone managed to get FH SSL to work when not on a Linux server? If so, can you give me a clue on manual input of settings.

    Thanks - Duncan

    #2
    Hi Duncan

    To use SSL with Actinic, you need to set up a symbolic link between the insecure /acatalog/ folder to the secure /acatalog/ folder.

    When talking previously with clients on Fasthost SSL. Fasthost could not set up the symbolic link, therefore the only option they had was to set up the whole site in SSL only.

    We have a guide on how to set up Actinic in SSL. Please check the following and pass to Fasthost.

    http://www.actinic.co.uk/hosting/doc...figuration.pdf

    Kind Regards
    Nadeem Rasool
    SellerDeck Development

    Comment


      #3
      As a new Actinic customer, I've been struggling like crazy to get a test site set up on a Fasthosts W2003 server, and it just won't play ball - always seems to fail at the 'path from cgi to catalog' stage - just doesn't seem to recognise the path, or even sometimes acatalog as a valid directory. I've tried Duncan's settings above, and various variants as suggested in both Actinic and Fasthosts knowledge bases, but without success (it seems generally agreed that a relative path of ./acatalog should work - but it just doesn't!).

      Also having the permissions problems other people have referred to, and can't find a way to change them either in Fasthosts or ws_ftp. Even tried using 'putty' as recommended, but that won't even make a connection to the Fasthosts server.

      Finally(!), I understand that Fasthosts SMTP servers won't allow connection for this unless you have an IP registered as a dial-up or broadband customer of theirs. Anyone got a way around this one?

      Help, I think I'm drowning!

      Comment


        #4
        I can't help on the setup side as I'm not a fasthosts user, but on the SMTP side I don't think you have anything to worry about.

        The SMTP restrictions most likely only apply to access from outside the fasthosts servers. They do this to control who can/cannot send email via their mail servers.

        The only SMTP access required with Actinic is directly from the Actinic software on the server. There's none on the client side. When Actinic sends customer emails from the PC it uploads them to the server software and sends them via SMTP from there.

        Mike
        -----------------------------------------

        First Tackle - Fly Fishing and Game Angling

        -----------------------------------------

        Comment


          #5
          Richard,

          I had a major nightmare with a 1and1 site when they moved to 2003. They did this without warning and a database that previously worked suddenly stopped. It turned out the reason was that they had upgraded from IIS5 to IIS6.

          By default, the Parent Paths option is enabled in IIS 5.0, but it is disabled by default in IIS 6.0.

          Therefore any path such as ..\ will cause problems.

          Server.MapPath()error 'ASP 0175 : 80004005' Disallowed Path Characters
          -or-
          ASP error 0131 The include file <%filename.ext%> cannot contain '..' to indicate the parent directory. /<%path%>/<%filename.ext%>, line <%number%>
          was the MS explanation.

          I don't know if this is the answer - but I believe that it is worth investigating.
          Niall
          www.highlandclans.co.uk

          Comment


            #6
            Thanks Scot, Higlander - still struggling with this, will let you know when / if I get a solution!

            Comment


              #7
              Richard,

              I have just checked my network settings re another query and two relevant ones are:

              PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG ../
              CODEBASE ./

              This is for a clara hosted site on a linux server so the IIS6 problem is not relevant. If you are not on a windows 2003 server it probably won't be anything to do with the parent paths.

              I may have introduced a red herring.
              Niall
              www.highlandclans.co.uk

              Comment


                #8
                Just a quick report back that I've finally got everything working on my W2003 Fasthosts server, using a slight variant of Duncan's script above - what threw me initially was that my ftp was directed to the specific host's ftp account, rather than my parent reseller's account, so the PATHTOCGIBIN and FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG needed to start at the /htdocs/ level rather than the URL.

                However, the most critical thing I found was that all these settings work ONLY if they're created in an external text file and imported to Actinic - entering them directly into the Actinic interface just doesn't work for some reason! Anyone know why??

                Thanks to everyone who contributed thoughts and suggestions, and thanks particularly to Duncan for the initial detailed export file which was so much help.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Latest SSL - any recommendations?

                  Just to bump this back up since people found the setting file to be of some use (glad I could help ) rather than starting a new post.

                  Fasthosts have had quite a few server changes recently so thought I'd ask them if SSL would yet work... Not a chance...

                  Unfortunatly Actinic still does not work on our SSL servers.

                  Unfortunately, the client wants SSL rather than the inbuilt java based encryption so...

                  Given that I can't use my Fasthosts SSL, how do I do it?

                  I presume a sharedSSL service will be the way to go - am I right in thinking I can still keep the non-secure side of the site hosted with FH or does the whole lot have to be moved?

                  And importantly... recommendations please! Don't want to be charged a fortune & seem to recall that there were cheaper solutions than Actinic's own £100 service. It's gotta work with Actinic though - I'm not dumping that!

                  I need SSL for this site, certainly another one in a few weeks and probably more to follow.

                  Cheers - Duncan

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Hi Duncan,

                    As i mentioned previous within this thread
                    When talking previously with clients on Fasthost SSL. Fasthost could not set up the symbolic link, therefore the only option they had was to set up the whole site in SSL only.
                    So thats 1 option, having your whole site SSL. (Which may be the way to go for you, if you don't want to changing hosting company)

                    The other two options are:

                    2nd Option: Having a payment service provider - (Paypal or Worldpay)

                    3rd Option: Having Actinic SSL, Internetter or 4SureHosting.

                    Kind Regards
                    Nadeem Rasool
                    SellerDeck Development

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Thanks Nadeem

                      If I use Actinic Shared SSL, am I right in thinking the non-SSL part of the store simply stays where it is or does that get moved to an Actinic server too?

                      If I go full SSL, does that stop the store content getting picked up by search engines?

                      Cheers - Dunc.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Hi there

                        With regards to Actinic SSL, you store simply stays where it is, at the time, when the customer enter their credit card details, the customer gets bounced to our secure server, they enter their cc details, click on finish, then they get bounced back your server.

                        If I go full SSL, does that stop the store content getting picked up by search engines?
                        I have not heard of this at all. I would not have thought so, as search engine pick up on content of pages.

                        Kind Regards
                        Nadeem Rasool
                        SellerDeck Development

                        Comment


                          #13
                          my thoughts

                          I used to run on fasthosts servers with no trouble on the old windows 2000 servers, from V4. When they upgraded to window 2003, I had so many timeout problems that I could not feel safe with the thought of putting my sites there anymore. The linux servers at the time caused just as much grief, and FH will always say it is actinic not FH. I have now removed every last one of my sites, as I have some really good fast servers. Good luck to you if you have got it working.
                          Jenny
                          Hanson Web Design
                          www.hansonwebdesign.co.uk
                          jenny@hansonwebdesign.co.uk
                          Actinic hosting, Actinic Software, template design and re-design

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