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Colocation Servers FAQ
How
to get started with your Server Colocation
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 How to add IP addresses ?
How to add users ?
How to deal with e-mail ?
How to FTP ?
How to reboot your UNIX computer ?
How to telnet ?
How to use DNS ?
How to use vi ?
Recommended Books
Web hosting with Apache
What utilities and daemons will be installed on my
computer ?
How is bandwidth measured?
How much are your additional bandwidth charges?
Can I get additional IPs?
Do you offer back-up services?
Do you offer backup DNS or Email services?
Do you offer other custom services?
Do you accept tower units?
Do I need to provide rack rails?
If I need additional or special support beyond my plan, what is the cost?
Are minimum contracts required?
Do you have any restrictions?
How should I ship/deliver my colocation server or other equipment?
What are the data center visitation policies and costs?
How to add IP addresses ?
To add new IP addresses to network interface
in FreeBSD you need to manually edit /etc/sysconfig
file. Just add one line per IP. Format of
the file is self-explanatory. To see the current
network interface configuration use: ifconfig
-a. To add IPs in LINUX you need
to create a new file per each IP in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
directory. You will find in this directory
file with a name 'ifcfg-eth0' or very similar.
Open it in editor, you will easily recognize
the first ip of your computer and figure out
file format. Now copy this file: $cp
ifcfg-eth0 ifcfg-eth0:0 Now edit
a new file: you need to change original ip
to a second one. Save edited file. To add
a third ip: $cp ifcfg-eth0
ifcfg-eth0:1 Again edit it to change
the first ip to a third one. Now you have
three similar files in directory /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts:
ifcfg-eth0, ifcfg-eth0:0, ifcfg-eth0:1.
Please notice filename format: it is mandatory.
Each of these files will provide IP information
for a network initializing script. To activate
new IPs just reboot a computer. You could
activate new IPs by running network initialization
script. In LINUX: /etc/rc.d/init.d/network
-reload
In Windows NT you add IPs in Settings
> Control Panel > Network >Protocols
> TCP/IP > Properties > Advanced
How to add
users ?
Under FreeBSD/OpenBSD systems use adduser
command in interactive mode. If you want a
new user to be able at some point to change
to root user you need to specify a new user
to be a member of a wheel group. Under LINUX
use useradd command followed by login name.
Such as: $useradd
Then you need to assign password to a new
user: $passwd
If you want a new user to be able to change
to root user you need to manually add him
to wheelgroup. $usermod
-G wheel
Under Windows NT you select Programs
> Administrative Tools > User Manager
How to deal
with e-mail ?
You have two choices: use our mail server,
or run your own. If you are using our mail
server you need to contact sales or technical
support at Contact Us. Another alternative is
to run your own mail server. Under
UNIX you better off running SENDMAIL - a free
and a pretty standard software which offers
you a lot of options. You have SENDMAIL already
installed at your computer (if we did the
OS installation), so you only need to configure
it. If you are not familiar with SENDMAIL
configuration, we can do it for you on per-hour-payment
basis. If you want to learn it go visit SENDMAIL
official web site: www.sendmail.org. There
is a good tutorial there. There is also a
book on SENDMAIL see Recommended Books at
the end of this FAQs. Another free SMTP (Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol) UNIX program is qmail.
It is easier to use but it has less features.
Visit www.qmail.org. To receive mail you usually
use any daemon program based on pop3 protocol.
In LINUX it is ipop3d and it comes with an
installation. You do not need to configure
pop3 programs. Under
NT you can use a reliable but expensive program
Post-Office (www.software.com). There is also
SENDMAIL for NT. For sending mail only from
FrontPage and ASP you can use Microsoft SMTP
service (We install it as a part of Option
Pack).
How to FTP
?
From command line issue a command:
$ftp
yourdomain.com
or $ftp
You will see FTP login popping up:
$user:
You type your ftp user name and later your
password. After successful login your current
directory will become home directory of a
system user you used for this login. Main
FTP commands are get (mget for multiple files)
which serves to download files and put (mput)
which is used to upload files. You can use
many different file system commands while
logged in FTP server such as chdir to change
directory, mkdir to create a new directory,
rmdir to delete directory and others. I order
to download use: $get
Use help command to get all FTP commands list
and quit command to exit. The list of users
for whom FTP is not allowed is in /etc/ftpusers
file. By default root user is in this list,
so to allow FTP for root you just delete it
from /etc/ftpusers file.
How to reboot
your UNIX computer ?
To reboot UNIX computer you should be logged
in as root. Type: $reboot
How to telnet
?
You can telnet to a remote UNIX computer from
Windows or UNIX: $telnet
yourdomain.com or
$telnet <ip address of a computer
Server responds with login prompt:
$login:
You just need to type your username, hit enter
and type your password at password prompt.
Remember that login for root user is usually
not allowed from the network for security
reasons. If you need a root access, you login
first as another existing user (say, admin).
Such a user must be a member of a root (wheel)
group. Then you issue a command: $su
-
System will ask for a root password and let
you in.
How to use
DNS ?
