Disaster? What Disaster?

Hah, you too can laugh in the face of disaster--deleted e-mails and deleted files alike. You may remember from a previous newsletter that we keep backup copies of customer files. As of that newsletter if you'd lost a file within the preceding 30 days, we could bring it back from the dead. We've improved on that safety and it's covered in an article below. Click here to go to the article on self-serve file restoration.

But now, we've added e-mail protection--and it's in your control. Let's say you've just finished nuking a whole pile of spam e-mail. Afterward, you discover you've erased an important e-mail by mistake. As an aside, you don't have to deal with piles of spam e-mail if you don't want to. You can have a look at the following Helpdesk and newsletter articles for information on how to reduce and even eliminate the spam you get.

• PEP Quick Start (Help Document)
• Map Files (Newsletter)
• Map Files (Help Document)
• SPAM FAQ (Help Document)

Anyway, you've deleted an e-mail and you need it back. No problem.

Go to the Helpdesk. Log in and click on "Webmail," just to the right of "My Account" near the top of the page. Then, once you're on the Webmail page, look for "Archive" and then click on that link.

Once on the "Archive" page, you'll see a series of links--up to seven--sorted and named according to date. For example, if you've logged in on April 15, 2006, you might see the following:

• Saturday, April 15, 2006
• Friday, April 14, 2006
• Thursday, April 13, 2006
• Wednesday, April 12, 2006
• Tuesday, April 11, 2006
• Monday, April 10, 2006
• Sunday, April 09, 2006
• Saturday, April 08, 2006
• Friday, April 07, 2006
• Thursday, April 06, 2006
• Wednesday, April 05, 2006
• Tuesday, April 04, 2006
• Monday, April 03, 2006
• Sunday, April 02, 2006

If you click on any of the links, you'll be taken to another page where you can see who the message is from, the e-mail subject, the date recieved and the size of the message. At this point, you can restore the message to your inbox and the entire e-mail will be available to you.

If you click on an individual message, you'll be able to see the message headers, along with the first bit of the message so you can be sure of what the message is about. You can then return to the previous page and restore it to one of your webmail folders.

Neat, eh!

You've got Squeezable E-mail

By "squeezable" we mean "compressible." By "compressible" we mean your e-mail is stored in compressed files, saving you disk space. This feature doesn't relate to archived e-mail but it's an added feature we put in place at about the same time as our archived e-mail system.

Also, this feature is available to all our customers and is "turned on" by default. If you need your e-mail in an uncompressed format because you deal with the "raw" mail files, let us know and we will "decompress" your e-mail. Or, you can "do-it-yourself" by adding the "disable compression" command to their mailrule file. (for information on "mailrules" visit our Personal E-mail Processing help pages).

"RSS" stands for Really Simple Syndication. "Great," you say, "what's Really Simple Syndication?"

RSS is one of those topics that needs a background topic summarized before you can explain what it is. So, here goes. RSS is an "XML" "dialect." "XML" (stands for "eXtensible Markup Language") is an evolution of HTML, the basic "markup" language used to display web pages. XML was developed so that data from any source could be understood by anyone, anywhere on the Internet. XML imposes strict but simple syntax guidelines on how documents are structured but it also allows authors to define what structure the document takes.

Because XML has a very strict syntax, it's easily "parsed" by machines. In other words, it's easy for scripts to strip out the "markup" (XML) and use the information contained in the markup. So, that means even if we don't know how someone has structured a document or what information their document contains, we can still glean the contents from the document so it makes sense to us.

So, the really short answer to "what is RSS" is it's a way for website owners to make some or all of their website content readily available for others. You may have seen , , or images on a page. Those symbols usually mean the page is setup with an RSS "feed." In other words, if you are setup to understand RSS feeds, you can keep up-to-date with the information posted on the website.

Before going any further, we should point out there are different "flavours" of RSS. People not satisfied with one standard decided to develop their own. Now there are a number of formats:

• Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
• RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)
• Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
• Atom

From the above RSS "flavours" you can see RSS doesn't stand just for "Really Simple Syndication," though that's probably the most recognizable name derived from the acronym.

