III Customer Manual

1 General

1.1 Login and Password

After you have received your user name and password and the url of the ISPConfig system from your reseller you can login. Please go to the URL of the ISPConfig system (e.g. https://www.domain.tld:81 ; "www.domain.tld" has to be replaced appropriately) with your browser and enter your user name and password in the form "Login". Confirm by clicking on "Login".

• Forgot your Password? Please contact your hosting company to help you.
  

1.2 Customer Interface

The customer interface consists of the following sections:

• Menubar with the menus "Web-Manager", "Web-FTP", "Tools", "Help" and "Logout".
• Structure Tree: The structure tree is the storage system of the ISPConfig system. The sites are managed here. By clicking on "expand" all folders are opened. By clicking on "collapse" the tree is closed.
• Information Field for Customers

1.3 ISPConfig Privileges for Customers

As an ISPConfig customer you can do the following tasks:

1.4 Saving

The ISPConfig system offers you two possibilities to save data you enter into a form:

• "Save"-Button: Click onto the "Save"-button to save your entries. The information will be submitted, and the structure tree as well as the start page will be reloaded in your browser.
  
  
  
  
• Change the tab: If a form consists of more than one tab you can simply change the tab to save your data. The data of the old tab will be saved, and the new tab will be loaded, whereas the structure tree will not be reloaded. This technique of saving data allows you to process forms with more than one tab in one pass and is one of the main characteristics of ISPConfig.
  
  

1.5 Changing the ISPConfig Password

You can edit your ISPConfig password under "Tools" -> "Change Password".

Please enter your current and your new password (2x) into the form "Change Password" and click on "Save".

1.6 Language Settings

You can set the language of your ISPConfig system under "Tools" -> "Change Language" .

In the form "Change Language" select the language the system should use for you and click on "Save".

Please note: The language setting only affects your own account. Other users of the ISPConfig system (other customers) can select their language individually.

1.7 Display of Passwords in the ISPConfig System

Passwords that you entered in the ISPConfig system (e.g. reseller or customer passwords for accessing the ISPConfig system; passwords for customers' MySQL databases) will not be displayed in the ISPConfig system for security reasons after they were saved! Thus, an empty password field in an ISPConfig form does not mean that no password was entered before.

An existing password does not get displayed after the reload of the respective form.

1.8 Help

Click onto the menu item "Help".

Here you will find the customer manual in English and German in PDF format as well as links to the knowledgebase on the Projektfarm website.

In addition to that you can find a question mark next to many input fields in the ISPConfig system:

If you click on the question mark a small pop-up window with context-sensitive help will open.

2 Sites

All sites you manage with ISPConfig appear in the structure tree. By clicking on the title of a site you can see its details and edit some of its data.

2.1 Basic Data of a Site

The basic data - visible on the tab "Basis" - can only be edited by your hosting company and the ISPConfig administrator.

The basic data contains the following information:

Basic Data:

• Server: Shows the name of the server which hosts your site.
• Hostname: The hostname of your site (e.g. www).
• Domain: The domain of your site (e.g. yourname.com).
• IP Address: The IP address of your site.

Information about the limits:

• Space MB: Shows the amount of MB available for your site.
• Max. User: The maximum number of users with email boxes that can be assigned to the site.
• Max. Domains: The maximum number of co-domains that can be assigned to the site.

To see the current usage of your site (webspace, number of users and domains) go to the section "Statistics" (see chapter III-3).

Information related to site features:
The value "1" indicates that the feature is activated.

• Shell Access: If turned on you have access to the shell of the server.
• CGI Scripts: If turned on your site can execute cgi scripts (if located in the directory "cgi-bin" of your site).
• PHP Scripts: If turned on your site can execute PHP scripts (file extensions: .php, .php3, .php4).
• SSI: If turned on Server Side Includes (SSI) can be executed (file extension: .shtml).
• FTP Access: If turned on all users assigned to the site can access their user directories via FTP.
• MySQL: If active and if you provide a MySQL password in the tab "Other" a database will be set up for the site (see chapter III 2.5). The database will not be created if you do not provide a password. If the name of the database is shown on the tab "Other" the database exists which means that a password has been provided before.
• SSL: Enables the creation of an SSL certificate for the site. You still have to fill out the tab "SSL" and select "Create Certificate" on that tab to create the certificate. Learn more about applying for an SSL certificate in chapter III-2.4.1.
• Anonymous FTP: Indicates if an Anonymous-FTP accout has been created for this web..
• Anon. FTP MB: Shows the storage space in MB which is available for this Anonymous-FTP account. "-1" means "Unlimited". If "Anonymous FTP" is not activated this field is ignored.

