Getting Started

Although the process of getting a website online is relatively simple, it may cause some consternation for those who have never set up a website before. Here are the recommended steps. Though there is certainly some flexibility in their order, each has to be observed in order to get your site online successfully.

  1. Plan and design your website
  2. Sign up for a hosting plan. If you already have experience managing a hosting account, we usually recommend the "Standard" plan. You should receive an email from us with all your account information within 24 hours, usually less.
  3. If you already have a domain name registered, point it to our Name Servers: ns.orthodoxinternet.com and ns2.orthodoxinternet.com.
  4. Upload your files to the temporary address we'll give you. The easiest way to do this is by using a FTP program, although you can also do this through the "file manager" feature in the Control Panel. You may install any scripts you'd like to use and configure your email addresses and other features via the Control Panel.
  5. Wait a few hours for "DNS propogation"
  6. Now your site should be fully functional. You will be able to access your site by FTP and other means and update it as much as you'd like. You can delete the information on your old server and cancel your old account.

Transfers can usually be completely seamless—your visitors won't know that your site has moved. If we are registering a domain for you, you can skip steps 2-4.

In some cases, the process will be more involvled. If anything about this isn't clear, please feel free to contact us and we will help you navigate the process.

For access your site:

  • Public site: yourdomain.com OR www.yourdomain.com
  • FTP: ftp.yourdomain.com (with your username and password)
  • cPanel: yourdomain.com/cpanel (with your username and password)

Other paths that you might need to know if you are more advanced in the web programming:

  • Cgi-bin:
    /home/username/www/cgi-bin
  • Date:
    /bin/date
  • ImageMagick:
    /usr/X11R6/bin/
  • MySQL:
    /var/lib/mysql/
  • Perl:
    /usr/bin/perl
  • Sendmail:
    /usr/sbin/sendmail
  • Web directory:
    /home/username/www
  • Whois:
    /usr/bin/whois

« Back