News sites adopted RSS soon after it became available. They used the technology to make their news feeds available to a wider market (i.e. to "capture" more market). Now, with blogs having become hugely popular and many bloggers making their sites available via an RSS feed, you see those , , or symbols all the time. Some browsers now have built-in RSS detection, alerting surfers to the presence of an RSS feed.

Of course, all this begs the question, "how do you get and understand RSS feeds?" The answer is an "aggregator."

Quit rolling your eyes. Yes, yet another tech term.

An aggregator is just a program designed to understand RSS or other XML "feeds." An aggregator will check a feed for new content periodically and update itself with the latest information from the feed. So, for example, if you've got an aggregator set to check on the CNN website, the aggregator might check every hour for new content and display headings, along with the first paragraph or couple of sentences. You could then click on the headlines that interest you and open the CNN site for the full story.

"So, why don't I have an aggregator and why haven't I heard of 'aggregators?'" Remember a few years ago when you could subscribe to news services online and the stories would be delivered to your desktop? Well, that type of service was a sort of aggregator, though it didn't use RSS to deliver it to computer desktops.

Aggregators are being built into other programs. For example, if you use the Firefox browser, you can add an aggregator extension to the browser. Firefox offers generalized and specialized aggregators. To check out Firefox extensions, click here.

Aggregators are also being built into desktop programs so you can keep up to date on the latest news while you work, surf the 'Net, or surf for iTunes--in much the same way those news subscription services used to work. The biggest advantage now is the fact you're not limited to the news feeds some company offers. You're tapped into a much wider spectrum of sources. In fact, because many bloggers now offer their blogs via an RSS feed, in many ways you can be connected to people--not just services or stories.

Some claim that having a RSS feed can improve your rankings in Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. While there may be a relationship between having an RSS feed and higher search engine rankings, the relationship is more likely between having a regularly updated site and lots of visitors. After all, if you're updating your site regularly (for example by keeping a blog), you're more likely to get traffic and links (updates + traffic + incoming links = higher SE rankings).

A Coupla Links

One of our customers, Pam Blackstone, has a website "Weblens" (featured in an earlier Islandnet Newsletter) and a blog you might want to check out. She started her blog as an extension and enhancement of her Weblens website and has been "blogging" about it. In particular, she has links to lots of aggregators and uses RSS as a tool to enhance the visibility of her site. The second link doesn't have anything to do with RSS but it does relate to another article in this newsletter--web statistics.

Blog Promotion: Push Posts Out With an RSS Feed

Blog Promotion: What Do Your Stats Tell You?

Go, go use our logo

Back in April of last year, we let everyone know we have a set of "badges" people can use on their websites to show who hosts them--us. We created the badges because customers had asked us over the years for something they could use for that purpose.

We've added some functionality to this feature. If your site has an Islandnet.com badge on it you can earn "reward points." Reward points are values you can apply toward the purchase of all Islandnet.com services--except web development, programming, and high speed. Reward points are expressed in dollar amounts and are displayed in the "Summary" section of your account in the Helpdesk.

Here are the ways having a badge on your site can earn reward points:

• Impressions - each time your page is loaded with an Islandnet.com badge, you will earn a reward point or fraction of a point
• Click throughs - each time someone clicks on an Islandnet.com badge, you will earn a reward point or a fraction of a point
• Purchases - each time someone purchases an Islandnet.com service or product as the direct result of having clicked on a badge on your site, you will earn a reward point or fraction of a point.

Badges are available in various sizes--from 120 x 30 pixels to 728 x 90 pixels. If you'd like to display an Islandnet.com hosting badge, you can click here to visit our badges page.

Reward yourself by giving blood!

While we're talking "reward points," we thought it would be a good time to remind customers that you can also earn reward points by giving blood. We'll reward Islandnet.com customers with $5 worth of Reward Points toward Islandnet.com services for every unit of blood donated. Just drop by the Canadian Blood Services location (3449 SAANICH ROAD), donate blood, and tell them you want to sign the "Partners for Life" book (used to be called the "Life Link" book). Be sure to indicate you're an Islandnet customer by including your username. We check the book and reward customers when we know they've donated.

Hmm, maybe "Badges 'n Blood" would be a good name for the program. Nah.