2.2 Users & Email

The management of a site's users and email boxes is done via the form "ISP Site". To add or edit a user click on the corresponding site in the structure tree and in the form that opens go to the tab "User & Email".

2.2.1 Adding a User with an Email Box

Adding a user is done in 6 steps:

1. Step: Open new form "ISP User".

In the structure tree click on the site to which you want to assign the new user.

Go to the tab "User & Email".

Click on the button "New".

2. Step: Provide a name, user name and password.

• Real Name: Enter the first and last name of the user.
• Email Address: Enter the desired email address for the user. Please note: Insert only the part which is in front of the "@"!
• Username: Enter a unique user name. After saving it the user name cannot be changed anymore. The email address [email protected] is created in addition to the email address entered above.
• Password: Enter a password for the user. After saving it the password becomes invisible, i.e. you cannot see it anymore in the form. If a user forgets his password you can assign him a new one here.

3. Step: Limit storage space of the user.

This is recommended if the overall webspace is low. In the field "Disk Space MB" enter the amount in MBs you want to assign to the new user. "-1" means "Unlimited".

• WebSpace MB: Enter the size of the web space that should be available to the user.
• MailSpace MB: Enter the size of the mailbox of the user.

See appendix 1 "Correlation Webquota <-> Mailquota" for information about the correlation between "WebSpace MB" and "MailSpace MB".

4. Step: Options.

The options can be selected now or later.

• Administrator Privileges: Check "Adminstrator" if the user should have administrator privileges for the site. If FTP access has been activated for this site the administrator has access to all directories of the site via FTP. A "normal" user has access only to his home directory in the directory "user".
  Please note: There can only be one administrator per site. If you want to change the site administrator you first have to deactivate administrator privileges for the old administrator; then you can activate administrator privileges for the new administrator.
• Shell Access: A user can only be granted shell access if the whole site has shell access. Therefore shell access has to active in the tab "Basic Data" (value �1�). If this is not the case the check box "Shell Access" is ignored (see also chapter III-2.2.6).
• Email Forwarding: Go to the tab "Advanced Settings"�. In the field "Forward to:" enter one or more email addresses (one address per line) to which incoming mails should be forwarded (see chapter III-2.2.2).
• Local Copy: In conjunction with email forwarding this field causes a copy of incoming emails to be sent to the local mailbox (in addition to the email addresses specified under "Forward to:"). If no email forwarding is configured this field is ignored.
• Email Alias: Enter additional email aliases for this email account (one per line). Example: You have created the email box [email protected] and want emails to [email protected] also to arrive in that mail box. To achieve this you can enter "contact" (only the part before the "@") into the field "Email Alias" (see chapter III-2.2.3).
• catchAll-Email: If you want all emails to your domain that are addressed to non-existing mail boxes to arrive in this email box activate this checkbox. Example: You have configured the email address [email protected]. Someone sends an email to [email protected] which does not exist. If [email protected] is a catchAll-Email address the email arrives here. If there is no catchAll-Email address for this domain the sender of the mail to [email protected] gets back an error message ("error: no such user here"). Please note: Per domain there can be only one catchAll-Email address.
• MailScan: Activate this field if you want your emails to be scanned for viruses or javascript code (in HTML emails) on the server. You can find further information about this feature in our FAQ.

5. Step: Save.

Click on "Save" to save the new user, click on "Reset" to abort the process.

2.2.2 Email Forwarding

The creation of an email forward is useful if the user of the mailbox already owns an email address and does not want to have another one.

C lick on the name of the user on the tab "User & Email".

Go to the tab "Advanced Settings" and enter the email address to which incoming mails should be forwarded in the field "Forward:".

Click on "Save".

2.2.3 Email Alias - Different Spellings

The creation of an email alias makes sense for example if many emails do not arrive because the sender used another spelling of the email address.

O n the tab "User & Email" click on the name of the user.

Go to the tab "Advanced Settings". In the field "Email Alias" enter your desired aliases (e.g. different spellings like "meyer", "maier") (one per line). An alias is the part in front of the �@� so you need not enter something like �@mycompany.com�.

Click on "Save".

2.2.4 Email Autoresponder

With the autoresponder you have the possibility to automatically send replies to incoming mails (e.g. if you are on holidays).

Check "Autoresponder" and enter your autoresponder message in the field "Message" below. To deactivate the autoresponder, simply uncheck "Autoresponder".

