What is the Web Site Redirect From http://students.uwyo.edu and why should we use it?
All web sites on the University
of Wyoming Student Web Servers
(Windows) are created with a redirect for ease of use. This redirect allows
all students to use the following URL form when advertising their web
site: http://students.uwyo.edu/[student
_username] where [student_username] is the UWYO
username for the student. This redirect will take the person browsing the web
to the correct server where the student web site resides. Please note that this URL address is only a
redirect and should not be used when trying to connect to a site to edit it.
Example:
Let's say your UWYO
username is “StudentUser”. When you requested your
web site you requested that the site be created with Frontpage Extensions
available. Accordingly the site was created on the UWSTUDENTFPWEB.UWYO.EDU
server with the site name being STUDENTUSER. To edit the site you would open
Frontpage and open the web http://uwstudentfpweb.uwyo.edu/s/studentuser (Why is there an
“/s/” between the server and the username?). This is
where your site actually resides; however when you advertise the location of your
web site you should give the URL http://students.uwyo.edu/studentuser
which will automatically take people to the proper server and site at http://uwstudentfpweb.uwyo.edu/s/studentuser.
Why don’t you just give them the http://uwstudentfpweb ....
Address? For 2 reasons: The
first reason is because the http:/students….address is shorter, and the shorter
the address people have to use (and remember) the better. The second reason is
to make it as easy as possible to make any changes that become necessary in the future.
If, for example, we had to change the name of the UWSTUDENTFPWEB server in a
year we would simply update the redirect and people would be taken to the correct
location where your site resides automatically….provided you advertised the
location of your web with the http://students.uwyo.edu/studentuser
URL.
How do I edit my FrontPage site?
To edit your FrontPage site you must use the FrontPage Application. With the
application open:
1. Choose OPEN WEB
2. In the WEB NAME input box type in the full URL for your site
For Example WEB NAME:
https://uwstudentfpweb.uwyo.edu/S/Smith (Note the 's' in https)
Alternatively
1. Open your site with Internet Explorer
2. Choose the EDIT WITH MICROSOFT FRONTPAGE button on the toolbar. (Click
here for more detailed instructions)
If you are unsure where your site resides click here.
How do I edit my
Basic site?
To edit your Basic site you can use the editing application
of your choice. Access to the content of your site is gained via a hidden file
share in the form: \\uwstudentweb\[your username]$
For example: if your username is "Smith" the path to
your web files would be
\\uwstudentweb\smith$
If you are unsure where your site resides click here.
What
is the default page and how is it
used?
The default page in a web site is simply the page that the
server will present automatically. You should name the starting page in your
site one of the following: default.htm, default.html, default.asp,
index.htm, or index.html as these are
the default documents that the web server is setup to serve automatically.
Example:
Let's say you have a site on the UWSTUDENTWEB server called
"StudentSite".
If you name your starting page something like
"main.htm" then all people browsing to your site will have to enter
this entire URL, including the specific name of your starting page: http://students.uwyo.edu/studentsite/main.htm
whereas
If you name your homepage one of the automatically served
names such as default.htm, default.html, or default.asp
then the URL you can give out would be simply http://students.uwyo.edu/studentsite and the server will automatically serve the
"default.---" page above.
What are the default permissions on my web site?
The only person who can author your website is you: logged
on with your UWYO Domain username and password. Nobody else can access
your site and we don’t allow the addition of other people to access the site.
Is
there data access (database) support on the student web servers?
Yes. Please see the respective FAQ for
BASIC sites or
FRONTPAGE EXTENDED sites to learn more about data access
support on your site.
What
script support is available on the servers?
On both the Frontpage Extended web server and the Basic web
server we have ASP (Active Server Pages) script support available. There is no
other scripting support available on the servers at this time including ASP.NET. Information Technology
is currently evaluating ASP.NET. If the evaluation goes well IT hopes to have ASP.NET available for the Fall
semester of 2005.
What is
the quota for my site?
The quota for student web sites is 300 MB. As this space is publicly
available to the entire world please be aware that anything you put in the site
has the potential to be spread world wide.
What
are the backup and restore policies for my site?
Information Technology performs a nightly backup of all data on the servers for
disaster recovery purposes. Backups are generally kept for 2 weeks. In case of
an emergency files may be able to be restored on a best effort basis. If you
need a file restored you must request it by e-mailing asu-it@uwyo.edu. Please
make sure to include the exact name of the file (s) you need restored and the
date you want them restored from. This service is offered as a privilege, not a
right. If a user abuses the privilege it will be revoked for that user.
Depending on the circumstances there may be a charge involved.
Are there any other restrictions on the web server that I should know
about?
Yes, we have various tools and filters installed on the
server that do not allow certain strings and characters to pass through. These
include anything with the extensions .exe, .bat, .com, .vbs,
.cmd, .log, .dat, .ini, .pol.
We also deny reserved characters and combinations of characters on the servers
including the following
..