Islandnet Picks

Maxthon - Another (good)_ Browser	Canadian Blood Services	Engadget - Another (good) gadget blog	Autoblog
What would you expect from a browser built by some guy working in a warehouse in China? What would you expect if only the one guy who worked on it was responsible for *everything* in the browser? Not much? Well, you're in for a surprise then because Maxthon is a pretty darn good browser and it's been downloaded over 48 million times (yes, that's 48 followed by six zeros). Check out this Internet Explorer-based browser that features tabbed browsing and a plethora of features (plethora--love that word), which you can choose to enable or disable. For those of you who plumb the depths of browser esoterica, this browser even has a feature where the browser periodically releases memory, thereby overcoming a problem (feature?) that has been with IE forever.	Well, we give reward points for donations to these guys. The least we can do is provide a link to their site, right? As the splash page of their site says, "you'll get a hero's welcome, a free smiles, and a cookie." More from their site: "Every minute of every day, someone in Canada needs blood. That someone could be a loved one, a friend, a co-worker – or even you."	Bleeding edge technology--that's what this blog is all about. From the uber-cheap to the uber-expensive, this blog covers all the latest in popular electronics and technology. Not surprisingly, this blog is one of the most popular on the Internet, along with another blog we highlighted a couple of months back--Gizmodo. If any site has the first coverage of GPS underwear, it'll probably be Engadget or Gizmodo.	Do you drool like Homer Simpson when a hot rod goes by? Does your heart skip a beat when you see the latest slick concept car at one of the big car shows? If you answered "yes" to either of the above questions, then this site may be for you. This site covers the latest in auto news--from the financial health of various auto manufacturers to the latest concept cars, news, and other auto-related topics. You've got good company. This blog is one of the most popular on the Internet.

Islandnet.com Hosted Sites

Nautical Clocks	Christine Reimer - Artist	Cowichan River Flyfishing	Bob Harris
"Service to the Mariner" is the motto of this site. As the site name suggests, you'll find nautical clocks, barometers, instruments, and specialty items on this site. Whether you've got a small power boat or a "super yacht," you'll probably find something useful, handsome, or both.	From the website: "This established Canadian artist uses brilliant colors & energetic brushwork in her very striking & original, acrylic on canvas paintings." If you enjoy art, you should visit Christine's site to enjoy vivid paintings of BC's west coast and of France.	If you like to fly fish, this site's for you. You'll find just about every kind of conceivable fly fishing lure here. You can also shop for rods 'n reels, fly lines, nets, leaders, floatants, and more. Now that it's spring, visit this site and shop for your summer fly fishing trips.	Bob Harris' site is one of the busier sites we host and there's a pretty good reason why--Bob's funny. Formerly a writer for the TV program "CSI" and formerly having many other impressive adjective phrases attached to his name, he writes a blog and sells interesting stuff from his site. Check out his posts about pudus--one of the cutest animals in the universe. Those with right-leaning opinions may not enjoy his blog so much--particularly if American politics is important to them.

We Love Websites!

Websites are our business--hosting them and building them. If you need a website--blog, retail, business-to-business, personal, database-driven, or something else--Islandnet has plenty of website development and programming experience. Call or e-mail us if you'd like anything from graphics to nit-picky programming.

Well, spammers in general are the "scourge of the Internet"--not just "form spammers." We're referring to two types of "form spammers" in this instance--those who abuse online forms to relay their spam and those who post spam messages to guestbooks, forums, and other interactive web pages. With the huge increase in blogs--and the forms necessary to make them work--spammers have been busy figuring out how to use these new trends to their nefarious ends.

The modus operandi for guestbook and forum spammers is pretty straightforward. They'll simply use online forms to publicize their junk online. So, if you've got a guestbook, you might get some posts that compliment your site, then go on to pitch viagra sales, some other type of medication, or another dubious and / or offensive endeavour. Some will go so far as to use a "robot" to post forum or guestbook responses.

The other type of spammer is generally more sophisticated. They use online forms to try forwarding their slimy messages.

"How do they do it? A form spammer will try to insert certain characters and commands into one or more fields in an online form, hoping that the characters and commands are passed along to a mail server. The characters and commands will instruct the mail server to send messages to multiple recipients and / or do other things the form was never intended to do.

Well written guestbooks, blogging programs, and other form-based pages aren't as susceptible to spammers' efforts to hijack them. Well written form submission software will strip out commands and characters that don't belong so that improper instructions never get to the e-mail server.

