VUweb Services
This page will address questions and concerns about departmental and organizational web pages. If you are interested in information about personal web pages (student, faculty, or staff), click here. If you are interested in a Student Organization web site, click here.
Services
- Web Services Request - To request space on the ITS web servers, please fill in this form
- Web Tools - including PHPmyadmin and a counter tool
- Streaming Media Services - request form for media hosting for both live and archived events
- Sitemason Tools - a set of tools available to the VU community to assist in web development
- Request to authenticate with VUnetID - if your website requires authentication, you must complete this form for your systems, services or applications.
- Spiders - This is a group of web developers on campus. The Spiders meet monthly and are an excellent resource for web developers on campus.
Client Configruation
1) All clients must use SFTP in order to connect to the web and database servers
2) Hostname/Server name: www.vanderbilt.edu
Remote Folder: /www.vanderbilt.edu/html/(your folder)
Example: Your organization's URL (web address) is http://www.vanderbilt.edu/departmentX
Hostname/Server name: www.vanderbilt.edu
Remote Folder: /www.vanderbilt.edu/html/departmentX
3) IMPORTANT! You must use your VUnetID and e-password to connect to the web services
4) There is no longer command line or shell access available on the new web servers
FAQs
1) What software is installed on the web servers?
Redhat Linux 4
Apache 2.0.52
PHP 4.3.9
Perl 5.8.5
MySQL 4.1.20
2) What SFTP clients are supported?
ITS has tested and is recommending the following clients. Other SFTP applications may work, though ITS will not provide support for clients not on this list.
It should be noted that a bug in Adobe Contribute prevents that application from working in the new web environment. Adobe is aware of the issue and will hopefully correct it in future releases.
Supported Windows clients:
winscp
Filezilla
Dreamweaver (Version 8 or higher) - available via the ITS Software Store
3) Where can I locate Perl and Python binaries?
/usr/bin/perl
/usr/bin/python
4) Can you turn on REGISTER_GLOBALS in PHP?
No. The security risks associated with turning on REGISTER_GLOBALS far outweigh the convenience it allows. Please visit http://us2.php.net/register_globals for further information:
5) Will shell access be available in the new environment?
Due to security concerns this will not be available. Requests for ownership and permissions changes can be made by contacting its-partner@vanderbilt.edu.
6) Where is the MySQL server?
The MySQL server is mysql01.its.vanderbilt.edu. If your website uses SSL, then your MySQL connection must also use SSL
7) How do I connect to my mySQL database from my non-SSL PHP webpage?
Connections to mySQL databases can be invoked using a local php function 'mysql_connect'.
Below is an example of a sample mySQL connection string and a database fetch.
$db_host="mysql01.its.vanderbilt.edu";
$db_user="its";
$db_pass="its";
$db_name="its_data";
$db = mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass);
mysql_select_db($db_name,$db);
$whats_new_result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM its_data.whats_new ORDER BY id desc",$db);
8) How do I connect to my mySQL database from my SSL PHP webpage?
Connections to mySQL databases can be invoked using a local php function 'mysql_connect'.
Below is an example of a sample mySQL connection string and a database fetch.
$db_host="mysql01.its.vanderbilt.edu";
$db_user="its";
$db_pass="its";
$db_name="its_data";
$db = mysql_connect($db_host, $db_user, $db_pass, true, MYSQL_CLIENT_SSL);
mysql_select_db($db_name,$db);
$whats_new_result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM its_data.whats_new ORDER BY id desc",$db);
9) If you are receiving an Internal Server Error when attempting to view your webpage
The .htaccess file may contain the wrong path to the .htpasswd file. If the path starts with "/home/htdocs", then it is wrong. Correct paths are similar to "/var/www/www.vanderbilt.edu/html/folder/.htpasswd"
10) Why don't I have command line access to the new web servers?
Shell access is not available in the new Linux environment. Restrictions are necessary in order to ensure the highest quality of shared services possible, protecting other clients' information, and reducing any possible violations to our Acceptable Uses Policy. Most common SFTP clients provide the necessary functionality to perform many of the same tasks (such as changing permissions) in the old web environment.
11) I am using the SSH client to upload my pages. I get and error when I try to upload a page that says "Error8:chmod_dest_before_transfer:/www.vanderbilt.edu/html/yourwebpage (dst):unspecified failure (server msg:'failure')". What should I do?
This is a client issue only. The transfer worked, despite the message. If the message is bothersome, you can try one of the other recommended clients above as they do not give errors of this nature.
For assistance, please contact ITS Partner Support staff by sending email to its-partner@vanderbilt.edu and / or by calling 615-343-9999, option 1, option 3.