./
\
:
%
&
We
also impose other limits on the server to try to prevent attacks against or from
the server. It is up to the sole discretion of Information Technology what is
allowed and what is disallowed on the servers. In order to deal with potential
security issues these policies may change at any time with little or no notice.
What
are the policies for removing a site?
It is up to the sole discretion of Information Technology
whether a site is removed from the server. Sites will be removed if they
negatively impact other sites or other entities in any way. This includes the
improper use of sites (against Unireg 690 ), poorly written scripts that hog resources on the server, etc…
If a site is even suspected of causing a problem, Information
Technology reserves the right to stop the service of the site until further
investigation can take place. If a site is disputed the owner of the site will
be contacted via e-mail within 48 hours and an investigation of the problem
will start. If the site clears Information Technology will put it back into
service.
What are the requirements for creating a site?
There are three requirements for creating a site:
- You
must be a current full time, part time, or Graduate student at U.W.
- You
must have a currently valid UWYO Domain account.
- You
must create the site from a computer on the U.W. backbone. (The computer must have an assigned
address starting with “129.72”
What
if I want to change my site from a BASIC site to a FRONTPAGE EXTENDED site, or
vice versa?
We provide a delete utility to delete currently existing
sites from the server. If you want to move your site you should first make a
backup of the contents of your site (if you want to move them to your new site
location), then delete your existing site, then create a new site under the
other form. The delete utility is located at the following link: http://students.uwyo.edu/delete
When the site is deleted all
files in the site will also be deleted so make sure you have backed them up
before choosing delete.
Can
my site be restricted or have SSL?
At this time students sites cannot be restricted. We do have SSL certificates installed on the server so connections can be secured using the "https://" protocol.
Why does the actual location of my site have the first letter of my
username stuck in it?
This is for organizational purposes. With 10,000 plus
students we have to have a way to organize things as much as possible.
What characteristics does the server have?
The server is a Windows 2000 server running Internet
Information Server 5.0 and all associated file versions. The Frontpage Extended
server also has the Microsoft Frontpage 2000 Server Extensions installed.
Tell
me about the BASIC sites.
Should I create a BASIC site?
The name “BASIC” is a bit deceiving. We offer “BASIC” sites
for 2 very different levels of expertise.
The first level we offer “BASIC” sites for is for someone
with little knowledge of the web or web programming. If you want to create very
simple web pages using a web page editor of your choice then a basic site may
be for you. Basic sites allow you to “Map a Network Drive” to the area that
holds your web pages and allows you to edit them with any one of a number of
tools from NOTEPAD to Frontpage. (Yes the Frontpage
application can be used to edit pages on the Basic server, and is a very good
tool to do so, however you won’t be able to take
advantage of the some of the more sophisticated features that the Frontpage
Extensions provide when your site is on the Frontpage Extended server.)
If you are starting out and want to learn web page development
from the bottom up then the best bet for you is to create your site as a BASIC
site.
The second level we offer “BASIC” sites for is the very knowledgeful web site programmer. The “BASIC” site offers
the most flexibility for those who want as much control as possible.
Data Access support structure and how it works.
Each site is created with a folder in it that is setup for
data access. The name of the folder is “DA” and it has two special
characteristics that allow it to act as a folder for data access. The first
characteristic is that anything that is in the folder is not directly “browseable” via the web. For instance, if you were to put a
database in that directory someone couldn’t guess the name of
the database, put the URL into a web browser, and download the database
and all of its contents to their local computer. The second characteristic for
the DA folder is that it is writeable via the guest account. This allows you to
setup a DSN-Less connection to a database and pull information from, or push
information to a database. We have purposely left this section vague and expect
that anyone who attempts to use it has the expertise necessary to understand
it. If you want to learn more about this please see Microsoft’s Data Access site at http://www.microsoft.com/data.
Wrapping Up.
What is available to you with a “BASIC” site?
- 300 MB
of space
- Active
Server Page Script Technology (ASP)
- Data
Access structure
- Share
level access to your site
- You
can use any html editor to maintain and manage your site
Tell
me about the FRONTPAGE EXTENDED sites.
Should I create a FrontPage site?
The FrontPage sites are for all levels of expertise. If you
know what you are doing, a site on the Frontpage Server can be very powerful
and sophisticated. If you are not an expert on web development a Frontpage site
will allow you to create a very professional looking site very quickly and give you room to grow. If you create
your site on the Frontpage server you have the Frontpage Extensions at your
disposal. The Frontpage Extensions are a set of tools that have been
pre-written to allow you to do some very sophisticated things with a web site
without much knowledge of what is going on in the background. Things such as
pulling information from a database, creating a form to e-mail you results or
have them written directly to a database, hit counters, themes, web site
management are all built into the Frontpage Extensions and are available to you
if your site exists on this server. The catch is this, you must use the
Microsoft Frontpage Application in order to create and maintain your site. Only
through the Frontpage application can you tap into the tools mentioned. The
Frontpage application allows the creation and management of a site through an
interface that is very similar to all the other Microsoft Office Products. If
you want to read more about
Microsoft Frontpage and the Frontpage Extensions please see the
following web site: http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage.
