Beginners Guide to Web Hosting

Congratulations on taking the first steps toward hosting your very own web site. This guide is designed to help you through the initial stages of choosing a hosting plan, registering or transferring your domain name, uploading your site content, creating mail users, setting up mailboxes and configuring e-mail clients.

Choosing A Hosting Plan

There are a multitude of different hosting plans available, and choosing the right plan for you can sometimes be confusing. It needn't be however, and if you know some of your general requirements then choosing a hosting plan is easy. If your needs change later on, you can  upgrade your hosting plan with just a few mouse clicks.

Windows or Linux?

Linux is an operating system that is responsible for running many of the web sites you see today on the internet. The operating system itself is completely free and nearly all of the software written for Linux is also free. Windows is developed by Microsoft Corporation and is also popular with some web developers. It is slightly more expensive compared to Linux hosting because of the licensing fees that it attracts.

A web developer will be able to advise you whether to choose Linux or Windows hosting.

If you are developing the site yourself, whether you choose Windows or Linux will depend on the scripting language you intend to use to develop the site. For simple HTML/CSS sites we recommend Linux hosting. We also recommend Linux hosting for sites scripted using Perl, PHP or Python. If you wish to script your site using ASP or ASP.NET you will need to choose Windows-based hosting.

Scripting Support

Simple websites composed solely of HTML and images do not require any scripting support and are better suited to the cheaper hosting plans. On the other hand, if you intend to host forums, a blog or any other type of web application, then you will need to choose a plan with scripting support.

Database Support

Database support allows your website to connect to a database for reading and writing all kinds of different information (for example customer, product or inventory details). Many web applications require database support to in order to run.

Hosting Plans Made Easy

The three hosting plans suitable for individuals or small businesses are the Starter Plan, Business Plan and the Premier Plan. The major differences between the three plans are outlined below.

	Starter Plan	Business Plan	Premier Plan
Support for Scripting
Support for Databases
Support for Applications

Once you have decided on a hosting plan, just click the Order button to proceed through to Ipera's online store, where you can register a new domain or transfer an existing domain to your Ipera hosting service.

Registering or Transferring A Domain Name

Domain names are another concept that can be confusing at first glance for those new to web hosting. A domain name is a web address that is easy to remember, like www.joe-the-plumber.com. When ordering hosting from Ipera, you will need to register a new domain, or transfer an existing domain to Ipera's servers. Transferring your domain to Ipera will allow you to manage your own domain name settings from within the control panel.

You will be prompted to register or transfer a domain name during the sign-up process or you can manually register or transfer a domain at any time through the online store.

Note: To transfer an existing domain to Ipera you will need to obtain the domain auth key from your existing domain registrar. Ipera Support Staff can help you obtain your domain auth key if you are having difficulties. You can contact Ipera Support on 1300 473 722.

Requirements for Registering A Domain Name

The domain name registration system in Australia is more restrictive compared to systems in place elsewhere in the world. To register a .com.au or .net.au name in Australia, you must be an Australian registered company or a business with a registered business number (ABN, BRN, BN). You will need to supply one of these numbers when registering your domain name and the name that you decide to register must be an exact match, acronym or abbreviation of your business name or a product or service that you sell.

These requirements do not apply to domains registered outside of Australia - e.g. yourdomain.com, yourdomain.net or yourdomain.info.

Australian Domain Names need to be renewed every two years. Ipera will notify you via e-mail when your domain is coming up for renewal.

Uploading Content To Your Web Site

After you have selected a hosting plan and entered your billing details you will receive an email containing a login and password for accessing your Control Panel. Please follow the instructions in the e-mail to log in to the Control Panel by pointing your browser to http://hsp.ipera.net.au/cp and using your supplied credentials.

FTP Account configuration.

You need to create an FTP Account before you upload content to your site using FTP. Within the Control Panel, select the domain name you want to create an ftp account for, then in the "Hosting" section of this domain select  "Setup". In the "Account Preferences" of the resulting webform enter your desired ftp account details and click ok at the bottom of this page.

Then with your favourite ftp client use ftp.yourdomain.com.au as the host and the username/password you just created. Ipera recommend FileZilla if you don't have a preferred FTP Client.

To upload your website simply browse to the directory holding your site on your local machine and drag the copy the whole directory into the http-docs directory on the server.

After you have finished uploading your content, you can check it by navigating to your webpage from within your web browser

Creating Mailboxes

One of the first things you'll want to do once your hosting is up and running, is set up some additional mailboxes for your users. This guide will help you get your new mail accounts up and running in no time.

Logging in to your Control Panel

To log in to your Control Panel, point your web browser to http://hsp.ipera.net.au. Log in using the username and password you were supplied with during the initial signup process. If you can't remember your password, click the "Forgot your password?" link underneath the login window and you can email yourself your password.

Adding a Mail Account

Once you've entered the correct details, click the System tab (shown in an orange square in the top-left of the screenshot below). The page will reload and you should see your domain name at the bottom of the screen (shown in an orange square at the bottom of the screenshot below). Click on your domain name.

 

On the next screen (shown below) click on the Mail  icon (shown in the orange square)

 

Click Add New Mail Account (shown in the orange square)

 

Enter the email address of the account you would like to add, as well as the desired password, and press OK.

 

That's it! Repeat the process every time you need to add a new mail account.

Configuring your Mail Client

The guide below shows you how to configure Outlook to send and receive mail from your Ipera hosting account. Ipera's mail servers run on port 2525, as well as port 25 to avoid compatibility issues.

In Microsoft Outlook select Tools -> Options

Then Mail Setup -> E-mail Accounts

 

 Click the New button

 

Check "Manually configure server settings or additional server types" and press Next.

Make sure Internet E-mail is selected and press Next.

 

Enter your details, making sure that you replace yourdomain with your own domain name, then click More Settings.

 

Click the Outgoing Server tab and make sure that the boxes below checked.

Click the Advanced tab and change the Outgoing Server port to 2525

Press OK and then press Next to finish setup.

 

Outlook should now be configured to send and receive from your hosting account. If you have other accounts configured in Outlook, you will need to choose which account to send from when you send an e-mail. To select an account, press the Accounts button underneath the Send button and select the appropriate account.