Islandnet.com has written a new guestbook gadget that addresses many vulnerabilities that spammers use to exploit online forms. The new guestbook was covered in the newsletter last month. To have a look at the article last month, click here. Otherwise, click here to view the help documents, along with a brief synopsis of the guestbook.

On February 20, 2006 Island Internet--that's "Island-dot-net" not "Islandnet-dot-com"--circulated an e-mail to its customers that many interpreted as a "going out of business" message. February 20^th and 21^st rumours circulated about the company's fate and Island.net offices were closed. Additionally, calls to their telephone numbers yielded telephone message systems but no one answered phones. Some Island.net customers also reported service outages.

Local television coverage on February 21^st reported that Island.net had incurred a substantial liability with Uniserve--a mainland company and competitor of Island.net and Islandnet.com. As a result, Uniserve assumed operation of Island.net. During the transition, confusion arose and some customers moved elsewhere.

So, we're happy to report we're still here and in good health. We're also happy to welcome those customers who made the switch to us--Islandnet.com.

What's a "hit," a "visit," a "referrer," or a "user agent?" What's a "code 200," a "code 206," a "code 304" or a "code 404?"

Hit Counters

Maybe you've visited a website with a "hit" counter on it and thought, "Wow, I'm visitor number 10²³¹--impressive. So many visits they need to use scientific notation!"

We're being tongue-in-cheek here but you often visit sites with "hit" counters on them and they can appear quite impressive--thousands of apparent visits in such-and-such a time period. Typically, hit counters add one unit to a file stored in the same directory as the file it's tracking each time the page is loaded.

"Each time the page is loaded"--that's one reason hit counters really don't mean a lot. A page load could result from someone hitting the "refresh button on their browser a couple of times or many times.

Moreover, "hit counts" can be easily manipulated by site owners. In most cases, the number of hits is stored in a text file in the same directory as the page it tracks. There's nothing preventing the site owner from manipulating the file to display more "hits" than the number of times the page has actually been loaded in someone's browser.

From the perspective of someone who operates a website, a hit counter really isn't anything to rely upon. It may be interesting to know a page has been loaded "x" number of times but that's about where the utility of a hit counter leaves off.

So, what's useful? The web statistics generated by many programs can be useful.

Web Statistics Packages

There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of web statistics packages available on the Internet. There are also companies that produce reports for site owners, some customized to suit site owners' needs, others with lots of options available. All of them have something in common--for the most part they all generate their reports based on server logs.

Server logs are what you might expect. They're logs summarizing server activity.

But server logs aren't as diverse as you might think. Server logs are usually either the "Common Log Format" or the "Combined Log Format."

The "Common Log Format" includes the following information:

• remotehost
• rfc931
• authuser
• date
• request
• status
• bytes

The "Combined Log Format" includes the following two additional bits of information:

• referer
• user_agent

So, you can see there's a fairly narrow range of information available for most statistics packages. Here's what each of the above bits of information means.

remotehost

The "remotehost" is simply the computer that connected to the web server to request a particular file--whether it's a page, a GIF file, a multimedia file, or a PDF document. The tricky bit is to recognize that a "remotehost" does not necessarily reflect a unique user. For example, if someone uses Shaw or AOL, their connection may be routed through a "proxy"--a machine that can be used to funnel traffic. The result is one machine may actually represent many users. So, this bit of information can understate the amount of traffic to a website.

Also, two remotehosts may represent one user connecting from more than one location or computer. For example, two remotehost entries may be someone connecting from work and from home (though that would still be two separate visits). It is also possible one person is connecting from a network that routes requests through more than one computer or router.

The remote host is usually reported as an IP address (e.g. 199.175.106.253) or hostname (e.g. a domain name like "islandnet.com"). By default on Islandnet.com, the remote host is reported as an IP address, as opposed to a hostname. Customers can have our servers resolve the IP address to a hostname, assuming one is available. IP addresses do not necessarily have hostnames associated with them.