Data Access support structure and how it works.
If you choose to use data access or database support with
your site you will notice that Frontpage automatically creates a directory in
your site called “FPDB”. This directory has 2 special characteristics that make
it suitable for data access. The first characteristic is that anything that is
in the folder is not directly “browseable” via the
web. For instance, if you were to put a database in that directory someone
couldn’t guess the name of the database, put the URL into a
web browser, and download the database and all of its contents to their
local computer. The second characteristic for the FPDB folder is that it is
writeable via the guest account. This allows Frontpage to setup a DSN-Less
connection to a database and pull information from, or push information too it.
We have purposely left this section vague and expect that anyone who attempts
to use it has the expertise necessary to understand it.
If you want to learn more a about it please see
Microsoft’s Data Access site at http://www.microsoft.com/data
and the Microsoft Frontpage site at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage
Wrapping Up.
What is available to you with a “FRONTPAGE” site?
- 300 MB
of space
- Active
Server Page Script Technology (ASP)
- Data
Access structure
- The
Microsoft Frontpage Extensions are available to your site.
- You
must use the Microsoft Frontpage Application to manage and maintain your
site.
How can I find out what Virtual Web Server my site
resides on to edit it?
Go to the following URL:
https://students.uwyo.edu and choose the link in the Left Toolbar named
"Locate your Student Web Site". This will give you the name of the Virtual Web
Server that your site resides on.
How do I connect to the Student Web Server
remotely (outside of the University of Wyoming Campus Network) to create, delete, or edit my site?
The supported (and most secure) method to connect to the Student Web Server
remotely (from a computer off the University of Wyoming Network Backbone that
doesn't have a valid 129.72.x.x IP Address) is to use a Virtual Private
Networking (VPN) client. This client makes a secure connection between the
computer you are on and the University of Wyoming Network. After making the
secure connection you can connect to the Student Web Server to create and/or
edit your site normally.
We provide a VPN client free of charge at
https://www.uwyo.edu/vpn that can be downloaded and installed on your
computer and used to make secure connections with UW. When prompted for your
credentials to enter this site please be sure to enter your UWYO username and your UWYO Domain password.
If you encounter any problems please call 307-766-4357 during normal
University work hours 8a.m to 5p.m., Monday through Friday or send e-mail to
asu-it@uwyo.edu.
HELP...I cannot get into my FrontPage site to edit it.
Things to make sure of and/or try if you cannot get into your site to edit
it:
- Make sure you are entering your UWYO username
- If you are trying to edit a Frontpage Extended site make sure you are
choosing OPEN WEB from the FrontPage Application FILE menu.
- If you are trying to edit a FrontPage Extended site make sure you are
entering the exact URL for you web site, making sure to put in the first
letter of your username. URL's are in the form
https://uwstudentfpweb.uwyo.edu/[first_letter_of_username/[username]
Example:
https://uwstudentfpweb.uwyo.edu/s/smith (notice the /s/ in the URL)
- If you are trying to edit a FrontPage Extended site and you are getting an
access is denied error message try to open the site using the following
method:
- Close all instances of FrontPage that you have open
- Open Internet Explorer and browse to your web site
- On the Internet Explorer toolbar click the icon to EDIT WITH MICROSOFT
FRONTPAGE icon that looks like this:
- Enter your credentials correctly when prompted (see #1)
HELP...I get a message that says "DIRECTORY
LISTING DENIED" when I try to browse to my site...
You do not have a "default" page in your site. The server is setup to
automatically load any one of the following pages when your site is browsed in
the following order:
default.htm
default.html
default.asp
index.htm
index.html
index.asp
If the server doesn't find a page with one of the above names in your site
then it will try to perform a directory listing which is not allowed and thus
error out.
The solution is to put a file in your web site with one of the mentioned
names.
HELP...I added a hit counter with Frontpage but the
counter is not working...
The security features we have installed on the server to help stop some of
the hack attempts from around the world do have occasional side effects. One
such side effect is that the FrontPage component for handling counters is not
allowed through the filter. The reason is that the component uses a file with
the extension ".exe" and, for security reasons, we do not allow that
extension to pass into or out of the web servers. (See
# 11. ARE THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS ON THE WEB SERVERS THAT I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT)
As a workaround Microsoft has provided the following HOWTO to add a hit
counter to a FrontPage Web Site Page (Please make sure to see the note below
labeled IMPORTANT):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q309008
IMPORTANT: In order to make this work the
page that has the hit counter MUST be
renamed with the ".ASP" extension in order for the code to process correctly on
the server.
UPDATE: see more information about the component mentioned above at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/iisref/html/psdk/asp/comp559v.asp.
The correct path syntax for the component switches is: ("FIRST_LETTER_OF_USERNAME/USERNAME/PAGE_NAME")
For example:
... .Reset ("/U/UserName/Default.asp")