2.2.5 Virus- and Spam-Protection

On the tab "Spamfilter & Antivirus" you can enable virus and spam protection for a user's inbox.

• Spam-Filter: Activate this field if you want your emails to be checked for spam on the server. If you do not enable the spam filter you do not have to pay attention to the fields "Spam Strategy", "Spam Hits", "Rewrite Subject" and "Subject".
• Antivirus: Activate this field if you want your emails to be checked for viruses on the server. If a virus is found the affected email is deleted, and a notification is sent to the "Antivirus-Admin" (see chapter I-2.1). The antivirus software used here is ClamAV (http://clamav.elektrapro.com/); the virus signature database is updated automatically.
• Spam Strategy: If the spamfilter is active for this account you can select here how emails that are identified as spam should be handled. "accept" means the spam mail will be accepted so that you can sort your emails with the help of your email client (e.g. Outlook). This strategy is recommended in the first stage until you are sure that the spamfilter identifies your emails correctly. Then you can switch to "discard" which means that all emails identified as spam will be deleted on the server.
• Spam Hits: The spamfilter runs a number of tests on incoming emails and assigns points for each test that will be accumulated. If the sum reaches or surpasses the value "Spam Hits" the email is categorised as spam and will be handled according to "Spam Strategy". Default value: 5.0
• Rewrite Subject/Subject: Will only be considered if the spam strategy is "accept". If "Rewrite Subject" is activated the subject lines of all emails identified as spam get the prefix in the field "Subject" (default value: "***SPAM*** ") so that you can sort your emails with the help of your email client (e.g. Outlook) according to the subject line.

2.2.6 Mailuser Login

If the Mailuser Login is activated for a site (tab "Basis"), a user can make changes himself to his email settings (password, spamfilter and antivirus settings) by logging in under https://www.domain.tld:81/mailuser or. http://www.domain.tld:81/mailuser:

2.2.7 Delete Users and Email Boxes

In the structure tree select the site to which the user you want to delete is assigned.

In the form "ISP Site" go to the tab "User & Email" and select the user to be deleted.

Click on "Delete".

2.2.8 Activate Shell Access

Since this feature is a security risk it will only be granted in exceptional cases by server administrators.

This feature is active if you find the value "1" next to "Shell Access" on the tab "Basis". If this is the case this privilege can be given to users of the site.

To do this go to the tab "User & Email".

Select a user.

Check "Shell Access" in the form of the user and click on "Save".

2.2.9 Home Directory of a User

Every user of a site has his own home directory in the folder "user". For example, the user "testuser" has the home directory "user/testuser". If FTP access is allowed for the site a user (if he is not the site administrator, see chapter III-2.2.1) will find himself in his home directory after the FTP login (thus "user/testuser").

In every home directory you can find the folder "web" whose contents can be reached through the internet via

http://www.domain.tld/~testuser/

or

http://www.domain.tld/users/testuser/ ,

where "testuser" and "www.domain.tld" have to be replaced appropriately. .

2.3 Co-Domains

The administration of domains is done on the tab "Co-Domains" of a site. Here you can add new domains and configure forwards.

2.3.1 Add a Co-Domain

You can add a new co-domain as follows:

1. Step: Open form.

In the structure tree select the site to which you want to assign a new domain.

Go to the tab "Co-Domains".

Click on the button "New".

2. Step: Enter host and domain name.

• Hostname: E.g. www2, demo, etc.
• Domain: The name of the domain.

3. Step: Save.

Click on "Save" to save the information or on "Reset" to abort the process.

2.3.2 Forwarding

The option "Forward" is useful if you want domains to point to another URL or to another folder of the site than the Document Root.

A forward is created as follows:

Click on the corresponding site in the structure tree.

Go to the tab "Co-Domains".

Click on the IP address of the domain.

Click on the tab "Forward". Here you can specify the target of the forward, e.g. another URL or a path to a directory of your site.

Forward to a URL

Forward to the folder "documents" in the folder "web" of the site

Click on "Save".

2.3.3 Options

Under "Options" you can select if the local server is responsible for emails targeted to this co-domain ("Local Mailserver", default value) or not (the emails are treated by an external mail server).

Background: May an external mail server be responsible for the domain domain.tld. You are logged in on the local server (e.g. with a webmail interface) and want to send an email to another mailbox of domain.tld which means that this mail has to be sent to the external mail server because it is responsible for emails to domain.tld. If you have selected "Local Mailserver" under "Options" the local mail server will feel responsible for this email which means the email will not leave the local server and arrive the correct mail box. For such cases you have to select "External Mailserver" (see chapter III-2.6).