As you know all the Internet traffic is routed
using IP addressing only. DNS (Domain Name
System) does an actual resolution from domain
names to IP addresses, back and forth. Every
domain must have a DNS record at some DNS
server otherwise it would not be visible in
the Internet. Read our InterNIC / Domain FAQs.
Another name for DNS protocol suite is BIND.
There are currently two BIND versions in use:
BIND 4 and BIND 8. When you register a new
domain at rs.internic.net, you are required
to submit DNS server name and address. At
this point you have two choices: register
your domain with our DNS server (ns1.gometanet.com,
ns2.gometanet.com) or configure your own name
server. Choosing your own DNS server may be
a better solution if you will need to deal
with DNS records for your own clients.
Configuring
your own name server is a relatively easy
task. DNS daemon is named and it comes with
our UNIX installation. First thing you need
to do is to configure /etc/named.boot file
for BIND 4. Same file has a name of named.conf
for BIND 8. From the name of this file in
/etc directory you can find out what version
of BIND (DNS) your OS is running. To learn
how DNS works read man page for named, or
buy a book: DNS and BIND, see Recommended
Books. Under
Windows NT we will install Microsoft DNS Service
upon your request.
How to use
vi ?
vi is a text editor widely available for UNIX
platforms. To begin editing a file:
$vi
filename
There are 3 basic modes in vi. These modes
are known as command mode, edit mode and ex
mode. After starting vi you are in command
mode. While in command mode, you can use arrow
keys to move around the file, use x to delete
a character under cursor, use dd to delete
a current line. Pressing G (shift-g) will
move cursor to the end of the file. The command
10G will move cursor to line 10 in the file.
Typing i in command mode will place you into
an edit mode. You can insert text in edit
mode. Pressing A (shift-a) with begin inserting
text at the very end of the line. To exit
edit mode and return back to command mode
hit ESC. To
save your file and exit you need first to
switch to ex mode. Ex mode is entered when
you press : key from command mode. For example
to write the file being edited use the command
:w. Typing : causes you to enter ex mode and
typing w followed by the Enter key completes
the command. The command :wq writes to the
file and exits vi. To quit vi without saving
changes to the file use the command :q!. There
are many other features in vi editor. Read
about then in a book Using vi Editor. See
Recommended Books.
Recommended
Books
UNIX
Matt Welsh, Lar Kaufman.
Running LINUX. O'Reilly & Associates.
1996. A classic LINUX book. Covers LINUX
system administration in-depth. On-line
go to sunsite.unc.edu, redhat.com
Greg Lehey. The Complete
FreeBSD. Walnut Creek. 1998. Big and new
FreeBSD book. On-line use freebsd.org.
Lamb Linda. Learning
the vi Editor. O'Reilly & Associates.
1998 Good vi book
Hunt Craig. TCP/IP
Network Administration. O'Reilly & Associates.
1998 Classic book: TCP/IP, telnet, ftp,
nfs etc.
Liu, Cricket, and
Albitz, Paul. DNS and BIND. O'Reilly &
Associates. 1998 Great DNS book. You may
need it to run your own DNS server. Covers
BIND 8.
Stern, Hal. Managing
NFS and NIS. O'Reilly & Associates.
1992. The best NFS / NIS book
Costales, Bryan,Allman,
Eric, and Rickert, Neil. Sendmail. O'Reilly
& Associates. 1997 Possibly intimidating
book, but really a complete description
of how to configure sendmail. The only one
book on sendmail. On-line there is a nice
manual at sendmail.org.
Mohammed J. Kabir.
Apache Server Bible. IDG Books. 1998. The
best one on Apache. Covers also Apache modules
in detail. Find a very good manual at www.apache.org
Nemeth, Evi, Snyder,
and Seebass, Scott. UNIX System Administration
Handbook. Prentice Hall. The most frequently
recommended book on the subject.
Garfinkel, Simson
and Spafford, Gene. Practical UNIX and Internet
Security. O'Reilly & Associates. 1996
If you have security concerns that is the
book to pick.
Schwartz, Randal L.
Learning Perl. O'Reilly & Associates.
1998 A manual to a famous scripting language.
On-line go to www.perl.org
Wall, Larry and Schwartz,
Randal. Programming Perl. O'Reilly &
Associates.1998. A reference to a famous
scripting language.
Tom Christiansen,
Nathan Torkington, Larry Wall. Perl Cookbook.
O'Reilly & Associates. 1998. Examples
of Perl. A very practical book.
Windows
NT Server
Aeleen Frisch. Essential
Windows NT System Administration. O'Reilly
& Associates. 1998 A very good book
on NT Server Administration (from O'Reilly
!)
Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft Internet Information Server Resource
Kit. Microsoft Press. 1998. Alex Fedorov.
Professional Active Server Pages. Wrox Press.
1998. Probably the best book on ASP.
Craig Hunt. Windows
NT TCP/IP Network Administration. O'Reilly
& Associates. 1998.