If you see something like the following for a hostname, you'll know your site was "spidered" by a search engine robot (Google and MSN in this case):

crawl-66-249-66-66.googlebot.com
msnbot.msn.com

rfc931

Cryptic isn't it--"rfc931?" This is the remote username of the person logged into the service they use to connect to the Internet. This is represented by a default "-" (minus sign) if the username is not available--a common occurrence.

authuser

This bit of information is applicable only if the file being logged was in a protected directory and the person accessing the file correctly input the username and password. If not available, a default "-" is inserted.

date

This is the date and time a particular file was requested from the server.

request

This bit of information is the address of the file on the server where the file resides. The method used to request the file is also reported, which us usually a "GET". A request can also be a "POST" but this is not usually important for website owners.

status

This bit of information reports how the web server responded to the remote request for a particular file. A response of "200" indicates the file was available and sent to the remote machine. Here are some of the most common response codes (Server Response Codes or "SRCs") used by web servers to tell remote machines what's going on:

• 200 - Everything's OK, the page is available
• 206 - Only part of the information is available. This may be the result of someone stopping a page load before it's complete. Also, some web "acceleration" programs make multiple requests for files, meaning one or more requests can be "cut off" before they complete.
• 304 - The file is available and has not been modified, meaning the page already cached (stored) on the remote machine does not need to be re-sent.
• 404 - The file is missing (i.e. not at the URL requested)

bytes

This information records how many bytes were transferred to the remote machine. Most, if not all, web statistics programs will convert this information to kilobytes, megabytes, and / or gigabytes.

referrer

This is the URL the remote machine accessed before loading the file requested from the local web server. This is an important piece of information, as it can reveal what sites are linking to yours and which search engines are being used to find your website. If this information can't be determined, a default "-" sign is used.

Referrers will also include any internal pages used to connect to another file on the site. In other words, if someone clicks on a menu link on one page on your website and lands on another page on your website, the previous page will get logged as the "referrer." While this may appear a bit silly--most people are interested in what external sites link to theirs--if you are interested in finding out how people navigate your site, this internal referrer information may be useful.

user_agent

This bit of information records what reported software was used by the person using the remote machine to access the file from the web server. Typically, information such as the following might be returned:

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; AOL 9.0; Windows NT 5.1; S

Occasionally, you might see something like the following, indicating your site was "spidered" by a search engine robot:

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.co

So, what's it all mean?

What all this tells you is that there is a limited amount of information available from most web statistics packages. What is done with the data is where various packages differ. Some present data graphically, which gives you a good at-a-glance overview of your website traffic. All of them will summarize data to some degree into a more meaningful format. None of them can give you an exact picture of site visits or unique page loads.

Have you ever heard the term "POTS" as an acronym? Well, if you haven't, the term often means "Plain Old Telephone Service." "Plain Old Telephone Service" is a bit misleading because "Plain Old," implies one should yawn and ignore whatever comes next.

Yes, POTS has been around for over 100 years and, yes, many people don't appreciate the amounts we pay for it. VOIP, on the other hand, is new and it promises inexpensive phone service--an attractive combination. Some people are no doubt attracted to VOIP simply because it's telco-independent and is, therefore, "stickin' it to the man."

Ask yourself this, "what happens when I need the man?"

The fact is, yes, VOIP is new. It's so new there are bugs that need to be worked out.

On February 17, 2006, the RCMP issued a press release that reads as follows:

You can read the entire press release by going to the RCMP Media Centre website by clicking here, then clicking on "search" and then searching for the "keyword" "voip" and clicking on the "search" button beneath.

It seems POTS is still the most reliable way to talk to someone. If you need to call 911, do you want your call routed through Toronto?

On a related note, again because VOIP is so new, we're also learning how it can be used for things other than voice communications. We're learning VOIP can also be used by crooks as a tool for scamming the unsuspecting.

One of the features VOIP offers its users is the ability to change the name displayed on caller ID telephones. Of course, this is a convenience. For example, you can change the name displayed when you call someone to read "Smith Family" or something more descriptive than what might appear in the local telephone book (which is usually what gets displayed when you use POTS).

This means as a prank, you could change your caller ID to say something like "Cdn Customs" or something similar. You could then call your buddy and pose as an auditor trying to setup an appointment to start an audit. Man, you can just see the blood drain from their face.

It turns out scammers are using the same method to pose as bankers, credit card companies, credit reporting agencies, and other financial authorities. "This is John Smith at Royal Bank and we need to verify some information. Can I have your PIN please?"