2.3.4 Delete a Co-Domain

A co-domain is deleted as follows:

Select the corresponding site in the structure tree.

Go to the tab "Co-Domains".

Click on the IP address of the domain.

Click on "Delete".

2.4 SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is useful to encrypt the data transfer between your site and the internet. You can only apply for a certificate if your reseller or the admin has activated this feature for you. In this case you will find the value "1" next to "SSL" on the tab "Basic Data" of your site.

2.4.1 Apply for an SSL Certificate

1. Step: Open tab / enter basic data.

Go to the section "SSL" of the site you need an SSL certificate for. Please note: The tab "SSL" is only visible after the feature "SSL" has been activated and saved on the tab "Basic Data".

• Basic Data: Enter the information of the company which is requesting the certificate (country, state, town, company, department).
• Duration of Validity: Enter the number of days the certificate should be valid. The default value is 365.

2. Step: Apply for the certificate.

In the field "Action" select "Create Certificate".

Click on "Save".

Now the SSL Certificate and the SSL Request are generated and loaded into the respective fields in the form. Copy the SSL Request and send it to your Certificate Authority (CA). After a while (depending on your CA) you will get your signed certificate via email from your CA.

After you got your certificate from your CA:

3. Step: Load certificate.

Copy the new certificate from the email you got from your CA and paste it into the field "SSL Certificate".

In the field "Action" select "Save Certificate".

4. Step: Save.

Click on "Save".

2.4.1 Delete SSL Certificate

On the tab "SSL" select "Delete Certificate" in the field "Action".

Click on "Save".

2.5 MySQL Database

If you find the value "1" next to "MySQL" on the tab "Basic Data" then a MySQL database is available for the virtual site. If you want to use it you should protect it with a password:

Go to the tab "Options".

Click on "New".

In the field "Password" enter your MySQL password.

Please note: A database is created only after a password has been entered for the first time! If a database exists (which means a password has been provided before) it looks like this:

The password is not visible for security reasons. But it can be changed at any time simply by writing a new password into the field "Password".

• mySQL Remote Access: If you want the database to be accessible from the outside (e.g. by an application running on your local desktop) you should activate this checkbox.
  

Click on "Save" to save this information. Click on "Reset" to abort the process.

2.6 Options

Apart from the details referring to the MySQL database you can find the following fields on the tab "Options":

• Frontpage Password: If Frontpage is activated for this site you can enter the password here which is necessary to connect to the server via Frontpage. Once a password has been entered it is not visible in the ISPConfig interface anymore.
• Mailserver: Please select if the local mail server or an external mail server is responsible for treating emails addressed to the host + main domain of the site (e.g. www.domain.tld) (see chapter III-2.3.3).
• Logsize: Please specify the max. size of Apache log files. Valid are entries in percent (of the storage space available for the site) or absolute numbers (e.g. "5" for "5 MB"). The default value is 30%. Please bear in mind the entries in percent make no sense for a web with unlimited storage space!
• DirectoryIndex: Please specify the files (one per line) that the web server will show by default if no file is specified in the URL. Example: the URL http://www.domain.tld/documents/ is accessed. According to the figure above the web server would search the file "index.html" in the directory "documents"; if it cannot find that file it would search "index.htm", then "index.php", etc.
• Individual Error Pages: If individual error pages are activated for the site, you can enter the HTML code for your error pages in the appropriate fields. If you leave the fields blank, the standard error pages will be used.

3 Customer Statistics

3.1 Site Statistics

On the tab "Statistics" you can find statistics covering the following areas:

• Storage Space and Usage: The storage space available for this site and the actual usage of this storage space. The storage space limit can be edited on the tab "Basic Data" by your hosting company.
  
  
  
  
• Traffic: You can see the traffic of the current month (web, email, FTP) as well as the traffic of the last four years (if available).
  
  
  

3.2 Webalizer Statistics

If the statistics software "Webalizer" is installed on the server, the Apache log files of the sites on the server are analysed once a night, and new statistics are created. You can see them in the folder "stats" of the respective site, e.g. http://www.domain.tld/stats/.

The statistics are password protected. To login there are the following possibilities:

1. If no user has been created for the site (on the tab "User & Email"), you can login with the user name "admin" and the password "stats".
   
   
   
   
2. If users have been created for the site, you can login with every valid user name/password combination.

Please note: If you have created a new site, the Webalizer statistics are not yet available because Webalizer is run only once a night. After 24 hours at the latest the first statistics should have been created.