Web hosting
with Apache
Famous Apache web server for UNIX comes with
our original installation. His daemons name
is httpd. All you need is to configure 3 files:
httpd.conf, srm.conf and access.conf. LINUX
has these files in /etc/httpd/conf directory,
FreeBSD has them in /usr/local/etc/apache/conf
directory. You may want to put all your entries
as virtual domains in httpd.conf file. Read
excellent documentaion in www.apache.org and
a good book Apache Server Bible (See Recommended
Books).
What utilities
and daemons will be installed on my computer
?
In case we install LINUX 5.2 or FreeBSD 2.2.7
at your computer you will get all the basic
UNIX utilities +: telnetd,
ftpd,
httpd,
SENDMAIL,
named,
ipop3d,
LaTex
package,
c/c++ development package + libraries,
perl,
tcl,
python,
bash,
ping,
traceroute
and many others.
As a result of Windows Win2000 installation
you will get: Service
Pack 3,
IE 4.01,
IIS 4 ,
FrontPage Server Extensions,
Active Server Pages,
MS SMTP service
Scripting Host and most of Option Pack utilities.
How is bandwidth measured?
Unless you have opted for capped bandwidth,
bandwidth is measured by the 95% percentile
use method. As an example, you would take
the higher of your in/out bandwidth measurement
from your monthly MRTG graph multiply that
by .95 and that would be your billable bandwidth.
Using this method each 1,000 Kbs is 1Mbs per
month. Please see “Burstable Billing” in Wikipedia
for more detailed information. Bandwidth usage
monitoring is provided with all customer accounts.
Usage
is measured from the first day to the last
day of the month.
How much are your additional bandwidth charges?
Each dedicated and collocation plans has pre allotted bandwidth included with the plan. After the dedicated or collocation bandwidth allotment is reached the cost for overage varies depending on your service contract. If your requirements are greater than you anticipated please contact customer support for additional pricing. Depending on your selected bandwidth package you may burst to 10 Mbs, 100, or 1000 Mbs.
Can I get additional IPs?
You can get additional IPs with ARIN justification. If you need more than the IPs allocated to your plan please contact your sales account manager.
Do you offer back-up services?
For dedicated and collocation servers we can provide hot backup services for a monthly fee. We do not provide off-site tape backup.
Do you offer backup DNS or Email services?
These services are basic, and included Free with every collocation plan.
Do you offer other custom services?
We offer private firewalls and server load balancing and other custom services.
Do you accept tower units?
Tower units are accepted, if space permits, and are billed based on the number of 1U spaces they take up.
Do I need to provide rack rails?
We require round screw hole rack rails for each server. Square hole mounts may be provided at an additional cost. If you do not have rack rails we can provide a dedicated shelf which is available for a monthly fee. Or you have the option to mount your server in between other non racked servers.
If I need additional or special support beyond my plan, what is the cost?
Please speak to your sales representative for details in regards to our support contract options.
Are contracts required?
For dedicated and collocation services there is a required minimum 6 month initial agreement. After that, accounts become month-to-month with a 30 day notice of cancellation.
Do you have any restrictions?
We do not allow free hosting or free email services, illegal content, email marketing services of any type, or IRC.
How should I ship my server?
Please review shipping and data center access policies included in your welcome letter.
What
are the data center visitation policies and
costs?
All escorted collocation visitation (visitors
without a keycard) requires 24 hours advanced
notice before 2PM Pacific Standard Time and
is billed at an hourly rate of $65 per hour
with a one hour minimum, in half hour increments.
Advanced notice must be provided via submission
of a Escorted Access Form, included upon your
sign up. You must also submit a trouble ticket
requesting visitation through your customer
control panel. Your initial installation of
Colocation is not subject to fees unless installation
and setup exceeds one hour, at which time
hourly fees of $65 per hour apply.
Non-Emergency Escorted Visitation is reserved
for customers between the hours of 6:30PM
and 10PM. Extended visitation will be subject
to overnight rates. Customers with private
cabinets or cages, with temporary or permanent
access, who desire remote hands assistance
from a service technician, will be billed
at the Remote Hands hourly rate unless otherwise
noted. Remote Hands requests must be entered
through our online Work Order form.
Emergency Escorted Visitation is provided
for one hour per year at no cost. Emergency
escorted visitation is available 24 hours
a day. Customers requiring emergency overnight
access from 10PM to 8AM, will be billed at
the hourly rate of $125 per hour (4 hour minimum).
In the event of a server emergency, we will
attempt to provide escorted access in the
soonest possible time frame, less than 24
hours advanced notice, subject to availability
of a field technician, usually within 4 hours.
Customers requiring freight elevator access
from 5PM-9AM will be billed at the hourly
rate of $295 per hour paid in advance (4 hour
minimum). Reservation of the freight elevator
for night time use must be made by appointment
only with building management 24-48 hours
in advance.
Equipment Removal: Removal may be scheduled
24 hours in advance and must occur between
the hours of 9:00AM - 4:30PM EST. A trouble
ticket must be entered listing all equipment
or other property requiring removedal. After
customers remove equipment from the data center,
a second authorization is required for the
removal of any equipment from the building.
Front desk security and freight elevator security
requires a building pass to be filled out
by Metanet Hosting prior to removal of any
equipment from the building. Rates subject
to change please contact your sales representative
to confirm current rates.
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