So, beware! If anyone calls you asking to verify financial information of any kind, you're better off not cooperating and calling them back at a recognized number or some telephone number you can verify as being legitimate.

With all of the above said, we're not trying to convince anyone VOIP is bad. It's new and it has bugs. Don't rely on it for your primary voice communication. That's it.

Self-serve File Recovery

Like the self-serve e-mail recovery outlined in the first article of this newsletter, self-serve file recovery allows access to system backups. In this instance, customers get access to system backups of their files.

Access to file backups is provided via the File Manager on the Helpdesk. By selecting a backup from the pull-down list at the top of the File Manager (next to the Sort and View pull-down lists) you can switch from viewing your current 'live' file area to a backup version.

The backups consist of one 'complete backup', and several 'incremental backups'. Each morning a snapshot of your file space is copied to a special backup server. If a file differs from what is already in the previous snapshot, then the older one is copied to an incremental backup.

So by selecting 'yesterday' from the backup list, you can view a snapshot of your entire file space as it was yesterday (or more specifically, as it was at about 2:30 am). If you select, for example, '2006-03-15', then you will see only those files that changed on March 15th, and so on.

When viewing a backup. all the normal File Manager functions are unavailable (ie: you can't delete files, upload new files, move them, etc). You can view them by clicking on the file name however. If you select one or more files and click the new 'Restore' button, you will be able to copy those files back into your file space, and optionally rename them in the process.

Currently the backups go back 28 days. This is subject to change subject to disk space availability on the backup server, but the plan is to increase this if possible.

Note that backups occur once per day. if you make multiple changes to a file during the same day, only the last one will be backed up.

Also note that certain files and directories are skipped when performing backups. For example, we do not backup your webmail 'trash' or 'junkmail' folders, or your 'temp' or 'tmp' directories, etc.

This feature is not available to Islandhosting.com customers, although we can restore files for them upon request. We continue to encourage Islandhosting.com customers to arrange a free conversion of their account over to the newer Islandnet.com environment to take advantage of new features and better pricing.

.htaccess Editor

The Islandnet.com file manager on the helpdesk has a new .htaccess editor that makes creating and managing most .htaccess files easier.

To access it, look for the new icon beside the "www" directory, and any subdirectories within "www".

This editor supports most of the more common .htaccess features, including options like GeoIP lookups, disabling prefetching, autoindexing, password protection, allowing/denying access based on IP address, image theft prevention, error documents, and custom MIME types.

Another part to the .htaccess editor is still in the works. It's a tool to add/edit/delete username and password pairs from a traditional style user file. The .hteditor as it is now will let you specify such a file, just not edit it, although it does let you use username/password pairs embedded right in the .htaccess file itself, as well as in a MySQL database.

More features may be added to the .htaccess editor later as well.

It's Not Written In Stone but How 'bout Plastic - CD & DVD Backups

We are now providing CD/DVD backups of customer accounts.

If you would like to get a copy of your account burned to disk, contact support@islandnet.com. Please be sure to tell us exactly which account(s) you want backed up (you must be the account owner, of course). We will burn it to CD unless the data exceeds 650 megabytes, in which case we'll use a DVD. We supply the disk - you can pick it up at our office in Victoria or we can mail it to you (be sure to provide a mailing address). We can usually do it the same day, but we'd prefer a day's notice. The cost is $30 CDN and both GST and PST apply.

Cool Tool - Access Your Online MySQL Database from Your Desktop!

Islandnet.com offers use of phpMyAdmin, one of the most popular MySQL interfaces out there--and for good reason. phpMyAdmin's virtues aside aside, if you'd like to access your database and administer it from your desktop, you can!

You can manage your databases using Windows, Mac, or Linux front ends instead of having to use phpMyAdmin (athough it's a very good interface and will always be available through https://helpdesk.islandnet.com/sql)

The MySQL site (www.mysql.com) has a free "query browser" tool for Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. which you can download at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/query-browser/1.1.html. It's not a great tool, but it's better than nothing.

A search for MySQL GUIs will turn up several other options, both commercial and free. One that we've tried for Windows/Linux that is nice is "SQL Manager 2005 Lite", which is available at http://sqlmanager.net. If you install the ODBC drivers for MySQL (available from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/3.51.html) then you can manipulate your MySQL databases from within Open Office or Microsoft Access, etc. We have tested this with Open Office and it works well.

