When you log into your webmail, there is now a link that says [ Enable AutoLoad ] under each webmail client.

Click the AutoLoad link under your preferred webmail client and when you log in in the future, that webmail client will automatically load instead of giving you the option to select webmail client.

Sometimes you will have to change the permissions of a file. I had to do this recently to get an installation of WordPress blog to run. Here is how to change file permissions using cPanel:

1. log into cPanel
2. look for File Manager and follow the link
3. you will get a window that says Please select a directory to open: and a number of options
4. select Web Root (public_html/www)
5. look at the far right column. It says Perms These are the file permissions for each file using the standard Unix file permissions numbering system
6. click the permissions for the file you want to change you can edit it right on the web page
7. click “OK”

In a nutshell, cPanel is giving you an easy interface for doing a chmod.
Unix and Unix-type file permissions appear quite cryptic at first but are easy to understand. More info at Linux File Permission Confusion and other sites you can google.

You got a dreaded “internal server error” on your website. Even I get a panicky, sick feeling when I see such a page.

In case you have never seen one, an “internal server error” page will usually be all text and say something like:

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or
misconfiguration and was unable to complete your
request.Please contact the server administrator,
[email address] and inform them of the time the
error occurred, and anything you might have done
that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available
in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered
while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the
request.

What do you do? Check your error logs. cPanel makes it easy to do this.

Log into your cPanel. Scroll down to “Error logs.” This link will show you the most recent entries into the error log for your site. Look for the the date and time of the error you are trying to track down. The logs will provide some info about the error and the file that caused the error.

Here are the login formats for cPanel and web-based email (can be any of NeoMail, Horde and SquirrelMail, depending on what is enabled on your server).

Remember to use the secure login when you are using a wireless internet connection that is not your own secured network.

cPanel

• Non-Secure http://yoursite.com/cpanel/
• Non-Secure http://yoursite.com:2082/
• Secure https://yoursite.com:2083/

Webmail

• Non-Secure http://yoursite.com/webmail/
• Non-Secure http://yoursite.com:2095/
• Secure https://yoursite.com:2096/

For smart security, put the script that your cron job runs in a directory above your /cgi-bin/ and /www/ or /public_html/ directories.

This is because if your script is in, or under, your /public_html/ directory, then it can be executed via a browser by anyone anytime.

In the previous post, I mentioned how cPanel crashes and restarts itself and how this works well.

Sometimes, it does not restart. This happened to me recently for the first time after years of working with cPanel and Web Host Manager.

If you have shell access, restart cPanel with this command:

/etc/init.d/cpanel restart

At some point you will get an email with a subject line like this:

cpsrvd failed @ Apr 05 07:08:11 2007. A restart was attempted automagicly.

Yikes! What the heck this this mean? For a long time, I was so spooked by the words “failed” and “restart” that I assumed “automagicaly” was a typo for automatically and missed the small joke.

cpsrvd is “cPanel Service Daemon,” which is gives you cPanel services. It crashes. Often. So often, cPanel handles the crash well by restarting and sending you the above email. So, it’s not a problem. Relax. Whew.

It’s easy to make errors that prevent spam from being blackholed. (An earlier post, described how to blackhole spam with email filters.) Several people recently swore to me that SpamAssassin was broken. I checked the email filters they had set up and found some peskly self-inflicted problems. Here’s the problem so that you can hopefully avoid wasting time figuring out what is wrong. Continue reading ‘Avoid Common Errors When Trying to Blackhole Spam’

Just where are those emails stored on your server? For emails that have been delivered, here is how:

Log into cPanel, click the “File Manager” icon. Go to the directory named (appropriately) “mail.” (Your “public_html” directory is at the same level directory as “mail.”) When you have only one, default, email set up, you will find what appears to be files for “inbox,” “saved-messages,” “sent-mail” and possibly others depending on how much you have used this email account.

After you have set up several email addresses, you will find additional directories in your “mail” directory that match the email addresses. Open one of these and you will find additional files that contain the email for this email address.

You can also look for email by logging in via FTP using your favorite FTP software. Most accounts are set up so that upon log in, you are at your “home” directory. Click around just like above and you will see where email is located.

Sometimes after deleting an email address, cPanel does not delete all the files for that email address. Now that you know where email is stored, you can delete files and directories yourself to clean up and free up disk space.

When you want to add a low-cost or free forum to your site, you can install phpBB by using cPanel. Most setups of cPanel let you install, delete or upgrade phpBB and other software from within cPanel.

Click the link called “Scripts Library” on the main cPanel page. This takes you to links to the various software packages that you can install with an easy user interface. Select phpBB and you will be on your way.

phpBB has been around for a long time. Many sites use it. I have used it in the past and recommend it.