Is there any unacceptable or banned Scripts & Programs?

We have banned a few scripts and programs from our shared-server environment to help sustain the highest level of service possible.
The Banned Scripts are listed on our Acceptable Use Policy.

 Secure your script the easy way...

The easiest way to ensure that spambot don't find your mail script is to rename them...If you renamed a formmail.php to agdWurenfGG245GGSH97.php we can assure that you could run the most insanely insecure script on the net and never cause a problem.  Updating script can be a chore but if you rename your FormMail to something obscure you can give yourself some breathing space.  Script names to avoid are anything containing "mail", "send", "form", "contact", etc.  Always download and install the latest version of your scripts as they contain the latest security patches.

 My error documents are not loading. What's wrong?

Due to a little bug in Plesk, if you want to modify, create and use your own error docs, your error documents need to be at least 0.51K in size.
Then be sure to CHMOD the file to 644.

 My script is not working, can you help me with it?

Our support does not cover any script debugging. We consider this a function of web design and we do not offer any in-house web development or consulting services. We will, however assist you as much as possible. Please send us an e-mail and we will take a look.

We make sure that CGI, PHP, etc. is enabled for your site, Perl/Python/TCL is working properly on the server and give you the correct paths to Perl, Python, Sendmail, etc., but we do not have the resources to debug any scripts for our customers. If we did we would need to charge an hourly rate for web development, but that's not really our focus. The same is true for the troubleshooting of HTML, PHP, javascript, and so on.

Here are a few things to try when you are troubleshooting a script:

1) First of all, thoroughly read through the instructions that came with the script and also check the Web site where the script was downloaded for troubleshooting info and user forums.

2) Make sure that you have uploaded your CGI script to your cgi-bin which is (above) one level up from your public /httpdocs directory.

3) Check to see if the script was uploaded to the server in the proper format (usually ASCII not binary).

4) Make sure that there are not any DOS/Windows carriage returns (ie. ^M) at the end of each line in the script. This is usually caused by a text editor or FTP program that is not properly uploading your script in a Unix/Linux format. If this is happening, try changing your code line break settings or upload settings to Unix/Linux.
Here's how this is done in Dreamweaver: From the menu, goto Edit > Preferences > Code Format, then change Line Breaks to "LF (Unix)".

5) Check CGI script to make sure that magic comment specifies where Perl is located: #!/usr/bin/perl

6) Verify that all the paths are correct, including your public directory path. Do not use the "www" part of your domain in your public directory path. See our server paths section for more info.

7) Check to see if all the file permissions are set correctly. Permissions can be set using an FTP program that allows permissions to be set on transfer. Typically scripts are set to be 755, user: read, write, execute; group: read, execute; other: read, execute (-rwxr-xr-x), but you should always check your script instructions or README to be sure.
PLEASE NOTE: For security purposes, within the cgi-bin, script permissions cannot be set higher than 755, or user: read, write, execute; group: read, execute; other: read, execute (-rwxr-xr-x).

8) If you have checked all the above and are still receiving an "Internal Server Error" when trying to execute the script, check the domain's error_log file within logs (In Plesk). Most likely you will see a "Premature end of script headers" error which usually means that the file has been corrupted in some way. This can occur when the script is uploaded or when the script is edited and saved in certain text editors. Usually the file is corrupted with the (line feed) hidden character which is commonly mistaken with the (carriage return).

9) Since installing a CGI script is extremely difficult for new webmasters, you may want to consider asking a friend with CGI (Perl, Python, etc.) experience to walk you through the process or hire a Webmaster for this part of your site.

10) Here are a few good online articles on installing CGI scripts that might help:

Setting Up A Form Powered By CGI http://www.webmasterbase.com/article/348

How to install a basic Perl script on a Web server
http://serverwatch.internet.com/articles/perl101/

How To Install A Script
http://perl.about.com/library/weekly/aa060101a.htm

CGI Scripts for Fun and Profit http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/26/index4a.html?tw=programming

The Common Gateway Interface (NSCA)
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/

Finally, if all else fails, you may want to consider using a PHP script.

 None of my ASP scripts work, I get an internal server error!

ASP is designed for Windows servers.  Unfortunately, we do not offer Windows server services.  We only offers Linux server services.

 What information and server paths do I need to run scripts on the server?

CGI scripts must be uploaded in ASCII MODE and run from the /cgi-bin directory, which is outside the httpdocs directory, and file permission for the script (file) must be CHMOD to 750 or 755 (please refer to your script's documentation).  CGI scripts need to have a .CGI or .pl extension.  (PHP scripts need to have a .php extension and can be uploaded and ran anywhere in your /httpdocs or /httpsdocs directory.)

For security purposes, we use Apache's suEXEC for the execution of CGI scripts.

cgi-bin absolute path
/home/httpd/vhosts/yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/yourscript.cgi

cgi-bin relative path
/cgi-bin/yourscript.cgi

cgi url
http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/yourscript.cgi

public directory absolute path
/home/httpd/vhosts/yourdomain.com/httpdocs

path to Perl
/usr/bin/perl

path to Tcl
/usr/bin/tcl

path to sendmail
/usr/sbin/sendmail

path to the date program
/bin/date

path to netpbm
/usr/bin

path to PHP
/usr/bin/php

 How do I use and configure MySQL database to be use with my script?

Step 1. Create a Database in Plesk and assign it a username and a password.
Step 2. Configure your script to connect to your database...
DB Host: localhost
DB user: username for the database
DB password: password for the database
DB name: the database name you created in Plesk