4 Web-FTP/Password Protection of Directories (.htaccess/.htpasswd)

If you do not have an FTP client or do not like to use it the ISPConfig system offers you the possibility to use FTP functionality via your browser.

The following functionality is offered by Web-FTP:

• File Upload
• Edit file permissions
• Delete files
• Create folders
• Edit folder permissions
• Delete folders
• Password protection of directories (.htaccess/.htpasswd)

To use Web-FTP please select the respective site under "Web-FTP":

After your selection the file system of the corresponding site is shown in the structure tree.

Below the menubar you can find the three buttons "File Upload","New Folder", and "FTP Logout" .

4.1 Show Directory Contents

To see the contents of a folder click on the corresponding folder in the structure tree.

You will then be shown the contents of the directory.

4.2 File Properties

To edit file properties please click on the name of the file. You will then be shown the properties of the file.

You can now rename the file, move it to another folder or change its permissions.

4.3 Directory Properties

To see the properties of the site's basic directories "web", "user", "log", "cgi-bin" and "ssl" click on "/" in the structure tree.

If you click on a folder in the structure tree its subfolders will be shown.

The form "Folder" is loaded:

To see the properties of a folder please click on its name.

You can now edit the folder's properties.

4.3.1 Password Protection of Directories

You can protect a directory in a way that its contents is accessible in a browser only after a valid user name/password combination has been entered (see chapter III-3.2, "Webalizer Statistics").

Click on "Protect Directory".

Enter a user name and a password and click on "Save".

If a directory is password-protected the button "Protect Directory" is replaced by the button "Edit" in the form with the directory properties. If you click on this button existing users will be listed, and you can edit their passwords. In addition to that you can add new users.

4.4 File Upload

To upload files to the server click on the button "File Upload". The form "File" is loaded.

Select the file to be uploaded from your local hard disk as well as the folder where the file should be saved on the server, and specify the permissions of the file. Then click on "Save".

4.5 Create a Folder

To create a folder click on the button "New Folder". The form "Folder" is loaded where you can specify its name, path and permissions.

4.6 Delete Files and Folders

To delete a file or a folder please click on the "X" on the right side of its name.

Please note: A directory has to be empty before it can be deleted!

5 Additional Software

The following additional software is available for the ISPConfig system:

• Webmail: A browser interface for email boxes.
• phpMyAdmin: A browser interface for the administration of your MySQL databases.

If the ISPConfig administrator has installed these applications you can find links for them under "Tools".

5.1 Webmail

The application used as email interface is called "Uebimiau". Further information can be found on the website of the Uebimiau project: http://uebimiau.sourceforge.net/ .

The application can be accessed via the link under "Tools" or via the folder "webmail" which is located in the web of the ISPConfig system, thus https://www.domain.tld:81/webmail/ where www.domain.tld has to be replaced appropriately.

5.2 phpMyAdmin

Further information about phpMyAdmin can be found under http://www.phpmyadmin.net/ .

The application can be accessed via the link under "Tools" or via the folder "phpmyadmin" which is located in the web of the ISPConfig system, thus https://www.domain.tld:81/phpmyadmin/ where www.domain.tld has to be replaced appropriately.

Appendix

1 Correlation Webquota <-> Mailquota

The following correlation exists between webquota and mailquota (see chapter III-2.2.1):

There are two possible scenarios:

1. The hard disk is partitioned RedHat like, i.e., quota is enabled on the /home partition; on the other partitions there is no quota. Then "WebSpace MB" specifies the real web space available to the user; his mail box is not included in this storage space because it is under /var/spool/mail. The size of the email box is then specified by "MailSpace MB".
2. The hard disk is partitioned SuSE like, i.e., there is one big partition with quota enabled on it. Then "WebSpace MB" specifies the whole storage space including the mail box which is available for the user. The mail box is included because the directory /var/spool/mail is also on the partition where quota is enabled.
   "MailSpace MB" then specifies the size which the mail box can have in ideal case, i.e., if the user has enough unused space. Example: You give the user "testuser" 10 MB under "WebSpace MB" and 5 MB under "MailSpace MB". "testuser" has used 1 MB of his 10 MB in his home directory, i.e., 9 MB are still available. Nevertheless his mail box cannot become bigger than 5 MB because that is the value specified under "MailSpace MB". But if "testuser" has used 7 MB in his home directory only 3 MB are left unused which means that his mail box cannot become bigger than 3 MB. The mail box size in the second scenario is the minimum of the two values "MailSpace MB" and "unused storage space".

The storage space used by all users of a web cannot become bigger the the value specified under "Space MB" on the tab "Basis" of a site.