To access your database remotely, you will need to configure your software to use the same MySQL server name, username, password, and database name that you use in your web site. The port number to connect to is the standard MySQL one of 3306. Our MySQL servers support SSL encryption, and if your side of things also supports it then it's a good idea to enable it, although it will slow things down a bit.

So, there's no reason not to keep your online database up-to-date. Using Microsoft Office or Open Office, you can create your own input forms and add new data to your database lickety-split. Hey, if you're really into synchronizing your brick-and-mortar store with your online sales, why not keep your database online. You can register sales at your brick-and-mortar store through a web terminal and connect your online store with your database so all your sales are tracked real-time.

Uber-geek Uber-toy--SHELL Access

For those who don't know what SHELL access is, it's a "command-line environment." Even if you don't really know what a "command-line environment" is, if you've been around computers for a while, you may remember those DOS commands you sometimes had to use while installing stuff or when things went really bad on your Windows 3 machine. Those character-based instructions you used to type into your machine were done in a "command-line environment."

So what's that got to do with the Helpdesk and Islandnet?

Well, Islandnet allows users to access a SHELL that permits use of text-based commands. We've written a new custom shell. Why is that useful?

We're getting into pretty heavy acronym territory here so if you didn't know what SHELL access was just a couple of paragraphs ago, it's okay if your eyes glaze over and you skip to the next article.

It allows folks to log into our system via SSH and telnet. It also lets folks use SFTP to transfer files. SCP access should be available eventually too.

For those familiar with UNIX or Linux, the new shell has features similar to "bash" (command line history, aliases, file name completion, etc). It is a restricted shell of course, but it provides access to all the common file system commands. It includes the latest and greatest versions of the PICO and VI editors. So you can log in, move around your file space, create/edit/delete files and folders, etc. I'm just finishing up custom versions of PINE, ELM, and MUTT for email, TIN for news, and other apps.

SFTP stands for "Secure File Transfer Protocol". Despite a similar name and a similar function, it is NOT the same as regular FTP. Completely different internally. Regular FTP works by opening a separate connection for each file it transfers, and while the main "control" connection han be encrypted the actual file transfers are not. SFTP accomplishes the same thing, but it's all done over a single encrypted SSH session, files and all.

I currently have the new shell enabled on a few staff accounts for testing purposes and hope to make it available within one to two weeks. This is only going to be available on the new system, which means it will not be available to HighSpeedPlus and Islandhosting customers until they ask us to convert their accounts to the new system.

Future Feature - Add & Delete MySQL Databases

In the not-too-distant future, customers will be able to add and delete databases to their accounts, without having to tell us anything. For the time being, it's not very difficult either.

All customers need to do is e-mail us at "support@islandnet.com" and let us know they want a database and we'll set one up for them. It comes complete with use of PHP MyAdmin--no need to install your own separate copy--though you're free to do so if you wish.

If not told what name should be given a database and / or what username and password combination a customer would like, our staff will create a database name, username, & password combination for them.

Finally, we are always happy to help out if someone needs assistance. We are also available for database & programming development.

That is, you may want to become an Islandnet.com agent.

We're looking for compatible people and / or companies who would like to become Islandnet.com agents in Victoria, the Cowichan Valley, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, and points between. What do we mean by "compatible?" Well, you need to meet the following criteria:

• You should already offer computer-oriented services
• You should have some Internet knowledge
• You must be friendly
• You must have a good reputation with your customers
• You must be service-oriented

So, what does an agent do? Here's the rundown:

• Resells Islandnet.com services to others--hosting, dialup, high speed, web development, et cetera
• Takes payments from Islandnet.com customers for regular account payments
• Keeps Islandnet.com brochures on hand for potential Islandnet.com customers

Okay, what do agents get in return?

• A percentage of all self-generated Islandnet.com-related sales
• A high speed Internet connection (if sales are above a certain level)
• A free hosting account (if sales are above a certain level)
• Satisfaction of recommending and selling a great service

So, if you already offer computer-related services and products, adding Islandnet.com services to your arsenal can help you broaden your customer base and service offering. Interested? Call us or e-mail us now.

Legal Stuff

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